The Bravest ARVN
I Ever Met
By Don Callison
Copyright 1998

    After the 9th Infantry Div. Derosed, D Troop 3/5th Cav worked almost exclusively with the 7th, 9th and 21st ARVN Divisions. Many times we would go out and pick a good fight only to have the ARVN units lose the momentum and break contact or be pinned down shortly after they were inserted. Many times our Air Cavalry unit was misused as an Assault Helicopter Company with our package of 4 Hueys being used to move entire ARVN Battalions to A/Os that were secure. It was a rare occasion when the scouts were permitted to fly above the ground troops while they were maneuvering and when we did there would always be "extra" 5.56mm and little squareish M79 holes in our aircraft and there were usually complaints from their side about us shooting them up too.

    I found I could use a LOACH to drive ARVNs like cattle. The gunner and I would wave and gesture to indicate which direction the troops should go, when they didn't move I'd hover over them and give them a dose of rotor wash if they weren't too far down in the trees. If that tactic failed I'd hover directly over them, point the aircraft in the direction I wanted them to move then fire the mini gun, dumping hot brass on them, that usually got them to move unless it was lunch time.

    There were some very good, though small ARVN units and it was a pleasure to work with the few who came out to the A/O to "kick ass".

    The point to all this background is that one day I met the "John Wayne" of the ARVNs.

    We were clearing a pre-planned, "secure" LZ in the U Minh forest and preparing for our slicks to bring in 2 companies of ARVN troops. Something unusual about this mission was that an American advisor was already there on the ground and was he accompanied by an ARVN squad. It was really rare to work for an American and we always took extra good care of them. The LZ was set along some of the dense jungle of the forest. It was about a 150m long, rectangular rice paddy. The landing direction was to be from north to south.

    The advisor and his crew were at the southwest corner of the LZ and as usual, there were 8 or 10 "civilians" of varying ages and gender hanging around the military group.

    My gunner that day was Bill Hangman. We arrived in the LZ and after reconning the area around it we saw what looked like well camouflaged Spider holes neatly lined up along the middle of the west side of the paddy. We hovered up to the northernmost hole, blew the lid off with rotor wash and Bill shot a guy but he slumped way down inside the hole. We needed to stop the inbound slicks and clean this place out.

    Via C&C's radio the advisor asked what was up because we were shooting only 50 or 60 yards away from his "secure" position. I quickly explained to C&C what we had found and what I wanted to do and he put a delay on the inbound slicks.

    I landed near to the advisor and yelled to him over the turbine and rotor noise that there were spider holes along the edge of the LZ, that they appeared to be large ceramic crocks buried 3 or 4 feet in the ground, probably with guys in them either hiding out or planning an ambush, since it was a "pre-selected, secure" LZ. The American advisor called a young, hard jawed Vietnamese Lieutenant over to the ship. He told him what was going on and without the slightest hesitation the Lt. pulled out his Colt .45 Auto, stepped on to the skid on my side and nodded, "let's go".

     The guy was a Steel-balled tiger in my book. I would hover right up a spider hole, Bill would sprinkle a little M-60 around it, I'd set the ship down, and as Hangman covered him with the M-60 the ARVN Lieutenant would run to the hole, drop to his belly, flip the lid off and reach down into the darkness.

    I watched him from 10 feet away and could see him groping and feeling around inside the hole, then out his hands would come, one gripping the .45 stuck in a grimy face that was connected to the other hand filled with hair or clothing. He'd pull a guy out. Then he would reach in again with similar results. He turned the prisoners and their weapons over to some of his squad members who had caught up with us, then he'd hop back on my skid. None of the other troops offered to come along so Bill and I would take him to the next hole.

    We used this technique on the five remaining spider holes that bordered the LZ. The Lt. captured nine, scared shitless Viet Cong or NVA, without firing a shot.

    I couldn't shut the aircraft down so I never got to speak to that young soldier, that hero of the day, that man who was not afraid to search the dark for danger and grab it by the hair..., but I was proud of him, and proud to have been there and worked with him and to have backed him up.

    Even Hangman was impressed!

    I was also damned glad the slicks didn't get the shit shot of them!