doorgunner
NVA Tank hit hits truckload at Soccer Field
I'm the right doorgunner facing the tree-lined Blvd at Kontum when we land near the soccer field to pick up a load of refugees in a deuce&a-half. There are warehouses to our left. The truckload of civilians pulls up between our Chinook and the warehouses.
At that moment I see a tank turning onto the Blvd from a side-street.
Please God-let it be an ARVN tank!
Me: TANK AT 3 O'CLOCK!
Pilot: OURS OR THEIRS?
Me: I can't tell yet!
When I saw the Red Star on the turrent I immediately told the Pilot...NVA TANK AT 3 O'CLOCK coming our way!
He replied...Let's load the refugees before it sees us.
The tank was about 80 yards from us when the turrent swung in our direction-barrel pointing up about 15*. Then the tank stopped about 60 yards away and lowered the barrel slightly at our Chinook.
I yelled at the pilot....TIME IS UP-WE ARE IN HIS SIGHTS!
Apparently he didn't believe me...then the tank fired a round that went over the top of our CH47 and over the Deuce...it hit the top wall of the warehouses and exploded.
NOW I had the pilot's attention. I saw the barrel lower a little more-I'm looking into the barrel now.... I yelled...HE'S NOT GOING TO MISS THIS TIME-YOU'D BETTER TAKE OFF NOW!
The pilot immediately pulled the CH47 straight up...at about 50 feet altitude the tank fired and hit the Deuce full of women and children...bodies were flying 30 feet in the air below us...it was gut wrenching.
Five seconds sooner our Chinook would have taken that round. Sometimes I wish we would have.
Because of my Amnesia I cannot remember the rest. IF ANYONE can add details to this event (or any other Memory I have posted...PLEASE DO SO)
doorgunner
U.S.A. - Thursday, September 29, 2022 at 22:45:28 (EDT)