MEDEVAC
15th MED\15th FSB
Mike Bodnar
307B N Main
Copperas Cove, TX 76522 1704
254-542-1961
e-mail: mbodnar27@juno.com
http://ascca.ecorp.net
SNORE, our 15th MED organizer and MEDEVAC crew chief, '69-
'70, i.e. Sherman BREEDEN <SNORE@VABCH.COM>, signed into his
MEDEVAC\15th MED Web site's Guestbook on 09/06/2000 and said
that the reason for his unexplained, recent absence is
because he has been recovering from surgery, and that he may
need more. Get well SNORE!
This information was submitted for the last Saber but my
additions and corrections to the edited column did not get
printed, if you noticed any strange typos. I also added to
the information that the 1st Cav's MEDEVAC was the only Army
aeromedical evacuation unit in Vietnam to have M-60 machine
gun armament which my addition mentioned: that was from Jan
'66 and thereafter; not before.
SNORE later posted a message to all about next year's 15th
MED gathering in New Mexico. This shows that he is
participating as much as he possibly can, health permitting.
You can view his Web site and Guestbook-sign in!-for more
information. It would not hurt at all if you also e-mailed
him and relayed your get well wishes. He has brought a lot of
people together!
In the last Saber I mentioned correspondence from Jim BRODIE,
<JBR8519738@AOL.COM>MEDEVAC, HSC 15th MED, '65-'66, who
mentioned a couple of his buddies who had just died from
Agent Orange. I also mentioned that my buddy from C 2\7 Cav
'69, Bob HACKNEY, had just died, whose service connection was
admitted to by the V.A. with a 100% disability, due to Agent
Orange in Vietnam.
Only days after I had submitted that column I read in B.G.
BURKETT's book: STOLEN VALOR, his twenty-five page research
on the "Myth of Agent Orange." Being the last person on
planet earth who would want to perpetrate any myth, I highly
recommend reading BURKETT's heavily footnoted treatise.
He mentions that the controversy of Agent Orange is politics
and not science. He again shows the power of the media. I had
heard what everyone else had over the years, and recently
read about other Vietnam veterans who were diagnosed like my
buddy Bob, with non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
BURKETT does leave that rare disease as one of three that are
associated with exposure to herbicides. He goes on to mention
that there is little evidence to prove it. I just find it
awfully suspicious that these Vietnam veterans are being
diagnosed with, and sometimes dying from, the same illnesses.
Bob HACKNEY came out to us in C 2\7 Cav as a replacement in
July '69. Our busiest and bloodiest time in Tay Ninh Province
had just ended, I can say in hindsight. Bob was a draftee who
had a degree in journalism from the University of Wisconsin.
He had been trained as an 11Bravo who had also been taught to
drive an APC but he would not use that second skill in the
Air Cav. He did obtain immediate employment in the 1st
Platoon's Gun Squad, and worked his way up to R.T.O. which
was more suited to his journalism degree.
After at least six months in the field Bob was able to even
better use his journalism knowledge and got a rear job in
1st Brigade P.I.O. Some years ago at one of the Reunions, Roy
STERN, one of our 1st Platoon squad leaders, told me that he
had put Bob in for that job.
Bob somehow was involved with the CBS news team led by John
LAURENCE who is mentioned in J.D. COLEMAN's book: INCURSION.
Bob brought them over to my MEDEVAC helicopter and introduced
them to me when I was flying out of Tay Ninh once in '70. I
remember that the cameraman was an Australian.
What they filmed became a three part CBS Evening News feature
called: "The World of Charlie Company," which later became a
one hour Bill MOYERS' PBS documentary. That "Charlie Company"
filmed just happened to be C 2\7 Cav which makes me wonder
just how involved Bob HACKNEY was with that news team; that
they just happened to go out to the field company that Bob
had been in. Was that a coincidence or Bob's suggestion?
That documentary depicts a relatively quite period for
C 2\7 Cav in comparison to its previous history in the
Vietnam War in the 1st Cav Division. It does, though, show
them going into Cambodia, which C 2\7 Cav had the honor of
being the first American unit into Cambodia during the
Incursion. I thought that was some kind of poetic justice for
having been, from my research, the most decimated company in
the Ia Drang Campaign in '65 due to taking the brunt of the
assault at LZ ALBANY.
