tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11693256988883606442024-03-13T05:56:17.179-06:00Swickard WorldJack Swickardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01798645835702357340noreply@blogger.comBlogger68125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169325698888360644.post-87628489389509916612023-04-30T10:54:00.000-06:002023-04-30T16:21:48.270-06:00Gilmer to address Artesia dinner<p><span style="font-family: inherit;">An international authority on energy exploration data will be featured speaker at a Celebrating Oil & Gas Dinner on May 4 at the Artesia Country Club.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Allen Gilmer will describe “Where We Have Been, Where We Are, and Where Are We Going?” at the dinner.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Gilmer, managing partner of Thunderbird Pictures, started and ran Drillinginfo (now called Enverus) from 1999 to 2018. He has been producing feature films since 2018,</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-1HlLSwANJi3mgQIszUTywQj3avxcwcGP9Qq26HcTN_VOFnIwqzxiRaGfibOnWxCqGN0hbZloUsYNmhiNYl7khZq55bbXesbDj5tRZgo-ebm2SgC2j-j383AcgRfMrORcsKQybrQLjDXB4Q0SHe94JejhOBXz_rqI-17sHI8AEY6nMKB5PkUhTgrQtw/s837/ALLEN%20GILMER%20ART.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="558" data-original-width="837" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-1HlLSwANJi3mgQIszUTywQj3avxcwcGP9Qq26HcTN_VOFnIwqzxiRaGfibOnWxCqGN0hbZloUsYNmhiNYl7khZq55bbXesbDj5tRZgo-ebm2SgC2j-j383AcgRfMrORcsKQybrQLjDXB4Q0SHe94JejhOBXz_rqI-17sHI8AEY6nMKB5PkUhTgrQtw/s320/ALLEN%20GILMER%20ART.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Allen Gilmer</b></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>He is still active leasing, drilling, and producing oil, gas, and helium in Louisiana, Texas, Colorado, and Montana through Vecta Energy Ltd, a company he helped found in the late 1990s.</span><p></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span></span>Gilmer grew up in El Paso, spent summers and weekends in Ruidoso, and attended Rice University in Houston.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>He received his master’s degree in geology from UTEP and went to work for Marathon Oil Co. as a geophysicist. He went independent in 1993, and pioneered shooting 3-D seismic surveys.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>During his talk, Gilmer is expected to touch on the upcoming Centennial Celebration recognizing the 100th anniversary of the first commercial well completed by the Yates family and its partners in April 1924 on New Mexico State Trust Lands.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>Robert G. Armstrong, president of Armstrong Energy Corp. of Roswell, and Jim Ball, land advisor for Yates Holdings in Artesia, are the dinner co-chairs.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>Armstrong said the purpose of the dinner and related events is to “emphasize the importance of the oil and gas industry in New Mexico over the past 100 years and the next 100 years.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>“Revenue from the event will be used to fund future Artesia Centennial events, scholarships, and energy training for science teachers through the Roswell Geological Society, New Mexico Landmen’s Association, the Desk and Derrick Clubs of Artesia and Roswell, and multiple universities,” he said.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The Artesia Centennial Committee, the Geological Society, the Landmen’s Association, and the Desk and Derrick Clubs of Artesia and Roswell are hosting the dinner.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>Gilmer spoke at a similar dinner entitled “State Trust Lands: Energizing New Mexico” in April 2017 at the Roswell Convention and Civic Center. Some 600 people attended that dinner.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>The 2017 dinner raised $202,000, of which $160,000 went to university scholarships, as well as student and teacher training.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>This year’s dinner is the fourth in a series to honor the oil and gas industry, and raise money for scholarships and community organizations.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>The dinners have resulted in $375,000 going to scholarships and training programs.</span></p>
<p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></p><p style="font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>The dinners were initiated by Edward K. “Eddie” David, president of David Petroleum Corp. of Roswell, and Bill Owen, vice president and exploration manager of David Petroleum.</span></p>Jack Swickardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01798645835702357340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169325698888360644.post-81865760472452990912021-07-14T15:17:00.003-06:002023-03-18T10:34:03.301-06:00David honors military veterans<p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">Eddie David has a special way to honor U.S. military veterans from Chaves and Eddy counties.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">David, officers and employees of his company, and friends work for months planning a dinner and program to honor a veteran.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">The most recent veteran honored was Charles “Chuck” Joy, a 100-year-old, World War II bomber pilot.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">Joy, a retired petroleum engineer from Artesia, was the fourth veteran honored at a Patriot Appreciation Dinner. The dinner was held Saturday night in the conference room at Lovelace Regional Hospital in Roswell.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">The dinner, sponsored by David Petroleum Corp. of Roswell since 2009, is the brainchild of David, the company’s president.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">Joy flew 50 combat missions as a pilot with the U.S. 15th Air Force over Europe and North Africa in a B-24 Liberator bomber.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_A4CLLepLk4/YO9RhrzmJZI/AAAAAAAAMY0/rD8RzKPYL6kANX_nQWdUtZzFVnwy0OvUgCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/GRIZZLE%252C%2BJOY.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1552" data-original-width="2048" height="242" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_A4CLLepLk4/YO9RhrzmJZI/AAAAAAAAMY0/rD8RzKPYL6kANX_nQWdUtZzFVnwy0OvUgCLcBGAsYHQ/w320-h242/GRIZZLE%252C%2BJOY.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>Maj. Gen. Jerry Grizzle, NMMI superintendent, and Joy<br /></b></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: times;">During the dinner, Joy told how he had tried to join the British Royal Air Force (RAF) or the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) before the United States entered World War II. However, the RCAF recruiter told him the U.S. government had asked Americans not be recruited as the United States would be entering the war.</span><p></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">“I was attending Compton Junior College in California when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941. I went down to the recruiting center, where I passed the test for military pilot training. I was placed on inactive duty while waiting to be activated,” Joy recalled.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">“On Nov. 22, 1942, the Army ordered me onto active duty. I was sent to San Antonio, Texas. While there, I attended classification and preflight schools. Then I was sent to primary flight training in Muskogee, Okla.,” he said. “After primary training, I was sent to basic flying school in Coffeyville, Kan.”</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">His next assignment was advanced flight training at Mission, Texas, near the border with Mexico.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">“Sometimes we would buzz the bullring during bullfights. These drew protests from the government of Mexico,” Joy said.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">“After graduating from advanced flight training, I was assigned as a copilot on a B-24 crew at Pueblo, Colo. The first week I was there, eight aircraft flew into Pike’s Peak,” he added.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>Before deployment to the European Theater, Joy was assigned to Long Island, N.Y., where he was to pick up a B-24 and ferry it across the Atlantic to Italy for combat duty.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>His flight took him from Long Island to Palm Beach, Fla., then to Cuba, Puerto Rico, Trinidad, Brazil, Dakar, Tunisia, and eventually Italy.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>Along the way, his bomber experienced engine oil loss caused by a whisky cork in the tank. Only two of the eight B-24s in his flight arrived safely in Italy.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>“While stationed in Italy, I flew 50 bombing missions over France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, and Northern Italy,” Joy recalled.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>During these missions, he flew the lead aircraft for five bomber groups.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>“Combat was a bad experience. Every morning you got up and didn’t know if you would return that night,” he said.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ylDTaLTi0oI/YO9ReOiRs_I/AAAAAAAAMYw/09JElk5rSok0assc8yHyIACn5A9dbJXPQCLcBGAsYHQ/s2048/EDDIE%2BDAVID.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1739" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ylDTaLTi0oI/YO9ReOiRs_I/AAAAAAAAMYw/09JElk5rSok0assc8yHyIACn5A9dbJXPQCLcBGAsYHQ/w170-h200/EDDIE%2BDAVID.jpg" width="170" /></span></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: times;"><b>Eddie David hosting dinner</b></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-family: times;">Joy remembers one mission over Munich in which the B-24 flying in front of him took a direct hit in its bomb bay. <span>“When the bombs exploded, the aircraft just disappeared.”</span></span><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">Joy returned to school after the war, enrolling in Howard College in Birmingham, Ala., in 1947. He later dropped out to work for two years, then enrolled at the University of Alabama.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">“In 1954, I received my MS in Petroleum Engineering, placing in the top 15 graduates in a class of 1,200 engineers. I accepted a job with Atlantic Refining Co.”</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">Years later — after other jobs in petroleum engineering — “I took over operations for Newmont, then the third-largest oil company in New Mexico. After 10 years with Newmont, I became a consulting engineer. I worked until I was 96 years old,” Chuck said.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>Over the years, the other veterans honored by David Petroleum are:</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: times;">Thomas J. Owen</span></b></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">The previous veteran honored by David Petroleum was Retired Lt. Gen. Thomas J. Owen, a Roswell native whose military career included high Air Force command positions.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>Before retiring from the Air Force in 2012, Owen was commander of the Aeronautical Systems Center at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">As <span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: -0.1px;">Center commander and program executive officer for aircraft</span> procurement and modernization, he led the Air Force’s <span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: -0.1px;">center of excellence for development and acquisition of</span> aeronautical systems.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">After retiring from the Air Force, Owen served as executive vice president of Dayton Aerospace. He later joined Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. as vice president of sustainment strategies.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"></span>Owen holds a bachelor’s degree in Organizational Behavior from the Air Force Academy, a master’s degree in Political Science from Troy University, and a master’s degree in National Security Strategy from the National Defense University.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">His military awards include the <span class="s1" style="letter-spacing: -0.1px;">Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, the Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, and the Meritorious Service Medal with a silver oak leaf cluster.</span></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">He was honored in March 2018 as Patriot III by David Petroleum.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: times;">Scott Lilley</span></b></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">In December 2011, Retired Staff Sgt. Scott Lilley was honored as Patriot II.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: times; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">Lilley, raised in Roswell, joined the Air Force in October 1999. He was assigned to Holloman Air Force Base, Spangdahlem Air Force Base in Germany, and Minot Air Force Base in North Dakota before being deployed to Afghanistan.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: times; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">He then was deployed to Camp Liberty, Iraq.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">On April 15, 2007 — five months into his Iraq tour — Lilley suffered major head trauma in a roadside bomb explosion.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: times; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">After recovering from his wounds, Lilley was assigned to Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, as a security force instructor until his medical retirement in December 2010.</span></p><p class="p2" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><b><span style="font-family: times;">Jack Swickard</span></b></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">Patriot I, honored in 2009, was Vietnam helicopter pilot Jack Swickard.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: times; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">Swickard, whose father was a military officer, lived in the Philippine Islands and on the outskirts of London while growing up.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;"><br /></span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">He enlisted in the Army in 1965 and was commissioned a warrant officer aviator after completing flight school at Fort Wolters, Texas, and Fort Rucker, Ala.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: times; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">In February 1967, Swickard was assigned to the 118th Assault Helicopter Company at Bien Hoa Airfield, South Vietnam.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: times; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">Three months later, in May 1967, he and the pilot of another UH-1D “Huey” helicopter rescued more than 120 South Vietnamese troops from an ambush by 600-700 enemy soldiers. To rescue the troops, the pilots chopped their way to the ground through branches with their rotor blades. They flew into the rescue landing zone 5 times under heavy enemy fire.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: times; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">After returning from Vietnam in 1968, Swickard was assigned as adjutant of the 55th Aviation Battalion at Fort Hood, Texas.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: times; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">His combat awards include the Distinguished Flying Cross with 1 oak leaf cluster, the Bronze Star Medal, the Air Medal with 22 oak leaf clusters, and the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: times; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">He moved to Chaves County in 1974 as editor of the Roswell Daily Record.</span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="font-family: times; white-space: pre;"> </span></p><p class="p1" style="font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: times;">In 2000, Swickard founded The Triton Group, a public relations company specializing in international police consulting.</span></p></div>Jack Swickardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01798645835702357340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169325698888360644.post-12403397386904620182020-09-02T10:32:00.002-06:002023-03-18T10:35:33.882-06:00N.M. documentary nominated for Emmy<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: times;"><span> A documentary on a New Mexico family’s loss which led to the first major Vietnam veterans’ memorial is a finalist for a regional Emmy Award.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: times;"> The documentary tells the story of Victor “Doc” and Jeanne Westphall who took their son’s GI life insurance and began building the memorial overlooking Angel Fire, N.M.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> The son, Marine 1st Lt. Victor David Westphall III, was killed in battle on May 28, 1968, near Con Thien, South Vietnam.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> <i>On This Hallowed Ground: Vietnam Memorial Born From Tragedy</i> is one of three nominees for an Historical Documentary Emmy, which will be presented Sept. 19 by the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences’ Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> Sarah Kanafani of Albuquerque is the documentary’s producer and director. Kanafani owns Luminance Pictures, which has been producing documentaries and promotion videos for major national and New Mexico companies and institutions for years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> <i>On This Hallowed Ground</i> already has won:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;">• Two Telly Awards for Best Documentary in Online Media and Best Editing in Non-Broadcast. Telly Awards honor excellence in video and television across all screens.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"><span>• </span><span>The 2020 REMI Award from WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://www.vietnamveteransmemorial.org/memorials-features/documentary/"><span style="font-family: times;">CLICK TO VIEW DOCUMENTARY</span></a></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> <i>On This Hallowed Ground</i> was two years in the making, beginning when the David Westphall Veterans Foundation asked Kanafani to produce a short video to show at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which has been operated by the state Department of Veterans Services since July 1, 2017.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> Kanafani was contacted by the Westphall Foundation when the Memorial’s Huey helicopter was transported to Roswell to be refurbished, repainted, and restored to its Vietnam War appearance. Transportation and restoration costs were donated by state agencies, private companies and their employees.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> As Luminance Pictures worked on the short video, Kanafani sensed a much larger story was waiting to be documented.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> She began scheduling interviews with Westphall Foundation board members and Vietnam War veterans. Two of the veterans had been Huey pilots during the war.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> In the interests of full disclosure, I should explain I was one of the pilots interviewed. I have served on the Foundation board for years and I flew the Memorial’s Huey on combat missions in 1967 when it was assigned to the 118th Assault Helicopter Company at Bien Hoa, South Vietnam.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;">Ron Milam narrating documentary</span></b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> The other pilot interviewed in the documentary was my good friend Tom Baca of Albuquerque, who also served in the 118th AHC before transferring to the II Field Force flight detachment. Tom could not recall flying the Memorial’s Huey, but he had an encyclopedic memory of flying combat missions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> Tom and I described our experiences flying Hueys in combat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> Early this past Sunday, Tom died in an Albuquerque hospital after battling cancer for months. Tom welcomed the opportunity to be a part of the documentary. He told me many times over the years how peaceful and refreshed he felt whenever he visited the Memorial.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> Other Westphall board members with speaking parts in <i>On This Hallowed Ground</i> are Chuck Howe, president; Chuck Hasford, treasurer; Richard “Dick” Dickerson, secretary; Walter Westphall, son of Doc and Jeanne Westphall and brother of David Westphall; and Ron Milam. All are military veterans, most having served in the Vietnam War.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><b>Victor Westphall</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> Milam is the documentary’s commentator, who explains the war’s impact on the U.S. society and Jeanne and Victor Westphall’s lifetime roles in building the memorial. He is associate professor of history at Texas Tech University in Lubbock and was an infantry advisor to Montagnard forces during the Vietnam War.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"><span> Kanafani said of the documentary’s nomination: </span><span>“We are honored this important film has led to our first Emmy Award nomination. My wish is this nomination furthers the exposure of such an incredible story of bravery, loss, and healing.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> “The contribution Doc Westphall and his wife made to the soldiers, fallen and living, their families and to our nation is like no other. Grappling with the heartache of war and the pain of losing a son or daughter in war is never easy. But for this man, he went a step further and built a chapel of healing to honor the dead on both sides, uniting us all in peace and brotherhood.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><b>Chuck Howe in documentary scene</b></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> “It was an honor to work on such an important story and my hope is the knowledge of this chapel and the family behind it will spread and will find its place in the hearts of many.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> The Memorial originally was named the Vietnam Veterans Peace and Brotherhood Chapel, dedicated to the memory of David Westphall and the other 16 Marines who died with him at Con Thien in 1968.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> The chapel was dedicated on the third anniversary of David Westphall’s death, on May 22, 1971. It was the first major Vietnam veterans memorial in the United States and inspired the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., which was completed in 1982.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> Over the years, the Memorial has been operated by the Disabled American Veterans, the Westphall Foundation, New Mexico State Parks, and the New Mexico Department of Veterans Services.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> The Memorial includes the Chapel, an adjacent Visitors Center, a Gift Shop, a Veterans Memorial Walkway, an amphitheater, a Memorial Garden, and the gravesite of Jeanne and Victor Westphall. More than 45,000 people visit the Memorial each year.</span></div>
<o:p></o:p>Jack Swickardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01798645835702357340noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169325698888360644.post-90382093368562128092020-09-01T15:40:00.002-06:002023-03-18T10:39:16.702-06:00Friendship strong for 53 years<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: times;"> When my cell phone rang Sunday morning my stomach felt like it dropped three feet. Tom Horan’s name was on caller ID.<span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> Tom told me our close friend, Tom Baca, had died early that morning. Though Tom Baca had been doing well when I visited with him on FaceTime several weeks earlier, I knew Tom Horan was calling to tell me he had died.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> The two Toms had known each other since grade school. Years later, Army Warrant Officer Tom Baca had given Army Lt. Tom Horan his first orientation ride in a helicopter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> Tom Horan went on to become a scout helicopter pilot in South Vietnam.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> That’s where Tom Baca and I met — in Vietnam, under unique circumstances stemming from a misunderstanding.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> Before I joined the Army, I had worked as a reporter for <i>The Albuquerque Tribune</i>. One of the television reporters covering the news with me on the Albuquerque police beat in 1965 was Jim Baca.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> Later that year I enlisted in the Army. After basic training and helicopter flight school, I flew to South Vietnam.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;">Tom Baca in Huey cockpit in South Vietnam in 1966.</span></b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> After signing in at the 118th Assault Helicopter Company I went to the officers’ club. I was surprised to see a familiar face at one of the tables.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> “Jim, what are you doing here?” I asked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> “I’m not Jim. He’s my twin brother,” came the reply. “I’m Tom Baca.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> This began a close friendship, beginning in February 1967 and lasting until Sunday, Aug. 30, 2020.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> Over this 53-year friendship, Tom and I drank martinis together in London, Saigon, Hanoi, Shanghai, Dallas, Atlanta, Washington, Charlotte, and many other cities. Tom enjoyed martinis with friends; I enjoyed martinis with Tom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> We were alike in many ways. Like Tom, I had a twin brother. We bought our first hybrid cars within days of each other. We were hooked on high-tech gadgets.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> Tom and I had our differences, too, mainly political. We adopted a simple rule: Never discuss politics.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> In a lounge at the Hotel Caravelle Saigon in 2008, the wife of a mutual friend started attacking a president whom I liked. Tom immediately shut down the criticism. “Jack and I have a rule, we don’t discuss politics. I’d appreciate it if you would honor this,” he told her. She did.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> It was Tom who coaxed me into returning to Vietnam 40 years after I returned from my combat tour in 1967-68. I had planned to go someday, but kept putting it off.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> However, Richard Max, director of a planned documentary about a rescue mission Tom and I flew with our aircrews in May 1967, came to Tom’s home for an initial visit with us. Tom told Richard he planned to visit southern Vietnam in October 2008.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> “You should come, too,” Tom told me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> I agreed and Richard said it would be a good opportunity to get footage of us in the landing zone where we had pulled off the rescue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nCwM6Q4JZRE/X069HHHtr5I/AAAAAAAAK6w/ydzdnUvND3EhCtliJqFGeWtaVYxl_atIgCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/IMG_5995.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="540" height="296" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nCwM6Q4JZRE/X069HHHtr5I/AAAAAAAAK6w/ydzdnUvND3EhCtliJqFGeWtaVYxl_atIgCLcBGAsYHQ/s320/IMG_5995.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;">Tom and Dinh Ngoc Truc during documentary<br />filming near Tay Ninh City in 2008.</span></b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> The filming went great. Richard and his colleagues at Windfall Films had to work over the holidays to put the documentary together in time for its television debut, but they were finished in time for a special screening in January 2009. Tom, his copilot Larry Liss, me, and our wives traveled to London for the screening.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> The government advisor to the Windfall Films crew was a former member of the People’s Army — known to GIs as the North Vietnam Army. Dinh Ngoc Truc, who worked for the Ministry of Culture and Information, turned out to be a really great guy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> He became a close friend, and would stay with Tom in Albuquerque and me in Roswell on trips to the United States. His wife Phuong joined him on one trip, and taught Jan Baca and Renee Swickard the fine points of Vietnamese cooking.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> Over the years Tom, Truc, and I would organize trips to Vietnam, taking along other veterans of the war. It was great therapy for anyone with a lingering sense of uneasiness about their war years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> Tom was unfailingly kind. He had been stricken with multiple sclerosis, but was able to keep it at bay. Tom told me many times, “if you know someone with MS, tell them I can come and visit them. I can tell them it’s not the end of the world.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> At lunch one day in an Albuquerque restaurant I saw Tom call over the waitress and point to two police officers at another table. “Give me their bill. I want to pay for their lunch.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> This was typical of Tom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> Another time a friend, retired Lt. Gen. Richard T. Knowles, died. Dick had gone to Vietnam as deputy commander of the 1st Cavalry Division and many years later settled in Roswell, where he became my state representative in the New Mexico Legislature.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> Dick’s son called me and asked if I would like to sort through his papers, plaques, and trophies. I called Tom. “I have a job for you. Can you help me sort through Dick Knowles’ memorabilia?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> Tom was at my home the next day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> We spent two days sorting the memorabilia into separate boxes to present to military museums around the United States. Then we took a road trip and donated them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> Most of the items went to The Vietnam Center & Sam Johnson Vietnam Archive at Texas Tech University. It’s the second-largest Vietnam War archive in the United States, behind the National Archives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> Tom was liked by everyone he met because he was so comfortable to be around.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> I’ll really miss Tom.</span></div>
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<o:p></o:p>Jack Swickardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01798645835702357340noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169325698888360644.post-81621500107512516202020-09-01T14:49:00.001-06:002023-03-18T10:41:13.232-06:00Tom Baca makes home in the sky<div style="margin: 0in;">
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: times;"> Major Thomas Delfin Baca was a man to whom gravity meant nothing. From joining the Army at age 17 to fly helicopters, to his lifelong career as a pilot, to his six-month battle with cancer, nothing could keep him down. He knew he belonged in the sky and on August 30th, 2020, early in the morning, he decided to make that his home.<span style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> Tom was born September 6th, 1945, in Albuquerque, New Mexico to Fermin and Dixie Baca (Sapp) as part of a matching set with his twin brother Jim Baca, and they became beloved little brothers to Maria Carlota Baca of Santa Fe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;"><b>Tom Baca</b><span> </span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> Tom is survived by his wife of 51 years, Janet Baca of Albuquerque, daughters Sara Reeves (Jason Reeves) of Hamilton, Montana, and Stephanie Baca of Los Angeles, California, as well as 4 grandchildren Kelly Brion (Grant Brion) of Hamilton, Montana, Kevin Reeves of Bozeman, Montana, Emma Schmidt and Maya Schmidt, both of Los Angeles, California, his twin brother, Jim Baca (Bobbi Baca) of Albuquerque, New Mexico, and his big sister Dr Maria Carlota Baca of Santa Fe, New Mexico, as well as many beloved nieces and nephews.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> Tom joined the Army one week out of high school and went on to define heroism in a daring rescue on the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Vietnam. He served as an enlisted aircraft mechanic for 18 months and was appointed Warrant Officer on completion of U.S. Army Flight School.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> During his first tour of duty in Vietnam Tom engineered an epic rescue mission by saving over 100 surrounded soldiers who were pinned down in a bamboo forest. He used his Huey helicopter's rotors to slash a landing zone in order to rescue the men, flying into heavy enemy fire six times to complete the mission.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> This rescue was later the subject of a documentary produced by a British film company for the National Geographic and Smithsonian Channels in America. The one-hour show was called, “Helicopter Wars: Vietnam Firefight.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yc9YSMw88i0/X06yQZrLL2I/AAAAAAAAK6c/C_4gDN99YnwsBd1EEYN_IxZBUrE2A2hjACLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/Downed%2BHuey%2Bwith%2BTom.jpg" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: times;"><img border="0" data-original-height="465" data-original-width="720" height="205" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-yc9YSMw88i0/X06yQZrLL2I/AAAAAAAAK6c/C_4gDN99YnwsBd1EEYN_IxZBUrE2A2hjACLcBGAsYHQ/s320/Downed%2BHuey%2Bwith%2BTom.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: times; font-size: small;">Tom Baca (second from left) and crew of UH-1H Huey<br />helicopter shot down in Vietnam in 1966 early in Tom's<br />first combat tour.</span></b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> He received a direct commission as a regular officer during his second tour in Vietnam. He is a decorated Army helicopter and fixed-wing pilot and had flown as an Air Transport Rated commercial pilot from 1983-2003. For his heroic efforts during his two tours during the Vietnam War, he was awarded the Soldier’s Medal, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star, and 38 Air Medals. He has over 10,000 hours of flight time in many types of aircraft.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> He was a graduate of the University of Southern Colorado, and served as Aviation Director, the New Mexico Department of Transportation from July 2004 to his retirement in October 2009.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> He was highly active in his community and is responsible for grants to the 59 federally funded airports in New Mexico. He is remembered for his passion for life, family, travel, and for country. He believed in equality for all, truth, honesty, and fairness. He will live on in the hearts and minds of the many lives he touched.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you make a donation in Tom’s name to one of the following charities: The David Westphall Veterans Foundation at <a href="http://www.vietnamveteransmemorial.org/ways-to-give" style="color: #954f72;" target="_blank">www.vietnamveteransmemorial.org/ways-to-give</a>/ or to the National Wildlife Federation at <a href="http://support.nwf.org/" style="color: #954f72;" target="_blank">support.nwf.org</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: times;"> Interment will take place at Angel Fire Veterans Cemetery.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div align="right" style="margin: 0in 0in 0in 0.5in; text-align: right; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: times;">
—<span style="font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span><b>The Thomas Baca Family</b></span></div>
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<b><o:p></o:p></b>Jack Swickardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01798645835702357340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169325698888360644.post-19259303782979989062013-10-11T13:58:00.002-06:002013-10-11T15:10:56.707-06:00Friendship with military legend<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">ROSWELL, New
Mexico — Dick Knowles moved to Roswell around the time I became editor of the
Roswell Daily Record in the summer of 1974.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I knew little
about Dick, aside from friends describing him as a retired general who had
opened an antique shop. “Guess what he named it?” they would ask. Before I had
a chance to guess, they would blurt out: “The General’s Store.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I began to know
Dick after a group of Republicans asked him to run for election to the New
Mexico Legislature. Dick agreed to seek office. As editor of the local
newspaper, I would see him frequently. First, he came by the newsroom to be
interviewed and have his photograph — or mugshot — taken. I would see him at
political rallies and parties, giving speeches and shaking hands.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Lt. Gen. Richard T. Knowles</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">He and I also joined
the same Rotary club, so each Thursday we joined some 150 other people for
lunch.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Dick stood out
in a crowd. He was 6-foot-4. He also was </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">very soft-spoken. I noticed Dick
was a good listener and I could tell he weighed what he was told. When people
talked to him, they had his attention. I’m sure this helped him win the seat in
the state House of Representatives.</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">He did well in
the Legislature, earning the trust and respect of fellow lawmakers on both
sides of the aisle. Dick had served in enough military staff and command
positions to know there were multiple sides to any issue.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Dick rose high
in the Legislature for a minority member, eventually becoming House minority
leader. He treated each colleague the way they treated him and his wife, Betty
Kay. Once, after he had voted for the election of Democrat Raymond Sanchez as
speaker of the House, I asked him why he had supported Sanchez over the more
conservative candidate. Dick’s reply made excellent sense. “The other guy was
rude to my wife. Raymond has always been a gentleman to her.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Raymond also was
a shoe-in for House speaker. He never forgot Dick’s support and valued Dick’s
friendship. If Dick Knowles got behind an issue, he generally received as much
support from House Democrats as members of his own party.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Dick also told
me on several occasions a legislative body existed by compromise. This did not
set well with a group of partisan Republicans from his hometown and his
legislative district. They wanted a barroom brawler in the State Capitol, not a
statesman. So members of this group began looking for someone to run against
Dick in the next Republican primary election.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">After 16 years
in the state Legislature, Dick decided against seeking re-election. Though he
never said so within earshot of me, I think he was unhappy with the prospect of
running in a campaign holding the promise of mudslinging. Dick believed in the
political process and did not want to see it denigrated by a nasty campaign.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Over the years I
would visit with Dick about his time in the Army. Both of us had been helicopter
pilots in the Vietnam War, so we had a common topic we could discuss. Our
reminiscing sometimes would lead to other stories about military experiences.
Gradually, I learned more about Dick’s background.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">One story he
enjoyed telling me was how, earlier in his career, he had saved Camp Wolters
from being closed. Dick, of course, knew I had trained at the U.S. Army Primary
Helicopter Center at Fort Wolters. This was where all Army rotary-wing aviators
received their initial flight training during the Vietnam War.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HxpZB92MlTI/UlhWcEobifI/AAAAAAAAA8U/M7ZpCKn4h7M/s1600/Dick,+Betty+Kay.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="316" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HxpZB92MlTI/UlhWcEobifI/AAAAAAAAA8U/M7ZpCKn4h7M/s320/Dick,+Betty+Kay.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Dick Knowles and wife Betty Kay</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Dick shared
other stories with me. Slowly I was learning the major role he played in developing
the helicopter’s role in combat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the late
1980s, I learned even more from another source. During a Vietnam Helicopter
Pilots Association reunion in Fort Worth, the former pilots and their wives
were bused to Fort Wolters to look around and eat lunch. Helping give the
welcome was retired Lieutenant General Harold “Hal” Moore. I did not know
anything about Hal Moore at the time and thought he might be Colonel Howard
Moore, who had commanded the 145th Combat Aviation Battalion, to which my unit
— the 118th Assault Helicopter Company — was assigned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">After Hal
Moore’s welcome address, I approached the stage, introduced myself, mentioned
my hometown of Roswell, New Mexico, and asked if he had commanded the 145th.
“No,” he replied, then asked: “Do you know Dick Knowles?” When I said I did, Moore
told me what a great commander Dick had been when they served together in the 1st
Air Cavalry Division.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Please give him
my regards,” Moore said as I walked away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Hal Moore and
former United Press International reporter Joe Galloway later would co-author
the book “We Were Soldiers Once and Young” about the Battle of Ia Drang Valley,
the major engagement between the 1st Cavalry Division and the North Vietnam
Army. Moore had commanded the ground forces in the battle; Galloway stayed with
the 1st Cavalry throughout the fighting, covering the battle for UPI.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Later the book
would become a major Hollywood film, with the titled shortened slightly to: “We
Were Soldiers Once.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I met Hal Moore
again and Joe Galloway, as well, when they came to Roswell on separate
occasions to speak before the New Mexico Military Institute cadets. Each time
they would renew their friendship with Dick Knowles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Once, when I
visited with Dick about the battle, he told me he had selected the initial
landing zone used by Hal Moore and his troops.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">When the Roswell
Rotary Club and NMMI honored Dick for his achievements in the Legislature, I
offered to produce a video. I worked closely with Dick on the project. He would
bring me photographs of his past. Then we would work on the dialogue for the
video.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The guy who had
represented me for years in Santa Fe during legislative sessions, my fellow
Rotarian, the former aviator who had swapped war stories with me was a major
player in what led to the most eventful year of my life — flying helicopters in
combat during the Vietnam War.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">On September 18,
Dick died, preceded in death 10 months earlier by Betty Kay.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Dick’s son
Richard called me several days after to ask if I had photos of his father for
use at a memorial service planned for September 26 at New Mexico Military
Institute. I attended the service.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zoFbmiP6sqA/UlhWiBvANZI/AAAAAAAAA8c/d_hUswfdyvA/s1600/Dick+with+dog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zoFbmiP6sqA/UlhWiBvANZI/AAAAAAAAA8c/d_hUswfdyvA/s320/Dick+with+dog.jpg" width="313" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Dick and his dog Sarge in Roswell</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The next day,
Richard sent me a note saying he had found his father’s slides from the Vietnam
War while he and his sisters were cleaning up Dick’s home. “Would I like them?”
Richard asked me to call the following morning so we could get together and he
would give me the boxes of slides.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I called the
next day. “Can you come to the house right away?” Richard asked. “I’ll be there
in 5 minutes,” I told him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">As Dick’s home,
Richard led me to the office. Richard told me to take anything I would like.
