WEBVTT 00:00:04.940 --> 00:00:08.759 All across America and around the world this 00:00:08.759 --> 00:00:17.640 is veterans radio And now your host for today's 00:00:17.640 --> 00:00:26.559 program Dale Throneberry And good afternoon folks 00:00:26.559 --> 00:00:29.910 welcome to Veterans Radio, my name is Dale Throneberry, 00:00:30.129 --> 00:00:33.950 a CW2 type, a helicopter pilot in Vietnam, 1969 00:00:33.950 --> 00:00:37.130 with the 195th Assault Helicopter Company. Today 00:00:37.130 --> 00:00:39.429 is going to be all about helicopters, so all 00:00:39.429 --> 00:00:41.630 you rotorheads out there, start paying attention 00:00:41.630 --> 00:00:44.329 and see what's going on. We're going to be talking 00:00:44.329 --> 00:00:47.250 with our Medal of Honor, newest Medal of Honor 00:00:47.250 --> 00:00:50.859 recipient, Colonel Charles Kettles. and another 00:00:50.859 --> 00:00:53.859 helicopter pilot, Colonel Daniel Long. They're 00:00:53.859 --> 00:00:55.719 going to be talking about their experiences on 00:00:55.719 --> 00:00:59.939 one nice day in 1967. After we take our break, 00:00:59.979 --> 00:01:04.200 we'll be coming back to them. I just wanted to 00:01:04.200 --> 00:01:06.439 thank everybody for supporting the Vietnam Veterans 00:01:06.439 --> 00:01:09.280 of America Chapter 310 down at the Ypsilanti 00:01:09.280 --> 00:01:11.159 Heritage Festival. I was down there a little 00:01:11.159 --> 00:01:13.439 bit this afternoon, a little warm. Holy mackerel. 00:01:15.769 --> 00:01:18.109 They were selling raffle tickets for, I'm hoping, 00:01:18.129 --> 00:01:22.170 my new grill, and for some other things. And 00:01:22.170 --> 00:01:23.810 it's a great fundraiser, and I think a great 00:01:23.810 --> 00:01:25.650 time was had by all. And I want to thank all 00:01:25.650 --> 00:01:28.090 the members that came out and supported that. 00:01:28.209 --> 00:01:31.049 I thought it was a good turnout, even with the 00:01:31.049 --> 00:01:33.569 weather from yesterday and so on. We had a lot 00:01:33.569 --> 00:01:35.129 of people there, and a lot of people were very 00:01:35.129 --> 00:01:39.219 nice stopping by our booth. and supporting our 00:01:39.219 --> 00:01:40.859 raffle. I think that was very nice of everybody. 00:01:41.420 --> 00:01:44.260 It's always amazing, folks, when we see the American 00:01:44.260 --> 00:01:46.260 civilian population and they just came up and 00:01:46.260 --> 00:01:48.260 they just wanted to give us, you know, shake 00:01:48.260 --> 00:01:50.200 our hands and thank us for our service and so 00:01:50.200 --> 00:01:52.760 on. And we want people to do that, too, which 00:01:52.760 --> 00:01:55.680 reminds me, fly your flag. I should do this. 00:01:55.739 --> 00:01:58.879 My wife says I have to do this. No, I don't have 00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:02.260 to do it. We've been driving around the local 00:02:02.260 --> 00:02:04.239 area, and maybe you could drive around your local 00:02:04.239 --> 00:02:06.120 area, and we've noticed that there aren't a lot 00:02:06.120 --> 00:02:08.120 of people that are flying their flags, and we 00:02:08.120 --> 00:02:11.560 would really like to encourage people to fly 00:02:11.560 --> 00:02:13.719 their American flag. It doesn't have to be on 00:02:13.719 --> 00:02:16.259 Fourth of July or Veterans Day or Flag Day or 00:02:16.259 --> 00:02:19.159 anything like that. And so what we have been 00:02:19.159 --> 00:02:23.000 doing is when we find somebody with a flag flying 00:02:23.000 --> 00:02:24.620 on their house, we've been sending them a little 00:02:24.620 --> 00:02:26.740 postcard that says, thank you for flying your 00:02:26.740 --> 00:02:29.219 flag. And we're hoping that their neighbors will 00:02:29.219 --> 00:02:30.939 say, hey, what's that postcard for? And they 00:02:30.939 --> 00:02:33.240 will say, hey, somebody told me, congratulated 00:02:33.240 --> 00:02:35.039 me, and thanked me for flying their flag. In 00:02:35.039 --> 00:02:38.360 fact, I had a student of mine give me, sent me 00:02:38.360 --> 00:02:40.199 an email, and he said, thanks for the postcard. 