"I memorized 1 Thessalonians 5:18. The verse was quite simple, "In everything give thanks, for this in the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you." Little did I realize how much I would lean on this verse in months to come.
"Sometimes I fell asleep while the other pilot was flying, but twice I fell asleep while at the controls. Once while at the controls, I fell asleep and the aircraft went into a steep left spiral and the nose tucked. I woke up and regained control of the aircraft. I glanced a the other pilot to see why he hadn't taken control. He was asleep. He never knew what happened. Sometimes the door gunner or crew chief would fire one of the M-60 machine guns just the keep us awake.
"There was no way to prepare for the realities of battle. During my first fire fight, the instrument panel became a blur. I couldn't focus. My eyelids were fluttering uncontrollably due to the tremendous shock waves from the projectiles passing just outside my door. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 came to my mind. I found strength in my special verse.
". . . .flying down a riverbed, I sensed that I had flown into something. I had felt the impact, but I did not know what had happened. When we landed to refuel, we found a small tree hanging on the right skid.
"War is always bad, but there are times when things get worse than bad." He goes on to tell about a mission where he had to rescue some soldiers immediately, however, a dying Viet Cong soldier was laying in the way: "He was in the only area to touch down, and I straddled him with the skids." The ground commander went to Uncle Charlie's side of the chopper and ". . . motioned for the other four to get on board. As the others ran for the aircraft, a Viet Cong stood up on the far side of the crater. He took aim at me with his AK-47. The ground commander saw him and took aim with his converted M-79 Grenade Launcher. The M-79 barrel was sawed off to 5 inches, and the stock was fashioned into a pistol grip. The grenade hit the Viet Cong in the chest . . . "
One of Uncle Charlie's missions was to rescue a Special Forces soldier who was "pinned down on a mountaintop." Uncle Charlie was able to locate the exact spot where the soldier was, due to his mirror signal reflection. A captain was in the helicopter with Uncle Charlie and this happened to be his first mission, which made the captain quite nervous. "He instructed me to light a cigarette and give it to him. I replied that I was a pilot fully capable of flying the aircraft; he could light his own cigarette if he so desired. He refused and ordered me to light it again, I again refused. At this point he just let go the controls and grabbed his cigarette. I took control of the aircraft. He attempted to put the cigarette in his month, but missed. He was very nervous by this time. On his second attempt, he stuck the cigarette in his nose. The Huey was vibrating quite a bit, and he had difficulty finding his mouth. He was very frustrated at this point. He finally lit it and quieted down considerably. But I wasn't about to let him have the aircraft controls back."
"On the eighth day at Camp Evans, the Colonel and Commander Sergeant Major exited the command bunker and walked to the flagpole. There were now only six of us Americans at Camp Evans. I saw that the Command Sergeant Major had a tape recorder and was preparing for some sort of ceremony. Not knowing what what about to happen, I gathered my crew next to the aircraft. We were about fifty feet from the flagpole. When he began to play the Star Spangled Banner, the Colonel lowered the Stars and Stripes. The two of them furled the flag and walked over to the helicopter. The commander said, "Let's go Mac." No one had ever called me "Mac", but I assumed he was referring to me. None of the six of us had dry eyes. It was an extreme emotional event; we had just closed Camp Evans."
To be continued.
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