Heroic Combat Flight Wins [removed] High Honor

CHIEF WARRANT OFFICER David B. [removed], 20, of Riverview, has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroic action as a combat pilot in Vietnam.

A 1968 graduate of St. Thomas Academy, he is the son of Dr. and Mrs. Frank J. [removed].

A member of the 17^th Air Cavalry, he entered the Army in July of 1968. He arrived overseas on Christmas Eve of last year. [Actually, Christmas day!)

The Army's description of his action which earned him the Distinguished Flying Cross follows:

Chief Warrant Officer [removed] was cited for heroism while participating in aerial flight, evidenced by voluntary actions above and beyond the call of duty 17 miles north of Quan Loi, Republic of Vietnam.

CW2 [removed] distinguished himself while serving as aircraft command of an AH-1G Cobra gunship called to support an ARVN unit engaged in contact with an NVA battalion.

Arriving on station, CW2 [removed] gave expert cover to a Medivac helicopter as it extracted the wounded soldiers from the contact area.

AFTER RECEIVING a mark on the enemy position from the ground commander, CW2 [removed] swiftly guided his Cobra on target in an attempt to destroy the enemy. CW2 [removed] further exemplified himself when his aircraft became the target of numerous automatic weapons and 51 caliber anti-aircraft machine guns.

Without regard for his personal safety, he made repeated passes into the anti-aircraft fire, delivering deadly accurate rockets.

He then spotted a machine gun emplacement and deftly dove [Sic.] his Cobra on target rendering the position unserviceable.

CW2 [REMOVED]'S aircraft had received hits so severe that the ammunition compartment caught fire and he was forced to land. After making sure that the fire was extinguished and the aircraft flyable, he again came to altitude.

He sighted another Cobra which had just arrived on station and rolled in marking the target with two pair of rockets The CW2 [removed] proceeded home with his badly wounded aircraft.

Due to his outstanding flying ability, devotion to duty, and keen sense of professionalism, he enabled several comrades lives to be saved and severely damaged a large enemy installation.

Now for the real story: After we had landed to check out the aircraft, we discovered that the tail (which is held on by four bolts) was now held on by only three. We discovered later that there were over 60 hits to the aircraft and that it had to be sent back to the states. Since my co-pilot that day, Ed Marzola, was also the maintenance officer, we changed positions (I became his co-pilot) for the ride home. It was he who marked the area for the Cobra arriving on station. When we returned to base, we grabbed another Cobra and came back to the site. The Cobra that had relieved us was on the ground burning. The co-pilot, Barnett, later died. The pilot, Toms, recovered and flew a second tour in Nam.

Hi Benny,

Yes, it has been a long time, glad you survived too! A "little spin"? (I had mentioned in my letter to him that I was one of the aircraft above him when he spun out of control and lost the aircraft. He was new to scouts, having left the Cobra platoon just a couple of weeks earlier.) If you've never done one don't-it will make your eyeballs bulge out! The "Loach" (Light Observation Helicopter, LOH, but called Loach) I was in may have been "Jody". Roger Young was the CE (Crew chief) for that aircraft-he was so pissed off at me ruining his baby that 30 years later the S.O.B. posted "before and after" photographs on the internet to show the world what happens if you let Shulze drive.

Yeah, I remember that other action too-quite well in fact. Here's the way I remember it. We drew a support mission for an ARVN slick company to insert in an area that intelligence had indicated was very active. You and I arrived without any minigun, so I took over the flight from Duncan so that he could cover our breaks.(The co-pilot, me, in this instance, has a turret consisting of a minigun, an electric machine gun which fires 4,000 rounds per minute, and a 40 mm grenade launcher that fires 450 rounds per minute. Both were inoperable, meaning, that I was just along for the ride. All I could do was take a few pictures of the enemy firing at me every time we got near them.) The CC (Command and Control helicopter filled with the brass in charge of the operation) wanted us to scout the heavily wooded area that they "suspected" contained the bad guys (turned out intelligence had it right-a heavy weapons company). We dropped down to 50' and made a pass about 200 yards out from the tree line. The bad guys opened up with AKs (the Russian semi-automatic rifle, AK47, named after its inventor Kalachinikov) and I called "receiving fire 9 o'clock" When we made our break out from the tree line, I expected Duncan to put fire on them-he was completely out of position and couldn't do anything.

At this point, I should indicate that most of the "gun pilots" in the unit had been flying Hunter-Killer (a "pink" team consisting of a Cobra, red, and a LOH, white: the LOH buzzes around the trees scouting about and trying to draw fire, while the Cobra circles above waiting for the LOH Commander to call him in for the kill) and had never flow in gun teams or done escort missions. They had no idea what was expected of them-and this was a lousy day to try and learn it on the run!

After we got up a little more altitude the CC wanted us to go back and check it again. We did and exactly the same thing occurred (this time we were about 300 meters out from the tree line).

