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
The following eulogy for SNORE was sent over to me by '70-'71
MEDEVAC door gunner Larry ASH: "This has been a most
disquieting year thus far. In January, we lost one of our
most active and creative alumni: Sherman (SNORE) BREEDEN.
Sherman died of a sudden heart attack after an extended
illness. He was instrumental in the founding of our [15th
MED] association and the locating of former members of 15th
Medical Battalion, First Cavalry Division, who served in
Vietnam. It was Sherman's dream that we all be reunited both
physically and spiritually. He devoted his time and means to
this effort for a very long time. I'm so glad to know that he
lived to see the fruits of his labors.
The Sherman that I knew was very family-oriented and the love
of his life was Ann, whom he referred to as, "My wife of 100
years." His granddaughter, Alyssa, is a gem and you could
always see the sparkle in his eyes when she was with him or
when he spoke of her. Sherm was very proud of his son, Chris,
and his sweet daughter-in-law. After his family; his faith
and country always sustained him. We all came to admire
Sherman BREEDEN and count him among our true friends. Our
hopes and prayers are with the family and Sherman, "We'll
miss you."
MEDEVAC MEDIC Mark "DOC" HOLIDAY <DOC459@EARTHLINK.NET>
from Valencia, CA wrote to say that he is sorry to learn
about Sherman's passing and that he was a great friend and
person.
Ann BREEDEN <MARYSHERMAN@JUNO.COM>, SNORE's wife, wrote to
say, "To the "brothers" of The 15th Medical Battalion
Association: Thank you for the beautiful flowers, many cards,
letters, and phone calls. Special thanks to Jim "Fergie"
FERGUSON and Dillard CARTER for the visit. You touched my
soul. A loving supportive family and comforting words from
friends is helping me through the worst time of my life."
Chris BREEDEN <MOTOMAN45@JUNO.COM>, SNORE's son, wrote:
"I thank you all for the friendship, and love you have given
my Dad."
MEDEVAC crew chief Jim FERGUSON <JIMFERG@HOME.COM>says, "To
all of those who knew Sherman, and especially to his family,
you have my most heart felt sympathy. To Sherman: You
epitomized the meaning of 'Friend.' A place in heaven is
reserved for you, because if anyone deserves to be there, it
most certainly is 'you.' So long old buddy."
Dan PETERJOHN <UHLAN@AOL.COM>e-mailed to tell us: "I was
assigned to 2-8 Cav in 1990-1992. I have been asked by the
8th Cav Association to organize a soldier support program for
1100 young troopers currently deployed to Kuwait for six
months as a part of TF 3-8 Cav. The details of this program
can be found in the attached letter.
My purpose in contacting you is to solicit your help in
getting members of the 15th MED\15th FSB alumni to
participate in the program by adopting some of the support
units that form a part of TF 3-8 Cav. As you will see by the
Troop List in the attached letter, not many of the 'slice'
units are technically part of the 15th MED or the 15th FSB.
However, as you probably well know from hard experience, the
Troopers who are chopped from support units to DS of the line
units are the ones most likely to be left out of any good
deals. I would hate to see that happen to any of the young
men and women attached to TF 3-8 Cav.
I believe the attached letter is self-explanatory but if you
have any questions, please feel free to contact me at my
e-mail address. If you could give a brief mention of the
program in your next column in the Saber and give
my address as a POC, I'd appreciate it. If you have an e-mail
list of your members around the country, you could forward
the letter with a request that they share the program with
community groups such as the Scouts, VFW, American Legion,
newspapers schools etc. I think it would very beneficial if
the general public got to know our young defenders as well as
those of us who have been there do. Thanks for your Time."
Ron STRUB <KRISTYGIRLS@AOL.COM>, 15th MED '65-'66,
wrote in to comment on SNORE's Web site Guestbook: "What
happened? Did everyone from the 15th forget how to write.
Let's let each other know we are still out there. I'm doing
great & hope you are also."
Mark DRAKE <MARKADRAKE@USWEST.NET>did just what Ron
requested and wrote in to say that he was just checking in
and submitting new information for updating his records. We
now know that he is still with us.
Randy CARSON <STEVKITCARSON@AOL.COM>wrote to say, "I was
with the 15th '67 to '68 at An Khe. Looking for anyone who
was there in this time range."
I found a sign in on the 1st Cav Assn. Web site Guestbook by
Michael F. AHERN <MILDREDMA@AOL.COM>of 1603 Alice Dr. El
Reno, OK 73036, who said that he was a pilot in 15th MED in
1967.
