Clyde Everett Lassen (March 14, 1942 – April 1, 1994), a native of Fort Myers, Florida, was a Commander in the United States Navy and a Naval Aviator. He initially served over four years as an enlisted sailor, enlisting in September 1961 and eventually achieving the rate of Aviation Electronics Technician 3rd Class (AT3) prior to being selected as a Naval Aviation Cadet (NAVCAD). Upon completion of flight training as a NAVCAD, he received his wings as a Naval Aviator and his commission as an officer in the rank of Ensign. As a Lieutenant, he was awarded the Medal of Honor for his rescue of two downed Naval Aviators while piloting a search and rescue helicopter in Vietnam. The mission On June 19, 1968, Lassen, then a 26-year-old Lieutenant, junior grade flying a UH-2A Seasprite of HC-7 (assigned to the ), embarked on a mission to recover two downed Naval Aviators (from VF-33, off the ) whose F-4J plane had been shot down on a night interdiction mission deep inside North Vietnam. Upon reaching the hilly terrain where the aviators were hiding, Lassen made several attempts to recover the aviators, but dense tree cover, enemy weapons fire and intermittent illumination frustrated his efforts. Lassen turned on the landing lights of the helicopter, despite the danger of revealing his position to the enemy. After the pilots made their way to the helicopter and with his bullet-riddled helicopter dangerously low on fuel, Lassen evaded further antiaircraft fire before landing safely at sea on board the with only five minutes of fuel left in the helicopter's fuel lines. The account of the rescue was logged as a successful, routine search and rescue mission. LT Lassen became the first Naval Aviator and fifth Navy man to be awarded the Medal of Honor (MOH) for bravery in Southeast Asia (SEA)/Vietnam. He was also only one of three Naval Aviators to be awarded the MOH in SEA (along with CAPT Michael J. Estocin, and RADM James Stockdale), and the only rotary wing Naval Aviator to be awarded the MOH in SEA. Subsequent career He remained in the Navy and in the early 1980s served as Commanding Officer of Helicopter Training Squadron EIGHT (HT-8), an advanced rotary-wing training squadron for USN, USMC, USCG, and NATO/Allied student aviators at Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Florida. He retired in 1982 with the rank of Commander, remaining in Pensacola, Florida