p.m. eastern on railamerica. in 1967 cbs news special report. >> whether it is the ever tactics or the whether or if the terrain it seems clear the american military offensive along the dmz has bogged down. like the marines in the mud. artifacts,n american exhibitf the remembering vietnam and an eight on the presidency, the 1967 president lyndon johnson vietnam war press conference. >> we made our statement of what we would do if we had come asked aggression in that part of the world in 1954. we said we would stand with those people in the face of common danger and the time came when we had to put up or shut up, and we put up, and we are there. >> watch the vietnam war 50 years later this week and on american history tv on c-span3.

and here on c-span, we return to the national archives in washington, d.c. we have been here for most of the day for discussions about the vietnam war as the archives opens a new exhibit, about aring vietnam," 50th anniversary year of the u.s. entry in the conflict. we heard earlier from the author of the book "six years in the hanoi hilton," and we heard a discussion about women in the vietnam war earlier. next, you discussion about the hardware and helicopters used in the war. this is helping to got the national archive's exhibit "remembering vietnam," which will be open through the first week of january. >> the william g mcgowan theater here at the national archive. least you can join us whether you are here in person, up in the theater, or watching us on youtube, and a special

welcome to our c-span audience. outside on constitution avenue, three historic helicopters are parked near our entrance. today, we have a terrific opportunity to learn about the helicopters and the men who flew them from members of the north carolina vietnam helicopter pilots association. our program is presented in part by the national archive foundation for the support for the technologies and many thanks to them. before we hear from our special guests, i would like to tell you about three upcoming programs. this morning, we opened our new exhibit, "remembering vietnam," and tomorrow, we continue our related program. o'rourk willss o'rourk francis help a cv and on through the eyes of the child as she discusses her book "shooting the ."on

2:00, we will show the film "we were soldiers." we will have a feeling discussion with the founder of the vietnam veterans memorial. to learn more trolleys and our public programs and exhibits, consult our monthly calendar of events online at archives.gov. you can check out our website to sign up and get email update. we will also find information about other national archives activities. and another way to get involved is to become a member of the national archives foundation. the foundation supports all of our education and outreach programs. their application for membership is in the lobby. as i mentioned earlier, today's program is one of a series of events in conjunction with our new exhibit "remembering vietnam ," which just opened in the lawrence o'brien gallery of stairs. the exhibit is a media rich explanation of the vietnam war featuring interviews with american and vietnamese veterans

and civilians and firsthand experience of the war as well as historic analysis. collision ofnating newly discovered an iconic original documents, images, film footage, and artifacts that illuminates quickly episodes in the war that divided the people of the united states and vietnam. i encourage you all to take a walk through the exhibit. it will be there for more than a year so you have plenty of time to come and learn from it. now i ask all of vietnam veterans or any u.s. veterans who served during the vietnam 1965,hich is november 1, to may 15, 1975, to stand and be recognized. [applause] david: veterans, as you exit the

mcgowan theater after today's program, archive staff and volunteers will present each of you with the vietnam veteran lapel pin. on the back of the pin, a grateful nation thanks and honors you. the vietnam war commemoration is a national initiative and is the nation's lasting memento of thanks. the national archives building is always an impressive sight unconstitutional avenue -- on constitution avenue. the pilotsmore with association who are the custodians of the aircraft. we can see and learn about the original vietnam war helicopters. others. chel

they are founded by the generous support of bell helicopter. now you will hear from general richard cody, retired u.s. army. general cody graduated from the u.s. military academy at west point in 1972. he is a master army aviator. over 19 helicopters and has over 5000 hours of flight time. during his years of service, general cody served in six of the army's combat divisions. storm,operation desert lieutenant colonel cody led task force normandy, a flight of eight apache helicopters, into iraq and destroyed two critical iraqi satellite sites prior to the start of the allied air campaign. general cody is currently the senior vice president and officer for l3 technologies incorporated. he is the chairman of the board for homes of our troops. board of trustee of the intrepid fallen heroes fund.

board of trustees of the george c marshall foundation. on the advisory board for the hopeful warriors, and the founder and lead pilot for operation flying heroes, an organization that provides flights to iraq and afghanistan 's wounded warriors. general cody received a distinguished graduate award and a good pastor award and is an inductee of the army aviation hall of fame. ladies and gentlemen, please . cody. general richard a cod [applause] general cody: thank you, everybody. veterans andam their families, sometimes saying thank you for your service is not enough. what iant to tell you really want to do is say thank you for inspiring a young vermont back in

1966 as i got to watch your tv,nam helicopter pilots on and that inspired me to want to become like you, a helicopter pilot. i was lucky enough to be able to achieve my dream, but more importantly, as soon as i graduated from flight school, it was hundreds of vietnam era officers and colonels who taught like, whoight looked taught me how to be an aviation leader, and quite frankly, i tell everybody i would not be a general officer had it not been for my vietnam tutors. thank you for everything you have done for this great country. i also want to thank you because in 1991 when i came back from the iraq war, it was 3:00 in the morning. i had my squadron from the 101st.

