My sister that my mother lives with suggested earlier in the month that the proper venue to talk to Mom on Mother's day would be Skype or oovoo.  Since I don't have oovoo I had Skype up on Saturday and Sunday.  When I didn't see Mom on I decided to text her to see if she was going to get on.  The conversation did not go as planned.

Well yesterday was wierd.  I got up early to go to the gun show by myself.  My wife lacks interest in going and my children were elsewhys involved.  To be fair, Eric would have gone but he was going to one 4oo miles away.  I had breakfast, let the dog out and fed her and lolled about until time to go.  At that point I realized I didn't have my driving glass.

Now normally I keep whatever pair of glasses I am not wearing (normally my driving glasses) in my shirt pocket until I go to bed.  At that point I empty my shirt pockets onto my nightstand ready for the next day.  Since I didn't have my reading glasses I figured they were on my nightstand.  Nope.  Well then they must have fallen on the floor.  Nope.  Under the bed? Nope.  I searched everywhere.  Finally I drove to the gun show with my prescription sun glasses.  That works during the day but when I go to work in the middle of the night might not be as efficacious.  

At the gun show I was looking for my grail gun.  Time before last there were gobs of them but I didn't have enough money.  Last week I could not find a one.  Two minutes into the show I found one at the extreme high range I was willing to pay.  The vendor was willing to come down a little but it only had one magazine.  Since the magazines run $30 to $50 this was not my ideal.  I told him I wanted to look around some more. Well, I couldn't find another one anywhere.  Finally in a far corner there was a gentleman selling something else and he had two trays of handguns.  There in the upper corner of one was my grail gun with two mags.  I asked him the price, then asked him if he was willing to do any better.  He offered to come off $20 and I countered with $20 and the sales tax.  Just like that, I had my grail gun with two mags.  It was $5 more than the first guy.

I searched for the sleeves that let you use longer magazines in your Glock but nobody had them.  They slide over the mag and make an addition to your grip.  I kick myself because Midway USA had them 3 for the price you would normally pay for one and I didn't jump on that.  Dummy.

I bought some cheap reading glasses at Costco to get me through and I bought some groceries.  Came home and hung with the wife.  I attempted to argue with the crazy gun grabber lady online.  This was like nailing jello to the wall.  She is touting a neo-Nazi that shot himself as an example of the NRA.  This despite the fact that he cannot legally own weapons and was a member of Occupy Phoenix.  She tried to claim that my comment was in support of him.  She also claims that he wasn't part of the occupy group, he was just where they were when they were there.  Distinction that they wouldn't make for the Tea Party.  She also claims that the members of the NRA are responsible for what Ted Nugent says but the anti-rights people aren't responsible for what their loons say.  Can you say "Double Standard?"  I knew you could.

When I got ready to go to bed I straightened out my pillows.  Guess what I found?  Yep, driving glasses.  How they got there I don't know.

My father in law died yesterday.  He was my friend for years before he was my father in law.  He introduced me to my wife, heck, he chose me for his daughter.  He was a man who could fix anything.  He was a mechanical genius. He lived to deal.  We all thought that Craigslist was invented for him. He could be opinionated, aggravating & stubborn but he was also loyal, loving and a very very good man that I could do well to emulate.  When I heard the Bruce Springsteen song "The Highway Patrolman" the line "Man turns his back on his family well he just ain't no good" epitomized his attitude toward life.  He was a second father to me.

He had a major heart attack in November and I thought we had lost him then.  I honestly never thought he would reach the hospital alive or come out of the coma. But he did.  He came back and started to walk, to mow his own lawn, to drive and do a lot of things I didn't think he could.  But we all knew he was on borrowed time.  Yesterday that time ran out.  But he was at peace and we will see him again in heaven.  I am convinced of this.

That doesn't change the fact that the world is a smaller colder place without him.  He will be missed a lot and by many, but especially by me. God bless you, Lou.  You were a good man, a good husband, a good father and a good friend.  That is more than many and better than most.  I loved you.

I mentioned earlier that I took the renewal class for my CHL and that I had mailed in my class paper work and the post office thought that maybe they had delivered it but never showed it delivered because the tracking didn't work right but don't worry about it because they are the post office etc.  Well, it obviously it got there because the permit is in the mail.



Pretty neat, huh? 

I thought that since I was re-posting Phil's war stories I should tell you the difference.  A fairy tale begins "Once upon a  time..." and a war story starts "This is no sh*t..."

by Phil Marshall

Researching this story was quite an eye-opener for me because I had no idea DMZ Dustoff had incurred so many losses at the same place and virtually at the same time. Had I not been wounded and sent home early as I was, I most likely would have been involved here myself.

Fire Support Base, FSB, “Tun Tavern” was located about 33 kilometers (klicks) SW of Quang Tri. From Wikipedia on the internet: “According to tradition, Tun Tavern was also where the United States Marine Corps held its first recruitment drive. On November 10, 1775, the First Continental Congress commissioned Samuel Nicholas, a Quaker innkeeper, to raise two battalions of marines in Philadelphia. The tavern’s manager, Robert Mullan, was the ‘chief Marine Recruiter.’ Prospective volunteers flocked to the place, enticed by cold beer and the opportunity to join the new corps.” Hence, this was the naming of the Landing Zone where these incredible events took place. Although it was the birthplace of the Marine Corps, it turned out to be a death place for DMZ Dustoff helicopters and some of the most intense rescues for many of the crews.

We begin this story about FSB Tun Tavern with one of the principal characters…

PART 1
BOB “CRASH” CARTER


“Look, ya gotta realize, I was only the co-pilot in those 3 crashes!”