Some 1st Cav MEDEVAC history from the book: Army Aeromedical
Evacuation in Vietnam by Peter Dorland and James Nanney
states the following:
"In early 1970 the U.S. military leaders in Vietnam saw the
need for larger strikes against the supply routes. Insurgents
in Cambodia were stepping up their campaign against the new
anti-Communist Cambodian government of Lt. Gen. Lon Nol, and
Phnom Penh, the Cambodian capital, was soon isolated. On 1
April the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces began to
clear a corridor ten to fifteen miles wide along the border
all the way from the Gulf of Thailand to the Fish Hook region
north-northwest of Saigon, threatening III and IV Corps Zones
in South Vietnam.
"Responding to these threats, the allied forces decided to
openly assist the new Cambodian government. In mid-April ARVN
forces conducted a limited cross-border raid near the
Parrot's Beak region, south of the Fish Hook region. At the
same time U.S. and ARVN staffs started planning for a joint
operation against several enemy sanctuaries in Cambodia,
especially in the Fish Hook region, and on 28 April President
Nixon approved the final plan. From early May to the end of
June elements of several large U.S. combat units in South
Vietnam-the 1st Infantry Division, the 1st Cavalry Division,
and the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment-took part in these
joint strikes at suspected Viet Cong bases over the border.
USAF B-52 tactical bomb strikes and large-scale U.S.
helilifts and helicopter gunship strikes prepared the way for
the ground forces.
"DUSTOFF and MEDEVAC helicopters supported both South
Vietnamese and American soldiers in this operation. During
May the 1st Cavalry's Air Ambulance Platoon supporting the
attack flew 1,042 missions (307 in Cambodia) and evacuated
1,600 patients (946 from Cambodia). The dense jungle and
forests along the border resulted in eighty hoist missions
for 182 patients.
"Although constituting only 7.6 percent of the total missions
for May, hoist missions accounted for 53 percent of the ships
hit by enemy fire that month. In May four ships were
destroyed and eleven damaged. Ten crewmen were wounded and
one killed. In June deeper penetrations into Cambodia
increased flying time for the pilots and crews, even while
the number of missions declined as the fighting tapered off.
The crews flew 682 missions (199 in Cambodia) and evacuated
1,056 patients (397 from Cambodia). They also extracted 185
patients in ninety-one hoist missions. The 45th Medical
Company and the 159th Medical Detachment helped the Air
Ambulance Platoon by backhauling many patients to hospitals
around Saigon. Because the Viet Cong had been warned of the
foray and had fled the area, casualties were far below the
April estimates. What had loomed as a severe test for the
Dust Off system proved to be largely routine work, except for
the dangerous hoist missions over triple-canopy jungle and
forest."
The following excerpts from the above book are based on an
article by MEDEVAC pilot Stephen F. MODICA (who is deceased
since the Vietnam War) called "MEDEVAC Meadow," and written
in the United States Army Aviation Digest 21 (June 1975).
This incident happened while I was flying on MEDEVAC on the
opposite end of the 1st Cav A.O. somewhere in Cambodia with
other crews. I flew with every one of these pilots at one
time or another that are mentioned in these excerpts. They
were all great pilots and most of them are still alive. This
story is also about a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient
who earned that while on a mission with MEDEVAC:
"A Medevac in Peril-One of these hoist missions during the
Cambodian operation demonstrated that the air ambulance
pilots had no monopoly on heroism among the U.S. Army medical
personnel in Vietnam. On the morning of 24 May 1970 a
helicopter of the Air Ambulance Platoon was ferrying S. Sgt.
Louis R. ROCCO, the medical adviser of a MACV advisory team
stationed at Katum.
"Since December 1969 Sergeant ROCCO had served as liaison to
the 1st ARVN Airborne Division's medical battalion. He had
trained ARVN personnel on mission requests, use of the hoist,
the forest penetrator, and the semi-rigid litter, and he also
had presented classes on basic first aid. Whenever his duties
allowed him the time, ROCCO rode the medical helicopters on
live missions to help the medical corpsmen and to practice
some "hands on" medicine himself.