we landed in bangor, maine. we were some of the last guys war, the first gulf war. tvguys, we were watching on waiting back in saudi arabia. we saw all the parades and everybody being welcomed home. my troops are saying, nobody will greet us. 3:00 in the morning, we get off the airplane so they can refuel a group ofre was vietnam veterans at 3:00 in the morning shaking the hands and giving my soldiers and myself a welcome home from combat that you guys never got. i will never forget watching young soldiers exchanging their sandy caps with the bush caps on the vietnam veterans. get touched me anyway that you will never know -- it touched me in a way you will never know.

this series about helicopters and those daring and that flew helicopters and their crews as part of the vietnam series is something that all americans should know about. we should take time to honor. i am very pleased that the archives are doing that. what you all did in vietnam was really transform our army and our way of thinking about the warfare in terms of the 360 degree battlefield. alive many soldiers are from battles of iraq and afghanistan and other places that we have thought in -- fought in because we learned from you the tactics and procedures of the vertical lift and aviation in the ground regime, whether it is medevac, crew transport, supplies so we don't have to drive through ied-ridden lines of communications to the attack

helicopter's role on the battlefield. that of people do not know we sent 7000 uh1's to vietnam, and over 3000 of them got shot down. we sent over 1100 cobras, just there.e h1g that is out we sent 1100 of those in combat. over 300 of those shot down. over 2200 pilots, helicopter pilot, our fallen comrades, got shot down and paid the last final salute to the united states in sacrifice to all of us. and we learned from all of that. i think it is fitting that we take time to understand the sacrifices of you guys and those at arlington cemetery and how important it was the way you pioneered today's aviation force.

1979, we had the hostage situation over in iran. as you know, that did not end well. immediately thereafter, we formed up what is now the 160th special operations regiment, and it was vietnam veteran pilots that we called back to active duty to form of what is now the gunship company, the lift company, and it was again the vietnam veteran helicopter pilots who we depended upon to get the tactics, techniques, and procedures down so we can form of that special helicopter unit, which is today known as the night stalkers and probably is the world's best unit on aviation. today, you will get to hear from several of our vietnam helicopter pilots. they all have great stories to tell. they are all heroes in their own right just like you. they are all great americans, great patriots. but the other thing is they are

great brothers in arms. these guys have been together ever since vietnam. people forget it has been over 50 years since we brought in the huey and cobra into vietnam, so i think it is fitting we hear from them today. i will end by the way i started. thanks for your service. i get asked a lot, what do we say to our veterans who have served and worn the uniform and donned the clock of this nation? -- cloth of this nation? i tell them saying thanks is important, but if you want to tell the men and women who have borne the brunt of battle, veterans, our vietnam what we really need to do as americans is live our life as americans worthy of their service and sacrifice. so god bless all of you. i hope you enjoy this event. thank you. [applause] thank you, general cody.

now i will turn the program over to our moderator, duane williams. he is a decorated vietnam veteran and helicopter pilot. graduated from high school in october 1966 and was assigned to company. helicopter he served as gunship pilot. reassignedam, he was to court walters texas -- four walters, texas, until his honorable discharge in 1969. in the 1970's, he was a pilot in the offshore oil industry and career as a key pilot, instruction pilot, extra mental test pilot with bell helicopter -- experimental test pilot with bell helicopter. ll, heretiring from be currently resides in arlington, texas, with his wife of over 15 years.

please welcome duane williams and numbers of the the and him helicopter pilot association. [applause] >> good afternoon. can you hear me? thank you all for being here. it is certainly my pleasure being here this evening. is even more so a great honor to be here with these guys. whenever i was called and invited to come out here and participate, the first thing i did was go and check my size 40 flight suit i war in vietnam. [laughter] it.ne: i got to get one leg these guys maintain a strict regiment of workout, diet. [laughter]

dwayne: they fit in their size 40 per to get. my wife said you will look nice, so she just me up, and here i am. we do have a story today to tell, several stories. before we get into that, i would like to introduce these guys. first of all, from the north carolina vietnam helicopter pilot association, and they are the ones responsible for those beautiful aircraft that you see out front. they come all the way from north carolina. they got here sunday night. they will be here through sunday the. they have been standing out there every day, long days, taking care, answering questions, and they do a great job. i think i like to give them applause for that. [applause] joe,e: to my right here is

colonel of the united states army retired. he was in vietnam in 1968. he was the commanding officer of the 604th transportation company. callsign, caretakers. they provided maintenance for assault helicopter company, maintain 28 to 30 aircraft. you had a heck of a job doing that. s,xt to him is ed hughe lieutenant colonel retired. he was in vietnam in 1971. he flew with the 116th, callsign hornets. 719.e is a survivor of i do not know if you know what that is, but he is going to tell us about it. and then we have jerry, retired. 1969. in vietnam 1968, he flew in the 101st.