With the offer of the slides, I had decided to offer them to the Vietnam War
Center and Archives at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. Now there was a great
deal more of Dick’s career and life. Eight boxes more.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Later that day I
called my friend and fellow chopper pilot Tom Baca in Albuquerque. “I have a
job for you and I know you will love it,” I told Tom, and then explained I had
boxes of photographs, records and memorabilia that belonged to Dick Knowles.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I can think of
5 or 6 museums, as well as the Vietnam War Archives at Texas Tech, that would
be interested,” I told Tom. He said he would drive to Roswell on Monday and
help me sort through the materials.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then I sent an
email note to Joe Galloway and members of the David Westphall Board of
Directors, who oversee support for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Chapel at
Angel Fire, New Mexico. One of the directors is Ron Milam, associate professor
of history at Texas Tech and a Fulbright Fellow who taught in Vietnam and
China. Ron served as a Marine in Vietnam during the war. I also serve on the
Westphall Foundation board, so I knew there was a place at the Memorial for
some of the items.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Joe wrote back
immediately and suggested giving some of the items to the 1st Cavalry Museum at
Fort Hood, Texas. Good suggestion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">After Tom
arrived at my home last Monday, we began dividing Dick’s keepsakes up among 7
museums and archives. As I had promised, Tom enjoyed the work. I did, as well.
We were learning of Dick’s roles at the center of the helicopter war in
Vietnam.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">We found one
document on pink, onionskin paper of particular interest. It was Dick’s
invitation to a 1965 briefing on lessons learned from the 11th Air Assault
Division. Colonel Dick Knowles headed division artillery.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dCYBTQSbovE/UlhWnmJF9vI/AAAAAAAAA8k/KRUkl7pgaKM/s1600/Dick,+Task+Force+Oregon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-dCYBTQSbovE/UlhWnmJF9vI/AAAAAAAAA8k/KRUkl7pgaKM/s320/Dick,+Task+Force+Oregon.jpg" width="251" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">As Task Force Oregon commander</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Later, these
lessons would be put into practice after the 11th Air Assault Division became
the 1st Air Cavalry Division, which then deployed to South Vietnam with Dick
Knowles as its assistant commander.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tom and I would
term the document the birth certificate of the airmobile concept introduced
during the Vietnam War.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">There was much
more, from photographs of General William C. Westmoreland pinning general’s
stars on Dick Knowles' uniform to a newspaper article about Dick being shot down
while piloting his helicopter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Paperwork and
certificates showed Dick at various points in his military career: Attending
the artillery officer career course during World War II, his graduation certificate
from the War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, a report on receiving
the Silver Star Medal during the Korean War, books of photographs taken when he
served as chief of staff at II Field Force Vietnam, commanding general of Task
Force Oregon (Americal Division) and commander of the 196th Light Infantry
Brigade.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Later he would
command I Corps in South Korea and then serve as deputy commander of the 8th
U.S. Army. A year after beginning that assignment, Dick would retire from the
Army and move to Roswell, New Mexico.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Jack Swickardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01798645835702357340noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169325698888360644.post-31625454492075021772013-08-27T14:40:00.000-06:002013-08-27T14:40:17.969-06:00The Forgotten Mission — Chapter 46
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CAU
SONG BE, Vietnam — At the time, each of us saw and heard only a part of the mission.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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It
was 41 years before I learned Tom Baca and Larry Liss had landed at Cau Song Be
Special Forces Camp before me. On the few occasions Tom and I discussed the
rescue over the years, he referred several times to landing first. I knew this
wasn’t the case. I clearly remembered Tom and Larry landing behind my Huey just
before we began the extraction of the CIDG company.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I
didn’t consider it important, so I never corrected Tom. Then, one day, I did. We
were discussing our upcoming meeting with Richard Max and Bernadette Ross of
Windfall Films. Tom again mentioned landing first. Richard and Bernie were
about to interview us for the documentary so I thought it important to set the
record straight.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Tom,
I clearly remember you landing behind me on the airstrip,” I said.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l_gOYGAuCl8/Uh0NrqR4JNI/AAAAAAAAA3Q/sNrkinW_9dI/s1600/IMG_5843.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-l_gOYGAuCl8/Uh0NrqR4JNI/AAAAAAAAA3Q/sNrkinW_9dI/s320/IMG_5843.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Driving to site of 1967 extraction 41 years later.</span></b></td></tr>
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“We
landed behind you after dropping off wounded at the camp hospital. Larry and I
did a medevac before you arrived,” Tom said.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Clarity
exploded in my mind. I recalled something about a medevac, but I had always
thought Tom was describing one of the five times we each flew into the landing
zone to extract the South Vietnamese CIDG soldiers and U.S. advisors.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A
year later in Ho Chi Minh City — the official name given to Saigon after
reunification — Al Croteau told me how he had agonized for 42 years about
“leaving someone behind.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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“Wait,
Al. What are you talking about? We didn’t leave anyone behind,” I told him.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Seated
at a café table over lunch, Al described seeing a lone CIDG soldier in a
circular firing pit each time we left with our helicopter loaded with his
compatriots.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was
stunned. I had never heard this before. How could I have left someone behind?
What could I have done to get that last man out? What happened to him after we
left that last time?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To
Al’s great relief, we would learn several days later Tom and Larry had picked
up this lone soldier on their final trip out of the landing zone.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
These
and other recollections showed me how segmented each of our roles had been during
the extraction of the CIDG soldiers. Each crewmember was focused on what he
needed to do to survive and get the soldiers to safety. We didn’t allow
ourselves the luxury of distraction. Had we done so, our minds might have been
overpowered by the battle raging around us.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I
remember looking around after our first landing to see how many CIDG soldiers
had boarded my Huey. When I saw people being shot in the back of the helicopter
I turned back around and began monitoring the instruments. My job was to fly
the soldiers out of the battle. I couldn’t risk becoming rattled by the sight
of the dead and wounded.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That
day — May 14, 1967 — we were able to fly 102 CIDG soldiers and a U.S. Special
Forces advisor to safety. Of these, 15 South Vietnamese soldiers and the
Special Forces non-commissioned officer were wounded in the battle.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The dead
included 2 Special Forces NCOs and 5 CIDG soldiers.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Before
the extraction, Tom and Larry airlifted 6 wounded CIDG troops out of the battle
on a medical evacuation flight.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Captain
Wallace “Wally” Johnson, A Team commander at Cau Song Be, reported that during
the firefight, 5 or 6 CIDG soldiers who “got separated during a firefight
walked back into camp” the next day. He said the CIDG companies averaged
120-125 soldiers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Over
the years, I thought more of the soldiers had been killed. I’m glad the number
was lower. We extracted them shortly after the ambush was sprung and the
fighting began, which probably contributed to the relatively low number of troops
killed in action.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The crews
of the 2 helicopters were unique for the mission we ended up flying.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tom
Baca and Larry Liss had never flown together before May 14. The two pilots did
not even know each other until that day.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On
the other hand, Tom and I knew each other, though we were flying in different
units. Furthermore, I had known Tom’s brother before joining the Army.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My
copilot, Ken Dolan, had only been flying in Vietnam about a month; I had been
in-country 3 months. Tom only had 12 days left on his combat tour on May 14.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Al
Croteau was substituting for the regular doorgunner that day, having
volunteered the evening before to fly the mission with Ken and me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our 2
Hueys arrived at Cau Song Be on different missions. Tom and Larry were flying a
Roman Catholic chaplain to various Special Forces camps in the III Corps; Ken,
Al and I were carrying the Special Forces paymaster.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I
returned to Cau Song Be on November 21, 2010. The Special Forces camp was long
gone. It did not survive the war in Southeast Asia. I would never have found the
camp’s site had it not been for my Vietnamese guides — one a former Vet Cong
soldier and the other a retired North Vietnam Army officer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tom
Baca had found a map showing Chi Linh — the name given to Cau Song Be to avoid
confusing it with the nearby provincial capital of Song Be — on Highway 14,
between its junction with Highway 13 and Dong Xoai to the east. Highway 13 runs
due north from Ho Chi Minh City. Our map was rough and gave a general location
for Chi Linh.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I
rode with my guides, Tran Van Thanh and Dinh Ngoc Truc, in a small, sport
utility vehicle from Ho Chi Minh City to Chon Thanh, where we turned east on
Highway 14. The map showed Chi Linh near the third bridge we would cross. We
soon saw not all the Highway 14 bridges were marked on Tom’s map.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our
driver, Nguyen Tuan Nghia, stopped at various points along the highway so Thanh
and Truc could ask local residents about a military camp that existed more than
40 years earlier. One resident told of a military cemetery farther down the
highway.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We
arrived at a large, stone bridge over the Song Be River about 15 kilometers
east of Chon Thanh. This looked like the third bridge on our map. After
crossing the bridge — or cau — we stopped in the small village of Nha Bich.
Thanh, a retired NVA colonel, and Truc, who had served in the Viet Cong, began
visiting with people in the village.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pQYqnlEYEZo/Uh0NqrGXeWI/AAAAAAAAA3I/jMOJxJKKVHk/s1600/At+Cau+Song+Be.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pQYqnlEYEZo/Uh0NqrGXeWI/AAAAAAAAA3I/jMOJxJKKVHk/s320/At+Cau+Song+Be.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Ken, Thanh, Jack and Truc at camp site.</span></b></td></tr>
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Thanh
pointed out a rustic, outdoor restaurant where we could sit and compare notes.
He ordered a glass of fresh coconut milk for himself; Ken Fritz, a friend from
the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association; and me. Soon Truc and Nghia joined
us. A villager had recalled hearing of the military camp many years before.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We
got back in the SUV, drove back across the bridge and turned north onto a dirt
road. After encountering a dead end, we found another dirt road that went
north. We passed a group of men holding flowers at a house being constructed.
After driving a short distance past the group, we stopped. Thanh and I walked
forward to a short cliff that overlooked the Song be Rubber Plantation. In the
distance, I saw a familiar sight: Tall rubber trees in a line reminiscent of
the trees that grew along the Cau Song Be airstrip. Could this be the former
Special Forces camp?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As Thanh
and I walked back to the SUV to visit with the others, I heard a conversation
in Vietnamese and laughter. Truc and Ken had stopped to visit with the men at
the house being built. Ken climbed aboard one of their motorcycles, gunned the
engine, and took off down the road. He returned minutes later in a cloud of
dust. The Vietnamese men had not expected the American to ride the motorcycle
and they were enjoying the sight.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ken
and Truc told me they would ride several kilometers on Highway 14 with the
Vietnamese men to a turnoff to the old military camp. The men had told Truc
they had visited the old camp and knew its location. Nghia, Thanh and I
followed the motorcyclists. Truc sat on one bike, facing backwards to film Ken
riding down the highway.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When
the motorcycles stopped, Ken and Truc dismounted to handshakes and laughter,
then they boarded the SUV. We turned north onto another dirt road and drove a
short distance. To our left was the site of the former Special Forces camp and
CIDG base.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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A
farmer lived nearby. I asked Truc if the man might remember the camp or know
someone in the area who did. “He’s a newcomer,” said Truc, who already had
visited with him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had
hoped to find a one of the CIDG soldiers extracted on May 14, 1967. That would
not be the case. The camp was a settlement dedicated to war. After the fighting
ended, it had no reason to exist and the soldiers stationed there had no reason
to stay.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Only
rubber trees — standing in formation as they did in 1967 — remain today.</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<!--EndFragment-->Jack Swickardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01798645835702357340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169325698888360644.post-493101548016525482013-08-22T08:48:00.004-06:002013-08-22T09:08:44.437-06:00The Forgotten Mission — Chapter 45<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
BIEN
HOA AIRFIELD, South Vietnam — Daylight was fading fast as I shot my approach to
the Birdcage.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By
the time I hovered the Huey into a revetment it was dark. All the helicopter’s
crewmembers were exhausted. The adrenalin charge we had on takeoff from the Cau
Song Be airstrip had disappeared 50 kilometers earlier.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xBTeNlJoTjU/UhYjdyQMbyI/AAAAAAAAA2I/j6_5sMKwycw/s1600/Swickard+mug.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xBTeNlJoTjU/UhYjdyQMbyI/AAAAAAAAA2I/j6_5sMKwycw/s200/Swickard+mug.jpg" width="147" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Jack Swickard</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The
main rotors spooled to a gradual stop after the engine had been shut down. I
wanted to look at the blades to see how much damage they had suffered during
the 5 extractions. After the crew chief tied down the rotors, I looked up. I
couldn’t see anything but shadows. I took a flashlight and ran its beam along
the blades. I didn’t see anything unusual.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">If
there were damage, the crew chief would catch it on his inspection later that
night. He would get a closer look when he climbed to the helicopter’s roof to
wipe down the rotorhead and mast.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Operations
told me the company commander wanted to visit with me about the mission. A Jeep
had been sent to take Warrant Officer Ken Dolan, my copilot; Lieutenant Al
Croteau, my doorgunner for the day; and me to our villa on Cong Ly Street
downtown.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Major
Howard Hostler, who had taken command of the 118th Assault Helicopter Company
the month before, and other pilots in the unit had learned of our mission while
flying combat assaults that afternoon. Ken, Al and I had drawn one of the few
missions that morning because of a general stand down of U.S. helicopters in
the III Corps. While we were performing the extraction, the Thunderbirds had
been called into action. Once airborne, the other aircrews could hear us
communicating with Warrant Officer Tom Baca and Captain Larry Liss on the
Thunderbird radio frequency.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Our
calls had piqued Major Hostler’s interest in the extraction, so he wanted to
visit. We wasted no time getting back to the villa for my meeting with the
commander.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">I
found him in the Officers Club. “Let’s sit over here,” the major said,
motioning toward a table. I described the mission in detail for about an hour.
Hostler kept buying me beers and asking questions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Then
I saw a figure moving toward our table with papers in his hand. An operations
officer threw the paper on the table in front of me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">“What
are those?” Hostler asked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">“Orders
relieving Mr. Swickard as an aircraft commander,” the ops officer replied. “You
should have seen the condition of his aircraft’s rotor blades … and they
weren’t written up.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Hostler
became angry. He ordered the operations officer to return to the airfield and immediately
cut orders rescinding the ones he had thrown on the table.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">I
didn’t hear any more about the mission until a week later, when 5th Special
Forces asked me for a narrative about the extraction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">Four
months later — in September 1967 — I would be awarded the Distinguished Flying
Cross for the mission. Each of the other members of my crew would receive the
Air Medal with “V” for valor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: TimesNewRomanPSMT;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lieutenant
Al Croteau recalled, “When we got back to Bien Hoa that night, I didn’t even
give it a second thought. I went back to my office. We never even talked about
it the next day. We never talked about it at all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aG1q23JTEzs/UhYjc-ZZIzI/AAAAAAAAA10/Xbswv1lJi8Q/s1600/Croteau+mug.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-aG1q23JTEzs/UhYjc-ZZIzI/AAAAAAAAA10/Xbswv1lJi8Q/s200/Croteau+mug.jpg" width="153" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Al Croteau</span></b></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I
got to see the rotors, of course. I got to see the whole aircraft the next day.
That’s when they told me they were going to court-martial you,” Al said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“This
guy ruins 2 rotors, they’re $10,000 apiece, we’re going to court-martial that
guy,” Al said he was told by a maintenance officer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I
think we were so tired, so mentally and physically exhausted, that we didn’t
want to talk about it. Then the next day, of course, it’s a new day and you get
busy doing something else. I don’t think we thought it was anything special.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“There
were so many stories in Vietnam and people who did similar things that we did,
we just never bothered,” Al said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-716tBSuCwU8/UhYjc7xk17I/AAAAAAAAA14/ixIyUf0-xPc/s1600/Dolan+mu.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-716tBSuCwU8/UhYjc7xk17I/AAAAAAAAA14/ixIyUf0-xPc/s200/Dolan+mu.jpg" width="138" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Ken Dolan</span></b></td></tr>
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<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Warrant Officer Ken Dolan said,
“I recall having maintenance personnel ‘eyeballs’ on me for a couple of weeks
after the mission, but no retribution. I think I went out the next day on a
mission or combat assault and didn’t think much more about the 14th until the
awards ceremony.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Warrant
Officer Tom Baca would return to the United States 12 days after the
extraction. He would be awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross at his next duty
station, Fort Wolters, Texas, where he was a helicopter instructor pilot.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Before
he departed for home, his commanding officer assembled the detachment’s pilots
in formation and told them not to fly combat missions with the unit’s VIP helicopters.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After
the formation, Tom told the commander, “If the same mission came up tomorrow, I
would fly it.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ClIRICAIbD8/UhYjdsjq7KI/AAAAAAAAA2E/0cUicWR3DUk/s1600/Baca+mug.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ClIRICAIbD8/UhYjdsjq7KI/AAAAAAAAA2E/0cUicWR3DUk/s200/Baca+mug.jpg" width="140" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Tom Baca</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
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The
commanding officer told Tom: “Well, you would, but you are going home.”<span style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Years
later Tom said he checked his Officer Efficiency Report written by the
commander for the time of the Cau Song Be rescue. Tom said the report was
career enhancing and did not mention the May 14 mission. Tom said he never held
any negative feelings about his commander and was unaware of the encounter his
copilot had with the senior officer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tom described the appearance of
his helicopter’s main rotor blades after the mission. “There were 20-30
penetrations of each rotor blade along the outer 5 feet. The widest was about
1.5 to 2 inches. They penetrated the blades about one-half to three-quarters of
an inch,” he said.<span style="color: #0d6212;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Captain
Larry Liss, Tom’s copilot during the mission, reported being strongly taken to
task for his role in the mission by the same commanding officer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Larry
said he previously was severely criticized by the commander after rescuing a
downed helicopter crew with one of the detachment’s VIP Hueys. Larry said he
was threatened with being kicked out of the Army for violating verbal and
written orders forbidding the use of a VIP aircraft in combat.<o:p></o:p></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BLMUJo1Im9g/UhYjeV77UHI/AAAAAAAAA2U/zAGKOHwBTfU/s1600/Liss+mug.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-BLMUJo1Im9g/UhYjeV77UHI/AAAAAAAAA2U/zAGKOHwBTfU/s200/Liss+mug.jpg" width="158" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Larry Liss</span></b></td></tr>
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<br /></div>
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After
returning from the Cau Song Be mission, Larry said the commanding officer
became very angry with him and, during a meeting in the commander’s office, he
fell over a chair after being pushed. Larry said he then punched the commander.
Headquarters staff officers broke up the fracas, Larry said.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He
said the detachment commander wanted to prefer charges against him, but the
commanding general of II Field Force Vietnam calmed down the situation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Larry
said the general told him, “It was a bad thing that you did, disobeying a
direct order. What you guys did was exceptional, extraordinary.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He later
described the appearance of the main rotor blades as looking “like a giant cat
had scraped the cover off and underneath was the honeycomb. That aircraft was a
mess.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Like
Tom, Larry would receive the Distinguished Flying Cross for his role in the Cau
Song Be mission.</div>
<!--EndFragment-->Jack Swickardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01798645835702357340noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169325698888360644.post-45223084561266132222013-08-16T14:13:00.001-06:002013-08-16T14:14:40.378-06:00The Forgotten Mission — Chapter 44<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">WAR ZONE D, South Vietnam — Tom Baca and
Larry Liss used the main rotor blades of their helicopter to chop down through
the bamboo and into the battle raging along the narrow road below.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">It was their second trip into the battle
and the second time they used the Huey’s rotors like a “Weed Whacker” to clear a
20-foot descent to the ground. Twenty minutes earlier they had rescued 6
wounded CIDG soldiers from the road.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tom and Larry landed three helicopter
lengths behind my Huey. Before we had taken off to extract the survivors of the
CIDG company, Tom and I agreed my helicopter would fly first, with Tom and
Larry following closely in formation. The decision was based on the weapons
aboard each Huey. Mine carried two M-60 machine guns, Tom and Larry’s aircraft
was equipped for VIP missions and had no mounted weapons. Aside from sidearms
carried by the crew, their Huey was unarmed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tom and Larry knew what they were getting
into as they chopped through the bamboo.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“You don’t have
a chance to play it out on the first time in because you don’t know how bad it
is. The second time around, you know how bad it is, and then you know the
opportunity of continued existence … the odds are shrinking, dramatically,”
Larry later would say in a television documentary about the mission. “It
doesn’t take a genius to figure the perimeter has to shrink and ultimately you
have to be left with no perimeter, and ultimately you have to be left with
little or no odds.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Before taking off from Cau Song Be to
begin the extraction of the CIDG company, Tom had considered shutting down his
helicopter’s engine to examine the main rotor blades, which were making an
unusual, whistling sound. He knew the descent through the bamboo on the medical
evacuation flight had damaged the rotors, but he did not know how severely.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I kind of
looked up at the blades and I thought, ‘Do I really want to look at those? I
wonder if I really need to shut down the engine and take a look at those?’ But
we didn’t have time,” Tom said years later during filming of the documentary.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FEpDsz_INQY/Ug6Fr2a6UyI/AAAAAAAAA1E/5tysigFqokM/s1600/IMG_5849.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FEpDsz_INQY/Ug6Fr2a6UyI/AAAAAAAAA1E/5tysigFqokM/s320/IMG_5849.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Documentary cameraman Stuart Dunn attaches a<br />wireless microphone to Tom Baca in landing zone<br />41 years later.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">After descending
to the road on the medical evacuation, Tom recalled “hearing the blades
whistling right after we landed.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">He also made
certain he centered his helicopter’s tail rotor over the middle of the road. “My
margin of error on knocking that tail rotor off was maybe a 15- or 20-degree
turn in either direction. It was that narrow. Had we lost that tail rotor, we
would have lost the aircraft.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tom thought his
chance of surviving the rescue was slim.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Larry remembered the look on Tom’s face
when he told the Special Forces officer he would attempt the extraction, which
Larry described as a “suicide” mission. “Tom had the look of death on his face,
like he knew he would die.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">However, Larry said Tom’s facial expression
changed within seconds to a look of “commitment to the mission, even though he
knew he had only a few days left in country.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">On the ground, the scene was chaotic. Tom
and Larry saw CIDG soldiers in the back of their Huey being shot to death. To
help the soldiers board quicker, Larry got out of the cockpit and began pushing
them into the rear of the helicopter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Larry said he was concerned he would be
shot in the back, “live and become a paraplegic.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Years
later, Larry said, “Coming up on 70 years of age, I had to ask myself where the
hell did I ever get the energy and certainty to fly that mission and jump in
and out of the helicopter, gathering together the remaining soldiers, so that
we could save as many as possible before the NVA got one or all of us.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The crews of the two helicopters, knowing
they had little chance of surviving the extraction, flew their Hueys loaded
with survivors back to Cau Song Be Special Forces Camp. After carrying 24 CIDG
soldiers to safety, they would return to the battle four more times that
afternoon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">During
filming of the documentary in the landing zone, Tom said he sat behind his
helicopter’s controls on the ground, “just waiting to die,” while Larry was outside
helping the CIDG soldiers climb aboard and defending the perimeter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Larry
said after the mission his assault rifle was empty, though he did not remember
firing any rounds during the medical evacuation and the subsequent 5 flights to
extract survivors of the company.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">Tom
clearly recalled the wives and mothers of the CIDG soldiers waiting at the Cau
Song Be airstrip when the two helicopters returned with each load of rescued troops.
As the soldiers were lifted from his helicopter, Tom watched the family members
searching for loved ones.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">After the 2
helicopters extracted the first 24 troops from the landing zone, the aircrews
knew they would have to return for the remainder of the survivors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“During the second
evacuation and through the fourth sortie, it was becoming apparent the
perimeter at the LZ was becoming untenable,” Tom said. “Due to the friendly
troops’ movement, we had to cut through new bamboo to land close to them and
remain inside the shrinking perimeter. Conditions were difficult, with enemy
forces barely 50 yards from our aircraft.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Intense, small-arms
fire, panicked troops, poor communications, lack of tactical air or artillery
support, and continuing damage to the main rotors challenged us on each
subsequent return to the LZ,” Tom said. “Each approach to the LZ was more
dangerous due to a shrinking perimeter and fewer troops to defend the LZ.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Two UH-1C helicopter gunships escorted us
on the first 2 extractions. As we were carrying our second load of CIDG
soldiers back to Cau Song Be, the gunship team leader called me on the radio.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“We have to break off and fly to Tay Ninh
to refuel and rearm,” he told me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Now we would be completely on our own.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Captain
Wallace “Wally” Johnson, Special Forces A Team commander at Cau Song Be, said,
“We totally lost communication between the second and third extraction.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">He said, “The
pilots, Baca, Liss, Swickard and Dolan managed to fly 5 or 6 sorties each while
extracting our entire CIDG company and 2 U.S. Special Forces soldiers. Each
time that they returned, the pilot flying that particular sortie had to again
use his rotor blades to make more room to maneuver to get close enough to our
remaining forces. The enemy force that our folks encountered that Sunday
afternoon was much larger and more determined than any other VC/NVA force we
had met on previous missions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“The pilots and
crew members of those two helicopters were extremely brave and demonstrated
extraordinary heroism by flying a non-medevac and unarmed helicopter into the
midst of an intense firefight that resulted in saving 80 or more lives with no
fire support from gunships, artillery or A-IE aircraft support.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Wally said,
“had it not been for the heroic efforts of the helicopter pilots and their
crews, the entire team of close to 100 would have been killed or captured and Camp
Cau Song Be/Chi Linh, underequipped on that day, would surely have been
overrun.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The A Team
commander and camp medic James “Jim” Dopp had flown on the medevac mission with
Tom and Larry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“What we were looking
at was a medevac-type operation when there was a hell of a lot more than that
going on,” Wally said. “Then, when we started to get some of the wounded back,
Dopp stayed back to tend them and then it was in the hands of Jack and Tom. You
all were going in and out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="Body">
<br /></div>
<div class="Body">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“That particular
operation, I was trying to block a lot of it out of my memory. Maybe I did that
subconsciously because we’d been so successful on all the other operations up
until that time. We got 1 or 2 people wounded, but we’d never had so many
people killed, so many people shot up,” Wally said. “Two Americans and 5
Vietnamese were killed and 15 were wounded. It was pretty tough.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jim Dopp said,
“By the end of May, the 1st
Division had moved several
battalions into the area adjacent to Cau Song Be. They determined that COSVN (The
North Vietnam Army’s Central Office for South Vietnam) had been moved to the
other side of the
Song Be River during
this time, and that the force encountered by the helicopter crews doing the
extractions was battalion size or greater.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xc7kiLeX5Dg/Ug6FqyH0jkI/AAAAAAAAA08/Sw5ihoSfhmI/s1600/James+Dopp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xc7kiLeX5Dg/Ug6FqyH0jkI/AAAAAAAAA08/Sw5ihoSfhmI/s320/James+Dopp.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Camp medic Jim Dopp in 2008.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Jim would say in the television documentary this
force numbered 500-600 soldiers. Wally said the NVA battalion was augmented by
about 100 Viet Cong troops, bringing the total number of enemy soldiers to
600-700.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“With the exception of the protracted engagement at
the Special Forces Camp Loc Ninh in October 1967, the level of fire was the
most intense I encountered during the war. What was most remarkable was the
willingness of the helicopter pilots to work in an area with such dense cover,
such poor landing conditions and so much concentrated firepower. On other
occasions I experienced having pilots decline to even set down in areas far
less hostile,” Jim said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“Later that night I wanted to medevac a
CIDG to Saigon. The Vietnamese helicopter slated to do the medevac refused to
even fly into our camp that night, based on the earlier reports they had
received regarding the intensity of the ground fire. The CIDG died,” Jim said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Warrant
Officer Ken Dolan, my copilot on the mission, years later would hear the same
high-pitched sound our helicopter’s main rotor blades made after chopping
through the bamboo.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ken had left active Army duty and joined the Ohio National
Guard. “The facility commander wanted to take a flight from where our armory
was over to the fairgrounds. We jumped on board and I was flying. About a third
of the way there, maybe about half the way there, we were at about 5,000 feet
and all of a sudden we got a shudder and a noise. It was like a flashback. It
was the same noise I had heard that day at Cau Song Be. He declared an
emergency.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“By that time we were almost at the location and we just
descended gently and landed at the fairgrounds, shut the engine down, and a big
chunk of skin from the blade had come off,” Ken said. “They just flew out some
mechanics, put some 100-mile-an-hour tape (duct tape) on it, and said, ‘Fly it
back to the armory.’<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I can distinctly remember having the flashback and
thinking, ‘Oh shit. I’ve heard that before,’” Ken said.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He remembered the high-pitched noise from the damaged rotor
blades was “about the same” during his five flights into the landing zone. “The
damage we did was on the first flight in.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I remember when we flew back that night the back of the
aircraft was all blood. There was blood all over the floor in the back,” Ken said.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: 나눔고딕;">“On our second sortie into the landing zone, I noticed one soldier
manning a circular fire pit. He was dug in the center of a defense position,
which appeared to be a pit outlined by a circle of rocks. They looked like
rocks, but where he got them, I have no idea. He was within 25 or so feet from
where we touched down,” said </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lieutenant
Al Croteau, who was flying as doorgunner aboard my helicopter.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: 나눔고딕;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bega4qxg1xo/Ug6FsBECZtI/AAAAAAAAA1I/60jo3LY0qQ8/s1600/IMG_5996.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="271" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bega4qxg1xo/Ug6FsBECZtI/AAAAAAAAA1I/60jo3LY0qQ8/s320/IMG_5996.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Al Croteau with Dinh Ngoc Truc, a former Viet<br />Cong soldier, near landing zone in 2008.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: 나눔고딕;">“The individual was returning fire with what looked like an M-1 carbine.
It was impressive because he seemed not to notice us, having full concentration
on what he was doing. Each time the ship returned, he was still there. He
seemed to be in a movie.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: 나눔고딕;">“The last trip in finally came. On our approach, I noticed he was still
there defending his position. We landed and I loaded the ship to the max,
hoping you would be able to lift off. I guess in the moment of high stress and
fear I had forgotten Tom’s ship had followed us in. As the ship struggled to
get airborne, I glanced back and saw this lone man still defending his position,”
Al said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: 나눔고딕;">“My mind yelled out, ‘Oh my God, we left him
behind to his death.’ Through the years, I often relived that event, thinking
of the one, brave soldier who, by his action, may have saved our lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: 나눔고딕;">“When we returned to Vietnam to relive the battle, his memory was very
much alive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: 나눔고딕;">It was only when Tom spoke of the last extraction and of Larry holding
that man against the ship’s outer hull that I asked if anyone had seen that
brave soldier. Larry spoke these words: ‘No one alive was left behind. We got
them all.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: 나눔고딕;">“I could never put into words the affect those words had on me. For over
40 years, I regretted leaving someone to die. To this day, I still think of
that one, brave comrade and how he was willing to give up his life for us. The
U.S. Army should award him the Medal of Honor. I have. If there is an
afterlife, maybe I can find him,” Al said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: 나눔고딕;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Larry Liss
remembered, “clearly seeing the Vietnamese soldier Al was focused on.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">He said the
soldier “wound up being the last or second to last to board” the helicopter he
and Tom Baca were flying. “He was one of the guys I was holding on to. It could
be that Al was distracted with his own loading and didn’t see the guy finally
make a run for it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">On the last
flight out of the landing zone, the helicopter flown by Tom and Larry struggled
to get airborne, overloaded with the last 18 living soldiers in the landing
zone and the Huey’s crew of 4.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">A normal,
maximum load for UH-1D Huey like those in the Cau Song Be mission was 12
Vietnamese soldiers and a crew of 4.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: 나눔고딕;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">After
the 2 helicopters had brought all the survivors back to Cau Song Be, the crews
quickly took off for Bien Hoa Airfield. On the flight home, the Hueys bounced,
their main rotor blades screeching.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tom
was concerned about his fuel level, but figured he had enough to return to Bien
Hoa. He was right. During engine shutdown, the low fuel warning light lit up
the dash of his Huey. The light comes on when there is enough fuel for 20
minutes of flight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">As
the adrenalin began to wear off, the crews of the helicopters began to sag from
exhaustion.</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Jack Swickardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01798645835702357340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169325698888360644.post-8768775807659329402013-08-06T14:23:00.000-06:002013-08-06T14:23:08.557-06:00The Forgotten Mission — Chapter 43<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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WAR
ZONE D, South Vietnam — Our 2 Hueys stopped at a high hover over the bamboo
growing along the narrow road.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Smaller
branches leaned over the road. Purple smoke was drifting up from the ground,
swirling when caught in the rotor wash. This was where we would begin
extracting the surviving CIDG troops and their U.S. Special Forces advisors.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J2tqlJA6NyY/UgFZ6c788MI/AAAAAAAAAzE/vtaVA9WFKW0/s1600/Runway+with+smoke.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="187" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-J2tqlJA6NyY/UgFZ6c788MI/AAAAAAAAAzE/vtaVA9WFKW0/s320/Runway+with+smoke.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Smoke from canisters mark runway in vicinity<br />of ambush in War Zone D in 1967.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The
soldiers had walked into an ambush sprung by a battalion of the 273rd North
Vietnam Army Regiment and Viet Cong guerrillas fighting alongside. The enemy
force numbered 600-700 soldiers.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Below
our Hueys, the fighting raged. Now it was time to land.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I
knew we would have to cut our way to the ground. I had nicked leaves with my
helicopter’s main rotor blades on previous missions. The rotor blades had a
steel leading edge to protect the aluminum body of the blade from debris during
normal landings.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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I
weighed the odds of success, and then contrasted them with what would happen to
the soldiers on the ground if we left them behind in the ambush. We had to
attempt the rescue.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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I
held the helicopter as still as I could in a hover 20 feet above the bamboo.
