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Semper Fi Parents | January 30, 2011
Stories from the USMC Combat Helicopter Association
In July of 1970, I arrived at the Marble Mountain Air Facility, Marble Mountain, RVN. where I was assigned to HMH-463 as a structural mechanic and began flying as an aerial gunner aboard our CH-53 helicopters. As the largest helicopter in the Marine Corps inventory, we flew many different kinds of missions from re-supply to insertion/extractions of troops and even moving USO shows from camps to camps. But some of the most dangerous and interesting missions were known as Mission 72. Mission 72's were those missions, where we would insert MACVSOG troops into Laos, also know as "going over the fence." These would normally consist of one CH-53 and one CH-46 as our chase bird. But then a Mission 72 in September 1970 would change everything.
September 1970 was just another month closer to my RTD back to my family and "the world." But it would turn out to be the most exciting and rewarding time of my tour in country. On 4 September 1970, HMH-463 was alerted for an upcoming Mission 72. I knew that this mission was going to be something huge and I wanted to be part of it. It would consist of 5, CH-53's and 4, AH1G Cobra's from HMA-367. At first the maintenance chief was only going to assign one metal smith to this mission ( Sgt.Ron Whitmer) but I finally convinced him that he really needed two "tin binders" to take care of these birds. So from 4-7 September, we gathered our equipment, received a quick brief and were put on a one hour standby. On the afternoon of 7 September, we launched out to a place unknown to me at the time. A place called Kontum. It was an Army Special Forces base under the command of the 5 th Special Forces and located real close to "the fence." Our first night was interesting in many ways, but that's another story. We were given some of the best chow that I had eaten in awhile and later enjoyed a few cold ones in the E-club. Later that night we were welcomed by the VC with a mortar attack. What a way to be awakened in the middle of the night. On 8 September we received a brief about this mission. We were told that we would be inserting 16 Special Forces troops along with over 100 Montagnards troops to an LZ located about 60 miles in Laos. And we were also told that we could expect very heavy enemy fire with the possibility of many casualties. Later after the brief, we launched out to an old Army air strip called Dak To, which would be used as our staging area. We shut down and waited for the word to go. Bad weather at the drop site held us back, so most of our time was spent sitting around talking or taking a nap. I decided to catch a few winks lying down on the troop seat's using a bullet bouncer as a pillow. I was in a deep sleep, when I was awakened by the sound of a large explosion. The VC or NVA, had launched a rocket attack at us, trying to hit our aircraft. Needless to say, I was up and running with my M-16 attached to my hand in a death grip. In my hurry to get out the chopper I had forgotten to grab my bandoleer of ammo for my M-16 so I had to quickly return and retrieve it. There was basically no cover for us run to as our choppers were the target of the attack. I found an old crater near by and jumped in. I had counted 5 rockets as they passed over my head. It was then that I recalled what my father had told about his experience in WWII, "Son, it's the one that you don't hear that gets you" so I was very pleased to hear hose "telephone poles" going over my head. One of our Cobra's took a direct hit on the rotor head and soon its ammo was cooking off. We never did launch out that day do to the bad weather. It wasn't until 11 September that we were able to launch and deliver the package.
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