As well as escorting that CBS news team Bob also went out
with us on a MEDEVAC hoist in Cambodia for the 199th LIB.
Bob just quietly observed and may have written something
about it. GARRYOWEN Bob! R.I.P.
I recently saw an article on the ABC nightly network news
about the U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmer program who become
officially know as Aviation Survival Technicians. After
rigorous training-if they qualify-they, while on active duty,
rescue American citizens in trouble in the water around the
country. The article said that they use the motto: "so that
others may live," which happens to be the same as the 1st
Cav's 15th MED Air Ambulance Platoon-call sign: MEDEVAC.
I wondered who made whom, or which unit used that motto
first, of course thinking that MEDEVAC was the original. So,
I sent an e-mail to one reference given on their Web site and
I received this interesting reply:
"Mike, Hello, thanks for the e-mail. Good question, but I
will have to do some research on that one. I know for a fact
that the Navy rescue swimmer program was developed during the
Vietnam War and I'm not sure about the Air Force Pararescue,
or "PJs." Both of these programs use the slogan "So That
Others May Live." And both of these have been around since
long before the CG rescue swimmer program. I'll do some
checking and get back to you.
"I now work for the North Carolina National Guard at a UH-60
Blackhawk unit. I have been a crew chief for about 5 years
and since two of our hawks have rescue hoists I am
spearheading developing a rescue program which is hard since
the Army does not have any other training doctrine other than
working with trained pilots on forest penetraters.
"Most of our work is on State duty if [there is] a hurricane
or flood or some other natural disaster, so we are dealing
with the rescue of civilians which takes on a whole new
concept in helo rescue. I have been able to purchase
equipment for this purpose and to my knowledge we are the
only outfit in the Army with this type of stuff. Of course I
also am probably the only former CG helo rescue swimmer in
the National Guard nationwide, as a matter of fact I know I
am. You can imagine my dilemma with trying to get our people
training.
"Naval helo rescue swimmer school has far too much of a drop
out rate for the National Guard to send [anyone there]
(its only one month long) and the CG rescue swimmer program
is 6 months so that's out. Both are a little much for most of
our folks to handle for just a state duty mission. I will
continue to work on developing a program for our unit to use,
and hopefully the Army will take a look and follow suit.
Thanks again, I hope to talk to you soon. Brant MCGEE"
I have not yet heard back from Brant. I cannot confirm if
the Navy and Air Force did or do use SO THAT OTHERS MAY LIVE
or some variation of it. SNORE did find and posted that an
Air Force rescue unit is using: "so others may live," a
slight variation.
It does happen that some military units will use the same
motto for their own purposes. The U.S. Coast Guard uses as
one of their mottos: SEMPAR PARATUS-"always ready," which is
also the motto of the 12th U.S. Cavalry. If it fits, use it.
Mottos, I would assume, are public domain.
I once saw a map of the Clans of Scotland and where they
lived, or where their lands are or were in Scotland. One of
the Clans used, and it was on the map by their name: THIS
WE'LL DEFEND. That of course is the motto used by the U.S.
Army Drill Instructors; so much for originality, but well put
to use. For the job that can effect us all as Americans, the
U.S. Coast Guard rescue swimmers are very much in the same
tradition as the 1st Cav's MEDEVAC and can proudly claim the
use of-SO THAT OTHERS MAY LIVE.
In that 1st Cav MEDEVAC tradition the following is a story
taken from the 1st Cav Division's Vietnam War newspaper, the
Cavalair, called: "Those Cav MEDEVACS; They Just Won't Give
Up" By PFC Nick MATUSZECK: "Phouc Vinh - Two wounded
infantrymen were finally pulled from the jungle near the Song
Be Bridge recently, but not before two MEDEVAC helicopters
were shot down in the effort to get them out. One wounded
man, dropped by one of the birds before it crashed, spent an
hour strapped to a rigid litter listening to the enemy moving
around his location before he was rescued.
"The incident began when three wounded members of the 25th
Infantry Division's 91-A element were being extracted from
the Jungle near the Song Be Bridge in Binh Duong Province.
Before they could be pulled out, however, intense enemy fire
brought down the DUSTOFF bird, a craft supporting the 25th.
While 25th Infantry Division Cobras circled high above, a
MEDEVAC bird from the 1st Air Cavalry Division's 15th Medical
Battalion answered the "Mayday" call from the stricken
aircraft.
