Eagle Flights insertion and extraction - Vietnam | Eastern North Carolina Now

     

   Just by coincidence, the above picture is from the September, 2016 25th Division calendar that I get every year as a lifetime member and supporter of the Division. I did not notice it until, I was updating my appointments on the calendar for next month.

   An average day in the life of a grunt in the II Corp area Northwest of Saigon in 1968 consisted of Eagle Flights.  We would form groups of six  in two columns.  The Huey helicopters would come in to pick us up. Usually three men from each side would upload on the Hueys.  They would then fly us to the designated LZ (Landing Zone).  Normally the LZ was a clearing or rice paddy.  The eagle flights would consist of anywhere from 10-15 helicopters per lift. 

A young Bobby Tony waiting for his turn to board the Hueys on outbound Eagle Flight.

    They would fly in to the LZ and drop us off.  We would unload while the copters were still in the air hovering.  Immediately as they left for the next lift, we would establish a perimeter and fan out to form a protective LZ for the next lift.  The major danger was flying into a hot LZ.  That is when the enemy is waiting in the tree line or in bunkers and opens fire as the helicopters come in.  Because of the noise involved with the incoming helicopters, it was difficult to tell if the LZ was hot.  Normally the first lift would come in with the outside flank M60 firing suppressing fire into the tree line.  If the LZ were hot, the first indication noticed would be the taking of casualties. 

    Many people including myself often asked airborne troopers why they would jump from a perfectly good airplane.  The answer of course is you make a hell of a lot smaller target than an airplane.  The same holds true of a Huey.

This is a typical approach for an Eagle flight (photo by ©Bobbytony)

   Please excuse the quality of this slide. It is 48 years old and suffers from improper storage and lack of focus time by me.

    As soon as the final lift arrives, we formed into units and began the maneuvers out of the LZ (Landing Zone). Sometimes that would be a Cloverleaf maneuver which is designed to secure large areas of ground for the construction of a FSB ( Fire Support Base) for artillery.  Other time we would just do a S&D (Search and Destroy) on a pre-planned route.  The purpose was to prevent the enemy from establishing permanent base camps.  Often we would return to the same area multiple times.  I think the military philosophy was it took less personnel to search than it did to establish a base.  It is worthy of note that there were no front lines in Vietnam.  There were secured Base Camps and then Fire Support bases.  The infantry was tasked to keep the rest of the country side clear of large enemy encampments.  

This procedure could be repeated several times during the day if the area to be searched was large enough for multiple insertions and extractions. Other times, we would set up camp for the night and then move out the next morning to the adjacent area.

    Alex Ortolano, a contributor here on BCN, was there long before I arrived in 1968. He was a pilot for the Medical Evacuation section. He and his comrades were the most appreciated then and now as they came in to pick  up the wounded.  The survival rate of wounded in Vietnam was increased drastically from other wars due to quick extraction of wounded to the hospitals in base camps. One of the most haunting memories I have is of putting guys on the Medvac and then hearing later that they did not make it.  Usually the word would come back the next day if they were in your platoon, but sometimes we would not know until we returned to base camp.  It was not a subject that we dwelt on unless he was a buddy.  Here is his profile on BCN - Alex Profile..

    The extraction from the LZ was just a reverse of the insertion with the exception being that he last lift was the most dangerous.  Once during an extraction, the Huey I was to board was overloaded with too many grunts and two of us had to unload and wait for another Huey to come around to pick us up.  That was a very long few "hours" while Bassett and I waited alone in the LZ for the slowest Huey to arrive from San Francisco (I could be exaggerating the seconds into hours and the distance of a few hundred yards but it seemed like hours and many miles.)

Here a typical pick up for Eagle flight when there may be enemy present in the area. (image unknow site)

    Eventually, the extraction would become routine. It would be like waiting for the bus to come pick you up and return to base camp or a FSB.  That is when you had a few moments to reflect on the days work, dream about home, and perhaps look forward to a cold beer at your destination if the resupply chopper arrived before dark.

That is the back of my head looking at the Huey that I hope will come back to pick me and the last group up.©Bobbytony

   Perhaps the best description of this experience was relayed by the journalist Joe Galloway who was an on the     ground journalist during the battle at Ia Drang Valley, which he later coauthored a book with Col. Hal Moore. (We were Soldiers Once, And Young).  It was later made into a movie starring Mel Gibson.  For my money, that is the best and most realistic Vietnam War movie without the baggage of too much political ideology.

    Here is a video narrated by Joe Galloway at one of the speeches he made where he pays tribute to the pilots of those 'WOP WOP Birds'.  Like Joe, I can't watch or listen to this without harsh memories but also sometime sweet memories of God's Own Lunatics coming to pick us up. They were truly brave men. How would you like to strap a target on your chest and blast your presence by a loud speaker, basically saying here I am and here is where I am going? 

God's Own Lunatics

August 25 , 2016