To the Limit: An Air Cav Huey Pilot in Vietnam

20 The Circus Act Extraction

299 The Circus Act Extraction 20 March 10, 1968 On March 9, the CQ awakens me at 0500 hours and instructs me to meet Major Beyer in the operations bunker. Beyer is grinning and chewing on his unlit cigar. “Tom, how would you like to have a few days off?” I know that smile very well. “No thanks, sir. My last few days off I ended up attached to the Marines in Phu Bai, doing rescue missions inside the Citadel. I don’t want any more of that stuff.” Peter Kretzchmar keeps his back to me and pretends to write assignments on the board. “Sir, if I may ask, did Kretzchmar have anything to do with this assignment?” Irritated by my question, Peter pivots on his heels and frowns. Beyer knows that he and I have little use for each other. “Tom, I thought you might want this one. It’s volunteer only, but fact is, no one in battalion knows for sure what you’ll be doing. If you don’t want it, I’ll give it to somebody else.” “What’s the gig?” “You will report to a Special Forces Group at Hue Phu Bai.” “Uh-huh. Hue Phu Bai again, sir!” Beyer cannot help laughing out loud. “As I was saying, you will report to Hue Phu Bai airstrip at ten hundred hours this morning. Contact Checkmate 29 on 53.46 for further instructions.” 3 0 0 TO THE LIMIT “Major Beyer, are you sure you don’t have any idea what these people expect me to do?” “None whatsoever. This is a Black Horse assignment right from Division. You’ll be attached to this group for at least five days, so you’ll need to pack up your clean clothes.” “The other mission was an ‘easy’ one too, sir.” I reply sarcastically . “I get real queasy about missions that are handed down to us from Black Horse. Seems every one of them begins with soft words and ends with double exclamation points.” “I agree with you. My job is to send my most experienced pilots. You, Lee, Martin, and Gore are it. Do you want me to give it to one of them?” I delay my answer by sipping on the hot coffee and watching both Beyer’s and Peter’s eyes, searching for something there that will give them away. Major Beyer has never deliberately misled me before, and I am convinced that he knows nothing about the mission. After a moment, I realize that Peter is also in the dark. “OK, I’ll run it. I’d hate to miss it and then have somebody else tell me it turned out to be a walk in the park.” Kretzchmar assigns WO1 Bruce Farris as peter pilot and Harold Kaney as gunner. By the luck of the draw, the three of us will fly Steven Brown’s Huey. Bruce Farris is not a newbie; he has about 500 hours of combat flying. He graduated in Rotary Wing Class 67-12 and ended up in the Cav immediately after we moved north. Specialist Fourth Class Steven Brown, having great knowledge of how to care for Hueys, was field promoted from gunner to crew chief when Merritt Hawkins DEROS’d two months ago. He also has several hundred hours of Vietnam flying under his belt. I know very little about Harold Kaney. He transferred into A/ 229th from a grunt unit only a month ago. I stuff all my clean jungle fatigues and other personal items into a rubber laundry bag and walk to the flight line to meet the others. We know that at least the flight will be nice, because it is a beautiful day. There is not a cloud in the sky as we pass the PK-17 checkpoint and skirt the western edge of the city of Hue. Bruce is flying, which gives me a chance to survey the terrain surrounding Hue that was, only days before, the site of major battles. 3 0 1 THE CIRCUS ACT EXTRACTION Off to my right, I can now clearly see the area where I executed the emergency resupply for Striker. The LZ was camouflaged in low clouds and rain. Now, although the visibility is unlimited, I am unable to figure out the exact whereabouts of the LZ, and once again, I experience the fear I felt then. After about an hour of flying...