Saber Article Index
May-June 2020
Because '69-'70 MEDEVAC door gunner Dave
Parks uses the e-mail "Shootdown@"
I asked him about the times he was shot down. I got a lot of commo from him
and did get information about two times he was shot down. There may have
been more, but two was all he had time for, and they were involved. Dave
said one in Sep '69, again in December '69, and again in Jan '70. Dave said,
"There is a fourth one, but for the life of me I don't remember it! Kind of
makes me angry. So, I guess maybe I was only on three ships that were shot
down!"
I found posted on the 15th MED Assn website a copy of the Jan-Jun 1970
semiannual newsletter with a lot of information about Air Ambulance Platoon
activities, e.g. shoot downs and participants. On 05 Jan 70 MEDEVAC 15 Rich
Leonard and his crew were shot down in Tay Ninh on a hot hoist mission. It
says Mr. Leonard received a fractured wrist, his co-pilot CPT Jerry Rhodes
suffered a compressed fracture of the vertebrae and went stateside, crew
chief Rodney Wiley and Medic Bill Keller both received multiple frag wounds,
and door gunner Dave Parks was badly shaken up (but survived again).
The first time Dave was shot down was when he was new in the unit and
training as a door gunner on a regular pickup. It was 7 SEP 69. Dave said
that was the last time they trained that way. After that they trained
everyone on admin flights. On 7 SEP 69 two MEDEVAC crew members were killed:
SSG James Megehee, who was a crew chief but on that occasion was flying as
the door gunner (training Dave), and Medic SP5 Gary Lee Bowdler.
Dave said, "On Sept 7th, '69 we were picking up for Black Horse (11th
ACR) in An Loc rubber plantation out of Quan Loi. First time in they had the
WIAs out of the trees and in an open field. We took them out then returned
for a second pick up. This time we went in on the trees. That is when we
were hit with the RPG; and of course, crashed! James and Gary were blown out
of the ship. From what the tank guys had to say, the ship landed on Gary, so
he burned up. The tracks finally got to us. We jumped into the back of an
APC. I was asked to run an M-60 on the left side of an APC. I did fire up
one guy. Do not know if I hit him or not! Oh well, no biggy. Took a while to
get another ship in to pick us up. but there was not room for me, so I spent
the night in the back of the APC."
Dave elaborated: "So when we were hit in the underside below the left
seat it blew us over three hundred feet in the air. It rolled on to the left
side and fell through the trees. Tanker guys said James fell out when it
rolled, and Gary was blown out the left door on fire. And the ship landed on
him. I was rolled on to my back in the right-side seat and stayed there till
it hit! I then jumped up on the skid. I could not see anything because of
all the fire so I just gave a big ass jump and hoped I hit on the ground
right. Guess I did.
"When I hit the ground, I was running and headed for Quan Loi. We were
just a couple klicks away, but saw the co-pilot lying on the ground so I
snagged him by the collar and drug him into a small ditch. He had a broken
left arm and wrist.
"Then, Mr. Albright (pilot; MEDEVAC 14) showed up. I have no idea where
he had been. But I was glad to see him. So, we just kind of sat there for a
few, getting it all together-I guess. Then, they wanted me to go flag down
the tanks to come get us. So, I had to part two-inch grass to see where I
was going.
"Anyway, got over-by the what was left of the chopper-and stood up; and
jumped up and down waving at them. They waved back and came as quick as they
could. Me and the AC had to pull the crew chief out of the ship. He was
burning up.
"By the time we got him out one boot and his pants were gone. He had some
good burns on his butt and legs. We had to run about fifty or so feet to the
APC and went in that little sub door on the back. Was crowded as hell in
there. Us four plus their crew of four plus a WIA on the floor. That thing
looked like Swiss cheese; and saw two more holes appear!"
About that crew chief they pulled out, Dave said, "Oh, btw, the ship we
were on was Bobby Pool's. He was the crew chief, but he went on R&R, so a
new guy by the name of Ray Roy, or Roy Ray took his place. Sometime before
the shoot down we were talking. I remember he said he had been in country
for a couple years. He was way up north. Why he came down to our AO, I have
no idea. When we were in the back of the APC, he gave me his watch, and
something else. I do not remember the other thing. Said the guys in Japan
would take his stuff, so he wanted me to keep it 'till he mailed me with his
home address so I could mail it all to him. Finally, one day I got his
letter, so I sent everything to him. I don't know if he ever got the stuff
or not."
Dave continued later with his story: "Dave here. Hi Mike! Let us see if I
can remember where I left off, lol. You know, even after fifty plus years,
it is kind of hard to think of these things. Guess we made the APC, and I
got to shoot the M-60 on the left side. Was kind of funny. I saw this bad
guy in the trees a long way away, not sure how far, but I watched him what
seemed like an hour. He was just bopping up through the trees. You know all
them trees were in a row (rubber), no matter which angle you looked at them.
Anyway, he got kind of close. Then, he unslung his rifle, looked right at
me, and smiled. At least it looked like it was me. I toyed with the idea of
can I shoot this guy! I guess I got pissed about the two men that were KIA,
so I shot at him. And as I said, I do not know if I hit him, but the last
thing I saw was an M-60 drop a round on him. A little puff of smoke and dust
and that was it.
