By Scott Graber
“As we were landing, a bullet came thru the windshield made of plexiglass and passed between us. We landed and dropped off our troops. We took off and perhaps the ship took more rounds because the helicopter developed a severe vibration. Lance Ruck said, ‘I don’t think the helicopter will make it back to Khe Sanh (20 minute flight) in this condition.’ We spotted a nearby LZ and made an emergency landing. Immediately NVA (North Vietnamese Army) was running towards us and firing the AK 47s in our direction.
“A second helicopter followed the crippled helo down. What he did next earned him the Silver Star and a permanent place in the company’s idea of itself.
“He hung his Huey at a four or five foot hover between the downed crew and the North Vietnamese coming out of the tree line, and let his ship soak up the fire. His crew chief and door gunner operated their M-60s until both were shot—one hit twice the other three times. The unconscious door gunner’s hand stayed clenched on the trigger. …”
— Excerpt from the history of Lancers B Company, 158th Battalion, 101st, a/k/a Lam Son 719
And so went the largely forgotten heroism during a disaster also known as Lam Son 719 where American forces (transporting South Vietnamese infantry into Laos) lost 107 Huey and Cobra gunships and where another 600 were damaged.
Lam Son was supposed to demonstrate that in 1971, the ARVN — the Army of Vietnam — could conduct a large-scale ground offensive to interrupt and destroy southbound traffic on the Ho Chi Minh Trail. It was supposed to prove that ARVN was strong enough to withstand the North Vietnamese troops who were moving south and threatening Saigon.
What this late-in-the-game operation actually proved was that the Vietnamese army could not succeed without the American ground troops that Richard Nixon was then pulling out of Vietnam.
It was all part of Nixon’s campaign promise to bring the American boys home — home with with honor. And Lam Son did just the opposite. From that point forward the U.S. Army — its young officers made up of idealistic, baby boomers — would be blamed for the loss of Vietnam.
Vietnam cleaved my generation in half — one half fought that war and the other half took to the streets calling the conflict a mistake or worse. What got lost in this intra-generational debate was the valor and the skill of those who flew those thin-skinned Hueys into the teeth of orange-glowing .51 calibre anti-aircraft fire.
Lam Son also marked the beginning of the end for the Huey and its successor, the Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk. We are, I think, witnessing the end of the helicopter and the advent of the so-called “drone swarm.”
The battlefield will never be the same.
And at the moment, another American President is trying to disengage from another war in a far-off place. The American public — some veterans of Vietnam — gave Donald Trump the keys to the White House with the specific understanding that he would end these “forever wars.”
But then Mr Trump met with Mr. Netanyahu who told Mr. Trump this was his moment to remake the Middle East, specifically, to take out the nuclear bomb-making Iranians and their Israeli-killing confederates, Hezbollah and Hamas.
“And, by the way, we can take them out using your F-35s, your Tomahawks, and your the bunker busting GBU-57s delivered by your high-flying B-2 stealth bombers,” Mr. Netanyahu might have added.
But Mr. Trump and Mr. Netanyahu must have missed the memos saying air power is fine, but in the end the infantry has go ashore and secure the minds and bellies of our misguided brothers.
If there is one example of this reality it is Ukraine. At this writing Ukrainian civilians have endured years of “ordinance” targeted at women, children and ancient babushkas living in Kyiv. These include the Iskander-M, the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal and the Zircon hypersonic variant.
These ballistic missiles come at night, together with as many as 185 drones, that sometimes overwhelm the Ukrainian defensive efforts. But, so far, these “drone swarms” have only made the Ukrainians more determined as their apartment buildings randomly explode, implode and collapse.
Meanwhile the Shahed 135 un-manned drone has become the backbone of Iran’s retaliation. The mullahs, with help from Russia, send these un-manned bombs into Iraq, Oman and into the Gulf.
This toxic bouillabaisse being one part Israeli fear; one part American uncertainty; one part Iranian outrage; seasoned with Russian intelligence and Ukrainian drone-killing experience.
Scott Graber is a lawyer, novelist, veteran columnist and longtime resident of Port Royal. He can be reached at cscottgraber@gmail.com.