WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.480 Today's Veterans Radio is dedicated to all the 00:00:02.480 --> 00:00:04.219 men and women who have flown with the presidential 00:00:04.219 --> 00:00:06.339 helicopters with the United States Army and the 00:00:06.339 --> 00:00:24.600 Marine Corps. Live from the Veterans Radio Studio, 00:00:24.679 --> 00:00:27.660 Ave Maria Network in beautiful Ann Arbor, Michigan, 00:00:28.420 --> 00:00:38.229 this This is Veterans Radio. And now, here's 00:00:38.229 --> 00:00:42.009 your host for today's program, helicopter pilot 00:00:42.009 --> 00:00:46.530 himself, 195th Assault Helicopter Company, Dale 00:00:46.530 --> 00:00:51.969 Thromberry. And good morning America, and welcome 00:00:51.969 --> 00:00:54.149 to Veterans Radio. It's such a pleasure and honor 00:00:54.149 --> 00:00:56.390 to be talking to you again this beautiful Saturday 00:00:56.390 --> 00:00:59.420 morning. Spring has finally sprung, it looks 00:00:59.420 --> 00:01:02.159 like. The temperatures are above 30, and we're 00:01:02.159 --> 00:01:04.219 all very happy here in Ann Arbor. Coming to you 00:01:04.219 --> 00:01:07.120 from the Veterans Radio Studios at Ave Maria 00:01:07.120 --> 00:01:11.299 Radio in Ann Arbor. I want to get one technical 00:01:11.299 --> 00:01:14.299 glitch out of the way. Our webcast is not functioning 00:01:14.299 --> 00:01:16.480 again today, and I apologize for that, so we 00:01:16.480 --> 00:01:18.939 won't be having some of the amazing pictures 00:01:18.939 --> 00:01:21.939 that our guest is going to be talking about today. 00:01:22.400 --> 00:01:24.900 In fact, our guest coming up in about five minutes 00:01:24.900 --> 00:01:28.829 is Lieutenant Colonel Gene T. Boyer who is a 00:01:28.829 --> 00:01:31.689 White House pilot and he's been promoting his 00:01:31.689 --> 00:01:33.469 new book. It's called Inside the President's 00:01:33.469 --> 00:01:35.730 Helicopter. You've got to pay attention to this 00:01:35.730 --> 00:01:39.590 because Colonel Boyer was flying flu helicopters 00:01:39.590 --> 00:01:42.950 with Presidents Johnson, Nixon and Ford. He's 00:01:42.950 --> 00:01:46.569 got some amazing tales to talk about and you 00:01:46.569 --> 00:01:49.650 got to stay tuned because we're going to be talking 00:01:49.650 --> 00:01:51.269 to you about some things I bet you didn't know 00:01:51.269 --> 00:01:53.530 about President Johnson and Nixon. Who's a good 00:01:53.530 --> 00:01:56.819 guy? I'll hold that till later. In the meantime, 00:01:56.959 --> 00:01:59.120 we've got a couple of announcements that we would 00:01:59.120 --> 00:02:01.980 like to make. So we're going to go to our next 00:02:01.980 --> 00:02:03.959 segment right now, which is always the welcome 00:02:03.959 --> 00:02:06.040 home. And we're not welcoming home a specific 00:02:06.040 --> 00:02:08.759 unit today, but on Veterans Radio each week, 00:02:09.060 --> 00:02:10.939 we like to welcome home the men and women of 00:02:10.939 --> 00:02:13.199 America's military who are serving around the 00:02:13.199 --> 00:02:15.379 world. And we want to welcome all those men and 00:02:15.379 --> 00:02:17.520 women who are finally coming home from Iraq and 00:02:17.520 --> 00:02:19.599 Afghanistan and hopefully that you can stay home 00:02:19.599 --> 00:02:23.639 for a while. And we are anxious for you to come 00:02:23.639 --> 00:02:26.180 home to the safety of the United States. On behalf 00:02:26.180 --> 00:02:28.240 of a grateful nation and all of us at Veterans 00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:34.259 Radio, welcome home. And we are back on Veterans 00:02:34.259 --> 00:02:36.039 Radio and in just a moment we're going to be 00:02:36.039 --> 00:02:40.099 introducing you to an original Skypilot. Skypilot 00:02:40.099 --> 00:02:42.139 was one of the themes of our company when I was 00:02:42.139 --> 00:02:43.960 in Vietnam and I know it was probably the theme 00:02:43.960 --> 00:02:46.840 song for a lot of helicopter pilots over there. 00:02:47.280 --> 00:02:49.900 But joining me on the radio right now is our 00:02:49.900 --> 00:02:53.449 guest, Lieutenant Colonel Gene T. Boyer, the 00:02:53.449 --> 00:02:55.469 author of Inside the President's Helicopter. 00:02:55.550 --> 00:02:58.490 Gene, welcome to Veterans Radio. Thank you very 00:02:58.490 --> 00:03:01.289 much. I'm honored to be here. It's a pleasure 00:03:01.289 --> 00:03:04.849 to have you on the program. I know that our audience 00:03:04.849 --> 00:03:07.050 is going to be interested in hearing your story. 00:03:07.870 --> 00:03:11.509 I'm going to start off with you telling me, how 00:03:11.509 --> 00:03:15.650 did you get into the Army to begin with? I got 00:03:15.650 --> 00:03:19.050 into the Army... as a direct result of the U 00:03:19.050 --> 00:03:24.590 .S. law that at that time supported the draft 00:03:24.590 --> 00:03:32.229 of military age individuals in case of war. I 00:03:32.229 --> 00:03:35.849 was drafted shortly after I graduated from college 00:03:35.849 --> 00:03:46.300 in 1952. The Korean War was going on. Being a 00:03:46.300 --> 00:03:48.520 coward, I looked for a number of schools to go 00:03:48.520 --> 00:03:50.719 to, so I didn't have to go there, but I ended 00:03:50.719 --> 00:03:55.139 up finally going to a helicopter school at Fort 00:03:55.139 --> 00:04:05.120 Sill, Oklahoma. As part of that, I ended up going 00:04:05.120 --> 00:04:09.680 to the helicopter school, and then I went to 00:04:09.680 --> 00:04:15.419 Korea. I missed the combat, except for some dangerous 00:04:15.419 --> 00:04:22.139 flying up along the DMZ, or the demilitarized 00:04:22.139 --> 00:04:27.339 zone of Korea. And I was drafted at that time. 00:04:28.040 --> 00:04:30.139 Well, it was interesting when you, in reading 00:04:30.139 --> 00:04:32.040 the book, and it's called Inside the President's 00:04:32.040 --> 00:04:36.480 Helicopter by Gene Boyer. And as a former helicopter 00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:38.740 pilot myself, I noticed that you did your training 00:04:38.740 --> 00:04:42.019 in a Hiller OH -23. At least that's what you 00:04:42.019 --> 00:04:45.800 flew. That's what I trained in initially was 00:04:45.800 --> 00:04:48.279 the OH -23, which we used to call, well, it was 00:04:48.279 --> 00:04:53.040 a death trap, we thought. I'm sorry we can't 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:56.759 show you the picture of it. It's a pretty simplistic 00:04:56.759 --> 00:05:02.480 helicopter. Don't you agree? Yes, it is. It still 00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:07.720 is. I was in a 300 about a week ago or two weeks 00:05:07.720 --> 00:05:13.160 ago. the little smaller version of the Hiller. 