i think he flew the hueys, and he also has an interesting story about flying the 806 gunships. last but not least, we have jerry. two i guesse only that thought we would cast our fortunes as civilians. i don't know about me, but jerry has done pretty well. one of the things i am sure he theroudest of is he is probab y founding father of this group. he has done a tremendous job putting it all together and maintaining his aircraft. so iw the work it takes, would like for jerry to talk just a minute about this unit. if you do not like the majority. mind,s-- if you do not jerry. >> i would like to thank the staff here and they'll

helicopter for bringing this year -- bell helicopter for bringing us here to honor the vietnam veterans. back in 1989, 16 pilots in sawssburg, north carolina, there was an interest to put together a local organization whereby helicopter pilots can get together to tell war stories , and i always say there are two things helicopter pilots do not do. they do not great beer, and they do not tell war stories. >> they do not lie. jerry: we started off with 16 people at about 9:00 in the morning, and with two cases of beer, three dozen krispy kreme carolina, and a gallon of coffee, by 2:00 in the afternoon, we had written bylaws, elected officers, and the constitution, and set up to be incorporated.

we had a lawyer present. three months later after some people decided we need a helicopter to talk about, we decided we would go ahead and try to get a helicopter. we spent three years to try to get our first aircraft. as we put this thing together and got it presentable, we went to wilmington, north carolina, to do a parade. this is really selfish in our part, but we wanted to ride in a parade. we came through and were putting the aircraft back together. first thing he knew, we had 150 people standing on aircraft. we realized then, wait a minute, there is an interest in this. from there, we proceeded to secure other aircraft. right now, we have six aircraft. opened on the east coast and florida and kentucky and tennessee, we have done over 300,000 series at schools at no cost to schools.

by virtue of what we do, we can take these aircraft to schools. not only the historical part of their education, but we can relate to core studies. some student decides what he is going to do. today, this is the third trip to washington, d.c., this year. this year, we did our third presidential inaugural parade with our aircraft. we have been told this is the most pervasive any organization like this has ever done in history. hopefully we will be around for another one. we will see. one of the things i am a proud of these guys is they put up with me. they go sometimes some places that i would not go with me. they put in long hours like they are doing out here today. supported.l we take no federal or state funding.

no sponsorship from organizations. we have been doing this for 28 years. we continue to do this successfully. it can be done for organizations willing to put forth the effort and have support from these people. thank you all for supporting us here. >> the photos we have are really not relevant to what we are talking about perhaps, but they are really sweet photos. occasionally, i will flip through here so you see something new. it might trigger something like i have a story for that. you will see me flipping through this, but right now, i will let joe talk about what it was like maintaining 28 aircraft in a combat situation. joe: thank you. it is a real honor and privilege for me to be here. i was a young brash lieutenant down at fort campbell.

and gung ho. just could not wait to get to vietnam. i wanted to be the greatest infant creeper t -- infantry platoon leader there ever was. a young lady took me by the arm and said you are going to fight school. i said i can handle that. long story short, often we went. went to flight school, which was kind of unusual because in those days, we needed helicopter pilots. and then rotary wing and then aircraft maintenance and off to vietnam. i was confident that when i got to vietnam, i was going to end up flying a u21, beach king air twin-engine, nice safe airplane, real high. no problems. well, the dream went kaput. i went to camp holloway. i took over the 604th detachment, which was attached to the ghostwriters, the 189th assault helicopter company.

probably the worst time in their history. i was talking earlier today to one of our guys. we got there both about the same time. it seems like in a month or two before i got there, there was some pretty intense combat area.ions through that the 52nd battalion from our parent organization, had literally float itself into the ground supporting the infantry and buying combat, combat assault, evacuation missions of all kind. long story short, when i had arrived, our unit which was 20 had absolutely nothing flyable. no mission capable aircraft . they were shot full of holes. they were down, needing maintenance. a thank you to the maintenance personnel that worked behind the

scenes over there. i had some of the best enlisted men and warrant officers that i think the army ever saw. they were professional. they were dedicated. they were competent beyond believe. -- belief. maintenance guys are behind-the-scenes guys. you don't hear a lot about them when you see the vietnam things and you see the other documentaries and wa stories, but let me tell you, maintenance is never ending. the helicopter is a marvelous aircraft. upuh1,ikipedia and look and you will just be blown away -- go to wikipedia and look up uh1 and you will be blown away by the abilities. scheduled minas, and maintenance, combat damage to be repaired. our guys were sometimes 24, 36 hours. we test flew airplanes after maintenance when we should not have. literally sitting there

half-asleep in the cockpit doing a half hour however check to make sure everything was cool. jerry was one of my test pilots. the enlisted guys, we got back to our mission requirement of 12 slicks and six gunships within a month. it was only the dedication and the professionalism of the nco corps that did that. i had an infantry first sergeant of all things, and he was a leader's leader. nco's you are before are the backbone are the army. put these young men under his arm and just trained them and brought them up the way they should be. made them just love what they were doing. i had a technical inspector that had grown up with the huey, worked on the evaluations when the aircraft bought the airplane and h he knew as much about it as any engineer out there.