“Okay” I promised Bob, “I’ll make sure your story includes the fact you were never the pilot in command in those 3 instances”, so there you have it, right at the beginning! (Actually, he really wasn’t that adamant about it, but it’s so much more fun to pull his chain a little!)

Warrant Officer 1 Robert B. Carter arrived in Viet Nam early in January, 1970 and served his 12 month tour until January of 1971 with the 237th Medical Detachment, “DMZ Dustoff”. Bob wonders how he was chosen to fly in that unit as he was one of the very few Warrant Officers to fly with the 237th who did not attend the “condensed” army combat medic school for Dustoff pilots at Ft. Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas, immediately after graduation from Flight School at Ft. Hunter-Stewart, Georgia. “All I can think of is that they needed a replacement pilot and my name was picked when I got to the 90th Replacement Battalion” in Long Binh he states. Normally a 10 week course for the Army’s combat medics, the School offered a shortened 5 week course for the pilots that would be flying medevac missions.

And that is probably what happened. the original 237th arrived in Viet Nam as a unit on Thanksgiving Day, 1968, and for the most part all of the original personnel had departed (with the exception of a very few enlisted men who extended their tour) by Thanksgiving, 1969. The unit found themselves down to 4 Aircraft Commanders (AC) and only 7 Co-pilots, CPs, (lovingly referred to as “Peter Pilots”) where the normal complement for a Helicopter Ambulance Medical Detachment was 13 pilots total. The ACs were LT. Brink and Warant Officers Beam, Gomez and McKeegan. CPs when Carter arrived were Cpt. John Hill, LT. Mike Cox, Warrant Officers George Rose, Al Gaidis, Don Study, Walt “Itchy Pink” Adams and Rob Halvorson. Captain Hill was the Commanding Officer of the 237th.

According to Bob, “We had several new pilots in the 237th, and so few ACs, that we were not getting very much flight time, so they sent us to the 571st Medical Detachment in Phu Bai, near Hue, to make courier flights with their ACs.” Courier flights, or as the Assault Helicopter Units called them “Ash and Trash missions” were non-combat flights for just about any reason, to include patient transfers. It was an opportunity for the FNGs, Funny New Guys*, to get some much needed stick time to hone their skills before their promotion to AC. It was on one of those very early courier flights that Bob earned his nickname. (*Some veterans substitute the word “Funny” for another word beginning with the letter “F”.)

“We had gone to Da Nang to pick up some new nurses and doctors and I am thinking the new Executive Officer of one of our two units. It was a beautiful Sunday morning and as our usual custom, we were flying north along the beach back to Phu Bai. I was on the controls when out of nowhere a loud bang and then all was quiet. Of course, we immediately entered autorotation and the 571st AC says ‘I got it’. With the full load, we landed a little hard and bent the skids up pretty badly, but everyone, and everything else, was OK. Later, when we returned to base, Medic David MacLurg (Ed: who later died in September, 1970, in an aircraft accident) started calling me ‘Crash’”. It sucks to be the Funny New Guy.

So while MacLurg apparently never claimed to be clairvoyant, more was to come as Crash began to solidify his new moniker. Soon after this incident, Bob was flying with AC George Rose Yakush on a mission to pick up wounded in an unimproved Landing Zone (LZ). Unimproved in that it was not completely cleared, having several tree stumps protruding throughout the LZ that prevented the aircraft from landing to the ground. Upon short final approach, with George on the controls, the aircraft settled into a hover in the landing zone, and then directly onto a stump which pierced the bottom of the aircraft! Geoffrey Morris was on this flight and remembers it this way: “I was the medic on his (Carter’s) 2nd crash on the tree stump. We could not land so we were pulling a ‘short hoist’ (10-15 feet) when the engine failed & we landed on a tree stump that pierced the bottom & speared the aircraft right into the ceiling. I remember it vividly as I was laying on the floor running the hoist. The tree (8-10 inches in diameter) ripped my pants & cut the inside of my leg about 4 inches below my crotch. I remember everyone was a little nervous because the blades were striking the trees in the LZ.” Even at full throttle, the engine could not produce enough power to stay at a hover and the aircraft was now a semi-permanent part of the Landing Zone. George later told this author “I lost power after we came to a hover, but the crew chief got really angry with me and blamed me for destroying his helicopter. I told him we lost power but he didn’t believe me.” Later, after the aircraft was recovered, a bullet hole was found in the compressor stage of the engine and George was vindicated; but Crash Carter had now been in the front seat of his second, & more heavily, damaged Huey. But wait for it……the “best” was yet to come.

• 

    
               Bob “Crash” Carter, Age 22.
Note “Peace” symbol with American Flag on helmet
     and .38 Caliber Smith & Wesson on his hip.


Fast forward a couple months later to June 1, 1970 and Crash is now flying with 1LT Mike Cox, the unit Executive Officer in aircraft 67-17671, one of the original 237th Hueys. “We were on a mission to pick up one wounded ARVN soldier, Army of the Republic of Viet Nam…the good guys. It was way out west at the edge of the A Shau Valley at a Fire Support Base (FSB) on a ridge called “Tun Tavern”; it was very early in the morning, at sun up. As we maintained radio contact with the Australian advisor on the ground, we were informed that we now had 2 wounded to pick up. As we got closer to the LZ, 2 wounded became 3.” It now was obvious to the crew that the LZ was very hot and probably getting hotter! 
                                                  LT Mike Cox



The most vulnerable time for a helicopter is when it is on short final approach for landing or immediately upon taking off. If the crew has airspeed or altitude or both, they can generally land a helicopter with no damage or at least a minimum of damage. But on final approach or while taking off, the aircraft has neither airspeed nor altitude and leaves no emergency options for the pilots except try to control the inevitable crash. Carter explains- “We were on short final, only about 10 feet off the ground, when there was a loud bang on the left side of the aircraft. We had been hit by an RPG (Rifle Propelled Grenade) or a recoilless rifle round under the aircraft and all we could do was crash land on the ID panel they had laid out for us.” The crew chief, Bobby Campbell, was wounded pretty badly and LT Cox received minor wounds in the leg. Medic Geoffrey Morris and Crash were both unscathed by the incident, but the aircraft was still under fire from the enemy. Of course, the crew beat the proverbial “hasty retreat” from the aircraft, but as they scrambled down the ridge line opposite the enemy fire, Morris realized that Campbell was still in the aircraft.

