Year 1971
Major Walter Moore was the CO as the year began and was replaced by Major Ronald Brooks in March, followed by Major Ronald Grooms in September.
In January 1971 US ground troops saw their last action in the Delta when D Troop, 7/1 Air Cav, supporting the ARVN 9th Infantry Division, was inserted to relieve a US Special Forces camp under attack on Ta Bec mountain (one of an air cav squadron's 4 troops is an infantry troop of some 200 men).
Around 2 am on New Years Day, someone at 13th CAB decided a convoy due in from Saigon was late (at 2 am, it sure was!!) and asked the 162nd to send a slick up to look for the convoy. The pilots, and everyone else, had been celebrating the holiday with a few rounds of drinks as was their (daily) habit and had just went to bed. Fortunately for the crew, the ship never made it out of the revetment. The tail boom ended up on top of the revetment with the aircraft resting at an odd angle.
However, another ship was then launched. Cpt Phil Dolberg, being the "least drunk" of the bunch was sent out to search for the convoy. He recalls that "if I hadn't had a few glasses of liquid courage, I would have never gone out at night and flew at tree top level down the road with my landing light on searching for the convoy." He didn't find it.
On the afternoon of January 2nd one of the Cav units got into trouble and had a couple of ships shot down in an LZ. The Vultures were called on to insert troops into the LZ and rescue the downed crews. A flight of 4 Vulture ships made 3-4 insertions at night under very heavy fire. The lead ship kept his navigation lights on steady bright (while the others in the flight went to black-out) and shot his approach to a strobe light on the ground in a tight LZ. It was a dark night with no moon and a harrowing experience for those involved. All of the AC's were awarded DFC's.
Beginning in early 1971, the 162nd picked up the mission of supporting the US Embassy in Cambodia. Several times a week, and sometimes daily, two slicks were sent to Phnom Penh for the day to fly the embassy staff to various locations within a couple of hours of the capital. These were fun, but exhausting, missions and sometimes a little scary. For some reason the embassy insisted that the army markings on the helicopters be covered with tape, which made a rather silly looking sight.
Crews on the Cambodian missions were forbidden to spend the night in Cambodia, except in case of emergency. The ships had to be available by 6-7 am. This required that the crews wake up around 3 am so as to take off by 4:30 am and fly in the dark to Phnom Penh to arrive by 6 am. Often they flew all day and didn't get back to the roost in Can Tho until 9-10 pm. A long day-especially if you had the same mission the next day!
Early one morning in the first few months of 1971 CW2 Bill DeGoey and WO Ray Buchter left Can Tho only to have an engine failure shortly after take off. For some reason they couldn't maintain rotor RPM in autorotation and fell through when their rotor RPM became too low to sustain even an autorotative descent. They were flying a Charlie model "borrowed" from the 191st and the crewchief and gunner were both from the 191st. They hit the ground like the proverbial ton of stuff and the aircraft was demolished. They hit so hard that WO Buchter's seat was broken - the tubular metal that the canvas webbing was stretched over was broken into two pieces. WO DeGoey was evacuated with a spinal compression injury from which he later recovered. The crew chief and gunner were both injured but not seriously. This was a mini-gun ship and they received leg injuries when the ammo cans beneath the rear seat (with all 6000 rounds of 7.62mm rounds in it!) broke loose and went flying forward when they hit the ground. Later that day, WO Buchter was released from the hospital. WO Peter Lautzenheiser remembers him staggering around the second story balcony near the Copperhead lounge shouting something along the lines of "Boy! We really f----d up that aircraft!" He was drunker that a skunk and feeling no pain. The reality was that he'd had a fairly close brush and was mighty glad to have escaped without serious injury.
The 162nd had a great recovery team during the 1971 period. Led by SP6 Tim Lawrence, the Hangar Rat Recovery Team had the procedure down pat. They could land in a PZ and rig a ship for sling-loading out by Chinook in less than 2 minutes. Unfortunately, the Chinooks often had a nasty habit of dropping the ships. The 162nd lost several this way.
Cpt Steve Garber, Operations Officer, recalls an incident early in the year when he was on a GCA (ground controlled radar approach) into Can Tho airfield. The smoke and haze from rice farmers burning their fields was so thick it was impossible to see the ground. He was vectored in by the radar operator but on final approach the operator suddenly said something to the effect, "Sorry, but I've lost you. Please take over and land visually." That's a hell of a thing to hear on an IFR approach! Luckily as he got closer he was able to make out the runway.