i had the greatest warrant officers. are used to laugh about what my guy said he could do a rotation at night in the dark and not have a problem. and they could. thathey were that good. 24 hours a day, seven days a week. we do not have sundays or thursdays or whatever it was. we just fixed airplanes. they love what they were doing, and they did it very well. one of the more exciting parts downedt was recovering aircraft. that ran the gamut. they were airplanes that shut down that we would have to go out and rig and pick up with a chinook or a crane or whatever and bring it back so they can be salvaged or repaired to fly again. there were airplanes that we had to fix on site. i was telling the guys one of the most exciting times i ever

had was i went up to a place which was pretty hotly contested piece of ground, and we had an airplane that had landed there and had damage to the rotary blades and damage to the tail rotor. who was francis and i, my key technical inspector, got dropped off on the ground, and we spent about the next two or three hours trying to do enough battle damage repair if you will to get the airplane flyable again to bring it home. down to thetop, waterways, and i was putting duct tape on the rotor blades where the holes were. francis was fixing the tail rotor. he had to replace the children the field, which was unheard of. not another man in the army could have done that. he stood on a 55 gallon drum if you can imagine trying to change the tail rotor on an airplane. you get guys started lobbing mortar shells into the base.fortunately , we were on the other side. but it gives you a attention so

we climbed off of the airplane and jump over it and hide. the gunfire would go away. we go back up and do our thing until they start shooting again. after about the third iteration, i said, i think they are having more fun with this than anything else. we should finish this airplane and go home. he said, good idea. we did, and all we went -- off we went. that is a quick run on the maintenance part of it. we cannot give enough things to the young enlisted guys and the warrants that worked so hard. the arde other grou that often gets overlooked and i want to give a shout out to is the families. we get all the glory. we get all of the "thank you for your service," but the wise and the families that were left back here in the states waiting, we did not have cell phones. we did not have any way to talk to them or communicate to them for the most part except letters, and they were there. they were waiting.

they did not know from day to day where we were. we were too busy honest-to-goodness to think about it. i never thought about dying or getting shot or killed. i did not have time to think about that. but my wife did. she thought about it every day as did all of these guys's wives and girlfriends and mothers and families. i just want to say a shout out to them. they deserve our gratitude forever and i thank them. [applause] >> echoing joe, my young life. m the me off at fort walters in november 1965. in august, we had our 52nd anniversary. that is quite a feat, i think. >> amen. dwayne: my wife, we chose well.

there,the wives oup you get kudos. i know what you go through and what my wife suffered through. orwife woke up one morning in the night with a terrible pain in the knee. she knew i had been shot, which i wasn't. she did not know that. she did not know that for weeks. like joe said, they endured and enfered a an dured. the wives get a round of applause. jerry. jerry was with the 101st. i think he stayed with him the whole time, but one of the things he started flying was the oh-6 gunships. i will let him tell that story and what that was like. jerry: i arrived in vietnam

assigned to charlie company 101, the black widows that flew the huey slicks for about two months. they called down and asked for volunteers for the third brigade. so i volunteered for that. i joined the headquarters and headquarters company, third brigade, vietnam. with thelying the oh-6 many got on the left side and the door gunner in the right rear and a few hand grenades. and we would go out. our typical day with start first night in the morning -- first light in the morning. an around capec evans. sensors would get picked up the night before. many times it was just water buffalo, stuff like that. but every now and then, we would

find a few bad guys. sixunit, we had sixoh-6's, 's.had oh-6's, six uh-1 we had the blues platoon. went out and-6's found some enemy activity. we could insert the blues platoon to develop the situation. at that time, they were fully armed and carried very few rations. just bullets and weapons. we never left them in overnight. infantry platoons and companies developed a further, and we would pull our people have at night -- out at night. after we completed the recons in the morning, we would marry up with another oh-6 gunship and

we would be assigned to maybe an a.o. two recon develop the situation in other area, or if a mission came in from a grant support unit that was in contact and needed some aerial report, they would go help them out as much as we could.we could also marry up cobras, whichara really give us a little bit of firepower there. we would go down in the treetops, look around what we could find. when we develop something, we would call in for the cobras to help take care of the situation. that was pretty much our routine everyday. we did this area perimeter every morning. dmzorked anywhere from the south to covekurrahee, eagles pile, up by the rock

vandergriff, which is the marine base. always interesting going there because the marines dug vandergriff in the valley, and the mountains on both sides are owned by both guys. whenever we landed there, we took fire. but it was a very fulfilling job.i enjoyed doing it . i was extremely lucky. i was a good. i only got shot down one time. -- i was pretty good. i only got shot down one time. made it back, got another helicopter, and took off again. up iny there, i ended about 950 combat hours. dwayne: thank you, jerry. [applause] 950 ours. -- hours. i think the average helicopter