Slowly I lowered the collective pitch lever and began the descent. With the
foot pedals, I kept the tailboom and the tail rotor at its end centered on the
road. If we lost the tail rotor, we would spin out of control.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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As
the main rotors hit the leaves, I could hear a “tick, tick, tick.” I had heard
this before. So far, I wasn’t worried about serious damage to the rotors.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The
noise soon would change as the rotors began cutting past the leaves and
hammering into the stalk of the bamboo.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Warrant
Officer Ken Dolan, flying as my copilot that day, recalled thinking: “He’s not
going to use the rotors as a mower, is he?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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“I
was a relatively new pilot at the time, about 2 months. I vividly remember
using the blades of the Huey as a mower to chop down bamboo to get to the road
where the wounded and dead were staged, which didn’t seem like a particularly
good idea at the time,” Ken said.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The
noise was almost like a high-pitched whine. It was a singing noise. I knew we
had done damage, I just didn’t know what the extent was.” Ken said he also
could hear a whistling through the rotor blades as they spun.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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During
the descent, Lieutenant Al Croteau said, “I just looked down and said, ‘Where
are we going to go here? There’s no road, there’s nothing. I could see the
people running around. I asked myself, ‘What’s he going to do here? There’s no
place to land.’”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Al
said he knew the aircraft was going to land. He added that his only fear was
“Once we loaded, we weren’t going to get out. That we were going to get out,
but then we were going to crash.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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Al was seated behind an M-60
machine gun in the rear of my helicopter, “on the right side of the aircraft,
on the copilot’s side.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As
the Huey chopped its way to the ground, it sounded like a whirlwind,” Al said.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“It
was an absolutely devastating noise. It was almost like a tornado type of
noise. My mind was just picturing those rotor blades. I thought, ‘He’s just
destroying this aircraft.’ It was horrifying. The noise was tremendous. And the
debris was flying everywhere.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Earlier, during their approach
to the landing zone, Al’s M-60 machine gun had jammed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“As
we were coming in, I was returning fire. I could see the flashes. They were
firing at us and I was returning fire,” Al said.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After
his machine gun had jammed, Al emptied his .45-caliber automatic pistol, firing
at the enemy. He later would describe it “as a useless gesture.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I
said, ‘Jack, the gun’s jammed,’ and Jack said, ‘Well, take pictures.’<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It
was clear to me the CIDG soldiers were stretched out along both sides of the
road. The defense perimeter was no wider than the span of our main rotor
blades. I knew we could not fire any of our weapons on the ground without
hitting a CIDG soldier.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After
the helicopters touched down, the soldiers began rushing toward our cargo
doors. I turned around to see how long until we had a full load of soldiers so
we could take off.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I
could see Al helping the soldiers board our helicopter. The troops already on
board were reaching out to their comrades as they, too, climbed aboard our
Huey.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then
I saw soldiers begin to collapse onto the floor of the helicopter in pools of
blood. More began to drop onto the floor. The enemy was shooting the soldiers
after they had boarded our chopper.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To
make room for the living, the CIDG troops began throwing the bodies of the dead
out both cargo doors. No one was safe in the helicopter.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I
turned around in my seat and began reading the instruments on the dash, waiting
for Tom Baca to tell me his helicopter was fully loaded so we could depart for
Cau Song Be.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I
made a conscious effort not to watch the soldiers in the rear of the
helicopter. I tried to tune out the killing in the rear so I wouldn’t panic and
lose my wits. The takeoff would require considerable finesse.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Ken
Dolan and I had ceramic armor protecting our upper bodies on both sides. The
enemy had a clear shot at us front on, and our heads were exposed above the
armor. The shots raking through the helicopter’s open cargo doors were from the
side.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I
knew the enemy marksmen soon would get off a successful headshot. I waited for
the shot.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AFz63m5ZW9w/UgFZ6_R56jI/AAAAAAAAAzI/MVFICm2sc4s/s1600/Al's+carbine.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="97" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AFz63m5ZW9w/UgFZ6_R56jI/AAAAAAAAAzI/MVFICm2sc4s/s320/Al's+carbine.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Carbine Al Croteau took off dead soldier.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In
the rear of our Huey, Al remembered “the dead bodies piling up. One guy had
lost his head while boarding the helicopter. I grabbed his carbine, wiped his
brains off of it, and put it next to me.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Al
said to himself, “We’re going to crash. We are overloaded.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I
actually can picture it in my mind. I said, ‘We’re going to come out, we’re
going to turn, and when we make that turn, we’re going to go down.’ I knew when
we made the turn we were going to lose lift. I said, ‘That’s when we’re going
to crash. We’re going to go down, and all I’ve got is this goddamned carbine.’
And I said, ‘I really don’t have any combat training,’” Al recalled.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“As
long as we’re in the airplane, Jack’s in command, but the minute we hit the
ground, I am in command,” Al remembered thinking. “We don’t really want to do
this, but we’re going to crash.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tom
came over the radio. “We’re up,” which meant his helicopter was loaded and
ready to take off from the battlefield.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Al
and Jack knew their helicopter was overweight as it hovered back up through the
hole the rotors had cut in the bamboo on the descent.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Al
said he “had counted the CIDG soldiers on board the Huey. I knew we were
overweight. I said, ‘We’re overloaded.’ I knew we weren’t getting a running
start. I had flown enough to know what was supposed to happen. I knew we were
not going to make it. But we did.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Overhead
Al said he “saw the jets coming in. It was a pretty sight, they came in, they
did a run, but they didn’t let go of any ordnance, of course. Then they winged
off. All they did was a show. They came in low.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The 2
UH-1C Huey gunships flew over the battlefield. Like the Air Force jets, they
could not fire on the enemy without hitting the CIDG soldiers and their Special
Forces advisors.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On
the ground, Al remained busy with the Vietnamese soldiers. It never occurred to
him he would be hit by enemy gunfire. “I never had a fear of being hit, only
the fear of crashing,” he said.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“What
I was doing was almost mechanical,” Al remembered. “There wasn’t much thought.
Get the people in, get back in the aircraft, and tell Jack we were all set to
go.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Al
recalled when he was younger he wondered how he would react in combat. “I
wondered what would happen; would I go into shock and not perform?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“It
was like running a fast film. I didn’t have time to think about it,” Al said.<br />
<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Jack Swickardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01798645835702357340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169325698888360644.post-15030754774155933272013-07-23T11:45:00.003-06:002013-07-23T11:53:54.772-06:00The Forgotten Mission — Chapter 42<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">CAU SONG BE, Vietnam — It was 41 years before I realized Tom
Baca and Larry Liss had arrived ahead of me at Cau Song Be Special Forces Camp on
May 14, 1967.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Though Warrant Officer Tom Baca had broadcast a radio
message on the Guard emergency channel, asking for help from any helicopter
flying near the camp, I thought for decades my Huey had landed ahead of his.
When I made my approach to the Cau Song Be landing strip there was no other
aircraft in sight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tom Baca
recalled he was flying an unarmed VIP Huey belonging to Lieutenant General Frederick
Weyand, who commanded II Field Force Vietnam — or IIFFV.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Our mission was
transporting the IIFFV staff chaplain to several Special Forces facilities in
the III Corps Tactical Zone,” Tom said. “For the previous 90 days, Operation
Junction City, the largest operation of the Vietnam War to date, was ongoing. Coincidentally,
the operation was ending that night at midnight.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The missions
that day were to be light duty. Tom, with only 12 days left on his combat tour,
was looking forward to returning home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E6iLTBqDUxo/Ue68-GWoAyI/AAAAAAAAAxw/tTPLb7Gwmnk/s1600/With+118th.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="163" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-E6iLTBqDUxo/Ue68-GWoAyI/AAAAAAAAAxw/tTPLb7Gwmnk/s320/With+118th.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Warrant Officer Tom Baca in 1967</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I had reported
to the heliport at Long Binh at sunrise on May 14. I had already flown 6 hours
on various missions before taking off with the chaplain for the Bu Dop and Cau
Song Be Special Forces camps in the northern part of III Corps,” Tom said. “I
ended up flying 10 hours and 42 minutes that day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I was really in
the go-home mode. During my year in Vietnam I had my share of scary moments,
especially with the 118th Assault Helicopter Company. I figured I had had my
last dose of action and May 14th would be just another day to mark off the
short-timer’s calendar,” Tom recalled.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">His copilot that
day was Larry Liss. “I flew with someone else during the morning missions and
Larry came on board for the chaplain mission. I had not met nor flown with him
until that day. First we went to the Bu Dop Special Forces Camp. We left there
for Cau Song Be around 2:30 or 3 p.m.,” Tom said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I remember
landing at Cau Song Be and getting out of the aircraft to go into the camp with
the chaplain. Very quickly, I was asked to do a medical evacuation of some
wounded about 8 miles from the camp. I was told there were no other aircraft
available. I went back to the aircraft with the location and frequencies for
the ground forces. Larry was ready to go and we took off,” Tom said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“The landing
zone was extremely hazardous. Each side of the trail was covered with a 30-foot-high
bamboo forest that extended for several thousand meters on both sides of the
trail,” Tom said. “We flew to the location of the firefight using voice
directions from the advisor on the ground. Visual contact with the friendly
troops was not made, but the advisor said our aircraft was directly over their
position. We realized the only way to land was to ‘create’ a landing zone,
using the main rotor blades to cut through the bamboo,” he said. “Most critical
was the tail rotor, which would have to be centered on the narrow trail.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“We descended into the vegetation, inflicting damage on our Huey’s
main rotor blades. The landing zone was in an active firefight, with casualties
being shot near the aircraft. Some South Vietnamese Civilian Irregular Defense
Group — or CIDG — troops were being fired upon as they were approaching the
aircraft. All air and artillery support
had been withdrawn due to the close proximity of friendly and enemy forces,”
Tom recalled.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oywdTIgHv3I/Ue687yHVgvI/AAAAAAAAAxU/xgIU8xV7tMk/s1600/Larry+in+Vietnam.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oywdTIgHv3I/Ue687yHVgvI/AAAAAAAAAxU/xgIU8xV7tMk/s320/Larry+in+Vietnam.jpg" width="243" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Captain Larry Liss in 1967</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Captain Larry Liss said he “was sitting on the
edge of the cargo bay of his helicopter on the Cau Song Be airstrip, waiting
for Tom and the chaplain, when a Special Forces noncom came up and told me what
was happening and asked if we could help.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“I said. ‘I think so’ and told him we’d talk to
Tom, who was coming back to the helicopter a few minutes later. I told Tom what
was up and said I would be willing to give it a shot,” Larry said. “I remember
Tom’s face changed. And why wouldn’t it, with only 12 days to go? But he said,
‘Yes.’”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Tom and Larry then flew to the ambush to evacuate
some of the wounded from the battle. On board their helicopter were Captain
Wallace “Wally” Johnson, the Cau Song Be Special Forces Camp commander, and camp
medic Jim Dopp.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“We flew that first sortie and were able to get
a handle on what was really happening and, by the time we got back to the
airfield, Jack came in,” Larry said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">In
May 1967, </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Specialist 5 James “Jim” Dopp was the Special Forces A-333 team medic,
stationed at Cau Song Be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“Typical
of most A teams in the area at that time, we</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> usually had one or more
operations in the field,” Jim explained. “At the beginning of May, one of our
operations had
encountered an enemy force much larger than we had become accustomed to
engaging in this Area
of Operations. That field operation had two Special Forces soldiers, Master
Sergeant “Hoot” Gibson and Specialist 5 Dan Lawler. Both were severely wounded and Specialist
Lawler died several days later at the 93rd Medical Evacuation Hospital in
Saigon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“A
new team sergeant arrived from the 10th Special Forces in Germany, Master
Sergeant Douglas Lloyd. Although new in country and new to the team, Master
Sergeant Doug Lloyd insisted on taking</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> his turn on the next operation and was joined by the most experienced NCO
remaining on the team, Sergeant First Class Hughes,” Jim recalled. “They walked
into a large ambush. The survivors were regrouping and radioed for assistance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“We
had limited resources and requested the B Team commander, Major</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Ronnie Mendoza, to get us air
support and, more specifically, helicopters to extract the team members and surviving CIDG. Major
Mendoza arrived at Cau Song Be and instructed me to gather emergency medical
supplies. I boarded his helicopter with two other team members, who carried weaponry and a fair
amount of ammunition to cover the extraction,” Jim said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“The
vegetation in the</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> area
was extremely dense, with short visibility and few remarkable features to make
it possible to identify
their location from the earlier reports they had sent. We began crisscrossing
the operations area
and someone on the ground popped smoke,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Sqg71VIrcFg/Ue687Oi-rgI/AAAAAAAAAxE/1iTYGHFdpY8/s1600/Chin+Linh+SF+Camp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="297" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Sqg71VIrcFg/Ue687Oi-rgI/AAAAAAAAAxE/1iTYGHFdpY8/s320/Chin+Linh+SF+Camp.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Cau Song Be from the air in 1967</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“We
were over very thick</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> vegetation not far from the Song Be River. Sometimes the VC would pop
smoke to draw in a helicopter
so they could down it with rocket-propelled grenades. Despite the potential
danger, Major Mendoza ordered his pilot to go in closer. What we found was one of the Special Forces
team members, Sergeant First Class Hughes, wounded and holed up with Vietnamese First
Lieutenant Au and a few CIDG.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“There
were no clear areas</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> near these men where a helicopter could set down or even hover safely, so
we bundled some machetes
and threw them down so they could begin to cut some area clear. Then the major
started to tie a rope
around my waist, telling me he wanted me on the ground as quickly as possible to help Sergeant Hughes,”
Jim continued.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“The
helicopter began taking small arms fire. To keep me from</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> being exposed too long, he asked
his pilot to move down as close as he could get. Then the rear rotor clipped a tree and the
helicopter started wobbling erratically. The pilot said he thought we were going down. He managed to
keep us in the air several minutes and got to what was an abandoned section of Highway
14. The pilot managed to set us down on the road,” Jim said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“The
major was able to get an additional helicopter sent to pick us up</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> and start the extraction of the
CIDG company which had been ambushed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“Inasmuch
as one</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> helicopter
had already been forced down, it took extreme courage for these pilots to
return to the area
with neither active air support nor a ground element to suppress anti-aircraft
fire. I flew back to
the area to show the crew where we had seen Sergeant Hughes,” Jim said, describing
the medical evacuation being flown by Tom and Larry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“The
pilot found a small,</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> extremely tight landing pad surrounded by high trees. I estimate 40-50
feet or more. We took out the first 6 CIDG to reach the helicopter. As we lifted off, intense
small-arms fire was directed at the helicopter. Some of the fire with green tracers appeared to me to
be from what I came to know as a wheel-mounted .51-caliber machine gun, a formidable
anti-aircraft weapon,” the Special Forces medic said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">He
said it was the most intense small-arms fire he encountered during his combat
tour.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“I
do not know</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> if the
second helicopter landed where we had been or had set down in a different area,
but it came into the A camp a few minutes after we landed. Several of the CIDG
had been wounded and I took them to our field hospital to treat them, Jim said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Captain Wallace “Wally” Johnson, who commanded the Special
Forces A Team at Cau Song Be, said, “activity in camp was reasonably normal” during
the early afternoon of May 14.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Wally recalled being in the team house, visiting with the chaplain
about Lang Vei Special Forces Camp in I Corps to the north. The North Vietnam Army
recently had overrun the camp. One of Wally’s friends, Captain Bill Crenshaw,
and his executive officer had been killed in the attack.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The chaplain told Wally he had been at Lang Vei shortly
after the attack. “He said he was told the attack started within the camp,”
Wally said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1eQtD8ONxGc/Ue689vsBq9I/AAAAAAAAAxo/kSugc7CHDlo/s1600/Wally+with+presenters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1eQtD8ONxGc/Ue689vsBq9I/AAAAAAAAAxo/kSugc7CHDlo/s320/Wally+with+presenters.jpg" width="182" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Wally Johnson after war</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Within a few minutes of that conversation, all ‘heck’ broke
loose. Our guys had come under attack by an unknown North Vietnam Army and Viet
Cong unit about 4 kilometers from the camp. It was later determined to be a
regimental-size unit of between 600 and 700 enemy combatants,” Wally recalled.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I’m not sure of the exact radio conversation with Gibson,
but I am clear he said Dan Lawler and Doug Lloyd had been hit and they were
still alive, informing me that the wounds looked pretty bad,” Wally said. “I
felt that we had little time to get them out of there and get medical attention
to Doug and Dan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I remember grabbing my weapon and web gear and heading
toward the one helicopter sitting on the field with Special Forces medic Jim
Dopp. I asked the pilots, Tom Baca and Larry Liss, to help with the medevac.
They immediately volunteered, even though I noticed their aircraft was an
unarmed, VIP aircraft. There was no hesitation<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“At the ambush site, Gibson continued to adjust artillery
support. I think 8-inch howitzer support came from Quan Loi and airstrikes in
the target area were provided by A-1E aircraft,” Wally recalled. “The aircraft
had been dropping bombs and strafing the enemy area while the helicopter I was
in maneuvered around the incoming bombings. During the initial extraction, I
called off the artillery and airstrikes due to the closeness of the NVA to our
troops.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“The pilots — Tom Baca on the initial run — successfully
created a makeshift landing zone close to Gibson’s position by forcing the
helicopter down through the bamboo forest,” Wally said. “About 15 minutes prior
to that another helicopter had attempted a similar landing on the trail, but
damaged its tail rotor blade and had to withdraw to a safer position.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">He said Tom and Larry’s helicopter was able to extract 6
CIDG troops during the medical evacuation from the battlefield before returning
to Cau Song Be “to figure out how to get closer to Gibson and Lloyd and the
rest of the Civilian Irregulars, which numbered about 100.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“We arrived back at Cau Song Be (Chi Linh) and, as we
landed, we saw the paymaster’s helicopter, piloted by Jack Swickard, had also
landed on our airstrip.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“The pilots began coordinating how to extract the remaining
forces. I elected to stay back to coordinate what I knew would have to be the
total extraction of our entire unit,” Wally said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">I remember a Special Forces major rushed to my helicopter as
soon as we landed at Cau Song Be and told me through the cockpit window he needed
help extracting a company of CIDG troops ambushed by a large force of North
Vietnamese soldiers. “I’ve called for an airstrike,” the major told me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tom landed behind me during my conversation with the major.
I wrote an FM radio frequency on a piece of paper and asked Lieutenant Al
Croteau to deliver it to the pilot of the Huey on the airstrip behind us. A
short time later, Tom Baca’s voice came over the radio.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-APKw_6ECnX8/Ue687lpwRRI/AAAAAAAAAxg/DIrswOLhDtc/s1600/Jack+Swickard+in+field.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-APKw_6ECnX8/Ue687lpwRRI/AAAAAAAAAxg/DIrswOLhDtc/s1600/Jack+Swickard+in+field.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">WO1 Jack Swickard</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We took our flight maps, left our helicopters and held an
impromptu meeting with the major along the side of the runway. Because Tom and
Larry were flying an unarmed helicopter, it was decided I would take off first.
Tom and Larry would fly close formation on my Huey, which was armed with 2 M-60
machine guns.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">During our meeting, the major showed us on the maps where
the CIDG soldiers and Special Forces advisors were fighting for their lives.
The ambush had been sprung along a narrow road linked to the Special Forces
camp. We estimated the fighting was a 10-minute flight from the camp. Fortunately,
Tom and I had refueled our helicopters before landing at Cau Song Be, so we
could stay on station for about 2.5 hours.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our meeting completed, we returned to the helicopters. The
major boarded my Huey and sat in a seat behind me. I handed him a headset,
which he plugged into the radio and intercom system.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our helicopters took off in trail formation and turned south,
crossing National Highway 14 and flying into War Zone D. There were trees as
far as I could see. As we flew along the narrow road running to the ambush, the
major described how the airstrike he had ordered would clear the area of enemy
so our helicopters could land and extract the allied troops.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We circled near the ambush site, waiting for the FAC — or
forward air controller — to arrive in an Air Force observation plane. The FAC
would direct the jets making the airstrikes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The FAC arrived several minutes later and began circling
above the ambushed soldiers. Our Hueys were flying a circular pattern nearby
and about 500 feet above the FAC.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Air Force pilot called the senior Special Forces NCO
with the CIDG troops and told him to “pop smoke.” Nine pillars of colored smoke
began rising from beneath the trees and surrounding brush. The FAC asked the
NCO the color of the smoke grenade he had thrown. “Green,” came the reply.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I have 2 green smokes,” the FAC said. “Give me your
location.” A brief radio description followed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I can’t put in an airstrike,” the FAC told the advisor.
“You have enemy within 5 meters of you in all directions. If we put in an
airstrike, we’ll kill all of you.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The mission appeared to be over. Our 2 helicopters flew back
to the Cau Song Be airstrip. The Special Forces major got out of my Huey and
walked to my window.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I can’t ask you to go in without air cover, but I’d
appreciate whatever you can do,” the major told me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“We’ll see what we can do,” I replied. Then I keyed the
intercom and said, “Al, you don’t have to go in with us, if you don’t want to.”
I knew we would be lucky to pull off an extraction without air cover. There was
a good chance we would be wounded or killed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I’m staying with you,” Al answered.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Two gunships will accompany you,” the major said before we
headed back to our Hueys.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lieutenant Al Croteau said, “I remember the major talking to
Jack.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“The way I remember it is when we landed, the major came
over to Jack and said, ‘We’ve got this problem,’ and Jack said to me, ‘Should
we go?’ And I said, ‘I got to go where you go.’”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">The 2 helicopters took off together a second time, heading
toward the ambush.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">After takeoff, I looked to my left and saw the 2 UH-1C Huey
gunships keeping pace with us. Then we began descending. To gain surprise, we
flew as low as we could. For most of the flight in, the helicopters’ fuselage
was below the tops of the trees and directly over the narrow, dirt road leading
to the ambush.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xhVxwylamv4/Ue686yppNTI/AAAAAAAAAxA/2mmVz-EvSfQ/s1600/Dolan+at+Tay+Ninh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xhVxwylamv4/Ue686yppNTI/AAAAAAAAAxA/2mmVz-EvSfQ/s320/Dolan+at+Tay+Ninh.jpg" width="244" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>WO1 Ken Dolan in 1967</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">If we had come in high, we would have had to descend above the
enemy soldiers. We knew we would be easy targets. If we flew in low, we figured
the enemy wouldn’t hear us until it was too late to get off a good shot. Moreover,
by flying in low, we would appear to be flying faster and be more difficult to
hit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">However, by flying low it was impossible to navigate. We
knew the CIDG troops were on the road ahead of us, but so was the enemy. Additionally,
we would have to begin decelerating in time to land in the midst of the
friendly troops. That would make us easy targets.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Warrant Officer Ken Dolan, flying as my copilot that day, kept his hands and feet near our Huey's controls in case something happened to me during the flight into the landing zone.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">When I figured we were near the CIDG troops, I keyed my radio.
“When you hear us coming, throw a smoke grenade into the middle of the road,” I
told the Special Forces sergeant.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Roger,” he replied.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">About 60 seconds later I saw green smoke rising from the
middle of the road. “Tally-ho, green smoke,” I told the advisor over the radio
as I pulled up the nose of my helicopter to prepare to land. Tom and Larry were
flying closely behind us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Negative! Negative!” the advisor shouted back. “Do not land
at the green smoke!” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tom and I shoved the noses of our Hueys down and pulled
pitch to regain our airspeed. We flew past the green smoke at about 60 knots. Seconds
later I saw a cloud of purple smoke up the road. The Special Forces advisor
confirmed this was the color he had thrown.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Pjnp7ujv0xg/Ue687eUUOYI/AAAAAAAAAxM/WTRCM0lVlOA/s1600/Croteau1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Pjnp7ujv0xg/Ue687eUUOYI/AAAAAAAAAxM/WTRCM0lVlOA/s200/Croteau1.jpg" width="126" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Lt. Al Croteau</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lieutenant Al Croteau said, “When we were coming in, Jack was
talking to the ground. I distinctly remember him saying, ‘Pop smoke.’ They set
out the smoke. I was listening to the radio, and Jack said, ‘I’ve got green
smoke,’ and the advisor came back and said, ‘No, that’s not the right color.
