THE CRASH PART B

[Quick Steel]

While still moving forward the nose of the Huey is pointing maybe 30 degrees downward. We are swinging violently while plunging down. The windshield is full of the onrushing treetops. I've sometimes thought about those apparently final seconds, what I was experiencing. The most accurate statement I can make is that I felt and thought absolutely nothing. No emotion of any kind; not apprehension, not peace, nothing at all; just an empty-headed passivity. No calling on the Deity. Nothing.

I've sometimes wondered if prey animals experience something similar when they feel the jaws of a predator closing on their windpipe. Maybe the passivity is due to shock, or the brain [unconsiously] accepts that all control, all ability to influence events, is gone. Nothing to do but wait. Perhaps a protective response. I don't know.

What happened next is exactly as I will describe it. It is inexplicable. In front of that windshield there appeared a generously sized landing zone, wide and long. It was directly in front of us which is important as the pilot could not move the chopper even slightly right or left. Directly in front. And we were maybe a second from hitting the treetops. In this vast, unbroken surface of dense woods, here was suddenly a perfectly placed opening. We hit hard, did some bouncing, got thrown around a bit, but all of us were in one piece. I will let you draw your own conclusions. For me, the word miracle seems apt.

We exited the Huey, dismounted the door gun. We were again in my domain, mother earth. I moved everyone back into the vegetation at the edge of this beautiful LZ and set up a small defensive position. My interpreter's radio calls received no response but the pilot, like every pilot, carried an emergency transmitter. He extended the aerial. Every aircraft flying could pick up that signal and follow it right to us. I hoped they would do that quickly as a downed chopper is always a magnet for the enemy.

Perhaps 10 minutes passed. Then an airforce plane flew over us, directly online with us. The problem was he was way too high, maybe 3 or 4 thousand feet. Unless you have experienced it you may not understand how difficult it is to see specific features on the ground especially if you are moving with speed or happen to be looking the wrong way. So despite the relatively large opening with a helicopter parked in the middle of it, he flew past us. Still on the right heading, but now away from us until he disappeared. Talk about frustration. I think I said "Gosh!" again.

Another few minutes passed when I heard an engine growing louder. It was an Army pilot flying what I always called a souped up Cessna. I sometimes flew in one looking for potential LZs to insert my ARVN troops. And he was doing things the right way. He was flying super low right at tree top level. His wheels were knocking some leaves off the trees, imaginatively speaking. He acknowledged us with a wave and kept going as was proper. If he immediately started circling over us he would have given away our position to unpleasant people in the neighborhood. Eventually, he turned and began making circles about a mile away.

We began talking on the radio. He said, "I've got good news and bad news." I asked for the good news first. "There is a Ranger company on the way to get you and the chopper." Great. And the bad news? "I see NVA moving fast in your direction." How many?
"Can't be sure through the canopy. At least 50, maybe double that." What is the ETA [estimated time of arrival] of the Rangers? "Bout 10 minutes." How long for the NVA? "Maybe 10 minutes." Gosh!

Time for a critical decision: stay or run. The aircrew was for running. The NVA were too close. I pointed out that the good guys would lose track of us back under the canopy and, most importantly, there would be no place for them to extract us. The open coast was 20 miles away. Right now the cavalry knew our exact location. If we left it, all bets were off and we would never outrun the NVA. It was my decision to make and so we stayed. Improved our position some more, added more vegetation on top of us to try and hide ourselves better. And maybe crossed our fingers. My thinking was that a kindly providence provided this fine LZ at the most critical moment. To abandon it would be less than grateful.

Gradually we heard the beautiful whop, whop, whop, sound of approaching helicopters. The radio came alive and we were instructed that the Huey would be moving fast; run out and jump on board. The first craft surged into the LZ, its nose well in the air, flared so that its tail boom almost struck the ground. It never stopped or touched down. We ran and jumped into the still moving Huey which then speeded up and climbed. I stuck my head out of the door and looked back at a splendid scene. A long line of helicopters each one doing essentially the same maneuver as the first one: a steep flare without stopping but with a squad of rangers jumping out. Each Huey in turn doing the same thing unloading those squads. As I've pictured that scene over the years I've often had the thought that it was a picture of the American army at its very finest. I tend to have warm fuzzy feelings towards those who saved my bacon.

Over the radio came the Army spotter. The NVA were now running away.

[Doc B]

Seconds...inches...things could have been a lot different. Glad you're here to post, QS.

[Steve Warden]

Seconds...inches...things could have been a lot different. Glad you're here to post, QS.

Amen!

[eveled]

You paint quite a picture with words. Felt like I was there. Glad you made it home.

[Tony_Wood]

Great read. Thanks for the continuation.

Thanks again, for your service.

[samb1955]

Glad you made it out, alot didn't. Thanks for your service!

[doglegg]

Thanks for the conclusion QS. Amazing man and men.

