Finding and Evacuating Wounded in Vietnam

I was a Lunatic in Vietnam in 1965. Now I've got your attention! Now you are burning with curiosity to find out why I admit I was a Lunatic. If you really want to know why, read on and you will find out. If you really don't care why, read on because THIS IS REALLY INTERESTING STUFF! 

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Back in August 2016, one of the other contributors to Beaufort County Now asked me how we went about finding the wounded in Vietnam.

I responded and he came back to me recommending I turn my response into a posting in Beaufort County Now in North Carolina. Aware that those who read this posting may draw the conclusion that I am a procrastinator, because I did not publish the BCN posting until July 19, 2017, I am going to republish that posting for you to read. I’ve been busy!

Now it is August of 2025, and I am finally posting it to Foolishness…Or Is It?. Don’t attribute this to another sign of Procrastination. It is a sure sign of Forgetfulness. That’s another probable I have.

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Before I get into my recollection about 1965, I would like to digress and make a comparison to modern day Medical Evacuation in Iraq and Afghanistan.

There is a series called “Inside Combat Rescue” that runs on the National Geographic Channel that lies in stark contrast to our missions in Vietnam in 1965. What caught my eye was the amount of technology that they have available to them in Iraq and Afghanistan compared to what we had in 1965 when we would have had trouble trying to spell Technology…

Modern Medical Evacuation (Called Dustoff):

Ø They have Command Centers.

Ø They have the latest Gee Whiz Technology.

Ø There are about 8 Computer Monitors in front of the person manning the Command Center.

Ø The pilots take iPads along on their missions to do whatever it is that iPads can do for them on their missions. 

Vietnam 1965 (Called Dustoff):

Ø We had a Command Shack.

Ø We had no Gee Whiz Stuff.

Ø There were no Computer Monitors, but we did have a Telephone, a Radio, a Blackboard, a Note Pad and several Pencils.

Ø Our pilots carried Paper Maps.

To answer the question about how we found the wounded...We used a Paper Map and Map Coordinates.

That’s the short answer. The late Paul Harvey just came up behind me and told me to tell you The Rest of the Story...

I Digress Again...No the enemy in Vietnam did not respect the principles of the Geneva Convention. The Red Crosses on our ships were something to aim at. On any pickup, if the enemy were around, they did their best to kill all of us and all our patients.

Ø Missions started when we would receive radio call or a phone call in our command shack.

Ø Once we knew the call was about a mission, there began a scramble to get off the ground as fast as possible.

Ø The command pilot would remain in the shack to get the info needed for our mission.

Ø The Other Pilot, Crew Chief and the Medic would already be on the way to the ship.

Ø By the time the Command Pilot got to the ship, the Other Pilot had the ship lit up and ready to lift off.

Ø We flew to the wounded using Map Coordinates that were given to us on the Radio/Phone Call.

Ø We flew day or night.

Ø Landing in the right place, even after we found the right place, could be problematic.

Ø Early on we would request smoke to mark the landing site, and sometimes more than one smoke would come out.

Ø The extra smoke was the enemy trying to get us to land right in front of them so they could make us feel really unwelcome.

Ø We got smarter.

Ø We still asked for smoke but, when the smoke came out, we would identify the color and the troops on the ground would verify the color before we would go in.

Ø If the color identification was wrong or both smokes were the same color, we asked for more smoke and repeated the throw smoke routine over again.

Ø At night we would normally ask for a flare because smoke was almost impossible to see at night. Yea, I know what some of you are thinking, the enemy had flares too. Medical Evacuation is not an exact science.

Ø One night we landed to the good guys waving a Zippo Lighter to identify where they were because they had run out of flares. Again, probably not a smart thing to do because the enemy had Zippos too but that night there was only one Zippo Lighter waving around down there (that we could see), so we took a chance. Smart or not, we got to the wounded and got them out.

Ø One way to land at a Landing Zone (LZ) Pickup Site was to drop down to treetop level away from the LZ and come in at high speed. If the enemy were below us as we came by, the hope was we would be by them before they could get a good shot at us. I was never hit doing such an approach. I have no idea how many times we were almost hit doing such an approach. One thing is for sure, it was a very exciting ride because the trees on either side were often higher than we were.

Ø Another type of approach was to drop the ship like a rock from 3,500 feet and pull it out at the bottom and drop it onto the ground (hopefully right next to the wounded).

Ø The reason for this was, we thought, small arms fire could not reach us above 3,500 feet. We wanted to get from 3,500 feet to the ground as quickly as possible and be vulnerable for as short a time as possible.

Ø Coming back out we did the opposite. We stayed at treetop level to gain airspeed and then pulled collective pitch (power) hard and rose up like an elevator. The Huey was a very powerful ship. Those rides up were surprising and thrilling the first time you rode one up and thrilling every time after that.

Ø In heavy jungle we had to hover down through the trees with all four crew members looking around the ship so we could hover away from tree branches. Everyone was on the intercom. It sounded something like this: go forward, go left, go forward, go right, go left, etc. The pilots could see obstacles in front of the ship but can bet they were looking right and left too.

Ø Sometimes the troops on the ground had to blow away trees to make a big enough hole for us to hover in to. Many times, the holes were very small.

Ø Some of our guys made these hole-in-the-trees pickups at night. This would increase the pucker factor. I never had the opportunity to do this at night.

Ø On the way back up, we were again all looking for branches as we reversed the process.

Ø If we knew where the enemy was, we approached from the opposite direction. We did not want to be slowing down for a landing right over them.

Ø Again, if we knew where the enemy was, we landed with the back of the ship towards them. This was done for several reasons. We did not want to be loading patients with the enemy looking and shooting right at the pilots. We wanted the back of the ship toward the incoming fire hoping that some of the fire might be adsorbed or redirected by the ship itself. Finally, we did not want to be taking off low and slow toward or right over the enemy.

Ø Guys in the back...The pilots were, of course, vital to any Medical Evacuation Mission. We flew it in and out of harm’s way (as they say in the movies).

Ø The Medic and the Crew Chief were as important as pilots.

Ø Often, they were even more exposed to enemy fire than the pilots. There were times when they had to leave the ship to get the patients. There were even times when some of those on the ground would not stand up to load the patients because of the fire being received. Our Medic and Crew Chief went and got, loaded and then cared for the patients as we flew back.

Ø It was amazing how many holes could be put into a Huey, and it would still fly. Of course, any single one of those rounds in a vital place could destroy a ship. 

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I am including in this posting an audio recording entitled, "God's Own Lunatics". If you have trouble with the link below, keep trying because it is special. If you search on “God’s own lunatics” or “God’s own lunatics You Tube”, you will be able to find several versions…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqYOAqxlL_Y

This recording was part of an address given by Joe Galloway at a Military Convocation many years after the mid November 1965 Battle of Ia Drang Valley. Joe was a civilian photographer attached to 1^st Battalion of the 7^th Cavalry of the 1^st Air Calvary Division. He was a main character in the Mel Gibson movie and co-author of the book; We Were Soldiers Once...And Young.

Click here to read about the Battle of Ia Drang Valley…https://lzxray.com/

I am very proud to have been a Life Saving Lunatic in 1965.

Would I kid u?

Smartfella

Lagniappe: In case I gave the wrong impression, God’s Own Lunatics was not intended to recognize only Medical Evacuation Crews. It was intended to sing the praises of all who flew Helicopter Missions in Vietnam.