HUEY WAR: VIIETNAM FROM THE BACKSEAT

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HUEY WARA UH-1H Huey helicopter is a flimsy machine. It’s the 1960s equivalent of a World War I biplane. It’s flimsy, easily killed, under powered, simple, lightly armed and an unlikely success in a bad place at a bad time.Going to war as a Huey crew chief was a an experience that can’t be described. You sat there in that flimsy machine totally exposed to the enemy. There was no cockpit, no armored seat, no bulkhead, no illusion of safety for the crew chief or gunner. We sat there with nothing between us and the outside world. When it rained, we were cold and wet and when there was incoming fire we had nothing but a little armored chest protector that would stop some small arms fire. Lucky crew had a three quarter inch steel plate to sit on to provide some illusionary protection for their family jewels.Most of us didn’t use any seat belts or safety harnesses. We depended on our own agility and senses to remain in the aircraft as it maneuvered, sometimes violently, in the air. We regularly had to leave our seats to handle cargo or assist the wounded or even to clear the cargo compartment of possible hazards left by departing troops. When we came under fire we were expected to continue to sit there, to remain calm and cool, and return fire with our M-60 machine guns, while continuing to perform our other essential duties.The crew chief and the gunner were the controlling eyes and voices of the back half of the helicopter. The pilots couldn’t see to their rear or underneath it. They had to trust the two men in the back to provide information about oncoming air traffic, about conditions on the ground and for accurate information when landing in tight places or maneuvering the aircraft between and through obstacles. We had to be able to provide clear and concise directions under any conditions and our pilots had to willingly follow them as we maneuvered the helicopters through small precise adjustments. They had to trust us to manage loading and unloading the aircraft in all conditions just as we had to trust them to keep the aircraft under precise control at all times.They also depended on the crew chief and gunner to provide protection with accurate fire from those machine guns. We provided accurate and effective suppressive fire going into and leaving landing zones. We had to accurately take enemy troops or positions under fire without hitting friendly troops in the same area even when enemy and friendly were commingled in front of us. All of these things had to be done simultaneously while showing a calm cool professional appearance to the people around us. I had the honor and privilege to be crew chief and door gunner on one of these ungainly but graceful machines in the Vietnam War in Northern I Corps where 54 percent of all US deaths occurred.We, B Company 158th Assault Helicopter Battalion 101st Airborne Division went to Vietnam in February 1969 with 20 new UH-1H Hueys. All of our hueys had a large white dot painted on each side of the tail boom just in front of the horizontal stabilizers. There were only twenty helicopters in all South Vietnam marked like that. Lancer hueys flew 51,893 combat hours in two and one half years in Northern I Corps. In those two- and one-half years, we were issued sixty-five replacement Hueys. Only one of the original aircraft made it through the entire period.We weren’t heroes, “We just got up and went to work every morning.” Those of you who were there and don’t remember things exactly this way…. Tough! These are my war stories. Write your own book!