Info About a 1977 Helicopter Crash

[mikeethekane]

My Name Is Michael Kane And I Was A Pfc In 2nd Platoon India Co 3rd Battalion
9th Regiment 3rd Marine Div. I Will Always Remember My Platoon Brothers And
That Day
Not One Day Goes Past That I Don't Think Of It And Feel Sad And Greatly Moved.
However My Sense Of Pride Is Greater In Remembering All Of Those Marines That
Even In A Peacetime Operation Made The Ultimate Sacrifice And Shed Their Very Blood
For Their Country And Their Beloved Corps. Civilians Will Never Grasp The Immense
Gravity Of That Day And How It Touched Forever The Lives Of All Our Brother
Marines Everywhere. I Will Always And Forever Be Touched By That Day And The
Few And The Proud Marines Who On Board That Died So Far Away From Home
Serving Their,country And Corps. I Will Always Be Proud To Say I Knew These Marines
And Served With Them. I Believe That One Day Will All Be Together Again In The Great
Beyond. We Will Be Standing In Formation Tall And Proud And When The Good Lord
Calls Us To Attention Our Covers Will Be Starched. Our Brass Brilliant And Our
Boots Spit Shinned .that Forever The Names Devil Dog . Leatherneck And Jar Head
Will Stand The Tests Of Time. The First To Fight. The Last To Leave Never Quitting Never
Surrendering . Never Leaving Our Dead Or Wounded.
I Was On That Chopper That Day Lifting Off To Go Back To The Ship And Of Instead
Of Returning There We Slipped Into Eternity And The Annals Of Marine Corps History..
Bless You Dear Brothers And Go Easy And Be Well.

Your Devoted Brother
Cpl Michael Kane
Marine, One Each

[ameriken]

Mike, that is beautiful.

Semper Fi to you and all the Marines who were on that bird, and to all their friends, families, and fellow Marines who served with them. Oct 21, 1977 will never be forgotten.

It's been a blessing hooking up with you. Semper Fi.

[mikeethekane]

Holy ****, Seeing The Island Again For The First Time In Over 35 Years And All The
Heavy **** Of That Day Is Flooding Back. Im Cpl Michael Kane, Pfc Kane Back
Then. I Was On That Chopper That Day # 20 If In Remembering Correctly. It Was Some
Pretty Rough Terrain, Patrols Were Tough . I Was With 2nd Platoon India Co
3/9. Thanks Brother For That Pic. God Bless Our Brothers.

Semper Fi,

Michael Kane

[mikeethekane]

Hey Brother, My Name Is Michael Kane And I Was On That Chopper Too. I Was Flown
To Clark Air Force Base. I Was In A Room With Three Other Wounded Marines . Its
Great To Hear From Another Marine Who Lived Through It. That Day Has Touched
My Life Every Day Since.

Semper Fi,

Michael Kane

[mikeethekane]

Hey Pfc Lane, I Think You Were In My Platoon, 2nd Plt India Co 3/9. Remember Our Plt
Lt, I Can't Renember How To Spell His Name. He Was Hard Corps All The Way. He And
Sgt Mat Came To Visit Me At The Hospital At Clark. Somebody Found My Wallet And They
Both Came To Return It. I Asked Him If Pfc Kevin Schwartzs Made It, He Was In Our
Platoon Too And On Board That Chopper. When I Asked Him About Kevin, He Lowered
His Head And A Tear Came Down His Cheek, He Told Me That Kev Didn't Make It.
He Was Hard Corp And An Officer Of Marines And He Was Crying Over The Loss
Of His Men, His Boys.im Crying Now, It Is Still So Very Hard For Me To Talk About It
And Recall Memories. Im Pretty Sure You Were In 2nd Platoon With Me. If Not
Im Glad You Made It, So Many Of Our Brothers Did Not. Take Care And Go Easy.

Semper Fi,

Michael Kane

[bodidly58]

As a 'newby' on here, I am still in shock that this has been relived by others, other than me. This has haunted me for going on 35 years, now. I'm saddened by the fact that so many were lost that day, yet still 'gladdened' that those lost are still remembered. Members of my own family did not know about this as I did not relate this incident back home. As a teenager, I had two brothers in Viet Nam, at the same time. I saw the worry on my mother's face on a daily basis and did not want to worry her any more than was necessary. I was aboard the USS Alamo, leaving Okinawa just 5 days after returning from a flyaway to Korea on an 8 week operation with 1/9. Less than a month after Operation Fortress Lightning, I went on another training op with the 1/4 to Fuji. Being the last of 12 in a dirt-poor farming family from Southwest Virginia, it wasn't like I could afford $5.00 a minute to call home on the MARS system, and I faltered heavily on writing home!. I just prayed that no-one at home had heard anything about it. I kept this from them, but have shed a million tears for those fellow Marines over the years. Just recently, I talked to one of my sisters about this. She thanked me for not sharing this with them while there......and wondered why she didn't see it on the news. Ironically, there was a perfectly good explaination for that. Just 4 hours before this crash (around 6 pm East Coast time), a fixed wing aircraft, running low on fuel, crash-landed in a field and into a wooded area in Mississippi, killing four members of the Lynnyrd Skynnyrd Band......Even today, the media picks and chooses what the public wants to hear. And post Viet Nam, lost Soldiers and Marines dying took second page. Some things never change...Semper-Fi!

