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“Snake Six-One, Chicken-man One-Two,” Ritchie called.
“Chicken-man One-Two, Snake Six-One.”
“Yeah, Snake Six-One, we have one more load for you of chow and ammo. We’ll backhaul any empty water cans you have for us. Should be back in one-five mikes. Over.”
“Roger, Chicken-man, see you soon. Snake Six-One out.”
Arriving back at the firebase, Zuccardi brought the aircraft into the log pad, which was compressed grass, so there was little dust to contend with. As soon as the aircraft was on the ground, Vietnamese soldiers started tossing everything left into the aircraft, to include the chickens and the pig. One Vietnamese soldier also got in to keep the pig and chickens under control. Lovelace motioned to the Vietnamese that if the pig crapped, he was cleaning it up. He understood but did not look happy. When all was set, Zuccardi came to a hover, checking his power, and started climbing out when he was satisfied.
“Okay, talk me through how you’re going to make your approach to the landing zone,” Ritchie said.
“I’ll make a right-hand pattern, tight over the landing zone so I can keep it in sight. Land to the south with a tight final approach turn and rapid deceleration,” Zuccardi replied.
“Sounds good,” Ritchie acknowledged.
As the aircraft approached the vicinity of the landing zone, Ritchie called for smoke, which was quickly visible from the same location as before. Snake Six-One confirmed that it was Goofy Grape. Zuccardi began his descent in a right-hand pattern.
“Taking fire, taking fire!” Mondie yelled and opened fire, hitting the area north of the landing zone with M60 machine-gun fire in exchange for green tracers coming up at the aircraft. The pig also opened fire all over the interior, much to Lovelace’s displeasure. Zuccardi increased his power and his turn to get back towards the friendly position while clawing for altitude.
“Chicken-man, break, break, break, we are in contact!” Snake Six-One was on the radio.
“Roger, Snake Six-One, Chicken-man is standing by.” Looking back, Ritchie could see North Vietnamese green tracers on the north side of the landing zone being exchanged with red tracers from the south side.
“Zuccardi, come left,” Ritchie directed. Looking back, he not only saw where the firing was coming from, he could see several water buffaloes that had what appeared to be ammo boxes on their backs. Because of the dense ground brush, Snake Six-One probably couldn’t see this, but an aircraft at some altitude certainly could.
“Snake Six-One, Chicken-man, over.”
“Go, Chicken-man.” Sounds of automatic weapons and explosions could be heard in the background.
“Snake Six-One, I have the enemy location in sight. Request permission to adjust artillery.”
“Chicken-man, if you can see them, kill them.”
“Roger, Snake.” Quickly switching to FM 1 frequency while keeping Snake Six-One on FM 2, Ritchie called for artillery support. “Song Be Arty, Chicken-man One-Two. Fire mission.”
“Go, Chicken-man One-Two.”
“Song Be Arty, fire mission. Troops in the open,” Ritchie said, giving the coordinates and completing the call for fire request.8
“Chicken-man One-Two, shot, over,” he heard a minute later, meaning the five 105-millimeter howitzers in support had just fired.
“Song Be Arty, shot out,” Ritchie responded, indicating that he knew rounds were in the air.
“Chicken-man One-Two, splash, over” he heard next, indicating that those five high-explosive rounds should be hitting the ground within five seconds.
“Song Be Arty, splash, out,” acknowledging the rounds were about to impact.
KABOOM, KABOOM, KABOOM, KABOOM, KABOOM.
“Song Be Arty, danger close, drop one hundred, right one hundred, over,” Ritchie said, notifying the artillery that they were getting close to friendly troops and adjusting the impact point.9
“Chicken-man One-Two, roger. Drop one hundred, right one hundred, danger close,” Song Be Arty responded, then a minute later, “Chicken-man One-Two, shot, over.” Thirty seconds later: “Chicken-man One-Two, splash, over.”
“Roger, splash, out.” The rounds landed, and the water buffaloes with the packs disappeared.
“Song Be Arty, fire for effect.” And five more rounds screamed in on the target. Green tracers ceased from the enemy position.
“Chicken-man One-Two, Snake Six-One, cease fire, repeat, cease fire.”
