By the time the 3/7 Marines arrived at the position to launch a counteroffensive, the enemy was gone. In the process, the 3/3 lost their company commander, Captain Bruce Webb. As a result, what began as an assault mission by the 3/3 soon became a rescue mission. Firepower from the AK-47s also managed to neutralize five Landing Vehicle Tracks and three flame tanks. The Marines of India Company 3/3 learned of this as they were pinned down by the VC at Hill 30, while waiting for reinforcements that never arrived. However, the AK-47 served as an equalizer in the face of the much larger Marine force. The 1st Viet Cong Regiment was outnumbered by the Marines nearly 3 to 1.
Huey helicopter vietnam war torrent#
Armed with the AK-47 assault rifle, a weapon superior to that of the M-14 rifle carried by the Marines, the Viet Cong unleashed a torrent of well-aimed fire. The 2/4 were assisted by artillery fire support from a nearby artillery battery, the 3/12 Marines. Under the command of Captain Paul Kelley, who would later become the commandant of the Marine Corps, Christenson and the rest of the 2/4 moved by airlift into a hot landing zone, where they met fierce opposition from the VC. The Marines from 3/3 conducted an amphibious landing. Offshore were the USS Galveston and USS Cabildo to offer naval artillery support. Walt knew in the planning phase that to thwart and defeat the VC force, he would have to construct a definitive combined-arms force. Their opponents comprised the 60th and 80th Viet Cong Battalions and the 52nd Viet Cong Company. “I remember the helicopters kept coming and coming and we had to get those guys out.” The Marines immediately learned that destroying the enemy stronghold at Van Tuong would not be an easy task. “We landed right next to the VC command post and we nearly got wiped out,” Christenson recalled. History would know it as Operation Starlite. Lewis Walt had launched an assault against the 1st Viet Cong Regiment this was the first offensive military action conducted by a purely American military unit during the war. The United States Marine Corps initially used the H-34 helicopter, nicknamed the “Ugly Angel.” After riding into battle aboard the rather awkward and bizarre-looking aircraft, Staff Sergeant Carl Christenson and 5,500 other Marines quickly found themselves fighting for life and limb in August 1965. “Ugly Angel”: The Huey’s Flawed Predecessor On October 22, 1956, the Huey made its maiden flight.
Huey helicopter vietnam war series#
On February 23, 1955, Bell Helicopter Company won the contract to build the 204 Series HU-1, nicknamed the “Huey.” (The Department of Defense would later reverse the designation to the UH-1.) The Army initially ordered three prototypes. The Army tasked the Air Force with developing the new concept. Shortly after Korea, the Army realized that it needed a multipurpose aircraft whose primary function would be to evacuate the wounded from the battlefield. The concept of rotary-wing aircraft being used for air assault had yet to be envisioned. Helicopters were initially used in the Korean War to rescue downed pilots and provide reconnaissance and medical evacuation. Gaining the high ground was exactly what the Huey was designed to do. Pitted against an elusive enemy that utilized a complex network of underground tunnels to enable them to disappear into the jungle, American troops in Vietnam realized quickly that they would have to develop new tactics to gain the high ground, literally and figuratively. There’s no way that we could have fought that war without it.” Gaining the High Ground with the Huey “It was a big raggedy thing but it took you here and there. “The Huey was our best friend,” says Freddie Clark, who fought in the legendary 1/9 “Walking Dead” Marine unit in Vietnam. In the eyes of the average 19-year-old ground soldier in Vietnam, the Huey represented nothing less than divine intervention. To the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army, they were angels of death.įor those who flew on it or actually flew it, the Hueys is embedded in their souls. To American troops who were exposed to constant enemy fire, the Huey and those who flew them were angels from on high. Fifty years after its birth, the Huey remains the only aircraft to be used by all branches of the United States military, including the Coast Guard. As an icon of the Vietnam War and an angel of mercy for American troops who fought there, the Bell UH-1 Iroquois, affectionately known as the “Huey,” has gone on to become the most recognizable helicopter in the world.
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