The naming of a pair bridges in the Matanuska-Susitna Valey was made final on Saturday, when Gov. Mike Dunleavy signed the bill at the America Legion Post 15, with the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association Alaska Chapter in attendance.
The Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Bridges — two of them — cross the Matanuska River at Mile 30.4 of the Glenn Highway. One is northbound, the other is for southbound traffic.
Rep. Laddie Shaw, who introduced the bill, thanked House Minority Leader Cathy Tilton for suggesting he be the sponsor, even though the bridges are not in his district; she and several legislators were in attendance, including Sen. Josh Revak, Sen. Mia Costello, Sen. Shelley Hughes, Rep. Mike Cronk, Rep. David Nelson, Rep. Ron Gillham, Rep. Kevin McCabe, along with Shaw and Tilton.
During the Vietnam War, 2,002 helicopter pilots and 2,704 crew members were killed in Vietnam, and about 42 percent of the helicopters ended up destroyed — a total of 5,086. Helicopters were getting their first real test in battle during that war, and the pilots were trained, but no training could prepare them for what they actually had to do.
It was an especially poignant event, with the backdrop of the horrific events in Afghanistan weighing on the hearts and minds of those who attended.
If you take the time it takes, it takes less time. --Pat Parelli
American by birth; Alaskan by choice. --ironbender
"Dust Off" for those too young to know were the unarmed medevac helicopters. No matter how hot the firefight, no matter how intense the ground fire, if you had wounded on the ground, a Dust Off pilot would swoop in and get them out. If there were true justice, they would have been awarded the Medal of Honor damn near every day they flew. That is no exaggeration.
Now, I did a few brave things, and Digital Dan did many more. But none of us hold a candle to Dust Off crews.
A fishing friend of mine was a Huey pilot for a couple tours. He was wounded two different times in the same leg from ground level small arms fire. He said they would come into an LZ for troop pickup and the enemy would pop up out of the tunnels and start shooting. I guess the body was protected from the seat shielding but their legs were vulnerable.
God bless Texas----------------------- Old 300 I will remain what i am until the day I die- A HUNTER......Sitting Bull Its not how you pick the booger.. but where you put it !! Roger V Hunter
I hunted with a guy from the next town over, CWO John Hawks, he was a helicopter pilot in Viet Nam and flew helicopters in Desert Storm and recently Iraq, I guess he called it quits in 2005.
When I mentioned to him I flew in a helicopter on a law enforcement mission and the pilot was a Viet Nam Vet who told us he to flew 43 missions and didn't get shot down. John responded 43 missions huh, that was a light month for us in Viet Nam.
John also was a pilot for Donald Trump when Trump was in New Jersey. Some guys got brass balls! Thank God we have them.
When I was working cadastral survey in Alaska a couple of our helicopter pilots were ex-Vietnam. I had lots of respect for those guys....more than once they pulled us out of some pretty tough spots when the weather was closing in. And screaming up the Yukon or Tanana River a few feet above the water was always a blast too!
The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.
I worked with a couple of different engineers who flew helicopters in Viet Nam. Both were real stand up guys.
One of them was shot down in the delta.
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. -Ernest Hemingway The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything.-- Edward John Phelps
My AFROTC instructor at UGA, the late Lt Col Darwin Edwards, was a Huey driver in Vietnam. He was not on flying duty when his friend & fellow Huey Driver, then Capt James Fleming, got the call to rescue a 6 man MACV-SOG team that was stranded & pinned down by enemy fire. Capt Fleming was awarded the MOH for rescuing the team. He visited our detachment and we spent some time with him. Both Col Fleming and Col Edwards were inspirational and amazing individuals. Some of America’s finest.
20 years ago, UK Life Flight (Air Medivac) still had some Viet Nam helicopter pilots on staff. One particularly dismal night while the ambulance crew and flight doc were working on a patient, our squad captain walked up to the pilot and thanked him for agreeing to fly on such a miserable night. The pilot looked at him and grinned. "Ain't no body trying to shoot us down or blow us up. It's a good night to fly..."
I spent almost 13 years as a Huey crew chief in the Guard. I did some Medevac missions at Ft Hood. That is as close to combat as I got. My CO at B Btry Ft. Richardson was a scout pilot in Viet Nam. His first tour was as an infantry grunt. He was a great guy. Just after he got out of the Army he was involved in a bad snowmobile accident and was partially paralyzed. I understand he passed away several years ago. I was always hoping to get together some time but life isn't always fair.
kwg
For liberals and anarchists, power and control is opium, selling envy is the fastest and easiest way to get it. TRR. American conservative. Never trust a white liberal. Malcom X Current NRA member.
I spent a bit of time in Helo's, two types Warrant Officers, and what were called Spec 4 with a club card. Always trusted the older Warrant Officers what had time in Nam. Did one auto rotation in Honduras when a chip light came on. Not something a Navy guy was comfortable with in an Army helo.. Spent about 8 hours in a very confused farmers field. That was after the pilot got lost going back from tiger island to Soto Cano.. Younger than my 34 years, A Spec 4.. Pilot.