Years later, Bob wrote in an email: “The RPGs hit the ground to our left, peppering the left of the aircraft and wounding Cox in the leg and Bobby Campbell in the back. The aircraft fell from 10 ft or so... We lost ground effect or power or ... I have replayed those few seconds over and over. What should I.... Could I ....have done differently. The collective is in my armpit, dust everywhere and screams from outside the aircraft.
I unbuckle but my way is blocked by the armored seat extension. Fear, panic, struggle, then Morris is at my door. He opens my door and slides the panel back. I unass the helicopter and meeting Cox, we tumble downhill a few yards. I turn to the aircraft and see Geoffrey pulling Bobby from the cargo floor. The screams continue but we are together twenty yards below and behind the helicopter, outside of their perimeter. Think, then a second explosion, Morris and I return to the AC for weapons and his med kit. Things begin to slow down; maybe even a thought begins to register. A huge valley below us; faces and foxholes above and to the west. We went uphill.”

As a healthy survivor of the shoot down, Morris returned to the aircraft to retrieve Campbell. More enemy weapons fire and an explosion greeted him at the aircraft, but Morris grabbed Campbell and was able to carry the seriously wounded crew chief down the hill. “We called in the gun ships and Cobras worked over the area pretty good. We sat on the ground for about an hour when Rose and Halvorson were finally able to pick us up. The Cobras escorted us home, back to Quang Tri” Carter said.
 

It was on this mission that Medic Geoffrey Morris earned his Silver Star, a very prestigious award for an Army medic. The account of Morris’ actions this day will be found in the accompanying Part 2 of this story “How Geoffrey Morris Earned His Silver Star”.

Weeks after our initial interview for this story, Bob Carter offered a postscript “My part after the crash and return to the 18th Surg was/is not the story of heroes. I'm standing in the ER, two crew members on tables, Geoffery hard at work assisting doctors, I have no aircraft...Snowy Lawrence, Aussie advisor, says you are coming with me. I spend the day at MACV in QT and then the night with too much scotch. It's a blur and I have no memory of the next 24 hrs. I am not sure how I got back in the rotation. Peters and Stone (Ed. 237th Crew Chiefs) baby sat me for a long while, probably until they ETS (Expiration, Term of Service) in October.”
 

“I guess the 101st guys got tired of looking at our helicopter sitting on that ridge, so eventually, they sent someone in to blow it up. They would see it and think somebody was in trouble.” So again, Crash Carter is Peter Pilot in the loss of his 3rd, and final, helicopter, a total loss this time. And while the rest of his tour was relatively uneventful, he did offer a few more “tidbits” about his tour.

His next adventure, or should we say MIS-adventure, was flying at night for a pickup very near the DMZ, Demilitarized Zone, separating North and South Viet Nam. By this time, Bob has earned his title of Aircraft Commander. “We were on one of those pickups with no moon and dark as can be. We knew they were close to the DMZ, but not sure exactly where; we were relying on our FM homing to zero in on them.” The FM homing utilized an antenna on the roof of the aircraft, the so-called “towel rack” antenna because it resembles a towel rack mounted on a roof rather than a wall. This allows the pilots to watch the Instrument Landing System vertical needle swing left or right during an FM transmission from the guys on the ground. Normally the needle would be centered, but when the FM radio was placed in the “Home” position, the needle would move left or right, showing the pilots which direction the transmission was coming from. Only problem is, it does not show distance, only direction, so it was very possible to over fly the LZ and not know it unless the guys on the ground told you were overhead.

Apparently, this is what happened here as Bob continues. “We kept looking and looking and could not see anything. They said they were firing some flares but there was nothing to be seen. Finally, I decided that we were probably too close to the Z, so I started a 180 degree turn back south. About halfway through the turn, we spotted a flare way behind us. At that exact moment there was a big explosion right below and behind us. I don’t know what it was, but someone had to be looking out for us.” They realized then that they were over North Vietnam and the bad guys were shooting something big at them. Had they not turned when they did, they quite likely would have been hit as the turn apparently threw off the aim of the enemy, leaving the aircraft and the crew unscathed. The rest of the rescue was routine, if one can call landing during the darkest of nights in a mountainous area with only a strobe light to guide you as being “routine”.

One other facet of Crash Carter’s tour needs to be recounted here, it also involves landing in the jungle at night. “1LT Brink came up with the idea of procuring some flares that the slick units normally dropped from altitude during night time operations.” One high ship during these multi-ship missions would have a full load of flares and the guys in the back would toss them out one at a time to light the area below. This “flare ship” remained at altitude and was responsible for timing the drops to keep constant light going for the other aircraft operating in and out of an LZ. “So our next night mission” Crash recalls “we dropped a flare from altitude which was great, but them we had to do a fast spiral down to get to the ground before the flare went out. It turned out to be a rather hazardous maneuver because there was no guarantee we could get on the ground before it burned out. Plus, we now had to go through the ‘dead man’s zone’ in the light where they could see us to get to the ground.” (Ed: the “dead man’s zone” was referred to as anything between low level, nap of the earth flying, and flying under 1500 feet above ground level, AGL. Above 1500 feet was considered out of the range of small arms fire.) So while the flare idea looked great on paper, and the LT’s idea had merit, in practical use it proved difficult and it seems that it was not used very often.