WO Allan Cease remembers one of his first flights in country in early 71. The mission was to go to an ARVN outpost on an island in a river north of Can Tho and transport a load of marijuana to an LST anchored not far away. It seems the Vietnamese had been growing it right next to their outpost. It was spotted one day by the Delta Regional Advisory Command (DRAC) staff as they flew over it.
A few nights later, WO Cease and WO John Young, the AC, were scrambled for a C&C mission to the same outpost where they directed Cobras in beating off a VC attack. (Perhaps the VC were mad about losing their share of the marijuana crop!) When the Cobras left to rearm and refuel, WO Young dropped down to 200 feet and his gunner got a couple of kills as some VC tried to leave the island by sampan. This was pretty frightening stuff for someone like WO Cease who had just arrived in country.
During the 70-71 period, the Vultures and Copperheads spent a great deal of time supporting the 9th ARVN Division. The 191st (Boomerangs), the only other AHC and sister unit at Can Tho also supported this unit as well as other units but often could not field enough ships for scheduled combat assaults. As a result, the 162nd ended up flying most of the CA's. Obviously, this did not foster a friendly spirit of cooperation between the two units.
On March 1st the 162nd received word that 2 aircraft commanders with more than 90 days left in country should immediately be sent up to the 101st Airborne Division in I Corps to take part in Lam Son 719. Apparently the 101st was running out of AC's and needed replacements fast. An AC draft went out to a number of units and each was directed to contribute 2 AC's. That night the CO, Major Moore, called all the pilots together in the room used as a bar in the lower level of the pilots quarters building. He put the name of every one eligible in a hat and drew 2 names out. WO Charles Thomas and WO "Tuna" Williams were the lucky winners. They left the next day and were assigned to C Company, 101st Aviation Battalion where they took part in the push into Laos. They had a "hot" time in Laos!
No one who was there can forget the tragic mid-air collision on March 17th just off the end of the runway not far from the 162nd area. An Air America Porter was landing and was hit by a Cobra from C/16th Cav that had been doing autorotations. Everyone on both ships were killed.
On March 22nd the 162nd was called on to help out in a bad situation. C Troop, 16th Cav had a Cobra shot down in an area near the U Minh Forest where they drew heavy enemy fire. The Cobra was hit by 51 caliber fire and autorotated safely but the two pilots were killed before they could exit the ship. The Vultures were called on to bring in troops. Cpt Durwood Gooden and CW2 Paul Anderson led a 5 ship flight into the LZ over known enemy positions (at the insistence of the 13th CAB Commander). They took a round in the fuel cell, the ship caught fire and blew the tail boom off at 200 feet AGL on short final. The aircraft then spun out of control into a flooded rice paddy. Three of the crewmembers survived but the gunner, SP4 Dennis M. Hotaling, and some of the troops on board did not. The pilot and CE were seriously injured but Cpt Gooden less so, and he returned to the 162nd after recovering.
A second ship in the CA with Cpt Gooden was also shot up on short final, caught fire and crashed into the LZ. The AC, Lt Kenneth Barnard, and his crew survived the crash and managed to escape the burning ship but several troops on board were killed in the crash. The crews of both downed ships were picked up WO John Young who took a tremendous amount of fire while hovering around the LZ to retrieve the crews. WO Young was awarded the Silver Star for his actions in this incident. (Some think the Battalion Commander, not WO Young, was the one who picked up the 2 crews and received the Silver Star. Can anyone confirm???).
Many remember either the Battalion Commander, LTC Ruby Whitehead, or the 164th Group Commander (Delta 6) joined them for the second and third lifts into the LZ with his VIP ship that had fancy yellow leather (or plastic) seats and steps.
In April, the 162nd and 191st carried out a number of large CA's with 3-4 regiments of ARVN troops in and around the U-Minh Forest area in the far south of the Delta to counter NVA forces infiltrating from Cambodia. This all Vietnamese action (other than US aviation support) involved very heavy fighting, lasted several months and virtually destroyed the 359th NVA Regiment. The ARVN units inflicted hundreds, if not thousands, of casualties and successfully blocked the NVA units from establishing major base camps in the U-Minh.
Several people recall a slick door gunner who came over from the infantry after already spending a couple of tours in country. Shortly after he arrived his ship spotted some VC in a free fire area. The gunner opened fire and killed two of the VC and then demanded that the pilot land so he could cut off their ears. Everyone thought the guy was a nut case and he didn't last long in the company. It was rumored he was given a "Section 8" discharge. Unfortunately, anyone who spent a couple of years in the infantry probably wasn't very "normal" after that experience.
