Villager William “Bill” Shawn beams with pride as he talks about his 13-month-long “obsession” and “labor of love.”
The retired Army lieutenant colonel, decked out in a tan flight suit complete with a name tag, gloves and helmet, embodies everything a military helicopter pilot represents.
And after serving his country for more than 36 years, the retired pilot who served two tours of duty in Vietnam is now enjoying a different mission – honoring his fellow veterans with a golf cart that’s been morphed into an AH-1G Cobra Gunship.
Shawn said it’s a fitting way to pay tribute to the more than 40,000 helicopter pilots who flew in Southeast Asia, as well as the more than 2,000 aviators and 2,500-plus crewmembers who died serving their country.
“I think once you’ve flown helicopters for 28 years, it’s just a part of you. It’s kind of in your blood,” the Village of Pine Ridge resident said. “So I wanted to make something that was professional and realistic, in a way to honor the guys that served and flew.”
Shawn flew a variety of different helicopters in Vietnam, including Huey transport and gunship models; two observation helicopters, the OH-13 and OH-23G, and Cobra Gunships, among others. But when it came time to transform his golf cart into a military-style helicopter, Shawn said there really was only one choice.
“The Cobra was the gunship that everybody knew,” he said. “It was the world’s first true attack helicopter. You could bring a lot of firepower on the enemy. I’m sure it struck fear in the hearts of the (Viet Cong) over there.
Shawn, 78, estimates he spent between 1,200 and 1,300 hours building his helicopter golf cart. He said both he and his wife, Lynn – she worried about him working long hours in his hot garage – are glad he’s completed the project. But he said he thought a lot about his time in Vietnam and those he served with while working on the golf cart.
During his first tour in 1967, Shawn mostly flew the OH-23G observation helicopter. He earned two Purple Hearts while flying that helicopter for the First Brigade of the 9th Infantry, one of which came when both he and his observer were hit by the same bullet as they flew over enemy soldiers preparing to ambush an American minesweeping team.
“They were going to destroy that minesweeping team and that’s what we went out to check on,” he said. “But they decided to open up on me. And as soon as they opened up, it sounded like a popcorn machine underneath me.”
Shawn was hit in the right knee and his passenger in his left knee. But he knows their actions saved the lives of the unsuspecting minesweeping team.
“They would have been slaughtered,” he said. “They were not prepared. They were marching along like they were on a picnic.”
As it turned out, Shawn added, the minesweeping team was able to react and take out the enemy ambush squad.
“We didn’t lose a single person,” he said. “So it was a blessing for us to be the target and not them.”
Shawn also thought about why he survived Vietnam and came home while many of his fellow pilots – some he considered as close friends – did not.
“I give God the credit for me being here,” he said. “I should have been killed several times. But I started each day with a prayer: ‘Lord help me to do what I’ve been trained to do, and if it gets beyond my capabilities, it’s in your hands.’”
Shawn thinks about those lost friends and the many others he served with when he takes his Cobra cart for a drive around his neighborhood. And they certainly will be on his mind when the golf cart makes its official debut in the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 14 at Lake Sumter Landing.
“I know it’s going to get a lot of attention because it’s so unique,” he said, adding that he hopes to be paired with a tank golf cart owned by Vietnam veteran Gary Gariepy, who served 23 years in the Air Force and Army.
As for the golf cart itself, Shawn said he plans to leave everything painted white, as he’s no longer in the military and it represents a civilian helicopter. But he said he hopes those who see it will appreciate the intricate detailing to make it as realistic as possible, including the rocket pods, nose turret, the angle of the vertical fin on the tail boom, the cupola on top beneath the rotor blades, the pitot tube to tell air speed, a customized instrument panel and five aircraft lights.
“I can use a Bluetooth speaker and I’ve got machinegun fire and helicopter sounds on my phone,” he said. “I’ve got it where I’m talking to a task force commander and he’s talking back and forth to me. So I’ve got it for realism.”
Shawn, who even has a stuffed German Shepherd riding with him in the cockpit for the children who see the customized cart, said if the reaction he has received so far in his own neighborhood is any indication of what’s to come in parades, his Cobra cart will be a huge success.
“I can go up to Moyer Rec Center less than a mile away and it will take me two hours to get back home because of people stopping me,” he said. “Everybody who stops me wants to get a picture. I take a lot of pride in the fact that people see that it is a professional job. It’s interesting, different and there’s not another one like it in The Villages.”
