thedrifter
02-01-07, 10:02 AM
A symbol of the sacrifice
By LORI YOUNT
lyount@beaufortgazette.com
843-986-5531
Published Thursday, February 1, 2007
LADY'S ISLAND -- It was just another mission when retired Marine Col. Walt Ledbetter and his crew rescued troops trapped in a minefield in Vietnam. Now, 37 years later, he's still searching for the survivors.
Ledbetter, a Lady's Island resident, had not formally met anyone rescued on that mission until he reunited last year with Ed West in Charlotte. There, volunteers are restoring the helicopter Ledbetter piloted Jan. 31, 1970.
"He said. 'If you hadn't landed when you did ...' " said Ledbetter, trailing off while recounting the first phone conversation with West. "It was sort of like stabbing you in the heart. ... You talk about an emotional experience. It broke a dam in my head I kept for a long time."
The CH-46D Sea Knight helicopter and the death of the Marine who won the Medal of Honor that day brought together the 77-year-old Ledbetter, a seasoned commander of the mission, and the 55-year-old West, who lost both his legs in his first brief brush with combat.
Both are now joined in a search for all the men who experienced the terror and witnessed the courage of that day and other missions like it.
They want to reunite members of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment or any others involved in "Kingfisher" missions, to share memories and the dedication of the helicopter "Blood, Sweat and Tears" on Oct. 6 in Charlotte.
KINGFISHER
Ledbetter began his day as commanding officer of the helicopter squadron before dawn on Jan. 31, 1970, as he did nearly all the previous grueling 30 days. He led a mission to shuttle ground troops in and out of enemy fire as the North Vietnamese Army tried to edge closer to U.S-occupied territory in Da Nang.
He was nearing the end of his third tour of Vietnam. The tide had already turned with the Tet Offensive of 1968, and support at home, as well as morale among the troops, was waning.
Before 1968, when somebody was killed in Vietnam, he was "killed," Ledbetter said, but by his third tour, the guys would say he was "wasted."
"It was an admission that what we were doing was a waste," he said.
But the U.S. forces weren't admitting defeat. When commanders got wind that the North Vietnamese Army planned to launch another massive offensive in the early part of 1970, troops conducted "Kingfisher" missions for six weeks. Ledbetter flew the helicopters that transported ground
troops.
"We landed right in the middle," Ledbetter said. "As soon as we got in, the fight started."
'BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS'
Jan. 31, 1970, stood out as a "very violent day," Ledbetter said.
He flew the "Blood, Sweat and Tears," which crew chief Pfc. Raymond "Mike" Clausen had named after his favorite rock band. A co-pilot and two gunners were on board when the crew was called to extract a platoon of Marines that had been lured into a minefield and was under fire.
"It was either they're all going to die, or we've got to land and try to do something," Ledbetter said.
So, with careful instruction from Clausen and the rest of the crew, Ledbetter landed the wheels in the craters of already exploded mines and hoped when he set the nose gear down they wouldn't be blown to bits. Ledbetter ordered crew members to stay inside the aircraft.
"Of course, my crew chief didn't listen to me," Ledbetter said with a slight smile. Crew chief Clausen darted out six times to help drag the wounded and dead into the helicopter.
"He knew full well any step he made, he could blow up," Ledbetter said.
In the end, the helicopter took off with 11 wounded Marines, four dead and four unharmed. Clausen won the Medal of Honor, the only enlisted aviation crew member to win the Marine Corps' highest award. Ledbetter was awarded the Navy Cross, and the rest of the crew also received honors.
'GOPHER BROKE'
Almost a year ago, West, a radio operator rescued from the minefield, said he was in his office at the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center in Fishersville, Va., when a woman opened the door unexpectedly.
"I jumped 3 feet," he said. "She asked me what was wrong. I said, 'Vietnam."'
West had searched before for information about the medical evacuation mission that saved him and other Marines and was vaguely aware the helicopter crew received medals for its valor. He found a Web site detailing the restoration of the "Blood, Sweat and Tears" in Charlotte and through volunteers there, contacted Ledbetter and set up a meeting in March.
"As I sat back in the back of the empty helicopter, I realized a big part of the story was missing," West said.
The harrowing mission of the helicopter crew was well documented through awards citations, but not much was told of the troops in the minefield. So, he wrote a short story called "Gopher Broke" -- the motto of Ledbetter's Marine Assault Helicopter Squadron HMM-263 -- to record the helicopter's historic rescue.
