Vietnam SAR Stories
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Click the blue links below to go to the story of your choice
Why do these men fight? |
| 1965 Article by Eric Severid - I recently found this in my files. It was true in 1965 and most of it is still true today. |
Pedro's - Rotors of Wood, Men of Steel |
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Excerpted in February 2005 from the website "Talking Proud" |
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First SAR by a Jolly in North Vietnam |
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Written by Robert A. Hanson |
| Article about Capt. Lance Eagan - (jpg file) Story about a U.S. Coast Guard pilot who volunteered to fly Jolly's with the 37th ARRS out of DaNang (Written by USCG Capt. Jeff Koronis and provided to this site by his son Todd Eagan) |
"We Called him Pits" - This is the story of Airman William Pitsenbarger. On 11 April 1966, he was killed in action while attempting to save the lives of U.S. Army troops who were in contact with the Viet Cong. In 1967, he was posthumously awarded the Air Force Cross. This is the second highest award the nation can give to an American hero. Many Air Rescuemen and Army troops believed he should have been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Three decades later, Airman Pitsenbarger was renominated to receive the Medal of Honor. On 8 December 2000, Pararescueman William Hart Pitsenbarger was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. This is the story of the events that led to death and his award of America's highest award for heroism. To go directly to the story, click on Bill's link below .
This story excerpted from the book "PJ's in Viet Nam." See copyright information above. Security measures are in place to prevent downloading this file to disk. You may however print it out.
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Stories about the men who flew the HH-43 "Pedro" in the Vietnam War |
| The story of "CROWN BRAVO," the 1st PJ killed in the Vietnam War, and the award of the Air Force Cross to HU-16 navigator Captain Donald Price. |
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| An Air Force Cross for Colonel Ralph S. Hoggatt. The story of the SAR for Sandy 8 and Awol 01. |
Rescue
Force Poem
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Written by Major Alan Hassell in 1968 |
| A detailed story of an F-105 crew member downed in Laos in Laos in 1969 and then rescued by the 40th ARRS. Excerpted from the Journal of Special Operations Medicine. Official Mission Report |
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A raid to rescue American POWs 23-miles from Hanoi |
| The true story of the origin of the "original" Jolly Green Giant footprint tattoo. Written by PJ Wayne Fisk. Requires Adobe Acrobat Reader. |
| A 7th Air Force news release about the first HH-53 save credited to the 37th ARRS Da Nang AB, RVN. This is an MS-Word document. The news release and photo were provided to the web master by Ed Kobernik who was the flight engineer who flew on this mission. |
Rescue Poem titled "No More" |
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Written by Udo C.J. Fischer in 1972 |
| The REAL story of the loss of JG67 on the Bat 21 SAR in April 1972. Written by Col. Darrell D. Whitcomb who was an OV-10 FAC during the Vietnam War. For the complete story read Col Whitcomb's book, "The Rescue of Bat 21." His book should not be confused with with an earlier book written by William C. Anderson and a movie titled Bat 21. The Anderson book and subsequent movie must be described as mostly fiction written to entertain and not to document the true story of this historic and tragic rescue mission. Col. Darrell Whitcomb's book published in 1998 finally set the record straight. Darrel's book is a must read for any serious student of Air Rescue in the Vietnam War. It is published by the Naval Institute Press. |
| At first they called it mission impossible. But after the pulled it off they renamed it the "Miracle Mission." This is the story of the evacuation of 132 soldiers from the Quang Tri Citadel while they were surrounded by over four NVA divisions. Excerpted from August 1973 Airman Magazine. Note: You can also listen to audio of a cockpit recording from the low bird. |
| The story of the 1972 closing of the 37th ARRS, DaNang Air Base Vietnam |
| A story written in 1981 about "King" the SAR airborne mission commander by James Hassell |
| Comments from an individual who avoided the draft by taking a student deferment. |
| Written by Jolly FE Berkley E. Naugle (MSgt Retired). The story describes his first mission into North Vietnam flying on on a CH-3C assigned to Detachment 5, 38th ARRSq, Udorn RTAFB Thailand |
| An April 2003 Coast Guard
magazine article which discusses the efforts of Joint Task Force Full
Accounting to recover the remains of the crew of HH-3 "Jolly Green 23" which
was shot down on 9 June 1968.
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Email comments to rlapointe@gci.net |
© Copyright 1999 Robert L. LaPointe. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part, in any form or medium, without the expressed written permission of Robert L. LaPointe is Prohibited |