pilot in the amount probably flew 1000 hours. that is a lot of time. that is a lot of time in a year. it is already pretty much combat from the time you lifted off. you could be shot anytime. i think that was the average time that the pilots flew over there. when in i introduced ed, first looked through their bios, ed flew in vietnam in 1971 and he participated in 719. i do not know if you know the butory of the vietnam war, 719 was primarily a south vietnam operation. at that time, the war was starting. a lot of the u.s. military were

kind of standing down so they did not have military support. they were not the primary units in this operation. and it was the largest combat assault operation in the history of the entire vietnam war. an incursion to cut off the supply line into loas, -- andused 276 hueys they used 276 hueys. by a rush or how many cobras, but i am sure several hundred. of that, 168 helicopters were shot down. i think the going it was not so bad. it is always the picking up. the lz's sometimes not so bad. , the pickup zones, that

is when you sweated it. anyway, i will let ed tell us his story about lam son 719. ed: i showed up in vietnam in july 1970, was assigned to the helicopter company to the yellowjackets team. the new guy, they call you new guy. for the first two or three monthly apply with the aircraft commanders that had been there too and the right to be an aircraft commander. after three months or so when you have a key related 300 hours in country, they put you up for a check ride. you do not ride with one person. every aircraft commander in the unit that flies that type of aircraft you are going to fly. in my case, a uh-1 and a hotel model. you have to please everyone of those pilots, those aircraft

commanders, or you do not get called in aircraft commander. i was fortunate enough that i passed my ride and i think the callsign hornet 214, and that is what i used for the rest of my time there. in july, we ran missions of an assault helicopter company. trashhing from ash and carrying parts from point a to point b, resupply out to fire bases or two troops in the field, command and control, combat assaults, could be two or three ships of 210 ships in that area -- up to 10 ships in that area. in march of 1971, a lot of us were in the club and had a couple of drinks. they came across and made the announcement that all members of the 116t word to retune t returo their unit. goinge informed we were

to participate in lam son 719. about one hour after that, we took off. our flight lead of f slicks and -- of 4 slicks and two gunships. we refueled, took off, started across the past. for those of you that have been there, you know what that is. a goes down to the south china sea and climbs up i don't know how many thousands of feet, but it goes way up. .n the dark, we all went everybody got out of it but me. know when those the mountain to the west -- no one knows the mountain to the west. i climb as high as i could go. about 1.5 hours later, i was brought down. next morning, we got briefed, but in the afternoon, we were on our first flight going into laos.

that is where i developed my appreciation and respect for the world war ii aviators. i now had an idea what they went through. imagine a helicopter flying through flak. not just an individual 51 caliber or ak-47 shooting at you. this was flak. you fly and look up in front of you in the huey that was there a minute ago is not there anymore. you had cobras flying alongside, and they would find a 51 caliber and they were told, do not attack individual 51 cals, and the reason was they were sucking the cobra in and a second one would open up and shoot the cobra down. no army aviator is going to leave it in the ground.so another cobra goes in . then the third 51 cal would open up. now you have two cobra pilots down. we had aircraft from the flow from the 174th got shot down

trying to get them out. those three crews stayed on the ground in a bunker, a bomb crater, for almost four days until he inserted a loop of buffalo rangers to secure it. when they did, that entire area was surrounded with dead north vietnamese. those guys fought for their lives for three or four days. the lam son 719, i never prayed so hard in my life. from the minute we took off to wherever we went west and back again, i was praying. when we did the extractions, they were saying, go down there and pick them up. the first wave went into pick them up. vietnamese, they were trying to get out of there because they were getting their you know what's cleaned, and they were not being orderly about getting an aircraft. the huey would only carry about 13 total people, 8 american combat loaded troops plus 4. the south vietnamese were just

cramming on aircraft 13, 15, 20, whatever you to get on there. some of these hueys could not take off. they would try and then crash over the ridge line. we went to the maintenance people, vehicular maintenance, and we got as much accelrys as we could get. we greased the tubes and the skids so if they were hanging on, once we cleared the ridgelines, they did not stay long. that is the only way we could save those aircraft and save the crew and the pilots. we did that for two or three days. i was telling dwayne earlier, i have a 1.5 inch piece of mortar round that went through my aircraft going through one of those ridgelines. down south for a year, you got shot at. yes we took a bunch of hits here and there. son, boy i tell you what, it will be up and it really built

my respect for the world war ii pilots. dwayne: thank you, ed. [applause] said, when i saw he had flown in that, i was likely have to hear that story -- like we have to hear that story. the vietnam was a helicopter war. i think it is where the -- it was in its infancy and had to crawl and walk and jog and run in a span of 10 years. that is exactly what it did. across the board, all of the military, all of the branches combined, there was over 12,000 helicopters that served in that war during that priod time.

we lost 5600 of those through accidents, but most, combat. and the iconic huey and the cobras that you see out front, general cody touched on that. personifies that war. in fact, i don't know if you know it, but the u.s. postal service software to put the huey on the stamp -- saw fit to put the huey on the stamp of the tribute to the 1960's. it is the face of that war. there was over 7000 hueys sent into that -- into vietnam. those 7000 hueys to 7.5 million flight hours -- flew 7.5 million flight hours.