"Well, we were in the tall trees by then, and they were wondering how to
get another MEDEVAC in for the new WIA's. So, they decided to do a daisy
chain of det cord and satchel charges to blow an LZ. Now that was kind of
cool, sort of. They ended up with a couple more hurt guys.
"So, then one of our birds came in. Me and Mr. Albright were
handing the WIA's up to the Medic (I think it was Larry Lund). Not a good
idea, as we were knee deep in mud. You know after the tracks had run around
a bit! We would just get the 's' shocked out of us when we did that. Static
electricity; WOW! A spark would jump to one of us about three inches long.
Not sure if I wet myself or not. Not fun. So, we just gave them a toss in
the air and hoped the Medic could catch them, and he never missed a lick.
"So, after we got the last WIA on board they said get your asses in here.
So, of course we got on. They were pulling too much torque, so they said I
had to wait. Yeah, right! Until the next day!
"Anyway, during the night they had a couple mad minutes, and I got to
shoot in both. Wippy scippy. Oh, forgot. When they did the boom, it landed
on most all the big tracks. Some were trapped for a while.
"A MEDEVAC came in, as I already said, then a Chinook dropped off ammo!
So, I spent the night in the back of an APC that leaked like a sieve, was
rainy that night! Anyway, the next morning when they came to fetch me, I was
one happy dude!
"So, when they set down the left side to me, I jumped out of that APC and
ran for the chopper and jumped in on the left side. Lurch was the crew
chief. (Dave says "Lurch was a crew chief, was gone by the time you got
there. He was about nine feet tall. A big man. And looked just like Lurch on
the Addams Family. He had a mustache that looked like the end of a
three-inch cable that had been cut off.") He yelled at me to go to the right
side, so I ran through the slimy wash job to the right side and had mud up
to my knees. Love it. So got my ass chewed for messing up their clean
chopper. You know how it is when you spend a couple hours cleaning the ship.
That is when you get a call.
"I do not remember the flight back to Phouc Vinh. But, when we set down
everyone was there, even the old guys. So that is how I lost my cherry! You
know how it is when you are the FNG. But that day their demeanor changed,
and I was one of the guys. Only been in the unit for a month and three
days!"
Dave sent more story for me. This next one Dave says was in December '69.
In this incident the Medic was Dale McGuff. Dale was a platoon Medic in B
1-5 Cav before joining MEDEVAC thinking it was better than in the infantry,
while he waited for a rear job. He found out that it was out of the fire and
into the frying pan. Dale wrote a book published in 2005 called, So That
Others May Live, after the MEDEVAC motto, which I wrote about those many
years ago in this column. You can read all my columns from 1999 on the 15th
MED Assn Web site:
https://15thmedbnassociation.org/Historical-Documents/Saber-Articles/ .
Back issues of the Saber are also on the 1st Cav Assn website for members.
Dale writes in his book that this incident that Dave describes was in
October 1969. Dave does not admit to an accurate memory, but he gets close
enough. I was jogging it fifty years later.
"Dave here. Well, I have had enough to drink so willing to share some
more! This time was in Dec '69, at least I think so. Anyway, we got the
call, and it was ARVNs, which was kind of scary right off the bat. So, it
was a hot hoist and we pulled up to a hover. Oh here, let me tell you the
crew first off. CPT Holmes (MEDEVAC 8) was AC, Colby was PP (MEDEVAC 27),
Mike Vinyard was the crew chief, Dale McGuff was the Medic, and me. I am
always there somewhere.
"They had a pretty
small perimeter and that was not fun. Do not remember just where the JP
(Jungle Penetrator on the hoist) was but we took fire. And I mean we took a
lot of fire fast. There were all kinds of red lights going off and the only
person to take a round was CPT Holmes, 'bout took his foot off. (Dale writes
that it was just a small fragment caught below his knee. Indeed, I saw
Charlie Holmes DEROS in 1970 so he did not leave country in 1969.) CPT
Holmes kept us from crashing right there.
"Dale said, "I'm hit!" And, when I looked at him, he had a piece of red
glass in his hand. (Dale McGuff in his book says the control panel was shot
up so bad all the red-light lenses shattered and that is what he caught in
his hand thinking it was blood.) Boy was he relieved!
"Vinyard shot all his ammo on the way out. Man, we came so close to
balling up on the ground it just was not funny. How he kept that bird in the
air was beyond me. But I was happy.
"So, as we got to (LZFSB) Ike they didn't want to let us land because
Holmes didn't have super control of the bird. He just kinda told them to 'f'
off, here we come! And that was not a good landing in my book. "I do not
remember how we got back to air ops (Phouc Vinh). They did get the bird back
to Phouc Vinh and we counted over a hundred bullet holes all in the left
side. We just could not figure out why Vinyard did not get hit. His hell
hole had most of the holes!"
Always remembering our 1st Cav Troops on duty around the world; over and
out.
FIRST TEAM! Garryowen
Mike Bodnar 2\7 '69
MEDEVAC 1-7\70
SO THAT OTHERS MAY LIVE