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19 The Helicopter Lifeline Is Cut During the latter part of April helicopter crews were able to occasionally fly missions into the city, but they were working against an ever more lethal level of enemy fire and they paid the price. American medevac helicopters found it impossible to get close to An Loc after a courageous pickup was accomplished on the south side of town on 3 May.1 That was a hair-raising mission and to the best of my knowledge it was the last medevac into An Loc until the enemy’s grip on the city was eventually broken. There was no way to evacuate casualties after that point and the wounded either survived or were buried. Poor sanitary conditions, poor diet, and limited medical care all combined to push up the fatality rates. Head, lung, and belly wounds had always been dangerous, but now all kinds of injuries festered quickly and could become fatal. The level of medical care available to soldiers of the battalion consisted of what our surgeon could provide in a bunker in our defensive position while under fire. It became much more difficult for Cobra gunships to support troops in the vicinity of An Loc after the SA-7 heat seeker was clearly identified on 11 May. I recall one instance a few days later when a Cobra responded to my request for support by firing a load of rockets from altitude and at an extreme standoff distance. The rockets spread out and impacted over a large area and were as dangerous to friendly troops as they were to the enemy. The whole issue became less relevant as the volume of antiaircraft fire continued to increase to the point where helicopters simply could not approach the city and hope to survive. Once it was demonstrated beyond any doubt that the enemy was employing heat-seeking missiles, the rules really changed. The South Vietnamese army units fighting to reopen Highway 13 were hung up miles to the south, and the Vietnamese air force was tasked to keep the garrison supplied. The aircraft available to accomplish that mission was 92 Chapter 19 a squadron of twin-engine C-123 cargo airplanes and a unit of helicopters. The South Vietnamese cargo aircraft had taken a lot of hostile fire and several were shot down attempting to parachute supplies into the city.Although they continued to fly, it was evident the C-123s could not deliver the volume of supplies required and the helicopter unit was ordered to augment their effort by conducting a supply run into the city. The helicopters loaded up and launched their mission the day following the Cobra shoot-down I had witnessed . The two airborne battalions on the southern outskirts of the city were alerted several hours before the big helicopter supply mission was scheduled to take place. We were told the aircraft would be flying directly up Highway 13 at low altitude to gain some surprise and to hopefully escape heatseeking missiles. They would be coming right across our positions as they approached the city. We were also told to take cover when they got close because the door gunners would be putting down suppressive fire. When I heard that cautionary message, I asked the battalion commander to relay to the Vietnamese chain of command that those door gunners should turn off their guns as they approached An Loc. It must have been too hard because at the prescribed hour on the morning of 12 May we heard the helicopters coming up the road. It sounded like every machine gun on every helicopter was firing full blast. The troops immediately crawled as deep as possible into their bunkers. I peeked out to watch the lead helicopter as it flew across our position. The aircraft was right at treetop level, and I could clearly see the door gunner as he leaned out over his gun, firing wildly into the rubber plantation. I dived back into my hole and began shouting at the brigade senior advisor, Colonel Taylor, on my radio. I told him in no uncertain terms to tell the Vietnamese to turn off the door gunners because they were endangering us. It didn’t happen. The whole flight of helicopters roared across the position with all their machine guns firing nonstop. I was furious and let everyone know it. Not only was cowering from friendly fire undignified, the very real possibility of getting hit by a stray bullet from some trigger...

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