Fred McCarthy - Coming All the Way Home: Memoir of an Assault Helicopter Aircraft Commander in Vietnam
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- Book:Coming All the Way Home: Memoir of an Assault Helicopter Aircraft Commander in Vietnam
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This is where the crew chief and door gunner sat when we took off or landed. They would crawl out on the pylon and shoot covering fire under the helicopter as we banked hard and broke from a gun or rocket run. The only thing holding them from falling was a webbed monkey strap. They hand-held and fired a 30-caliber machine gun (author photo).
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina
All photographs courtesy Bill Schmidt unless otherwise noted.
All poems by Fred McCarthy
A Date with an Old Girlfriend (in Chapter 20) originally appeared in The VHPA Aviator (MayJune 2020) and A Headstone for Thousands, by Tom Kirk (also in Chapter 20), originally appeared in The VHPA Aviator (JulyAugust 2018). Both are used by permission.
Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
Names: McCarthy, Fred, 1946 author.
Title: Coming all the way home : memoir of an assault helicopter aircraft commander in Vietnam / Fred McCarthy.
Other titles: Memoir of an assault helicopter aircraft commander in Vietnam
Description: Jefferson, North Carolina : McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2021 | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021022108 | ISBN 9781476684703 (paperback : acid free paper)
ISBN 9781476643571 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: McCarthy, Fred, 1946- | United States. Army. Assault Helicopter
Company, 175thBiography. | Helicopter pilotsUnited StatesBiography. |
Helicopter pilotsVietnamBiography. | United States. ArmyOfficersBiography. | Vietnam War, 1961-1975Aerial operations, American. | Vietnam War, 1961-1975
Personal narratives, American. | BISAC: HISTORY / Military / Vietnam War
Classification: LCC DS558.8 .M319 2021 | DDC 959.704/34092 [B]dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021022108
British Library cataloguing data are available
ISBN (print) 978-1-4766-8470-3
ISBN (ebook) 978-1-4766-4357-1
2021 Fred McCarthy. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Front cover: Guns Up (Joe Kline, Aviation Artist)
Printed in the United States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
This book is dedicated to the memory of 30 flight crewmembers who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, serving with the U.S. Armys 121st Assault Helicopter Company at Soc Trang, in the Mekong Delta IV Corps area, or Da Nang in I Corps during the Vietnam War. And to those who came home but left an important part of who they were in Vietnam.
The Rice Fields Are Burning
Its early in the new year and the rice fields are burning.
My heart finds a certain yearning to be among friends;
sharing the things we used to share, caring the way we used to care.
And yet the experience of being here of burning away the child in me, should strengthen the soil that I might grow with a little bit more maturity
My deepest appreciation to my understanding and supportive wife, Shannon; two successful risk-taking sons, Mike and Pat; lovely daughters-in-law, Megan and Bethany; and very special grandchildren, Milo, Lizah, and Rowen, for putting up with me and my quirky behavior and for loving me anyway through it all.
Jim Lucking Jims personal friendship and mentoring was instrumental in my completion of flight school, in my success as a slick pilot with the Tigers, and in my becoming an aircraft commander in B model gunships with the Vikings of the 121st Assault Helicopter Company. We were in the best company in the U.S. Army, the world-famous Soc Trang Tigers, based in Soc Trang, Republic of Vietnam, during 1967 and 1968. A part of him has been with me all of my life in the many leadership roles I have been privileged to hold as a civilian. I cant thank him enough for the difference he made in the quality of my life.
Paul Woodby Paul came to the 121st Assault Helicopter Company as an experienced infantry soldier and pathfinder and took on the challenging role of becoming a door gunner with the Vikings. Door gunners hung out the side of a Huey on a monkey strap and fired their machine guns under the aircraft as it broke from a gun or rocket run. It was a very dangerous job, and he did it with skill, courage, and dedication to the mission. We shared the experience of a night engine failure and an autorotation in a fully loaded Viking B model Huey gunship on October 18, 1968. After we were evacuated by a Dustoff medevac helicopter, the aircraft was destroyed by the Viet Cong. We consider ourselves brothers of a different mother for life.
Writing this book has been a fulfillment of a life-long dream to recount one of the most memorable adventures of my life. I appreciate the inspiration and technical assistance that was so readily available from some very special people I was fortunate to meet along the way.
I would like to thank the following members of the Vicious Writers Circle on Whidbey Island for their insightful comments at a time when the project needed direction and honest critique: Dan Pedersen, Chris Spencer, JoAnn Kane, Candace Allen, Dave Anderson, and Regina Hugo.
I would like to thank Elizabeth (Beth) Hall for her considerable editing skills and suggestions. She mentored me through a number of substantial revisions and reorganizations of this book.
I would also like to thank Dylan Lightfoot, editor at McFarland, for his editing suggestions and input on revision.
AC aircraft commanderpilot in commandsits in the right seat
ARVN Army of the Republic of VietnamSouth Vietnamese soldiers
Ballistic helmet theoretically capable of deflecting some bullets
Bullet bouncer bulletproof Kevlar plate to protect the chest
C-rations 1200-calorie meal in a can for use in the field
Collective control that adds or takes out pitch in the rotor blades
Combat assault an operation involving slicks and gunships and a command and control helicopter to airlift troops into a landing zone
CW2 Chief Warrant Officer 2 (Levels WO1, CW2, CW3, CW4)
Cyclic control stick that comes up between the legs of the pilot for directional control of the aircraft
Deuce and a half a 2.5-ton truck for carrying supplies or soldiers
EGT Exhaust Gas Temperaturea temperature gauge of the helicopters turbine engine exhaust
FNG F---ing New Guy
.45 Colt .45 standard issue Army sidearm (pistol)
Hooches thatched roof and sides, houses, or storage sheds sometimes containing weapons and ammunition; also the barracks where we lived
KIA killed in action
Klick kilometermetric measurement =.6214 of a milestandard for stating distance to the target or objective in the military, etc.
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