00:05:15.100 --> 00:05:17.899 And I went through it for about 30 minutes with 00:05:17.899 --> 00:05:21.480 an IP with me because it's only the second flight 00:05:21.480 --> 00:05:25.660 I've had in the last probably 35 or 40 years. 00:05:26.180 --> 00:05:29.220 But it came right back to you, didn't it? Yeah, 00:05:29.220 --> 00:05:32.720 it came back. It's like riding a bicycle. If 00:05:32.720 --> 00:05:35.899 you learn the first time, it's normally ingrained 00:05:35.899 --> 00:05:41.860 in you. In Vietnam, we had a saying that if you 00:05:41.860 --> 00:05:44.920 got through the first 90 days, you were safe 00:05:44.920 --> 00:05:47.379 until the last month, and then you started playing 00:05:47.379 --> 00:05:50.720 cautious thought pilot. That's very, very true. 00:05:51.079 --> 00:05:53.180 When I was reading the book, and it's a great 00:05:53.180 --> 00:05:55.199 read. It's called Inside the President's Helicopter. 00:05:55.279 --> 00:05:57.420 It's not all about the various presidents. It 00:05:57.420 --> 00:05:59.720 also talks about Gene's experiences in Vietnam 00:05:59.720 --> 00:06:02.680 and in Korea and some other... adventures that 00:06:02.680 --> 00:06:06.800 he had and speaking as a pilot, right, if you 00:06:06.800 --> 00:06:08.519 survive the first 90 you figure you're going 00:06:08.519 --> 00:06:10.120 to make it and then the last month you become 00:06:10.120 --> 00:06:14.839 a little bit too cautious. Yeah, that happened 00:06:14.839 --> 00:06:19.279 to two of the pilots that were at the White House 00:06:19.279 --> 00:06:22.779 that went to Vietnam the same time I did, Captain 00:06:22.779 --> 00:06:25.899 Dale Dwyer and Chief Warnoff through Dusty Road 00:06:25.899 --> 00:06:36.949 and in the case of one His demise came from trying 00:06:36.949 --> 00:06:40.170 to make too steep a approach into a small landing 00:06:40.170 --> 00:06:46.250 zone. And the other one was shot down in the 00:06:46.250 --> 00:06:50.850 northern part of South Vietnam, about the same 00:06:50.850 --> 00:06:53.730 location where I was shot down on my first flight 00:06:53.730 --> 00:06:59.069 as the commanding officer of B Company 228. We're 00:06:59.069 --> 00:07:01.089 going to get to that experience for you in just 00:07:01.089 --> 00:07:03.389 a moment. I wanted to go through because once 00:07:03.389 --> 00:07:08.230 you left Korea, you got out of the Army, didn't 00:07:08.230 --> 00:07:11.949 you? I got out of the Army and flew commercially 00:07:11.949 --> 00:07:16.550 for New York Airways. That was the first commercial 00:07:16.550 --> 00:07:22.629 helicopter company in the world. They had H -34s, 00:07:22.910 --> 00:07:28.009 of course the H -34s. They were having a lot 00:07:28.009 --> 00:07:30.730 of problems when I went there and I was one of 00:07:30.730 --> 00:07:36.230 the first ones to get laid off because of the 00:07:36.230 --> 00:07:42.990 union situation there. But the two accidents 00:07:42.990 --> 00:07:50.569 almost doomed that company from surviving. I 00:07:50.569 --> 00:07:54.709 would say so. I want to talk into my close friends 00:07:54.709 --> 00:07:57.800 in our audience. I grew up in New York and my 00:07:57.800 --> 00:07:59.920 first ride on a helicopter, which kind of convinced 00:07:59.920 --> 00:08:02.139 me this is what I wanted to do for a while, was 00:08:02.139 --> 00:08:04.699 on New York Airways. I flew from New Jersey out 00:08:04.699 --> 00:08:09.220 to Kennedy with a stop off on Wall Street. We 00:08:09.220 --> 00:08:11.899 flew up in the air and we came almost straight 00:08:11.899 --> 00:08:15.680 down vertically to land. I couldn't see the landing 00:08:15.680 --> 00:08:17.459 pad as we were coming down and I thought we were 00:08:17.459 --> 00:08:21.050 going to land in the East River. It was quite 00:08:21.050 --> 00:08:23.350 exciting and it really did motivated me when 00:08:23.350 --> 00:08:25.689 the Army drafted me. They said, what would you 00:08:25.689 --> 00:08:27.670 like to do? And I said, well, let's try flying 00:08:27.670 --> 00:08:29.470 those things. I think I might want to do that. 00:08:30.350 --> 00:08:32.070 But you had other adventures. When you left New 00:08:32.070 --> 00:08:35.649 York Air, you continued to fly as a civilian 00:08:35.649 --> 00:08:38.830 down in South America, didn't you? Right. And 00:08:38.830 --> 00:08:42.490 I was flying the famous Hiller the Killer. Right. 00:08:43.269 --> 00:08:47.909 And in fact, did lose a tail rotor blade in South 00:08:47.909 --> 00:08:51.769 America. That must have been exciting. Yeah, 00:08:51.769 --> 00:08:58.409 it was. The flying down there was just a lot 00:08:58.409 --> 00:09:02.070 of hours. I would get about 120 hours a month, 00:09:03.169 --> 00:09:07.370 which is a pretty sizable amount. And I'd been 00:09:07.370 --> 00:09:14.190 there almost a year when I was approached by 00:09:14.190 --> 00:09:17.210 the military attache at the American Embassy. 00:09:17.659 --> 00:09:22.379 in Caracas and told that they just received word 00:09:22.379 --> 00:09:27.360 that the Army wanted me to come back in and that 00:09:27.360 --> 00:09:32.159 I would be going right to, I've been getting 00:09:32.159 --> 00:09:34.480 a regular Army commission and going right back 00:09:34.480 --> 00:09:38.799 to what I really like to do, which was fly helicopters 00:09:38.799 --> 00:09:47.950 in the Army. And I went back in in 1958. As I 00:09:47.950 --> 00:09:50.809 went back in, I decided to go to ranger school 00:09:50.809 --> 00:09:54.509 and airborne. You never know when you need it. 00:09:55.190 --> 00:09:57.509 Not a lot of airborne in a helicopter, but you 00:09:57.509 --> 00:10:03.169 know. That's true. There's not a lot of helicopter 00:10:03.169 --> 00:10:06.269 flying associated with jumping out of an airplane. 00:10:06.649 --> 00:10:09.009 Don't you always wonder how... One of the first 00:10:09.009 --> 00:10:10.990 questions it seems I always get from people is, 00:10:11.070 --> 00:10:14.779 well, did you carry a parachute? No, what good 00:10:14.779 --> 00:10:16.639 would it be? I'd end up being like sliced salami 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:19.600 if I jumped out. That's right. It wouldn't be 00:10:19.600 --> 00:10:23.980 a very good deal. Although we did have some airborne 00:10:23.980 --> 00:10:27.559 people jump out of our helicopter and make an 00:10:27.559 --> 00:10:31.899 assault that way. Oh yeah. I've had them jump 00:10:31.899 --> 00:10:37.000 from a Chinook in Vietnam. Before we go too much 00:10:37.000 --> 00:10:39.899 further, I'd like to mention I was surprised 00:10:39.899 --> 00:10:42.059 to hear that you're going to be in Hudson, Ohio. 00:10:42.700 --> 00:10:44.919 Yes, we are and I know that that you were born 00:10:44.919 --> 00:10:49.039 near there yes, and I was born in Copley, Ohio, 00:10:49.179 --> 00:10:55.899 which is and in the same League is Hudson was 