S.E.A. STORIES
Ambushed
ARRS Crew refuses to give up Medevac
Nine
times during a 13-hour period 1st Lt. Philip H. Kammann and his crew
braved enemy fire in an attempt to evacuate two seriously injured soldiers from
the side of a steep, tree-covered mountain. It wasn’t until PEDRO 39 was badly damaged and almost “shot out of the sky”,
that the crew was forced to abandon the effort and even then, they made a final
pass to giving the wounded soldiers a last chance for life.
The
casualties were part of a U.S. Army patrol that was ambushed approximately 50
miles from Binh Thuy. The rescue could only be 
made by flying directly toward the face of the
night-shrouded, 2000-foot-high mountain which was pocketed with caves.
Occupying the caves were Viet Cong and NVA armed with RPG’s, 75mm Recoilless
Rifles and .51 caliber Heavy AA Machine Guns along with small arms.
Lieutenant
Kammann was alerted at 0100 and scrambled shortly
thereafter. With him were (CP) Capt Jack D. Cusano, (FE) SSGt Gordon L. Browning and
(PJ)
TSGt Dudley R. Peckinpaugh. The backup HH-43 PEDRO 91 with (P) Capt John Debevec, (CP) Capt Cecil A. Jessee, (FE)
SSGt Gerald H. Jones and (PJ) A1C Richard C. Stiefken launched 5 minutes
later.
Arriving
in the area, the PEDROs found an AC-47 “SPOOKY” Gunship and AH-1COBRA Gun Team waiting to provide support.
After locating the Patrol by flare light, a COBRA made a low, slow pass. The
devious enemy held its fire.
On
being cleared in by the COBRA Team Leader, PEDRO 39 began its decent through the darkness guided only by
a single emergency strobe light. At about 50 feet above the trees, Lt. Kammann 
instructed Capt Cusano to
switch on the floodlight. Immediately, hundreds of gun flashes lit the darkness
of the mountainside as the waiting enemy opened fire. Switching off the lights,
miraculously, the Huskie escaped back into the darkness without being hit. As PEDRO 39 cleared the area, the “SPOOKY” and COBRAs
began making suppression runs.
With
Capt Cusano acting as Navigator, the HH-43 headed for Chi Lang, refueled, and
then headed back to the mountain. Arriving back on-scene, PEDRO 39 was informed that it was now safe to try a second
attempt. A blacked out approach was made without incident, then suddenly the
mountainside again erupted with enemy fire as the little helicopter
transitioned to a hover. PEDRO 39 hurriedly withdrew as
a newly arrived “SPECTRe” AC-130 attempted to suppress the enemy fire.
Lieutenant Kammann requested
that the ground party move to a more secure location, but was informed that the
casualties could not survive such a move. The Crew elected to make a 3rd
rescue attempt, but again was driven off by the fierce enemy gun fire. PEDRO 39 returned to Chi Lang to refuel, wait for dawn and the
arrival of a new COBRA Gun Team. At
dawn, the determined Rescuemen once again headed toward the mountain were they
had already had three narrow escapes from death. Although the Patrol reported
that they had received no enemy fire for several hours, the enemy began firing
as soon as the HH-43 came within range. Once again the 
COBRAs
went to work, but PEDRO 39 continued receiving
heavy fire. After two “Fast Movers” made runs placing their bombs “right on
target”, the H-43 making its fifth attempt was again driven off by the ferocity
of enemy fire.
LT.
Kammann returned to Chi Lang to refuel while the area around the ill fated
Patrol was worked over by a combination of fixed wing aircraft and helicopter
gunships. Shortly after 0900 PEDRO 39 was back in the area and several more attempts were
made. On the 9th try, the HH-43 was hit numerous times and Lt.
Kammann found it extremely hard to maintain control of the “battle damaged”
helicopter. In spite of this, he held a hover while Sergeant Peckinpaugh started
lowering a “Stokes Litter”. SSGt Browning sitting in the rear of the cabin used
his M-16 in an attempt to suppress enemy fire. The Stokes was three quarters
the way down when the little helicopter again shook from numerous heavy caliber hits. Pulling
a maximum power 
takeoff, PEDRO 39
left the immediate area. After accessing the state of the damaged helo, Lt.
Kammann decided that PEDRO 39 would have to abandon
its attempt at removing the injured soldiers. But, before withdrawing, they
decided to do one more thing to help save the victims lives. Although struggling
with the controls, PEDRO 39 made a low level pass
so TSGt Peckinpaugh and SSGt Browning could drop two stretchers and medical
supplies to the Patrol.
Escorted
by PEDRO
91, Three Nine returned to Chi Lang where it was
discovered that the HH-43 had taken ten hits, five in the wooden rotor blades. PEDRO 39 would be returned to Binh Thuy slung beneath an Army
CH-47 Chinook and requiring extensive repair.
Later,
PEDRO
91 was able to evacuate the wounded
soldiers from a “SAFE” LZ on the mountain. They had been carried there in the litters
dropped by PEDRO 39.
Story contributed by Ed
Cartwright
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