That’s not my smoke.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I said, ‘I hope Jack gets the right color because, if he
doesn’t, we’re going to be landing in the wrong place.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">“The purple smoke wasn’t that far in front of us. We were
right on it,” Al said, estimating the helicopter landed 50-60 yards past the green
smoke, which had been thrown by the enemy to lure the helicopters into a trap.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Forty-one years later I would learn during a casual
conversation with Tom he and Larry had landed at Cau Song Be Special Forces
Camp, medically evacuated the 6 CIDG soldiers from the ambush, and then
delivered them to the camp hospital in the care of Jim Dopp.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">Until that conversation in 2008, I had thought Ken Dolan, Al
Croteau and I had landed at Cau Song Be first. After taking the wounded to the
hospital, Tom and Larry had flown around the airfield traffic pattern, and
landed behind me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman";">We all would learn we focused on different elements of the
mission on the sunny afternoon of May 14, 1967.</span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Jack Swickardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01798645835702357340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169325698888360644.post-83789347088507985042013-06-19T14:00:00.000-06:002013-06-19T14:01:17.610-06:00The Forgotten Mission — Chapter 41<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">BIEN HOA,
Vietnam — Sunday, May 14, 1967, began quietly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I was the
pilot of a transport Huey from the 118th Assault Helicopter Company. I had been
flying in combat for 3 months and recently had been named an aircraft commander,
a title granted after several months of flying in Vietnam, followed by a
checkride.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">My copilot,
Warrant Officer Ken Dolan, was just beginning his tour of duty as a helicopter
pilot in Vietnam.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-blaGLuX9wmo/UcIH2BvjjGI/AAAAAAAAAs0/QJF43xXBPyo/s1600/Jack+Swickard+flight+school.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-blaGLuX9wmo/UcIH2BvjjGI/AAAAAAAAAs0/QJF43xXBPyo/s200/Jack+Swickard+flight+school.jpg" width="156" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Jack Swickard</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">In the back of
the helicopter was Lieutenant Al Croteau, who regularly flew as door gunner on
combat missions when he took a day off from his regular job as commander of the
198th Signal Detachment. The detachment supported the 118th AHC.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Warrant
Officer Tom Baca, pilot of the other Huey, had 12 days left on his 1-year
combat tour in Vietnam. A former pilot with the 118th, Tom had transferred
several months earlier to the II Field Force (Vietnam) VIP Flight Detachment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Tom’s copilot
on May 14 was Captain Larry Liss, a recent arrival at the II Field Force Flight
Detachment. Larry had served as deputy commander of a Pathfinder detachment
before being transferred to the VIP flight unit. He had seen his share of
ground fighting, some of it hand-to-hand in the helicopter landing zones he had
marked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Larry
had arrived in Vietnam in October 1966 and received his aircraft commander
orders in the third week of November.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Though they
did not know it when their helicopters lifted off on May 14, all of the crewmembers’
combat skills and experience would be put to a test before the day ended.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The 2 crews
were flying a rare mission that day. May 14 was the final day of the largest
U.S. military operation of the Vietnam War — Operation Junction City. Ground
troops were mopping up the operation. Most helicopter crews and aircraft that
had supported the operation for 3 months were on stand-down.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Operation
Junction City, on top of other missions being flown near Saigon, had put a heavy
burden on the helicopter units. With the operation winding down, the crews were
given a day off to rest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">While the
aircrews rested, mechanics were going over their helicopters, catching up on
repairs and change orders.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">My Huey was
the only Thunderbird UH-1D transport helicopter with a mission on May 14. I would
be supporting 5th Special Forces Group.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I remember
checking the mission board the night before. I would be flying the paymaster to
Special Forces camps throughout the III Corps. It looked like an easy day,
flying the paymaster from camp to camp. I liked working with Special Forces, so
the day would be enjoyable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Al Croteau
came to my room in the villa on Cong Ly Street and asked if he could fly as gunner
on my helicopter on May 14. Al liked to be in the thick of things and regularly
would take the place of the helicopter gunner. “I’d like to get some pictures,”
he told me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“It’s fine
with me, Al, if the gunner wants to take the day off,” I told him. I had no
doubt it would be an easy sell to the gunner, who could sleep in that day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Al joined Ken
Dolan and me for breakfast at 6 the morning of May 14. Ken had been with the
118th a month. We would take off at 7 a.m. from Bien Hoa Airfield, land at the
5th Special Forces Group helipad, and pick up the paymaster.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8wWc_qYl99k/UcIIZDD-AtI/AAAAAAAAAs8/5U5dzcX2ey8/s1600/Dolan+in+cockpit.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="207" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8wWc_qYl99k/UcIIZDD-AtI/AAAAAAAAAs8/5U5dzcX2ey8/s320/Dolan+in+cockpit.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Ken Dolan in Huey cockpit</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">By
May 14, Ken Dolan had been in the 118th AHC “probably a month, maybe two
months. It was probably a little over a month. I remember we used to get our
missions in the evening. I was still walking around in a daze.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I
recall it was a vey casual start. It wasn’t expected to be a problem, it was
supposed to be pretty easy, just flying, it was going to be up in the northern
part of III Corps and it was just a beautiful area, up by Song Be Mountain,”
Ken said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Al
Croteau recalled, “Sunday was my day off. What I would normally do was fly. I
started off flying as a door gunner. I thought I’d get some excitement. But
sometimes during the week I’d hop on a pigs-and-rice mission.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“One
time, when I was flying as a door gunner. I was in the top plane. There were
these 2 planes under me. They yelled, ‘Open fire.’ So I opened fire. I’m not a
good shot, and when we landed that day one of the other warrant officers called
me over and said, ‘Look at this! Look at my skids. I’ve got some bullet holes
in them.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gOH1l9RCo_A/UcIIlljDUaI/AAAAAAAAAtE/dadMHr-_DWQ/s1600/Croteau1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gOH1l9RCo_A/UcIIlljDUaI/AAAAAAAAAtE/dadMHr-_DWQ/s320/Croteau1.jpg" width="202" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Al Croteau in Vietnam</span></b></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I
said, ‘Uh, oh.’ I decided on that day that unless it was a single-ship mission,
I would fly with the maintenance helicopter, which would fly out with a bunch
of spare parts. I’d fly with Birdwatcher and throw a bunch of radios in,” Al
said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“If
the company wasn’t going out, then I’d try to hook up with somebody and go
flying that day, with a single-ship, pigs-and-rice mission. That was my routine,”
he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Al
accumulated 250 hours of combat flight time. “I would fly, at a minimum, 2 or 3
times a week.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">On
the night of May 13, “I went to your room, because I knew you were going out
and there wasn’t much going on and I really didn’t want to hang around on a
Sunday, and I knew you were going to be going everywhere. I just looked at the
mission with the paymaster, and I said, ‘That’s great. We’re going to go all
over the country. This is going to be fun. We were friends and I said, ‘This
will be great fun.’”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Larry
Liss had never met Tom Baca before May 14. “My friends were all at the 334th
(Attack Helicopter Company), the gunship company. They were the Dragons. They
had a great club on Cong Ly Street. All my friends who I went to flight school
with were there. The guy who ran the club was one of my best friends, a guy
named Bill Frank.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“I
didn’t know anybody at II Field Force. The only guy I can remember was a guy
named Becker. He carried a Bible with him all the time, but I don't remember
anybody else. I couldn’t tell you one guy I flew with. They kept them moving in
and out. In the aircraft I flew most of the time, somebody would jump in and I’d
fly with him and the next day it would be someone else, but I don’t remember
creating any relationship with anybody,” Larry said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xR7Z7cgWeJY/UcIJSXGHibI/AAAAAAAAAtU/iRRaE92qkwE/s1600/Larry+with+VN+kids.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="283" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xR7Z7cgWeJY/UcIJSXGHibI/AAAAAAAAAtU/iRRaE92qkwE/s320/Larry+with+VN+kids.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Larry Liss with Vietnamese children</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“There
was no II Field Force club. We lived in that villa on Cong Ly Street. My room
was right there on the street, so when I looked out my window, I was looking
down onto the street. I was with a guy named Tom Turner. They called him
Terrible Tom Turner. Everything was like a whirlwind,” Larry said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Somebody
said something to me Saturday night while I was in the villa. They needed
somebody to copilot for a guy named Baca. I said, ‘OK, I’ll do it,’” Larry
recalled. “I got over there and I think we took off around noon or 11 o’clock.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“When
I said I would fly with Tom, I had no idea who he was or how well he flew or
didn’t. I let go of any apprehension I had within minutes of him taking off. That’s
how good I thought he was as a helicopter pilot,” Larry said. “ So, I just
settled in and relaxed, expecting to nap all day. I have no idea if we even
spoke very much until we got to Cau Song Be. Who knows; we may have been just
yacking away, but I don’t remember with any certainty.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Larry
said on other missions he had flown, “Some guys were crazy. I flew once with a
guy who loved flying on the ground, you know, nap of the earth. Crazy. The
first time I flew with him it was kind of thrilling; he flew like he had a
great touch. The second time I flew with him, it was like ‘I don’t want to fly
with this guy anymore.’ He was an accident waiting to happen, but with Tom, I
could kick back, cross my arms and go to sleep.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">After
picking up the chaplain, Larry said, “The first thing I really remember was
getting out of the helicopter at Cau Song Be. One of the guys flying with us
had some coffee. I had some coffee and some C-rations and some crackers and
stuff, then this sergeant came running out. He was freaked out about what was
going on. He said, ‘Let’s go.’ And I said, ‘Absolutely, let’s go.’”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Warrant Officer Tom Baca
remembered, “Sunday, May 14, started for me at sunup. I had a full morning of
transporting different officers from II Field Force to various locations in III
Corps. This was the last day of Operation Junction City.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BwfljG0us00/UcIJav54x7I/AAAAAAAAAtc/_qxkmfz9VHQ/s1600/With+118th.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="152" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BwfljG0us00/UcIJav54x7I/AAAAAAAAAtc/_qxkmfz9VHQ/s320/With+118th.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Tom Baca in UH-1D helicopter</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“I remember carrying the
IIFFV artillery commander, a brigadier general, to several locations. We then
returned to Long Binh and picked up the IIFFV staff chaplain. I had never met Larry
Liss or flown with him before he met me at the aircraft that day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“The flight with the chaplain
began about noon from the II Field Force Headquarters, with an initial stop at
Bu Dop Special Forces Camp. After the chaplain finished his services there, we
arrived at Cau Song Be in the early mid-afternoon. Earlier in the day I had
already flown about 5 or 6 hours,” Tom recalled.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“After landing at Cau Song Be,
I was attending Mass when I was approached by a Special Forces officer, Captain
Wallace Johnson, who asked me to help evacuate some soldiers wounded in a
firefight not far from the camp,” Tom said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The helicopter Tom was flying
that day was a VIP Huey with no machine guns. In 12 days, Tom was scheduled to
complete his Vietnam tour and rotate back to the United States.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“I thought I would probably
die on this mission,” he recalled.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Wally Johnson told Tom,
“There is no other aircraft in the area to get for the rescue.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Tom said he requested
consensus of his helicopter crewmembers on whether they wanted to go on the
mission. “They all agreed to go and their only arms were several M-16 rifles, an
M2 carbine and a few .38-caliber pistols,” Tom said. “Captain Johnson and a Special Forces Specialist
5 medic named James Dopp were to fly into the zone on the initial rescue
flight.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q8rXmtdDCbw/UcII41Y_yrI/AAAAAAAAAtM/fqKWwP825D8/s1600/Wally+with+snake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="242" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Q8rXmtdDCbw/UcII41Y_yrI/AAAAAAAAAtM/fqKWwP825D8/s320/Wally+with+snake.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Wallace "Wally" Johnson during training</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“The first trip into the landing
zone — or LZ — was a narrow trail bordered on each side by tall bamboo and
small trees. There was no area to land with rotor blade clearance,” Tom said. “I
was flying a VIP Huey with new rotor blades. I had no doubt the blades would be
structurally damaged and seriously compromised.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“My first descent sounded
like a buzz saw going through the bamboo. The main rotor blades were taking
damage and I was very worried about the tail rotor being damaged by flying
bamboo,” Tom said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">On the Huey’s medical
evacuation flight, Tom and Larry Liss evacuated 7-8 wounded soldiers. The helicopter
left after Tom hovered the aircraft straight up and made a 180-degree turn to
depart over the same trail they had flown over coming into the LZ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">While the wounded were being
loaded into the Huey’s cargo area, the enemy was shooting the soldiers on board
the aircraft. Tom said he was amazed no fire was directed at the pilots and
crew.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">On the way back to Cau Song
Be, Tom was asked by Special Forces officers to help extract all of the CIDG
troops from the LZ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“I recall calling on the Guard
radio channel for any aircraft in the area. When I landed at Cau Song Be, I
landed behind Warrant Officer Jack Swickard. I was glad Jack Swickard from my
old assault helicopter company, the 118th, was going to help with the
evacuation of the rest of the troops,” Tom said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; tab-stops: 28.0pt 56.0pt 84.0pt 112.0pt 140.0pt 168.0pt 196.0pt 224.0pt 3.5in 280.0pt 308.0pt 336.0pt; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BT8eEzFfUbM/UcIM2XHDsoI/AAAAAAAAAtw/Ah1pxg6j_A0/s1600/Cau+Song+Be+in+1967.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="235" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BT8eEzFfUbM/UcIM2XHDsoI/AAAAAAAAAtw/Ah1pxg6j_A0/s320/Cau+Song+Be+in+1967.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Cau Song Be Special Forces Camp</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
was nearing Cau Song Be with the paymaster aboard my Huey when Tom Baca’s call
came over the Guard channel. Guard was set up so radios on all military
aircraft would pick up emergency transmissions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I
responded to Tom’s call, wondering about the emergency he was calling about. In
my radio call, I told Tom I would be landing at the Cau Song Be airstrip shortly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">To
my surprise, I did not see Tom’s helicopter on the runway as I made my
approach. After I was on the ground, the paymaster got out of the Huey and
began walking toward the camp.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">A
major ran to the window on my side of the cockpit. He was out of breath. “I
need you to evacuate our soldiers. They are surrounded by the NVA and Viet
Cong,” the major told me. “I’ve called for an airstrike.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Jack Swickardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01798645835702357340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169325698888360644.post-53469718313906115432013-06-12T15:54:00.002-06:002013-06-12T16:12:59.811-06:00The Forgotten Mission — Chapter 40<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">BIEN HOA,
Vietnam — Pilots of the 118th Assault Helicopter Company generally ate pretty
well, even in the field.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Because the
118th AHC was not part of a U.S. division, helicopter crews supported a variety
of allied military units. One day I would be carrying ARVN — or Army of Vietnam
— soldiers into combat. The next day I would be flying supplies to Australian
Army Training Team soldiers. The day after that I could be supporting the 199th
Infantry Brigade, 5th Special Forces Group or a Marine Corps colonel with the
call sign “Leatherneck 6.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Getting
helicopter support was a big deal for most of the units we would be assigned to
for a day or half day. As a result, the people we supported treated the
aircrews well. This carried over to meals.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YaORFyOTY9E/UbjsbYvFlOI/AAAAAAAAAr8/34Dtkq4SSso/s1600/Ducks+at+Tay+Ninh+East.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="139" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YaORFyOTY9E/UbjsbYvFlOI/AAAAAAAAAr8/34Dtkq4SSso/s200/Ducks+at+Tay+Ninh+East.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Pigs and Rice Mission items.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">On a typical day
of flying resupply — or “pigs and rice” — missions, the morning generally would
start with a hot cup of coffee as the officer or NCO assigned to coordinate briefed
the helicopter crew. Sometimes, particularly with Special Forces, the briefing
was over breakfast.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">It seems the
crews were always hungry. Even though the pilots ate breakfast at the Officers
Villa where we lived in downtown Bien Hoa, there was something about the 1:1
bouncing motion induced by the helicopter’s rotor blades that made you hungry
again. The same held true with our enlisted crew chief and doorgunner, who had eaten
breakfast in the Mess Hall before heading to the flight line.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">At lunchtime, the
flight crews usually were invited into Special Forces dining rooms or mess halls
set up by regular U.S. units. Though the pilots, who were warrant officers or
commissioned officers and received an allowance to cover meals, it was rare
when we were asked to pony up the standardized $1.05 for lunch. Generally, the
regular U.S. Army units were strict on separating officers and enlisted men for
meals, so our flight crews would eat in different parts of the mess hall. I can
recall during one operation the battalion we were supporting erected a GP medium
tent and then used a rope to separate the ranks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">When supporting
troops on combat operations, dining was less formal. If we received a break for
lunch, the aircrews would stand in line with the soldiers we were supporting.
When our plates were filled, we’d find a rock or a log on which to sit and eat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The best lunches,
though, were served in the U.S. Navy Petty Officers Mess at Nha Be, a Navy base
and petroleum tank farm 7 miles south of Saigon. One day, while supporting the
Navy’s Seawolves at Nha Be, I discovered the Petty Officers Mess served lobster
Newburg weekly for lunch. After that, if I was within 20 miles of Nha Be and
had the time, I would fly to the Navy base and the crew would enjoy a special
treat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xcJI21Tnc94/Ubjsbjsd1sI/AAAAAAAAAsA/uNItrWyiiyA/s1600/Ten+on+a+Jeep+to+lunch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xcJI21Tnc94/Ubjsbjsd1sI/AAAAAAAAAsA/uNItrWyiiyA/s320/Ten+on+a+Jeep+to+lunch.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Heading for lunch in an overloaded Jeep.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Usually when we
weren’t eating with the unit we were supporting, lunch consisted of C-rations.
Actually, the Army had discontinued C-rations in 1958, replacing them with Meal,
Combat, Individual rations. However, GIs continued referring to them as
C-rations — or simply “C’s.” I never heard anyone refer to these rations by
their Army abbreviation: MCI.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The crew chief
always made certain there were at least 4 C’s whenever we took off each day.
You never knew where you would be for lunch, so we always had a backup. Everyone
had a favorite main course and a favorite dessert. Because both favorites
rarely came in the same C-ration package, there was a lot of food swapping
among crewmembers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">My favorite
meats were the cooked pork and the sliced beef with potatoes. For dessert, my
picks were the chocolate discs and the pound cake. To heat our meals, we would
first open one of the taller cans containing crackers or other dry items. The
contents would be placed to the side so we could punch holes around the bottom
edge of the can. Next we would fill the can part way with sand. Then we would
crawl under the helicopter and add JP-4 jet fuel from the drain plug. This then
became a stove. You could be pretty creative with your cooking, adding items
such as cheese spread to the meat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The troops we
supported didn’t have access to JP-4 fuel, so they cooked with what was
available. One day a soldier gave me a fright when he broke off a piece of C-4
plastic explosive he was carrying and lit it. I was certain it would explode,
but the C-4 began burning so hot it quickly cooked his meal. Cooking with C-4
could be dangerous in an enclosed area, as it produced a toxic cloud.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">To enliven the
flavor of C-rations, many GIs began carrying bottles of Tabasco sauce with them
into the field. Whenever my helicopter airlifted a squad of U.S. Army soldiers,
at least one soldier would have a bottle of Tabasco sauce secured to his helmet
with the camouflage band. I suspected the McIlhenny Company of Avery Island,
Louisiana, was supplying the bottles to American GIs for free.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Some 45 years
later, I followed up on this suspicion and visited Avery Island. My first
question was whether the company had, in fact, provided its Tabasco sauce to the
soldiers for free. I learned it had.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">At a time when
many Americans were hostile to GIs serving in Vietnam, the McIlhenny Company
was a generous supporter of the troops. Whenever I see a bottle of Tabasco on a
grocery store shelf or on a restaurant table, I think of the company’s support
for GIs in Vietnam.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">After a day of
flying, the younger pilots of the 118th AHC would return to the villa on Cong
Ly Street and change into Bermuda shorts, T-shirts and flip-flops. An observer
might think he was in a college dormitory, except for the firearms in the
rooms.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Many of the
warrant officer pilots were recent college students. Some had become bored with
college life and enlisted in the Army’s flight training program. Others had
gone to college to play and drink beer, eventually finding themselves on
academic suspension. It was a short hop from suspension to receiving a letter
that started: “Greetings,” then went on to order the receiver to report to the
local draft board. Once Uncle Sam had them by the scruff of the collar, some of
the service-bound, young men had opted for flight training.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Before dinner,
many of the pilots would drop by the bar in the Officers Club for a drink, and
then wander into the Mess. One of the most noticeable aspects of the Officers
Mess was the palm tree growing in the middle of the room. The roof had been
built to allow the tree to reach its full height. All the tables in the Mess had
tablecloths. Young, Vietnamese women in uniform waited the tables. The kitchen
was presided over by a Chinese cook.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">After dinner, we
would bring some drinks from the bar back to our table and await the start of
the nightly movie, which projected on a white wall in the Mess. Recent
Hollywood films were shipped to Vietnam for showing to the troops, but the
favorite among Thunderbird pilots was the ABC-Television series “Combat.” In
the series, which ran from 1962-67, actor Vic Morrow portrays a U.S. Army
sergeant who leads his infantry squad in Europe during World War II.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The film
sequences and dialogue kept us in stitches throughout each episode. We enjoyed laughing
at how Hollywood portrayed soldiers in combat, but it also was a relief from
the tension of being in combat daily.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Another favorite
television series was “Gunsmoke.” We all had grown up watching Marshal Matt
Dillon, Chester and Miss Kitty, so it was almost a trip home to see the tales
of the Old West.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">After the movie,
the pilots would check the mission board to see where they would be flying the
next day. Then they would meet with friends in the bar or go to their room and clean
their sidearms or write letters home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The next day
would begin with a pre-dawn breakfast, then a drive to the flightline. After
preflighting our helicopters, we would lift off from the Birdcage and return to
war.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Few other helicopter
pilots in Vietnam enjoyed the lifestyle of the Thunderbirds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">My younger
brother, Jeff, knew he was about to be drafted when he was best man at my
wedding in February 1968, three days after I returned from Vietnam. When he was
drafted into the Army several weeks later, he applied for flight school and
soon was learning to fly helicopters at Fort Wolters, Texas, and Fort Rucker,
Alabama.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Bp4E741pT-c/UbjsaX2t5BI/AAAAAAAAAr0/thOUuqNCKNc/s1600/Jeff+as+CQ+at+Wolters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="224" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Bp4E741pT-c/UbjsaX2t5BI/AAAAAAAAAr0/thOUuqNCKNc/s320/Jeff+as+CQ+at+Wolters.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">My brother, Jeff, pulling CQ in flight school.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">In Vietnam, he
served as a warrant officer gunship pilot with the 134th Assault Helicopter
Company, stationed at Phu Hiep, about 5 kilometers south of Tuy Hoa Air Force
Base, a large U.S. Air Force fighter base.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">His duty station
was in south-central Vietnam, on the coast of the South China Sea. During the
war, Tuy Hoa and Phu Hiep were in the ARVN II Corps.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Jeff said the
pilots in his company “lived in tin-sided hooches,
with nothing on the inside except a concrete floor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“If
we wanted to have any privacy or just have some personal space, we would have
to build it ourselves. The only building materials we had were ammo boxes. We
had a lot of those. Our 2.75-inch rockets came in them and we went through a bunch
of rockets every day,” Jeff recalled. “When the unit across the street from the
134th moved to another base, leaving their company area vacant, 6 of us Devil
gun pilots moved into one of the empty hooches. It was bone empty.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“Warrant
Officer Bob Stanford, who had been my roommate in flight school, and I went
looking for materials to help divide the hooch into separate rooms,” Jeff said.
“We borrowed a Jeep and drove to Tuy Hoa Air Force Base. After a little
exploring, we found an Air Force engineering squadron. While we were talking to
one of the airmen, a master chief read my nametag and asked if I had a father
in the Air Force. I said, ‘yes.’ He told me he had worked for my father and
liked him a lot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“The
next day, a large Air Force truck rolled up to our hooch at Phu Hiep and
proceeded to unload two 100-sheet stacks of fiberboard. That was way more than
we had a use for, so we started trading for other items we needed,” Jeff said. “Soon
we had tile floors and air conditioning. Additionally, we traded fiberboard for
steaks and poncho liners. Those were then traded for a Class A telephone line
we connected to our hooch. We were able to keep that by connecting an extension
to our Officers Club Annex. After that the CO seemed to look the other way and
let us keep the phone line.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“Our
hooch was pretty nice when we finished it. It had 6 bedrooms and a living room
with bar. The broken-down ammo boxes made nice trim and they looked good when
made into bookcases or closets. We even had ‘Devil Guns’ spelled out with
different colored tiles on the floor of the living room,” Jeff said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Jeff
recalled Tuy Hoa Air Force Base “had a great Officers Club, with a helipad
co-located. We occasionally would land there for lunch, but they really frowned
on gunships landing there. We always traveled in pairs, so two UH-1C Hueys took
up the whole pad.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">He
said, “I remember a lot of roast beef and a lot of chicken in our mess hall; almost
every meal had one or the other, including breakfast and the midnight meal. I
ate at our Army Officers Club pretty frequently for the dinner meal. We could
buy a steak and grill it ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“When
we were on missions, we would try to land someplace that had something
different. Our company was general support for all of II Corps, so we got
around quite a bit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“Lane
Army Airfield at An Son, northwest of Qui Nhon, had a really good Officers
Club. The airfield also was home to a gun platoon, so refueling and rearming
our aircraft was easy,” Jeff said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“Qui
Nhon had a USO, which meant strawberry sundaes and Red Cross Donut Dollies,
but no rearming for our gunships,” he said. “Most of our lunch meals were ‘C-rats.’
I was partial to the scrambled eggs.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Like
Qui Nhon, Bien Hoa had a residence for Donut Dollies, the nickname given to
young women who joined the American Red Cross and were assigned to Vietnam,
where they visited with and passed out coffee and doughnuts to GIs. The ladies
of the Red Cross were a great morale booster.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">The
Donut Dolly residence in Bien Hoa was adjacent to a senior officer’s house,
which was directly across Cong Ly Street from the Thunderbird villa. The senior
officer lived in splendor in the large, sparkling white house with a sparkling
white fountain in the courtyard. There were even sparkling white ducks that
waddled around and swam in the fountain.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Each
evening when we returned from the flightline, we would see the senior officer
in a sparkling white T-shirt, leaning over the rail of a balcony overlooking
the Donut Dolly residence, binoculars in hand. It was obvious he had been watching
the Red Cross ladies.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">After
several weeks, the Thunderbird pilots took matters in hand. Before leaving the
airfield in the back of a deuce-and-a-half — or 2.5-ton — truck for Cong Ly
Street one evening, each pilot picked out a red smoke grenade. As the truck
came abreast of the senior officer’s house, one of the pilots shouted: “1, 2,
3, Go!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">A
dozen smoke grenades sailed through the air and clattered into the courtyard.
Dense, red smoke engulfed the white house, the white fountain with the white
ducks, and the senior officer in the white T-shirt. Before our truck moved on,
the smoke cleared enough for us to see the house, the fountain, the ducks, and
the senior officer had changed from white to a rich pink.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">I
was certain there would be repercussions. I was wrong. There was never a peep —
or even a quack — about the smoke attack. Several days later, the house, the
fountain and the ducks were sparkling white again. But we never again saw the
senior officer leering over the balcony rail.</span></div>
<o:p></o:p><br />
<!--EndFragment-->Jack Swickardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01798645835702357340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169325698888360644.post-10582276517329591082013-05-20T23:28:00.002-06:002013-05-20T23:34:49.471-06:00The Forgotten Mission — Chapter 39<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">MINH THANH,
Vietnam — The U.S. Army did a superb job of training helicopter pilots for
combat in the Vietnam War.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Beginning with
our first 4 months of flight training at the U.S. Army Primary Helicopter
Training Center at Fort Wolters, Texas, we were being prepared to fly in combat
in Southeast Asia. After 1 month of preflight training — a spit-and-polish
period designed to weed out people who did not conform to the Army’s definition
of an officer-aviator — we began flight instruction.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The first thing
we learned was how to hover, followed by learning to take off and land a
helicopter, make radio calls, monitor instruments, maintain proper engine and
rotor rpm with a throttle mounted at the end of the collective pitch lever,
solo, and cross-country navigation. Then we had to land and take off from
pinnacles and out of confined areas surrounded by trees.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Early during
flight training at Fort Wolters, students were told if they did not get along
with their flight instructor, they could request a change. I couldn’t imagine
that situation arising, until it confronted me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">My first
instructor pilot was a civilian who worked for Southern Airways, which held a
contract to teach us how to fly. Other instructor pilots — or IPs — were active
duty military aviators, many of whom recently had returned from Vietnam.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">At first I
didn’t realize I had a personality conflict with my IP. Like the other student
pilots, I was learning skills unrelated to anything I had ever done before.
Someone once compared learning to fly a helicopter with riding a unicycle while
juggling.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">As flight
training progressed, I began to pick up clues the IP and I weren’t bosom-buddies.
After the expected stress of learning to hover, I began to pick up hints he
might be aiming for me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">One day during
an early instructional flight, the IP told me to make a descending turn to a
particular compass heading. Everything seemed to click and our descent and
heading worked perfectly. “That’s good,” the instructor told me. Not used to
hearing compliments about my flying, I responded with a relieved, “It was
pretty good.” His reply was brief and aimed at my jugular: “Quit bragging about
yourself. You’ll screw up the next maneuver.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Our cockpit
conversations deteriorated from there. If I made a mistake during an instructed
flight, the IP would yell: “Do that again and I’ll pink your ass.” This was a
serious threat. When a student pilot made an unsatisfactory flight, the
instructor would hand him a pink slip — the equivalent of an “F” grade. If a
student received two pink slips he had to take a check ride, which determined
if he would get kicked out of flight school.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">My flight
instructor’s threat came to pass and I was handed a pink slip several days
later. I was sweating. One more pink slip and my flying time could be over.
Several days later, the IP handed me the second pink slip. Before I could fly
again I would have to take a check ride with a standardization pilot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The appointed
time and day arrived. I conducted a preflight inspection of the helicopter,
knowing it could be the last time I would perform one. The standardization
pilot knew I was nervous and tried to put me at ease. After taking off from the
Main Heliport at Fort Wolters, I flew all the maneuvers the pilot asked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Though I was on
a make-or-break check ride I discovered flying with the standardization pilot
was more relaxing than with my instructor pilot. After we landed, the check
pilot filled out a form and turned to me. “Here it comes,” I thought.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“There’s nothing
wrong with your flying,” he told me. “I don’t understand why you had to take a check
ride.” I remained mum.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Each day, when
my classmates and I were bused to the flightline, I hoped the red flag was
flying. The flag meant weather conditions would not permit flying. The flag was
never red.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Over the next 2
weeks, I received 2 more pink slips. Again, the standardization pilot told me
my flying was up to snuff.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I wised up and asked
for another instructor pilot. The next morning when I reported to the
flightline, I was introduced to my new IP, an active duty chief warrant officer
2 recently back from a year’s tour of duty in South Vietnam.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">For the first
time since beginning flight school I began enjoying cockpit time. My grades
soared, primarily because I could relax and concentrate on flying. There were
no more pink slips or standardization rides throughout flight school. Instead
of dreading flight instruction, I looked forward to it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I was jumping
all the hurdles as I finished up at Fort Wolters and moved on to instrument,
formation, Huey transition, and tactical flying at Fort Rucker.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Later, after
arriving at our combat units in South Vietnam, flight training continued.
During our first 30-45 days in-country, new Peter Pilots flew with aircraft
commanders who had experience in the area of operations and had developed the
skills needed to fly overloaded and land in tricky areas.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">By the time a
helicopter pilot had been flying combat missions for three months, he was
comfortable in about any situation he could face. The helicopter became an
extension of his body. His depth perception became so highly tuned, he knew
exactly where the main rotor blade tips were slicing through the air. He could sense
the correct engine and rotor rpm.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">When the
shooting began, most helicopter pilots felt they had some control over their environment.
Lift pilots flying troops into a landing zone during a combat assault could steer
through enemy tracers that marked a fraction of rounds being fired at them by
the enemy. We learned not to flinch, as that might cause you to collide with
another Huey in formation. All helicopter pilots were familiar with the
often-repeated saying: “A mid-air can ruin your whole day.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I remember this
was put to a test late one afternoon<b> </b>when the Thunderbirds were told to
make “one more assault.” During the pilots’ briefing in the field before the
assault, we were told a .50-caliber machine gun had been seen near the landing
zone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Sure enough, it
found us. During final approach, the .50 began shooting from the LZ, straight
up our formation. I had heard tracers from a .50 looked as big as basketballs.
They looked a lot larger to me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Holding a
tight formation, our flight of Hueys was flying directly in the line of fire. A
tracer looked like it was heading straight toward you and would come through
the windshield. Then, just before it hit you in the face, the tracer would arc
up and over your aircraft. It was an odd sensation. Fortunately, none of the
aircraft were hit.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Where I really
felt vulnerable was on the ground.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">One week in
late October 1967, some members of our lift platoon were assigned to carry Long-Range
Reconnaissance Patrol — or LRRP — soldiers into remote LZs at night. The soldiers
we dropped off then would travel in small groups through enemy territory to
gather intelligence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8tl3b1Nag_A/UZsEih7MfNI/AAAAAAAAArg/cEB8ol2sVjc/s1600/Minh+Thanh+SF+Camp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8tl3b1Nag_A/UZsEih7MfNI/AAAAAAAAArg/cEB8ol2sVjc/s320/Minh+Thanh+SF+Camp.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Minh Thanh Special Forces Camp</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">About a week
later, we would pick these “Roadrunner” crews up at night. This involved flying
over a designated area, looking for a dim light from the ground. We flew with our
external lights off, so it was important to keep track of other Hueys flying in
the area.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">When one of
the LRRP teams signaled its position, a helicopter would make an approach to
the team, pick up the soldiers and fly them back to base for debriefing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">On the final
night of the mission, we cranked up our Hueys and flew to the pickup locations.
I recall seeing a dim light flashing at us from the ground. As we made our
approach to the light, I remembered hoping the person holding it was one of our
guys and he had selected a clearing large enough for our main rotor blades.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The pickup
went without a hitch. A major problem began later, after we had landed the
helicopter and shut down the engine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1HC4BcHHFRg/UZsEaWncKjI/AAAAAAAAArY/GazsCwtgbqs/s1600/Minh+Thanh+SF+Camp+%2528skull%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1HC4BcHHFRg/UZsEaWncKjI/AAAAAAAAArY/GazsCwtgbqs/s320/Minh+Thanh+SF+Camp+%2528skull%2529.jpg" width="142" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Skull outside camp</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">That week we
had been operating from a clearing in a rubber plantation at </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Minh Thanh</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">. There was a Special Forces compound
ringed with barbed wire and a deep ditch in the same clearing. The helicopter
crews were quartered outside the camp.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">On our return
from the pickup, we landed our Hueys. Within minutes of engine shutdown, the
clearing erupted into battle. The Viet Cong apparently had timed their attack to
begin just after we shut down the helicopter engines, when they could not be
restarted.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I pulled my
.38-caliber revolver from its holster and ran to a shallow depression in the
ground. The sound of the attack was now a loud roar; so many rounds were being
fired on both sides I could not distinguish individual shots. The nearby camp
was using mortars to shoot parachute flares into the sky to illuminate the
clearing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Cambodian
mercenaries each placed a golden Buddha talisman worn around his neck between
his teeth and charged toward the treeline, rifle in hand. The roar continued
unabated.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I was out of
my element, so I looked around to see what other helicopter crewmembers were
doing. My gaze came to rest on the tent behind me. Sitting on a cot under a
canvas wall that had been rolled up for ventilation was one of our pilots, Major
Donald Van Pietersom. In his hand, he held a San Miguel beer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YZLFIi1aQKM/UZsDVPKbloI/AAAAAAAAAq8/6OGFACtAW38/s1600/Assaulting+tree+line.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="185" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YZLFIi1aQKM/UZsDVPKbloI/AAAAAAAAAq8/6OGFACtAW38/s320/Assaulting+tree+line.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Cambodian mercenaries charge trees.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I looked down
at the revolver I was holding, then back at Van Pietersom. “What are you going
to do with that thing?” he shouted at me. I looked at the revolver again, and then
put it back in the holster. I stepped out of the foxhole, walked to the tent,
and sat down next to Van Pietersom on the cot. He handed me a beer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">After the
battle had gone on for several minutes, I saw long, narrow flames moving
through the sky above the clearing. Then I heard a loud, extended belch. Gunship-mounted
mini-guns, firing up to 6,000 rounds per minute, began raking the edge of the
clearing. Then rockets were fired into the treeline. Our gunships had returned.
No one expected them back so soon from refueling.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Captain Jim
Thorne, leader of the Bandit escort gunships that night, told me later he had expected
the Viet Cong to attack us on the ground.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“After we returned about dusk<i>, </i>I advised the Special Forces captain
of our plan and then took the fire team to Dau Tieng to refuel and rearm. The
basic plan was to be airborne when the attack took place and have the Special Forces
camp call us on the radio immediately when it began,” Jim said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“We took on extra fuel, rearmed and managed to slide overloaded down the
PSP — or perforated steel plank runway — far enough to get lift. We headed back
toward the Special Forces camp so we would be no more than five minutes from
Minh Thanh, where we could respond quickly when the attack began.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qPdhP9QTBx4/UZsDYB-GtpI/AAAAAAAAArE/hD_oS7tpm_Y/s1600/Mini-gun+tracers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="194" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qPdhP9QTBx4/UZsDYB-GtpI/AAAAAAAAArE/hD_oS7tpm_Y/s320/Mini-gun+tracers.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Mini-gun tracers, helicopter exhaust visible<br />during attack on enemy assault at night.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“About the time we reached our loiter point we began to see the VC
mortar tubes light up and friendly tracers responding to the incoming,” Jim
said. “Our plan was to have the gunship armed with mini-guns fly a tight circle
over the tree line around the camp with the guns fully depressed. This would
keep the fire contained to the enemy in the tree line and not take a chance on
having any friendly casualties. At the same time, I would take the hog and go
after the mortars.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">A “hog” was a UH-1C Huey gunship armed exclusively with 48 rockets — 24
on each side.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Jim said, “Our plan seemed to work very well. As I recall, there were
two mortars firing on the camp and they were taken out fairly quickly and the
minis managed to dispatch the enemy ground troops shortly thereafter.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Warrant Officer Jack Mullican recalled helping set up camp. On the
second night the Viet Cong threw a grenade into the clearing. We thought, “What
the heck is going on?” Mullican said he decided it was a test to see what the
reaction would be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">“On the third night there was a lot more,” he said. However, it was on
the fourth night the Viet Cong launched their most aggressive attack, Mullican
said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Though most of the helicopter crewmembers were not near their aircraft
when the attack was launched, one crew chief remained on board his Huey, firing
the M-60 machine gun until the barrel turned red from the heat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Mullican
recalled on the first day of the operation digging a hole about 5 feet deep in
case the clearing was attacked. When the big attack began, Mullican said he
“didn’t think about anything but getting my butt down there.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">However, when
he leaped into the hole, he learned it contained more than 4 feet of water.
“There was a creek nearby and the water table was pretty high,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">After getting
himself organized in the water-filled hole, additional shooting erupted.
Another pilot, Warrant Officer Ricky Gay, “jumped into my hole behind me. When
he did that I thought I had been shot or stabbed. He scared me to pieces.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The following
day, the pilots and crews of the 118th Assault Helicopter Company safely returned
to Bien Hoa.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><b>EDITOR'S NOTE: Minh Thanh Special Forces Camp photos taken by Jim Thorne. Night attack photos taken by Jack Swickard.</b></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Jack Swickardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01798645835702357340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169325698888360644.post-53318894775008917452013-05-03T14:28:00.002-06:002013-05-20T23:32:48.538-06:00The Forgotten Mission — Chapter 38<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">VUNG TAU, Vietnam — Even
during wartime I could see Vietnam was a beautiful place. It has everything to
make it a first-class tourist destination. The beaches are gorgeous. There are
mountains, jungles, vast wetlands, cities in beautiful settings, and a population
of industrious, hospitable people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">In one of my first letters
home after arriving in Bien Hoa in February 1967, I wrote that once the war
ends, Vietnam could become a major tourist destination. And so it has.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">During the war, one of the
favorite in-country rest-and-relaxation centers was Vung Tau, south of Saigon. I
remember flying a Thunderbird Hueys to Vung Tau one afternoon. After we landed,
another flight crew flew the Huey back to Bien Hoa. We were taking the other
crew’s place for the next three days. When our R&R was over, another
Thunderbird crew would meet us with a helicopter to fly home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Vung Tau, known to the French
during colonial days as Cap Saint Jacques, had great beaches and restaurants.