In all, Crash said he got most of his flight time in April, May and June of 1970. “That’s when we were the busiest” he says. “I probably got 40% of my total flight time those 3 months, the rest was comparatively quiet. In fact, I only got about 10 hours my last month of flying. But I remember sitting in Da Nang waiting for my flight home. I saw all these helicopters headed north and I remember saying to myself ‘I bet they are going to have some fun’”. Fun indeed, as these were the aircraft headed north from Chi Lai and other points south; they were headed for Khe Sahn and operation Lam Son 719. Arguably the most ill-conceived offensive operation mounted by the US and ARVN troops during the entire war, 719 saw many, many good men die and many, many good helicopters destroyed. Entire volumes have been written about Lam Son 719, the 1971 offensive into Laos, and the reader will get another idea of what it was like to fly helicopters in Viet Nam by reading about it.

Bob “Crash” Carter’s tour could probably be summarized as being typical of most Dustoff crews in the 237th. “Hours and hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror” is how it’s been stated by others before. It’s probably not too far from the truth. However, one thing this author has found in every Dustoff crewmember he has talked to; there is an intense sense of pride in having served in a Dustoff unit, and the feeling that, despite our losses, it was worth it. Pride in what we did and how we did it…sometimes we still wonder just how DID we do it, and “get away with it”?


HOW GEOFFREY MORRIS EARNED HIS SILVER STAR
MEDICS JUST DOIN’ THEIR JOB

PART 2

There is a quote in the book “Dustoff” by John L. Cook that goes like this:
“Captain, you have to understand, if we gave Dustoff a medal for every heroic action, all we would be doing is giving Dustoff medals. It requires a certain amount of heroism just to fly in Dustoff, and they have to reach a higher bar." This quote comes from a MACV Lieut. Col., Vietnam, August, 1967, to Capt. Craig Honaman, Dustoff unit awards officer on why two Silver Star awards were downgraded to Distinguished Flying Crosses. So with that little bit of background, we continue the mission on which Geoffrey Morris earned his recognition.

As was shown already on this day, the pilots up front were Warrant Officer 1 Bob Carter and 1st Lieut. Mike Cox with crew chief Bobby C. Campbell sitting on the cargo floor behind Lieut. Cox. Medic Morris was sitting on the right side of the cargo floor behind Carter, their usual positions. No need to repeat the details of the crew being shot down, that has already been established in Part 1. For his actions on this mission, Geoffrey Morris was awarded the Silver Star for heroism, a very prestigious award for a Dustoff medic or any Dustoff crew member for that matter. His citation reads thus:

For gallantry in action while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an armed hostile force in the Republic of Vietnam. Private First Class Morris distinguished himself on 1 June 1970 while serving as medical aid man aboard a helicopter ambulance during a rescue operation in a fire swept area near Hue. As Private Morris and his companions attempted to land to evacuate several wounded allied soldiers from the scene of heavy fighting with enemy troops, their helicopter was severely damaged by hostile fire and forced to make an emergency landing in the contact area. Realizing that an explosion and fire were highly probable, the crew immediately departed the helicopter amid the hail of enemy fire. Moments later, Private Morris discovered that the crew chief was still on board the damaged ship and immediately returned to aid his companion. Although intense enemy fire swept the area surrounding the wreckage , he ran to the helicopter and removed his injured comrade seconds before the aircraft burst into flames. After administering first aid to all injured crew members, Private Morris again exposed himself to the intense enemy fire as he searched the adjacent area for Allied ground combat troops. After treating several casualties, he ensured that all the injured were safely aboard a second evacuation helicopter that arrived on the scene a short while later. Private First Class Morris' gallantry in action was in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit,
and the United States Army.                     PFC Geoffrey Morris at work
  Note he is wearing an armored vest with no other protection,
       and he has an extra equipment bag under the seat.


It must be noted here that it was several conversations before Geoffrey Morris divulged that he had even received the Silver Star. It then took more than one relentlessly applied request, coated with gentle persuasion, to get this citation from him, a man that this author has found to be quite humble and also a wealth of historical information during his time with DMZ Dustoff. Along with his Silver Star citation, Geoffrey also sent the transcript of a speech from Alan Rhodes, a commissioned officer who flew with the 237th. The speech is titled "Heroes I Have Known" and was presented to a graduating class of Army medics. In his speech, he noted three Army medics, two of which he flew with in Vietnam. Here is an excerpt from that speech:

“…my second hero was Specialist 4 David MacLurg. David was on duty one rainy, dark night when an urgent mission came in. A Vietnamese child, two years old, had turned over a pot of hot water severely scalding himself, producing nearly 85% second-degree burns. The prognosis for the child was not good with the prevalence of infection and lack of sophisticated burn therapy. The crew never once questioned whether they would or should try. After several attempts they reached the landing zone and picked up the child. On the return flight from the hospital they crashed. About two hours later, I discovered the missing aircraft and landed, expecting the worst. David McClurg was killed in the crash. I carried his body to my helicopter and returned to home base. During the next several days, as we grappled with the grief of losing one of our unit members, I realized David was a hero also. He didn't pause to ask if he should go, he didn't hesitate. He didn't say it doesn't matter, the child will die anyway. Specialist David MacLurg answered the call when someone needed help, without regard for himself. David's name is on the wall in Washington DC at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.”