According to Cpt Bill Howell there was a man in the company in late 70-early 71 with an uncanny ability. "We had a guy who could give us warning for incoming fire as soon as it left the tube no matter how much noise was around him. One night we were in one of the tents (before we had barracks) listening to Sly & The Family Stone and he was lying on one of the bunks. All of a sudden he sat up, yelling 'incoming'. Approximately 10 seconds later the rocket hit the airfield. I don't know what kind of sixth sense he had but he knew every time before the round hit the ground."
Toward mid-year the 162nd was host to two experimental gunships with the acronym of INFANTS for "Infrared Night Fighter ANd Tracker System". Each of the two M model gunships had a normal "slaughter ship" configuration-miniguns and 14 rockets. However, infrared searchlights were mounted on the minguns and a camera was in a ball turret on the nose. A TV screen was mounted on the console between the pilots. The INFANTS had originally been formed in late 1970 as part of the Bounty Hunter gun platoon of the 191st AHC (and the Copperheads had occasionally worked with them) but as the 191st was slated for stand down in September they were attached to the 162nd.
The Vultures supported the INFANTS and provided a C&C ship to navigate for and direct the INFANT team on nightly patrols of the canals south and east of Can Tho down to the U-Minh Forest. The INFANTS flew low along the canals and engaged targets without displaying any visible light, even on the darkest night (there were 3 small blue lights on top of each INFANT ship to enable the C&C ship to see them and navigate for them). For the six months or so it was attached to the 162nd the INFANT fire team was very effective and destroyed hundreds of sampans, and probably got a similar number of KIAs. The psychological impact of two gunships accurately identifying and engaging targets in complete darkness must have been terrifying to the VC/NVA. However, the INFANT ships required a great deal of maintenance support and were withdrawn in late 1971.
In 1971-72 the Vultures routinely had 2 or 3 slicks on night missions. In addition to the INFANT C&C, another aircraft (the Firefly ship) with an infrared/white light search light (actually an M-48 tank search light) and a 50 cal door gun flew perimeter security around Can Tho and patrolled canals to the south and east. A third ship, the Nighthawk, equipped with a 50 cal door gun on one side and a hand controlled minigun on the other, often worked with the Firefly ship in patrolling canals. At times, the Nighthawk ship also mounted a hand controlled belt-fed 40 mm grenade launcher and had 4 gunners on board-sort of a mini version of Puff the Magic Dragon. When large targets were located, either by the INFANTs or the infrared search light of the Firefly, Navy or Marine fighter bombers were called in. The Marines also ran a night mission over the Delta with an aircraft that could detect people on the ground, even inside bunkers, through heat differential. The Marine and Navy aircraft coordinated closely with the Vultures on these night missions.
Once a significant target was found, the infrared search light of the Firefly was trained on it and the fighter bombers called in. When the strike aircraft were in position the search light was switched to white (visible) light with a narrow, focused beam to guide the bombers to the target. With the INFANTs, Firefly, and the Marine aircraft with the heat differential equipment all working together, there was no escape for the VC/NVA-they had no way to hide!
Many pilots and crews enjoyed the night missions, especially patrolling the canals for VC traffic, and tended to specialize in them. As Cpt Stan Gause recalls, his first 400 hours of flight time with the Vultures was almost entirely at night. Also in the Navy, Air Force and Marine crews, the same people tended to fly the night missions and the Vultures were pretty much on a first name basis with them. At times the night missions involved only one or two ships and it was a lonely feeling to be over the vast expanse of the Delta all by yourself with no one to help if you went down.
However, at other times the night skies over the Delta seemed downright crowded as Navy, Marine, and Air Force fighters as well as Army Cobras and C models stacked up overhead awaiting their turn to unload on a target. Sometimes it was a real party when you came upon a good target-that's what made it a fun job! The Vultures were instrumental in taking the cover of darkness away from the VC and denying them unhindered access to the canals of the lower Delta during this period.
The Firefly mission was often something of a fun job and the crew sometimes got a kick out of scaring the devil out of anyone spotted on the ground-enemy or friendly. The CE would locate someone with his searchlight in infrared mode, narrow the beam to a very intense beam of roughly 3 feet diameter, and then switch over to white light. Of course, this blinding flash of intense light would terrify the unsuspecting target and often produced an interesting reaction.
One day in the summer, Cpt Garber and Cpt James Elliot, gun platoon leader, were running a CA near Rach Gia with 5 slick and 4 guns. They were suddenly pulled off the mission and diverted to Chi Lang on the Cambodian border just south of the Mekong (near the Seven Sisters area). The Special Forces had established a camp there to train Cambodian army troops.