we lost 3600, i think. almost half. of the 12,000, we lost almost half.of the 7000, we lost almost half. the cobra was the johnny-come-lately. it did not get there until late 1967, 1968, and it flew over one million hours. we lost 300. and was a risky business. several articles where it listed the most dangerous jobs in vietnam. which one do you think was number one? helicopter air crewman. number two was the long-range recon controls. oh boy. those guys. the third was the tunnel rats. let me tell you,, wes get the top of the -- let me tell you, tunnel rats get the top of the

heap. that was just part of the price, i suppose. we lost a lot of good men. general cody mentioned the men we lost. representwise, we a small number, but we had a high casualty rate overall. i read an article once where it said that the marines lost a lot of people. they lost over 13,000. helicopter crewman in the had three times a greater risk of being shut down and killed as a helicopter crewman as you did being an .nfantryman

and we can sit here and talk about that, but i think the take away from that is i think as general cody said, i think it a new -- now there is not a unit in the military in the world that is not have a lot helicopters. these guys are the ones that set the pace. any of you have anything you can add to this? >> i would like to add two comments. i'm would like to back joe up on the merchants personnel. i flew 1100 comment hours in two months and never had one mechanical failure that was not caused by needing a tree or something. [laughter] >> never had an engine failure. never had problems at all. the second thing is the warrant officer. and the officer pilots here? outstanding. ok. medevac. flight school told us how to find helicopter.

the warrant officers in vietnam taught me how to really fight that helicopter and what it would do.everything i did after that , i owe to them just like general cody said. they taught me how to fly the aircraft, what it could really do, and how to make it do it. you know when you get to vietnam, like you said, you are treated kind of like a leper. [laughter] >> like you said, the new guy. they do not know you. went, i graduate one month and i was in vietnam 20 some odd days later. , they got to the unit were really strapped for pilot, but they tried to -- every one of the units it is not like the boy in for the meatgrinder. they all try to give you some time. andard ed mention ash trash. in between combat assaults.

they like took me, have 25 days, and i had 25 hours where they put you in combat assault. i was fifth day, in combat assault. took me four days to 25 hours. will a young man who just got there, did not really know what it was all about, and i am sitting as a copilot in the second lift comprised of 10 aircraft. i would be in the second lift, they calledlz, and it cold, which means nothing is going on.there are no bad guys . [laughter] reality, it meant nobody knew what was there. [laughter] >> that was our experience. dwayne: after that flight from every tree line had a cobra.

it is like there is a cobra in there going to strike. i did not know. but i am sitting there. we were just on call. there was a level of air force vacs. while listening into this and they are hearing, gentlemen, we are on short final. the lz, 30 seconds. we want to be in the kill zone for 30 seconds. well, they say your lifespan is 30 seconds in the kill zone and lz. they start mortaring, it is a seconds. -- 8 seconds. i am sitting here in that first lift hits. all hell breaks loose. screaming, taking fire, getting shot. willy pete in

there, and they are hammering away. i hear taking fire from 2:00, 3:00, 4:00. i am thinking, oh. whatever length of time i have between now and when we land in the lz, that is how long i have to live. >> amen. dwayne: i cannot say i was scared. i was overwhelmed. i just kept thinking, how did i get in this movie? let me off. and then we come in and we landed. the aircraft, the helicopter, just when he comes in inflows and settles in, we settle into the rice patties. when you start selling it, it is like a duck on a pond. you settle and you are at your most honorable. you cannot fly. -- your most vulnerable. you cannot fly. they know it into a wild to get the troops off. 30 seconds, gentle and. 30 seconds.

get them off. by -- i seelashing tracers flashing by. ok, not good. i am already, my gut septa and i up, and i am trying to sink into the seat. i hear the trail. you have the lead in the front and the trail. he is the eyes for the lead. he goes, they are dropping mortars on us. they are dropping mortars. i hear this and look over and see this. if it had been a hard surface, we would be gone, but the mud absorbs it. icy mud flying and black smoke or flame from it. aircraft, and here in and the gutter behind the screens, "i have been hit."

i am shrinking, doing my best to get behind that chest protector. thinking, what have these guys got against me? finally at long last, the trail says, troops are out, let's go. lead did not have to get a second. that aircraft came up and the nose ducked, and we cleared the lz. one aircraft that i have to get in. that is the lifeblood of a shotopter, and he has been and he managed to get out of the lz.i now we are going to pick up and get more, and we will go back. oh yeah. we will go back. i think that was the mantra of the helicopters. those guys on the ground new we

were going to be back. we took them into combat. , and wethem into the lz brought them out. supplies,, we carried ammo by the time, water, food. if they got hit, they knew that we were going to be in there to pick them up. they knew that within a matter of minutes, a medevac is going to be in their and pick them up. does not matter what we lose. we are going to be in there. when those guys were engaged in combat and call for guns, they are coming. -- the firstis combat assault, i remember thinking this is going to be a long war.this is going to be a long year . maybe i can pick up anything, a tank driver.

