Thursday, May 4, 1972
The Helicopter That Got Away
DA NANG, Vietnam (AP) --North Vietnamese troops in Quang Tri tried to lure an American rescue helicopter into a trap but were killed when the Americans recognized the ruse.The incident was one of the harrowing aspects of Monday's rescue operation that pulled 80 Americans, 51 Vietnamese and a French photographer out of the city just before it was abandoned to the North Vietnamese.While none of the four big Air Force Jolly Green Giant helicopters was damaged, two supporting aircraft were lost to ground fire, and one pilot is missing, officials said.Otherwise the daring operation went off nearly as planned, although Air Force rescuemen said there was a mad rush by refugees for the first helicopter when it landed -possibly because they didn"t realize there would be more.One of the rescue specialists, Sgt. Robert Lapointe, 22, Lynn, Mass., found himself stranded on the ground as the first helicopter lifted out.After 15 minutes the remaining persons on the ground were pretty well organized and "we didn't have any more trouble loading them." Lapointe said. "When the second helicopter landed, I was the first to get on. I sure wasn't going to be left behind."Lapointe and the other rescueman, Sgt. David W. Young, 23, Clinton, Iowa, said they drew less fire from North Vietnamese troops on the ground than expected."It sure was the noisiest place I've ever been in though," Lapointe said. "There were explosions going on all over the place."Lapointe said that as his helicopter came in two men in dirty, dark clothes emerged from an alley and fired on the aircraft."I opened up with my minigun and got rid of them," he said. "We didn't have any trouble on the ground."While three of the big helicopters took part in the actual rescue, the fourth, hovering as a reserve ship, received a radio call to fly down to the rescue site.The call was a fake by North Vietnamese troops using the American radio frequency, and officer said. The message was "Hey, we've got more people down here."The helicopter landed and a rescueman jumped off to make a search. He saw two enemy soldiers coming toward him, firing a machine gun. A gunner aboard the chopper killed them, the rescueman jumped aboard and the helicopter pulled out."There are so many frequencies, and Charlie knows some of ours. We've been sucked in before," an officer said.The city itself was otherwise deserted, the rescuemen said. "We saw nothing moving," said Young. "Quang Tri always looked desolate but it's really desolate now. There were a lot of shelled out houses and some military equipment in the streets."It looks like maybe some of the South Vietnamese just left everything behind, changed into civilian clothes and went south."The first helicopter came out with 37 persons, the second with 45 and the third with 50. There was one woman in the group, a Vietnamese nurse."The Helicopter That Got Away", by (AP), published in the Pacific Stars and Stripes on Thursday, May 4, 1972 and reprinted from the European and Pacific Stars and Stripes, a Department of Defense publication copyright, 2002 European and Pacific Stars and Stripes.