WELCOME TO A TROOP |
John Leiter-Scout Pilot |
Please help me ID pictures not titled. I think I remember some names but not sure. |
Jose L. Martinez Lift Pilot |
Some A Trooper at Ft. Knox |
ONE GREAT CREW |
WE WERE WARRIORS ONCE YOUTH WAS ON OUR SIDE WE ARE OLDER NOW WE HAVE MEMORIES AND OUR PRIDE |
A DAY IN THE AO SEPTEMBER 23, 1968 A Troop was at Ban Me Thout and had been there for a while living in those luxurious GP tents. I was flying with our Troop XO on what promised to ba a nice enjoyable C&C flight. With us was a Col. from the 4th Inf. Div., I believe he was a brigade commander, but not sure. There we were, just boring holes in the sky over Duc Lap while the infantry units were doing their thing with an NVA unit of unknown size (turned out to be quite large). We got the call that the grunts (an affectionate term for infantry) were suffering heavy casualties, the Col. in the back seat used his radios and called for med-evac. They arrived and proceeded to try extractions. They tried straight in approaches, but ground fire was too great and they pulled out. Then they tried high overhead approaches, again the NVA were hep to this, and the ground fire caused them to pull out again. The Inf. Col. was livid with rage at this point and questioned the ancestry of each and every person in the med-evac hueys in particular and all pilots in general. It was at this time that he asked us (old XO and myself) if we would go in and pick up his boys. We were not too eager to do this, but noticed that he had his side arm (.45 caliber auto) in his hand, and not knowing his state of mind, we decided to comply. We did not follow the example set by our brothers in the dust off ships; instead, we dove to tree top level and navigated to the LZ. We did receive heavy ground fire and our brave crew (crew chief and door gunner, and god I wish I remembered their names) were playing a symphony with those beautiful musical instruments known as M60 machine guns. After what seemed like and enternity, we arrive at the LZ and gently set our H model down. By gently, I mean we did not bend the landing gear too bad. The Medics (I think they were medics) piled wounded men into the bird (to this day, I do not know how many) and waved us off. I was a little excited so I sucked up th collective up under my armpit noticing that the chip detector lights came on. The master warning was already on. I glanced at the torque guage as I leveled off and noticed it coming back down through 55PSI, 50PSI was the limit for that transmission. On the way to the medical unit (again memory fails me, I do not remember which) I asked the crew if they could see any hits. I thought I had felt several. They reported that they could see two on the left side and one on the right. I did not notice until shortly before landing at the hospital unit that my greenhouse glass was shatteered and I was covered with pieces of plexiglas. I also noticed a neat little hole on the floor between my legs and a corresponding hole on the upper inside thigh of my flight suit (man, I'm glad I'm short) but the bullet had not touched me. Upon landing, the wounded were carried off to the hospital and we looked over the ship. It looked like Swiss Cheese; one pitch change link on the tail rotor was completely missing. The main rotor blades were riddled with holes and we had even taken a hit in the engine. I never notice any problems in handling or power while in fligh or on approach. Guess I d have a guardian angel after all. Neither did I notice any lack of control of my tail rotor. Again, who can question gurdian angels? Also, the cross members of the landing gear were both cracked, guesss it was from the gentle landing at the LZ. The last chapter in this story involves the infamous Col. He had followed the medical personnel to check on his boys. As we were discussing the price of scrap aluminum and steele, he came out of the hospital, started running toward us screaming like a banshee. I tried my best to evade him, but was not quick enough. He wrapped one of his long , large, hairy arms around my waist, pulled me to him and (horror of horrors) kissed me dead-square on the lips. To this day, I am grateful that he was not into the French custom, and that I did not after all fall in love that day. Jose |
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