00:02:40.629 --> 00:02:43.210 I didn't know where he lived. And he said, yeah, 00:02:43.210 --> 00:02:44.770 I got a postcard from you that said, thank you 00:02:44.770 --> 00:02:47.689 for flying my flag. So we encourage you to do 00:02:47.689 --> 00:02:49.629 that. If you'd like to find out more about Fly 00:02:49.629 --> 00:02:52.569 Your Flag Project, you can send me an email at 00:02:52.569 --> 00:02:56.210 dale at veteransradio .net. That's dale at veteransradio 00:02:56.210 --> 00:02:58.949 .net. And we'd be loved to help you out if we 00:02:58.949 --> 00:03:00.849 can and tell you how we're going about driving 00:03:00.849 --> 00:03:02.349 around our neighborhoods and letting our people 00:03:02.349 --> 00:03:05.990 know. Speaking of events, lots of them going 00:03:05.990 --> 00:03:10.430 on. So let me get to my list here first of all 00:03:10.430 --> 00:03:12.430 is coming up and I mentioned this the other day 00:03:12.430 --> 00:03:14.710 the Louisville slugger warriors are coming to 00:03:14.710 --> 00:03:17.389 Michigan and the American house which is a senior 00:03:17.389 --> 00:03:22.370 living community group of Facilities is presenting 00:03:22.370 --> 00:03:24.770 the American house all -star game featuring the 00:03:24.770 --> 00:03:26.770 Louisville slugger warriors and all these Louisville 00:03:26.770 --> 00:03:30.030 slugger warriors are disabled American veterans 00:03:30.030 --> 00:03:34.210 most of them some of them are missing hands and 00:03:34.210 --> 00:03:38.530 arms and legs and feet and all kinds of different 00:03:38.530 --> 00:03:40.930 things but they are competitive softball team 00:03:40.930 --> 00:03:43.530 and are doing a great job and they are coming 00:03:43.530 --> 00:03:47.250 to St. Jimmy John's field in Utica, Michigan 00:03:47.250 --> 00:03:50.789 on Saturday September 10th at 1 p .m. This is 00:03:50.789 --> 00:03:52.930 a fundraiser to raise money for the Louisville 00:03:52.930 --> 00:03:54.810 Slugger Warriors and also for other veterans 00:03:54.810 --> 00:03:58.409 organizations around the state of Michigan. So 00:03:58.409 --> 00:04:01.210 I encourage you to do this again it is Saturday 00:04:01.210 --> 00:04:04.610 September 10th 1 p .m. at Jimmy John's field 00:04:04.909 --> 00:04:09.710 on Auburn Road in Utica, Michigan. For more information, 00:04:09.870 --> 00:04:17.509 you can go to their website. It's www .uspbl 00:04:17.509 --> 00:04:22.870 .com. USPBL .com or you can call the box office 00:04:22.870 --> 00:04:28.629 at the Jimmy John's Field at 248 -759 -5278. 00:04:30.110 --> 00:04:32.050 Lots of great information. It looks like it'll 00:04:32.050 --> 00:04:33.930 be a fun time for all and a great way to raise 00:04:33.930 --> 00:04:37.310 money and a great way for you to do that to help 00:04:37.310 --> 00:04:39.269 out America's veterans. The other thing finally 00:04:39.269 --> 00:04:43.350 is the Seventh Annual Veterans Summit by the 00:04:43.350 --> 00:04:45.209 Canton Community Foundation and Legal Help for 00:04:45.209 --> 00:04:49.170 Veterans coming up on September 20th in Westland, 00:04:49.170 --> 00:04:52.290 Michigan. And this is where you, all your veterans 00:04:52.290 --> 00:04:54.089 and your families, you can learn all about health 00:04:54.089 --> 00:04:58.170 care, business, disability benefits at this free 00:04:58.170 --> 00:05:01.319 event. for you, that's September 20th in Westland, 00:05:01.319 --> 00:05:04.740 Michigan. So I want you to go to their website, 00:05:05.300 --> 00:05:09.660 and that's thecantonfoundation .org, or give 00:05:09.660 --> 00:05:15.720 them a call at 734 -495 -1200. Mark it on your 00:05:15.720 --> 00:05:17.720 calendar. So you've got two things to do. You've 00:05:17.720 --> 00:05:19.680 got September 10th, you're going to go watch 00:05:19.680 --> 00:05:22.000 a great softball game, and then on the 20th, 00:05:22.100 --> 00:05:25.779 you're going to go to the Canton Community Foundation's 00:05:26.740 --> 00:05:29.060 It's the 7th Annual Veterans Summit, learn all 00:05:29.060 --> 00:05:30.879 about all the things that everybody's trying 00:05:30.879 --> 00:05:32.959 to do to help veterans out. So I encourage you 00:05:32.959 --> 00:05:36.459 to do that. Finally, and now joining me on the 00:05:36.459 --> 00:05:40.379 line. I have to gather all my notes in here. 