LS 719 – 5 FEB TO 25 MAR 1971

5 Feb 1971  

The first helicopter and crew loss of LS 719 and the Troop happened. A team from P/75th Rangers operating on the Khe Sanh Plateau requested immediate assistance. They had observed an NVA force maneuvering near their location, needed Cobra support and possible extract. Charlie Horse responded with an already airborne Hunter Killer Team. The weather that morning was typically awful with a very low ceiling as the team proceeded at low level from the area they had been operating near FSB Fuller, down the valley past Vandegrift low level along the river following QL-9 to the west. Following the Da Krong River at treetop altitude in a trail formation was dangerous unto itself, offering easy targeting as the team passed. As Khe Sanh is approached from the east at that altitude, the terrain rises steeply with a boxed dead-end canyon at the edge of the plateau. As altitude was gained by the leading aircraft, the swirling clouds offered a classic "sucker hole" with just a bit of a clear opening presented. The scout leading the flight was CWO Wayne Forbes, followed by the lead Cobra with AC CPT Jim Jackson, then the second Cobra with AC WO Carl Wood and WO James Paul in front. The last in trail was the Huey with AC CPT Tom Ford with an ARP Team aboard. The Scout cleared the opening as did the first Cobra. WO Wood's Cobra disappeared into the cloud. The Huey went IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) with the cloud obscured surrounding hills extremely close. The most fleeting sight of a passing hilltop out the left window enabled a rapid deceleration with heading reversal and reduction to a visual altitude. There was no radio response from WO Wood or WO Paul. They had found their mountain in #66-15340 at grid XD865443. The perceived mission urgency had pushed the team to attempt a very dangerous procedure that had been successfully employed before, but not that day.

6 Feb 1971

Scout WO Norman and his CE SP4 Burgoon were both WIA by NVA small arms fire. The 5 Feb Cobra crash site was not discovered for two days as it had remained under the dense cloud cover. They had entered a dense bamboo thicket leaving little evidence of their location. The Charlie Horse ARPs performed very difficult recovery in very steep terrain. The Blues would be employed frequently in the coming months. The insertion of five men onto downed helicopters to recover both the living and the dead against potentially overwhelming odds attest to the unheralded bravery of these men. Brave is not a strong enough word. [NOTE: The Wall has WO Paul’s status as BNR ~ Body Not Recovered. It shows WO Wood’s body was picked up. Some details of the recovery mission are missing.]
The weather that hampered the recovery of the Cobra crew did not improve much during most the Khe Sanh operation. Weather ruled the AO. It was also becoming clear that the engineering effort on "Red Devil Road" through the "Punch Bowl" had both weather and enemy activity difficulties. The Main Supply Route (MSR), QL-9, was as difficult and dangerous as in the earlier American episodes involving the Marines. Ambush and washouts made the journey difficult. The Engineering restoration of Khe Sanh progressed well if the Perforated Steel Planking (PSP) and construction materials could get to the destination. FSB Vandergrift rapidly transformed into a rearm and refuel site, while Mai Loc became an assault staging base and refuel point. 
All during the early stages of the build-up and the development of the “Yellow Brick Road,” Charlie Horse was tasked with the insertion, cover and extract of P/75th Ranger Teams as they fanned out in the advance of the ground elements pushing westward. Observation of enemy movements in opposition of the American forces was a key role for these Ranger teams. It was the accepted protocol that the Charlie Horse Lift Platoon (“Baggers”) “owned” the Ranger reconnaissance teams they inserted. This included any emergency response or extraction missions. Logic was that the location and the nearby LZ would be familiar to that Charlie Horse Huey AC. One late afternoon, during part of the early operation preparations, I was returning to Quang Tri from Khe Sanh with an empty Huey accompanied by a single Cobra piloted by AC CPT Jimmy Jackson. We were there together just because we were both headed back to the “Hitching Post” at the end of day. Riding with me in the Huey was one of the most experienced UH-1 AC’s in the Troop, CWO Joe Duffy. It was the end of day and with the coming dusk. Visual recon time was over. I had a vision of a cold beer in my near future when we received a call from the Operations Officer, CPT Ken Gingras. The Ranger team we had inserted several days previously north of Khe Sanh in the vicinity of the proposed “Red Devil Road” was having trouble. They were positioned to observe any sizeable NVA force that might move into an area where the Engineers worked on the “pioneer” road. CPT Gingras informed us that the Rangers were being threatened by a sizeable NVA force and were requesting an immediate extract. As it turned out, the most available aircraft were the two of us. We were asked if we would consider attempting the extract as time was a factor as it would soon be dark. Duffy was confident he knew where the team was, and Jackson said he’d cover with the Cobra which had a 20mm system if we were game to try. We informed Operations that we were en route and would pull the Rangers out.
Conferring with the Cobra, we elected to proceed low level down a small canyon just north of the Ranger team at top speed, execute a simultaneous cyclic climb, identify the location as the team would pop smoke, and dive on the LZ. Having CWO Duffy on the controls was not a hard decision for me. He executed what was most likely the most incredible approach and landing I’ll ever experience. Massive cyclic climb out of the canyon, ID the smoke, a nose-over dive pulling out at the bottom with a sidewise flair and a heave on the collective until the tail stinger was straight down it seemed. Then he nosed it over and dropped right into the circle of Rangers. Small arms fire was suppressed by CPT Jackson’s Cobra at about a 100-150 ft hover raking the tree line with the 20mm Gatling Gun and 2.75” rockets. The Rangers scrambled aboard. Duffy did a backwards takeoff and we dove back down into the small canyon. Very impressive! Thanks Duffy and thank you Jimmy Jackson. We had landed on a stump and that was the only damage we incurred. Duffy and I were hosted at the Ranger compound that evening and that alone is another story.