"My Observer’s
Hit"!
By Don Callison
Copyright
2000
I was an
“old guy”
lead Scout pilot and on this day in early 1971 Doug Brown was my
wingman, better known as the
“Trail”.
We
were flying OH-6A “Light Observation” helicopters, nicknamed “Loach”.
Doug’s call sign
was War Wagon 13. I was 14. He
and I, along with our gunner/observers, were scouting an area near the
Wagon Wheel in
the northwest corner of IV Corps in Vietnam’s Delta region.
Doug
had been flying Trail Scout for several months and we had decided to
begin his
transition to Lead.
The
area we were working wasn’t too hot but showed a lot of enemy activity.
After
we had been low level for a while I told Doug to take the Lead position
while I
slid back into his 4 o’clock position to fly his Trail.
An
experienced gunner/observer was in Doug’s left front seat. They Loached
around,
shot up a few bunkers and dropped some grenades. As Doug made a running
commentary on the radio, his voice was slightly distorted by the wind
blowing
through the cockpit. I could hear his gunner firing his M60 in the
background.
Suddenly,
Doug comes on the radio and shouts, “My observer’s hit”!
My
observer and I think, “What the hell”? I tell Doug to get back into my
Trail
position and I start a climb to altitude to lead him to the nearest
hospital at
Vinh Long. As Doug swings onto my Trail he says, “Oh God, it really
stinks”.
Now we’re thinking the poor guy is gut shot. A few minutes later as we
are climbing,
Doug calls on the radio and asks, “Hey one four, where are we going”? I
tell
him, “We’re heading for the Aid Station”. He asks, “Why are we going to
there"? I reply, “You told me you observer was hit”.
Doug retorts, “I said my
observer shit! He crapped his pants.
We’re OK! He just stinks”!
Relieved
but a little pissed, I came back with, “Let’s get back low level,
you’ve got
lead”.
Callison Collection