00:05:40.540 --> 00:05:42.779 There's no air conditioning in our studio today, 00:05:42.899 --> 00:05:44.879 folks. So if you kind of hear this melting sound, 00:05:45.160 --> 00:05:47.180 it's going to be one of us probably turning into 00:05:47.180 --> 00:05:50.600 a pool. I'm not sure what that'll happen. But 00:05:50.600 --> 00:05:53.920 joining me on the line right now from the Bob 00:05:53.920 --> 00:05:58.040 Evans Company. and also from the Gary Sinise 00:05:58.040 --> 00:06:01.180 Foundation. And I can't find your last name, 00:06:01.839 --> 00:06:05.939 Mike. Mike Towsley. There it is. It is Mike Towsley 00:06:05.939 --> 00:06:08.279 from Bob Evans. Mike, welcome to Veterans Radio. 00:06:09.060 --> 00:06:11.980 Great to be with you, Dale. So tell me, what 00:06:11.980 --> 00:06:14.879 is this thing that you have set up with the Gary 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:18.379 Sinise Foundation? Well, first of all, let me 00:06:18.379 --> 00:06:22.699 start by saying that Bob Evans Farms has had 00:06:22.699 --> 00:06:25.560 a strong rich tradition of supporting the military. 00:06:25.620 --> 00:06:28.139 Bob Evans, our founder, when he came out of World 00:06:28.139 --> 00:06:32.360 War II, had a great sense of really wanting to 00:06:32.360 --> 00:06:37.420 give back and to recognize our veterans as well 00:06:37.420 --> 00:06:40.699 as our entire military and their family. So we've 00:06:40.699 --> 00:06:42.839 had a history of that through the years. In our 00:06:42.839 --> 00:06:46.720 latest endeavor with Gary Sinise and the Gary 00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:49.779 Sinise Foundation, is we really looked at, say, 00:06:49.939 --> 00:06:52.019 okay, how can we continue this tradition and 00:06:52.019 --> 00:06:56.329 what's the best way to do it? And really, through 00:06:56.329 --> 00:06:59.829 our research, we felt that Gary and his foundation 00:06:59.829 --> 00:07:03.709 with the efforts they've had with supporting 00:07:03.709 --> 00:07:05.990 our military and our veterans and their families 00:07:05.990 --> 00:07:09.050 and actually providing meals for them really 00:07:09.050 --> 00:07:11.410 was a nice alignment for Bob Evans considering 00:07:11.410 --> 00:07:14.750 we're in the food business. That's true. And 00:07:14.750 --> 00:07:17.209 how are you going about providing meals for veterans? 00:07:18.370 --> 00:07:23.860 What we have done... Dale is we we we donated 00:07:23.860 --> 00:07:26.879 two hundred thousand dollars to the Gary sneeze 00:07:26.879 --> 00:07:30.300 foundation and for that would be providing over 00:07:30.300 --> 00:07:33.779 six thousand meals to military veterans families 00:07:33.779 --> 00:07:37.100 and our and our active military as well at different 00:07:37.100 --> 00:07:41.939 bases and locations all across the country That's 00:07:41.939 --> 00:07:44.439 kind of neat, but I also I also see that and 00:07:44.439 --> 00:07:47.459 so This is not something where we're going into 00:07:47.459 --> 00:07:49.300 a Bob Evans restaurant. This is this is going 00:07:49.300 --> 00:07:51.620 to be on bases and around the country now you 00:07:51.620 --> 00:07:54.600 have a little bit where the the that's what we're 00:07:54.600 --> 00:07:56.459 actually uh... either feeding our troops in their 00:07:56.459 --> 00:07:59.439 families are better out in their families is 00:07:59.439 --> 00:08:02.339 actually on locations pretty much have been on 00:08:02.339 --> 00:08:06.600 military base okay but i i notice that you uh... 00:08:06.600 --> 00:08:08.959 i'm looking at uh... the website here for bob 00:08:08.959 --> 00:08:12.620 evans dot com slash our farm salutes right and 00:08:12.620 --> 00:08:18.019 i am looking at this barn that has been repainted 00:08:18.019 --> 00:08:20.839 that that's correct uh... those of you listening 00:08:20.839 --> 00:08:23.319 that that might be player would be bob evans 00:08:23.319 --> 00:08:26.339 farm and and rio grand ohio others are there 00:08:26.339 --> 00:08:29.459 and typically it's painted white with uh... the 00:08:29.459 --> 00:08:33.539 bob evans logo on the side of bark well due to 00:08:33.539 --> 00:08:36.580 our commitment to this program