00:10:55.899 --> 00:10:59.220 little town outside of Akron between Akron and 00:10:59.220 --> 00:11:04.840 Cleveland, Ohio and I played football against 00:11:04.840 --> 00:11:08.440 Hudson high school football team for four years 00:11:08.440 --> 00:11:14.559 and then One of their players was at Ohio University 00:11:14.559 --> 00:11:21.059 where I went and played football. And like I 00:11:21.059 --> 00:11:25.320 say, the Hudson's only about five miles from 00:11:25.320 --> 00:11:28.440 where my home was. Well, I know it'd be really 00:11:28.440 --> 00:11:30.360 nice if you felt like coming home to visit if 00:11:30.360 --> 00:11:33.679 there's anybody still there at the end of May. 00:11:35.080 --> 00:11:39.019 There aren't many left in my class. That's probably 00:11:39.019 --> 00:11:41.759 true, unfortunately. We're talking with Gene 00:11:41.759 --> 00:11:44.259 Boyer, who's the author of Inside the President's 00:11:44.259 --> 00:11:46.980 Helicopter, and talking about his experiences 00:11:46.980 --> 00:11:50.360 prior to actually becoming one of the President's 00:11:50.360 --> 00:11:54.399 pilots. We just went through Airborne and Ranger 00:11:54.399 --> 00:11:56.080 School. This guy's a glutton for punishment. 00:11:56.220 --> 00:11:58.600 I don't know what he was thinking at that time. 00:11:59.100 --> 00:12:01.059 Bob, who's running our board right now, went 00:12:01.059 --> 00:12:08.360 through Airborne School, too. From from going 00:12:08.360 --> 00:12:10.860 through airborne and Ranger school and you're 00:12:10.860 --> 00:12:12.580 finally flying again. You were sent to Europe. 00:12:12.679 --> 00:12:17.059 Is that correct? It's correct. I had a Perfect 00:12:17.059 --> 00:12:20.659 assignment for a bachelor. I was commanding the 00:12:20.659 --> 00:12:25.360 NATO shape flight helicopter flight detachment 00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:31.379 at Orly Airport supporting Mostly headquarters 00:12:31.379 --> 00:12:37.539 European command and I flew there for two years 00:12:37.539 --> 00:12:41.500 and about a year into it, a little over a year 00:12:41.500 --> 00:12:46.940 into my assignment there, I was notified that 00:12:46.940 --> 00:12:51.860 I'd be supporting ex -president Eisenhower with 00:12:51.860 --> 00:12:54.919 Walter Cronkite doing a TV documentary called 00:12:54.919 --> 00:13:01.460 D -Day Plus 20. So I spent about five weeks supporting 00:13:01.460 --> 00:13:06.830 that. documentary of Ike. And when I got back 00:13:06.830 --> 00:13:09.529 to Paris, because most of the filming was done 00:13:09.529 --> 00:13:13.990 in Normandy, this was all about the Normandy 00:13:13.990 --> 00:13:19.309 invasion. And when I got back there, a short 00:13:19.309 --> 00:13:21.929 time later, I received a letter saying, I've 00:13:21.929 --> 00:13:24.090 been selected to go to the White House. Would 00:13:24.090 --> 00:13:28.970 you accept? And of course, yes. That was my immediate 00:13:28.970 --> 00:13:36.519 answer. So I did join it about July of 1964. 00:13:38.419 --> 00:13:43.480 I arrived at the Army Exec Flight at Fort Belvoir, 00:13:43.500 --> 00:13:50.299 Virginia. And I became one of those that was 00:13:50.299 --> 00:13:57.100 destined to go on to Vietnam. Lyndon Johnson 00:13:57.100 --> 00:14:00.899 had decided that he wanted a permanent unit out 00:14:00.899 --> 00:14:07.519 at the LBJ Ranch. And so the exec flight, which 00:14:07.519 --> 00:14:14.299 was identical in size with HMX -1 Marine Helicopter 00:14:14.299 --> 00:14:20.980 Presidential Flight. And I flew for them for 00:14:20.980 --> 00:14:25.379 about two years in the Washington, D .C. area 00:14:25.379 --> 00:14:30.070 and with some trips to the LBJ Ranch because 00:14:30.070 --> 00:14:37.370 he had decided that he wanted that unit hidden 00:14:37.370 --> 00:14:41.070 out in Texas. So we had seven helicopters there 00:14:41.070 --> 00:14:44.629 that were dedicated just to the LBJ Ranch. So 00:14:44.629 --> 00:14:47.669 you stayed out at the LBJ Ranch even when he 00:14:47.669 --> 00:14:52.169 wasn't there? Yes, but we were responsible for 00:14:52.169 --> 00:14:54.629 everything outside of the Washington, D .C. area. 00:14:54.690 --> 00:15:01.379 In other words, New England. And so our responsibility 00:15:01.379 --> 00:15:04.259 went with the president wherever he went. If 00:15:04.259 --> 00:15:08.399 he was going overseas, we would take helicopters 00:15:08.399 --> 00:15:15.240 overseas and fly those missions. After two years 00:15:15.240 --> 00:15:21.179 of that, I had flown LBJ one time on an emergency 00:15:21.179 --> 00:15:30.679 pickup at the White House. We went on from flying 00:15:30.679 --> 00:15:35.960 in there. When he decided he was going to move 00:15:35.960 --> 00:15:39.120 one of the units, the only one that had other 00:15:39.120 --> 00:15:42.399 military units was the state of Texas. There 00:15:42.399 --> 00:15:45.220 were no Marine Corps bases, so the Army was selected 00:15:45.220 --> 00:15:49.500 to go and perform that mission. And we had all 00:15:49.500 --> 00:15:52.399 the overseas missions as well. Can you tell me, 00:15:52.600 --> 00:15:54.759 you've touched on it, but could you tell me how 00:15:54.759 --> 00:15:56.659 it was set up with the Army and the Marines? 00:15:56.740 --> 00:16:00.379 Was this an equal responsibility? It was, originally. 00:16:00.759 --> 00:16:04.940 The Army was in it for three months back in 1957. 00:16:07.039 --> 00:16:12.980 And Ike was president. And it was set up that 00:16:12.980 --> 00:16:19.340 finally after about six months, it was designated 00:16:19.340 --> 00:16:24.169 that They would be both providing the same amount 00:16:24.169 --> 00:16:29.269 of assets and personnel and equipment. And the 00:16:29.269 --> 00:16:33.470 helicopters we had just ordered were the VH -3A. 00:16:34.009 --> 00:16:36.509 They looked just like the ones that are currently 00:16:36.509 --> 00:16:42.870 being used with President Obama. Oh, OK. But 00:16:42.870 --> 00:16:47.529 I stayed with it. when they decided to move those 00:16:47.529 --> 00:16:49.889 pilots, they only needed about half of them. 00:16:50.070 --> 00:16:54.029 So the other half of us were given a gift of 00:16:54.029 --> 00:16:56.570 a year off and sent to Vietnam. I was going to 00:16:56.570 --> 00:17:00.470 say you were volunteered for Vietnam. No, I didn't 00:17:00.470 --> 00:17:03.169 volunteer for it. I didn't either. I always thought 00:17:03.169 --> 00:17:07.329 I was going to go to Germany, but oh well. Maybe 00:17:07.329 --> 00:17:10.950 in my next life I'll get to do that. So we're 00:17:10.950 --> 00:17:13.490 talking with Gene Boyer, who ended up being a 00:17:13.490 --> 00:17:16.609 presidential helicopter pilot. And was sent out 00:17:16.609 --> 00:17:19.390 to Texas, the LBJ ranch. And I understand that 