Funeral Service for CW3 (Retired) Donald Eugene Henke will be at 10:00 a.m. Monday, November 21, 2022, in the Becker-Rabon Funeral Home Chapel with Rev. Paul Appleby, Pastor of the First Christian Church, Lawton officiating.

Burial with Full Military Honors and Masonic Rites will be at 2:00 p.m. Monday, November 28, 2022, in the Fort Sill National Cemetery, Elgin, Oklahoma.

The family will greet friends Sunday afternoon, November 20, 2022, from 3pm until 5pm at the funeral home.

CW3 (Retired) Donald Eugene Henke, 85, Lawton was called home to be with his Lord on Monday, November 14, 2022, in Oklahoma City.  He lived with his wife and youngest son in Lawton since August of 2000.  He was born June 6, 1937, on a farm outside of Falls City, Nebraska to Herbert H. and Martha E. (Meyers) Henke.  He lived there through his formative years, attended and graduated from high school in Falls City.  Living on the farm for the first part of his life, he worked and learned how to run farm equipment, till the soil, harvest crops, milk cows, feed them, pigs, and numerous other duties.  His first job off the farm was the Skelly service station, pumping gas, fixing tires, changing oil and greasing cars.  After working there for several months, he worked for his brother driving tractor trailer trucks.  While working there he joined the Nebraska National Guard and stayed with them for two years and eight months.  He joined the Army in order to get a good job.  Donald took basic training at Fort Carson, Colorado.  During basic training, he arranged to get married to his sweetheart Phyllis Jean Cheek, who he had been dating for three years.

After basic training they departed for Fort Bragg, North Carolina where he attended his second eight weeks training with the 502 ^nd Airborne.  Deciding not to go airborne, he received orders for Germany.  After living there for one month he was joined by his wife and permitted to live off base.  While in Germany, his enlistment period ended, so he enlisted for six more years.  He was also promoted to specialist fourth class.  Completing his tour in Germany, he received orders for Fort Bliss, Texas.  They found an apartment to live in while his work took him to McGregor Range.  He rode the transport bus to and from El Paso daily.  While there he received orders to Vietnam.  His wife returned to her home in Hiawatha, Kansas to live at this time.  His placement of duty from Vietnam assigned him to Fort Chaffee, Arkansas.  This was to a general automotive support (gas) company which was soon to move to Fort Sill.  Donald was, in charge of the tech-supply section for the company.  After moving to Fort Sill, the company took up a place off Minor Road west of Sheridan.  While there, Sgt. Henke applied for flight school and was accepted for training.  He departed Fort Sill in June of 1966 for training at Fort Stewart, Georgia.  This was his initial phase of training.  Upon graduation he remained at Fort Rucker for additional cross training in the Ru-8D which would be the plane he would be flying in Vietnam.  Upon his return from Vietnam, he was assigned to Fort Stewart, Georgia to receive flight instructor training.

After three years, he was ordered back to Vietnam for ninety days.  When Donald returned to Fort Stewart he received orders for rotary wing Q-Course with assignment to Fort Wainwright, Alaska.  While assigned there, he had additional duty as manager of a small flying club having fixed wing aircraft to fly.  Upon completion of his military duty there he was assigned to Fort Bliss, Texas where he retired with over twenty years of service.  He attended UTEP University for two years and accepted a job as a service manager at a Goodyear store in Artesia, New Mexico.  While there he accepted a job working for Halliburton Oil Field Service.  He worked in several capacities, and the last one was running a pump truck, where he mixed cement and pumped it into the ground, cementing the pipe to the ground.

After almost five years he was laid off.  He then returned to Fort Bliss, Texas where he applied for ammunition manager school, which assigned him to Savannah, Illinois for training.  After working there for two years, he applied for work with the Corp of Engineer's working on the Illinois River.  After nine years he decided to retire, which he then did in August of 2000.  Upon retirement he and Phyllis moved to their current home in Lawton, Oklahoma.  Chief Henke received numerous awards including the Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Commendation, Senior Army Aviator Badge, Air Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters, Vietnam Campaign Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Air Defense Medal, Good Conduct Medal with 4 Clusters, and the Army Commendation Medal.  His schooling took him to USAAVNS Element-WOFWAC 68-3 (061B) USAAVNS-RU-8, Army Qualification Course (AQC) 69-1 USASATC&S-ARDF USAAVNS-T-41B Method of Instruction (MOI) USAAVNS-RWQC.

Chief Henke is survived by his wife Phyllis and a son Timothy of the home, son Gary of Germany, Sister Elaine Shubert, two sisters-in-law, Arlene Henke and Dorothy Gilstrap, extended family members and his lifelong friend, Clifford Beil of Chilton, Wisconsin.