To: Sent: Sunday, May 07, 2006 7:29 PM
Subject: Fw: Medal Of Honor Recipient : Steve Pless Shares One Gutsy
Chopper Rescue
I was a witness to this event in August of 1967. I had only been on the
base at Chu Lai for a couple of days when a group of us were watching this
helicopter shoot out about 5 miles south of our airfield. At the time we
didn't know what was causing all the shooting but we knew it was a real
Western gun fight and the good guys were laying it down heavy. Later in
the day we learned it was a Marine Helicopter crew that had saved the lives
of some Army guys that were trapped. Other pilots that knew Steve Pless
said he was a wild cowboy type of pilot but if that is the case we need
more like him. It was a shame he was killed on a motorcycle when he was
stationed at Pensacola.
Another event you will not find printed anywhere is the fact that the head
of the Army helicopter pilot that was killed and taken by the NVA in that
firefight was put on a stake by the NVA and then put outside the gate at
our airbase. The note attached to the stake read," This is what you can
expect if we capture anymore of you pilots flying off the airbase". I
guess they meant if because at night we would take off and land without our
running lights because the little Vc creeps would be shooting at the sound
as we lifted off the runway and when we came in to land . Once in awhile
they would get lucky and put a hole or two in our birds but they really
were lousy shots.
What a way to run a railroad!!!!
S/F Jack
----- Original Message -----
From: lllund5@juno.com
To: dunnyd@pyramid3.net ; flktveg@aol.com ; gordons@aol.com ;
Greenbkrsvll@aol.com ; gtruddusmc@aol.com ; hjlbentwing@aol.com ;
pat.jackherber@comcast.net ; Pete3412621@cs.com ; rnmerrihew@earthlink.net
; snuffy9@cox.net
Sent: Sunday, May 07, 2006 1:24 PM
Subject: Fw: Medal Of Honor Recipient : Steve Pless Shares One Gutsy
Chopper Rescue
---------- Forwarded Message ----------
For the four U.S. soldiers who climbed off an Army CH-47 Chinook troop
helicopter on the beach at Quang Ngai, on August 19, 1967, the trouble
began almost immediately.
Looking for a mechanical problem, the crew chief deplaned, accompanied by a
Sergeant and two other soldiers. In keeping with standard practice during
an unexpected landing in bad-guy territory, the men set up a defensive
perimeter between the Chinook and the inland portion of the beach. The
defense was inadequate for the huge number of enemy lurking just beyond the
treeline.
The Viet Cong attacked.
A grenade exploded near the glass bubble in front of the Chinook's cockpit.
Automatic weapons opened up from behind a treeline. Viet Cong came charging
toward the Americans. They scrambled toward the helicopter but the pilot,
apparently fearful his aircraft would be destroyed on the spot, took off.
That left the four men stranded and about to be overwhelmed. Knowing it
could only be a temporary help, they took cover behind a sand dune and
returned fire with their personal weapons. None had brought reserve
ammunition and they were quickly out of ammo.
The CH-47 pilot climbed away. Higher up, he might be able too reach out
farther with a plea for help. He put out a radio call on " Guard, " the
emergency distress channel. There were a number of friendly aircraft in the
region, most busy with other missions.
One of those who responded to the call was Captain Stephen W. Pless,
piloting a nearby Marine Corps UH-1E Huey helicopter. The way one of
Pless's crewmembers recalls it, Viet Cong troops were rushing the Americans
with bayonets when our UH-1E Huey arrived in the middle of the fight.
As I approached a medevack zone [ on a mission ] I heard a transmission on
Guard channel : " My aircraft is all shot up and I have a lot of wounded
aboard. "
Then after a pause : " I still have four men on the ground. The V.C. are
trying to take them prisoners." Or: " God, can somebody help them ? "
At this time, I [ Pless ] directed my co-pilot, Captain Rupert Fairfield,
to check on the emergency medevack on FM and see if it could wait, while I
continued to fly toward the distress area and monitored the UHF. Fairfield
then said the medevack landing zone [ for the other mission ] was secure;
it could wait.
In the meantime, from the radio transmissions, I knew that there were four
Americans on the beach one mile north of the mouth of the Song Tra Khuc
River, that they were under attack by mortars and automatic weapons, and
that [ their ] CH-47 had been driven off by severe automatic weapons fire.
There were three jets overhead, and four Army UH-1 Hueys were orbiting
about
a mile out to sea. None of these aircraft could get in close enough to the
four besieged Americans due to the mortar fire and severe automatic weapons
fire. The Army UH-1s were endeavoring to locate the source of the mortar
fire, get a reaction force launched, and get everyone organized.
