Dennis Dean Nielsen is a retired United States Air Force Lieutenant Colonel who is most widely known for having participated in rescue effort of the United Airlines Flight 232 crash in Sioux City , Iowa in 1989 . Born in Shelby , Iowa on February 5 , 1947 , he has lived in the small town of Middlesex , North Carolina since he retired from the Air National Guard in 2002
United Airlines Flight 232
United Airlines Flight 232
Dennis Nielsen