"At 1100 on 24 May, MEDEVAC 2 with Sergeant ROCCO on board
flew toward its base at Katum, in northern Tay Ninh province
along the Cambodian border. A request for a pickup came in
through the radio of a command-and-control helicopter flying
overhead. The call was on behalf of eight urgent patients of
the 1st ARVN Airborne Division. Two of the division's
companies, the 61st and 63d, were on a sweep operation five
miles inside the Cambodian border. The day before, the two
companies had made contact with a North Vietnamese force that
broke off and withdrew. The commander of the 61st Company had
the small task force dig in for the night. The enemy attacked
at dawn on the twenty-fourth but was repulsed by the
defenders. In pursuing the North Vietnamese the ARVN soldiers
took eight casualties. The U.S. advisers to the 61st and 63d
Companies radioed their evacuation request through Maj. Jesse
W. MYERS, Jr., senior battalion adviser, who was overhead in
a command-and-control helicopter. The pilot of MEDEVAC 2, 1st
Lt. Stephen F. MODICA, radioed that he would take the mission
as soon as he dropped off a load of supplies. At Katum, the
crew threw the beer and sodas onto the pad, grabbed an extra
chest protector for ROCCO, and took off again. Regulations of
the 1st Cavalry required gunship cover for evacuation
missions if a unit had been in contact with the enemy within
the past twenty-four hours. Usually C Battery, 2d Battalion,
20th Aerial Rocket Artillery-the "BLUE MAX"-provided this
cover by orbiting a team of two AH-1G Cobras, one high and
one at treetop level. MEDEVAC 2 had already learned from the
U.S. adviser with the ARVN companies that the last contact
had been to the north two hours earlier. Soon the BLUE MAX
gun team arrived on station; MODICA briefed them on the
situation and said he would shoot his approach from the
south. When the helicopter dropped to the landing zone, North
Vietnamese hidden in the trees and along the ridge line
opened fire with small arms and automatic weapons. The lower
gunbird opened fire at the muzzle flashes in the trees. On
its second pass it used its grenade launcher; the enemy
redirected some of its fire and the gunship took its first
hit. On its next run it again took enemy fire.
"Just before the MEDEVAC landed, two enemy rounds hit MODICA
in the chest protector and and one passed through his left
knee and lodged against the femur. As soon as the aircraft
bumped down, the copilot turned to kid MODICA that he ought
to practice his landings. When he saw MODICA's wounds, he
took the controls and pulled the ship out of the landing
zone. The aircraft rose fifty feet into the air before the
engine stalled and the aircraft crashed back to the ground.
Major MYERS later described what he saw from above in his
command-and-control ship: 'The [MEDEVAC] ship seemed
to land, then shot up in the air, and then fell to the ground
rolling over on its side, thrashing around like a wounded
insect.... Smoke was pouring out of the ship by this
time....' The two gunships made low firing passes to give the
MEDEVAC crew a chance to get out, if any still lived. One
Cobra gunship came to a high hover over the burning MEDEVAC,
spinning and firing at the North Vietnamese. The gunship took
twenty-nine hits before its ammunition ran out, forcing it to
depart. The pilot transmitted a Mayday for the downed
MEDEVAC, giving its location and identification, and then
called MEDEVAC Operations to repeat the information.
"All the Medevac crew were stunned at first and unable to
move. Finally ROCCO dragged himself out and crawled away. He
had a fractured wrist and hip and a severely bruised back. As
soon as he realized that the crew was still inside, he went
back. He pulled MODICA through the shattered windshield and
carried him across twenty meters of exposed terrain to the
ARVN perimeter. One by one he brought the unconscious crew
out. All were in bad shape. MODICA had a serious leg
wound. The copilot, 1st Lt. Leroy G. CAUBERREAUX, had a
broken collar bone and fractured ribs.
"Sp5c. Terry BURDETTE, the medical corpsman, had a broken
shoulder and a broken leg. The gunner, Sp4c. Gary TAYLOR,
who sat in the right door, was crushed and burned when the
ship crashed and rolled, and ROCCO severely burned his hands
trying to find him. The nearby ARVN soldiers could not help
because the enemy was shooting at anyone who moved. The two
bullets that hit CAUBERREAUX in the chest protector as ROCCO
carried him toward the ARVN perimeter did no further damage.
ROCCO had saved his three comrades from certain death.
"At Quan Loi, the Air Ambulance Platoon's base, Capt. Henry
O. TUELL III, aircraft commander of MEDEVAC 1, yelled to his
pilot, 1st Lt. Howard ELLIOT, that MODICA had been shot down.
ELLIOT was in the shower; he grabbed a towel and ran to get
his clothes, scattering soapy lather as he went. By the time
he had thrown his clothes on, TUELL had already cranked the
aircraft; off they flew, ELLIOT lacing boots and fastening
zippers. Although several other aircraft were in the area,
MEDEVAC 1 was the first evacuation ship on the scene.
