THIS SITE IS DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF
JOHN STAHL
I attended Bevercreek High School with John. John served in the United States Marine Corps and was killed in the Vietnam War. John's Dad who served in the United States Marine Corps in WWII and John's Mother both are faithful members and attendees of the Vietnam Veterans Of America Chapter 97 in Dayton Ohio. We will never forget John Stahl and all those who gave their all in the service of our United States of America. God Bless You John Stahl and Semper Fi Marines...
Hi, I'm Charles Lee (Chuck) Emerson.
December 24, 1968 I received my "Greetings, from The Office of The President of The United States!" What a Christmas present! At that time I was working as a civilian employee at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. I went off to boot camp at Fort Dix in New Jersey. While in testing... 6 of us out of some 300 were chosen to go to flight school. At 2:00 AM they woke us from sleep and sent us to Fort Polk, LA. There we went through the usual training except for sending the 6 of us to specialized training... We would form a squad or flight and march to the theater to watch films to indoctrinate us to become pilots! They did not have to do that, as I really wanted to fly!
After boot camp, flight school was a delight. We first learned the basics of flight in a little Hiller OH-23D. We learned to take off and land. Fly cross-country and learned how to navigate with land marks, maps and weather. Next we learned to fly on instruments in a Bell OH-13T. Suffered my first turbo failure and immediately turned around and landed to safety. Then on to the Huey... My happiest days were flying the UH-1. We learned to carry heavy loads with a big tank full of water in the back. Sometimes the instructor would land and drain half of it out... He would say: "... No use'en over stressing the old gal!" At graduation from flight school... I got to fly "Old Smoky" Yep... that's me flying the smoke ship in this formation.
This is me in
my Huey 174 after preflight inspection and ready to crank up and take off for a
day of fun in the sun! Really... 110* in the shade... Who would have
guessed? We wore Nomex Flight suits, two-piece not the one-piece zip
up. We were very grateful cause we could leave our shirt-tails hang out of our
trousers... It was a little cooler! Little did we know that our days
would be 12 -14 hours long, in and out of LZ's (Landing Zones) under fire
from Charlie or VC (Viet Cong) and the NVA (North Vietnamese Army). Who
am I to complain! The guys we carried suffered 24 hours of danger in
combat... We only had a 20 second survival rate to worry about. Once we
off loaded the troops, supplies or ammunitions, we were up again and into the
cool of the sky!
I was assigned to live at the "Wobbly Inn" with 7 of the best and most courageous pilots I ever knew! This Wobbly Inn was at Dau Tieng, close to Cu Chie in Tay Ninh Province. From there we supported many unites like the Big Red One, the 25th Infantry, 1/9th, 1/7th and many many more. Being part of the 1st CAV we were expected to do much as an Air Mobile, Air Assault support unit. When General Casey went down in Two Corps, we were called out with some 6 thousand other aircraft to search for him. Two days later his crash site was discovered. We were dispatched out after we had already served a 12-hour day. We almost crashed IFR while rendezvousing with a Cobra Gun Ship in the soup or clouds under radar control! I will never forget that night.
We were assigned to fly with B Company, 229th Aviation Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st CAV Division Air Mobile. We in B Company were the "Killer Spades."
With my helmet
in hand, my CAR 15 over my shoulder, bullet proof vest and survival vest on, I
was ready to go fly my Huey. Notice the ammo boxes... They were filled
with dirt to help protect us while we were sleeping in our bunks when the usual
mortars and 122 would come in. The only thing that really bothered us was
the possibility of a direct hit. The roofs of our hooch was only
tin. One day a 122 came in and hit directly on top of an out house or
"The John"... As I remember, it was a three holler and two GI's lost
their life that day! Also notice
the black board above my head... This was a "Short Timer" board where
the guys that were due to go home counted their days till departure.
One
of the most important daily chores was to preflight the aircraft before
takeoff. Here I am caught up on top of my Huey inspecting the rotor
head. Now forty years later as I look at this picture... I noticed the red
clay dust on the top of the Huey... And look at my boots! I was shocked
to remember that I did not drink like a lot of the other pilots did... I would
sit around at night and polish or spit shine my boots!
Here I am at the tail of my Huey during preflight inspection. Notice my pistol on my hip... It was a 38. That was all they had to give me when I checked in country! Also as I remember... The contents of the pockets of my survival vest were filled with 38 and car 15 rounds. I was not going to go down with out a fight. Looking back... That was such a foolish thing to do! The Army had trained us well in survival... If shot down. Reading the stories of others who went through that experience... I Praise God I never got shot down!
I had three crews while serving in Vietnam.
It’s time to go flying. Many missions were to deliver troops out into the AO (Area of Operation). We would make multi-ship insertions putting many troops on the ground. Later if no contact with the enemy... We would fly back to get one hot meal in those big Thermos Hot/Cold cans for the troops and Ice Blocks and those famous C-Rations. Other missions were to bring in ammunition for those troops in contact with the enemy. These insertions were many times under fire and even mortar attacks. We lost a brand new Huey one-day to a mortar attack in an LZ. It had only flown one mission as I recall... Out to that particular LZ.
I loved this picture... We were sent out to do a 6-ship insertion a pretty good distance away. When ever we went far... We would climb up high into the clouds to be out of small arms fire. I am taking the picture in Huey #6 or the "Stinger" position of the formation. Today this picture is on the front of a book we published not long ago!
Today we are in the ministry of helping others to be set free from the evils of this life. The Vietnam experience still has many in the grips of bondage to things most veterans do not even understand! They are trapped in drugs (legal or illegal) nightmares of past traumatic events that come to haunt them or the guilt of doing their job, serving their country as many of us were called upon to do... Some drafted... Some volunteered. Today we are appalled at the treatment of our Veterans. They are still not given the respect they so bravely earned! We must remember that we are still blessed of God to be the freest country in the world. We must work to keep it that way. Those who never tasted of war first hand can never truly understand their freedom. They will be the first one's to let freedom slip through their hands!
Back to our mission... As we slip down through the clouds we break out into a beautiful day of bright green jungle, or rice patties maybe even a river. This all fades away when the reality of an evil threat is present. Our radios are ablaze with what is coming. We can hear the other units in contact. Having three or four radios, much of the action can be monitored on FM, High Fric, UHF or VHF. Guard channel comes alive with artillery departing from one place with a max Ord and impacting into another place. We must make sure we don't fly into it.
There may be a B-52 strike or "ARC Light" as
they called it. We were to avoid by 5 Nautical Miles for our
safety. When these calls came in we would immediately write the
coordinates on the windshield of our Huey, then check our map to make sure we
were clear. There were many times the Blue Max ARA Cobras went in to prep
the LZ with Rockets. Next our own D Company Cobras would fly with us just
in case. As we descend down we begin to feel the heat of the sun upon the land below. It gets hotter as we get ready to land on the earth.
Descending down we pass by Nue Beu Dinh which has US Troops on top and VC all around. Many times we would take supplies into the LZ on top... Even through the clouds when they would be low as you can see.
