USAFA Class Heritage

Retired Lt Col Air Force 84: CP (Command Pilot): 

Deceased: 3 December 2008;

01: FarmMgr Midland TX;

86: Pit (Pilot) PetroleumHellnc LafayetteLA;

81-84: COpns&TngDiv 833CmbtSptGp (Combat Support Group) HollomanAFB;

77: Plt (Pilot)/OpnsO (Operations Officer)/C Opns (Operations)&Tng (Training) 24CompositeSq HowardABCZ;

73: CostAnlstHqATC RandolphAFB;

70: PltHH-43BI F40AR (Arkansas)&RWg;

68: RescCrCmdr WARRC WebbAFB;

66-68: RescCrCmdr 38AR (Arkansas)&RSq NhaTrangABSVN;

65: HeliPlt 13WARRC ReeseAFB;

64-65: HeliPlt SteadAFB;

63-64: PltTng (Pilot Training) ReeseAFB; 

1DFC (Distinguished Flying Cross)-1BSM (Bronze Star Medal)-1MSM23AM (Air Medal)-1AFCM (Air Force Commendation Medal)

(following from https://usafrotorheads.com/)

Melroy "Roy" Borland was born May 2, 1938, in Roscoe, Texas, to Howard and Daisy Borland. He attended school in Hermleigh, Texas, and graduated high school in Plains, Texas, where he was a two-year letterman in track and football.

Roy enlisted in the Air Force as an enlisted airman and served two years in Okinawa before receiving a dual Air Force/Congressional appointment to the Air Force Academy, where he served as a pistol instructor for his fellow cadets. He graduated in June 1963, with President John F. Kennedy delivering the commencement address.

Following graduation, Roy completed jet training at Reese Air Force Base in Lubbock, Texas, then trained as a helicopter pilot in Reno, Nevada. He deployed to Vietnam flying the Kaman HH-43 Huskie helicopter with the Air Rescue Service, whose motto was "That Others May Live." Over two tours in Vietnam, including service during the Tet Offensive, he flew 320 missions and earned sixteen Air Medals. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross for rescuing a downed reconnaissance pilot from the side of a mountain under heavy enemy fire. His other decorations included the Bronze Star, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Force Commendation Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal with four Bronze Service Stars, and the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm.

After Vietnam, Roy served at Big Spring, Texas; RAF Lakenheath, England; the Panama Canal Zone, where he flew one of the Air Force's few Huey gunships; and Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, New Mexico, where he served as operations officer for the three Space Shuttle missions that landed there. He completed a master's degree in public administration and retired from active duty on December 31, 1984.

Roy married Ann Dunk, an Australian nurse, on December 7, 1968, at Reese Air Force Base. They had one daughter, Lisa Lea Borland, a registered nurse, who married Andrew Pichler, a Qantas Boeing 747 pilot; the couple and their children, Kayla, Rhys, and Bryce, lived in Australia.

An avid outdoorsman, Roy was an accomplished marksman and hunter who loved fishing, hunting dove and quail, and time at deer camp. He was remembered as a man's man who enjoyed flying, good friends, a good cigar, a good poker game, and good spirits — hunting dove in late September of his final year despite undergoing cancer treatment.

Roy died after a courageous battle with cancer, survived by his wife Ann; daughter Lisa and son-in-law Andrew; three grandchildren; and his sister Ann and brother Mike, both of Midland, Texas. Graveside services with full military honors were held at Pyron Cemetery in Pyron, Texas.