MEDEVAC 2 was still burning, throwing off blankets of black
smoke, MEDEVAC 1 made its approach straight in and the enemy
tried for another score. On each side of MEDEVAC 1 two Cobras
fired flechettes, machine guns, grenades, and rockets; but
enemy rounds still hit the ship. One came through the left
door and hit the armored seat just below TUELL's hand.
Shrapnel and shattered porcelain from the seat peppered his
hand and wrist. ELLIOT took the controls and nursed the ship
back to Quan Loi where a doctor cleaned, stitched, and
dressed TUELL's injuries.
"Two hours later, after several air and artillery strikes
around the perimeter, the pilot of MEDEVAC 12, Lt. John READ,
had his gunship escort lay down a heavy rocket preparation as
he tried a highspeed, low-level approach to MEDEVAC 2. The
North Vietnamese, still safely bunkered behind 1 1/2 feet of
concrete, blasted MEDEVAC 12 out of the area before it could
land. Bullets punctured the fuel cells and disabled the
engine. With his tachometer falling, Lt. READ managed
to land his ship safely in a nearby clearing, where the crew
was immediately picked up.
"Back at the crash site MODICA remained conscious despite
loss of much blood, and talked to the aircraft orbiting
helplessly overhead. The American adviser with the ARVN
forces, S. Sgt. Louis CLASON, told him that the ARVN soldiers
had not been resupplied in two days and were running
out of everything, including water. MODICA told him, 'Hey,
listen. We have one case of beer in the tail boom of the
aircraft. You run out there-at least that's something to
drink.'
"Clason told him, 'Lieutenant, you don't even know what your
aircraft looks like. It is burned completely to
the ground.'
"About 1800, Modica radioed the nearby aircraft that the ARVN
defenders might not be able to hold on through the night.
After an hour of continuous friendly shelling around the
allied perimeter, MEDEVAC 21, piloted by CWO Raymond ZEPP and
covered by gunships, made the third attempt to reach the
downed aircraft. The Cobra fired a 360 degree pattern with
rockets and miniguns, but enemy fire still riddled the
MEDEVAC, knocking out its radios and starting an electrical
fire. Like MEDEVAC 12, MEDEVAC 21 landed in a field 500
meters to the west; its crew was quickly pulled out.
Nightfall prevented any further rescue attempts.
"During the long hours of darkness, the enemy launched three
assaults on the small perimeter. Flares overhead illuminated
the area and allowed the Americans to call in artillery and
gunships to break up the ground attacks. By nightfall ROCCO's
injuries had immobilized him. After pulling his crew from the
burning ship, he had treated their injuries and the ARVN
casualties he could get to. Soon his injured hip and hand
stiffened, making any effort to move excruciatingly painful.
Finally he passed out. MODICA's leg swelled to twice its
normal size and the pain immobilized him too. CAUBERREAUX
moved about and lit cigarettes for the men, but with his
crushed right side he could do little else. Since they had no
morphine or other painkiller, they had to suffer.
"At Quan Loi, planning for an all-out rescue attempt
continued well into the night. The plan called for two
MEDEVACs to go in and evacuate MODICA's crew and any South
Vietnamese possible. A third would hover nearby to extricate
the crews if trouble developed and to evacuate any remaining
ARVN casualties. Since all their MEDEVACs were shot up,
destroyed, or committed elsewhere, the 1st Cavalry had to
borrow three nondivisional DUSTOFF helicopters. At 0930 next
morning ARVN and American howitzer batteries started laying a
barrage of smoke rounds in the area to create a screen for
the upcoming rescue. Just before the operation began, four
Cobras fired more smoke rounds. At 1145 the flight of three
MEDEVACs with three cobras on each side started into
the area. The first ship in loaded MODICA and his crew and
flew out. The second extracted several ARVN wounded and also
safely left the area. An enemy rocket hit the third ship as
it took off with two remaining ARVN casualties, but the crew
brought the ship down without further injuries and was
quickly rescued. The next day nine pilots and crewmen
involved in this rescue received Silver Stars. Sergeant ROCCO
won a Medal of Honor for his part in saving MODICA and most
of his crew."
Recent network news coverage of the evacuation of medical
emergencies from Antartica posed the question, "Is the life
of one person to be evacuated from a hazardous location worth
the lives of so many others to evacuate them?"
For those that do risk their lives to evacuate individuals
like that in emergency situations then in their minds it must
be in the spirit of: SO THAT OTHERS MAY LIVE.
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