Typically, we would check into a hotel, sleep late, then head for one of the
nearby beaches after breakfast. At the beach you could swim, sunbathe, and eat
pineapples, which were placed on a stick and then skinned in a spiral pattern
to remove the eyes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">I enjoyed lunch on the
veranda of the Grand Hotel, where we stayed. A waiter in a formal, white jacket
brought our food. I ordered prawns, which were so large they looked like small
lobsters. Cut into pieces and dipped in butter, they were out of this world.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">When I returned to Vietnam in
October 2008 for filming of the Windfall Films television documentary, we took
a Russian hydrofoil from Ho Chi Minh City to Vung Tau. I suggested we have
lunch at the Grand Hotel. However, when we arrived at the hotel, we had fewer
than 2 hours before the hydrofoil departed on our return trip to Ho Chi Minh
City. In addition, we were crowding the hotel dining room’s lunch hours.
Therefore, the kitchen prepared a quick, rice-and-fish lunch for us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">That night in Ho Chi Minh
City we found a great seafood restaurant near our hotel. Stuart Dunn, the documentary’s
cameraman, and I split an order of prawns in chile sauce, on top of the meal we
already had eaten. It’s difficult to find food any better than you can eat in
Vietnam.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">While on R&R during the Vietnam War, Captain
Larry Liss recalled a unique encounter with an enemy soldier at Vung Tau.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“During
a ground assignment, I was cut off from my Pathfinder team and broke into a
small opening in the jungle,” Larry said. “A North Vietnam Army captain came
into the opening at the same time. We looked at each other and took the chance
of lowering our rifles. We both backed off into the jungle.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“A month later, I met him on the beach in
Vung Tau. We had drinks that night and laughed a lot. We left the bar after
curfew and were stopped by a U.S. patrol wanting to know why we were out after
curfew. I apologized and said I lost track of time. They asked where I was
staying. Then they asked the NVA captain and, before he could answer, I said he
was with me. The patrol left because of a fight in the street.”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Larry recalled he and the NVA officer “saluted
each other and went our own ways. I learned that the guy on the other side was,
in some way, my brother in arms and we had a lot in common.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';"><br /></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">*****</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Warrant Officer Tom Baca’s memories of
R&R were focused out of country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="margin-bottom: 12.0pt; mso-add-space: auto; mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7PKmTpyjO7Y/UYQc5BTObgI/AAAAAAAAAps/ccwAijwPSqA/s1600/R&R+card+front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7PKmTpyjO7Y/UYQc5BTObgI/AAAAAAAAAps/ccwAijwPSqA/s320/R&R+card+front.jpg" width="205" /></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman';">“I had two R&R’s on my
first tour in Vietnam. My first one was to Hawaii in October 1966. I remember
getting off of the plane and watching many of the servicemen being greeted by
their wives and children. It was very emotional to watch,” Tom remembered.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“Since I did not have a wife
or a girlfriend at the time, I got to the Ilikai Hotel as quickly as I could so
I could sleep. I arrived in my room, looked out the window and saw a Shakey’s
Pizza Parlor. That was my favorite pizza, so I went down and had a large pizza
and 3 beers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“Most of my 6 days were spent
doing stateside things. I went to the movies, ate steaks, etc.,” Tom said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“Now, my second R&R was
more interesting. I got it in March of 1967. I went to Bangkok. During my first
9 months I had been nearly killed several times. Being raised Catholic, I had
always been a good little altar boy. But I was damned if I was going to die a
damn virgin. I struggled with what I should do about it and finally decided that
I was a mammal as well as an altar boy,” he said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“I got back to Vietnam with a
smile on my face. My penance was 2 Our Fathers and 3 Hail Marys! Military
chaplains are great,” Tom said.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">As Tom knew on his first
R&R, returning home was on the mind of most U.S. servicemen during the war.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">When a GI inched toward the
end of his 12-month Vietnam tour, you could tell he was focusing on home.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">When each of us left for
Vietnam, we were given a DEROS — which stood for “Date of Estimated Return from
Overseas.” Once a GI was within 3 months of his DEROS, his unofficial status
changed to: “Short.” He was never far from his “short-timer’s calendar,” a
pornographic drawing divided into 365 squares. Each square was darkened by
pencil daily.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">You could tell immediately
when a GI was nearing the end of his tour. When he passed an officer, he would
salute shout out the greeting: “Short, Sir!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The focus on “short” drove
some of the senior NCO’s crazy. Many thought it was detrimental to morale.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">I remember being in the 118th
Assault Helicopter Company orderly room one morning when the company first
sergeant dropped by to visit with Major Bill Bradner, the executive officer.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“Sir, look what I found on
one of the men,” the first sergeant said, handing a partially completed
short-timer’s calendar to the X.O.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Bradner looked at the
calendar, then opened his desk drawer, pulled out a piece of paper and handed
it to the sergeant. “It looks like mine,” said Bradner, who had been coloring
each passing day.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The sergeant visibly deflated
in front of us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Bill Bradner was a very
practical officer and military commander who always maintained his sense of
humor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Officers’ clubs seemed to
have standardized rules. For instance, over the bar in each club you usually
would see a sign stating: “Officers will not be served if wearing T-shirts”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Outside the Thunderbird
Lounge was another standard sort of sign: “Officers are forbidden to carry
firearms in the club”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">One afternoon Bill and I
returned to the villa and decided to drop into the club before changing out of
the uniforms in which we had been flying. We were carrying our Army issue
.38-caliber revolvers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0dAH5KkQO38/UYQc4MDAK6I/AAAAAAAAApc/az-qdorojxA/s1600/Bill+Bradner+at+bar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0dAH5KkQO38/UYQc4MDAK6I/AAAAAAAAApc/az-qdorojxA/s320/Bill+Bradner+at+bar.jpg" width="319" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Major Bill Bradner with a beer in the<br />Thunderbird Lounge.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Bill stopped, looked at the
sign banning firearms in the club. Then he reached into a pocket and pulled out
a black, grease pencil. With swipe of the pencil, Bill crossed out “carry” and
substituted “fire.” Now the sign read: “Officers are forbidden to fire firearms
in the club”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">We entered the club armed, but
in compliance with the sign. The sign about T-shirts also had its downside in
the Thunderbird Lounge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">One of
the younger warrant officer pilots became irritated when a young woman PX clerk
developed a crush on him. The woman was a “third-country national,” a citizen
of another Asian country who worked for a U.S. contractor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">She
would show up at the officers’ club each evening after dinner with a friend and
try to strike up a conversation with the pilot. If he went somewhere else in
the club, the young woman would follow him and continue the conversation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">One
evening the pilot showed up pantless. The woman PX clerk, looking only at his
face, failed to notice the pilot was nude below the waist — until he drew it to
her attention.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">She
gasped and left the club, never to return.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">However,
the pilot continued showing up in the club each night without trousers. No one
said anything to him, thinking he soon would pass through the phase.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">I
remember having a drink with Bill Bradner at the bar one evening when the pilot
sat next to him. Bill saw the pilot was wearing a T-shirt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“Looks
like drinks are on you,” Bill told the man.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“Why,
Sir?” the younger man asked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Bill
pointed to the sign that stated T-shirts were not allowed. The pilot pulled off
his T-shirt and dropped it to the floor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Bill
later told me, “I wouldn’t have said anything if I’d known it was the only
thing he was wearing.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Several
weeks later, one of the older chief warrant officers had a heart-to-heart talk
with the young pilot, who by then had progressed to showing up at the club each
evening buck-naked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The bar
in the Thunderbird Lounge was operated very efficiently by two Vietnamese
employees: Duc, the bartender, and Miss Mai, who helped out as barmaid.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">You
could never stump Duc on a drink. He knew how to mix any concoction from any
country.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Duc, who
commuted daily between Bien Hoa and his home in Saigon each day, also was the
go-to guy if you needed film developed. You’d give your film canister to Duc
while having a drink at the bar, and he would have prints ready for you within
2 days.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Most of
the pilots regarded Duc more as a friend than an employee. His friendship
apparently was not lost on the Viet Cong. During the Tet Offensive in early
1968, Duc spent his nights in Thunderbird Lounge. On the first night of the Tet
Offensive, Duc learned a squad of Viet Cong was waiting for him to return home.
He found out just in time to avoid the squad.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Miss Mai
was always delightful to be around. When I think of cheerful people I have
known, her smile and laughter come to mind, more than 40 years later.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">One evening
I asked her about a large glass jar full of pickled eggs on a shelf behind the
bar. “Here, try one,” Miss Mai said, reaching for the jar. My lifelong dislike
for eggs served me well. “No, thanks, Miss Mai, I don’t like eggs.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">She told
me I would like these. That aroused my suspicions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">I had
lived in the Philippine Islands as a child, so I knew about baluts, partially
developed ducklings inside a fertilized egg. I thought the Vietnamese might
have a version.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“Balut”
did not register with Miss Mai. I described the delicacy. She smiled, but would
not acknowledge this was what the glass jar contained. This convinced me they
were akin to baluts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormalCxSpMiddle">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">After
that, whenever I sat at the bar, Miss Mai would ask if I wanted an egg from the
jar. I toyed with the idea a couple of times, but I never had downed enough
drinks to succumb.</span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Jack Swickardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01798645835702357340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169325698888360644.post-48173974996176012912013-04-29T15:23:00.000-06:002013-04-29T17:46:18.723-06:00The Forgotten Mission — Chapter 37<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">TAY NINH,
Vietnam — August 7, 1967, started quietly enough. That morning we were north of
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my crew chief came on the intercom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Sir, there’s
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me. I couldn’t see the other helicopter because it was behind me, so I asked
the crew chief to direct me to the aircraft. Using Lyons’s directions, I put my
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ground in a patch of grass about 10 feet tall. I saw one of the main rotor
blades fly into the air and come back down. Then nothing. I had lost sight of
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">To my left was
an open, dry rice paddy. In the distance, I could see a row of Viet Cong
soldiers coming toward us, firing AK-47 assault rifles. Some were firing from hips
level as they walked; others would stop, squeeze off several rounds, and then continue
walking toward us. They were too far away to get off an effective shot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Lyons jumped
from our helicopter, an M-16 assault rifle in hand and wearing his flight
helmet. Some 20 feet from our helicopter, his head jerked sharply to one side
and he fell to the ground. I was certain an enemy round had struck him. But as I
started to unbuckle my seat belt to drag him back to the helicopter, Lyons stood
up. “I forgot to disconnect the damn intercom cord,” he said. He had run so
fast that when he reached the end of the cord, the tightened line had pulled
him off his feet.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">As the Viet
Cong came closer, their gunfire forced Lyons behind a rice paddy dike. We
wouldn’t be able to remain exposed much longer. In the meantime, Lyons had taken
up a defensive position.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I thought
about leaving the aircraft to look for survivors, though I doubted there was
enough time. I also thought about making a high hover through the grass. As I
weighed the options, a pair of hands parted the grass directly in front of me.
My heart came to a momentary halt. It restarted when I saw the hands belonged
to the other helicopter’s aircraft commander, who had led his crew to us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I waved the
four crewmen aboard our aircraft and then told Lyons to board. With all on
board, I hovered our helicopter backwards, away from the grass. I then did a
fast hover forward and eased the helicopter over a stand of trees along a
nearby riverbank. The trees now were between the Viet Cong and our helicopter.
I gathered airspeed over the river, and then pulled the helicopter into a rapid,
cyclic climb.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">After reaching
1,000 feet, we circled back over the downed helicopter. I wanted to be certain
no one had been left behind. I had not yet had time to visit with the aircraft
commander or his crewmembers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">None of the
downed crewmen appeared to be wounded or injured. However, I decided to fly
them to the 93rd Evacuation Hospital at Long Binh to be checked out. I later
learned they all were OK.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">On the way to
the hospital I asked the aircraft commander for his unit’s radio frequency so I
could call his commanding officer. When I told the C.O. I had picked up the
crew there were several seconds of silence. “Christ, I didn’t know they were
down,” he told me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">It turned out
the unit had made a combat assault into a landing zone where the enemy was massed
in a live-fire exercise. Some of the helicopters had been shot down on
approach, while others had been downed on departure. The helicopter we had
followed to the ground was the only one that had gotten out of the LZ. However,
it was badly shot up and didn’t get far.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AoTHRdI_4zE/UX7jfO7l8rI/AAAAAAAAAo8/JsqUCqTP40U/s1600/DFC,+crew+at+Tay+Ninh.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="254" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AoTHRdI_4zE/UX7jfO7l8rI/AAAAAAAAAo8/JsqUCqTP40U/s320/DFC,+crew+at+Tay+Ninh.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">From left, Lt. Ivar Siqveland, pilot; PFC William<br />Dalton, door gunner; WO1 Jack Swickard,<br />aircraft commander; and Spec. 4 Charles<br />Lyons, crew chief, after awards ceremony.</span></b></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The next day I
was told to take my crew to the main U.S. military base at Tay Ninh for an
awards ceremony. After we landed, the crewmembers we had rescued rushed over to
us and began shaking our hands and thanking us. They then escorted us to their
battalion area.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">A general pinned
medals on us and other flight crews. That day I received a Distinguished Flying
Cross and each of my crewmen got an Air Medal with “V” device for valor.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">For days after
the rescue, Lyons would ask me: “Did you see the look on the face of the
courier when he thought I had been shot?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Over the years I’ve
wondered if it was simply luck when Lyons saw the helicopter going down. I
don’t know how the Viet Cong soldiers could have missed us as they advanced firing
their weapons. I also don’t know if I would have been able to help the other
crew had any of them been trapped in their Huey or been wounded.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Fortunately,
things fell into place for us very quickly, even though the rescue seemed to
last a long time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I know many other
helicopter pilots who flew similar missions during the war. Some were awarded
medals. Many others were never recognized.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">I was
fortunate most of the combat assaults I flew were during daytime. Sometimes
we’d get up early and be in the air before sunrise, heading to a pickup point
to load troops for a morning assault. When we started our approach into the
landing zone there would be enough daylight to fly safely in formation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">In my
helicopter company, night assaults were rare. That was fine with me because it
was difficult to fly a tight formation in the dark. I guess if we had flown
many night assaults, we’d have gotten used to it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">One of the
most frightening combat assaults I remember flying was at night. Our mission
was to carry soldiers from Bien Hoa Airbase to a landing zone near Xuan Loc, a
town east of Saigon on Highway 1. Eight years later, Xuan Loc would be the site
of the last major battle of the Vietnam War.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">We took off
with troops at dusk. Soon it was very dark. We flew formation by lining up on
one another’s position lights. It was not much fun, but doable.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Then instructions
came over the radio: “Turn off your position lights. Use instrument lights to
hold your position in formation.” The flight commander did not want us to show
the enemy our location.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jUGHE4SNQBw/UX8F4qhuUoI/AAAAAAAAApM/X8nkRVWJQtY/s1600/Waiting+for+CA+to+begin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jUGHE4SNQBw/UX8F4qhuUoI/AAAAAAAAApM/X8nkRVWJQtY/s320/Waiting+for+CA+to+begin.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Thunderbird assault helicopters lined up to<br />board troops for a combat assault.</span></b></td></tr>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Off went
position lights throughout the formation. I eased my helicopter a little higher
so I could see the red instrument lights in the cockpit of the Huey 45 degrees
to my right and front. The copilot monitored our instruments.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">It was so dark
outside I couldn’t even make out the shape of the other helicopters in
formation. All I could see were the damn red lights.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“Tell me just
before we touch down,” I told my copilot. “Roger,” he replied.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Soon we began
our descent. I had no sense of anything outside our helicopter but the red instrument
lights I was following.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">“We’re 5 meters
from the ground,” the copilot said over the intercom. I flipped on the landing
light in time to make a soft landing. Dust started churning up, but I could
make out the ground. The soldiers leaped from the Hueys. Grass flew into view
from the dark around us. No shots were fired. The pilots pulled pitch and we
were flying out of the landing zone.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">We returned to
Bien Hoa in a loose formation with position lights on all the way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Jack Swickardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01798645835702357340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169325698888360644.post-43248011615548236802013-04-19T11:30:00.003-06:002013-04-19T12:19:37.968-06:00The Forgotten Mission — Chapter 36<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">BU DOP, Vietnam — Crossbows
made by the Montagnard people of Vietnam were a hot item for trading.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Pilots of the 118th Assault
Helicopter Company had access to the crossbows because we frequently flew into
Montagnard camps and settlements. Additionally, many of the Civilian Irregular
Defense Groups soldiers we supported through U.S. Special Forces were
Montagnards.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The French named the
Montagnards —the indigenous mountain people of Vietnam’s Central Highlands — during
the colonial occupation of Indochina.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JQ5ir0Ji9e0/UXF-znIQHPI/AAAAAAAAAok/mPYsSH9M6DM/s1600/Montagnards+at+Bu+Dop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JQ5ir0Ji9e0/UXF-znIQHPI/AAAAAAAAAok/mPYsSH9M6DM/s320/Montagnards+at+Bu+Dop.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Young Montagnard men at Bu Dop, Vietnam.</span></b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">When we flew to a Montagnard
camp, the locals knew they could get a dollar or two for a handmade crossbow
and a couple of bolts. They were a good investment. When we landed back at Bien
Hoa Airbase, we put out the word to the Air Force guys and they would be lined
up to take the goods off our hands.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The crossbows were hot items because
they were war souvenirs that were light to carry and the ammunition wouldn’t
explode in a shipping container. It was a keepsake a GI could take home and
show he had been in the thick of things during the war. A crossbow was an item
of lust for many GIs who never served in the field, as well as some who had. They
became a basic unit of commerce.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Personally, I didn’t get
engaged in crossbow commerce, but other flight crews did. Stories were rife
about how a crewmember had parlayed a crossbow into a case of steaks, which
then were swapped for a window air conditioner.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">I even heard tales about plywood
cabins — or “hooches” — being financed through crossbow trades. These were in
the more remote areas of Vietnam where pilots did not live in a nice villa like
ours.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Another big appeal of the
crossbows was they were fun to shoot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The two pilots who lived
across the hall from me brought Montagnard crossbows home one day. I remember
walking into their room that night and seeing them sitting on the floor in
their shorts and T-shirts, pointing crossbows toward one of the beds.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“What are you guys doing?” I
asked Warrant Officer Ricky Mattern.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“Hunting rats,” Ricky said.
“We’ve seen a big one under the bed.” The two pilots were sitting at 90-degree
angles to one another so they could not hit each other with a flying bolt.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">I brushed it off. I had been
living across the hall for several months and had never seen a rat in the
villa. “Good luck,” I told them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">To my surprise, several days
later Ricky told me he had bagged a large rat.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">I began paying more attention
to where I stepped when I got up in the middle of the night to use the
bathroom.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The guys across the hall
became such avid rat-hunters you seldom saw them at the bar in the Officers Club.
Each evening after dinner they would carry drinks back to their room, sit on
the floor, and wait for their quarry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The door to the room remained
closed to keep the prey inside. Music from a reel-to-reel tape recorder would
be playing pretty loud inside the room. When I heard the music, I never just
barged into the room.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">One day Ricky told me his new
set of sand-weighted, Sansui floor speakers had arrived from Japan. He had not
been able to find a set at the Bien Hoa Airbase PX, so Ricky had special
ordered the speakers. That evening, he planned to bring the speakers online. I
figured the music would be extra loud.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">But I was surprised at how
quiet the room was that night. The next morning, the two pilots told me Ricky
had fired a crossbow bolt through one of the speakers, just as they had been
wired up to play music.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Not long after that, I was in
formation on the ground during a troop extraction. Ricky was in a Huey ahead of
me in a staggered trail formation. As I prepared for takeoff, I saw one of the
helicopters near the front of the formation get airborne, then drop immediately
from view behind a row of nipa palm trees. The rest of the formation’s takeoff
was aborted. Soldiers and crewmembers from nearby helicopters streamed toward
the trees.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">It turned out that Ricky’s
Huey had lost lift just as it cleared the first row of trees on the nearside of
a small river, then settled into the water and sank. Though Ricky and his crew
survived the accident, several soldiers they were carrying drowned. Getting out
of a submerged helicopter can be tricky. You don’t want to swim to the water’s
surface too quickly because the main rotor blades can strike you. Even under
water, it takes a while for the blades to lose their momentum.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-owGkNR1HM7k/UXGJ201_zSI/AAAAAAAAAos/_uvsFmkaFY4/s1600/Mattern's+helicopter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="194" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-owGkNR1HM7k/UXGJ201_zSI/AAAAAAAAAos/_uvsFmkaFY4/s320/Mattern's+helicopter.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Wreckage of Huey being flown by WO1 Ricky<br />Mattern and 1st Lt. James Ante.</span></b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Weeks later, on Sept. 3,
1967, Ricky, 3 members of his crew, and 3 passengers died during a freak
accident at Di An near Saigon.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">“The right cargo door came
off on takeoff. The door hit the main rotors blades, causing mast bumping to
occur. The tail boom and main rotor blades separated from the aircraft. It
crashed and burned,” the Army accident summary says.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Ricky was the aircraft
commander, First Lieutenant James Ante was pilot, Specialist 4 Ray Schold was
crew chief, and Specialist 4 David Carroll was doorgunner. Among the passengers
was Warrant Officer Lewis Gilder, who had caught a ride on the helicopter to
visit a friend.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">Over the years I remembered
Ricky and Jim as very young when they died. Yet, Ricky was only 2 years younger
than me, and Jim was 7 months older.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">*****<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">From time to time we would
hear about crossbows used as weapons against helicopters.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The one I heard most
frequently involved a U.S. Army Huey landing after running low on fuel. The
story goes that when the crew chief walked to the side of the helicopter to
begin refueling at a P&L (petroleum and lubrication) station, he saw a
crossbow bolt had been shot into the bottom of the chopper, puncturing the fuel
cell.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The most interesting story,
though, was about a giant crossbow near a large, reclining Buddha statue.
According to the story, the crossbow was permanently aimed up with a sharpened
bolt roughly the size of a telephone pole. When this story was relayed, it carried
the explicit warning not to fly low and slow while looking at statues in the
jungle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The location of the reclining
Buddha statue and the giant crossbow was always a bit vague. I never met anyone
who saw either.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi;">The largest reclining Buddha
statue in Vietnam was within flying range of our helicopters. It is the Thich-Ca-Nhap-Niet-Ban
located on Ta Kou Mountain about 30 kilometers southeast of Phan Thiet. The 160-foot-long
(49-meter-long) statue is near a mountaintop pagoda built in 1879.<span id="goog_2032394057"></span><span id="goog_2032394058"></span></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Jack Swickardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01798645835702357340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169325698888360644.post-63828140138004247832013-04-11T14:14:00.002-06:002013-04-11T17:17:24.175-06:00The Forgotten Mission — Chapter 35<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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BIEN HOA, Vietnam — The
12 months I flew helicopters in the Vietnam War was a year packed with new
experiences and new emotions.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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There were the
legendary moments of sheer terror following the lengthy hours of boredom. It
also was a year I spent in the company of fellow helicopter pilots. These were
the smartest, most irreverent, and selfless people I have ever been around. When
I recall my year with the 118th Assault Helicopter Company it is hard to
suppress a smile.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Some of the brighter
memories occurred during combat missions, but others were part of everyday life
in a war zone. One, in particular, involved my first haircut in Vietnam.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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Two weeks after joining
the 118th Thunderbirds, I figured it was time to get a haircut. I asked my
roommate, Warrant Officer Larry Belhumeur, where he got his hair cut. Larry
told me there was a barbershop down the street from the gate to the
Honour-Smith Compound where we lived. I questioned whether it was safe to go there.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Larry replied none
of the other pilots had ever had a problem getting a haircut at the shop. He
suggested I go with one of the other pilots, who also was about to walk to the
barbershop. “Good idea,” I thought.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Several minutes
later I met up with the other pilot. We walked out the gate and down the
street. The other pilot wasn’t armed. I was, with a .45-caliber Colt automatic
sidearm. I had heard stories in flight school of Viet Cong members lurking around
corners, ready to spring on an unsuspecting American soldier. Besides, the
barber would be armed with scissors and a straight razor.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The other pilot got
a chair as soon as we entered the barbershop. While I waited for a chair, I
watched my colleague close his eyes as the barber began trimming his hair. “Not
a good move,” I thought. “You won’t catch me napping.”<o:p></o:p></div>
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When it was my turn
to take a chair, I drew my .45 and held it in my right hand. The barber draped
his sheet over me — and the pistol. He knew I was ready for anything.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As the haircut
progressed, I started to relax a little. I did edge up a bit when the barber
stropped his straight razor and shaved the back of my neck. He then walked
around to my left side. “Uh, oh. What’s this?” I thought. He pointed to my arm
and made a shaving motion with his hand. He wanted to shave my arm. “No,” I
nodded.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then the barber
walked behind the chair and began fiddling with the back. I sat up, alert to
what might occur next. The back of the chair dropped down on a hinge, leaving
my back exposed. The barber pushed me forward and began massaging my neck and
back. Next he massaged my arms, then my legs, and my feet.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was the best
haircut I had ever had. I paid the barber and began looking forward to my next
visit.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Several weeks later
I returned to the barbershop. This time I kept my .45 in its holster.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On my third trip, I
didn’t carry a sidearm. That’s how I went to the barbershop each time
throughout my tour — unarmed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Combat assaults
sometimes had their brighter side.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During my first
months of flying in Vietnam, I was pretty casual about adjusting my seat in the
cockpit. I was one of the shorter pilots, so the most comfortable flying
position for me was having the seat raised as high and as far forward as it
would go.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By far, the greatest
difficulty I had with the seat was raising it after I had strapped in for flight.
When flying, I wore a bulky flak jacket, a web belt with a .45-caliber Colt
automatic pistol inside a leather holster, and a thick, ceramic chest
protector. Usually, after preflighting the Huey, I would climb into my seat,
strap in, then grab an adjustment lever near the floor and lift myself as I
pulled up on the lever. A lever on the other side of the seat allowed me to
drag the seat forward.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One day a combat
assault made me rethink how I set up the seat.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ihJ2Cf30d3I/UWcW7LcOCbI/AAAAAAAAAoE/XY_1twuHyB4/s1600/Jack+in+front+of+Huey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ihJ2Cf30d3I/UWcW7LcOCbI/AAAAAAAAAoE/XY_1twuHyB4/s320/Jack+in+front+of+Huey.jpg" width="316" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Warrant Officer Jack Swickard in 1967.</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The assaults that
day were northeast of Saigon, not far from Bien Hoa Airbase. We would pick up several
loads of soldiers, fly them into a landing zone, and then return to Bien Hoa to
await the outcome of the assault.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When the missions
were posted on the assignment board the night before, each aircraft commander
was told his copilot would be a member of another assault helicopter company,
which had just arrived in South Vietnam.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The 118th Assault
Helicopter Company was assigned to begin training the new guys. Later some of
these pilots would be infused into the Thunderbirds and other assault
helicopter companies, while some veteran pilots from older units would be
transferred to the new company.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I arrived at
the Birdcage, I met the major who would be my copilot for the day. We went
through the preflight together, and then I hovered our Huey into a 10-ship
formation for takeoff. The first part of the mission went well. That changed on
our first trip into the landing zone.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The 10-helicopter
flight was on course for the LZ, a rookie copilot flying in the lead aircraft. The
flight almost overshot the LZ, so the aircraft commander in the lead Huey took
the controls and began a steep, spiraling descent. My Huey was on the left side
of the staggered trail formation. I was sitting in the left seat using the
helicopter slightly ahead of me and to my right as a reference to fly a tight
formation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As the descending
formation banked left, 3 things occurred about same time: Gunfire erupted from
the Viet Cong soldiers on the ground, white tear gas drifted into our path, and
my seat dropped loudly to the floor. Until this time, my new guy copilot had
been along for the ride.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When my seat —
weighed down with its ceramic armor, my chicken plate, plus my 135 pounds of
weight — dropped to the floor it sounded like an explosion inside the cockpit.
Making matters scarier for the copilot, the drop caused me to fall suddenly out
of his peripheral vision. Making matters scarier for me, I lost visual contact
with the Huey I had been watching to stay in formation. In our descending,
steep turn I could be drifting into another helicopter.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Take the controls!
Take the controls!” I yelled to the major over the intercom. He hesitated in
confusion. I continued screaming at him. He snapped alert and took the
collective and the cyclic.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I grabbed the seat
release near the floor and, with all the strength I could muster, I shot upward
with the seat. It snapped into place. Now I could see the other Huey. I took
back our helicopter’s flight controls and continued descending in tight formation.
I could hear the enemy AK-47s, the machine guns on the 10 assault helicopters laying
down fire. Our gunship escorts were firing rockets and grenades along the edge
of the landing zone, while raking the enemy positions with machine gun fire.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now rotor wash from
the 10 Hueys was stirring up tear gas.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nMtGzSnv_xY/UWcXDVkAxyI/AAAAAAAAAoM/cAe_ZTN5JD0/s1600/Flying+in+formation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nMtGzSnv_xY/UWcXDVkAxyI/AAAAAAAAAoM/cAe_ZTN5JD0/s320/Flying+in+formation.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Flying formation required you to see other<br />helicopters in the formation.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the ground, the
major and I rapidly swapped the controls back and forth as we took turns wiping
our eyes and trying to catch our breath. We continued trading off the controls
as we climbed out of the LZ in formation. Around 400-500 feet the tear gas started
to dissipate.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After his initial
hesitancy when my seat dropped, the major had kept his composure. I never saw
him again, but I long remembered the look of horror and confusion on his face
when he thought he was alone in the cockpit on his first combat mission.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I learned a valuable
lesson: Make certain the seat latches are locked in place before flying. From
then on when I preflighted a Huey I would raise the seat all the way up and
slide it all the way forward, shake it hard to check the lock, and then climb
into the cockpit.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The pilots of the
118th Assault Helicopter Company were a practical group of people. A good example
of this involved a Viet Cong soldier stationed on the island near Bien Hoa
Airbase. Thunderbird and Bandit gunship helicopters returning from missions
routinely overflew the island, formed by a split in the Dong Nai River.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Frequently, on
approach to the Birdcage, we would hear a single shot. Fortunately, none of the
helicopters was ever hit. A lone Viet Cong soldier on the island took one shot
a day at a helicopter. The pilots nicknamed him “One-Shot Charlie.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the first unwritten
rules I learned after joining the Thunderbirds was not to return fire. The theory
was that if “One-Shot” were killed or wounded, the Viet Cong might replace him
with a soldier who had better aim.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Midway through my
tour of duty, we quit hearing the lone, daily shot. I don’t know if “One-Shot”
was transferred or a helicopter from another company fired back and hit him. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of my favorite navigation aides was the ADF radio. ADF
stood for automatic direction finder. If you needed directions to a place with an AM
radio transmitter, you could dial in the station’s frequency and the ADF needle
would point to it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4dACOjdJDWE/UWcYc3pzFhI/AAAAAAAAAoU/0uYbUcPW0ZM/s1600/Ten+on+a+Jeep+to+lunch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="172" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4dACOjdJDWE/UWcYc3pzFhI/AAAAAAAAAoU/0uYbUcPW0ZM/s320/Ten+on+a+Jeep+to+lunch.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Jeep with driver, Huey crew of 4, and 5 other GIs.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We used the ADF to listen to Armed Forces Radio Saigon,
operated by the U.S. Department of Defense. With the flip of a switch, we could
pipe the radio station into the headsets built into our helmets.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Flying supplies, we could listen to the Top 40. Usually on
combat missions, we would turn off the ADF to avoid audio overload in the
cockpit. You had to stay focused on 2-way radio frequencies and the intercom
when the action started.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, in October 1967 while flying a combat assault, I left
the ADF radio on too long. We shot our approach, taking fire while listening to
an Armed Forces Radio newscast about 35,000 anti-war protesters demonstrating at
the Pentagon.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I realized the protesters lived in a different universe than
I inhabited.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My crew chief, Spec.
