"Unarmed Choppers Kill Nine Viet Cong" S & S Article Submitted by Col. Mike Slonkier
(Ret)
LONG THAN, (9th INF-IO) - A platoon of aviators from the
9th Infantry Division's 3rd Squadron, 5th Armored Cavalry killed nine enemy
recently while flying bubble-topped "unarmed" helicopters.
Responsible for direct support mission such as adjusting
artillery or air strikes, the little three-passenger choppers do not usually
see much action.
But while supporting the 4th Battalion, 47th Infantry
during a two-day battle in Dinh Tuong Province, 45 miles southwest of Saigon,
the chopper pilots and passengers of Troop D's Scout Platoon used the birds
as gunships, grenade launchers, and even dive bombers to rack up their
kills.
The first report came in mid-afternoon of the first day
when Capt. Kent D. Converse, pilot spotted a group of enemy soldiers
running across a clearing.
He swooped down into a low-level firing pass while his
passenger, 1st Lt. Wayne Lovell, opened up with an automatic rifle.
Three enemy were killed.
The chopper took eight hits from a .30 cal. machinegun
but managed to limp back to the division's 2nd Brigade base camp at Dong
Tam, 20 miles east of the battle site.
Later that day Converse cranked up another chopper and
headed back to the battle. While performing a resupply mission, enemy ground
forces opened fire on his ship. Passenger Sp4 Jerry Cressman returned
the fire with an automatic rifle and killed one of the enemy soldiers.
Meanwhile another chopper ,piloted by 1st Lt. Henry
H. Roll, zeroed in on an enemy position while his passenger, 1st Lt.
Rick Stetson of the division's Long Range Reconnaissance Platoon, shot
down two enemy.
Another enemy kill was chalked up late in the afternoon
when the scout platoon leader Capt. Carter D.Brooks, "bombed"
one enemy with a hand grenade.
Shortly after noon the following day, Converse spotted
another enemy force heading for a wood line. His passenger, 1st Lt.
John L. Swanson, used his M-79 grenade launcher, killing one of them.
The last kill was made by Brooks and his gunner, Sp4
Rudi Mayr, when they swooped down on one enemy.