you went on, -- as it became accepted. you knew it was a rescue would accept. when i got there, i know these guys would say the same thing, i did not really know why i was there. i cannot say i was there to fight for democracy. i was there because my country sent me. they asked me, and i went. i volunteered.every helicopter pilot that,40,000, imagine 40,000 helicopter pilots served in vietnam. we all volunteered. every one of us. think if there is a legacy, it is the fact that we never left anybody on the ground. americans, in my case down

south, we supported the south vietnamese army. we made no distinction. flock.ere our we were there shepherds. we would die for them. after a while, i knew i was therefore. i was there for these guys. i was there for that guy. i was there for these guys. i was there for these guys on the ground.that is what i was there for. every one of us can make that statement. i don't know what more we can say, but i think we are getting close to where we want to have some -- >> need to recognize the door gunners. you think about a door gunner, m60, bungee cord sticking

out of the door, he has to have the presence of mine not too sure the rotor blade. it is a whole different ballgame. they volunteered. they come in and try it. in my case, the gunner was also my crew chief. >> the hueys. , in vietnam,ioned survival, it was to survive. you had to be invented. -- inventive. back in those days, you have to understand, we did not have any of these things you have today. we were likely lucky to have a wr -- we were lucky to have a wristwatch if it works. the rice bowl of asia. rice paddies and rivers and

creeks and ponds. up north, they had mountains. these guys flew in mountains.i did not have to worry about that . one day i had one of my closest friends flew with the 71st and firebirds. i was at the reunion and they were talking about the moo n method. the way they navigated. how did you navigate with the moon method? quite easy. up there when you were scrambled out when there was a call, you scribbled out and it did not matter what the weather was. they would be in the wee hours of the morning. you have not seen black until you have seen black over a jungle. oh my lord is a black -- it black. they could navigate out, but when they go out, maybe it would start getting a little drizzly or whatever.

it did not matter what kind of a firefight they got into. say two ore gunships three rockets because they all knew they had to go back to the mountains, and they were pretty sure they knew where they were going. it is kind of dark and they are going along, so what they would do when they would become unsure, they would slow down to about 35 miles. the crew chief and a gunners would stand the crew chief and the gunners would stand outside on the skins and would fire rockets, listen for a bang. if they heard one, they had hit a mountain. they would take the lead ship and run out. well, you guys certainly top my stories. those guys that led the way, they taught us so

many tricks that we would not have had to abide if they had not done that. to be sitting here with these guys telling these same stories, talk and drink until war stories -- anyway, cheers. >> joe saved me from myself because i had the luck of getting shot at for nine months in the field. he came along and said, look, this guy is qualified in this, this, this, the hughleys basic -- the hueys basically. but then i was not getting shot anymore. we did test flights a lot of times it would take off in the fog, climb up in the fog, and rotate back. you may lose an engine or a rotor. out of the safety of

getting shot at and took me over where the aircraft could just fall out of the air. >> real quick, you talk about the local area checkouts and all that. they put me in the cockpit with an officer who was probably 19 years old but had more flight time. it took me on a trash mission to give me the country orientation and get flight. we were taking mail and food and supplies to the firebase. there were a lot of fire bases in vietnam, typically up on a pinnacle. if you do not know much about flying, you will not understand, but the wind gets squarely and you are loaded heavy. the officer said, ok, you got it, stud, put it on the ground. it is a real team effort. in the back, they are chatting you up -- yorur are doing great, sir.

but i was going to fast and had to go around. so what around her this time, too slow. i had to go around again. on my third approach, the officer said, you know what, if you do not put this thing on the ground this time, they are probably going to shoot you down because they want that mail and want that food. we got in on the ground. thank you, god. i we would love to sit here, know, but if you guys have any numberns -- question one. it on? can you hear me? >> yes. remember yougo, i guys as young and handsome and bulletproof. [laughter] >> whoa, whoa. >> you are still handsome but not young, and neither am i. but we were there for you.

i was a young army nurse, 21 years old. [applause] >> no, no. that grabbing is for my patients, because you guys came to us -- i was there in 1968 and 1969, and our casualties were by the hundreds, as you know. our heroes were you guys, those pilots. bulletproof. we were young, but they would go into the worst conditions and be shot at and land just to bring those wounded to us. andbecause you are so brave got them to a hospital, 27 of them, 27 military hospitals in vietnam up and down and of course the navy, the hospital ships, their nurses are prettier because we got to where flight gear and jungle fatigue, so the

marines were very happy. the guys came to us and we were just like you, jungle fatigues. ourif a patient made it to hospital, we had a 90% save rate. we saved 90% of our patients who came to our hospitals. i was in a burn unit, and helicopters crashed and burned. i took care of a lot of burned helicopter pilots who went home very disfigured and would never fly again. and my hat just goes off to those chopper pilots. we loved you guys and still do. i will get my hugs later. i always do. but these guys were true, true heroes. they saved lives, the dust off pilots, and those of you who did not flight dust off, i am sure there were times you touched down to bring the wounded to us. fond memories of