I made two transmissions offering to help, but received no reply. Since the
other aircraft seemed reluctant to aid the downed men and unable to get
organized, I decided to go in alone. And I hoped they would follow me, and
help me.
My crew all knew the situation and were all aware that we had very little
chance of survival. Yet, when I asked them if anyone objected to a rescue
attempt, it was an unanimous and emphatic :
" GO ! "
I could see the mortars exploding on the beach and headed for the area.
Then, the mortars quit and I saw a large group of people swarm the beach
from a tree line about 100 meters from the beach.
I made a pass directly over the top of the people at fifty feet of altitude
and observed four Americans on the beach. A V.C. was standing over one man
crushing his head with a rifle stock, and people seemed to be in the
process of butchering the other men.
I ordered the door gunner, to open fire on the people. The crew chief,
"Gordo" Phelps, thinking that I had not seen the Americans, yelled : "
Don't fire." I told him to " shut up " and the gunner kept firing.
I pulled the aircraft into a hard climb, switching my armament panel to [
rocket ]pods as I did so. A hard wingover put me into a firing position
just aft of the mob that had started running for the trees. I could now
determine that they were all males, armed, and a few of them had on khaki,
or green uniforms.
I hit in the center of the retreating mob with all fourteen rockets.
Several of the V.C. turned to fire at us, but most of them were in full
flight. Although the trees were obscured by smoke and debris, I made a
number of gun runs into the smoke . . praying that I would not hit a tree.
Some of the V.C. ran out of the smoke area, and I shot at point blank
range,
firing from so low that my own ordnance was spraying mud on the windshield.
As I pulled off of one run, I spotted one of the men on the beach waving
his
arm. I threw the aircraft into a side flare, [ we were ] continually firing
at the
V.C. in the treeline as I lowered the aircraft to a landing.
I landed the aircraft about 15 feet from the nearest man, placing it
between the V.C. and the wounded men so as to offer my crew some protection
while picking the men up. Gunnery Sgt. Poulson immediately climbed out of
the aircraft and helped the nearest man into the aircraft. Returning to
pick up the second man, Poulson was unable to move him due to his large
size.
Phelps was told he could leave his machine gun to aid Poulson. My co-pilot
[ Captain Fairfield then] unstrapped and climbed out to help, also. As
Phelps left the aircraft, he handed the wounded man an M60, and told him to
cover my left side. As Fairfield exited the right side of the aircraft, he
spotted three V.C. at the rear of the aircraft firing at Poulson and
Phelps. Using an M60, he killed the V.C., then ran to assist in getting the
wounded aboard.
During the rescue, I could see rounds spraying sand around the aircraft and
splashing in the water. Although seriously wounded, the wounded man had
cradled the M60 in his lap, was leaning against the co-pilot's seat, and
was
firing at V.C., who were attempting to close in on the left side of the
aircraft.
As my crew was dragging the third man into the aircraft, I could see that
Fairfield and Phelps were alternately dragging the man and firing their
pistols at the V.C. who were now within a few feet of the aircraft.
I then noticed that one of the UH-1 Hueys was making strafing runs around
us. Capt. Fairfield told me that the fourth man appeared to have his throat
cut and was quite dead.
At this point, a Vietnamese Air Force UH-34 [ piston-driven rescue
helicopter ]landed next to me. Since I knew he would pick up the dead man,
I departed to get to a medical facility. The V.C. were still firing at us
with automatic weapons, and the only route of departure was over the water.
I knew that I was well over the maximum payload for the aircraft; I also
thought we had been hit, but had no idea as to the extent of damages. The
gauges were all normal, so I could only pray that she was okay.
When I first lifted, it appeared that I had over-committed myself [
overload.] After about a mile of straightaway and bouncing off the waves
four times, I finally started picking up airspeed and built RPM back up. I
jettisoned my [ rocket ] pods and told the crew to throw anything else over
the side to lighten the load so we could get more airspeed.
During the trip, Phelps and Poulson continued to render first aid to the
two most critically wounded men, undoubtedly accounting for the fact that
both men were still alive when we reached the 1st Hospital Company.
JOHN G. " GORDO " PHELPS
Let's back up to when we were approaching the area where those men were
fighting for survival on the beach. Captain Pless asked our crew, " You all
with
me ? " He knew the answer would be yes. As we approached, we saw four U.S.
personnel lying on the beach, and around them not less than 40 or 50 armed
Viet Cong. The V.C. were beating the helpless personnel.
As we flew over the group of people, one of the men laying on the beach
waved to us, and for his efforts got a rifle butt in the face.
The V.C. were too close to the Americans for us to safely fire at them, but
the
V.C. were killing them anyway, so Pless ordered [ Poulson ] the right door
gunner,
to fire on the V.C. It took only a short burst to send the V.C running for
cover.
