On 31 Dec. 1971 Team Charliehorse 26 launched from Phu Bai Viet Nam to conduct reconnaissance near the tri-border area of Viet Nam where north and south Viet Nam come together with Laos. That team consisted of a UH-1H command and control helicopter, two AH-1G Cobra gun ships and a OH-6 scout helicopter. The UH-1 was commanded by Cpt. Noel Harvey with 1LT Neil Flynn as a co-pilot, SP/4 Robert Lee Denmark as crew chief and SP/4 Ronnie A. Mickle as door gunner. Also aboard was a ranger team commanded by Sgt. Fernando Figueroa and consisting of SP/4 George F. Cobb, and PFC’s Dennis Trimble and David W. McMillon. The mission of the rangers was to be prepared for ground insertion to rescue any member of the team who might be shot down.
While
enroute to the combat area, the team had to fly under the cloud cover
in the Ba
Long River valley and came close the hill mass south
of the abandoned Marine base camp at Khe
Sanh. Suddenly an NVA antiaircraft gun
opened up on the flight and the Hueys engine was shot out.
Entering autorotation Cpt. Harvey aimed at
the only flat area he could see on the side of the hill to his front. He could not know that the area was a base
camp containing over 300 NVA regular soldiers positioned for the
assault on
South Viet Nam that was still three months away.
The
Huey slammed into the 10 foot high grass and jungle remarkably intact
and the
crew piled out to set up a hasty defense.
As Crewchief Denmark dismounted his M-60 machinegun an enemy
soldier
rose up from the high grass and killed him with a burst or AK-47 fire. The NVA was killed at the same time from a
bursts fired by Rangers Trimble and McMillon.
On the other side of the ship gunner Ronnie Mickle was
dismounting the
Huey when he was hit by a burst of fire and fell seriously injured with
a head
wound. As the initial smoke cleared both
of the helicopter’s machine gunners were down, and four rangers were defending the four helicopter crewman . The aeroscout commanded by WO Major Herrick
came to a hover over the downed aircraft to provide suppressive fire,
and his
gunner, SP/4 Neil Wade Jones was immediately killed by a burst of 51
caliber
fire that damaged the OH-6. Herrick
subsequently crashed 1 kilometer away on the old Khe Sanh strip. In less than two minutes Charliehorse 26 and
Charliehorse 14 were down.
I
was scrambled from Phu Bai in command of the Charliehorse reaction team
of 6
AH-1G Cobra gunships and a UH-1 containing another ranger team. I took four Cobras to 26’s
location and sent the Huey and two Cobras to rescue WO Herrick's crew
who were
not in immediate danger.
We
very quickly laid down suppressive fire around the downed Huey and
called for
the “Jolly Green Giants” of the USAF at Danang.
The HH-53 was the AF standard rescue helicopter and was capable
lifting
all the stranded soldiers. It also
carried two Pararescue Jumpers or PJ’s that could be lowered down to
the site
if necessary. Along with the Jolly came
four A-1H Skyraider prop fighters, callsign “Sandy”, to provide escort,
fire
support an to coordinate the rescue forces.
Sandy
7 took command of the rescue scene and directed me to command the Army
forces
and to work the hill mass the South of the survivors and his fighters
would
work the area around the survivors and to the North.
We began to lay a ring of steel around the
stranded crew.
On
the ground, the rangers were exchanging gunfire and hand grenades with
the NVA
at a distance of less than 10 yards.
Cpt. Harvy talked to Sandy 7 and me on the radio while Lt.
Flynn, armed
only with a 38 pistol moved from ranger to ranger offering
encouragement and
redistributing ammunition and grenades.
After
about an hour and a half the situation seemed right for the rescue. Sandy 7 briefed JG-21 on the ingress route
and the big helicopter came out of altitude and headed for the
survivors. Sandy 7 & 8 laid a smoke
screen between
the enemy and the survivors and the JG came to a hover over the
stranded
crew. As the rescue basket hit the
ground the enemy opened up with all they had and JG 21 was hit hard. Aborting the rescue, he limped to Quang Tri
Airfield and executed an emergency landing.