all of you, and it was a great privilege to be a military nurse in vietnam. thank you. >> thank you. [applause] i wanted to thank you, gentlemen, because because of you, i am alive today. i was a member of company 498, central highlands from the pacific ocean to the cambodian water. 2000 combatants, civilians, and u.s. military personnel, and i flew over almost 1800 total, flight hours. i would not have any of them if it was not for you guys. we would call you guys first. you would go in ahead of us and get the enemies to stop, and we would fly and as fast as that bird would carry us. we would go on the ground, and if i am on the ground within 30 seconds, i am dead.

my mission was to get them off the helicopter and back to the hospital or river, next to -- or wherever, and get them to a medical doctor within 30 minutes without fail. they would be dead today if it was not for our job in their job protected me while i was doing mine. so thank you, really. [applause] >> i think we have a short video clip if we can show that. but i think itt, is of a jolly green in a rescue mission. can you show that?

[indiscernible] we're coming in now. >> we have you in sight. close by. >> ok, what is your position? >> he says he has both legs rogan -- broken. >> [indiscernible] >> we're coming in over you. >> over them now. >> [inaudible] >> ok, you are right over him,

he says. ok, he is going out to do it now. off.rn your beacon underground, going to the survivor. [siren blaring] >> 243. >> go ahead. >> possible broken arm. [indiscernible] >> we're going to put you down. we're putting, the other ones down. we had to lower it. >> roger.

underground.re >> are you ready? >> can you come and get us now? we're smoking. >> smoking, he said. >> [indiscernible] >> roger. >> survivor coming up. hurt pretty bad.

>> moving out now, breaking to the left. >> there they go, baby. all right. fantastic. i cannot believe it. >> i think that says it all right there. that is what the helicopter does so well. i mean, it is always there. we have number questions. i certainly appreciate all of you being here today. speaking for all these guys, thank you. it has been quite an honor for me to be here. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy.

visit ncicap.org] >> god bless you. >> god bless america. >> amen.

[indiscernible chatter]

here is a look at our primetime schedule on the c-span networks. eastern on c-span, remarks by president trump at the asia-pacific economic cooperation and ceo summit in vietnam. on c-span2, the future of health care policy in the u.s. on c-span3, a confirmation hearing for the next secretary of homeland security. 50 years ago, the u.s. was at war in vietnam.

this veterans day weekend, american history tv on c-span3 looks back with 48 hours of coverage, starting saturday at 8:00 a.m. eastern, live from the national archives among the backdrop of three vietnam era helicopters, we talk with veterans who flew them. then we're taking your phone twos and tweets live with historians about the war in 1957. the vietnamrom veterans memorial in washington, a ceremony with remarks by former defense secretary chuck hagel. on sunday for clock p.m. eastern america," a vietnam work special report. >> whether it is the clever tactics are the bad fighting conditions, the weather, or the terrain, it seems clear that the american military along the dmz is bogged down, like the marines in the mud. >> then at 6:00, we tour the

national archives exhibit, remembering vietnam. president,e 1967 lyndon johnson, vietnam war conference. >> made a statement on what we would do if we had communist aggression in that part of the world in 1954. we said we would stand with those people in the face of common danger. and the time came when we had to put up or shut up, and we put up. we're there. >> watch the vietnam war, 50 years later, this weekend on an american history tv on c-span3. on saturday, the u.s. observes the 64th anniversary of veterans day. tomorrow, vice president mike pence will take part in a wreath-laying ceremony at arlington national cemetery and will deliver remarks afterwards. you can watch it live at 11:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. watch the wisconsin

book festival starting at noon eastern, featuring a bezel and historian and eight: it's a prize-winning journalist, discussing the 1968 tet offensive. a washington post staff writer on the fallout from the closing of the gm plant in janesville, wisconsin. a pulitzer prize winning journalist will discuss how national security agencies established espionage rings at american universities. and a journalist looks at the lives of migrant workers in the united states. watch the wisconsin book festival saturday starting at "bookastern on c-span2's tv." senate republicans have released their tax reform plans, and you can read the bill and look of the senate finance committee's summary on c-span's congressional chronicle. /congress. c-span.org

next week, the house is expected to debate its tax plan on the form, while the senate will have hearings on their measures. they would like to pass a reform package by thanksgiving. after the holiday, republican leaders will need to combine the house and senate bills. they aim to send a bill by christmas. on monday, live coverage of the senate finance committee tax hearing at 3:00 p.m. eastern on c-span3. you can also watch online at c-span.org or listen using the free c-span radio app. earlier, the inter-american dialogue held a discussion about the future of u.s. relations with cuba. restrictionst imposed on america's traveling to cuba recently announced by the trump administration. panelists looked at how cuba is reacting to those restrictions and how it may did for from the

ob