“My third hero is specialist Geoffrey Morris. Geoffrey was a drill sergeant's nightmare. Long hair, parted down the middle, granny glasses. He looked the part of the stereotype troublemaker, but he taught me a valuable lesson about dedication to mission. Our tours of duty in Vietnam were one year, 365 days long. We counted down the days until we left, from the new guy with 360+ long days to the short timer with only a few days left. Specialist Morris was a short timer, with less than 10 days left when the South Vietnamese army invaded the country of Laos with the objective of cutting the Ho Chi Minh trail, the major pipeline of supplies coming into South Vietnam. (Ed. This was Operation Lam Son 719) My unit provided medical evacuation coverage for that invasion, and Geoffrey Morris was a member of the unit. He could have stayed hiding in the base camp due to his short timer status, but no, he answered the call. He had already turned in his gear, his flight suits, his helmet, but that was no hindrance. He scrounged gear, found an aid bag, and climbed on the first available helicopter. It was chaotic during the first days of the invasion, and I was the operations officer. That left me little time to account for the soldiers in my flight section. When I got around to taking a head count several days later, I was astonished when I saw Morris. He hadn’t been able to scrounge any flight suits, so there he was in blue jeans, flying in the most intense anti-aircraft fire we had experienced, answering the call. Morris was past his rotation date, that day that each of us lived for, to catch the freedom bird back to the States. I didn't understand why, so I asked him. His reply- ‘Sir, you needed me.’ Geoffrey answered the call with a dedication I had not seen before. With him, as well as with David MacLurg, it was service before self, answer the call. That is why these soldier medics, graduates of this same course you are graduating from, are heroes I have known."                                     Geoffrey Morris, Medic and Silver Star recipient

New, at the time, Pilot Bob Carter has one memory of Geoffrey Morris that he shared with this author. “The Geoffery story I like to tell is I'm the new Aircraft Commander and at the end of a mission I'm telling the FNG (co-pilot) all about my superior skill and experience while filling in the log book. I break my pencil and tell Geoffry to go get me another. He says he is busy and that I might get my own pencil... I turn in my seat (with) my mouth open and........Geoffry and the Crew Chief are covered in blood, mucking the gore and pieces and parts off the deck. I learn a valuable lesson and hopefully passed it on to others...Thank you, Geoffrey....”
 

PART 3
1 AND 2 JUNE 1970

NOBODY DIED THOSE DAYS,
BUT BOY, WAS IT COSTLY!

Researching this story was quite an eye-opener for me because I had no idea DMZ Dustoff had incurred so many losses at the same place and virtually at the same time. Had I not been wounded in November of 1969 and sent home early as I was, I most likely would have been involved here myself. FSB “Tun Tavern”, the subject of Cox and Carter being shot down on June 1st (Part 1) was manned by South Vietnamese Infantry supported by an Australian Advisor.

We pick up the story of Tun Tavern from Hal “Stoney” Stone, a Crew Chief originally assigned to the 477th Aerial Rocket Artillery- the Cobra Gunships called “Griffins” which flew for the 101st Airborne Division. Stone, Kim Peters and Bobby C. Campbell were all Cobra crew chiefs, but because the Cobra just has two tandem seats for the pilots, the crew chiefs can only fly very rarely, if ever. So the three crew chiefs, who had gone through almost all of their Army careers together, volunteered to fly Dustoff so they could get some “air” time.

Stoney is the crew chief for George Rose Yakush and Rob Halvorson (HILL AND BRADLEY?) as they pick up Cox, Carter, Campbell and Morris from Part 1. After returning the downed crew and the wounded to the 18th Surgical Hospital at Quang Tri, Stone and his crew were called back to Tun Tavern for more wounded. Knowing the situation, they married up with the Griffins, the same Cobra pilots that the three crew chiefs had “wrenched” for just months before. The Huey came in low and fast, flying up a ravine that gave them some degree of cover, and popped up onto the ridge to make their pickup as 4 Cobras gave them cover. At the time, they didn’t realize it, but they were being fired at with small arms fire as they made their low level approach. What they did realize is that as soon as they touched down, mortars began hitting all around them. Stoney remembers, “We headed to "Tun Tavern. As we approached , I could see smoke. The helicopter was on fire, on it's side. We landed and loaded Carter, Cox, Morris, Bobby C. and other patients. We returned to the 18th Surg. That was the last time I saw Bobby C.” The wounded were loaded and the Dustoff departed, but the aircraft sustained some minor small arms damage and shrapnel from the mortars. Off to the hospital again when another call comes in…Tun Tavern has more wounded!  Huey cargo compartment: Crew chief sat on the left, Medic on the right. Medic’s flight vest is laying on the floor, ready to be put on at a moment’s notice. Aid kit is a compartmentalized cardboard box! Crew chief has discarded ammo box for his tools and some weapons he has scrounged from previous missions. Crew sits on 18 inch armor plates covered in Army blankets for comfort. Same plates are strapped to 18 inch doors for some small degree of side protection. Extra ammo and pilots rifles can be seen hanging on armored seat backs.



A helicopter in an LZ instantly becomes a high value target, and the enemy seized the opportunity to drop additional ordinance on Tun Tavern to try to take out another Medevac helicopter. The additional mortars launched into the Fire Support Base created more casualties and they had to go back! As it turned out, they went back several times and every time they landed, they would take small arms fire on approach and mortars upon landing. And each time they returned, it created more wounded. On one of the pick-ups, Stoney remembers catching movement in his peripheral vision “It was a body flying when a mortar hit next to him. All in all, we made 9 trips to the LZ that day, each time with the Griffins and each time we took fire and picked up more wounded.” Incredibly, with some Plexiglas shot out and many hits on the aircraft, nothing critical was damaged and they continued to fly the same aircraft all day. “Each time, we went in with the Cobras and each time we took hits” said Stone. “I remember talking to the Cobras on the way back and forth to the LZ.” These were the men Stoney had served with earlier and although it was rarely utilized, the crew in the cargo compartment had the ability to transmit and receive radio calls.
                                     Hal Stone, Crew Chief

“Finally it got to the point that we just couldn’t fly the aircraft anymore” Stone continues, “so Kim Peters and his crew flew in to make a pick-up at the LZ the next day. They got shot down on the first attempt!”        Crew Chief Kim Peters at left keeping a watchful eye and Dustoff 705, Rob Halvorson, in flight.



