We were jubilant as we humped rockets and ammo, and then headed back to the area of operations to ensure that there was no further need for our support. We again checked in with the Aussie company, and they thanked us for what we had done. It was late in the afternoon when we finally broke for the flight to Bearcat, very pleased with what we had accomplished that day during Tet.

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Fast forward to February 1980, in my British Army Staff College student quarters in Camberley, England, where I was stationed as a student for a year. I had hosted a party for my promotion to lieutenant colonel and most of the guests had left. The one couple remaining was the Australian Directing Staff, Colonel “Horrie” Howard and his wife. The colonel and I both had consumed enormous amounts of cold Budweiser beer and were just sort of lounging around when he casually asked me if I had ever flown in support of the Australian forces.

I told him how one fire team had routinely flown in support of Aussie SAS patrol insertions, but that only on one occasion did we encounter a fight. I then told him the story of the Beria fight and after I finished, Howard quietly excused himself. We all assumed that he was making a pit stop, considering all the beer we had drunk, but after about 10 minutes I went to check the bathroom and it was empty. Shortly, the doorbell rang and there was Howard with a big brown paper bag in his hand.

We went into the living room, and before his wife could begin questioning him he demurely said, “I have a gift for my U.S. brother.” He then pulled out a sweat-soiled, stiff Aussie bush hat that one could tell had clearly seen some hard times, namely in Vietnam.

Colonel Howard then explained that the company that my wingman and I had helped save a dozen years ago had belonged to his battalion. “I want you to have this as a symbol of my thanks for the support you gave to my battalion during Tet ’68 at Beria,” he said.

That bush hat remains one of my fondest treasures to this day.

Brigadier General Stanley F. Cherrie, U.S. Army (ret.), served two tours in Vietnam. During Operation Desert Storm he was the G-3 of VII Corp. From 1993 to 1995 he was assistant division commander –Maneuver of the 1st Armored Division in Germany, and then in Bosnia. His military decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Purple Heart. For additional reading, see: Chickenhawk, by Robert Mason; and Low Level Hell, by Hugh Mills.

Click here to see a video of helicopter operations in Vietnam on Real Military Flix.

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