HUEY WAR: VIIETNAM FROM
THE BACKSEAT
by Bruce W Nesmith
A UH-1H
Huey helicopter is a flimsy machine. It’s the 1960s equivalent of a World War I
biplane. It’s flimsy, easily killed, under powered, simple, lightly armed and
an unlikely success in a bad place at a bad time.
Going
to war as a Huey crew chief was a an experience that
can’t be described. You sat there in that flimsy machine totally exposed to the
enemy. There was no cockpit, no armored seat, no bulkhead, no illusion of
safety for the crew chief or gunner. We sat there with nothing between us and
the outside world. When it rained, we were cold and wet and when there was
incoming fire we had nothing but a little armored chest protector that would
stop some small arms fire. Lucky crew had a three-quarter inch steel plate to
sit on to provide some illusionary protection for their family jewels.
Most of
us didn’t use any seat belts or safety harnesses. We
depended on our own agility and senses to remain in the aircraft as it
maneuvered, sometimes violently, in the air. We regularly had to leave our
seats to handle cargo or assist the wounded or even to clear the cargo
compartment of possible hazards left by departing troops. When we came under
fire we were expected to continue to sit there, to remain calm and cool, and
return fire with our M-60 machine guns, while continuing to perform our other
essential duties.
The
crew chief and the gunner were the controlling eyes and voices of the back half
of the helicopter. The pilots couldn’t see to their rear or underneath it. They
had to trust the two men in the back to provide information about oncoming air
traffic, about conditions on the ground and for accurate information when
landing in tight places or maneuvering the aircraft between and through
obstacles. We had to be able to provide clear and concise directions under any
conditions and our pilots had to willingly follow them as we maneuvered the
helicopters through small precise adjustments. They had to trust us to manage
loading and unloading the aircraft in all conditions just as we had to trust
them to keep the aircraft under precise control at all times.
They
also depended on the crew chief and gunner to provide protection with accurate
fire from those machine guns. We provided accurate and effective suppressive
fire going into and leaving landing zones. We had to accurately take enemy
troops or positions under fire without hitting friendly troops in the same area
even when enemy and friendly were commingled in front
of us. All of these things had to be done simultaneously while showing a calm
cool professional appearance to the people around us. I had the honor and
privilege to be crew chief and door gunner on one of these ungainly but
graceful machines in the Vietnam War in Northern I Corps where 54 percent of
all US deaths occurred.
We, B
Company (Lancers) 158th Assault Helicopter Battalion 101st Airborne Division
(Airmobile) went to Vietnam in February 1969 with 20 new UH-1H Hueys. All of
our hueys had a large white dot painted on each side of the tail boom just in
front of the horizontal stabilizers. There were only twenty helicopters in all
South Vietnam marked like that. Lancer hueys flew 51,893 combat hours in two and one half years in Northern I Corps. In those two-
and one-half years, we were issued sixty-five replacement Hueys. Only one of
the original aircraft made it through the entire period.
We
weren’t heroes, “We just got up and went to work every morning.” Those of you
who were there and don’t remember things exactly this way…. Tough! These are my
war stories. Write your own book!