[bbaxter4]

mike, i had the pleasure of sailing past it again in '82 on my way to the IO. Yes it brought tears to my eyes. If i remember right, you were one of doc dolan's guys.

[Rodger Asai]

Complete Newbie here. Joined so I could add this note and similar ones on other similar threads.
Just wanted to let folks know that there are plenty who may have never met your loved ones - that remember them in tangible ways.
On the Remembrance Rug, symbols 6254 through 6277 were added for the 24 killed in this Helicopter Crash.
Most of my time is spent working on the Rug with little leftover for the social networking stuff.

[bodidly58]

Welcome! I am unaware of the 'Remembrance Rug'. Could you enlighten me? Semper-Fi!

[Rodger Asai]

Thanks for your interest.I put some pictures and a little info about it on a MySpace page (before fecalbook became all the rage) accessible at:www.************There's still lots to add to it so I spend most of my free time working on it instead of talking about it.

[bodidly58]

Thanks! I didn't become of computer age until after MySpace was old news! But I did get your addy before it was edited. Thanks, again! Semper-Fi!

[Rodger Asai]

I see I made a newbie-goof (which I completely understand the need for with all the whoring going on these day), but anyone can search on Remembrance Rug and get the location of the info that way - just takes an extra step.

As for my use of the term, fecalbook, it's what we used to call the places (scrapbooks & diaries) where people would store all their sh*t.

[sjedlane]

Hey Pfc Lane, I Think You Were In My Platoon, 2nd Plt India Co 3/9. Remember Our Plt
Lt, I Can't Renember How To Spell His Name. He Was Hard Corps All The Way. He And
Sgt Mat Came To Visit Me At The Hospital At Clark. Somebody Found My Wallet And They
Both Came To Return It. I Asked Him If Pfc Kevin Schwartzs Made It, He Was In Our
Platoon Too And On Board That Chopper. When I Asked Him About Kevin, He Lowered
His Head And A Tear Came Down His Cheek, He Told Me That Kev Didn't Make It.
He Was Hard Corp And An Officer Of Marines And He Was Crying Over The Loss
Of His Men, His Boys.im Crying Now, It Is Still So Very Hard For Me To Talk About It
And Recall Memories. Im Pretty Sure You Were In 2nd Platoon With Me. If Not
Im Glad You Made It, So Many Of Our Brothers Did Not. Take Care And Go Easy.

Semper Fi,

Michael Kane

It's been awhile since I've been on this site. My work keeps me pretty busy but I think of this everyday. My memory is really vague. Not sure if it is out of self preservation or age. I believe I was in the room with you at the hospital. Exiting the helicopter during the crash tore my right ear pretty good and sliced my right knee wide open. Landing around a tree on my right created a pneumothorax and my heart was dislodges 10% to the left and I had a branch penetrating my hip. A few less damaging inguries bit all in all I made out pretty good. I am 53 and still 100% functional with all my mobility and am pretty well fit. Did you have any pictures? All my film burned up with my pack in the helicopter. I was thrown out before the bird came to rest. Good to hear from another brother. My son is now a gung ho marine.

[bodidly58]

It's been awhile since I've been on this site. My work keeps me pretty busy but I think of this everyday. My memory is really vague. Not sure if it is out of self preservation or age. I believe I was in the room with you at the hospital. Exiting the helicopter during the crash tore my right ear pretty good and sliced my right knee wide open. Landing around a tree on my right created a pneumothorax and my heart was dislodges 10% to the left and I had a branch penetrating my hip. A few less damaging inguries bit all in all I made out pretty good. I am 53 and still 100% functional with all my mobility and am pretty well fit. Did you have any pictures? All my film burned up with my pack in the helicopter. I was thrown out before the bird came to rest. Good to hear from another brother. My son is now a gung ho marine.

Good to hear from a survivor! I was on that op as an engineer and remember it all too well. Not a good subject to remember, but those boys will never be forgotten. Semper-Fi!

[MrTeeTyme]

Happy Memorial Day all. Remembering especially my brother, LCpl Steven Bowman, and the others whom gave their life from this accident.

John