2 JUNE 1970
PART 4

THE LOSS OF ANOTHER HUEY

Rob Halvorson remembers being shot down. “I don't remember the date or the helicopter (Ed: tail number 69-15131). A battalion of ARVNs were put in to reopen Tun Tavern and got the crap beat out of them. I heard that the entire battalion staff was killed or wounded the first day and replaced. I know that the slicks were hauling in replacements while George was hauling the wounded out the first day. There was a ravine running down the mountain to the river from the top. We would get in that ravine and roar up to the top. When you got to the top there were two pads and you could pick whichever one felt lucky.”

“Walt Adams and I were first up the next morning. We had a bird that I think that he and I picked up in Saigon when it was brand new. Al Gaidis and I got the AC's rudder pedal shot off of it at Charger down in Da Nang's AO. It had less than 50 hours on it when Walt (“Itchy Pink” Adams) and I broke it.”Walt "Itchy Pink" Adams


“As I recall the highest ranking ARVN was an NCO and there was one Australian advisor on the ground. The majority of the ARVNs were walking wounded. We came flying up the ravine and picked the pad on the right side. We landed at the same time as several mortars also landed and the ship went over and broke the main shaft. They drilled into you in flight school to always kill the battery if you were going in so as not to catch fire. As we started rolling over I killed the battery. Unfortunately the engine didn't die and without power you can't depress the solonoid that keeps you from rolling off the throttle to kill the engine. So the engine kept running. Walt and the guys in back went out the right side which was now the top. I was on the bottom so I decided to break the windshield and go out the front. That thing is a lot tougher than you would think. At one point I was beating on the plexiglas with the butt of my pistol 'til I realized where the barrel was pointing every time the pistol made contact.”

“I made my way into the back of the helicopter and there were 3 ARVNs there. One was just sitting there and I picked him up, lifted him over the side and dumped him, the second one I had to catch because he didn't want to leave. The third guy was pinned by his legs and right shoulder by the helicopter when it went over. I couldn't be sure if he had a pulse or not. I was worried about him burning when the ship caught fire and actually had my pistol out while I was debating the morality of shooting him to keep him from suffering. At that point I realized that I was standing in a deep pool of JP4 (Ed. Jet Fuel) and that while he was unconscious, I was not. So I decided that he was on his own and I left.”

“The first place I came to when I bailed was a conex (Ed: metal military shipping container) with a bunch of wounded in it. I asked them as best I could who was in charge and they indicated that it was me. I declined and spotted a foxhole with an ARVN corporal with a radio in it. I ran and jumped into his fighting position and asked if I could use his radio. He graciously consented and I made a call telling the world that we were down and needed to be picked up. I heard an Australian voice say something to the effect of "Dustoff 705, X-ray Zulu 36 -- we have everything under control and we will take care of you!" Now at this point we were taking mortar fire, machine gun fire and there were cobras working out overhead. I looked and saw the rest of the crew in a fighting position a little ways away and near them was another Caucasian working a radio. I jumped up, ran over and jumped into his fighting position. I stuck out my hand and said "Dustoff 705!" and he replied "X-ray Zulu 36" and I knew I was screwed.”
                      Unidentified Fire Support base in northern South Vietnam



“After things calmed down a little bit Walt & I recovered my helmet and sunglasses from the helicopter and we made contact with DMZ Dustoff. We tried again to kill the engine and debated turning on the battery long enough to roll off the throttle and decided not to. (Ed. So apparently, this Huey laid there on it’s side, engine running, until it ran out of fuel. That could have been over an hour!) George agreed to pick us up but since my bird was occupying one of the pads we decided it would be better to be picked up further down the ridgeline outside the wire. We had a bunch of walking wounded with us, Walt had one ARVN piggy back and I was carrying the Aussie's secure radio. We went out the wire and down the hill immediately outside the wire. When we got to the bottom the Aussie said "Take care! That's where we took our last push from!” Really made me feel better. There were dead NVA all over the place and we were in tall elephant grass. Walt spotted a Chicom pistol but figured it was probably booby trapped and left it. He told me he tried to get one of the wounded ARVNs to grab it but they wouldn't. We made our way out to the end of the ridge expecting to get fired upon at any time even though there were Cobra's and Loaches overhead. We got to the end, George swooped in and picked us up and gave us a hard time for having to do it. Something about him flying all day without getting hit and we can't even do it once. I am afraid I can't give you the details because I gave the mic jack back to the crew chief when Rose got all cranked up.”

Warrant Officer Walt “Itchy Pink” Adams gives us his perspective of the incident: “The aircraft that was blown up was the only chopper lost that day, as far as I know. As to a chopper making multiple pickups from one place, I do believe that would have been George Rose and one of the new pilots that got killed with Bob Hill (Warrant Officer Mike Bradley). George Rose had on one day (Ed. June 1st), evacuated many ARVN from Tun Tavern. Rose had the only pilot available at that time (Bradley). The following day, Halvorson and I were flying the 1st up missions as AC and Pilot. We started out early the following morning. After loading many patients, while attempting to leave, we took incoming mortars, I believe the first hit was on the horizontal stabilizer, which did not stop us, the second one was on a rotor brace, SCREWED THINGS UP A BIT. I got wounded, and was awarded the purple heart by the 18th Surgical Hospital. There were no 4 cobras escorting us on our missions EVER, that I remember. I think I have seen a cobra, and some Charlie model gunships, some air force jets, but 4 cobras, not to my recollection, not on this day . When Halvorson and I got blown up on Tun Tavern, we endured the mortar barrage, and when we got fire support, it was from the Air Force Jets. Then we contacted DMZ Dust Off, and, Yes, Rose was the man of the hour, and our crew departed Tun Tavern, down the ridgeline, over the dead NVA soldiers, over to another spot where Rose picked us up. Halvorson carried a secure radio set, I carried a severely wounded ARVN soldier, and the crew chief and medic, made safe observations as we transitioned from Tun Tavern over to a place where Rose picked us up.  
 