00:17:19.390 --> 00:17:21.390 you were busy out there flying not only LBJ, 00:17:21.410 --> 00:17:24.750 but a few of his cronies around the Lone Star 00:17:24.750 --> 00:17:28.430 State. Is that correct? That's correct. We had 00:17:28.430 --> 00:17:32.529 seven helicopters dedicated just to providing 00:17:32.529 --> 00:17:41.269 him with support. And we were busy because normally 00:17:41.269 --> 00:17:48.910 a president will only visit his home. state infrequently, 00:17:49.250 --> 00:17:52.970 I should say. But Lyndon Johnson was spending 00:17:52.970 --> 00:17:58.250 about over 100 days a year on the LBJ Rams. And 00:17:58.250 --> 00:18:02.430 when he was out there, of course, it was time 00:18:02.430 --> 00:18:11.690 to party and play. And in one case, I've had 00:18:11.690 --> 00:18:17.210 a... strange mission that resulted in my learning 00:18:17.210 --> 00:18:23.730 that the president really liked to drink and 00:18:23.730 --> 00:18:28.109 had a few problems with drinking. We're being 00:18:28.109 --> 00:18:29.990 very diplomatic here. You'll have to read the 00:18:29.990 --> 00:18:31.910 book to get the full story here because we're 00:18:31.910 --> 00:18:34.690 on radio and we can't allow all these things 00:18:34.690 --> 00:18:40.650 out there. But it turns out that LBJ was not... 00:18:41.500 --> 00:18:44.900 you know, wasn't the nicest person to people 00:18:44.900 --> 00:18:47.299 who worked for him, let's put it that way. That's 00:18:47.299 --> 00:18:50.400 right and one of the things that I was told when 00:18:50.400 --> 00:18:55.079 I came back from Vietnam, I was told I was going 00:18:55.079 --> 00:19:02.740 back to the direct flight and I would be the 00:19:02.740 --> 00:19:07.619 next commanding officer of that unit. We had 00:19:07.619 --> 00:19:15.049 about 125 pilots and mechanics, and I was told 00:19:15.049 --> 00:19:18.829 I would be running it, but when I got there, 00:19:19.329 --> 00:19:23.029 Lyndon had other ideas, and he didn't want to 00:19:23.029 --> 00:19:30.069 lose his Texas -born pilots. When I got back 00:19:30.069 --> 00:19:35.369 there, rather than being the CO and... and the 00:19:35.369 --> 00:19:39.670 commanding officer of the unit, but also I had 00:19:39.670 --> 00:19:42.589 the most helicopter time I think of anybody in 00:19:42.589 --> 00:19:46.789 the Army because of my civilian flying. And early 00:19:46.789 --> 00:19:51.670 on you were lucky to get an awful lot of helicopter 00:19:51.670 --> 00:19:56.670 time, but I was up at about 2 ,000 hours by the 00:19:56.670 --> 00:20:04.009 time the Vietnam War ended. Later, during my 00:20:04.009 --> 00:20:09.609 full career, I ended up with almost 7 ,000 hours 00:20:09.609 --> 00:20:13.230 of helicopter time, of which about 3 ,000 of 00:20:13.230 --> 00:20:17.029 that was for the White House. Wow. And I had 00:20:17.029 --> 00:20:22.450 580 flights with the president or head of state 00:20:22.450 --> 00:20:26.650 on board. And one of those missions included 00:20:26.650 --> 00:20:30.849 flying the only mission that I know of. with 00:20:30.849 --> 00:20:33.210 the President of the United States on board in 00:20:33.210 --> 00:20:40.410 a combat zone, in a combat helicopter. And that 00:20:40.410 --> 00:20:45.890 included President Nixon and Mrs. Nixon. I want 00:20:45.890 --> 00:20:47.529 to come back to that story, Gene, but I want 00:20:47.529 --> 00:20:49.450 you to, we've got about three and a half minutes 00:20:49.450 --> 00:20:51.349 before I have to take a break at the bottom of 00:20:51.349 --> 00:20:53.369 the hour. Can you tell me a little bit about 00:20:53.369 --> 00:20:55.910 when you went to Vietnam, you were flying Chinooks. 00:20:55.960 --> 00:20:58.900 For our audience, the Chinook is a two -bladed 00:20:58.900 --> 00:21:00.720 helicopter. You've seen them flying around. They've 00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:06.160 got two large blades on either end. And on your 00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:09.480 first flight, you had a little incident. Yes, 00:21:09.480 --> 00:21:13.440 I was leading a flight of 16 of these Chinook 00:21:13.440 --> 00:21:17.400 helicopters. Wow. And they were tandem rotors. 00:21:17.660 --> 00:21:25.539 Right. And I was about 40 miles northwest of 00:21:26.190 --> 00:21:29.849 I was on K up in the central highlands in the 00:21:29.849 --> 00:21:35.390 mountains. And I was on short final. We were 00:21:35.390 --> 00:21:41.009 going to move a battalion plus an artillery company 00:21:41.009 --> 00:21:50.990 of 105. And on short final, I was all of a sudden 00:21:50.990 --> 00:21:56.099 getting hit with a small arms fire. on short 00:21:56.099 --> 00:21:58.079 final, and of course, you know, that's about 00:21:58.079 --> 00:22:01.019 the most dangerous time you can be. Right, absolutely, 00:22:01.240 --> 00:22:08.980 most vulnerable. I couldn't go in to where we 00:22:08.980 --> 00:22:12.200 were, so I boarded my portion of the mission 00:22:12.200 --> 00:22:17.400 and started looking for a place big enough to 00:22:17.400 --> 00:22:21.039 put the helicopter down at. And we were on fire, 00:22:21.160 --> 00:22:26.140 one engine was on fire. got the fire out and 00:22:26.140 --> 00:22:28.759 got it into a rice paddy about three miles from 00:22:28.759 --> 00:22:36.700 where I was supposed to be and within about six 00:22:36.700 --> 00:22:41.980 hours we had it repaired enough that we could 00:22:41.980 --> 00:22:45.359 get it back down the cave. You were flying this 00:22:45.359 --> 00:22:47.160 thing with basically one engine weren't you? 00:22:47.680 --> 00:22:53.220 That's correct. where you could just barely fly 00:22:53.220 --> 00:22:57.940 it at about 60 knots, 65 knots with the one engine. 00:22:58.680 --> 00:23:04.900 But they were a damn good helicopter and I got 00:23:04.900 --> 00:23:07.920 it out of there and when I first went through 00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:10.259 the exact flight I was supposed to be the maintenance 00:23:10.259 --> 00:23:14.160 officer for the whole thing. So I knew a little 00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:17.380 bit about changing engines in the field and what 00:23:17.380 --> 00:23:22.640 have you. We had a couple of gunships and a couple 00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:27.980 of F -4s that were circling over me. And right 00:23:27.980 --> 00:23:30.200 near the tail end of it, we put a company on 00:23:30.200 --> 00:23:33.779 the ground before I took off and got it back 00:23:33.779 --> 00:23:37.619 to 1K. That took an awful lot of technique. We're 00:23:37.619 --> 00:23:40.599 talking with Lieutenant Colonel Retired, Gene 00:23:40.599 --> 00:23:43.200 Boyer, who is the author of Inside the President's 00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:47.500 