Before setting down on the beach, Pless pointed the guns of the aircraft
into the
'ville [ enemy ] and fired off the remaining ammo. In landing, Capt. Pless
put the aircraft between the wounded men and the V.C. The way he had
landed, put me facing the V.C.; I started firing my M60. The gunner [
Paulson ] being on the side next to the wounded, jumped out and ran to the
[ wounded ] men.
Picking up the first man who was the closest, he helped him into the
aircraft; this man was still conscious, and didn't seem to be in bad shape.
Then Poulson, ran to the next man, tried to pick him up, but found that the
man was far too heavy to carry by himself.
The co-pilot and myself seeing this, [we] jumped from the aircraft and
started to run over to Poulson to help him.
When several V.C., who were out of my line of fire, came running down the
beach, Capt. Fairfield pulled the other door gun off its mount and fired at
the V.C., killing all with this first short burst. At this time, he told me
to return to the airplane to provide covering fire.
Then more V.C. came running at the aircraft, shooting as they came. I fired
until they all lay on the sand. Some of the V.C. were still shooting at the
plane;
I couldn't see them, but I could see the sand kicking up all around the
plane. I
kept my gun going, firing in the tree line and under bushes at the end of
the beach.
About this time, the co-pilot and gunner came back to the plane with the
second man, and then went back for the third. Capt. Pless, seeing that the
third man was far too much for the Fairfield and Poulson to handle, told me
to go out and help them.
I gave my gun to the one wounded man who was still conscious, and asked him
if he thought he could use it; he said " Yes ", so I jumped out and ran to
the other men. The three of us could move him, and we were about 20 feet
from the air-craft, when a lone V.C. with a hand grenade came running from
behind the plane.
I let go of the wounded man and drew my pistol, firing all six rounds into
the V.C. He was only about ten or fifteen feet away, so I knew I was
hitting him. We got the last man into the aircraft, and started to take
off, but the plane was so heavy that we could hardly get it off the ground.
We had to take off over the water because we were taking so much fire. One
Army gun bird, a Huey like ours, tried to suppress the fire and give us
cover. After a few frightening moments, we lifted off. On our way to the
1st Hospital Company, we rendered first aid to the wounded men.
WHAT HAPPENED LATER
Captain Pless separated enemy from the downed U.S. troops by landing his
Huey between them - both a little more than arm's length from the
helicopter.
The moment the Huey's skids [were] on the ground, co-pilot Fairfield and
gunners Poulson, and Phelps found themselves eyeball-to-eyeball with the
enemy.
An official citation describes how Pless's crew pulled off the mission:
"During the rescue the enemy directed intense fire at the helicopter and
rushed the aircraft again and again, closing to within a few feet before
being beaten back. When the wounded men were aboard, Pless maneuvered the
helicopter out to sea.
Before it became safely airborne, the overloaded aircraft settled four
times into the water. Displaying superb airmanship, he finally got the
helicopter aloft. Pless' extraordinary heroism coupled with his outstanding
flying skill prevented the annihilation of the tiny force."
Phelps gives much of the credit for success to pilot Pless, and some to the
cap- abilities of the ' Huey' helicopter"As crewchief of the aircraft, and
knowing its capabilities, I couldn't believe what Capt. Pless was making
the UH-1E do,"
said Phelps. "When the smoke started to clear, [ there were] enemy bodies
everywhere."
President Lyndon B. Johnson awarded the Medal of Honor to Pless in a White
House ceremony in 1968. Pless' UH-1E crew is the most decorated aircrew in
U.S. history. As for their helicopter, it is part of the Marine Corps'
museum holdings at Quantico, and will be displayed at the National Museum
of the Marine Corps.
STEPHEN W. PLESS
On Sunday, August 20th, I was informed that my gun and rocket runs had left
20 confirmed killed V.C. on the beach, with an additional 38 estimated
killed. I also learned that a round had severed the tail rotor drive shaft
and an engine oil line, which should have caused the aircraft to crash
during the trip home.
Pless, who survived 780 combat missions in Vietnam, was killed, July 20,
1969, when his motorcycle plunged off an open drawbridge into Santa Rosa
Sound, which separates Pensacola from Pensacola Beach, Fla.
Marine Corps got its money's worth out of any aircraft and its aircrews.
And
that was true with this aircrew and Bell's UH-1E Huey.
Source : " Marine Air " by Robert F. Dorr ( New York : Penguin:
2006 ) Copyright Bill Fawcett Associates [ abridged ]
[ Note from the author : I have a few copies of the book on hand and can
provide one with the author's signature. For that purpose, contact me at :
robert.f.dorr@com.net
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