The Vultures and Copperheads supported the Special Forces camp on a "training" mission that ran into an NVA regiment. Over a 2 day period there were 50 Cambodian, 20 ARVN and nine US Special Forces troops killed in the engagement. Cpt Garber recalls being awake for more than 48 hours and then sleeping for 24 hours straight on returning to Can Tho. At one point he was on a night mission when he turned the ship over to his copilot, just as tired and dazed as himself, who did not take over the controls. Both pilots sat there thinking the other one was flying when in fact no one was. The ship began a slow descending turn as the cyclic tipped over. They both then realized that no one was flying the aircraft and grabbed the cyclic.
Also around mid-71, the Vultures and Copperheads were on a 12 ship ARVN CA several miles south east of Dong Hung when the NVA opened up on them as they landed. The lead ship landed on top of a concrete bunker and the others landed in a V formation behind it. SP4 Jack Tibbets, gunner in the lead ship, killed two NVA that came out of the bunker and dragged a wounded ARVN back on board before his ship took off. No one on board was wounded but the AC's helmet mike cord was severed by bullet. The flight went back to the staging area and SP4 Tibbets counted 38 holes in his ship. They prepared to lift more ARVNs into the LZ but the first group had encountered heavy fire and withdrew to more defensible positions.
Around this same time a rather bizarre incident occurred. WO Andy Gagnon and gunner SP4 Jack Tibbets were preparing to take off on a firefly mission one night when a Major who had some staff job at Can Tho showed up on the flight line and took the copilot's place-probably to get his hours in for flight pay that month. They were later called out to an ARVN outpost to provide illumination and assist in repelling VC coming through the perimeter wire. This was during the monsoon season and there were low clouds and poor visibility. At one point the Major took over the controls and almost immediately began a slow roll to the right. When he reached a 45 degree bank, WO Gagnon realized something was wrong and tried to take back control of the ship but the Major would not turn lose of the cyclic. As WO Gagnon struggled for control, SP4 Tibbets hit the Major over the head with an M-60 buffer rod in an attempt to make him turn the controls loose. In fact, he hit him so hard that his helmet cracked in half and he was knocked out.
WO Gagnon then regained control of the ship and flew back to Can Tho, radioing for an ambulance (since the Major was unconscious). They picked up a copilot and continued on with the mission until daylight. On their return to Can Tho the next morning the crew was called in and interviewed individually by Major Brooks, the CO. When SP4 Tibbets went in to tell his side of the story to the CO, Major Brooks already had a good understanding of the situation and told him "it would have been much simpler and a lot less paperwork if you had just killed the SOB."
When the US ground troops left the Delta in 1970 most of the medivac (Dustoff) aircraft were also withdrawn. This, coupled with the fact that ARVN units didn't seem to have any air medical evacuation support, meant the 162nd and other assault helicopter units often performed medivac missions for both US and ARVN troops. Medivac missions were unique in that they gave the crews an incredibly strong sense of pride, satisfaction, sadness and futility, all at the same time. Cpt Gause recalls:
"It's hard to describe the feeling of achievement and pride in knowing that we actually saved another human's life for once instead of trying to kill him. Yet seeing men barely alive with their limbs and bodies blown to shreds was incredibly saddening, leaving you depressed and with a sense of helplessness. Some of the ARVN troops we picked up had 2, 3 or even all 4 limbs missing or badly mangled but they still clung to life with an Asian stoicism and resignation. I never saw a Vietnamese trooper cry, or even show any strong emotion, only that haunting look of sadness in their eyes."
During 1971 the Vulture mess hall went from one extreme to the other-from extremely poor to exceptional, all within a few months. Early in the year, the mess sergeant was court-martialed for skimming off the company rations. Its seems he had been in-country a long time, 4 or 5 years, and had a restaurant downtown, complete with a Vietnamese wife, or whatever. One day, one of the unit police at the main gate stopped the deuce and a half that picked up and returned the civilian KPs employed in the mess hall. He stopped the truck because he thought something was leaking from it. However, subsequent investigation revealed a false bottom in the bed of the truck and a compartment full of Vulture rations. The mess sgt was very fortunate the MPs whisked him away-he wouldn't have lasted long if he'd been sent back to the roost!