Helicopter and his experiences as a pilot for 00:23:47.500 --> 00:23:51.549 the President. LBJ downsized his unit, sent a 00:23:51.549 --> 00:23:53.269 number of the pilots to Vietnam where he picked 00:23:53.269 --> 00:23:56.069 up some more experience. When we come back after 00:23:56.069 --> 00:23:57.970 our break at the bottom of the hour, we're going 00:23:57.970 --> 00:24:01.769 to be talking about Colonel Boyer's experiences 00:24:01.769 --> 00:24:04.289 with the Nixon family and some of the adventures 00:24:04.289 --> 00:24:06.990 that he went on, not only in the states, but 00:24:06.990 --> 00:24:09.230 around the world. If you'd like to get in on 00:24:09.230 --> 00:24:11.609 the conversation, you can give us a call at 877 00:24:11.609 --> 00:24:15.329 -573 -7825. Give us a call. You're listening 00:24:15.329 --> 00:24:18.650 to Veterans Radio. The Medal of Honor is the 00:24:18.650 --> 00:24:20.829 highest award for valor in combat given a member 00:24:20.829 --> 00:24:23.029 of the Armed Forces of the United States. There 00:24:23.029 --> 00:24:25.970 have been over 3 ,400 recipients of the nation's 00:24:25.970 --> 00:24:29.230 highest award. This is one of them. Army Captain 00:24:29.230 --> 00:24:32.230 Ed Freeman flew 14 rescue missions under intense 00:24:32.230 --> 00:24:35.609 enemy fire, saving 30 seriously wounded soldiers. 00:24:36.089 --> 00:24:40.450 Details after this. Check it out, it's the Terminator! 00:24:40.769 --> 00:24:43.230 Hey, when did you get back, huh? Did you have 00:24:43.230 --> 00:24:46.660 to shoot him? Why are you so distant? Are you 00:24:46.660 --> 00:24:50.500 not happy to see me? So what's the deal? You 00:24:50.500 --> 00:24:53.259 gonna get a job now or what? Why are you being 00:24:53.259 --> 00:24:55.940 so jumpy? Put all that stuff behind you, okay? 00:24:56.940 --> 00:24:58.759 No one knows what it's like to come back from 00:24:58.759 --> 00:25:00.940 Iraq or Afghanistan unless they were there. Join 00:25:00.940 --> 00:25:03.559 other veterans at communityofveterans .org because 00:25:03.559 --> 00:25:05.359 we know where you're coming from. Brought to 00:25:05.359 --> 00:25:07.500 you by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America 00:25:07.500 --> 00:25:11.180 and the Ad Council. As a flight leader... Freeman 00:25:11.180 --> 00:25:13.539 supported a heavily engaged American infantry 00:25:13.539 --> 00:25:16.000 battalion in the Ai Trang Valley in the Republic 00:25:16.000 --> 00:25:19.299 of Vietnam. The unit was almost out of ammunition 00:25:19.299 --> 00:25:21.220 after taking some of the heaviest casualties 00:25:21.220 --> 00:25:23.859 of the war, fighting off a relentless attack 00:25:23.859 --> 00:25:26.319 from a highly motivated, heavily armed enemy 00:25:26.319 --> 00:25:29.440 force. When the infantry commander closed the 00:25:29.440 --> 00:25:31.839 helicopter landing zone due to intense direct 00:25:31.839 --> 00:25:35.220 enemy fire, Freeman risked his own life by flying 00:25:35.220 --> 00:25:38.039 his unarmed helicopter through a gauntlet of 00:25:38.039 --> 00:25:41.420 enemy fire time after time. delivering critically 00:25:41.420 --> 00:25:44.059 needed ammunition, water, and medical supplies 00:25:44.059 --> 00:25:47.240 to the besieged battalion. His flights had a 00:25:47.240 --> 00:25:50.200 direct impact on the battle's outcome by providing 00:25:50.200 --> 00:25:52.980 the engaged units with timely supplies of ammunition 00:25:52.980 --> 00:25:56.519 critical to their survival. After medical evacuation 00:25:56.519 --> 00:25:59.339 helicopters refused to fly into the area due 00:25:59.339 --> 00:26:03.180 to intense enemy fire, Captain Freeman flew 14 00:26:03.180 --> 00:26:05.880 separate rescue missions, providing life -saving 00:26:05.880 --> 00:26:08.279 evacuation of an estimated 30 seriously wounded 00:26:08.279 --> 00:26:11.150 soldiers. some of whom would not have survived 00:26:11.150 --> 00:26:14.190 had he not acted. All flights were made into 00:26:14.190 --> 00:26:17.170 a small emergency landing zone within 100 to 00:26:17.170 --> 00:26:20.029 200 yards of the defensive perimeter where heavily 00:26:20.029 --> 00:26:22.849 committed units were perilously holding off the 00:26:22.849 --> 00:26:25.109 attacking elements. The Medal of Honor series 00:26:25.109 --> 00:26:54.099 is a production of Veterans Radio. I got one 00:26:54.099 --> 00:26:56.299 of those letters. Welcome back to Veterans Radio 00:26:56.299 --> 00:26:58.559 and we are talking with Lieutenant Colonel Gene 00:26:58.559 --> 00:27:00.960 Boyer, retired United States Army helicopter 00:27:00.960 --> 00:27:04.319 pilot who flew with Presidents Johnson, Nixon 00:27:04.319 --> 00:27:06.259 and Ford and I want to just read a couple of 00:27:06.259 --> 00:27:09.420 things about Out of his book, this book is entitled 00:27:09.420 --> 00:27:11.640 Inside the President's Helicopter. It's available 00:27:11.640 --> 00:27:13.859 pretty much everywhere. You can get it on Amazon 00:27:13.859 --> 00:27:18.460 and at Borders and so forth. But 21 years in 00:27:18.460 --> 00:27:20.660 the Army in Korea, Combat Service in Vietnam, 00:27:20.900 --> 00:27:23.740 10 years as a White House Executive Flight Pilot, 00:27:23.980 --> 00:27:26.539 seven and a half years as Executive Flight Commander, 00:27:27.359 --> 00:27:30.759 over 6 ,900 total time in a helicopter, only 00:27:30.759 --> 00:27:35.359 117 in one of those fake airplanes. 368 hours 00:27:35.359 --> 00:27:38.440 of combat time. Those are combat missions, not 00:27:38.440 --> 00:27:41.319 necessarily the hours he flew in Vietnam. Nearly 00:27:41.319 --> 00:27:43.940 650 flight hours with a President, First Lady 00:27:43.940 --> 00:27:47.200 or world leader on board. Approximately 580, 00:27:47.240 --> 00:27:49.380 what they call code one presidential missions. 00:27:49.880 --> 00:27:52.380 3 ,000 executive flight missions, two flights 00:27:52.380 --> 00:27:56.119 with former President Eisenhower, seven with 00:27:56.119 --> 00:27:59.900 Johnson, 450 with Nixon, 56 with Ford, two flights 00:27:59.900 --> 00:28:03.079 with future President Ronald Reagan. 55 flights 00:28:03.079 --> 00:28:05.079 with foreign heads of state and flew helicopters 00:28:05.079 --> 00:28:10.220 in 49 states and 17 foreign countries. I guess 00:28:10.220 --> 00:28:14.140 you could retire now, can't you? I could, but 00:28:14.140 --> 00:28:16.819 I don't know. It doesn't seem to work out that 00:28:16.819 --> 00:28:24.960 way. I know, I know. We've gone with LBJ. LBJ 00:28:24.960 --> 00:28:28.140 ended up going to Vietnam and you came back flying 00:28:28.140 --> 00:28:31.490 for LBJ. for a little bit of time, and then Nixon 00:28:31.490 --> 00:28:33.769 comes into office. Tell us about that experience. 