                          Warrant officer Mike Bradley


Hal remembers the night cobras parked at LZ. Bad guys scrambled when they heard them crank   “deity mao“

Research on the internet regarding Tun Tavern also revealed this bit of information:
Divisional Operation Texas Star
1 APR 70 to 5 SEP 70
Courtesy Terry Atkinson

 
The following “narrative description” accompanied the recommendation for an award of the Presidential Unit Citation for 2nd Squadron (Airmobile), 17th Cavalry. The S-3 section prepared the account using the operations logs filed daily at Squadron headquarters. The award recommendation was prepared at the direction of the Squadron Commander, LTC Robert Molinelli. This document was completed sometime in late December 1970 or early January 1971.
A few years back, I stumbled across a copy of the award recommendation in my personal papers. At the time I was corresponding with the B Troop historian at Fort Campbell to whom I sent a photocopy of the entire recommendation package.
The text is an interesting day-by day account of operations from April through early September of 1970. I cleaned up grammatical error and misspellings. However, I left the details as we wrote them 35 years ago. I hope you all enjoy the memories.
Terry Atkinson, CPT Armor,
Scout Platoon Leader & Squadron Assistant S-3 (Air)
1970-1971    

The part of this report pertaining to this time at Tun Tavern reads thus:
After two days of inclement weather, the Squadron continued routine reconnaissance operations. On 21 May, south of Fire Support Base Tun Tavern, A Troop observed eight to ten NVA and engaged them with a pink team and Aerial Rocket Artillery. A total of eight NVA were killed. In the far western reconnaissance zone, an OH-6A was downed by enemy anti-aircraft fire near the intersection of Route 616 with the Laotian Border. The aircraft caught fire, crashed and exploded wounding one crewmember on board. A B Troop OH-6A was shot down by 12.7-mm machine gun fire near the A Shau airstrip. The B Troop Command and Control attempted to recover the downed aircrew but intensive ground fire and three hits forced the ship to return to Camp Eagle. The Squadron Commander arrived on station with another B Troop pink team and eight cobra gunships scrambled from throughout the Squadron. An estimated NVA company was attempting to maneuver towards the wounded pilot and observer, but was pinned down by intense and accurate fire from the gunships. The Squadron Commander landed near the downed crew and performed the extraction sustaining only two hits.
In the early afternoon while working with the 2nd Battalion, 502nd Infantry, a B Troop OH-6A was hit by enemy ground fire near Fire Support Base Ripcord and made a precautionary landing to assess damage. Inspection of damage revealed the aircraft non-flyable and a rigging crew was dropped into the landing zone. While departing the landing zone, the UH-1H extracting the OH-6A received intense ground fire. The OH-6A sustained more hits and burst into flames. The aircraft was jettisoned resulting in its total loss.
During the last few days of May and the early weeks of June, the Squadron supported the 54th ARVN Regiment during attacks on Fire Support Base Tun Tavern, with assets from two Troops. Command and Control aircraft directed air strikes, tube artillery, and Aerial Rocket Artillery gunships against enemy locations around the besieged firebase. The air cavalry troops were instrumental in destroying the enemy forces assaulting the ARVN stronghold.
From the first to the fourth of June, elements from the cavalry continued to operate in the Tun Tavern-Langly area. On 2 June, an estimated two NVA Battalions attempted to breach allied defenses with a large-scale ground attack against Fire Support Base Tun Tavern. Pink teams from B Troop directed aerial rocket artillery against the determined enemy. Forced to retreat, the NVA left 40 dead and 1 captured by the 54th ARVN Regiment. Arc Light, TAC Air, and heavy artillery strikes throughout the night completed the decimation of the enemy units. The next two days consisted of mopping up operations in the area and the shattered NVA units withdrew to reorganize their ranks and replace their losses. Throughout the week of heavy fighting the 2nd Squadron, 17th Cavalry, maintained continuous pink teams over the firebase. The troopers located enemy mortar, rocket, anti-aircraft, and troop positions around the firebase and directed air strikes and aerial rocket artillery onto the targets. More than two hundred NVA soldiers were killed during the defense of Fire Support Base Tun Tavern.
So there you have it; Bob Carter solidifies his “Crash” nickname at Tun Tavern and we have now re-created the events of 1 and 2 June 1970 at the same LZ. We called it “Indian Country”. The enemy lived there, controlled it then and always would control it. We were playing in his backyard and he wasn’t very happy about it. But we were fighting a limited war; the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong knew that all they had to do was wait us out, that we would eventually leave. They moved troops and supplies through Laos and Cambodia with impunity while we were not “allowed” to go there. In 1973, the last US troops finally left South Vietnam and 2 years later, in 1975, the country fell to the Communists. It seems that all these losses were for naught; it is up to Historians to decide if that was the case. 
                                  “Indian Country” Beautiful but very hostile during the War.

