The Closing of 37th ARRS –  by Robert L. LaPointe 

30 November 1972 -- Officially we were called the 37^th ARRS, but to any downed pilot who heard the heavy chop of the six bladed rotors from the HH-53C helicopter, it was the sound of the Jolly Green Giant’s. After six years at DaNang and rescuing 887 downed fliers or troops in contact, a flight of six HH-53’s departed "Rocket City" for the last time. Only two weeks earlier the scramble klaxon had sounded, but instead of the expected loudspeaker cry of "Scramble the Jolly’s" a voice unexpectedly announced that all squadron members should gather in the main hanger for an important announcement from our commander. Twenty minutes later almost 200 aircrew, maintenance, and support personnel milled around openly wondering what this was all about. No one in the squadron could ever recall the scramble klaxon being used for any purpose except launching our aircraft on a combat rescue. LtCol. Stephen L. Sutton soon walked out of Jolly Operations, smiling from ear to ear. He wasted no time, and in a loud voice proclaimed simply "We’re all going home, it’s over." The squadron erupted into spontaneous turmoil and cheers. We were all screaming, jumping up and down, patting each other on the back. It took some time to quiet this squadron down. After repeated orders to quiet down Col. Sutton was able to speak once again. His next announcement was going to surprise us almost as much as his first. "You will all be out of here in less than three weeks." Again chaos erupted. This meant that we would not be spending Christmas in Vietnam. It was almost too good to be true. Could we really shut down our entire rescue squadron, pack up our gear, and process each of us for reassignment in 21 days? The answer was an unequivocal yes. Throughout DaNang Air Base, this process was repeating itself at all of the American units. I suspect that it was repeating itself at all U.S. combat units throughout the country of Vietnam.

The powers to be in Washington had negotiated a peace treaty with the North Vietnamese. They now wanted us to pack up and get out of town as fast as we could, if not faster. We had essentially declared victory and were now going extricate ourselves from the quagmire Vietnam had become. The men of the 37^th ARRS were more than glad to enthusiastically execute this order. To expedite our departure all unit facilities, equipment, weapons, and munitions were to be turned over to the VNAF. The only exception to this policy would be our aircraft and individually issued professional gear. The aircraft would be transferred to the 40^th ARRS at NKP Thailand. Each individuals professional gear would be boxed, inspected by customs, and shipped to our next base of assignment. The same process would repeat itself with our personally owned possessions.

The next three weeks would consist of long days of furious activity. During the day we packed personal and professional gear for shipment back to the states. Performance reports and awards and decorations packages had to be completed on everyone. There was serious concern among U.S. commanders to ensure that we did not ship any weapons or munitions out of the country for war souvenirs. They also wanted to ensure that no one shipped any illegal drugs out in their gear. This led to extensive inspections of all boxes being shipped out of country. Col. Sutton knew that we PJ’s probably had some weapons and explosives that were not listed on unit supply records. To provide a means to turn them in legally he instituted an amnesty policy. He placed a wooden box, about 4x4 feet size, in the PJ section with an amnesty sign on it.

PJ weapons in Vietnam had long been an issue that rescue unit commanders struggled with. We had entered the war with .38 caliber pistols and an M-16 rifle. These were the only official weapons authorized by the Air Force for use by its PJ’s. As the war dragged on the character of the pararescue mission also changed. Dozens of pararescuemen attended Recondo school at Nha Trang and became trained in the full spectrum of infantry weapons and explosives. These pararescuemen in turn trained other PJ’s who arrived in country but could not get to Recondo school. Pararescuemen routinely found themselves on the ground, in enemy territory for longer periods than the Air Force anticipated. The North Vietnamese also placed a bounty on PJ’s, to motivate their troops to capture or kill pararescuemen who were attempting to rescue a downed pilot. This led to pararescue teams in country deciding which weapons were needed to survive in this hostile environment. The only problem with this arrangement was that the weapons carried by PJ’s at the end of the war were not authorized in USAF supply tables of allowance. In the last few months of the war, Col. Sutton was under pressure from his superiors to ensure his PJ’s carried only a pistol and a rifle. He in turn put pressure on TSgt Harwell Quillian, the PJ NCOIC to ensure that only authorized weapons were carried. When Sergeant Quillian told us to turn in our illegal weapons a couple of months earlier, the PJ’s assigned were smart enough not to try and argue the illogic of unilateral disarmament in the middle of a war. We turned in a couple dozen weapons and a few crates of explosives and told him to tell Col. Sutton that he had all the "illegal" weapons. This made everyone happy. It was an open secret among the rescue aircrews that we flew with that we were still armed to the teeth. But now that we were all going home, we did not require these weapons. It was now the proper time to take the amnesty policy to heart. We did have one minor problem, Col. Sutton’s box was a "little too small." In one of the most infamous PJ photos of the war, the 37^th PJ team displayed one of each type weapon that we owned. These included: .50 cal. heavy machinegun, 7.62 M-60 machinegun, M-79 grenade launcher, XM-148 grenade launcher, M-72 LAW rocket, M-3 silenced grease gun, 9mm "Swedish K", AK-47, AKM, M1911 .45 pistol, Browning 9mm pistol, claymore mine, various types of hand grenades and 40mm explosives and a few weapons that had been so heavily modified that they rightly had no name. Col. Sutton was not amused when he was asked to take a look at his amnesty box. It was buried in high explosive fragmentation grenades. He phoned for the DaNang EOD team to pick up the PJ weapons. They required a flat bed truck to haul it all away. One of them commented that we had enough to outfit an infantry company for a week of heavy battle.