00:28:35.569 --> 00:28:42.809 Well, when I came back, it was in the fall of 00:28:42.809 --> 00:28:49.630 70, 50 minutes. I have to think about this. That's 00:28:49.630 --> 00:28:51.849 all right. It was a couple of weeks ago when 00:28:51.849 --> 00:28:58.309 we were there, right? The flying that I did, 00:28:58.599 --> 00:29:03.900 and the LBJ ranch was rather unusual. When I 00:29:03.900 --> 00:29:09.279 came back, I was told by the colonel that was 00:29:09.279 --> 00:29:15.160 in charge of helicopters that if you really work 00:29:15.160 --> 00:29:17.819 at it and get in trouble with Lyndon Johnson, 00:29:18.819 --> 00:29:21.500 you could be assured you'd be back in Vietnam 00:29:21.500 --> 00:29:26.140 in about two weeks. So they said there was a 00:29:26.140 --> 00:29:30.210 saying that if you... If the president was drinking 00:29:30.210 --> 00:29:33.150 and you got in trouble with him, you'd be alright 00:29:33.150 --> 00:29:37.029 as long as you stayed out of his way until after 00:29:37.029 --> 00:29:43.890 the trip was underway. You'd forget about it. 00:29:44.470 --> 00:29:55.349 If he was not drinking, and he was a little more 00:29:55.349 --> 00:29:58.349 reasonable, but at the same token, It resulted 00:29:58.349 --> 00:30:02.509 in some people leaving the unit rather abruptly. 00:30:03.230 --> 00:30:07.369 I fortunately never had a chance to have a run 00:30:07.369 --> 00:30:12.269 -in with him. I did have one of the missions 00:30:12.269 --> 00:30:20.750 I had. One of the missions I had was with the 00:30:20.750 --> 00:30:24.230 Prime Minister hold of Australia and I was flying 00:30:24.230 --> 00:30:29.829 him. from Austin or Bergstrom Air Force Base 00:30:29.829 --> 00:30:34.450 out to the ranch. And Johnson took him up to 00:30:34.450 --> 00:30:38.150 a cattle auction place about 15 miles from the 00:30:38.150 --> 00:30:46.230 ranch. And I was told to pick up Prime Minister 00:30:46.230 --> 00:30:53.329 Holt from one of the sites. And I did. I notified 00:30:53.329 --> 00:30:58.049 him where I... was hiding the helicopter. Excuse 00:30:58.049 --> 00:31:03.029 me. Where did I hide the helicopter? This came 00:31:03.029 --> 00:31:05.309 across on the radio and I said, well, I told 00:31:05.309 --> 00:31:09.509 you where it was. I was thinking this was the 00:31:09.509 --> 00:31:13.509 head of the Secret Service who was out there. 00:31:14.589 --> 00:31:17.130 And then it dawned on me that I had just told 00:31:17.130 --> 00:31:20.829 Lyndon Johnson that he needed to be reading a 00:31:20.829 --> 00:31:25.819 map to find out where he was going. There were 00:31:25.819 --> 00:31:30.480 a lot of flights out on the LBJ ranch that were 00:31:30.480 --> 00:31:38.559 unusual. He had a brother who was called Sam 00:31:38.559 --> 00:31:43.019 Houston Johnson. And Sam Houston had one of the, 00:31:43.319 --> 00:31:47.119 I must have run into family because we had a 00:31:47.119 --> 00:31:49.740 bar in that helicopter and that was about the 00:31:49.740 --> 00:31:52.549 only place Lyndon Johnson wanted to be. Well, 00:31:52.549 --> 00:31:58.569 I was on the helicopter back near the bar, and 00:31:58.569 --> 00:32:07.750 also we had, well, moving on forward, I stayed, 00:32:07.750 --> 00:32:12.549 I was with Lyndon Johnson out there from 1977, 00:32:13.390 --> 00:32:24.180 67, I'm sorry, to 1969, and I was When I was 00:32:24.180 --> 00:32:29.720 designated as the new pilot, number one pilot 00:32:29.720 --> 00:32:32.240 for President Nixon, and the commanding officer 00:32:32.240 --> 00:32:35.500 of the exact flight, I moved the unit out of 00:32:35.500 --> 00:32:38.279 Texas when Nixon came into office and moved it 00:32:38.279 --> 00:32:42.339 down to Florida, to Homestead Air Force Base, 00:32:42.579 --> 00:32:45.539 and we were there about six months, and the White 00:32:45.539 --> 00:32:48.019 House decided we were going back to Washington, 00:32:48.099 --> 00:32:52.539 D .C. We went back to a place that I'd been before, 00:32:53.339 --> 00:32:57.839 and I stayed there for about five more years, 00:32:58.660 --> 00:33:05.160 flying President Nixon and the First Lady and 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:08.960 other dignitaries that were coming in. Well, 00:33:08.960 --> 00:33:11.859 let's talk about flying with the Nixon administration. 00:33:11.980 --> 00:33:16.059 You got to travel all over the world. Some of 00:33:16.059 --> 00:33:17.920 the names in the book, for those of you who are 00:33:17.920 --> 00:33:20.720 kind of amateur historians and are probably over 00:33:20.720 --> 00:33:23.079 60 years old, you'll recognize some of these 00:33:23.079 --> 00:33:26.960 names that Nixon flew with, not only in Florida 00:33:26.960 --> 00:33:30.759 with people like B .B. Rubozo or his name and 00:33:30.759 --> 00:33:33.920 the Kissingers and some of the other people that 00:33:33.920 --> 00:33:38.200 became famous and infamous during the Nixon administration. 00:33:38.720 --> 00:33:42.339 You were flying out across from Florida out to 00:33:42.339 --> 00:33:44.079 the Bahamas and the islands out there, weren't 00:33:44.079 --> 00:33:50.400 you? That's correct. I found that... I just found 00:33:50.400 --> 00:33:52.059 that to be fascinating, all those trips that 00:33:52.059 --> 00:33:56.740 you took with them. Yeah. Well, it was 461 flights 00:33:56.740 --> 00:34:00.200 that I had with President Nixon, which is quite 00:34:00.200 --> 00:34:07.259 a few flights. We had some unusual flights. I 00:34:07.259 --> 00:34:09.800 had some really unusual flights with Pat Nixon. 00:34:10.179 --> 00:34:14.599 One of my missions was... in South America and 00:34:14.599 --> 00:34:18.500 Peru. And it was about two days after a massive 00:34:18.500 --> 00:34:21.360 earthquake in the northern part of Peru killed 00:34:21.360 --> 00:34:26.940 about 17 ,000 people. Right. And just to remind 00:34:26.940 --> 00:34:28.760 our audience, the last time that the Nixon's 00:34:28.760 --> 00:34:30.920 were in South America, they weren't very well 00:34:30.920 --> 00:34:32.500 received. In fact, they thought they were going 00:34:32.500 --> 00:34:36.059 to get killed by the mobs there. Yes, that's 00:34:36.059 --> 00:34:40.719 true. And that was in Venezuela. But getting 00:34:40.719 --> 00:34:49.010 back to the missions that you had, one of the 00:34:49.010 --> 00:34:58.050 things that really got to me was that you weren't 00:34:58.050 --> 00:35:01.570 allowed to do any, put any permanent type of 00:35:01.570 --> 00:35:09.219 stuff out on the LBJ ranch because of... LBJ's 00:35:09.219 --> 00:35:12.360 concern over the bad press that he was originally 00:35:12.360 --> 00:35:16.239 receiving about going down to moving a unit down 00:35:16.239 --> 00:35:21.480 there was just unheard of. So you had to hide 00:35:21.480 --> 00:35:26.940 everything. You couldn't