Flights from Phu Loi

Richard Lawrence Greene

Description

Lieutenant Greene had a pilot's view of the Vietnam War, ranging from picturesque vistas to bullets flying through the cockpit, and from terror to camaraderie.
“Spin, crash, and burn.” These words describe a helicopter pilot’s worst case scenario, and which Lieutenant Richard Greene kept trying to avoid during his service as a reconnaissance pilot in the Vietnam War. As an “Outcast” in his Bell observation helicopter, Greene witnessed many close calls, snafus, and over-reach during multiple military operations. But throughout, Greene found humor, beauty, and friendship, which he captured in letters to his wife as well as with his Instamatic camera. This book combines these into a compelling personal account of the War from the air, and on the ground at his base in Phu Loi.

Sujets

• Histoire
• Military
• Vietnam War
• History
• Aviation

Informations

• Publié par: Archway Publishing
• Date de parution: 20 juin 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781665744645
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Flights from Phu Loi
 
An Account of Helicopter Reconnaissance in the Vietnam War
 
 
Richard Lawrence Greene
Captain, U.S. Army Reserve
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Copyright © 2023 Richard Lawrence Greene.
 
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.
 
This book is a work of non-fiction. Unless otherwise noted, the author and the publisher make no explicit guarantees as to the accuracy of the information contained in this book and in some cases, names of people and places have been altered to protect their privacy.
 
Archway Publishing
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.archwaypublishing.com
844-669-3957
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Interior Image Credit: Richard Greene. Maps by Paula Weindel.
 
ISBN: 978-1-6657-4463-8 (sc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-4462-1 (hc)
ISBN: 978-1-6657-4464-5 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023909549
 