"Warrant Officer Joel MORRIS, MEDEVAC 26 commander, rushed to
the crash site and, communicating with ground units, found
the crew of the downed bird had been rescued. However, there
were still three critically wounded men on the ground who
needed immediate evacuation, MORRIS briefed his crew on their
individual responsibilities, then called the ground unit for
approach instructions.
"As the bird came in low over the high jungle canopy and
prepared to drop the rigid litter by cable, muzzle flashes
were spotted from enemy gun emplacements. The door gunners,
Specialist 5 Robert VALENCIA and Specialist 4 Daniel WEAVER,
opened up hot and heavy with their machine guns in an attempt
to suppress the enemy fire.
"After quickly taking the craft out of range MORRIS and
Warrant Officer Barry BROWN, the Co-Pilot, came in for
another approach from a different route. As the bird hovered
over the jungle, Specialist 4 Gregory SHAFER, the Medic,
and crew chief Jonathan HODGES lowered the hoisting cable and
the litter through the treetops. But, the enemy gunners soon
zeroed in on the stationary chopper as the crew exposed
itself while struggling to hoist the first injured man to
safety. [There must be a mistake here because there is
mention of two named door gunners, a crew chief, and the
Medic, which makes one crewmember too many. I will research
this.]
"Despite their efforts, however, the rescue had to be aborted
as several burst of automatic weapons fire tore into the
chopper's transmission. The patient below, strapped to the
litter, was at a height of about five feet when the chopper
crew was forced to cut him loose as they rapidly lost
altitude. Pilot MORRIS barely got the bird to a small
clearing where he crash-landed the aircraft. After a quickly-
called appeal over the radio for assistance, MORRIS and his
crew abandoned the burning aircraft. Armed with two M-60
machine guns and their pistols, they prepared for the worst
and set up a defensive perimeter around their burning ship.
Fortunately, a rescue ship reached them ahead of the enemy
and they were soon on their way to safety.
"The commander of the second bird, Chief Warrant Officer
Christopher WICKLAND, found himself faced with the same
situation as the previous rescue pilot: the flight crew he'd
intended to rescue was already out, but wounded men remained
with the ground unit. To add almost unbearable urgency to the
situation, the man who'd been dropped still hadn't been
located.
"With the gunners pouring out suppressing fire, the
extraction of the first patient went without a hitch as the
crew exposed themselves to possible fire. A quick flight to
Phouc Vinh to rush the wounded man to medical aid was
followed by the successful search for the dropped litter
patient. Even though his chances for survival were thin, the
crew of MEDEVAC 18 refused to abandon him. WICKLAND was told
by the ground unit that the first bird had carried the litter
approximately 30 meters from the pickup site before dropping
it. Assisted by a LOH, WICKLAND and his crew began an
intensive search for the downed man and litter.
"Finally, the LOH crew spotted the wounded man waving from a
nearly-concealed spot in the brush. The MEDEVAC bird dropped
down near his location, crewmembers hanging out the doors
onto the skids to spot the man's position. Fortunately, the
bird was able to come low enough to allow [James] VICTOR and
Specialist 4 Joe KELLY, the Medic, to jump to the ground,
gather up the wounded man on the litter, and load him back
into the bird for the life-saving flight to Phouc Vinh.
"The patient later told of lying in the brush for an hour,
unable to move and in pain, listening to the enemy moving in
the brush around him. In an impact awards ceremony following
the action, Brigadier General Jonathan R. BURTON, Assistant
Division Commander of the 1st Cavalry Division commended the
courage of the crews of MEDEVAC 18 and 26. Every member of
MEDEVAC 26-MORRIS, BROWN, VALENCIA, WEAVER, SHAFER and HODGES
received Distinguished Flying Crosses. Aircraft Commander
WICKLAND and Pilot SIMPSON of MEDEVAC 18 also received
Distinguished Flying Crosses, while KELLY, SPARKMAN and
VICTOR each received Air Medals for Valor." This Cavalair
edition was contributed by MEDEVAC pilot Barry BROWN; thanks
Barry."
Always remembering our 1st Cav troops on duty around the
world; over and out.
FIRST TEAM!
Garryowen,
Mike Bodnar C 2\7 Cav 1969
MEDEVAC 1-7\1970
SO THAT OTHERS MAY LIVE
