Local Veteran Apache Helicopter Pilot Awarded Distinguished Flying Cross Medal After 34 Years

Tim "T-Bone" Vincent, 28-Year Army Vet Known For First Shots of Gulf War

Tim Vincent with his DFC medal at his home in Bee Spring with wife Rose in the background.

Darren Doyle, story and photos:
An Edmonson County veteran received a prestigious medal in a ceremony at the 2025 Army Aviation Association of America or "Quad A," last week in Nashville, Tennessee.

CWO-4 (Chief Warrant Officer 4)Tim "T-bone" Vincent, age 66 of Bee Spring, a retired Apache helicopter pilot, received the medal, which is the fourth highest award for heroism, and the highest for aerial achievement, as he was joined by some of his fellow officers at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel.

Tim "Tbone" Vincent (center) was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross after 34 years in a ceremony in Nashville on May 15, 2025.

Vincent's Distinguished Flying Cross Medal.

He is known as Tim, T-bone, and Vinny, and most would agree he is a hero, although he disagrees on the latter.

Tim invited me to his home on Thursday, May 22nd and shared many stories about his nearly 30 years of military service. Most of those stories were filled with funny and fond memories of his fellow servicemen and not about the medal, which is only one of several he has received.

Tim, a 1977 graduate of Edmonson County High School, earned his nickname "T-bone" from playing high school football.

"I was a freshman and it was a situation where I had this particular good run and Mark Seabolt said something like 'Give him a bone!' And somewhere in there, he came up with T-bone, and it stuck," Vincent said.

He enlisted in the U.S. Army in April of 1980 where he would go on to airborne school, then reported to Savannah, Georgia to the First Ranger Battalion where he completed ranger school. 

"I went through a lot of military schools. Pathfinder, static line jump master, halo jump master," he said. He then pointed to a photo of himself jumping from a military aircraft.

"That's me clearing the tailgate of a C-130. Those guys in the forefront there are about a half-second in front of me. That's about a 12,500 feet free fall," he said.

(photo below)

A photo of Vincent in one of his many jumps.

Vincent's pride in his military service goes far behind the one mission that earned him his most recent medal. I felt like I was watching a movie in my mind as he described so many of his experiences. But it wasn't a movie at all. It was very real.

So what earned him the medal? As a highly-skilled pilot of an AH-64 Apache helicopter, which is a heavily armored, twin-engine attack helicopter used by the U.S. Army and other international forces, he and fellow pilots fired the very first shots of the Gulf War in 1991.

Vincent describing the autographed framed print of "Deliverance," by Dru Blair.

Tim described the mission, and while it took months of preparation and training, he said it only took a few minutes to complete.

"The first shots of the war is the claim to fame," he said, which took place on January 17, 1991.

"There were two radar sites about 10 miles apart on the Iraq border and we had two Air Force Pave Lows. They had GPS back then. They wanted to lead us in. It was their mission originally and they figured out that they couldn't do it. They got us  within 16 km, about, you know, 10 or 12 miles. Then they peeled off to a release point over here. We had two teams that went to a release point about 10 km from the radar site. There was two of them, 10 miles apart and then we broke off. Four aircrafts went to this one, four aircrafts went to this one. All this was done under no (communication). We took off an hour and a half later--what they said was "Party in 10..." and that was a 10-second countdown. And we opened up on 'em."

"We took out those two radar sites. It all happened in about 2 to 3 minutes. We had flown from about 50 to 100 feet to get there, and on the way back out-- we’re coming out, (at 500ft) but what that did was open up a corridor that was 10 miles wide and 500 feet high. And all them aircraft that went to Baghdad went through that corridor at about 300 feet, and us coming out. They were like "whew, whew, whew," (he motioned with his hand as something quickly coming toward him) and the first time I ever saw a stealth fighter was that night under FLIR (forward-looking infrared). It was the first shots of the war."

Without radar, Iraqi fighters wouldn't know what was headed their way. Those American fighters coming in the corridor prepared by Vincent and others, now with no radar detecting them, opened fire on Baghdad as Operation Desert Shield came to and end and Operation Desert Storm was now underway.

Vincent, in 2004, standing on the door of the hiding place where Saddam Hussein was captured.

Vincent said he and his buddies listened on their way out as they heard the radio communication from the fighters that went in.

"It was the coolest play-by-play I'd ever heard."

He retired in 2008 after completing 292 combat missions, 27 direct-fire engagements, 987 total combat hours, in addition to 235 total jumps from an aircraft, with 100 of them being free fall.

He asked me if I knew what a direct-fire engagement was. "Where someone is shooting back at you?" I asked ignorantly.

"Not anymore," he quipped.

He showed me a framed print of an Apache entitled "Deliverance," by artist Dru Blair, who had signed the piece. In the frame were his other medals and pins that included the Air Medal, Legion of Merit, Merit Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, and the Southwest Asia Service Medal.

Vincent's photo in the Edmonson County Courthouse as well as EdmonsonVets.com.

He shared more stories before asking if I could take a photo of him with his wife Maria Roslyn, and granddaughter Ariana together as we finished a cup of coffee. I was happy to oblige. As someone who never served, I love and appreciate hearing the stories from veterans, especially those from our own community, who made great sacrifice for all of us today.

He took as much or more pride in the stories unrelated to his newest medal. Stories about being a Ranger instructor and completing flight school.

He shared a personal interaction with General Norman Schwarzkopf, the leader of all coalition forces in the Gulf War. He said General Schwarzkopf noticed Vincent's uniform, which indicated his experience prior to becoming a pilot, which was already 10 years worth of service.

I took one last look at the newly received Distinguished Flying Cross medal on his kitchen table. I asked him, "Did you ever wonder why it took 34 years to get this? Do you ever think about that stuff?"

He chuckled with a quick "no."

Basic government red tape prolonged a medal that should have been awarded decades ago. If not for a friend who fought for Vincent's medal, he wouldn't have received it, but that seemed to be last on Vincent's list of wants.

"I'm not a hero by any means," he said. "But I sure served with some."

I thanked him for his service.

"Well, you're welcome. I was proud to serve my country, my state, and I was proud to serve my county," he said with a smile.

As I left his beautiful home, we walked outside on his front porch. It has a composite decking floor built around a massive, industrial flag pole with a light and Old Glory waving high. At the base of the pole where the names of six fallen fellow Apache pilots.

"Every Memorial Day I put a drink out there for each of them. I miss them." And that was all he said about it. I got a bit of a lump in my throat.

L-R: wife Maria Roslyn Vincent, Tim, and granddaughter Ariana.

Flagpole at his front porch.

Vincent's brother John E. Vincent, a Chalybeate resident, is also a combat vet. Tim has a son that serves in the Marine Corp, Wesley B. Vincent, and he also has a daughter, Jordan Vincent.

He is the son of the late Tranze and Erma Vincent.

Finally, with Memorial Day coming up, I'd like to encourage everyone to visit EdmonsonVets.com, which is a website I created in conjunction with local VFW member Floyd Houston that contains each soldier's photo currently on display in the Edmonson County Courthouse Hall of Honor. It's a project that they all deserve.

Happy Memorial Day to everyone.