West wasn't part of the combat platoon in the minefield but a radio operator who agreed to accompany an officer into the fight to help communicate from the ground to tactical air control.
It was the 18-year-old's first combat mission, and as he looked into the "committed" faces of seasoned warriors his age as he boarded the helicopter, West said all he could think was, "Don't look scared."
Then, standing in stillness in the middle of pounding sound of gunfire and exploding mines, West heard the whir of helicopter rotors and engines drown out the deafening violence. As he and the officer moved toward its safety, though, a mine exploded beneath them.
West tried to get up only to discover his right leg gone and his left leg mangled.
Two Marines who had already made it to the helicopter's haven came back out to put tourniquets on his legs and help who he thinks was Clausen take him on a stretcher into the aircraft.
One of his hopes in searching for members of the 3rd Platoon in Alpha Company is to identify the two Marines who ran back out into the minefield to help him.
"A Medal of Honor winner is so above and beyond, but I can't ignore the rest of what I saw that day," West said.
BREAKING THE DAM
Little more than a week ago, Paul Parker picked up the phone in his home in Quantico, Va., and heard a voice he hadn't heard in a while. It was his commanding officer.
"Really, it was a very pleasant surprise," said Parker, Ledbetter's lieutenant co-pilot that day in Vietnam.
Ledbetter has found a few men from the mission by scouring old rosters and enlisting the help of veterans organizations to provide addresses and phone numbers. He had kept up with most members of his helicopter squadron but had lost touch with Parker as he went on to fly fixed-wing aircraft.
Parker especially enjoyed hearing the success stories of the wounded, like West.
He said he plans to attend the helicopter's dedication Oct. 6 and is excited about sharing experiences with men who were there and understand things no one else can.
Ledbetter and West had hoped to find more platoon members at a memorial service they attended for Clausen. Clausen, who led a hard life after leaving the Marine Corps as a private, died at age 56 on Memorial Day 2004,.
Though he didn't find anyone new from the Kingfisher missions, Ledbetter said he was touched by Vietnam veterans who came from all over the country to the ceremony.
"We're looking at a thing bigger than me or Mike," he said. "It's a symbol of the sacrifice of Vietnam. A lot of people feel they were not respected. ... This is a final sort of closure."
Ellie
By LORI YOUNT
lyount@beaufortgazette.com
843-986-5531
Published Thursday, February 1, 2007
LADY'S ISLAND -- It was just another mission when retired Marine Col. Walt Ledbetter and his crew rescued troops trapped in a minefield in Vietnam. Now, 37 years later, he's still searching for the survivors.
Ledbetter, a Lady's Island resident, had not formally met anyone rescued on that mission until he reunited last year with Ed West in Charlotte. There, volunteers are restoring the helicopter Ledbetter piloted Jan. 31, 1970.
"He said. 'If you hadn't landed when you did ...' " said Ledbetter, trailing off while recounting the first phone conversation with West. "It was sort of like stabbing you in the heart. ... You talk about an emotional experience. It broke a dam in my head I kept for a long time."
The CH-46D Sea Knight helicopter and the death of the Marine who won the Medal of Honor that day brought together the 77-year-old Ledbetter, a seasoned commander of the mission, and the 55-year-old West, who lost both his legs in his first brief brush with combat.
Both are now joined in a search for all the men who experienced the terror and witnessed the courage of that day and other missions like it.
They want to reunite members of Alpha Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment or any others involved in "Kingfisher" missions, to share memories and the dedication of the helicopter "Blood, Sweat and Tears" on Oct. 6 in Charlotte.
KINGFISHER
Ledbetter began his day as commanding officer of the helicopter squadron before dawn on Jan. 31, 1970, as he did nearly all the previous grueling 30 days. He led a mission to shuttle ground troops in and out of enemy fire as the North Vietnamese Army tried to edge closer to U.S-occupied territory in Da Nang.
He was nearing the end of his third tour of Vietnam. The tide had already turned with the Tet Offensive of 1968, and support at home, as well as morale among the troops, was waning.
Before 1968, when somebody was killed in Vietnam, he was "killed," Ledbetter said, but by his third tour, the guys would say he was "wasted."
"It was an admission that what we were doing was a waste," he said.
But the U.S. forces weren't admitting defeat. When commanders got wind that the North Vietnamese Army planned to launch another massive offensive in the early part of 1970, troops conducted "Kingfisher" missions for six weeks. Ledbetter flew the helicopters that transported ground
troops.
