Lieutenant Colonel Hugh L. Mills Jr. is a retired United States Army officer who served in the Vietnam War. Mills enlisted in the United States Army on 1 February 1967 and after attending Officer Candidate School at Fort Knox was commissioned as an armor officer on 15 December. He was then assigned as a training officer with the 15th Reconnaissance Squadron. He completed Army aviation training in late 1968.
Mills arrived in South Vietnam in January 1969, and was assigned to D Troop, 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, first flying UH-1 Hueys before transitioning to the OH-6A Cayuse. Following his first tour in Viet Nam, served with the 2nd Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, in West Germany. In September 1971 he returned to South Vietnam flying the AH-1G Cobra gunship with D Troop, 3rd Squadron, 5th Cavalry Regiment and then flew OH-6As as platoon commander of C Troop, 16th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Aviation Brigade.
Mills flew over 2000 combat hours in the OH-6 and more than 1300 combat hours in the AH-1 in Vietnam. He was shot down 16 times, 15 times in the OH-6. After retiring from the army in 1993, Mills co-wrote the book Low Level Hell about his experiences as a scout pilot in South Vietnam.
Mills' decorations include the Silver Star (3), Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross (4), Bronze Star Medal (3), Purple Heart (3), Air Medal (66), Air Medal with 'V' Device (6), Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Silver Star and Palm, Vietnamese Armed Forces Honor Medal First Class and the Vietnamese Civil Actions Medal First Class. In 2011 Mills was inducted into the Army Aviation Hall of Fame. In 2013 he was added to the Arkansas Walk of Fame.