set up the right type 00:35:26.940 --> 00:35:31.679 of navigation features that you needed out in 00:35:31.679 --> 00:35:37.260 a Texas hill country. And that was pretty wild. 00:35:39.930 --> 00:35:50.730 period of time. Once I took over the first mission 00:35:50.730 --> 00:35:54.050 I had, which was about four days or five days 00:35:54.050 --> 00:35:58.769 after Nixon went into office, my first actual 00:35:58.769 --> 00:36:07.690 flight with him was going into Europe. I took 00:36:07.690 --> 00:36:10.010 him in and made the first helicopter landing 00:36:10.010 --> 00:36:13.070 at St. Peter's Square in Vatican City. I want 00:36:13.070 --> 00:36:19.449 to remind our audience that we're talking with 00:36:19.449 --> 00:36:21.730 Gene Boyer who's written inside the President's 00:36:21.730 --> 00:36:23.510 helicopter and there are great pictures inside 00:36:23.510 --> 00:36:26.130 of here of a helicopter that Gene landed right 00:36:26.130 --> 00:36:30.449 in the middle of St. Peter's Square there. It's, 00:36:30.449 --> 00:36:32.889 again, another amazing thing for people who ever... 00:36:32.920 --> 00:36:34.780 have flown helicopters, you know, they go into 00:36:34.780 --> 00:36:38.360 a confined area. This is a confined area. Go 00:36:38.360 --> 00:36:42.320 ahead. There were about 300 ,000 people standing 00:36:42.320 --> 00:36:46.940 out there waiting for us to land. We also landed 00:36:46.940 --> 00:36:52.300 on that same trip in Bonn and also were supposed 00:36:52.300 --> 00:36:58.559 to fly in England and London and take the President 00:36:58.559 --> 00:37:01.280 out to Checkers, which is the Camp David of the 00:37:01.280 --> 00:37:10.619 British. aristocracy. And I also took President 00:37:10.619 --> 00:37:14.460 Nixon into Dermorlin Castle in Ireland, which 00:37:14.460 --> 00:37:17.800 was right near where his ancestral home was. 00:37:20.380 --> 00:37:23.880 And during that period of time, we were constantly 00:37:23.880 --> 00:37:28.920 just going from one location to another all over 00:37:28.920 --> 00:37:38.570 the world. The trip. that was involved in July 00:37:38.570 --> 00:37:47.929 of 1954. We set up and had a mission into Vietnam 00:37:47.929 --> 00:37:59.340 and it was a difficult mission. part of another 00:37:59.340 --> 00:38:02.679 trip that I had. Gene, I'm going to ask you to 00:38:02.679 --> 00:38:04.260 hold there because we're coming up on another 00:38:04.260 --> 00:38:07.179 break and we can get into that story about taking 00:38:07.179 --> 00:38:09.119 President Nixon into Vietnam without telling 00:38:09.119 --> 00:38:11.559 anybody about it. Then I want to get back and 00:38:11.559 --> 00:38:14.880 talk a little bit more about the trip to Egypt 00:38:14.880 --> 00:38:17.440 and some of the other amazing places that you 00:38:17.440 --> 00:38:19.539 went with. We're talking with Lieutenant Colonel 00:38:19.539 --> 00:38:23.019 Retired, Gene Boyer, author of Inside the President's 00:38:23.019 --> 00:38:25.420 Helicopter. It's a great read for all of our 00:38:25.420 --> 00:38:27.360 listeners out there. You can find it on Amazon. 00:38:27.719 --> 00:38:29.820 We'll be right back after these messages. You 00:38:29.820 --> 00:38:34.880 are listening to Veterans Radio. We're back on 00:38:34.880 --> 00:38:37.460 Veterans Radio and we're talking with Lieutenant 00:38:37.460 --> 00:38:39.960 Colonel Gene Boyer, author of Inside the President's 00:38:39.960 --> 00:38:42.099 Helicopter. And we're talking about a mission 00:38:42.099 --> 00:38:45.579 that he had where he took the Nixon's to Vietnam, 00:38:45.880 --> 00:38:47.679 but nobody knew they were going to be there. 00:38:47.760 --> 00:38:49.679 And I think I was, I don't know what year that 00:38:49.679 --> 00:38:52.460 was, but I know one mission I was on standby, 00:38:52.699 --> 00:38:55.099 it seemed, for days waiting for these guys to 00:38:55.099 --> 00:38:57.329 come into town. Well, anyway, Gene, tell us a 00:38:57.329 --> 00:39:00.309 little bit how you got the logistics of getting 00:39:00.309 --> 00:39:10.630 them in country. The goal that we had or the 00:39:10.630 --> 00:39:14.949 mission that we had in the army jet flight was 00:39:14.949 --> 00:39:20.909 to be prepared to go at five minutes notice. 00:39:21.670 --> 00:39:25.710 And in the case of standbys at the White House 00:39:25.710 --> 00:39:30.710 for two years. I was involved in standbys that 00:39:30.710 --> 00:39:36.690 lasted for, seemed like forever. We had to be 00:39:36.690 --> 00:39:39.829 on the White House long once the emergency was 00:39:39.829 --> 00:39:44.269 put into effect. And you had to be there in less 00:39:44.269 --> 00:39:48.969 than five minutes. And I could set that up. And 00:39:48.969 --> 00:39:52.539 that was to evacuate. selected people to sites 00:39:52.539 --> 00:39:56.960 around the country. So in the case of the mission 00:39:56.960 --> 00:40:02.619 to Vietnam, I had a publicized mission to fly 00:40:02.619 --> 00:40:06.739 the President out to the splashdown on Apollo 00:40:06.739 --> 00:40:15.400 11. My people flew the mission for the takeoff 00:40:15.400 --> 00:40:24.460 of the helicopter for Apollo 11 and I turned 00:40:24.460 --> 00:40:26.380 it over because I didn't have enough people. 00:40:26.860 --> 00:40:31.519 I turned that portion over to the Marine Corps 00:40:31.519 --> 00:40:34.940 and they flew the splashdown. And we were the 00:40:34.940 --> 00:40:38.519 only ones that really had been trained in moving 00:40:38.519 --> 00:40:44.980 helicopters all over the world. So my mechanics 00:40:44.980 --> 00:40:48.380 went with the Marine pilots that were involved 00:40:48.380 --> 00:40:51.449 in the splashdown. At the same time I had a mission 00:40:51.449 --> 00:40:55.030 in Manila and in Bangkok and the President went 00:40:55.030 --> 00:40:59.690 from all of these places. He even went to Australia. 