Eagle Dustoff: Medevac Choppers to the Rescue

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Speer and Wilson were fully involved in the hectic routine of an invasion on a forward combat base during the operation. Every day, 650 tons of cargo slammed down onto the rough landing field, 400 tons of which was shipped out on slicks and passed up the line to the ARVN airborne or infantrymen every day.

Speer and Wilson found time to pose proudly for snapshots under their state colors, snapping in the breeze like a war banner above the hallowed ground. The haggard, worn faces of the two airmen were recorded for posterity beneath the Bear Republic and the Lone Star.

The crew’s aircraft was its home much of the time. As the faraway brass were making plans to write off the Khe Sanh combat base, the crew was crumpled inside their chopper, closing the sliding doors in foul weather and sleeping as much as they could when they were not flying missions.

The crew chief and medic sought refuge from the nightmare vision of NVA pushing down the road, grinding fleeing ARVN troops into the dust. The good-natured, always-smiling Speer slept next to his helmet, which was personalized with a likeness of the Zig Zag cigarette rolling-paper guy in yellow.

By March 24, NVA troops were coming from the mountains and engaging American troops around Lang Vei, up Route 9 from Khe Sanh. Jets pounded the border-crossing site, armor churned the pulpy ground, and the inevitable cluster of photographers swarmed over the area like moths.

Wilson and his crew picked up an American paratrooper. After taking off, they wheeled around, with the chopper’s nose and skid toes pointed at the ground and were hauling butt, tail high. As they flew on, Fritz Speer watched the American tanks lining up on the horizon in a row, like Indians in old cavalry movies. Dusty U.S. tankers stood behind their 50-caliber heavy machine guns, in silent salute to the medevac fliers. Speer let the slipstream drag his legs rearward as he manned his position, sitting on the edge of the deck, in the left doorway. A trail of dust kicked up behind the machine as it clipped along. Just then, a photographer stood up and took a picture of the chopper. Papers around the world later published the photo of Wilson’s helicopter trucking down the road at low-level, just above the old tank battleground of the Green Beret camp at Lang Vei.

A lot of helicopter crews went down in flames during Lam Son 719. Before things were over, however, the gunship hunter-killer teams were able to live the gunship crew’s dream. They got to kill tanks–just like in a ‘real’ war. Lieutenant Colonel Robert F. Molinelli’s 2nd Squadron, 17th Cavalry, with more than 20 Cobras and scores of Hughes OH-6 light observation helicopters (’Loaches’), attacked so many Russian tanks that the choppers found it impossible to arm fast enough to destroy them all.

By the time Lam Son ended, 618 American choppers had been shot up, downed and damaged. One hundred sixty-eight were lost outright. Fifty-five helicopter crewmen were dead, 178 crewmen were wounded, and 34 men were MIA.

It has been said that the 67-day battle of Lam Son 719 was Eagle Dustoff’s greatest challenge in the Vietnam War. A total of 6,632 wounded men were evacuated during the battle.

Six medevac crewmen were killed, 14 wounded and 10 aircraft destroyed. Among those killed was Fritz Speer, who died aboard an Eagle medevac chopper on April 23, 1971.

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Tags: 20th - 21st Century, Historical Conflicts, Vietnam War

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