Henry Kleemann – Naval Aviator
Navy Captain Henry M. Kleemann was remembered as a hometown hero after his plane skidded off a rain-slick runway during a December 1985 landing at Miramar Naval Air Station, killing the commanding officer of the Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 4 (XVN-8).
The oldest child of Henry and Catherine Kleemann, he lived near Mahomet with his five sisters until 1956, when the family moved to the family farm in DeWitt County. Henry helped his father with the farming business. The Chester White pigs he raised as a 4-H project were shown at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield.
A straight A student at Clinton High School, he won letters in football and track. He was voted “most likely to succeed” by his classmates.
In their eulogies at Kleemann’s funeral at St. John’s Catholic Church in Clinton, friends and family assured mourners Kleemann had achieved his dream.
Close friend John May said, “I know his life was far from meaningless. He served his country with pride and he’s with God.” Kleemann’s uncle Bishop Edward O’Rourke, of the Peoria Diocese, recalled one of Kleemann’s last conversations at home.
“One week before his death, he explained to his children his responsibility to protect the earth from war. Henry Martin Kleemann served 21 years with great distinction and made a special contribution to world peace,” said O’Rourke.
The DeWitt County native made headlines during his military career, beginning with a story in the local newspaper in June 1961 when he was accepted into the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. Doris Keane was in her early teens when her brother graduated from the academy.
“He was always very bright,” said Keane. As for his decision to become a pilot, “his experience through the summer training (at the academy) probably had a lot to do with the pick of aviation,” she said.
At a news conference aboard the U.S.S. Nimitz Kleemann used a chart and wooden models of his F-14’s to illustrate the 1981 incident during which his defensive maneuvers took down two Lybian planes – the first air-to-air kill credited to a F-14 Tomcat.
A 1965 entry in the academy yearbook cited “Hammering Hank’s” academic abilities and willingness to provide “extra instruction sessions for those of us who were lacking in mental dexterity.”
Henri Kleemann’s last Official Navy portrait in 1985
An August 1981 incident involving two Libyan airplanes landed Kleemann on the front page of the New York Times. The story detailed his involvement in shooting down two Libyan fighters in the Gulf of Sidra, for which he is credited with the first air-to-air kill in a F-14 Tomcat.
At a news conference afterwards aboard the U.S.S. Nimitz with Vice Adm. William H. Rowden, Kleemann used a chart and wooden models of the F-14’s to illustrate the defensive maneuvers that took down the planes.
“There was no chance that I was not going to pull the trigger. It did go through my mind that it would cause a ruckus,” Kleemann told reporters.
The decision to respond to the Libyan missile was made quickly by Kleemann, who also had flown in the Vietnam War. “I decided we had been fired upon and they were likely to do it again,” said Kleemann.
Capt. Kleemann was commanding officer of VXN-8, which was based at the Naval Air Test Center, Point Mugu, California, when his FA-18 fighter slid 5,000 feet and flipped, trapping Kleemann inside. The accident occurred during a flight to Miramar for meetings scheduled for later that day.
Investigators later concluded that a mechanical failure in the plane’s landing gear led to the crash.
Kleemann (3rd from left) aboard USS Nimitz August 19, 1985
President Ronald Reagan offers his condolences to Henri Kleemann’s widow and children in January 1986.
During his career, Kleemann was credited with 128 combat missions and was awarded a Bronze Star for valor in Vietnam. Kleemann and his wife, Carol, were parents of four children; Steven, the oldest, is deceased.
The loss of the Navy pilot was recognized in tributes by lawmakers in Illinois and Washington D.C. The designation of a city street as Kleemann Road and an apartment complex as Kleemann Village in Clinton are lasting tributes to the DeWitt County pilot.
Kleemann’s family understood his commitment to serve his country and the price he paid in 1985 for his dedication.
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