After this episode a new mess sergeant (SFC___?___) and mess officer (Cpt Ronald Cabral) were brought in and they did a magnificent job. Everyone in the 162nd at the time fondly remembers the Vulture mess hall and the food served in the later half of 1971. The mess hall went through several contests and inspections and was actually awarded a plaque by USARV as the "Best Mess Hall in Vietnam". Those steaks and lobsters served every Friday evening locked up the award.
Since most men in the company went to the Can Tho Officers, NCO or EM clubs they normally didn't use their liquor ration. Cpt Cabral collected ration cards each week and bought alcohol which he took down to the Navy base at Rach Gia to trade for local lobsters. Then he went to a nearby SeaBee base and traded more whisky for steaks. Not only was the food incredible but the mess hall staff really got into the swing of things and took great pride in their work-just like in a fancy restaurant. Tables were set with linen table cloths, silverware and flowers. Colorful curtains, "mood" lighting and wall decorations were added and music played during mealtime. It was the only 5 Star mess hall in Vietnam, maybe even the entire US Army. High ranking officers came down from Saigon just to eat in the Vulture mess hall.
Later in the year the Vultures were on a CA south of Vinh Long. When the slicks landed one of the gunners, SP5__?___ Barnhart, jumped out to assist a wounded ARVN. Somehow his ship took off without him and he was reported missing. SP5 Barnhart was found a couple of days later in a cat house in downtown Can Tho. Although it is not clear what he did when he was left in the LZ, it must have been something big since he was later awarded a Silver Star for his actions that day. (DOES ANYONE HAVE MORE INFORMATION ON THIS INCIDENT??)
In December, the Vultures and Copperheads were on a CA that had a novel twist-literally. Lt. Edwin Clapp was leading a CA down south into what was expected to be a hot LZ. On long final he spotted a tornado a couple of miles away coming directly toward the LZ. He broke radio silence and diverted the flight while the tornado passed over the LZ. When it passed, the slicks then turned on final and landed in an LZ with plenty of VC all around but none in condition to put up a fight. Not just luck or execution-maybe it was STS!
Some of the other memorable events that took place in 1971 include:
· Two pilots who had a little too much to drink in downtown Can
Tho one night stole a jeep to make it back to the airfield before curfew.
· WO "Duke" Christian had not yet made AC but grew a handlebar moustache which, according to the unwritten code among the pilots, was an adornment strictly reserved for AC's. His room was "fragged" with purple smoke one night to teach him a lesson.
· Some joker strung explosive engineer "det" cord for a clothes line for the mamasans and set it off with a full load of clothes.
· The CO was awarded a DFC for crossing the Cambodian border at 6,000 feet.
· The Vultures and "Darkhorse" pilots from C/16th Cav from across the runway were trashing each other at the O Club one night and came very close to a free-for-all.
· Sammy Davis, Jr. visited Can Tho as part of a USO tour and asked which unit was the most remote on the airfield. When told the Vultures were at the far end of the runway he said he'd like to put on a show there. He walked all the way to the 162nd mess hall and put on an impromptu show. The Vultures loved it.
· Cpt Garber started his engine with the main rotor tied down, brought it up to 6600 rpm and looked up to see the rotor blade was not moving (most people didn't think this was possible but apparently it is if the rotor blade is not allowed any initial movement).
· Some pilots didn't like the long walk home from the O Club at night and routinely appropriated whatever jeep was parked near the club. They would drive it to the roost, even if the steering wheel was chained, and abandon it. Whenever anyone at Can Tho lost a jeep the Vulture roost was the first place they looked.
· The Nighthawk ship was called out to an outpost one night and directed to a VC target. The ship had twin 60's on one side and a minigun and searchlight on the other. They dropped a number of flares but some were defective and their parachutes did not deploy. They worked over the area with the minigun and killed a few VC and learned the next day that they had managed to bag a KIA with one of the defective flares.
· In early 1971, the VC published wanted posters with pictures of individuals in the Copperhead gun platoon. The rewards weren't much but the Copperheads got a big laugh out of it-and they stayed a little more alert whenever they went into Can Tho!
· Some recall the incident where a Vulture slick picked up an ARVN Major, a few other ARVNs and two VC prisoners from a field location in the U Minh and ferried them to Bac Lieu for interrogation. Enroute the Major grabbed one the prisoners and threw him out of the aircraft at an altitude of some 2000 feet, apparently because he refused to talk. Yes, it was horrifying and against the rules of war-but the VC did things just as bad, or worse, and on a far larger scale! The remaining prisoner quickly decided he would talk and was singing like a bird by the time they reached Bac Lieu.
(I WOULD LIKE MORE INFO ON 1971 ACTIVITIES??)
