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Signal Charlie - CAPT WIlliam E. Zidbeck, USN (Ret.)
CAPT William E. Zidbeck, USN (Ret.), former Commanding Officer of HS-5, NAS Guantanamo Bay, Cuba and a lifetime member of the Naval Helicopter Association (NHA), passed away at home in Imperial Beach, California on March 15, 2021. He was 88 years old. LT William E. Zidbeck, USN became a designated Navy Helicopter Pilot on December 11, 1963 at HT-8, NAS Ellyson Field, Pensacola, Flordia. LT Zidbeck was Naval Helicopter Designator Number R-7083. He was born on 7 June 1932 in Ancon, Canal Zone, Panama. Bill Zidbeck was 12 years old when his family moved to Corona CA. He was valedictorian of his class at Corona Senior High School. He attended Stanford University on an NROTC scholarship and graduated in 1954 with a degree in Biology. At Stanford, he met his wife, Jo Ann “Jody” Hill, of Alhambra, and they were married June 13, 1954, in Stanford’s Memorial Church.
In October 1955 he finished his flight training at NAS Hutchinson, Kansas, and received his “Wings of Gold” as a Naval Aviator. No allotments in Neptune P2V squadron were available at that time, so Bill was sent to Glynco, Georgia for lighterthan-airship training. In 1956-57 he served in airship squadron ZP-4, and ZW-1 until the Navy ended its support of airships at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in1961. He next served as an NROTC Instructor at USC and finished his 3 year tour in 1963, with orders to a helicopter squadron in Imperial Beach, California. In the summer of 1965, Jody and Bill adopted their son, William Scott. He then qualified as a helicopter pilot at Ellyson Field, Pensacola FL. After HS-10 replacement pilot training, he went to Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron 6 in 1964 as Administrative and subsequently Maintenance Officer and was embarked in 1964 and in 1966 on USS Kearsarge for two Western Pacific deployments in the South China Sea.
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His next tour of duty was as Replacement Air Group Instructor at Helicopter AntiSubmarine Squadron 1, NAS Key West, Florida, and was promoted to Captain.
He assumed command of HS-5 in Hamburg, Germany. During Captain Zidbeck’s tenure of command, 1970-1971, HS-5 deployed into the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean and was the recipient of the Battle “E”, Arnold J. Isbell Trophy for Excellence in Airborne ASW Operations and the Navy Unit Commendation.
He assumed command of Naval Air Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba from 1977-1979. NAS Guantanamo was the first recipient of the Silver Eagle Award for the best retention program in the U.S. Naval Forces, Atlantic. In 1982, he and his wife moved to Coronado. His last tour of duty was as Commanding Officer of Naval Education, Training and Support, Pacific.
In 1984 he retired from the Navy and moved to Imperial Beach where he taught Science at Castle Park High School. He founded the Imperial Beach Optimist Club in 1987 and in 2001, he was the first president of the Friends of the Imperial Beach Library. His life was dedicated to public service and will be greatly missed.
CAPT Bill Zidbeck, USN (Ret.)(first row right) and others who served at Ream Field stand with Naval Base Coronado Commanding Officer CAPT Timothy J. Slentz, (left), and NBC Executive Officer Capt. John W. DePree, (back row right), after the Ream Field Centennial Ceremony held at Naval Outlying Landing Field (NOLF) Imperial Beach (IB) on Oct.5, 2018. U.S. Navy photo by Air Traffic Controller 1st Class Joseph Rolfe, USN.