He was out of the fight.
JG-65
commanded by Captain Rodney S. Griffith was scrambled from Da Nang and
we
continued to saturate the area around the Americans.
For 2 1/2 more hours we prepped the area and
the rangers continued to fight in tall grass surrounding the Huey. As an enemy soldier would attack the rangers
from all directions, he would be killed by gunfire from one of the four
rangers, each guarding a side of the Huey.
As daylight faded and ammunition ran low, a chilling call came
from Cpt.
Harvey. “Get us now or we are out of
ammunition.”
We
had added two more Skyraiders to our flight and with 6 cobras and 6
Sandies in
the air, we decided for another try. Ringing the survivors with smoke,
high
explosives, riot control gas, and machine gun fire, JG-65 started in. He came to a hover over the crew and lowered
his basket. The ground fire was
immediate and continuous. With security
provided only by PFC McMillion who alone engaged the enemy in all
directions,
three rangers and two pilots loaded SP/4 Mickle into the Stokes litter. Once hoisted, the body of Specialist Denmark,
and the helicopters machineguns and radios were hoisted aboard the JG. Switching to a jungle penetrator that had two
foldout seats, Rangers Trimble and Cobb came up next and the last off
the
ground were PFC McMillon and Sgt. Figueroa.
During the hoist, the JG crew was firing 7.62mm electric
Gattling guns from
both side mounts and the rear ramp, spewing out a combined 9000 rounds
a
minute.
Upon
entering the rescue helicopter PFC McMillon moved to the rear ramp with
PJ TSGT
Chuck Salome and continued firing his weapon at the enemy.
As the HH-53 was preparing to depart the
area, and enemy gunner raised up directly below and behind the rescue
helicopter. He was killed with a burst
of fire from McMillons rifle.
The
JG rose from the jungle floor with all 8 Americans aboard.
It was the largest single rescue of aircraft
crewmembers from one location of the Viet Nam war.
They were combat saves number 692 through 698
for the 37th ARRS.
On
arrival at Da Nang airfield, the rangers had less than one magazine of
ammunition between them.
Twenty
days later, on 20 January Sgt. Figueroa was again in a rescue Huey shot
down
and he was killed in the crash. Ranger
Trimble, also aboard lost his foot.
Ranger Walter “Buddy” Moran of Nevada, Missouri was also killed,
all
other aboard were burned. Two bodies
were never recovered. On 30 Jan, 72, I
was shot down in my cobra and the rangers of Charliehorse came to my
assistance
rescuing my copilot and me. I was combat
save number 700. Cpt. Peter Chapman, the
first JG pilot to attempt to rescue David McMillion, and PJ Billy
Pearson who
was one of my rescue PJs were killed on 6 April 1972 attempting the
famous Bat
–21 rescue near the DMZ. Cpt. Rodney
Griffith who commanded the successful rescue of McMillon would
participate in
the Desert One rescue attempt at the Iran Hostages and then retire in
1982. He died last year of cancer. PJ Chuck Salome who saved Ronnie Mickle’s
life in the JG and who retired as the USAF’s most senior combat
pararescueman,
would fall from a tree in his yard and die in 1999.
The
four rangers on the ground that day were all awarded the Bronze star
for valor
but they were never presented. Our unit
stood down and ceased to exist in February of 72 and most personnel
actions
were never completed. It is my great
personal honor to correct that oversight today.
I am the senior surviving officer of D troop 3rd Squadron Fifth
US Air
Cavalry, call sign “Charliehorse” and the senior Army officer present
that day
in 1971. I was 23 years old.
David McMillion was 19.
Hugh
L. Mills Jr.
LTC,
ret US Army
Charliehorse 38