About this time Silver Spur 34 (our unit was called the Silver Spurs; each pilot/aircraft commander had a call sign of Silver Spur and a number) showed up on station, now we had a 3 ship gun team where two of the guns had no experience with what was to follow. The slick company was going to insert in another paddock away from where we took fire. I warned 34 to stay away from the tree line that we had taken fire from. I called for a left orbit around the LZ (Landing Zone). As the flight went in, I set up my "s" turns to stay with the flight and make my rocket run as they were entering the LZ. We made a classic insertion under the cover of rockets, as we broke left I notice Duncan was way back from the LZ and had not even got off a rocket. You and I had to go wide to salvage the orbit. 34 on the other hand flew right over the tree line where we had taken the fire. He got ripped up with several .30s (30 caliber machine gun) and a .50 (actually, a 51 caliber anti-aircraft gun). The .50 split his fuel cell open and he made straight for Ca Mau (he made it just before it emptied). (I recall coming alongside his damaged craft and Terry telling him not to fire his rockets...or he'd burst into flames.)

The grunts (infantry soldiers) just made it into the tree line when they came under attack. The bad guys were shifting from where we pegged them and things were getting hot. I knew where the .50 was, so we went up to about 1200 feet and told Duncan to put his rockets on ours. We rolled in to a few muzzle flashes and then blew the crap out of them. No more .50.

The grunts were in heavy contact and needed more back up. We kept inserting troops. By about the third insertion we were down to our last 3 pairs of rockets. I'd saved them for when something "serious" happened. After that, you and I just drew fire away from the slicks as they were in the LZ. (And took pictures.) By now, Duncan had also got the hang of things and was keeping a tight orbit around the slicks. We kept our airspeed up and hung out over the edge of the LZ and let the bad guys try to shoot a Cobra down.

I remember at one point you said we had just taken 3 hits. I said, "No-only one hit; the other two were our own rocket frags." (When you fire rockets at close range, sometimes you get hit by your own shrapnel.)

There was one particular break away from the tree line that really shook me up. As we made the break I could see all the tracers flying past out aircraft and it literally took my breath away. In an attempt to calm my nerves I radioed "Wow, did I just take some fire."

We got all the grunts in without a single slick going down. We made back to Ca Mau to see 34. He wasn't going anywhere. You and I had only taken a single round in the tail which just creased our torque tube-the aircraft was still flyable.

Duncan had several hits, one of which had almost severed his torque tube-he didn't discover it until he got back to Soc Trang.

When we got back to Soc Trang the weirdest thing happened (this is why I remember the action so vividly)-we got our asses chewed out. A Troop would not be able to meet its gun availability the next day (terrible inconvenience that). The CO (Company Commander) called all the pilots into the briefing room and explained how gun tactics were to be flown. We were to stay at a minimum of 1200 feet and maintain an orbit on one side of the LZ.

Of course that would mean that the slicks would be wide open to fire as they went into and out of the LZ. I couldn't help myself and voiced my opinion-that is probably just one of the reasons why I never made AC (Aircraft Commander) in A Troop (bad attitude!).

It must have been quite a ride for you that day. As I recall you were just new in country. I had flown hundreds of missions like that on my first tour with the 1^st Cav. so it was all very familiar to me-except the ass chewing in front of the unit.

Terry

Terry, Benny, thanks for sharing all of this gentlemen!

And Terry, for the record, <G> I'm not pissed about the loss of Jody. I'm only happy you all made it back alive!! You were NOT the only one who lost a LOH from a tailrotor spin. Please don't beat yourself up, ok?

I had just joined the troop in the first week of January. I was trained stateside on OH-58's and had a great deal to learn about the OH-6A. The C.E.'s such as Brandenburg, Chandler, Schwartz and others took me under their wing and got me up to speed quickly. My civilian airframe & powerplant training helped a great deal also. The ONLY thing the OH-6A and OH-58's had truly in common was the engine.

Soc Trang was a meat grinder. I believe we lost a total of 10 LOH's (destroyed) during that campaign alone but nobody was killed from the Scouts. That is a credit to those of you who flew the Guns! Make no mistake, you guys saved MANY lives! Not to mention you brought two of our Scouts out on ammo bay doors one time. (The ammo bays are located just behind the turret. When the ammo bay doors are opened out, a person, if need be, can sit there. This is used only for rescues, and needlessly added, you can't fire your rockets anymore if someone is sitting there...right in front of the rocket pods. ) Without the Guns they would have perished. The XO (Executive Officer, second in command of the Troop) refused to go in after them if memory serves.

I do recall one Cobra (which was fairly new) that took a .51 hit in the nose turret and passed its entire length, severing wiring harnesses, fuel cells, and exiting out the tailboom. It flew back to Soc Trang but was a total loss. Could this be the Cobra you were mentioning in your after-action report Terry? (Nope, I don't think so.)

While in Soc Trang the Cobra's were also grounded several days when a urgent MWO came down because of tailrotor cracks. For a few days the LOH's were hard pressed to try to fill "pink teams" with extra LOH's. NOT exactly the same level of firepower! WE MISSED YOU GUYS!

Respectfully, and so very grateful you both made it "home." And Maj. Dervaes could, at times, be a "hard-ass."

And guys, if you want, please feel to write a combined after-action report of such events if you would like them posted on the '70 history pages, ok?

The S.O.B. of the Spur webpages, <BG> (Hey, what else are enlisted for?)

Roger