"We landed right in the middle," Ledbetter said. "As soon as we got in, the fight started."
'BLOOD, SWEAT AND TEARS'
Jan. 31, 1970, stood out as a "very violent day," Ledbetter said.
He flew the "Blood, Sweat and Tears," which crew chief Pfc. Raymond "Mike" Clausen had named after his favorite rock band. A co-pilot and two gunners were on board when the crew was called to extract a platoon of Marines that had been lured into a minefield and was under fire.
"It was either they're all going to die, or we've got to land and try to do something," Ledbetter said.
So, with careful instruction from Clausen and the rest of the crew, Ledbetter landed the wheels in the craters of already exploded mines and hoped when he set the nose gear down they wouldn't be blown to bits. Ledbetter ordered crew members to stay inside the aircraft.
"Of course, my crew chief didn't listen to me," Ledbetter said with a slight smile. Crew chief Clausen darted out six times to help drag the wounded and dead into the helicopter.
"He knew full well any step he made, he could blow up," Ledbetter said.
In the end, the helicopter took off with 11 wounded Marines, four dead and four unharmed. Clausen won the Medal of Honor, the only enlisted aviation crew member to win the Marine Corps' highest award. Ledbetter was awarded the Navy Cross, and the rest of the crew also received honors.
'GOPHER BROKE'
Almost a year ago, West, a radio operator rescued from the minefield, said he was in his office at the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center in Fishersville, Va., when a woman opened the door unexpectedly.
"I jumped 3 feet," he said. "She asked me what was wrong. I said, 'Vietnam."'
West had searched before for information about the medical evacuation mission that saved him and other Marines and was vaguely aware the helicopter crew received medals for its valor. He found a Web site detailing the restoration of the "Blood, Sweat and Tears" in Charlotte and through volunteers there, contacted Ledbetter and set up a meeting in March.
"As I sat back in the back of the empty helicopter, I realized a big part of the story was missing," West said.
The harrowing mission of the helicopter crew was well documented through awards citations, but not much was told of the troops in the minefield. So, he wrote a short story called "Gopher Broke" -- the motto of Ledbetter's Marine Assault Helicopter Squadron HMM-263 -- to record the helicopter's historic rescue.
West wasn't part of the combat platoon in the minefield but a radio operator who agreed to accompany an officer into the fight to help communicate from the ground to tactical air control.
It was the 18-year-old's first combat mission, and as he looked into the "committed" faces of seasoned warriors his age as he boarded the helicopter, West said all he could think was, "Don't look scared."
Then, standing in stillness in the middle of pounding sound of gunfire and exploding mines, West heard the whir of helicopter rotors and engines drown out the deafening violence. As he and the officer moved toward its safety, though, a mine exploded beneath them.
West tried to get up only to discover his right leg gone and his left leg mangled.
Two Marines who had already made it to the helicopter's haven came back out to put tourniquets on his legs and help who he thinks was Clausen take him on a stretcher into the aircraft.
One of his hopes in searching for members of the 3rd Platoon in Alpha Company is to identify the two Marines who ran back out into the minefield to help him.
"A Medal of Honor winner is so above and beyond, but I can't ignore the rest of what I saw that day," West said.
BREAKING THE DAM
Little more than a week ago, Paul Parker picked up the phone in his home in Quantico, Va., and heard a voice he hadn't heard in a while. It was his commanding officer.
"Really, it was a very pleasant surprise," said Parker, Ledbetter's lieutenant co-pilot that day in Vietnam.
Ledbetter has found a few men from the mission by scouring old rosters and enlisting the help of veterans organizations to provide addresses and phone numbers. He had kept up with most members of his helicopter squadron but had lost touch with Parker as he went on to fly fixed-wing aircraft.
Parker especially enjoyed hearing the success stories of the wounded, like West.
He said he plans to attend the helicopter's dedication Oct. 6 and is excited about sharing experiences with men who were there and understand things no one else can.
Ledbetter and West had hoped to find more platoon members at a memorial service they attended for Clausen. Clausen, who led a hard life after leaving the Marine Corps as a private, died at age 56 on Memorial Day 2004,.
Though he didn't find anyone new from the Kingfisher missions, Ledbetter said he was touched by Vietnam veterans who came from all over the country to the ceremony.
"We're looking at a thing bigger than me or Mike," he said. "It's a symbol of the sacrifice of Vietnam. A lot of people feel they were not respected. ... This is a final sort of closure."
Ellie