4 Charles “Skip” Lyons, was a fearless soldier. He also loved to play practical
jokes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One time, while
flying at around 1,500 feet, there was a knock on my cockpit door. I turned and
saw Lyons grinning through the door window.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another time, while
also flying about 1,500 feet, I heard a tapping near my feet. I looked down at
the chin bubble and saw Lyons grinning back at me as he straddled the front of
the skid.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I told him to remain
inside the helicopter. I knew he would climb out on a skid during flight one
time too many and fall to his death.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Years after the war,
Lyons called me one evening. It was the only conversation I had with him after we
flew in the war. During our brief telephone visit, he told me he had extended
his Vietnam tour several times. In his last 6 months in combat, he said he
developed an intense fear of falling from a helicopter.</div>
<br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
<!--EndFragment-->Jack Swickardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01798645835702357340noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169325698888360644.post-34639552136450272812013-04-04T11:35:00.004-06:002013-04-04T18:08:47.863-06:00The Forgotten Mission — Chapter 34<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
DUC HOA, Vietnam — U.S.
helicopter pilots knew the area around Duc Hoa village and Special Forces Camp as
a place where the Viet Cong were looking for aerial targets.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I remember taking
off from the airstrip at the Duc Hoa Special Forces Camp and hearing what
sounded like popcorn. I looked out the window of my helicopter, but I didn’t
see anything. I knew what sounded like popcorn: AK-47 assault rifles on full
automatic, aimed at you. I had heard the sound before, while flying between 2
U.S. artillery bases near Tay Ninh City. When I heard the popcorn near Duc Hoa,
I was about the same altitude — 300 feet.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Later that day my
crew chief found a hole in the tailboom where an AK-47 round had struck. It
missed hitting any of the control cables or rods inside the tailboom, so the
damage was only surface.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NfL9yD1RGWU/UV22iR3f0SI/AAAAAAAAAnU/CZOXgVmSPrQ/s1600/Shrapnel+at+Duc+Hoa+SF+Camp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NfL9yD1RGWU/UV22iR3f0SI/AAAAAAAAAnU/CZOXgVmSPrQ/s320/Shrapnel+at+Duc+Hoa+SF+Camp.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Shrapnel from a mortar pocks bathroom at<br />Duc Hoa Special Forces Camp.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Duc Hoa was west of
Saigon, near the Cambodian border. Stories were rife about Duc Hoa being a
training area for Viet Cong soldiers, who could quickly move back and forth
across the border for sanctuary.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One day, after
flying combat assaults all the morning and into the early afternoon, 6
Thunderbird lift helicopters and 2 Bandit gunships were detached from the
regular formation and sent to the airstrip at Duc Hoa. A Special Forces
sergeant told us his troops had captured an enemy grenade factory near the
border. One night, Special Forces advisors had heard the clanging of metal and
seen the glow of fires. A patrol was sent out the following morning to
investigate.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The problem was
after the factory was destroyed many of the enemy remained in the area. It
would be dark soon. To bring the troops out, we would make a circling descent
to the ground, staying directly over the soldiers. When one helicopter took off
with a load of soldiers, the next Huey would descend. The gunships would fly
overhead to cover us if we came under enemy fire.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was at the tail
end of the flight and would be the last Huey to land. Climbing to 2,000 feet,
the 6 Hueys flew in a circle. An NCO on the ground called on the radio and said
his soldiers had secured a landing area near the factory ruins. The first Huey in
line began a tight, right-hand circle descent to the ground. We all watched as the
pilot flared the helicopter near the ground, leveled the aircraft, and touched
down. As it took off, the next Huey in formation started a circling descent.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We had to keep the
circular descents tight to avoid overflying the enemy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-W53yZT1cMOA/UV22jus0ZfI/AAAAAAAAAnc/swau3YvgWNc/s1600/French+armored+car+at+Duc+Hoa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-W53yZT1cMOA/UV22jus0ZfI/AAAAAAAAAnc/swau3YvgWNc/s320/French+armored+car+at+Duc+Hoa.jpg" width="232" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Old French armored car at Duc<br />Hoa Special Forces Camp.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After the other 5
lift helicopters had picked up their load of soldiers, it was my turn to make a
circular approach to the 4 remaining soldiers. As soon as our aircraft touched
down, the 4 soldiers were aboard. Our fuel tank was half full, so we climbed to
altitude quickly. Warrant Officer Tom Kagan, flying as my copilot that day, was
on the Huey’s controls.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we reached 1,500
feet, one of the GIs slid forward and handed me a souvenir — A hand grenade
taken from the factory. I turned the grenade in my hands, examining it. It was
roughhewn, but about the size and weight of the standard issue U.S. Army
fragmentation grenade.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kagan got excited
when saw what I had in my hands. “Hey, take the controls and let me look at
that thing,” he told over the intercom. I handed the grenade to Tom, and then
took over the controls. It was a mistake.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tom gave the grenade
a close look, and then focused on the pin housing. He started twisting and
pulling on the housing. I knew this could set off the grenade inside the helicopter.
As he twisted and pulled, I screamed at him: “Throw the damn thing out the
window! Immediately! Get rid of it before it explodes!”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tom ignored my
shouts and continued unscrewing the top of the grenade. He gave it a last, strong
twist. I watched in horror, knowing we were about to explode into a ball of
fire. Tom held the top up and looked inside the grenade. “It’s empty,” he said.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Later during my
1-year tour I would participate in an Eagle Flight that would test everything I
had learned about flying under adverse conditions.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Three other Hueys
from the 118th Assault Helicopter Company and mine were sent on a quick mission
to withdraw 25 American soldiers surrounded by a North Vietnam Army unit in the
middle of a field south of Saigon.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we arrived, it
looked like a quick extraction. The field was large, though some of the
3-foot-tall grass covering it was burning, set on fire by mortars and artillery
rounds shelled in during the firefight. I figured there would be 6 soldiers on
three helicopters and 7 on one. We all would have light loads.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When the first Huey
landed, 3 GIs popped up from the grass and scurried aboard. The takeoff was
quick.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The second
helicopter landed. Four soldiers scrambled aboard. The math was beginning to
worry me. As the last aircraft, I would have to bring out all the soldiers who
remained. I wouldn’t have a choice. It was starting to get late and the landing
zone was surrounded by enemy troops.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then the third
chopper landed. Four soldiers boarded the Huey.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I knew I had a
problem. There were 14 American GIs still in the landing zone and they all would
board my Huey when I landed. As the third helicopter began its takeoff, I
started my descent into the LZ. I touched down and GIs began rising from the
grass and making their way toward me, crowding onto my Huey from both sides.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m2KGkLxmvUo/UV22sZiQW2I/AAAAAAAAAnk/LjeyOgeaa_Y/s1600/Trail+formation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="206" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m2KGkLxmvUo/UV22sZiQW2I/AAAAAAAAAnk/LjeyOgeaa_Y/s320/Trail+formation.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Huey crews would fly in circles, each </span></b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>waiting<br />its turn to land and pick up allied soldiers.</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Once the crew chief
told me all were aboard, I pulled pitch to begin my takeoff. Nothing happened.
My helicopter was overloaded and the tall grass was dissipating the ground
cushion I needed to get the aircraft off the ground. The Huey wouldn’t lift off
the ground. I couldn’t leave any of the soldiers because the other helicopters
had left and the enemy was still in the area. To add to the excitement, the
grassfire was blowing toward us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I knew if I could
get the helicopter past the fire I would have a chance to get airborne. I would
need to gather speed, though. Gently, I nudge the cyclic forward with my right
hand and began raising the collective pitch with my left. Slowly the Huey began
to slide forward through the grass. I was able to aim the helicopter toward an
area where grass had burned all the way to the ground. I would end up near the
30-foot-tall trees surrounding the clearing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My Huey began
gathering speed as it slid through the grass. I pulled more pitch, trying to
gather more speed. I was worried the helicopter would strike a termite mound
hidden in the grass. If a mound was in our path, there was no way I would be
able to avoid it. We would hit the mound before I saw it, bringing us to a dead
stop and likely taking out the bottom of the fuselage.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I slid across a
short wall of flames at the edge of the grassfire, I tilted back the nose of
the Huey with the cyclic, pulled in more pitch, and kicked the right pedal just
as we started to become airborne. I had calculated — or guessed — a kick would
reduce the pitch in the tail rotor enough to transfer additional power to the
main rotors. But would it be enough?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If I kicked too
soon, I could twist the skids off, put the helicopter into a skid or turn the
Huey on its side. If I kicked the right pedal too late, the chopper would not
have enough time to transition into controlled flight and we would smash into
the trees.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I lucked out. The
Huey seemed to jump into the air, veering right along the treeline. The low rpm
audio was screaming that our main rotor blades were turning so slowly they
barely were able to maintain lift. I reduced slightly the pitch in the main
rotors. The rotor speed increased and the helicopter began to climb. We were
still below 20 knots and the controls were sloppy, but we were moving in the right
directions: Up and forward.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Soon the tops of the
trees were sliding under the Huey’s skids. After clearing the trees, I put the
helicopter into a shallow dive to gain airspeed. As our speed went past 40
knots, I raised the nose into a cyclic climb. When we reached 1,500 feet
altitude and our airspeed topped 80 knots I was able to relax.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another type of
eagle flight was one in which a formation of Hueys would fly in formation to a
landing zone, then land in different parts of the LZ. My first mission of this
type showed me I could not always trust my senses.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Early in my tour, I
was flying as copilot on 1 of 10 assault helicopters descending in formation
toward a landing zone where enemy activity had been reported. The LZ was not
large enough for all 10 Hueys to land at one time, so on short final some of
the helicopters began darting into open areas of ground between the trees.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iuRB5aMlr0Q/UV25Xq-D-zI/AAAAAAAAAn0/9iiPVhjpnw4/s1600/Pickup+on+road.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-iuRB5aMlr0Q/UV25Xq-D-zI/AAAAAAAAAn0/9iiPVhjpnw4/s320/Pickup+on+road.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Picking up wounded in a tight landing zone.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My helicopter broke
away from the formation and slid into a small clearing surrounded on three
sides by trees. As soon as we settled onto the ground, the soldiers in the back
charged out both cargo doors and ran for the trees. It appeared to be an
uneventful assault. We had delivered our soldiers. In seconds we would be
pulling pitch and climbing back to altitude.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Then I saw a face about
20 feet in front of me. In front of the face was the muzzle of an assault
rifle. I made eye contact with the enemy rifleman and waited for him to pull
the trigger. There would not be time to back the Huey out of the peninsula. The
soldiers we had delivered had charged off in other directions. Our crew chief
and doorgunner could not aim their M-60 machine guns at the enemy soldier.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The soldier made a
slight adjustment so his rifle barrel was pointing between my eyes. I saw a
burst of flame from the muzzle. There was no way the soldier could miss me, his
target, at such short range. I suspected I would see holes erupt in the Plexiglas
windshield about the time the rounds hit me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I waited for
something to come out of the assault rifle’s barrel. Just flames. None of the
rounds was striking the windshield … or me. At this range, though, it was just
a matter of time and adjustments to the soldier’s aim.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I watched, the
enemy soldier stopped firing and slid down into the brush. It was over.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That evening, after
we had returned to Bien Hoa Air Base, I examined the front of the helicopter
for battle damage. We had not taken any hits. To this day, I have no idea how
the soldier could have missed me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was coming to
understand war is a series of very close calls, until one of them connects.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Many pilots will tell
you that any time you get your aircraft on the ground in one piece you have
made a safe landing. That usually is true, unless you land in a minefield.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Viet Cong were
very resourceful and they really wanted to bring down U.S. helicopters. In
1967, a VC “wanted” poster was found near Bien Hoa Air Base, offering a large
sum of money to anyone who shot down a U.S. Army helicopter with a white
Thunderbird image painted on the nose. Viet Cong and People’s Liberation Army
soldiers weren’t paid much, so they had big incentive to bag Hueys.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Stories ran rampant
among American soldiers about Vietnamese civilians who worked with them by day,
then put on VC uniforms and fought them at night. Many of these stories were
factual.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of my flight
school classmates, Ron Hall, flew as a lift pilot with the Little Bears, the
call sign for Company A of the 25th Aviation Battalion at Cu Chi. He recounts
the story of his company coming under ground attack by the Viet Cong one night
in 1967. At dawn, it was discovered one of the enemy dead was the barber who
cut the hair of American soldiers assigned to Ron’s battalion.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With enemy in your
midst daily, it was difficult to keep secrets, so there was always a danger of
enemy soldiers waiting for U.S. helicopters to arrive in landing zones. The
Viet Cong knew the choppers were most vulnerable during landing and takeoff.
They also knew that causing a helicopter loaded with American or South
Vietnamese soldiers to crash could cause many casualties.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When the enemy’s
intelligence was really good, the Viet Cong would set up mines in landing zones.
They then would activate the mines as the helicopters touched down.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Thunderbirds had
the misfortune to land in an LZ prepped with mines one afternoon. We had just
touched down and the American soldiers we were carrying into battle were
preparing to jump out of our Hueys when the mines began exploding along the
sides of our formation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My helicopter was on
the right side of a staggered trail formation. I saw an explosion a little
ahead of me and to my right. I looked back at the soldiers and my crew in the
back of the Huey. No one on the helicopter had been hit by shrapnel.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Later I learned that
although we were in the helicopter nearest to the mine, our aircraft did not
suffer any damage. However, shards of shrapnel somehow had gone under and
around the aircraft, killing and wounding soldiers on Hueys behind and on the
other side of our helicopter. To this day I cannot imagine how this was
possible.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Other mines went off
in the landing zone, killing and wounding more of the soldiers on board the
lift helicopters. None of the choppers suffered damage severe enough to prevent
them from being flown out, several carrying wounded to field hospitals.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the nice
things about the Duc Hoa Special Forces Camp was its PX — or Post Exchange.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NLw3omEN_f8/UV22zTJ-mNI/AAAAAAAAAns/jvmoapdjebk/s1600/Ration+Card.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="232" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NLw3omEN_f8/UV22zTJ-mNI/AAAAAAAAAns/jvmoapdjebk/s320/Ration+Card.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">My ration card, showing humidity damage.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Though not much
larger than a modern convenience store, the PX had items you could not find in
larger PX’<o:p></o:p></div>
s around the III Corps. I can recall waiting weeks to buy a
single-lens reflex camera or a reel-to-reel tape recorder at the Bien Hoa Air
Base PX. Then you had to be there before they were sold out.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Duc Hoa PX
always had a high-quality camera or tape recorder in the storeroom. Many
helicopter crews who flew to Duc Hoa would make a quick trip to the PX before
departing for home base.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I think my ration
card had more initials on it from Duc Hoa than from any other PX in South Vietnam.</div>
<!--EndFragment-->Jack Swickardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01798645835702357340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169325698888360644.post-37306260416814617722013-03-26T14:00:00.001-06:002013-03-26T19:09:17.386-06:00The Forgotten Mission — Chapter 33<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
BIEN HOA, Vietnam — After
flying as Peter Pilot — or copilot — for 2 months, I was given a check ride to
make certain it was safe to turn me loose as an aircraft commander.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lieutenant Reed
Kimzey would be checking my flying skills and judgment. Reed didn’t tell me it
was a check ride, so I assumed we were flying regular missions that day. I’m
glad he hadn’t told me in advance I was taking a check ride.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In fact, I didn’t
learn it was a check ride until Reed told me I had failed it. As Reed has told
the story over the years, most of the day went fine. I flew reasonably well and
didn’t put the Huey or our crew in danger — until the final sortie of the day.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2UBiCMxlepg/UVH7j8bYIjI/AAAAAAAAAm8/1ZOFluI_-pI/s1600/Fort+near+Di+An+1967.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="193" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2UBiCMxlepg/UVH7j8bYIjI/AAAAAAAAAm8/1ZOFluI_-pI/s320/Fort+near+Di+An+1967.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">An ARVN Jeep passes outpost at Di An.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I shot an approach
to a PSP (perforated steel planking) helipad on a soccer field at Di An, a town
north of Saigon. My approach went all the way to the ground, which was good.
When the Huey’s skids came to rest on the helipad, I lowered the collective
pitch handle and began settling the helicopter into a landing. That was not so
good.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Reed saw something I
had overlooked: The helicopter’s skids were hanging off the back of the raised
helipad. Reed snatched the collective, raised the skids off the PSP, and moved
the Huey forward so the skids were firmly planted on the pad. That’s when he
told me I had failed the check ride.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The problem with my
landing was the helicopter could have fallen or tilted backward off the
helipad, causing the spinning tail rotor to strike the ground. This could have caused
a balance shift and destroyed the Huey.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next day, Reed
and I flew again. This time I passed the check ride and became an aircraft
commander.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
*****</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of my first
combat assaults as an aircraft commander was one of the scariest missions I
flew in Vietnam. A senior Peter Pilots was flying with me that day. Warrant
Officer Lonnie Schmidt was a flight school classmate and had joined the
Thunderbirds the same time as me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_tCGEUccRU8/UVH9z7w91SI/AAAAAAAAAnE/g1lmP_LCsE8/s1600/Lonnie+Schmidt.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_tCGEUccRU8/UVH9z7w91SI/AAAAAAAAAnE/g1lmP_LCsE8/s320/Lonnie+Schmidt.jpg" width="130" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Lonnie Schmidt</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our mission was to
spend the morning flying combat assaults into rice paddies southeast of Saigon.
The formation of 10 Huey ‘slicks’ then would break up and we would spend the
rest of the day flying “Pigs and Rice” support missions. Four UH-1C Huey
gunships from our “Bandit” platoon would fly as our escorts during the
assaults.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After loading some
100 U.S. soldiers onto the lift ships, we headed toward the landing zone. As we
began our final approach, the LZ came alive with gunfire. Tracers were flying
at us from the ground and the gunships were firing rockets and machine guns
along the edges of the landing zone. The rice paddy where we were to drop off
the troops was flooded with water.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During short final,
the assault helicopters held their course and glide slope. I was the third
aircraft on the right side of a staggered trail formation, so mine was the
fifth Huey in the formation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was about to stop
at a hover just above the water. The GIs were sitting in the open doors on both
sides of my helicopter, their feet on the skids, ready to jump into the paddy.
They would leap any second, we would pull pitch, and the formation would be
airborne, on its way to pick up the next load of soldiers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I glanced back and
saw the soldiers inching forward on their butts. They would jump any second
now. I turned forward in time to see the ground drop quickly and expectantly below
us. I was on the controls, but I had not done anything to cause the Huey to
climb. The sudden upward acceleration caught the GIs by surprise just before
they jumped. All of them remained on board. Within seconds we were 50-60 feet
above the ground.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I fought to maneuver
the helicopter, but the controls were not working. “I must have taken a round
in the fuel governor,” I thought. The vertical climb indicator was pegged
straight up. Yet, we were carrying a full load of soldiers in field gear. There
was no way a UH-1D Huey with 1,100 pounds of shaft horsepower could be climbing
at this rate. We passed 100 feet, then 150, 200, now 300. Our climb was not slowing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“It has to be the
fuel governor running wild,” I thought. How else would we have received such a
massive and instant surge of power?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I looked at the
engine and main rotor tachometer, expecting to see the engine rpm off the
chart. But it was registering normal, in perfect synch with the rotor rpm.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now we were passing
600 feet. With my right hand, I swept the cockpit with the cyclic. Nothing. I
had been pushing down on the collective pitch. The Huey continued to shoot up,
like a crazy elevator. At 900 feet I told Lonnie, “Check your controls. I think
mine have been shot out.” Lonnie made the same, wide sweeping circle as I had
with the cyclic.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I don’t have any
control, either,” he told me over the intercom. “Keep trying,” I told him. Nothing.
He handed the controls back to me. We now were at 1,100 feet. I knew the Huey could
not continue to hold itself upright. At some point it would invert and we would
dive, upside down, into the ground. We had no control over the helicopter’s
direction, attitude, airspeed, or altitude. It was out of control and continuing
its rapid climb.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Around 1,200 feet, I
made one more sweep of the cockpit with the cyclic. I felt something in the
controls, elusive at first. Then, very slightly, I could feel it bite. I must
be getting back some control. Not much, but anything was welcome. Control
started to return. In another 30 seconds, I had full control again.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I turned the Huey
and dove it back toward the landing zone. The other helicopters were about a
mile from the LZ, flying back to the pickup point for another load of soldiers.
Two of the gunships remained over the LZ, giving cover to the soldiers just put
on the ground. The other gunships were escorting the 9-ship formation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My Huey came in fast
and shallow, stopping at a hover near a small group of soldiers in the flooded
rice paddy. After the GIs jumped from my aircraft, I took off to rejoin the
other assault helicopters. I caught up with the formation just before it began
its approach to the pickup point.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Foolishly, I flew 3
more assaults into the LZ that morning with the Thunderbirds. After the final
lift, my aircraft and spent the afternoon flying resupply missions. These were
dubbed “Pigs and Rice” missions. When we supported the ARVN (Army of the
Republic of Vietnam) or U.S. Special Forces there usually was a pig or two and
a load of rice on board the Huey.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I should have taken
the Huey to aircraft maintenance to be inspected, but it was flying so well I
continued with our missions.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Late that afternoon
we completed our missions and returned to Bien Hoa Airbase. I caught a ride to
our villa on Cong Ly Street. The day had been hot, so a cold beer would hit the
spot. I sat at the bar in the officers club and ordered a San Miguel beer from
Duc, the Vietnamese bartender.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I finished my
first San Miguel, Warrant Officer Tom Kagan walked in. Tom bought a $5 book of
chits. We didn’t use cash at the bar, instead paying for drinks with chits.
Beer was 10 cents a bottle; mixed drinks were 15 cents each.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Tom tossed the book
of chits on the bar, standard practice when you screwed up on a mission.
Everyone at the bar got to drink free while the chits lasted.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“What’s that for?” I
asked Tom, a former member of my lift platoon who had transferred recently to
the gunship platoon.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You don’t know?” he
asked. “I thought I shot you down.” Tom explained that during a gun run, he
fired a 2.75-inch rocket at the edge of the landing zone. However, one of the tail
fins didn’t open and the rocket veered toward the formation of assault Hueys
hovering above the rice paddy. The rocket dropped into the mud under my
aircraft and exploded.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The force of the
rocket exploding under my Huey powered our wild ride more than 1,200 feet into
the air. Fortunately, the mud absorbed the shrapnel and the fire from the explosion
of the 10-pound warhead. I figured the rocket hit at exactly the right place to
send us straight up. Had it exploded slightly behind us, slightly to the front,
or on either side under the helicopter, we would have rolled up like a ball or
been blown into the other Hueys delivering troops in the LZ.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Later I would learn
that on final approach to the landing zone, Lonnie had seen a machine gun fire from
a bunker in front of us. He called the gunships and directed them to fire on
the Viet Cong bunker. It was during this attack the rocket exploded under our Huey.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Captain Larry Liss recalled his
first mission as an aircraft commander.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“It was a flight into the Iron Triangle
around mid-November 1966. We were flying a light load of supplies and 4 FNG’s
(new guys) to a 1st Infantry site. I had my copilot flying while I worked the
radios and read the map. We had a platoon leader on the radio and I felt that
we were close, so I told him to “pop smoke.” I saw yellow smoke off to our
right and said, ‘Tally Ho, yellow.’ He replied, ‘Roger, yellow.’<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“At that moment, as we started
to turn, I felt a strange feeling of uneasiness. As a map-reader and given
coordinates, there is no place I could not find. Three years as a scout taught
me that. My original coordinates were off by about 500 yards, which was too big
a mistake for my comfort,” Larry remembered.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I said on the intercom to my copilot,
“It’s my aircraft.” He turned the controls over to me. As we began our decent
from about 500 feet, my first impression was that where the yellow smoke was
coming from was ‘too clean’ for an infantry unit that had been at that location
for two days. Something was very wrong,” Larry said.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“At that moment I made a sharp
left turn, away from the smoke, and all hell broke loose. About 10 rounds hit
the aircraft. One came through the windshield at an angle, hitting the nut of
my visor and then hitting one of the new guys in the head, killing him
instantly. As I broke away from the ambush, I could see more yellow smoke off
to my left … the real American platoon.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I landed and the American unit
pulled off the supplies and 3 of the 4 new guys got off. I then flew to the Chu
Chi hospital heliport, where I parked the aircraft and had my forehead stitched
up,” Larry said. “I felt really bad for the guy who died. He could not have
been in country for more than a day or two. I always have been torn between ‘could
I have done better or was it fate?’”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lieutenant Al Croteau said he “can
recall as if it were only the other night, my fist night mission with the 118th
Assault Helicopter Company.<o:p></o:p></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f-RdbN0aFTU/UVH7iQBWn3I/AAAAAAAAAms/jfyH_eIa7uU/s1600/Croteau1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-f-RdbN0aFTU/UVH7iQBWn3I/AAAAAAAAAms/jfyH_eIa7uU/s320/Croteau1.jpg" width="202" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Al Croteau</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Once again, it was Door Gunner
Al. The mission was to supply support to troops on the banks of a large river.
The Thunderbirds, along with another assault helicopter company, was to make
low-level passes while supplying the ground troops, with suppression fire with
the M-60,” Al said.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“It was a great light show as
every fifth round was a bright tracer; the whole sky lit up with tracer rounds
coming from both directions. The show lasted about 1 hour, with a very sad
ending,” he recalled. “I heard over the tactical radio that one of the ships had
flown into the river and the crew was lost. It was a crystal-clear night
without any ground fire coming from that area.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The pilot did not mention enemy
fire of mechanical problems. The cause of the crash was assumed to be target
fixation. On the return trip the rocking of the bird made me fall asleep as I
was emotional exhausted.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“If any good could ever come
from the loss of those good, young men it is this: Later, as an instructor
pilot I included in my lesson plan the example of how pilots can become fixed
on an object and fly right into it,” Al said.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of my least favorite
missions was flying the dead from the battlefield. Aside from the sadness of
dealing with a soldier’s death, carrying bodies in the tropics was an unsavory
experience.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Frequently the dead
soldiers we carried from the battlefield had been our passengers when we
carried them into battle. Most were young men, some teen-agers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Normally, a
soldier’s body was wrapped in the poncho liner he carried into the field to use
as a blanket at night.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My first exposure to
carrying the dead occurred while supporting a U.S. Infantry company that had
come into contact with a Viet Cong force. I had flown wounded soldiers from the
landing zone during the early afternoon, so I knew the area was hot. My
helicopter had been fired at on 2 of the medevac flights.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A sergeant called me
by radio and asked if I could pick up a KIA — a soldier killed in action.
“Roger,” I replied, “are you taking any fire in the LZ?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Negative. Negative.
The LZ is cold,” the NCO answered. He then told me where to land so the body could
be loaded onto my Huey.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I made an approach
to a cloud of yellow smoke in the middle of the landing zone. The soldiers had
set off the smoke grenade to mark where they wanted me to land. On final
approach I saw the GIs drop to the ground. It looked like they were under
attack.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Should I abort the
pickup? Are you taking fire?” I asked the sergeant on the radio.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Negative. Negative.
The LZ is cold,” he told me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On short final, I
could see the body of the dead soldier on top of a rice paddy dike. The other
soldiers had not had time to wrap the body. At his head was a field pack and at
his feet was an M-16 rifle. I hovered as close as I could to the body and
waited for the GIs to load the corpse onto the helicopter. No one got up. I
could hear occasional gunfire from the edge of the landing zone.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I sat in the LZ
about 5 minutes, watching the dead soldier in front of me. The temperature and
humidity were in the high 90s, the sunlight was bright, and the body was
putrefying before my eyes. By the time the GIs popped up and loaded the body,
it was several shades darker.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fortunately, the air
passing through the open doors and windows of the Huey kept most of the odor
out of the cockpit and cargo area. I also learned that when flying above 2,000
feet, the air was much cooler, so bodies were slower to deteriorate in flight.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Later I decided the
soldiers were afraid we would not land if the LZ were under fire so the
sergeant fudged a little. I couldn’t blame him. It’s difficult to fight and
keep track of a body.<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Jack Swickardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01798645835702357340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169325698888360644.post-6338488104944348632013-03-19T11:19:00.000-06:002013-03-19T11:23:26.243-06:00The Forgotten Mission — Chapter 32<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
BIEN HOA, Vietnam — A
Peter Pilot’s first 2 months in Vietnam were devoted to showing him what he didn’t
know about flying a helicopter.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Newly minted Army
helicopter pilots arrived at their combat units in South Vietnam with some 230
hours of flight time. We had learned the basics — the very basics — in flight
school. Now it was time for advanced studies.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You remained a Peter
Pilot until you spent time, usually lasting several months, flying with
experienced combat pilots. Then you had to pass a checkride. If and when you passed, orders were cut elevating
you to aircraft commander.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In the cockpit, the
aircraft commander always outranked a Peter Pilot, no matter what each of their
official military rank. It was not unusual for a major or a lieutenant colonel
to fly second fiddle to a warrant officer or a first lieutenant. Smart junior
officers were careful how they handled airborne command over senior officers
because once the aircraft was on the ground and the engine shut down, military
rank again prevailed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had excellent
aircraft commanders — or A/Cs — as mentors during my early months with the 118th
Assault Helicopter Company. They saved me from killing myself on my early
flights and taught me how to survive a 12-month combat tour.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the first things I had to
learn was the geography of South Vietnam’s III Corps, which was our area of
operations. In the III Corps, you could fly over jungle, land on mountains,
follow rivers, operate in rice fields, make innumerable landings on village
soccer fields, and patrol swamps. The corps included Saigon, War Zone D, the
Iron Triangle, the Rung Sat Special Zone and the Plain of Reeds.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Within days of arriving at the
Thunderbirds, new pilots were issued 1:50,000 topographic maps of the III Corps
and adjacent areas. After gluing the pieces together, we sealed them in
plastic. These accompanied each pilot on all flights.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we flew throughout the corps
with our maps, we tried learning the names of villages and cities. I was having
trouble remembering these locations until Lt. Reed Kimzey told me his secret:
Equate the Vietnamese name with a short, off-color English phrase. Thus, Gau Da
Ha became “Go to Hell” and Trang Bang “Gang Bang.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Reed and Warrant Officer Larry Belhumeur let me fly many
hours as a Peter Pilot, allowing me to put myself into frightening situations
before taking over the Huey’s controls moments before a crash.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of my most momentous rescues from disaster was during a resupply
mission in support of Operation Junction City in February 1967. Larry allowed
me to make an approach to a small landing zone in which U.S. tanks and armored
personnel carriers were operating. A short time before, the LZ had been in
enemy hands. To prepare the clearing for an assault, an artillery battery had
fired white phosphorous rounds into the LZ. These rounds had set fire to the
tall grass, which now was fine, white ash.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My approach was flight school perfect at the beginning. The approach quickly
deteriorated when I pulled pitch to hover between a tank and a personnel
carrier. As our Huey slid into a hover, the rotor wash instantly blew the ash into
a cloud, with the helicopter in the midst. Instantly, we were in a whiteout. I
couldn’t see anything outside of the cockpit. With armored vehicles somewhere around
us, I knew we were in trouble.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Larry took the controls and set the helicopter safely on the ground. He
had expected me to try hovering in the LZ. Lesson learned. The next time I
would shoot an approach all the way to the ground. No more hovering over loose
ground cover.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My next close landing was even more dramatic.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Larry and I had been flying support all morning for the 199th Light
Infantry Brigade, which used the call sign “Redcatchers.” We had landed about 7
a.m. inside the Redcatcher compound at Long Binh. Throughout the morning we
flew supplies to brigade troops in the field.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
About noon, Larry and I flew back to the compound. Larry let me take the
controls for the approach to the parade field in the middle of the compound.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VQJVT8fUrNo/UUiaLGPSq5I/AAAAAAAAAmI/f0bQRlUot0U/s1600/Muddy+helipad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VQJVT8fUrNo/UUiaLGPSq5I/AAAAAAAAAmI/f0bQRlUot0U/s320/Muddy+helipad.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Parade field at Redcatcher helipad.</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Redcatcher helipad was a wooden platform beside what once had been a
grassy parade field. However, heavy rains and constant churning by trucks had
turned the parade field into a muddy quagmire.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That morning when the temperature was in the low 70s, I easily had landed
our helicopter on the pad. There were only 4 crewmembers aboard our Huey. We
had power to spare.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was different now. The temperature and the humidity were nearing 100
each, which meant the air molecules had drifted away from one another. Plus, we
had 6 more people aboard our helicopter.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I began my approach too fast and too steep. To compensate, I pulled the
helicopter’s nose up and dropped pitch in the main rotors. About 40 feet from
the ground, I found myself in a high hover, descending much faster than I had
planned.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Between our Huey and the helipad was the Redcatchers’ mess tent. My
approach was taking our Huey toward the center of the tent. As the helicopter
clambered out of control toward the tent, GIs were running out on all sides, many
of the soldiers diving to the ground. The rotor wash was causing the tent to
shake violently.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I’ve got it,” Larry told me over the intercom. He pushed the Huey’s nose
and collective down, made a right turn and picked up airspeed. We flew away
from the camp, came back around and again lined up on the landing pad, this
time on a shallow approach.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I wasn’t sure who I had frightened the most, our passengers, the GIs
eating lunch, or me.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another lesson we learned as Peter Pilots in Vietnam was tight formation
flying. When we were taught formation flying at Fort Rucker, we were told to
maintain a safe distance from the other helicopters. The instructor pilots
would tell us, “Nothing ruins your day like a mid-air.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Thunderbird assault helicopters, however, flew much closer to one
another than we had ever imagined. Flying in my first company formation, I can
remember the words of my aircraft commander: “Tuck in tighter … Move closer … Don’t
spread out.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The fact is, it’s easier to maintain your position in a tight formation
than in one that is loose. Much of the time our rotor blades came within a few
feet of each other. Frequently, they even overlapped. When the other pilot was
flying tight formation, I would look back at the GIs we were carrying into
combat. Their eyes were filled with terror. I know many were happy to leap off
when we landed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After I got the hang of tight formation flying, I found it relaxing. You
didn’t have to navigate or make radio calls; you simply followed the aircraft
in front of you to the landing. Then you followed it off the ground in
formation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It also was easier to ignore enemy tracers fired at you when you were
approaching an LZ in formation. Your odds of being killed were greater if you
flew into another Huey than if an AK-47 round hit your aircraft.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The scariest thing I saw during formation flying was a cargo door that
had come loose from a Huey at the front of the formation one afternoon. At
2,000 feet, in tight formation, I watched as the cargo door slowly drifted back
and forth like a feather through our 10-ship flight, barely missing several of
the helicopters in the formation. We didn’t have enough time to break out of
formation without risking a mid-air collision with another chopper.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Finally, the cargo door was behind us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I received my first
taste of precision landing during my first month in Vietnam. February 1967 was
an active time for helicopter warfare in III Corps<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One day our aircraft
picked up a team of 3 Americans wearing tiger fatigues. The team leader leaned
over the radio console that separated the aircraft commander and me, and opened
a map. He pointed to an area in War Zone D. “We need to go here,” he told the
aircraft commander.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We headed off to War
Zone D. When we arrived at our destination, we were over a forest of trees
about 100 feet tall. “Look for a hole in the canopy,” the ground team leader
told us over the intercom. We flew back and forth above the trees until we
found the hole, a small clearing in the trees created by a bomb explosion. At
the bottom was the crater.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aU12lD46GXg/UUiaLDVMC1I/AAAAAAAAAmE/h9-_aWLBtpU/s1600/+VN+tour.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="244" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aU12lD46GXg/UUiaLDVMC1I/AAAAAAAAAmE/h9-_aWLBtpU/s320/+VN+tour.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Jack Swickard wearing tiger fatigues in 1967.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we circled the
opening, the ground team leader came back on the intercom. “This is it, go
ahead and land,” he told us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The aircraft
commander told our crew chief to lean out the cargo door, look back and keep
the tailboom and tail rotor clear of tree limbs. He then came to a stop
directly above the clearing. There was about 3 feet from the tips of our main
rotor blades to the trees lining the clearing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we slowly hovered
toward the ground, the crew chief would tell the A/C: “Move the tail 10 feet to
the left. OK, now swing it back to the right 5 feet.” As we descended, the aircraft
commander threaded the Huey’s tailboom around protruding tree limbs.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
About 10 feet from
the ground, the team leader told us: “When we land, my team will run into the
jungle. When we finish our job, we’ll run back to the helicopter. We’ll need to
leave quickly.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There was no place
to set the helicopter on the ground. The bomb crater had created a concave
depression in the ground. When we came to a low hover, the ground team leaped
from the helicopter and scurried into the jungle. The aircraft commander and I
took turns hovering the Huey over the crater, staying perfectly centered in the
clearing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At ground level, it
was twilight. Only a fraction of the sunlight penetrated through the canopy of
leaves.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
About 10 minutes
later, the team ran out of the jungle and leaped onto our Huey. The leader
shoved his right thumb up and mouthed, “Get the hell out of here!”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We hovered back up
the hole as quickly as we could. I was concerned we would not have enough power
hover up and would begin to settle with power, but the Huey ascended steadily
as we again wove the tailboom around tree limbs.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The light became
brighter as we ascended. I expected something violent to happen all the way up.
