Rattler One-Seven: A Vietnam Helicopter Pilot's War Story

Preface

PREFACE I slowly lowered the collective (pitch control) as we began our descent into Landing Zone Delta. All hell was breaking loose. The Firebird gunships were laying down cover as they screamed along side us. Their miniguns were puffing smoke, singing their loud, but familiar sound. Their rockets were yelling out loud, screaming sounds as they flew past. I told my crew, “Go hot.” My crew chief and gunner unlocked their weapons and opened fire. The noise was deafening. Our helicopter felt as if it was coming alive from the shuddering and shaking from her guns. Tracers were flying in all directions. Fear and terror saturated the air. We continued our descent down into the hell below. We already had two ships shot down and four more damaged by fire, but we continued . My crew chief yelled, “Taking fire at ten o'clock!” Then my gunner yelled, “Taking fire at one o'clock, no three o'clock. Hell, it’s coming from everywhere!” We were now only three hundred yards from the landing zone and just about in, when I heard a loud explosion and felt the bird whine as a shell slammed through the transmission. The Huey reacted with a violent jolt, and then wham, another shell found its mark. I instantly pushed the cyclic forward and pulled up on the collective control, thinking to myself, “We’re out of here.” Fire was coming from everywhere and there was no place to hide. Time slowed to eternity as we slowly climbed out. Foot by foot, we distanced ourselves from the enemy and madness below. We had taken a direct hit into the transmission, but thank God we were still flying. We could not set the bird down, it was too dangerous. We had to make it back, a little closer to the friendlies. Suddenly my xi crew chief yelled, “Mr. G, she’s leaking bad, it doesn't look good.” I took a quick look back over my right shoulder in the direction of the transmission. There was fluid running everywhere. It was time to make a decision. ��� Looking back on it, those moments of terror stand out in my mind for what it was like to be a combat helicopter pilot. Rattler One-Seven is a book about my tour in Vietnam. When I left for Vietnam, I was a nineteen -year-old Army helicopter pilot. I spent my entire Vietnam tour flying choppers. My tour started on May 15, 1970, and lasted through May 14, 1971. In the 1970s, I wrote down most of the high points of my adventures, when my memory was still clear with the facts and events. I have written Rattler One-Seven as I experienced it, using my old letters written home to help keep the mindset I had when I was in Vietnam. I have included excerpts from some of the letters to reveal my feelings at the time about what I was experiencing. The grammar and spelling in the excerpts have been left as written. With age, you find out that your ideas and feelings about life change. I have tried very hard not to let my current feelings change the outlook that I had while actually experiencing these events. Everyone who participated in the events that I talked about saw them in their own light. I have recounted the events as I saw and remember them. I am not alleging that the events took place in exactly the way that I explain them, only that this is the way that I remember them happening. I have changed some of the names for obvious reasons : government security, to protect them and their families and myself. Other names I have changed to protect the guilty. At times, I have used derogatory terms to identify the North Vietnamese . Words such as Charlie, gook, and dink were common slang during the war, and I have kept them to keep the memoir historically accurate and to convey the feeling of the times. I intend no disrespect toward the Vietnamese people and apologize if it offends anyone. I hope that reading Rattler One-Seven gives a realistic insight into what it was like to fly combat helicopters in Vietnam. xii P R E F A C E ��� The author wishes to acknowledge and thank all the Rattlers and Firebirds with whom I spoke, especially Gary Arne, Pat Callahan, Don (Fat Rat Lynam), and...