[kootenay joe]

You have written a very gripping first person account of this war time incident. All of you could have died more than once, fuel leak, electrical fire, crash landing, rescue chopper arriving in the nick of time, but each time, against the odds, things 'worked out' and all survived.
I think of the thousands of other soldiers who would have had a gripping story to tell except their outcome was death. And most were young men just beginning their lives as adults. Huge loss to so many families & relatives & friends.
There has to be a better way to resolve differences between nations.
kj

[Quick Steel]

kj, you are right there has to be a better way. Unfortunately I do not believe we shall ever find that way. The compulsion for dominance is simply too ingrained in human nature. At least that is the way I see the history of our species. Would love to be wrong about this.

[carrmillus]

...great story!!!!.....good ending!!!!.......... ............

[jerryd6818]

You didn't say but did you Willie Peter the radios? Did they come back with some fast movers and destroy the bird?

[Quick Steel]

Good question Jerry, but no need to destroy anything. The chopper was lifted out.

[peanut740]

Thanks for the stories, great reading.

[jerryd6818]

Good question Jerry, but no need to destroy anything. The chopper was lifted out.

I asked because it seems that sometimes we were a little loosy goosy with assets over there and there was a sizeable NVA unit headed your way even if there was a Ranger unit also moving in. There wasn't a ton of Sikorsky CH-54 Tarhe's in country and didn't know if you guys had access to one. Not being a combat Marine, I was just making some uninformed guesses.

[Quick Steel]

There wasn't a ton of Sikorsky CH-54 Tarhe's in country and didn't know if you guys had access to one.

We did not use the Sikorsky often but they were readily available whenever needed, usually to sling artillery on or off a mountain top. If memory serves, they had a lift capacity of 22,000 lbs, but never lifted more than 18K, probably as a safety measure or maybe to prolong the life of the engines.

I hope the situation has improved, but during those VN days I had the impression that the Marines did not get the kind of logistical support we Army pukes did. If I need to be corrected on that view, feel free Jerry.

I believe most helicopter retrievals were done with C-47 Chinooks.

[jerryd6818]

I hope the situation has improved, but during those VN days I had the impression that the Marines did not get the kind of logistical support we Army pukes did. If I need to be corrected on that view, feel free Jerry.

As I stated before, I was not a combat Marine so I have no frame of reference and besides we landed in country on 31Aug65 and I caught my freedom bird on 22Aug66 so pretty early on. We were in Indian country but there were no Indians. Spent the first two months at Da Nang on the Northwest side of the air strip by the old French fort across the road from Check Point Charlie. 5Nov65 some of us were transferred to Bravo Battery 1st LAAM Bn on Monkey Mountain. Stayed up there until I rotated. We had it good up there.

[royal0014]

Gripping story by an inspiring writer !!

[Quick Steel]

Thanks Chris. Your comments are very generous.

[orvet]

Another riveting story Garry, well told!

When you describe the whop, whop, whop of the approaching Huey's I could feel each whop deep in my chest even just reading about the sound.
Along with that iconic whop comes the memory of something else, the smell of burning diesel and the burning outhouses.

You have a way of telling the story that brings your reader into the story right next to you.

[Quick Steel]

Thank you Dale. I am always hoping people will not be put off by my eccentric grammar e.g. ignoring many commas, use of sentence fragments, beginning sentences with conjunctions etc. I recall protesting to my English teacher, "But Hemingway began sentences with and or but." He replied, "Yes, but Hemingway has a publishing contract." Which is now kind of funny.

[Chase]

I have to say, I wish you had those stories published and available to purchase. I am also a Veteran, Not VN, I was a little too young for that. I did serve 22 years in the Air Force and spent 7 months in the desert for Desert Shield and Desert Storm...not actual face to face combat for me, however, we did receive incoming Scud Missles every day.

I think your style of writing are fantastic and I appreciate you sharing your experiences with us. I love reading about the Viet Nam War, more so the untold stories by folks who actually lived the experience.

Thank you again for sharing and also for your Service!

Respectfully,

Tom

[Quick Steel]

Thank you Chase and thank you for your service. Can't imagine being under a scud attack. I believe the worst casualites we took in your day were from a scud that found a mess hall.

[Chase]

There was a Guard Unit from Pittsburgh, near where I currently live, that lost several folks and had a lot of severe injuries from a Scud Missle. The Patriot battery took out the Scud, however, the actual warhead fell to the ground and hit a building that they were staged in. We responded to assist with evacuations and the survivors were treated at our Air Transportable Hospital before being evac'd out of country....That was a sad day.

We also had a scud hit that the warhead was exploded by the Patriot Missles but the body of the Scud hit very near our Alert Aircraft area and did some damage to the Tent facilities, luckily no injuries from that one.

Finally I had some personnel with me out on the highway leading into the Airfield putting blockades in place and we had 7 Missles launched within minutes at our location. We had no where to go other than underneath the Flatbed trailers we used to haul the barriers to the site. Pretty hairy since we had no idea where the scuds could or would hit and we were out in the open.

I thanked the folks manning the Patriot Missle Batteries regularly in my travels while there and I always think about them even now...They saved our bacon and resources many times over!

Tom

[Reverand]

"Thank you" to each and every one of you who served. May God bless you.

[Paladin]

Very good story and very well told.

Ray