As we hovered above the treetops, the aircraft commander edged the Huey’s nose
forward. We picked up speed, shifted through transitional lift and into flight.
We flew away from the area as fast as possible.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When we were about a
kilometer from the clearing, I heard a loud explosion and saw a large cloud of
gray smoke shoot into the air. The team had used a timer to detonate an
unexploded bomb before the Viet Cong could break it down into smaller explosive
charges to use as mines.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One day Reed Kimzey
and I had been supporting a large ground operation, flying wounded GIs from the
battlefield and delivering ammunition.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When the battle
began to wind down, we flew hot food to the troops. We were flying the only
helicopter in the area, so when the food was delivered, the U.S. commander
asked us to fly the bodies of dead GIs to Graves Registration at the Army base
outside My Tho, capital city of Tien Giange Province in the Mekong Delta.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The U.S. soldiers
had gathered some 40 dead GIs into an area near the Command Post. We knew the
bodies would be putrefying in the heat and humidity, so we needed to fly them
to Graves Registration as quickly as possible.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Reed told our crew
chief and door gunner to stay behind in the landing zone so we could get more
bodies in our Huey. The ground soldiers stacked 13 bodies sideways in our
Huey’s cargo compartment. The bodies were stacked higher than our heads.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FKtkYUhmdvo/UUic1GCGigI/AAAAAAAAAmc/tgqWAEhsRUE/s1600/Huey+on+approach+to+LZ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FKtkYUhmdvo/UUic1GCGigI/AAAAAAAAAmc/tgqWAEhsRUE/s320/Huey+on+approach+to+LZ.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">A Thunderbird Huey approaches landing zone.<br />Note smoke from fires set by artillery.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We flew with the
cargo doors closed so none of the remains would fall out. The odor from our
cargo was so strong Reed and I took turns flying. I remember sticking my head
out the cockpit window, taking a deep breath, flying for several minutes, until
I couldn’t hold my breath any longer. When not flying, I kept by nose outside
the window and a scarf over my face. We flew the Huey slightly sideways, in a
crab, so more fresh air would wash into the cockpit.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The flight would
have been more bearable if we had climbed to a higher altitude where the air
was cooler, but there also was a chance one of the bodies could explode in the
thinner air. We flew below 2,000 feet.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was a long flight
to My Tho. When we arrived, Graves Registration had not sent anyone to unload
the bodies. We rolled the Huey’s engine down to flight idle, and frictioned
down the cyclic and the collective pitch controls.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: right; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Reed and I got out
of the cockpit started unloading our cargo ourselves. Reed took a body’s arms;
I grabbed the legs. We swung each body back and forth 3 times, and then let it
fly into a stack. When we left, there was a mound of 13 bodies.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We repeated this 2
more times, once with another 13 bodies and once with 14. The Graves Registration
crew appeared after we had finished unloading all the bodies.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Because the bodies
were wrapped in ponchos instead of body bags, our crew chief and gunner had a
major cleanup to perform inside the Huey after we finished the mission.<br />
<!--EndFragment-->Jack Swickardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01798645835702357340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169325698888360644.post-3313618378438636472013-03-11T13:45:00.000-06:002013-03-13T15:11:08.631-06:00The Forgotten Mission — Chapter 31<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<!--StartFragment-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
BIEN HOA, Vietnam — I
spent my first night at the Thunderbird villa in a room for transient officers.
This would be my home until I was assigned to a flight platoon.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My roommate was a
Vietnam Air Force (VNAF) lieutenant briefly attached to the 118th Assault
Helicopter Company to learn some of our tactics in combat assaults. I don’t
remember his name, as we roomed together only a few days.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What I do remember
was entering the room once while he was asleep and making noise as I plunked
down on my bed. The lieutenant sprang to his feet like a startled cat before I
could react.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
His reaction impressed
me. I had never seen anyone go from sleep to readiness so quickly. Americans
would come to this beautiful land at war and then most would leave. The
Vietnamese had been warring for centuries and would be fighting for years to
come.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Within days, I would
become a combatant in the war. The difference between my war and the war fought
by the Vietnamese was I had a chance to go home after a year.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
<b>*****<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Several days after I
joined the 118th Assault Helicopter Company, the daily mission board showed I
would be flying my first combat assault. I was assigned as copilot — or “Peter
Pilot” — on Warrant Officer Charlie Bennett’s Huey.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During my first week
with the Thunderbirds, I noted the more experienced assault pilots in the
company had handlebar mustaches. Charlie Bennett had one of the largest.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had been awaiting
with some trepidation my first combat assault, known as a “CA” among the flight
crews. Before joining the Army, I had worked as a reporter for <i>The Indianapolis Times</i> and <i>The Albuquerque Tribune</i>. In the newsroom,
I had followed the Vietnam War, knowing there was a chance I would become
involved.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of the United
Press news photos that caught my attention showed a Marine Corps H-34
helicopter in a Vietnam landing zone, while troops charged off the chopper. The
pilot sat calmly in the thick of battle, waiting to take off. I wondered how he
could remain so casual under the circumstances. I also wondered if I would be able
to do the same.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After an early
breakfast, I joined the other pilots on a deuce and a half truck for the ride to
the flight line. Playing off the “Thunderbird” call sign, our helicopters were
parked in the “Birdcage,” inside revetments made of steel planking and sandbags.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I accompanied
Charlie through the preflight inspection of our helicopter. Though our crew
chiefs and mechanics did an excellent job with maintenance, many flight hours
took their toll on the helicopters.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Many of the Hueys in
the Birdcage had been patched to cover combat damage. If an enemy round hit a
helicopter, the crew chief would cover the hole with silver duct tape,
nicknamed “100-mile-an-hour tape.” Later, during maintenance, an aluminum patch
would be riveted over the hole.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After preflighting
the Huey, Charlie and I strapped into the cockpit seats. Ceramic plates
protected the back and one side of each cockpit seat. For protection from a
round or shrapnel coming from the front, each pilot would strap a ceramic armor
“chicken plate” across his chest. I later developed the habit of shifting my
.45-caliber pistol into my lap.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The doorgunner untied
the main rotor blades. The crew chief stood near the Huey’s turbine engine,
holding a fire extinguisher. Charlie yelled: “Clear!” The crew chief responded,
“Clear, Sir!” That was the pilot’s cue to start the engine.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The turbine engine
began turning. I could hear the igniters popping. Then there was the
high-pitched whine of the turbine coming to life. The rotor blades now were
turning.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The tachometer had 2
needles, 1 showing the engine revolutions per minute and the other the speed of
the main rotor blades. When the needles were “in the green” — an area of the
tachometer window marked by green tape — the Huey was ready to be hovered out
of the revetment. The nose lifted first, followed by the rest of the
helicopter.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When the Huey was
about a foot from the ground, Charlie hovered slightly backward and then to the
left. He then performed a slow pedal turn and hovered the aircraft into line on
the right side of a staggered trail formation with the other assault Hueys.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After all 10 helicopters
were lined up, the lead aircraft became light on its skids. Its pilot radioed
to the rest of the formation: “Lead is off.” One by one, the aircraft followed.
Within minutes, the formation was flying toward the pickup point where we would
board the soldiers we would carry into combat. Today’s assault would involve a
company of ARVN (Army of Vietnam) Rangers. At the pickup point, the soldiers
had queued up, 12 to a line.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A cloud of red dust
swirled as the helicopter formation flared before settled to the ground. The
ARVNs boarded the Hueys and we again took off in formation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
This time the weight
of the armed Rangers made the takeoff run longer. As the Hueys moved from a
forward hover to “transitional lift,” the aircrews could feel a slight bump as
the helicopters entered flight. The most difficult part of the takeoff was
over.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some 20 minutes
later, the staggered formation of Hueys made a sweeping right turn toward a
clearing along a tree line that followed a small river. Now 2 miles from the
landing zone, the flight began a gradual descent.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Four UH-1C gunships
that had flown ahead of our formation began making gun runs along each side of
the LZ. The gunships hit the LZ with rockets and machine gun fire. Viet Cong
soldiers armed with AK-47 assault rifles held their fire, waiting for the assault
helicopters to slow their approach. The Hueys were most vulnerable to enemy
fire on short final approach.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Charlie was at the
controls of our Huey as we began short final to the LZ. I sat in the right
seat, trying to make sense of the confusion. Flying into combat for the first
time, I was on the verge of sensory overload. I could hear Charlie talking to
our crew chief and gunner in the intercom. I also could hear the popping sound
of AK-47s being fired at us by the enemy. And there were explosions from the
grenades and rockets being fired by the gunships.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Take the controls!
Take the controls!” Charlie screamed into the intercom. I fumbled until my left
hand was on the collective pitch lever and my right hand the cyclic, which
controlled our direction of flight. I didn’t know if Charlie had been hit by
gunfire. Struggling to keep the helicopter in a descent with the rest of the
formation, I wondered what to do if Charlie had been hit.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I grabbed a quick
look at Charlie to see if he had been hit. He was furiously slapping himself in
the face. “Damn, he must really be hurt,” I thought.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RKX9hXke67Y/UT4yQ_DCDbI/AAAAAAAAAlk/AXGZffd8qeE/s1600/Charlie+Bennett.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="210" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RKX9hXke67Y/UT4yQ_DCDbI/AAAAAAAAAlk/AXGZffd8qeE/s320/Charlie+Bennett.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Warrant Officer Charlie Bennett at controls of<br />a Thunderbird Huey.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Taking fire! Taking
fire!” the pilot in the lead assault Huey shouted over the radio. The pilot of
another Huey yelled, “Fire coming from 3 o’clock, behind the trees!” M-60
machine guns mounted on the sides of the lift Hueys laid down suppressive fire.
The trees came alive with muzzle flashes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I have it!” Charlie
shouted over the intercom. I gave him back control of the Huey, but only momentarily.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On our descent to
the ground, Charlie told me 2 more times to take the controls. Again he would
begin slapping himself in the face. “OK, I have the controls,” he would repeat
each time.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our machine guns
fell silent as the Rangers jumped from the helicopters when we landed. The
AK-47s came alive with more vigor as the Rangers charged toward the trees. Enemy
rounds hit the ground near our Hueys. One of the aircraft would be hit, but
there was no way the round could be heard hurling through the thin, aluminum
skin.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At Charlie’s command,
I again took over the flight controls and stayed in formation while the Hueys
became airborne. From the corner of my eye I saw Charlie reach into his
mustache and pull something out with his gloved fingers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Damn red ant got
into my mustache. It was biting like hell,” he told me. He crushed the ant with
his fingers and flicked it out his window.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After departing the
landing zone, the 10 Hueys flew to the pickup point, where some 100 more
soldiers boarded the helicopters. The Hueys made 5 trips into the landing zone.
Eventually, the Rangers subdued the battlefield and the Viet Cong melted away,
leaving some of their dead behind.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Helicopters detached
from the formation and began ferrying wounded Rangers from the battlefield.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our formation
remained on the ground in a secured field 5 kilometers from the landing zone
while ARVN commanders and American advisors decided the next move. The Rangers
would spend the night in the field, and then move through an area suspected of
enemy activity.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The pilots shut down
their aircraft’s engine and began inspecting the Hueys for battle damage. On
the tailboom of my helicopter was a hole from an AK-47 round.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On my first combat
mission, my aircraft had suffered battle damage. Now I was a real combat
veteran. I would be expected to toss a $20 book of drink chits on the bar at
the Thunderbird Lounge after dinner. The other pilots would drink with my chits
until the book was depleted. With beer costing 10 cents a glass, the chits might
last 5 minutes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Warrant Officer Ken
Dolan also remembered Charlie’s “red ant trick.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“He did the same
thing to me on my first or second combat assault,” Ken said, adding it wasn’t
red ants that come to mind 46 years later. “The thing that has stuck with me
over the years was the shear noise of a combat assault, with door guns going
and rockets whizzing by on the way in.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The visuals of
empty shells streaming out the doors of the Hueys has also stuck with me,” Ken
said.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Five months before I
arrived in Vietnam, Warrant Officer Tom Baca wrote home about flying a heavy
schedule of combat assaults with the Thunderbirds.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Sorry I haven’t
written, but we have really been busy,” he wrote on July 26, 1966, to his
parents and twin brother Jim in Albuquerque. “VC everywhere around Saigon and
we are making 8 hours of combat assaults a day.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“So how is
everything at home? I see in the <i>Stars
& Stripes</i> newspaper that it’s been in the 90s there. It is nice and
cool here, believe it or not. About 78 degrees today. We like cool weather
because our aircraft perform much better.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I was shot down
Sunday, but we weren’t hurt. One of the Vietnamese on board was killed by one
of the rounds, though,” Tom wrote. “We were making an approach into a VC hamlet
and we were hit with automatic weapons. We lost our hydraulic control system
and transmission.<o:p></o:p></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C5PumxqSi_0/UT4yRszhUTI/AAAAAAAAAls/phZwvpmBPqY/s1600/Downed+Huey+with+Tom.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="206" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-C5PumxqSi_0/UT4yRszhUTI/AAAAAAAAAls/phZwvpmBPqY/s320/Downed+Huey+with+Tom.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Capt. John Hopkins (left), WO Tom Baca, and<br />other members of Huey crew after their rescue</span></b><br />
<b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">on July 24, 1966. On right is Spec. 4 Bringas.</span></b> </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“We made a go-around
and flew about 4,000 meters, then had to set down in a field, which was the muddiest,
of course. We got all radio navigation equipment and other classified papers
and weapons off and we were picked up by our wingman.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I have some
pictures of when we got back to the staging area. I also have some of them
sling-loading our ship back. I am fine, nary a scratch,” Tom wrote to his
family.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An official report
shows Tom’s UH-1D Huey took “3 hits from small arms, automatic weapons” during
a combat assault on July 24, forcing the helicopter down in the Rung Sat
Special Zone, also known as “The Forest of Assassins.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The report says the
helicopter was hit in the engine compartment, the enemy rounds damaging the
transmission oil system and the hydraulics system. At the time Tom’s Huey was
hit, it was about 50 feet from the ground and flying at 30 knots during final
approach.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The month after I
flew on my first combat assault, Lt. Al Croteau wrote home about flying on his
first assault.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Well, yesterday I
flew my first combat assault mission,” Al wrote in a letter dated March 13,
1967. “On the mission there were 10-15 ships, the C.O. and the X.O. were along;
I went as the right door gunner on Red II. This is how it began:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“It was a Saturday
night and I was welcoming some of the new pilots into the company. Well, they
kept buying drinks for me. After about five drinks, I decided to retire for the
night. Heading for my room, I ran into a Major who said, “Want to fly gunner
tomorrow on a C/A?” I, of course, replied “yes” and went into the private bar,
which is run by the 1st Platoon. Well, that party went on until 2:00.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I was up at 4:45
with a big head. It was a cup of coffee, my flight helmet and flight vest and
.45 into the Jeep, out to the flight line.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“We were all loaded
up and into the air by 6:00 a.m. My eyes half opened, we were flying,” Al
wrote.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m-1mZNMMq8A/UT4yUj9sQfI/AAAAAAAAAl0/V5mkgcpI13w/s1600/CIDG+soldiers+2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="204" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m-1mZNMMq8A/UT4yUj9sQfI/AAAAAAAAAl0/V5mkgcpI13w/s320/CIDG+soldiers+2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Vietnamese soldiers waited to board Hueys<br />that will carry them into combat.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Our first touchdown
was to pick up some troops; combat troops that is. Unlike any group of men I
have seen, these people looked ready. Most of them carried small packages of
cigarettes or gum in their steel helmets. All of their faces looked shaved, but
worn. Around their chests were slung straps or belts, which contained 7 clips
of ammo, each clip contained 20 rounds.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Also, there were
men with rocket launchers, machine guns and M-79 grenade launchers. Hand
grenades were hanging from all over their clothing’ these were fighting men —
not National Guards or U.S. Army stateside war games types,” Al’s letter
continued.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“My mind, what was
left of it, quickly left these men and went into action to pick up what the
radio was saying: ‘Approaching LZ full suppression unload and get the hell out
of there, Blue 6, over.’ This is what it meant: We were going into the landing
zone; have all door gunners firing to cover the entrance into paddies. Gunners,
get ready to give that suppression.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Well, I let loose
with my gun and I watched my tracers fly into the treeline. The radios were
singing, ‘Gunships to your left. Fire at the hut.’ As soon as we lowered the
ships, the troops jumped into the rice paddies, which were about 2-3 feet of
muddy water. I was still firing over their heads. Off we went. Once we were
airborne, I ceased firing and watched the others make similar drops.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Rocket tracers were
hitting the ground from every direction. We unloaded troops there three times,
at different locations every time. Each time was just the same except for the
last one, when I heard one of my friends over the radio say, ‘We are taking
fire, have taken one round. Going to check it out at the refueling station. No
one hurt.’<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“It was 0930 and we
set down to refuel. I went to see Mac’s ship and, sure enough, he had taken a
hit. A little lower and he would be without a head. After refueling, off we
went to pick up 50 tons of captured rice.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“We also picked up
some VC prisoners. These people were small and scared stiff. You could see it
in their eyes that they were scared to death. It has been a known subject that
VC have fallen from ships when they refused to talk. The prisoners were brought
back to the camp and used to unload the rice,” Al continued in his letter home.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Later we went back
to the LZ and picked up some wounded VC. The first one was an old woman who had
been shot through the chest. The bullet had passed through her chest and out
her mid-back. We applied first aid to her and covered her with a blanket. She
was covered with rice paddy mud; a real mess.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“We went over to
pick up an old man and a VC boy. Both the man and the boy were given plasma
bottles. Both were covered with blood and looked scared and in shock. You could
not help feeling sorry for these war victims,” Al wrote.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“In the action, we
took about 25-30 prisoners, wounded 6-10, killed 10-12, killed 3 water
buffaloes, 1 pig, 1-12 chickens, burned 8-10 huts, 8 hay stacks, captured 5
weapons and 50 tons of rice. We had 2 troops injured; 1 had found a VC grenade
and pulled the pin to destroy it, but it went off in his hand. This man is in
poor condition; he will lose his hand but will live. The other man received
flesh wounds in contact.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The mission ended
about 6:00 with over 10 hours of flying and 90 tired men. This was my first C/A
and I hope my description will give you a small idea of what goes on in Vietnam.
The fighting men over here are doing their job. I talked to some of them. Even
though we risk our life flying these ships, for the most part, we are happy and
truly believe we are doing a good job for ideas we believe in,” Al concluded in
his letter home.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Captain Larry Liss recalled flying
in combat shortly after he had arrived in Vietnam. It was only his second
helicopter flight in country.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I had been in country for a few
days. I was given a bed in wherever aviators bunked at Phu Loi,” Larry said. “I
was assigned to the 162nd Assault Helicopter Company a day later and was picked
up by a UH-1 from who knows where and was invited to fly copilot, as the person
sitting in the seat got out and walked off to who knows where.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I pulled out my helmet and
plugged in while the pilot lifted to a hover and off we went. I heard his voice
say that we were going to make a few stops before getting to Phuoc Vinh. I sat
back and watched to terrain fly by as we flew to who knows where. We
landed at a small heliport and then took off from who knows where, flying to
who knows where. The pilot, who had his visor down, took the aircraft down to
just above the ground and away we went, twisting and turning to who knows where,”
Larry said.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“All of a sudden we started
taking hits and number of rounds penetrated the cockpit. One hit the pilot in
the side of the head and down his body went. I pulled him back, along with,
I think the crew chief, and took the controls. I pulled back on the cyclic,
pulled more power than necessary and got up to about 1,500 feet.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I was totally panicked. Not
from the bullets flying, but I had no idea where I was, and was totally spaced
out on what radios to use or what to do next. I was really lost,” Larry said. “I
heard a voice in my head — the crew chief? — telling me to “fly to Hotel 3,”
the main heliport at Tan Son Nhut Airfield in Saigon. “In my head, it was
playing out like, ‘What?’ ... ‘Where?’ He then said something like, ‘fly the needle.’
Of course, the ADF.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“To make a long story shorter, I
followed the needle to Saigon and then got ‘talked in’ to Hotel 3. I called, I
have no idea who, and had an ambulance waiting. I landed at the heliport and
set the aircraft down,” Larry said.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“I found out later the pilot was
OK, and to this day have no idea who he was or what unit the aircraft belonged
to. I wound up being picked up by a 162nd aircraft and taken to Phuoc Vinh a
few hours later. I met my ride at the bar at the officers club. I took a week
of razzing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“At that moment, it seemed like
the coming year was going to be a very long one. Who would ever have thought
that I would actually go on to be a decent pilot and a good combatant?
Certainly not me,” Larry said.<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Jack Swickardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01798645835702357340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169325698888360644.post-81576926567216203192013-03-02T10:03:00.000-07:002013-03-13T15:10:54.258-06:00The Forgotten Mission — Chapter 30<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
FORT RUCKER, Alabama
— Because my last name started with an “S,” I was always at the end of the line
throughout basic training and flight school. Soldiers whose family names
started with “A’s” and “B’s” always got to go first.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The only time this
rule was changed and I got to go first was when our flight school class
received departure dates to fly to South Vietnam.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Most members of my
class — WORWAC 66-21 — received orders allowing them to take a 2-week leave en
route to Travis Air Force Base, Calif., where they would board government-contract
airliners and fly to Southeast Asia.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QlmjTuwOOko/UTIuK8SpCWI/AAAAAAAAAk8/6dmmmbYtDRM/s1600/+Renee+pinning+on+wings.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="270" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QlmjTuwOOko/UTIuK8SpCWI/AAAAAAAAAk8/6dmmmbYtDRM/s320/+Renee+pinning+on+wings.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Future wife, Renee, pinning aviator wings on me<br />after graduation from flight school.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
WORWAC was an
acronym for “Warrant Officer Rotary Wing Aviator Class.” The “66” was the year
we were scheduled to graduate from flight school and “21” showed we were the
21st class of 1966. Things got screwed up a bit when the Army Aviation School
shut down for a 2-week Christmas break, pushing our class’s graduation to
January 1967, but no one considered changing the class number.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Those in our class
with orders for Vietnam were divided into 3 groups and ordered to depart on 3
consecutive days. I would leave on the first day.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One of my classmates
from South Dakota, Gary Scofield, and I drove to Sioux City, Iowa, and caught
an airliner to San Francisco. We spent the night in the city before reporting at
nearby Travis Air Force Base, where we boarded a plane for Vietnam.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As we lined up to
board our flight, classmates departing on the next 2 days made a special trip
to Travis so they could cheer us on. “See you in Vietnam!” “We’ll think of you
tonight in San Francisco!” “You’re going to miss the party!” they jeered.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I figured, what the
hell, I’d leave earlier, but I’d get back earlier. Each of us had orders for a
12-month tour of duty. Our DEROS — or Estimated Date of Return from Overseas —
would be based on when we departed for Vietnam.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, there would
be a delay in our arrival in South Vietnam.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our first stop after
departing Travis was Honolulu, where the Braniff Airlines plane would refuel
before continuing east. An hour after our flight departed Hawaii, the pilot
announced over the intercom: “We don’t want to upset you, but we just lost our
Number 4 engine. We’ll circle for 30 minutes, and then return to Honolulu for
repairs.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The passengers,
mostly newly minted warrant officers from my flight school class, let out a
cheer.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Back at Honolulu
International Airport, we were ushered into the passenger lounge and told to
wait for an announcement. After a couple of hours, our bags were brought to the
lounge and an airline representative explained the engine would have to be
repaired before we could continue on our journey. In the meantime, Braniff
would give each passenger a book of coupons we would use to cover all our
expenses.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Report back here at 0900 hours (9 a.m.)
tomorrow and we’ll give you a status report,” the airline’s representative
explained. “If you take a taxi, eat or check into a hotel, pay with one of the
coupons in the book we are giving you.” It was like being handed a free
checking account in one of the world’s resort cities.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was tired, so I decided to play it low key. A shuttle took me to Fort DeRussy,
where I rented a room in the Bachelor Officers Quarters. Half a year later, I would
return to Fort DeRussy, which was the Hawaii R&R (Rest and Recuperation) site
for soldiers serving in Vietnam.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some of our
classmates weren’t so low-key. Some checked into the Royal Hawaiian Hotel, 2
reportedly into the Honeymoon Suite. Others got into card games, paying their
losses with the coupons.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For the next 3 days
we would go to the airport, where we were told: “The engine’s not fixed yet,”
and collect another day’s worth of coupons.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the fourth day
the Braniff representative reported World Airlines had been contracted to bring
a plane to Hawaii the next morning and take us on to South Vietnam.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The World Airlines
flight landed at Bien Hoa Air Base, 20 miles northeast of Saigon. We gathered
in an open shed, awaiting our duffel bags and watching GIs board our plane to fly
home. We then boarded blue Air Force buses, their open windows covered with
heavy wire screens, and were driven to Long Binh Post about 3 miles from the
airbase. We stopped at the 90th Replacement Battalion, a complex of dusty, wooden
barracks, BOQs and offices.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: justify; text-autospace: none; text-justify: inter-ideograph;">
On my way into the replacement battalion office,
a classmate from one of the later flights Travis asked me: “Where have you guys
been?” We heard that question a lot. The stopover gave us something we could
rub in, particularly when we told them our time in Hawaii had counted as time
in Vietnam.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next day we
lined up to show the orders we’d been given at flight school, assigning us to
units throughout Vietnam. My orders assigned me to the 1st Air Cavalry Division
at An Khe to the north. The 1st Cav had been highly touted by some of our
flight school instructors. I was looking forward to the 1st Cav, until the 90th
Replacement Battalion clerk examining my orders said, “Sir, your slot was
filled, so you are being diverted to the 118th Assault Helicopter Company in
Bien Hoa.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lonnie Schmidt, a
classmate just ahead of me in line, also drew the 118th Assault Helicopter
Company rather than the 1st Cav. We weren’t sure if our life had improved,
until we arrived at the 118th.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An hour later, a
Jeep pulled up to the 90th Replacement Battalion. The Specialist 4 driver asked
for the pilots assigned to the 118th. Lonnie and I boarded for the ride to Cong
Ly Street in downtown Bien Hoa City.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We couldn’t believe
our eyes as the Jeep pulled into the courtyard of a large villa. The driver
told us he would take us to the company Orderly Room at the airbase after we
put our bags away and cleaned up. The billeting officer showed me to a room
where I would spend my first couple of nights, before being assigned to one of
the flight platoons. Each room had a European-style, high-reservoir toilet, a
sink and a shower.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We put on clean,
khaki uniforms, then met the Jeep driver, who drove us to Bien Hoa Airbase. The
Orderly Room was a cross between a wooden shack and an Army GP Medium tent.
Major Bill Bradner, the company executive officer, was waiting outside for us.
After introducing himself, he invited Lonnie and me into his office.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“In case you have
forgotten, when you meet the CO, march into his office, stop in front of him,
salute, then report in,” Major Bradner instructed us. He obviously had dealt
with newly minted warrant officers before. I was thankful for the briefing,
which was a reminder of what we had learned in the Military Courtesy classes at
basic and flight school.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After reporting in
with the commander, Major Joseph “Joe” Boggs, Lonnie and I began checking out
organizational equipment. We each drew a ballistic flight helmet, a .45-caliber
Colt automatic pistol, as well as several pairs of jungle fatigues and jungle
boots with a steel plate in the sole to protect against Punji stakes.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We then were driven back
to the 118th officers’ villa. I had some time on my hands, so I looked around.
The villa was a nice place to live by any standard. It had 2 wings to one side,
which housed the 1st and 2nd flight platoons; a row of upstairs rooms that were
home to the Bandit gunship platoon; a dining room with a palm tree growing
through the roof; and a very nice bar, named the Thunderbird Lounge.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Jkq43xJDMKo/UTIuXwKlDFI/AAAAAAAAAlM/Ahx0dXcKdqk/s1600/+118th+AHC+patch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Jkq43xJDMKo/UTIuXwKlDFI/AAAAAAAAAlM/Ahx0dXcKdqk/s200/+118th+AHC+patch.jpg" width="165" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Thunderbird unit patch</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The company call
sign and the lounge received their name from the Thunderbird Lounge in Las
Vegas. When the 118th AHC was deploying to Vietnam in 1962 as the 33rd
Transportation Company (Light Helicopter), several of the pilots visited Las
Vegas. While having drinks at the Thunderbird Lounge, the pilots told the
bartender they were heading off to fly helicopters in South Vietnam. Pretty
soon, the pilots were handed matchbooks, bar napkins, swizzle sticks and
glasses, all labeled “Thunderbird Lounge,” to take with them to Southeast Asia.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When the helicopter
company arrived in South Vietnam and began setting up an officers club, what
could be more natural than naming it after the lounge whose name was imprinted
on the napkins and glasses? Once the club was dubbed the Thunderbird Lounge,
the name “Thunderbird” became the 118th AHC’s call sign.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lonnie and I were
given temporary rooms in the villa until it was decided whether we would be
assigned to the 1st Flight Platoon “Scorpions” or the 2nd Flight Platoon “Choppers.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Both platoons flew
UH-1D transport helicopters to ferry troops into landing zones on combat
assaults, pull medical evacuations during combat operations, fly food and beer
to the soldiers after they had secured a landing zone, and to resupply units
around the III Corps area of South Vietnam on “pigs-and-rice” missions.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The UH-1D Hueys in
these platoons were called “slicks” because they were armed only with a 7.62 mm machine gun on each side. The crew chief and a gunner manned the machine
guns.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The “Bandit” gunship
platoon flew UH-1C Hueys with wider rotor blades for additional lift. They
needed a lot of lift for takeoffs because on each takeoff, gunships carried a
full load of fuel, and boxes of machine gun rounds, rockets and grenades. The
gunships rarely landed except to refuel and rearm. Frequently when they took
off with a full fuel load, they needed a runway to bounce down until they had
the airspeed to enter translational lift, the point at which a helicopter
enters flight.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After changing into
jungle fatigues and securing my duffel bag, I wandered over to the Officers
Mess and joined. Members’ dues supported the mess. Because I was living in a
villa and not in a tent or a bunker like many of my flight school classmates, I
was given a cost of living allowance — known as COLA — to cover meals at the
Officers Mess. The timing was good because it was almost time for dinner.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lonnie and the
company operations officer joined me at a table. The Thunderbirds employed a
Chinese cook and 3 Vietnamese waitresses, who wore gray uniforms with white
aprons. A mess steward made certain the kitchen refrigerators were full. Our
mess steward did a superb job. When unpopular items such as calf liver would
show up on the Army’s Master Menu, he would make a trip to the U.S. Military’s
food commissary in Saigon to buy steaks or pork chops as replacements.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If we were planning
a dinner party for officers, one of the slicks would fly to the resort and
fishing city of Vung Tau at the mouth of the Saigon River and come back loaded
with fresh lobster, prawns and other fish.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Halfway through
dinner, the 2nd Platoon leader charged through the door, spotted the operations
officer, and headed to our table. “We need a Peter Pilot to fly Firefly. Our
other pilots are out of flying time for the month. Can we take one of the new
guys?” he said, pointing to me. I stood up, waiting for the operations officer
to give me the nod.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qA4yL4ZWnkI/UTIuViQeORI/AAAAAAAAAlE/6iFMU3pIO8Y/s1600/+Preparing+to+fly.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="224" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qA4yL4ZWnkI/UTIuViQeORI/AAAAAAAAAlE/6iFMU3pIO8Y/s320/+Preparing+to+fly.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Waiting outside villa for ride to the </span></b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>flight line.<br />I am holding a map; Schmidt is at right.</b></span></td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
After almost a
minute, he replied: “He can’t fly until he has had his in-country orientation
check ride.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The platoon leader
left as quickly as he had entered the Mess, looking for a copilot.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Firefly mission
involved a Huey slick flying over rivers during the dark of night, illuminating
the rivers and their banks with a high-intensity searchlight mounted on one
side of the helicopter. Beside the searchlight was a .50-caliber machine gun.
