Dan McHenry Hicky, Colonel (Col.) United States Air Force, Retired, age 93, passed away peacefully on Monday, July 5, 2010 following a long illness.

Col. Hicky was born June 28, 1917 to Dan and Louise McHenry Hicky. He graduated from Morgan County High School in 1934, attended the Georgia Military College in Milledgeville for one year, then transferred to the University of Georgia, where he pledged the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity and received his bachelor’s degree in business administration with a minor in fine arts in 1938. He earned his pilot’s license at Epp’s Flying School, Athens, Ga., in 1939 and operated his own photography and radio repair business in Madison. Many old Madison photo albums bear the mark of “Laddie’s Lab” on the back of photographs to attest to this first venture into private business.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps on December 5, 1940. He completed initial training in communications and then applied for the Flying Cadet program. After earning his commission and his wings in 1942, he flew numerous fighter aircraft including the P-39 Airacobra with the 6th Air Force, 43rd Fighter Squadron, conducting anti-submarine patrols in defense of the Panama Canal during the early part of World War II.

During a war-time leave, then Captain Hicky married Hattie Mina Reid on April 27, 1944.

He later flew the P-47 Thunderbolt, completing 25 combat missions in Europe with the 9th Air Force, 50th Fighter Group, 81st Fighter Squadron. The 50th Fighter Group earned two Distinguished Unit Citations while he was flying with them. The first was for support of the Seventh Army during the assault on the Siegfried Line. The second was for the most successful strafing mission by any Ninth Air Force group during the war. It was against intense enemy anti-aircraft fire at a German Luftwaffe airfield just southeast of Munchen, Germany.

After the war he flew one of the Air Force’s first all-weather fighter-interceptor jets, the F86D Sabre Dog. Over 30 years in the Air Force included non-flying assignments as Director of Budget, Fifth Air Force, in Japan; Deputy Comptroller, Air Defense Command in Montgomery, Ala.; and Comptroller, 14th Air Force in Colorado Springs, Colo. Col. Hicky was diagnosed with glaucoma in the mid 1960s, but was able to stay on active duty in non-flying positions until he retired from the Air Force in 1971. His awards including the Air Medal with two Oak Leaf Clusters, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Distinguished Service Medal, and the Legion of Merit.

Col. Hicky returned to Madison in 1972 and worked in public relations for the Holiday Inn hotel chain for several years while he and his wife organized and ran Regal Tours of Madison. He was very active in Madison over the years serving as President of the Morgan County Chamber of Commerce, the Morgan County Historical Society, and the Madison Boxwood Garden Club. He was also a member of the Madison Landmark Society, the Daedalions (a pilot’s organization), the Blind Veteran’s Association, the International Society of Poets, the Famous Poet’s Society, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the American Legion, and the First United Methodist Church of Madison. For many years Col. Hicky wrote a weekly column for the Madisonian newspaper and later the Morgan County Citizen newspaper, writing up to the last days of his life. He also wrote two books of poetry, "That I May Fly" and "Madisonian’s I Have Known." While his sight enabled him, Col. Hicky was also an avid photographer and took many of the photographs for the book his wife published, "As It Was Told To Me."

Col. Hicky was predeceased by his oldest son, Captain Dan McHenry Hicky, Jr., USAF. He is survived by his wife of over 66 years, Hattie Mina Reid Hicky, daughter Mina Reid Lujan, son Commander John Stratton Hicky, USN (Ret.) and his wife Bonnie, four grandchildren: Morgan and Dana Hicky, Laura Lujan, Lea Lujan Flores and her husband Fernando, and three great-grandchildren: Joseph, Isaiah, and Noah Flores.