I mailed my CHL renewal to Austin along with my certificate showing I had attended class, passed the written test & the shooting test.  Since this was important to me I sent it certified mail with a tracking number so I would know that they had received it.  So it left San Antonio on the 12th with an estimated delivery date of the 13th.  On the 14th it arrived at the sorting unit in Austin and never moved again.  Still has the estimated delivery date of the 13th.  I called my local post office and they said "I wouldn't worry about it because we almost never lose mail.  Probably someone should call Austin though."  Guess who he thought should call Austin. Hint, it wasn't him.  So I called Austin and the woman there was very nice.  "I see where it arrived and got put into a book to go to DPS. Let me have them check in the back."  So after a while a very nice guy comes on and says "I see where we scanned it in and I went through 7 pages of scans going to DPS that day and don't see yours going out.  I am sure that DPS got it because we very seldom lose stuff.  You should check with them."  At this point I am thinking to myself "surely if you don't know where it is, then it is lost" but I didn't say it.  I called DPS and the nice gentleman there was able to discern that it had indeed arrived.  So now all I have to do is wait.

I spent a while wiki wandering before coming to work.  I got started with a Kindle blog entry about the Department of Justice going after Apple and the big six book publishers minus Random House for collusion and price fixing.  Seems that when Amazon was the big dog they told the world and the publishers that e-books would be available when new hardbacks came out and that they would sell for no more than $9.99.  The publishers were afraid that Amazon had too much power and when Steve Jobs was ready to launch the first IPAD he talked the big six minus Random House into going to an agency model and jammming it down Amazon's throat.  The agency model is that Apple and Amazon and anyone else selling e-books are only acting as agents for the publishers. The publishers set the price and the sellers cannot deviate from that setpoint.  So the price jumped from $9.99 to $14.99 for new releases.  Apple says they had nothing to do with the whole thing and that it is all the publishers. Hard to buy since Job's bragged in his autobiography about putting the deal together.

The Scott Turow, famous author, came out with a letter saying that this was a terrible thing because if Amazon wasn't dealt with that the brick and mortar book stores would be a thing of the past and Americans would become illiterate and there would be no way for new authors to make a living.  Then several other well known authors came out and said that Turow was either a liar or very very mistaken.  It made for a very interesting wander.  

So here is my take.  I got involved with e-books and audio books back in the year 2000.  I got a new PDA, Compaq I think, and it came with the Audible Dot Com software and a thing called Microsoft Reader which had lit files.  This was really something.  I could carry a book or two around on my belt and read them where ever I was and listen to them on the way to work or etc.  These two programs introduced me to a number of new authors.  I also discovered free book giveaways, Amazon, Audible, and Baen books.

I have always been a prolific reader.  I used to go to the book store every week or even more.  I loved going to the big city because I could go to the used book store.  When I found an author I liked I would read everybook he or she had written to date.  With the discovery of the internet I also discovered that 1) the local book store didn't have every book an author had written, 2) it was cheaper and quicker to get the book from Amazon off the internet than it was to get by having the local bookstore order it.  Baen capitolized on this with their free library where they gave away the first book in a series to get you interested in the series.  I discovered David Weber this way and this has been a lucrative relationship for David.  When the Kindle came out I didn't have one but I discovered two things.  The Kindle app for laptops and free books.  I may not have mentioned this but I am into free in a big way.  I got a Kindle and I haven't looked back.  I probably have over 6000 Kindle books and they don't take up any space at all.  Of course that also means that you can't look at my bookshelves and see how literate I am.  

I discovered that I was only being exposed to a very minor selection of what was available to read in the brick and mortar bookstore.  If your favorite author didn't have a best seller out now you might not find any of his or her books in the store.  You probably wouldn't find any of his books published more than a few years ago.   So I started doing more online and less in a brick and mortar store.  I also noticed that all of my children are not prolific readers.  Personally, I think that as a whole Americans read less now than in bygone days.  I used to buy a new release hardback every two weeks if I could afford it.  I don't think I have bought a new release hardback in years.  I still get new releases, sometimes before they hit the stores.  I buy advance reader copies from Baen.  I get 2 new releases every month from Audible.  I buy the Kindle or Nook versions online.  I haven't been in Barnes and Noble in over a year.  If I want a book I can either get an ebook instantly or I can have Amazon ship it for free.

Many years ago I took a business course to be a better store manager.  The most valuable thing I brought away from the course was that you have to know what you are selling.  It isn't as obvious as you think and not knowing can make you broke.  For example you can buy a Cross pen from Walmart for $12.99 and the same pen from a jeweler for $36.99.  The same product but the two stores are not selling the same thing.  Walmart is selling economy and the jeweler is selling prestige.  Encyclopedia Britainica almost went bankrupt because they didn't realize that they were selling knowledge and not books when the encyclopedias on cd came out. They just announced that they are done with paper volumes. Railroads went broke because they forgot that they were selling transportation and not running choo choos.  The medium changes but the core product remains.  Do you have music on your Ipod?  Do you still listen to music?  When was the last time you were in a record store?  I first bought music on 45rpm single or 33 1/3 rpm albums.  Then on 8 tracks followed by cassettes followed by cds.  When was the last time you were in a record store?  I bet you have a larger choice of music now than you ever did.  When was the last time you went to the library to look something up in their encyclopedias?  Come on, you know you don't have one at home anymore.  In 3 years the percentage of books sold as ebooks has climbed.  Depending on who you believe ebooks account for between 17 & 19 percent of the books sold.  Amazon now sells 143 ebooks for every 100 dead tree books.

The market is changing.  The number of authors who get a contract from the traditional publishers is a tiny fraction of the whole.  Once they have that contract they have two books to make it big or they are gone.  Thousands of authors are now selling their work directly through Amazon or others.  Publishers can either change with the times or go the way of the dodo.