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“Where’s the aircraft?” Major Adams asked calmly but with disappointment in his voice.
“The aircraft is on Firebase Five. They retrieved the crew chief and have him there, but he’s hurt pretty bad. They’ll try to get the other three bodies out with him.”
“Have you reported this to Battalion yet?” the major asked, looking at Curran.
“No, sir, I thought it best to tell you first, then call them.”
“Okay, you notify Battalion O
ps. I’ll call Colonel Shelton. Al, you contact casualty assistance as soon as we have some names. Is there a plan to get the injured crew member?” the major asked Captain Curran.
“I don’t know, sir. Let me talk to Battalion and see if we can work something out.”
“What the hell was he doing up at Five anyway?” Major Adams was starting to blow a gasket. “We’ve told these guys not to go to Five or Six. It’s just too damn dangerous. Hell, it took how many days before someone could get to Six and retrieve Reid? Now we’re going to be dick-dancing trying to get this crew out. Dammit!”
Major Adams was not one to use profanity. Dammit was about his limit, and then only under duress. When he did use it, you knew he was upset. Both Lieutenant Gore and Captain Curran thought now would be a good time to get out of the blast area that they were sure was to follow. They both excused themselves to “take care of the issues” and departed.
Major Adams was normally a very calm and patient leader, but his stress level was increasing because of Reid’s death, combined with the number of aircraft coming in each day with battle damage. After they were gone, Major Adams sat and took some deep breaths to calm his nerves. Dammit, it’s just not making sense that we’re still flying and this is a lost cause. Lam Son 719 didn’t crush the NVA but simply emboldened them, and now they’re pushing down Highway 17 and Highway 9, filling the void that the ARVNs left after that debacle. Lam Son 719 was supposed to disrupt their supplies, raise the confidence of the ARVN and prove that the ARVN could defend their country. What’s happened is just the opposite. The supplies are flowing down the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the ARVN has his tail between his legs and he can’t defend squat. This is a lost cause, so let’s just get out of here as quick and clean as possible. Although he kept it to himself, like many of the pilots, he was wondering why we were still in this fight when the support of the American people was in rapid decline.
Picking up his phone, he called the battalion commander. “This is Major Adams. Let me speak to the colonel.”39
“Adams, what you got?” asked Lieutenant Colonel Shelton when he came on the line. He was a man of few words.
“Sir, we just lost an aircraft on Firebase Five. It was one of the attached aircraft. Details are sketchy right now, but I do know that one crew member survived the crash, but he’s injured. The pilots and the door gunner did not make it.”
“Was it a shoot-down?”
“Sir, at this point I don’t know. Another aircraft was with him from what I understand, and as soon as that crew gets back, I’ll debrief them and pass the details to you.”
“Is medevac going to attempt to retrieve the injured crew member?” Colonel Shelton asked.
“Sir, at this point I just don’t know. Let me get some solid answers as well as concrete information and I’ll get back to you.”
After a pause with a noticeable sigh, Colonel Shelton replied, “Okay. We need to think about getting the rest of the crew out of there. Medevac won’t go in there go retrieve the crew’s bodies, so that will be up to us. I’ll call Group and notify them. The rest of your boys okay?”
“Yes, sir, they’re all fine, but to be truthful, getting shot at every day is taking a toll on them, I suspect. And Maintenance is getting worn down between required inspections, normal maintenance and repairing damaged aircraft,” the major indicated.
“Let me see if I can work out another stand-down for your crews in the next couple of days. The Gladiators had one last week, and it did them a world of good.”
“Glad to hear that, sir, and it would be appreciated if my boys could get one. The one we had last month was a blessing for the maintenance folks. Thank you,” Major Adams said.
Hanging up the phone, the major decided he would head over to Flight Ops and see if any more information had come in on this situation. It was getting late in the day, and there would only be about another hour of daylight flying. Flying at night was a bit safer as antiaircraft gunners couldn’t see you, but the radar-guided guns didn’t need to see you, and that was when they came out.
Walking into Flight Ops, Major Adams saw Captain Curran on the radio.
“Roger, Chicken-man Three, out.” Captain Curran handed the handset to the clerk, who was writing in the daily log.
“What’s the word?” Major Adams asked.
“Well, sir, it appears they were asked to run a resupply of ammo and C-rations into Firebase Five. Things had been quiet all day so it seemed like a good idea. They got in just fine, but when they started to take off, all hell broke loose. An RPG may have gotten them as they came up to a hover. The crew chief has a bad leg wound. His name is Specialist Littleton. Medevac attempted to get in to retrieve him, but ground fire forced them out. They’re going to make a second attempt later this afternoon or tonight. The pilots and door gunner are dead. I’ve notified Lieutenant Gore of the names so he can get the ball rolling on that end. I also put a call through to their assigned company and spoke with their Ops officer.”
“Has Battalion said anything about getting the bodies out of there?”
“No, sir,” Captain Curran replied.
“Okay. Battalion is going to try to get us a stand-down day in the next week or so. I think we all could use it. What are the missions for tomorrow?”
“I spoke with Maintenance, and as it stands right now, we can only put eight aircraft up tomorrow, and that’s if no one comes in tonight with damage. I know a couple of aircraft have taken hits today, but I am not aware of the extent of the damage. Maybe with luck, we can get a couple of more up tonight for a total of ten.” Captain Curran didn’t answer the question about missions, as assigned missions normally didn’t come down until very early in the morning once aircraft availability was passed up to Battalion.
