Hilliard A. Wilbanks

Who was Hilliard A. Wilbanks?

Hilliard Almond Wilbanks was a career officer and pilot in the United States Air Force during the Vietnam War. He posthumously received the Medal of Honor for sacrificing his life on February 24, 1967, while supporting a unit of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam at Di Linh, near Da Lat, South Vietnam.

Capt. Hilliard A. Wilbanks was born in July 1933 and raised in the small, rural community of Cornelia, Ga. This area, tucked into the northeastern corner of the state, was almost isolated in the 1960s, yet seven of its men died in Vietnam. One of them, Wilbanks, earned the Medal of Honor in a true-to-life David vs. Goliath fight.