00:41:00.110 --> 00:41:04.510 And this was to give me enough time to slip into 00:41:04.510 --> 00:41:13.949 the job back in Vietnam so that we could fly 00:41:13.949 --> 00:41:16.469 the President there without anybody knowing about 00:41:16.469 --> 00:41:20.139 it. and the American ambassador, and I think 00:41:20.139 --> 00:41:24.559 it was an Army four -star general, I can't remember 00:41:24.559 --> 00:41:33.039 what it was. This is my second trip. At any rate, 00:41:33.440 --> 00:41:38.619 we went in. I took over the 45th Aviation Battalion 00:41:38.619 --> 00:41:45.840 temporarily just to fly this mission. putting 00:41:45.840 --> 00:41:48.559 MPs around the unit so nobody would know what 00:41:48.559 --> 00:41:51.420 the hell was going on. And I had passed on that 00:41:51.420 --> 00:41:54.480 we were doing a maintenance inspection and I 00:41:54.480 --> 00:41:59.059 was in civilian clothes with a civilian ID. And 00:41:59.059 --> 00:42:02.039 I had a warrant officer by the name of Brindle 00:42:02.039 --> 00:42:06.980 that was my co -pilot. And we, I set all of this 00:42:06.980 --> 00:42:12.039 up and then had a countdown meeting and I didn't 00:42:12.039 --> 00:42:15.079 like the fact that somebody had brought in about 00:42:15.079 --> 00:42:20.599 five Vietnamese generals to become involved in 00:42:20.599 --> 00:42:24.699 it, and I specifically requested that they not 00:42:24.699 --> 00:42:28.460 be made aware of everything we were doing on 00:42:28.460 --> 00:42:32.880 that mission. I took over the mission and actually 00:42:32.880 --> 00:42:38.659 flew it up from Saigon up to Zion, which wasn't 00:42:38.659 --> 00:42:43.579 very far. But it was in the middle of the 1st 00:42:43.579 --> 00:42:57.559 Infantry Division's area. And of course, we had 00:42:57.559 --> 00:43:02.840 a situation where I actually flew both of them. 00:43:03.019 --> 00:43:06.659 I flew Pat Nixon and the President in for a quick 00:43:06.659 --> 00:43:11.079 meeting with and President too, Wayne Van too. 00:43:12.539 --> 00:43:20.139 And we flew the mission. I flew Nixon five times 00:43:20.139 --> 00:43:25.699 and the first lady just won. And they changed 00:43:25.699 --> 00:43:29.400 the mission after I left Washington to go over 00:43:29.400 --> 00:43:37.139 there. And we had a situation where I... Pat 00:43:37.139 --> 00:43:41.579 Nixon was involved in it and what happened was 00:43:41.579 --> 00:43:50.000 we were told that actually this involved, I'm 00:43:50.000 --> 00:43:52.900 going to skip forward because this is kind of 00:43:52.900 --> 00:43:56.579 important. One of the things that we did was 00:43:56.579 --> 00:44:02.699 I took the First Lady into that place and about 00:44:02.699 --> 00:44:10.619 30 years later, 35 years later, I followed the 00:44:10.619 --> 00:44:14.760 news pretty closely, and there was a photo of 00:44:14.760 --> 00:44:19.820 Pat Nixon going into Bosnia, and she said that... 00:44:19.820 --> 00:44:22.980 Hillary Clinton, you mean? Hillary Clinton was 00:44:22.980 --> 00:44:38.110 going into the mission at any rate. I got a telephone 00:44:38.110 --> 00:44:42.909 call and the call said it was from the Washington 00:44:42.909 --> 00:44:45.710 Post and another one came in almost immediately 00:44:45.710 --> 00:44:48.789 thereafter and that was from the New York Times 00:44:48.789 --> 00:44:51.369 and they asked me a question. They said that 00:44:51.369 --> 00:44:54.829 they had a photo of me with Pat Nixon. Where 00:44:54.829 --> 00:44:58.090 was that taken? I said in Saigon or outside of 00:44:58.090 --> 00:45:04.010 Saigon. It was a big embarrassment because Pat 00:45:04.010 --> 00:45:08.579 Nixon knew no fear and she would go almost anywhere 00:45:08.579 --> 00:45:12.619 and she had done that in South America, she did 00:45:12.619 --> 00:45:16.179 it in Africa and she did it all over. She was 00:45:16.179 --> 00:45:24.539 extremely brave and I was pleased to be selected 00:45:24.539 --> 00:45:28.059 to take her up into the mountains of Peru, in 00:45:28.059 --> 00:45:31.500 the northern part of Peru. Well, I've got to 00:45:31.500 --> 00:45:33.099 interrupt because we're running out of time here, 00:45:33.119 --> 00:45:36.420 but I did want you to to you were the pilot on 00:45:36.420 --> 00:45:39.519 the final flight for the Nixons. And I'd like 00:45:39.519 --> 00:45:43.039 to take just a minute or two to tell that story. 00:45:43.139 --> 00:45:48.139 We've got about three minutes left. Okay. Yes, 00:45:48.320 --> 00:45:52.119 I received a telephone call the night before 00:45:52.119 --> 00:45:55.039 from the military office and the White House 00:45:55.039 --> 00:46:02.760 stating that on the 14th of August, I would take 00:46:02.760 --> 00:46:09.150 the president out. on his last flight. And they 00:46:09.150 --> 00:46:12.309 wanted me to arrive early on a White House lawn. 00:46:13.190 --> 00:46:22.010 I landed and there was a big ceremony going on 00:46:22.010 --> 00:46:24.550 inside and then the president came out and walked 00:46:24.550 --> 00:46:32.449 down to the helicopter and he went up on the 00:46:32.449 --> 00:46:34.949 steps and put his hands and arms up in the air 00:46:34.949 --> 00:46:38.949 with a victory sign and then got on board and 00:46:38.949 --> 00:46:42.030 we closed up the helicopter and I flew into Andrews 00:46:42.030 --> 00:46:49.929 Air Force Base. My co -pilot on that mission 00:46:49.929 --> 00:46:53.630 was Carl Burhannon, a Warrant Officer, the first 00:46:53.630 --> 00:46:59.840 black pilot to fly a President. we landed in 00:46:59.840 --> 00:47:02.780 front of Air Force One and I shut down the helicopter 00:47:02.780 --> 00:47:08.139 and and the first lady got off first and she 00:47:08.139 --> 00:47:12.159 thanked me for all of the flights and and and 00:47:12.159 --> 00:47:16.920 then the president came up and and I had tears 00:47:16.920 --> 00:47:21.420 in my eyes and so did Carl Berhennan and the 00:47:21.420 --> 00:47:24.199 president said stop that as you can see I've 00:47:24.199 --> 00:47:28.980 got to walk between here and 10 ,000 other people 00:47:28.980 --> 00:47:32.519 that are waiting to see me break down. And of 00:47:32.519 --> 00:47:36.619 course he didn't break down. I took off and got 00:47:36.619 --> 00:47:43.760 out of their way. And that was the end of Nixon's 00:47:43.760 --> 00:47:48.219 program. And he actually became an ex -president 00:47:48.219 --> 00:47:56.599 on Air Force One on that day, 14 August 1974. 00:47:57.559 --> 00:48:00.139 Well, Gene, I'm sorry. We've run out of time 00:48:00.139 --> 00:48:01.980 again. There are many other stories that we could 00:48:01.980 --> 00:48:04.760 have included. But you've got to get the book 00:48:04.760 --> 00:48:06.820 out there, folks. It's Inside the President's 00:48:06.820 --> 00:48:10.380 Helicopter by Gene Boyer. It's a great read. 00:48:10.480 --> 00:48:12.139 And Gene, I want to thank you so very much for 00:48:12.139 --> 00:48:17.380 being on Veterans Radio and help get you back 00:48:17.380 --> 00:48:22.340 on again. Yeah, there was a couple of good stories, 00:48:22.440 --> 00:48:26.199 the one about Sadat and Mubarak who I worked 00:48:26.199 --> 00:48:29.929 with. Right, and I have to stop now, but I will 00:48:29.929 --> 00:48:31.909 get you back on to tell those stories. So I want 00:48:31.909 --> 00:48:33.769 to thank you so very much for being on Veterans 00:48:33.769 --> 00:48:36.670 Radio. For our audience out there, tune in next 00:48:36.670 --> 00:48:40.030 week for another fantastic story about real live 00:48:40.030 --> 00:48:42.489 American heroes, ordinary people who have done 00:48:42.489 --> 00:48:44.610 extraordinary things with your lives. Until next 00:48:44.610 --> 00:48:46.110 week, you are dismissed.