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“Four-One, this is Six. In five mikes, you’ll have two Cobras laying in suppressive fire and will break south. As soon as he clears, a bird will land at your location and pick up that crew. Have them standing by. As the bird is leaving, the other two will come in low and slow and kick out ammo to you. If they don’t take fire, they may be able to land and get your wounded. Be ready.”
With some renewed enthusiasm in his voice, Salley responded, “Gambler Six, I have a good copy and am standing by. The wounded are next to the touchdown point where the crew will be standing by. Over.” Lets get the wounded out and once this fight is over, we’ll load out the dead Salley is thinking.
“Four-One, good copy. Six out.”
Turning to the crew, Salley said, “Okay, time for you guys to go. When those rockets hit, there’s going to be a hell of a concussion, so stay in here next to the door. When that chopper lands, get in fast. Sorry about your pilot, but thanks for trying to help us. I got to brief Dai-uy, good luck.” And out the door he went.
Now there was nothing to do but wait, and not for long. With no warning except a swooshing sound immediately followed by a deafening explosion from impacting 2.75-inch rockets, all three crew members were almost knocked off their feet from the concussion wave that followed instantly behind the explosions. Damn, that was close, Gordon thought.
Slightly dazed, they stood for a minute, shaking their heads, before they found their feet and moved out of the bunker to the sound of a UH-1H Chicken-man chopper. Emblazoned across the chopper’s nose were the Chicken-man symbol and the name “Shakey Chicken.” He was on short final and taking fire from the northeast. As Gordon watched, he realized something wasn’t right. Shakey Chicken flared at the designated touchdown point as intended and landed. Tonjes, Patterson and Gordon didn’t need an invitation before they got on board.
“Let’s go, let’s go,” Gordon screamed out as he dove through the cargo door, but the aircraft wasn’t moving. In fact, the crew was moving rapidly to get out. Then Gordon’s fear was realized—the aircraft had no choice but to land as the engine had been shot out on the approach and the aircraft had in fact autorotated to the touchdown point. Shakey Chicken was going nowhere. Instead of one crew to get out, now two crews were stuck on Firebase Six. And now the other aircraft had no place to land to pick them up.
Chapter 31
Try as You Might
“Chicken-man One-Three, Gambler Six, over,” said the senior ARVN advisor, answering Frank’s call on the FM radio.
“Gambler Six, Chicken-man One-Three, go ahead.”
“Chicken-man One-Three, you have a bird down on Firebase Six. Do you want to attempt to get the crew out?” He failed to inform Frank that there were only three crew members to be extracted.
No shit, Frank was thinking. “Gambler Six, I would, but we’re going to need some gun support to do it.”
“Chicken-man, I have four guns inbound to Dak To that will escort you to the firebase and lay down suppressive fire for you. If they do, we might be able to get your crew as well as the wounded out. Over.”
Frank had to think about this one. I want to get our guys out, and if—if—things are suppressed, take the wounded out, but damn, we’re really going to need some suppressive fire. Four Cobras might be enough to get one bird in, but all three? Maybe…
“Gambler Six, Chicken-man One-Three.”
“Go ahead, Chicken-man.”
“Gambler, with four gunships I’ll see about getting the first aircraft in, but let’s reevaluate the situation after I come out to see about getting the next two on the firebase. Over.”
“Chicken-man One-Three, I copy and concur. How soon can you launch? Guns are two minutes from Dak To. Call sign is Death Dagger Three-One on this push. Over.”
“Roger, we’re waiting to load ammo and then will be off Dak To. I’ll contact Death Dagger Three-One. Break, break, Death Dagger Three-One, Chicken-man One-Three.”
“Chicken-man One-Three, meet me on two three five Uniform Hotel Foxtrot.”
“Roger.” And Frank changed radio frequencies on the UHF radio, keeping the FM 1 radio clear to talk to Gambler Six.
“Death Dagger Three-One, Chicken-man One-Three, over.”
“Chicken-man One-Three, welcome to flying in Two Corps. Understand you have a bird down on Firebase Six. Over.”
“Death Dagger, that is affirmative. Bad guys control the north si
de of the firebase, friendlies on the south side. The last approach by a flight of two was west to east on the south side. I’m going to approach south to north this time. Over.”
“Chicken-man, sounds good. I’ll have two birds on each side ahead of you to clear a path and two slightly behind to cover you on the ground. How copy?”
“Death Dagger Three-One, sounds good. They may want my other two birds to come in as well behind me, but let’s wait until I come out and see what the situation is. Over.”
“Chicken-man One-Three, what is your departure route?”
“Coming out on the same path I came in on. I will not overfly the north side. South in and out appears to be best. Over.”