From left to right: Buck Beaucannon, Steve Jones, Larry Kimball, Bruce Johnson, Ron Charlsworth, Dennis Baker, John Carlson, Clay Hammock, Bob LaPointe, Dudley Green, Buzz Beauchamp, and Bill Bradley. Not in photo was Harwell Quillian. He was in Col. Sutton’s office getting his ass chewed.

The weapons amnesty issue was the only minor sour note in the shutdown of the 37^th. But it only took one passing moment in the blur of other happy activity that was occurring. Everyone received PCS assignments and processed out through the DaNang personnel office. Most would be going straight back to the United States and would be assigned to CONUS air rescue units. About one third of the aircrews and PJ’s would be reassigned to the 40^th ARRS at NKP, Thailand. Virtually all those going to Thailand were volunteers. Another issue that needed to be resolved was what to do with "Stretch". Stretch was an 11-foot long Indian Rock python, that had been the PJ mascot for years. The snake cage was rather large and located outside but adjacent to the Pararescue Section. No one with any sense at all went into this cage without having one of the PJ snake handlers with them. No one ever realized that the cages extra large size was a result of it serving the dual purpose of a munitions storage area for all the "illegal high explosives" that the 37^th PJ’s owned. Thank God that a 122mm rocket never hit this cage, the secondary explosions would have been rather spectacular. It was decided that "Stretch" would PCS with the men going to NKP. It would be flown there on one of the Jolly’s when they departed. Stretch’s new cage at NKP would be located next to the 40^th ARRS’s mascot, "Buffy". Buffy was a black Malayan sun bear.

At sunset we ceased work and celebrated the end of the war. Raucous parties were occurring all over DaNang. Most of the 37^th gravitated the PJ barracks bar or the Jolly Green Inn, the maintenance bar. The night before the "Jolly’s" departed for NKP the squadron had its last official party. Appropriately it would be at the Jolly Green Inn. All realized that it would be their last social gathering before the squadron was deactivated. Everyone was glad to soon be leaving Vietnam. However it was a mixed emotion. We would also be saying goodbye to many of our brothers in arms, men who we had gone to battle with, laughed with, cried with. Most realized that it was likely that they would never meet again. As the free drinks flowed it was impossible to not recall the exploits they shared, the men they had saved, and the teammates they had lost in combat. These rescue missions had been some of the most hazardous type of flying activity in this unpopular war. The rescuemen were clear about their mission. "Rescue shot down American pilots from capture or death by the NVA", unpopular war be damned. We were not politicians, we were American warriors. Tonight the warriors celebrated one last time. Pilots, maintenance men, PJ’s, clerks, supply men and other squadron members toasted each other. The drinks flowed freely, the music was loud, the mood was buoyant. Late in the night someone started singing a song we had all heard sung before. Soon everyone was singing. The song was "The ballad of the Jolly Green Giants." It had been written many years earlier by Bull Durham. It went like this:

Insert after obtaining permission to use.

All party’s end. They next morning found us all on the flightline ramp. The crews were in the "Jolly’s", rotors turning. Those of us remaining at DaNang, awaiting the arrival of the "Freedom Bird", waved to the departing crews, they waved back. The mood was serious, the men quiet. We were witnessing the end of an era. After takeoff, the "Jolly’s" formed up in tight formation and then over flew Jolly Green Operations. It was a final salute to their teammates who gathered on the flight line to witness the last Jolly Green Giants over flying DaNang Air Base. There was more than one moist eyeball in the men left on the now very quiet flightline. In an interview with the DaNang newspaper, the Gunfighter Gazette, Col Sutton stated the following "I cannot begin to describe the dedication these guys have for their job. It is 24 hours a day, seven days a week, always alert and ready to pick someone up so ‘Charlie’ does not get him. When we bring a downed pilot back to DaNang the guys in my squadron act like he is a long lost brother. They really have empathy for the jet jocks and all men in trouble. They are the greatest bunch of guys I have ever known."

In a few days the last rescuemen assigned to the Jolly Green Giants departed for home. But they would not be the last rescuemen leaving DaNang. That honor would belong to the Pedro’s. The HH-43 LBR unit was redesignated Det. 7 40^th ARRS and remained at DaNang until the peace treaty was signed on 30 January 73. The Pedro’s were the first into the war. It was fitting that they would be the last rescuemen out of Vietnam.

NOTES:

1. I am searching for information on who stayed at the Pedro unit and about their closure. Anyone who can help please e-mail me.
2. I am looking for a better photo of the PJ’s displaying their weapons.