HEY! WHAT ABOUT ME??
The
BN LNO’s (Battalion Liaison Officers) were required to check their area of
operations to see if a Friendly village moved or a new one was created.
The only way to do that was to fly the general area, so we had to grab a chopper
whenever the opportunity occurred. Unless you were in a UH1-H configured as a
Command & Control chopper, the only way to talk to the Artillery was to take
a PRC25 or the PRC77. In this case, I was invited to
fly with 1/69th Armor
BN Commander and provide Artillery
support.
Toward
the end of the firefight at Ben Het, we were flying in an OH6, I was in the
backseat and did not have a headset. We were over a Mech Infantry unit in a
firefight way south of Ben Het. Suddenly, we autorotated down and before the
skids hit the ground, I rolled out to provide security. The next I hear, the OH6
is lifting 20 feet off the ground and headed back to Ben Het. Infantry was
rapidly heading away. This was about 9 AM and I found myself the only person
holding the LZ. I
tried using the PRC77, but was out of range. I had two choices: stay put or walk
back. I stayed put, walking back during the day with all the NVA activity
was not a smart move. I was prepared to walk back after dark.
The
Armor BN Daily briefing took place about 1700 hrs daily and the BN Commander
asked where I was. They determined that I was last seen flying with him that
morning. The Armor S2 grabbed another OH6 and headed to where the
Firefight had taken place. As they approached the area, he came up on the
Artillery Frequency and asked me to pop smoke; I informed him I had no smoke I
only had the radio.
What
happened was the Infantry had captured an NVA Lieutenant and
the BN commander agreed to take him to POW compound. So, when the OH6 touched
down they threw the
Lieutenant in the back for me to secure and the pilot pulled pitch as soon has
he was on board. The Armor BN Commander thought I had a headset and was aware of
what was happening.
Submitted
by
Cpt
Bob Baird