Archway Publishing rev. date: 06/20/2023
Table of Contents
Foreword
Chapter 1The “Outcasts” of the “Quarterhorse”
Chapter 2Operation Attleboro
Chapter 3Mortar Attacks
Chapter 4Operation Cedar Falls in the Iron Triangle
Chapter 5Social Events
Chapter 6Junction City
Chapter 7Frank Silvert, Armor Lieutenant
Chapter 8Operation Harvest Moon at Bunard
Chapter 9Operations in War Zone D
Chapter 10How Major B became commander of the 1s t Sqn. 4t h Cav
Chapter 11Conclusion
Chapter 12Afterword
Appendix 1First Infantry Division: Organization & Call Signs
Appendix 2Other accounts of Capt. Livingston’s crash and injuries
Appendix 3Gallery of additional photographs
Acknowledgements
Table of Figures
Figure 1 . Area of Operation 1s t Infantry Division 1966-1967.
Figure 2 . Command & Control slick just before Operation Manhattan.
Figure 4 . Operation Attleboro, War Zone C - Nov. 5 -25, 1966.
Figure 5 . Smoke grenade ready to throw. The mountain is Nui Ba Den.
Figure 6 . Rice paddies SW of Tan Uyen. The river is a typical example of a “meander’.
Figure 7 . Where the mortar landed (center, bottom). Note unprotected bunker entry at right.
Figure 8 . John Kirby after mortar attack.
Figure 9 . Fragments of a 122mm Russian rocket, the one that wounded Major Merrill.
Figure 10 . Operation Cedar Falls in the Iron Triangle - Jan. 8-26, 1967.
Figure 11 . Bullet hole through bubble near Kirby’s head (viewed from above engine).
Figure 12 . My H-13 after Major Gilpatrick was wounded.
Figure 13 . Storms moving in.
Figure 14 . The squadron flag with campaign streamers going back to the Indian Wars and fighting in Kansas before the Civil War.
Figure 15 . Convoy in rubber plantation near the “Dutchman’s House”.
Figure 16 . Lots of slicks, Phu Loi (Operation Junction City).
Figure 17 . “I turned around and snapped a picture of the dust cloud from the mine that wounded Drumfire 6 and others. “The White Church” is on the right.
Figure 18 . The armored vehicle launched bridge in place.
Figure 19 . The place looked like a “flaming battlefield”. No enemy sighted.
Figure 20 . Nu Ba Den from Suoi Da “International Airport,” dubbed “Soui Da International.”
Figure 21 . The result of the first mine.
Figure 22 . Bomb damage assessment (Operation Junction City).
Figure 23 . Special Forces Camp - CIDG Camp, bridge site west of An Loc.
Figure 24 . View of Quan Loi.
Figure 25 . VC base camp destroyed, Northeast of Phu Loi. Tunnel entrances visible.
Figure 26 . Montagnard Village East of An Loc
Figure 27 . CIDG camp at Bunard.
Figure 28 . City Hall, Song Be.
Figure 29 . USAID office at Song Be.
Figure 30 . USAID employees at Song Be.
Figure 31 . My North Vietnamese passenger.
Figure 32 . War Zone D - 1967. “Strike” was the designation for an Area of Operation (A.O.) for multiple missions, not identified in the text.
Figure 33 . Looking across “War Zone D.”
Figure 34 . Airstrike northeast of Tan Uyen where John Kirby had a VC squad open up on him.
Figure 35 . Forward Air Controller smoke, Dong Nai crossing.
Figure 36 . Bullet damage to my pitch horn (see arrow).
Figure 37 . Scout team over War Zone C (front cover).
Figure 38 . Bell OH-13.
Figure 39 . Huey helicopters as far as the eye can see at Phu Loi (Operation Junction City).
Figure 40 . Mustang gunship with rocket pod and mini-guns.
Figure 41 . Mustang gunship, “Frog” configuration with grenade launcher in the nose.
Figure 42 . Troop D (Air) hooch. Major Merrill, sleeping by the window, was wounded.
Figure 43 . Troop D (Air) personnel inspecting a 122 mm rocket crater.
Figure 44 . A B-52 strike over 5 miles away.
Figure 45 . CIDG camp at Bunard with “Song Be Mountain” in distance.
Figure 46 . Bunard. CIDG digging in.
Figure 47 . The effects of dust. George Youngblood’s Huey “D” model slick, with parts removed. Dust resulted in one person killed, one seriously hurt. George was not at the controls.
Figure 48 . Air strike north of landing zone “Roof” (Operation Billings).
Figure 49 . Destroying a VC bunker near Chan Long.
Figure 50 . Convoy near the “Dutchman’s House”.
Figure 51 . Saigon River trails (Operation Billings) in War Zone D.
Foreword
This book contains remembrances from my brother Dick’s one-year tour as an observation helicopter pilot in Viet Nam 1 in 1966 – 67. The contents reflect his views, thinking, and attitudes about the U.S Army of that day. This time period predates the infamous Tet Offense (1/30/68). Those events had a significant effect on the conduct of the war. So those involved in the Viet Nam conflict after Dick’s tenure most likely had a much different, possibly more intense experience. Naturally, Dick has changed much over the intervening years, as we can hope that the Army has also. Many of his comments herein might make considerably little sense for today’s Army.
It was not possible to pilot and take notes at the same time. Voice recorders may have existed but they weren’t in plentiful supply. But Dick sent copious letters home to his wife Mary, who fortunately saved them. In the year plus after his return to the states, he set about the task of turning these into a narrative. Because this was before the advent of personal computers, he went about this the old fashion way, i.e., making outlines, handwriting chapters, and convincing his wife to type them. But the period following contained a certain degree of controlled chaos, that is, moves at the whims of the Army, mustering out, resettling to Vermont to seek a Masters degree at the University of Vermont, then working at the Shelburne Museum, then in Thunder Bay (Ontario) restoring Old Fort William, and eventually resettling in Providence RI to catalogue a military library collection for Brown University. He subsequently became self-employed in the architectural wood-working business and then as an antique dealer specializing in drawings, watercolors, and prints. During all this, he and his wife Mary raised three children. In other words, the book project got stuck on the far-back burner among multiple cardboard cartons that were stored in available space.
At some point, probably at a family Thanksgiving or Christmas, the subject of the book came up. I don’t remember how Dick described its current state, but the key point was that it needed a lot of work. I believe it was about this time, his eldest child, Regan, stepped forward and volunteered to work on it with editing it to completion. All the materials were transferred to her house. Then, the same thing happened to her that happened to Dick previously. i.e. life interfered, primarily in the form of two daughters.
Some years later, at another family get-together, the subject came up again. We found the boxes and Dick took them to his house. I am unclear on the timing, but our youngest sister Leslie said she would take a shot of whipping them into shape. She made a lot of progress. I even got to see a very rough draft, a significant accomplishment. This was the first I had seen of the book in some forty-five years. But this effort ran out of steam. I think for a couple of reasons. One being that Leslie and Dick lived in distant states. I believe a prime one was Leslie had lofty goals. She believed that the book was very interesting, which it is, and the goal should be to put this work in front of a publisher who would do all that was necessary to complete it. I think she fell victim to her own goal. She was stymied by the fact that at least one and a half chapters were missing, and that another was not typewritten and virtually illegible. At that time, I also believe that Dick was not really focused on it. It is difficult for the youngest sibling to tell the eldest what to do. But all that aside, what Leslie did was a significant achievement. She turned the project from a vague idea to a viable one. Her work was second only to Dick’s of living the history and recounting it and Mary’s transcribing much of it.
This past spring (2021), my son Nick and I from California attended a family event in Massachusetts. I told him to expec