While the slick would fly at 1,500 feet altitude, 1 Bandit gunship would fly very
low just behind the area illuminated by the searchlight and the other would
command the team from above the light ship at about 2,000 feet. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The gunships were on
the prowl for hidden Viet Cong sampans used to ferry supplies under the cover
of darkness. If the gunships needed extra firepower, a gunner aboard the slick
would hose the enemy with the .50-caliber machine gun.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That night’s Firefly
ended in tragedy for the crew. After refueling at Nha Be, then a petroleum tank
farm owned by Royal Dutch Shell on the Saigon River, the slick took off over
the river. At some point during the takeoff, the pilot apparently developed
vertigo and flew the Huey into the water. The only survivor was the copilot,
who was found by a Vietnamese fisherman. He was still in his cockpit seat,
which had been ripped out of the cockpit by the force of the crash.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That night the 118th
lost a pilot, a crew chief and a gunner. I’ve wondered since if I would have
survived the crash as copilot. I suspect I would not have. Being brand new in
my first flying assignment, I don’t think I would have been able to react to
the situation with enough knowledge to survive the crash.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The accident drove
home the fact that flying helicopters in combat could be a deadly business. The
next day this lesson was strongly reinforced when I learned Michael Utter, one
of my classmates had been killed during his first flight in Vietnam — his local
orientation flight — when his Huey flew into power lines near Bien Hoa Airbase.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The immortality of youth
was sliding away pretty quickly.<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Jack Swickardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01798645835702357340noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169325698888360644.post-91006859435865066132013-02-19T19:42:00.002-07:002013-03-13T15:10:40.014-06:00The Forgotten Mission — Chapter 29<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
FORT WOLTERS, Texas
— Jim Mason and I parked our duffel bags outside before entering the 1st WOC
Company orderly room.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
WOC stood for
warrant officer candidate. To be designated Army aviators, we would have to be
officers. The Army had determined the warrant officer grade was perfect for
aviators. Unlike commissioned officers, who were required to build experience
in command and staff positions to meet career goals and be promoted, warrant
officers could concentrate on flying.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During the Vietnam
War, warrant officer candidates could attend flight school if they were 18
years old, had a high school diploma, and passed a difficult battery of
examinations. Many of the younger warrant officers went from cruising through the
local drive-in restaurant to flying helicopters in combat.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The youngest
helicopter pilot killed in combat during the Vietnam War died 3 months after his
19th birthday. By far the largest group of helicopter pilots killed during the
war held the rank of warrant officer 1 — or WO1. During the war, 854 Army WO1’s
were killed in action; Army chief warrant officer 2’s came in second at 290
killed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Because of the high intelligence
scores the Army required for flight training, the aviation warrant officer
corps was filled with smart, young men.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The warrant officer flight-training
program also was loaded with young men who had become bored with college and wanted
some excitement, as well as some young men who had always wanted to fly.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Private Swickard, Enter!”
came a voice from inside the orderly room. I marched into the room and halted in
front of the captain behind the desk. Smartly saluting, I reported: “Present!”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Dismissed,” the
captain told me. After exiting the room, I was grouped with other candidates
who had quickly reported for flight school. We then marched to a second-floor
meeting room in the barracks next door. There we learned the basics of life as
a WOC.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
First, we would be
promoted to temporary E-5’s and draw enlisted flight pay. That meant my monthly
pay would increase to $194.10, with an additional $60 a month flight pay. This
sounded good to me. However, we were told, even the lowest privates would
outrank us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I met a TAC
officer — usually a chief warrant officer with combat flying experience — I was
told to brace against a wall and shout: “Sir, Candidate Swickard, Sir! Good
afternoon, Sir!” During the brace, the back of my head, my butt and my heels
had to be touching the wall.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Additionally, we had
to move around the WOC company area at a trot. When we ate in the mess hall, we
sat at attention. But before we could sit, all 4 tablemates were to stand at
attention behind their chair, food tray in hand. The first candidate would
shout: “Sit!” Then all 4 could sit at attention and begin the meal. After
eating, all 4 would rise in unison, push their chairs under the table, and
leave together.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first month of
flight school was dubbed “Preflight” because all the helicopter training was
confined to classrooms. Preflight was when many WOC’s were washed out of the
program for infractions and not getting along with classmates. The TACs were
looking for people who would work well together.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Three months into
training, some of my classmates bought a bag of firecrackers and bottle rockets.
About 2 a.m., they set them off inside another WOC company’s barracks. The next
day word was out the 3 candidates would be booted out of flight school.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0rDDayAyOPI/USflV4IzjHI/AAAAAAAAAkU/lUSTXrl0in8/s1600/Fort+Wolters+barracks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="148" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0rDDayAyOPI/USflV4IzjHI/AAAAAAAAAkU/lUSTXrl0in8/s320/Fort+Wolters+barracks.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">WOC company area at Fort Wolters, Texas.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our WOC company was
ordered to stand in formation. The company commander told the guilty candidates
to take a step forward. The entire formation stepped forward. The formation was
dismissed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next day, the 3
candidates were called before the company commander, who restricted them to the
post for the next 3 weeks. The lesson was clear: Stick together and you’ll
probably survive. That’s how it would be in flight school; and how it would be
in combat.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I remember one day
during Preflight, a classroom instructor asked: “What do you do if the
helicopter flying formation in front of you is shot down on a combat assault?” Then
he answered his own question: “You follow the aircraft to the ground and pick
up the crew.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A student piped up,
“What if your aircraft is shot down while going down to rescue the crew?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“The helicopter
behind you lands next to you and rescues your crew,” came the response.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I always remembered
that exchange. Later, in Vietnam, I found the responses comforting. I knew if I
ever went down when another Army helicopter was nearby, the aircraft’s crew
would come to my rescue. As a result, I was more willing to fly closer to the
edge of danger, knowing I had a backup. Most Army helicopter pilots during the
Vietnam War subscribed to this ethos. I think it was a critical element in
creating pilots who would risk bullets and rockets to rescue another
helicopter’s crew, hauling ammunition to troops under enemy fire, and landing
in a hot landing zone to pick up wounded GIs.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another ground school
lesson that caught my attention was how to deal with an “illegal order” — an
order by a superior to do something illegal. We were told that if such as order
were given, our duty was to disobey it and officially report the person who
gave it. I had read about the Nuremberg trials of Nazis after World War II and
knew you could not use the excuse you were following orders to commit an
atrocity.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Candidates who
survived Preflight moved on to primary flight training their second month at
Fort Wolters. Our WOC company was divided into 2 groups. One would fly in the
morning and attend ground school in the afternoon; the other would go to ground
school in the morning and fly in the afternoon. Each week these 2 groups would
switch schedules.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Additionally, half
of our WOC company would train in Hiller OH-23 “Raven” helicopters and half
would fly Hughes TH-55 “Osage” helicopters, known as “Mattel Messerschmitts” by
their student pilots and instructors.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The OH-23 had a
rounded, plastic bubble enclosing the cockpit. The bubble and the rounded,
narrow tail boom made the Raven look like a large dragonfly. The TH-55 had a
flat, somewhat rounded nose made of plastic. Its rotor system had 3 blades.
When flying or hovering, a TH-55 would sound like a model toy. But it was fast
and economical, and would become the Army’s longest-serving trainer helicopter.
Between 1964, when the Osage became a trainer, until it was replaced by the
UH-1 “Huey” in 1988, the TH-55 trained more than 60,000 Army helicopter pilots.<sup><o:p></o:p></sup></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My group drew the
OH-23. It was sturdy, but not very responsive. A joke among pilots was you
could move a flight control, step outside and smoke a cigarette, and then climb
back into the cockpit before the control move translated into movement of the
helicopter.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UhupDSREOyk/USflWa6M8NI/AAAAAAAAAkc/mI_uWW-AgBo/s1600/Flying+through+rain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="192" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UhupDSREOyk/USflWa6M8NI/AAAAAAAAAkc/mI_uWW-AgBo/s320/Flying+through+rain.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Flying through the rain in an OH-23 helicopter.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The OH-23’s
sturdiness was tested shortly after my classmates soloed and were allowed to
fly without an instructor. One of the student pilots decided to see how high he
could fly. About the time he topped out, he decided to fly through a cloud.
Unfortunately, the cloud was part of a thunderstorm. As the Raven was buffeted
about by the storm, the cockpit canopy was ripped off the helicopter. Later, no
one could figure out why the canopy did not take out the rotor system. The
pilot landed safely in a convertible helicopter, badly shaken by the
experience.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A great temptation
of some student pilots was to fly under one of the bridges spanning the Brazos
River, which ran near Fort Wolters. It was a dangerous stunt, even by an
experienced pilot. If caught flying under a bridge, a student pilot was
immediately kicked out of flight school.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For a time I thought
I was a prime candidate to be washed out of training. My first flight
instructor was civilian and a frustrated officer in the Texas National Guard
who wanted to go on active duty as an Army aviator. He knew how to fly
helicopters, but someone at the Department of the Army apparently had picked up
on his sorry-ass attitude.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As I entered my
second week of flight training, whenever I made a flying error, his standard
comment was: “Do that again and I’ll pink your ass.” Pink referred to the pink slips
of paper an instructor would give to a student pilot for a substandard flight.
After 2 pink slips, student pilots had to fly with a standardization pilot who
could wash you out of flight training or give you a reprieve. I flew with 3
standardization pilots, each of whom told me, “There’s nothing wrong with your
flying.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It dawned to me I
had better ask for a different instructor. From the first day we started flight
training at Fort Wolters, student pilots were told they could request a new
instructor pilot if they was a personality problem with the one they had been
assigned. I finally figured the frustrated National Guard officer and I had a
personality problem I would not be able to solve with charm. The guy’s mission
was to bust me out of flight school.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My second instructor
was very different. He was a 21-year-old, chief warrant officer 2 who had
served in Vietnam with an assault helicopter company. He was a great guy and a
terrific instructor pilot. He was interested in teaching me how to survive in a
helicopter cockpit during combat and I wanted to learn all I could.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My first lesson in
helicopter flight training was learning to hover. You couldn’t taxi a
helicopter on the ramp, take off or land until you mastered hovering. The first
time I tried it, the instructor pilot set the OH-23 down on a grassy field near
the heliport.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You’ve got it,” he
told me. I centered the cyclic control with my right hand and began lifting the
collective pitch control with my left. The engine started to lose power. “Ah, I
forgot to twist the throttle for more power.” The engine noise increased
instantly and dramatically. “Not so quickly,” I thought and edged the throttle
down.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With the engine RPMs
in the green, I lifted the helicopter very slowly off the ground. Then mayhem
broke loose. When the OH-23’s skids broke free of the ground, the helicopter
started pitching and swinging wildly. I tried to counter with the cyclic, but
my adjustments were too late and too extreme.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The OH-23 began
swinging wildly from side to side like a pendulum. “I have it,” the instructor
pilot said and took over the controls. “Work on making smaller adjustments.” We
tried it again. No improvement. This was not going to be easy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After a several days
practicing how to hover, I was able to maintain enough control of the
helicopter to move it across the concrete ramp of the Fort Wolters Main
Heliport. Now I was ready to begin flight training.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The first big
milepost for the student pilots was soloing. You would fly to one of the stagefields
scattered around Mineral Wells and practice shooting approaches to the runway.
The IP would climb out of the aircraft and tell you, “OK, let’s see how you do
by yourself.” It was your turn to solo — fly alone.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
You were on center
stage and knew all eyes were on you. Using your best flight technique, you
hovered to the runway and took off. At 300 feet, you turned the helicopter onto
the downwind leg, and then you were flying the crosswind leg, ready to turn
onto final approach. When you reached the final approach leg, you began
descending toward the near end of the runway.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Careful to hold your
approach angle and not fly faster than the apparent speed of man walking, you
began your descent. After touchdown, you repeated the flight and the landing 2
more times. You had just soloed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I attended
flight training at Fort Wolters, the reward for soloing was getting tossed into
a rainwater-filled, roadside ditch on the trip back to the WOC barracks. In later
classes, soloing pilots were thrown into the swimming pool of the Holiday Inn in
Mineral Wells.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That was the first
solo we had to make to remain in flight training. The second one was to solo in
autorotations. This meant flying the same traffic pattern as we had during our
first solo flights, but on the final approach twisting the helicopter’s
throttle to flight idle so the engine was no longer powering the rotor blades. An
autorotation is how you land a helicopter if it has engine failure.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I remember the day I
soloed in autorotations. The IP rode with me while I shot several to the
stagefield runway. He then got out of the cockpit, leaned over and told me: “You
better improve your autorotations if you want to live. Now try them alone.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I soloed and I
lived, as the instructor knew I would.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
The Army later dropped
the requirement that students perform solo autorotations. Perhaps my instructor
was on to something.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment--></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-align: center; text-autospace: none;">
*****<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After 4 months of flight
training, we graduated from the Primary Helicopter Training Center at Fort
Wolters and were sent to the Army Aviation School at Fort Rucker, Alabama.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The final 4 months
of flight school were divided into a month of basic instrument flying, followed
by a month of advanced instruments, then a month devoted to transitioning into
the UH-1 “Huey,” and one of tactical training.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-92AsgQJb1-Y/USflWXdlRYI/AAAAAAAAAkk/LTRqU_KFmKM/s1600/Fort+Rucker+barracks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-92AsgQJb1-Y/USflWXdlRYI/AAAAAAAAAkk/LTRqU_KFmKM/s320/Fort+Rucker+barracks.jpg" width="294" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: Helvetica Neue, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">WOC barracks at Fort Rucker, Alabama.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Instrument training
was where we lost many classmates. Some of them did well in contact flying.
They could see the ground and see where they were flying. When it came to
flying under a hood, where you could only see your instruments, they had
problems. Many of them had grown up wanting to fly, so it was very
disappointing for them when they washed out.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Steve Torpey, one of
my roommates, was one of the student pilots who washed out during instrument
training at Fort Rucker. As a contact pilot, he had done very well. I had
envied his flying ability while trying to survive my first instructor during
primary training at Fort Wolters. One afternoon, I returned to my room in the
WOC barracks and Steve was not there.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A year later he
would show up in Bien Hoa, South Vietnam, and fly aboard my helicopter as crew
chief.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The high point for
all the student pilots at Fort Rucker was transitioning into the Huey. It was
emblematic of the Vietnam War. The Huey had a turbine engine, so power was
controlled by a fuel governor, unlike our training helicopters, where the throttle
control was at the end of the collective pitch lever.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When Huey transition
began, an instructor flew with each student pilot. When it was time to solo,
the instructor would put sandbags in the other seat to approximate the weight
of another pilot.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The most difficult
part of flying the Huey was starting the turbine engine. You followed a rigid
startup procedure designed to avoid a hot start that could destroy the engine.
Following this procedure could take 10-15 minutes to bring the engine to life
and get the main rotor blades turning for flight.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
More than 40 years
later I can still remember how to fly a Huey. But I cannot remember how to
start the engine without a checklist.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After transitioning
into the Huey, we spent our final month learning helicopter combat tactics,
sprinkled with courses on escape and evasion, and how to live off the land. One
afternoon we were taught how to barbecue a snake and other skills I hoped I’d
never have to use. Two things worried me about barbecuing snakes: Catching them
and killing them. I knew I wouldn’t be good at either.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The student pilots
also had to complete escape-and-evasion training. One rainy night, we were bused
into the woods around Fort Rucker. Groups of 3 were dropped off at intervals.
On the way out the door, I was given a burlap bag of onions and potatoes. The
candidate behind me was handed a live chicken. The third member of our trio had
been a chef in an upstate New York hotel, so we were able to eat that night. I
understand some of the other students turned their chickens loose.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That night we slipped
inside the back of a Huey on an airfield ramp and got out of the rain. At dawn,
we made it to our destination and completed the course<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We also received
instruction in contour flying, cruising just a few feet above the ground, and
formation flying. To my surprise, I enjoyed formation flying. That was good
because in Vietnam we did a lot of it while transporting soldiers to landing
zones, taking them to the ground in a combat assault, many times under fire,
and then departing in formation.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The flight school washout
threat seemed to diminish in our final month. It made sense. By now the Army
had a lot invested in us. Flying errors that would have merited a pink slip a
few weeks earlier were ignored during our last month. I remember shooting a
night approach during a tactical exercise, thinking I was still around 150 feet
from the ground and descending while flying about 60 knots. The instructor
pilot snatched the controls, pulled up the nose and kept us from crashing into
the ground. “Everyone gets vertigo,” he said. Though I was certain I had
flunked the flight, I received high marks. I was always careful after that when
flying at night. It was a lesson that probably kept me alive on several
occasions.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During the final
weeks of flight school, we started receiving orders to report to our first
aviation assignments. Most of us had orders to go directly to South Vietnam;
mine assigned me to the 1st Air Cavalry Division. We were so pumped up about heading
off to war we felt sorry for classmates who had orders assigning them elsewhere.
They would join the war later, after transitioning into other helicopters such
as the Chinook or helping form an aviation unit Stateside for deployment to South
Vietnam.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Several months
before graduation, custom-uniform tailors descended on our WOC company, making
appointments with candidates nearing graduation. Once we were commissioned, we
would receive a uniform allowance. The uniform companies wanted their share, so
their representatives came down for big-time sales, measuring tape in hand.
Most of us ordered a green, class A uniform and a set of dress blues. I ordered
1 of each, which turned out to be a mistake. I wore the greens 3 times and the
blues twice — to the graduation party and then to my wedding a year later,
after completing my tour in Vietnam. Most of the time I wore fatigues or flight
suits.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On graduation day,
we reported to one of the theaters at Fort Rucker. There we raised our right
hand and swore allegiance to the Constitution of the United States. After
officially becoming warrant officers, we were presented diplomas and our
aviator wings. With 230 hours of flight time, we were ready to fly helicopters
in combat.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My parents were
living in Wiesbaden, West Germany, so the next day I was on the road to South
Dakota. While at Fort Wolters, I had met a young woman traveling as a shopper
for the J.C. Penney Company. Reneé Edwards attended my flight school graduation
and party.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
I stayed with the
Edwards family in Sioux Falls until the day before I was scheduled to fly to
Vietnam. I caught a flight to San Francisco, spent the night, and caught a taxi
to Travis Air Force Base to board a flight to South Vietnam.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment--></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Jack Swickardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01798645835702357340noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1169325698888360644.post-88491880699296197002013-02-17T14:52:00.004-07:002018-03-21T15:22:12.870-06:00The Forgotten Mission — Chapter 28<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
CLARK FIELD,
Philippines Islands — In the late 1940s and early 1950s, life was good for a
U.S. military officer stationed in Southeast Asia. The dollar was more valuable
in Far East countries recently under the heel of the Japanese military boot
than it was back in the States.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KDu5UFMCRp4/USFOcRptdnI/AAAAAAAAAiU/JRhNqdqBJRw/s1600/Brothers+at+Clark.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="249" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-KDu5UFMCRp4/USFOcRptdnI/AAAAAAAAAiU/JRhNqdqBJRw/s320/Brothers+at+Clark.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">My brothers Jules (on left bike), Jeff (standing,<br />center) and me at Clark Field in 1950. The boy on<br />left is unknown. Jules and I were 7 years old.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Rosie, 18, our housemaid and adopted big sister,
had a bedroom and bath in the house. She spent much of her time with my twin brother Jules, my younger brother Jeff and me.
She would read to us from Filipino comic books.<br />
<br />
We loved Rosie, who was our constant companion. When we ran through the house, Rosie would accuse us of running around like goats. At age 6 we weren't sure what she meant; we had never seen a goat.<br />
<br />
My mother adopted Rosie into the family. She became a lifelong friend.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Our house had a
large, L-shaped porch enclosed by screening. It was where Jules and I played
when there were typhoon warnings. When typhoons approached, we would stay on
the porch until the rain came down so hard it forced us to go inside the house.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The floor of the
porch was covered with a shiny, red wax that had to be buffed regularly. Rosie
was in charge. She would cut a coconut in half, and then tie each half of the
husk to her feet with the fibers pointing down. Rosie then would skate back and
forth until the floor shined like a mirror.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UjDSgt9QpGc/USFOe6JYu0I/AAAAAAAAAic/tDbQVovql94/s1600/Houses+at+Baguio.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="237" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UjDSgt9QpGc/USFOe6JYu0I/AAAAAAAAAic/tDbQVovql94/s320/Houses+at+Baguio.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Our family vacation bungalow in Baguio.</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
My father, a major who was making the transition from the Army Air Force to the newly created U.S.
Air Force, flew as a navigator throughout Asia from Clark Field. The
furnishings in our home reflected the purchases he made on these trips. We had
rattan furniture in the living room and bedrooms; tables came from Japan and
India, vases and platters from Korea and China, and carvings from Bali and the
Philippines.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My father ran the
motor pool at Clark Field, so he had access to any vehicle he chose to drive
home. I particularly was fond of a troop carrier that would seat 16 people.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My first girlfriend
was a Filipina who attended second grade with me at the Clark Field American
Dependent Elementary School. She was the daughter of a cinnamon plantation
owner. Each morning, she brought me a platter-size piece of cinnamon bark,
which I would gnaw on in class. By lunchtime, I had eaten it all.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After living in the
Philippines for 2 years, we returned to the United States, settling at
Barksdale Air Force Base at Shreveport, Louisiana.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In 1954, we moved to
England when my father was stationed at South Ruislip outside of London. Our
first home was in a large mansion in Stanmore. My parents and our 2 younger
brothers had a suite with a private bath.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jules and I had our
own room on the very top floor. One other person, a retired British Army
colonel in his mid-80s, lived on the top floor. Jules and I got to know the
colonel, who would invite us into his room for tea and stories about his military
service in India and World War I.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was the old colonel
who introduced us to the exploits of Flying Officer Jerry Biggles of the Royal
Flying Corps. Jules still has the copy of the Biggles Omnibus given to us as a
gift.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The large house at
Stanmore had some interesting residents, mostly retired senior Army and Royal
Air Force officers. All sat ramrod straight, had thin mustaches, and brooked no
insolence from young boys.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During breakfast,
one of them would eat his cornflakes with a fork. I made the mistake of staring,
until he responded with a withering stare of his own.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another had a
precise time each morning when he shaved; if you were in the WC at that time,
he would bang loudly on the door until you left. One morning, my 6-year-old
brother Jeff put a small, stickleback fish in the bathroom sink while he
cleaned the jar being used as an aquarium. The colonel marched into the room,
right on time, looked into the sink, and pulled the plug. The fish disappeared
down the drain and the retired officer shooed us from the bathroom.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was at the
Stanmore house, with rolling lawn, hedges and gardens that we were introduced
to English gooseberries the size of golf balls. To this day, gooseberry pie is
my favorite dessert.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After several months
at Stanmore, we moved to a 2-story home in North Wembley, a bit closer to
downtown London.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
With the London
Underground — or Tube — and double-decker buses, we could roam freely
throughout the city and suburbs. A world of castles, museums and theaters opened
to us just as we became teen-agers. Traveling on public transportation was easy
and safe, though we were wary of Teddy Boys, older teens in Edwardian-style
jackets.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hFbbLjzP4nI/USFOyzc8UuI/AAAAAAAAAi0/okV8IA6AnlQ/s1600/Parents+in+mess+dress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hFbbLjzP4nI/USFOyzc8UuI/AAAAAAAAAi0/okV8IA6AnlQ/s320/Parents+in+mess+dress.jpg" width="291" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Our parents, Marge and Jack Swickard,<br />in London during the mid-1950s.</b></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Great Britain
recently had emerged from World War II. The economy was still recovering from 6
years of fighting. As a result, the U.S. dollar went far in the UK.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As in the
Philippines years earlier, my mother hired a maid to help with the housework.
Betty had worked in royal service before marrying and would enthrall us with
her stories. When the J. Arthur Rank film company would host a party in London,
Betty was always hired to help serve the food. The next day, she would give us
a rundown on what happened.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I remember one day she
was particularly angered by a famous film actress who had dusted ashes from her
cigarette into a gravy tureen Betty was carrying to a table.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After living in London 4 years, our family moved to the
Midwest, where my father was assigned to the Air Force Reserve Officer Training
Corps at Ohio State University in Columbus. We lived in Worthington, just north
of Columbus, until Jules and I graduated from high school 3 years later.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I studied at Ohio State University for a year, and then
transferred to the Indiana University campus in Indianapolis. I worked various
part-time jobs while attending the university, but none clicked until I took a position
as clerk at <i>The Indianapolis Times</i>. I
threw myself into the work, volunteering to write articles for the
entertainment editor and the real estate section.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Within a year, I was writing obituaries for <i>The Times</i>. It was the first step in
reporting. Six months later a position opened for a reporter on the police
beat. I filled it with gusto, spending most of my waking hours chasing stories
and writing articles on deadline. It was hard for me to believe I could have so
much fun working.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Life changed in August 1966 when the Scripps Howard
newspaper chain announced it was closing <i>The
Times</i>. Though the newspaper had a circulation of 97,000, the parent company
concluded it would be less costly to fold the newspaper than to invest in new
equipment.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I moved to New Mexico and went to work for another Scripps
Howard newspaper, <i>The Albuquerque Tribune</i>.
By the time I began work in October 1966, I had lost my student deferment and
the draft board was nipping at my heels.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NnVqEdew5vQ/USFOqRH3CXI/AAAAAAAAAis/TInC833GXko/s1600/Twin+brother%252C+Jack.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="229" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NnVqEdew5vQ/USFOqRH3CXI/AAAAAAAAAis/TInC833GXko/s320/Twin+brother%252C+Jack.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: small;">My twin brother Jules (left) and me.</span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
I didn’t want to be drafted and my withdrawal from college
meant I was not going to earn a military officer’s commission through ROTC, as
I had planned. One morning, while making my reporting rounds in downtown
Albuquerque, I passed the Army recruiting office. In the window was a sign promoting
helicopter flight training. I went inside and inquired.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After a day of testing and a physical examination, I was
sworn in as a recruit. The Army was eager to enlist student helicopter pilots,
so I knew I would be heading for flight school after I completed basic
training.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Standing beside me
while I was sworn-in was James “Jim” Mason, an Albuquerque civilian pilot. Jim
would go through basic training and flight school with me, then would be
assigned to a base not far from mine in South Vietnam. During the next 45
years, we would remain in touch, off and on.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Now I belonged to
the U.S. Army, I didn’t have to worry about meals or a place to stay. Jim and I
were told to report to the recruiting station the following morning for
breakfast and a bus ride to Fort Polk, Louisiana.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When the bus turned
into the basic training Reception Area, we learned what was in store for us. A
corporal was on board as soon as the bus braked to a halt. “Fall out and stand
at attention beside the bus, NOW!” he shouted.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Standing in a
meandering row somewhat at attention, the enlistees were certain to draw the
wrath of a drill sergeant. It didn’t take long. A staff sergeant in a Smokey
Bear hat strutted out of a single-story, wooden building, stopped momentarily
to take in the sloppy formation, and then laid into us.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“You girls must be
from California!” he shouted. “Are you from California, Soldier?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The private he was
addressing, quietly replied, “No, Sir.” It was not a good way to start and brought
an instant: “I can’t hear you!”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“NO, SIR!” the
private yelled back loudly. He obviously had seen movies about the military.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Don’t call me,
‘Sir!’ You address officers as ‘Sir.’ I’m a sergeant; you address me as ‘Drill
Sergeant!’ Is that clear?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“YES, SIR!” shouted
the recruit.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Drop and give me
10,” the drill sergeant replied. “NOW!” The recruit obliged with 10 pushups.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The rest of the day
we scurried through the Reception Area, picking up a piece of uniform, then a
hat, shoes, a belt and buckle, which we stuffed in a duffel bag. Then we went
back through the same buildings and picked up GI underwear, khaki pants, and a
fatigue cap.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We were shown to the
barracks where we would live for several more days, until we were assigned to
our basic training companies.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After a quick
dinner, it was time to buff the floor with red wax. It was called a GI Party.
Around midnight, the party ended and we could catch some sleep. Ironically, our
party was held on New Year’s Eve.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The holiday weekend
did not end until January 3, 1966. It was a relief when Monday arrived. We finished
gathering the remainder of our uniforms and were told we would be bused to our
basic training companies.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
About half the
members of my basic training company was on orders for the Primary Helicopter
Training Center at Fort Wolters, Texas. Jim Mason, who had enlisted with me in
Albuquerque, became the student commander of our basic training company; I was
one of the student platoon leaders.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A high point of
basic training occurred when an OH-23 “Raven” observation helicopter landed near
one of our training areas. Several of us were told to report to the warrant
officer pilot for an orientation ride. One by one, we were strapped into the
right seat of the 2-seat helicopter, under a bubble canopy. It was my first
ride in a helicopter and I had a sensation of floating through the air.
Thinking back about that first ride, I didn’t remember hearing the noise of the engine and transmission.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In March 1966, I
graduated from basic training and was granted two weeks’ leave before reporting
to Fort Wolters for flight school.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After our leave was
over, Jim and I boarded a Greyhound bus in Albuquerque. Rain started pouring as
our bus rolled through the Texas Hill Country on its way to Mineral Wells, the civilian
community adjacent to Fort Wolters.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jim and I had
scheduled our arrival for Saturday night so we could relax before signing in at
Fort Wolters on Sunday.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Fort Wolters would
be our home for the next 5 months, if we did not wash out. The program was set
up to eliminate student pilots for failures in the cockpit or in the classroom,
busting a flight physical, failing an eye or hearing examination, not showing
military leadership ability, being a lone wolf, or just being weird. We had
heard 40 percent of warrant officer candidates, referred to as WOCs, would not
graduate from flight school.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On our arrival at
the Mineral Wells bus station, Jim and I sat on the bus, waiting for the rain
to abate. It didn’t. The driver had a schedule to keep, so he got off the bus
in the rain and opened the luggage compartment.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Jim and I took the
cue and ran outside to claim our duffel bags, which the driver had pulled to
the ground. There was no place to shelter from the rain, so Jim and I carried
our duffel bags through downtown Mineral Wells toward a neon sign that said: “Crazy
Water Hotel.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We were drenched
when we entered the hotel. I noticed the desk clerk gave us an odd look when we
asked for a room. Because we were only drawing $97.50 monthly pay, Jim and I
decided to share the room.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The next morning, we
headed for breakfast. It was Sunday and we had until mid-afternoon to sign in
at Fort Wolters. Leaving our room, a nurse walked past, pushing an older man in
a wheelchair. In the dining room, it was clear Jim and I were the only diners
below the age of 70.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Later that day, when
we checked out of the hotel, we learned we had spent the night in a nursing
home. Apparently the desk clerk had felt sorry for us when arrived wet, so he
let us check in for the night.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We discovered there
was not much to do in Mineral Wells on a Sunday, so Jim and I decided to sign
in early at Fort Wolters. A taxi took us to the WOC company named in our
orders. “Good luck, fellows,” the driver said when we paid him.<o:p></o:p></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Jack Swickardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01798645835702357340noreply@blogger.com0