and really to 00:08:36.580 --> 00:08:39.379 create a conversation with people that are busy 00:08:39.379 --> 00:08:42.519 our farm and to use it with promotional material 00:08:42.519 --> 00:08:45.100 to really draw attention to it we painted our 00:08:45.100 --> 00:08:49.100 barn uh... purple camo And on the backside of 00:08:49.100 --> 00:08:53.360 that, there's a mural of our past military, all 00:08:53.360 --> 00:08:55.860 the way back to the revolution, where they're 00:08:55.860 --> 00:08:58.279 actually looking forward, looking to the future, 00:08:58.659 --> 00:09:01.519 and then some of our more current military branches 00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:06.519 looking backwards, saluting their predecessors. 00:09:08.379 --> 00:09:11.639 The reason for the color purple, though, is that 00:09:11.639 --> 00:09:14.419 the color purple represents all branches of the 00:09:14.419 --> 00:09:16.379 military. It doesn't pick out just one or the 00:09:16.379 --> 00:09:18.539 other, but it is the universal color for our 00:09:18.539 --> 00:09:21.639 entire U .S. military force. I think this is 00:09:21.639 --> 00:09:23.480 really neat. Could you tell our audience again 00:09:23.480 --> 00:09:26.980 where this barn is? This barn is in Rio Grande, 00:09:26.980 --> 00:09:32.399 Ohio, which is about two hours south of Columbus, 00:09:32.659 --> 00:09:35.759 Ohio, almost to the West Virginia line around 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:38.679 Gallup -Palis, Ohio. Oh, I know where that is. 00:09:38.679 --> 00:09:42.580 All right. Now that's terrific. Is there any 00:09:42.580 --> 00:09:45.080 way I notice here that people can go to this 00:09:45.080 --> 00:09:49.740 website and donate funds to help out what you 00:09:49.740 --> 00:09:53.960 are doing with the Gary Sinise Foundation? Absolutely. 00:09:54.440 --> 00:09:56.700 There is a link there that would take you right 00:09:56.700 --> 00:10:00.360 there and allow that to participate. I think 00:10:00.360 --> 00:10:03.000 this is a great thing that you are doing and 00:10:03.000 --> 00:10:06.139 as a veteran we greatly appreciate it. Bob Evans 00:10:06.139 --> 00:10:08.360 is doing with Gary Sinise. Of course, Gary Sinise 00:10:08.360 --> 00:10:10.879 is known to every veteran, I think, in America 00:10:10.879 --> 00:10:13.299 for all of the things that he's involved with. 00:10:14.179 --> 00:10:16.899 Absolutely. So I'll let you do this. Tell our 00:10:16.899 --> 00:10:19.419 audience where they can go to find out more information. 00:10:20.620 --> 00:10:25.700 Well, you can go to our website, ourfarmsalutes 00:10:25.700 --> 00:10:32.870 .com. Let me look here. It may be dot org. I 00:10:32.870 --> 00:10:39.190 don't know. It's ourfarmsalute .com or the garrisonesefoundation 00:10:39.190 --> 00:10:43.950 .org. It's ourfarmsalute .com or the garrisonesefoundation 00:10:43.950 --> 00:10:47.210 .org to make donations to the garrisonesefoundation. 00:10:47.970 --> 00:10:51.669 And like I said, Gary really became passionate 00:10:51.669 --> 00:10:58.769 about this whole movement after 9 -11. And he 00:10:58.769 --> 00:11:01.539 is just... done some fabulous work with our military 00:11:01.539 --> 00:11:04.080 and really like I said through our research we 00:11:04.080 --> 00:11:06.259 felt this was a great alignment with Bob Evans 00:11:06.259 --> 00:11:09.539 our culture of giving and our support of our 00:11:09.539 --> 00:11:13.399 military troops. Well I strongly recommend everybody 00:11:13.399 --> 00:11:15.500 for a good breakfast go to Bob Evans and while 00:11:15.500 --> 00:11:17.980 you're there you can probably take out your cell 00:11:17.980 --> 00:11:22.299 phone and and click on our farm salutes and make 00:11:22.299 --> 00:11:24.460 a donation to the Gary Sinise Foundation. How's 00:11:24.460 --> 00:11:26.950 that for a combo? Well, I think that's fabulous. 00:11:27.929 --> 00:11:30.110 Well, thank you very much. Mike Towsley from 00:11:30.110 --> 00:11:32.509 Bob Evans. We look forward to talking to you 00:11:32.509 --> 00:11:35.250 again. Let us know how this works out. Great. 00:11:35.450 --> 00:11:38.830 We appreciate it, Dale. We appreciate getting 00:11:38.830 --> 00:11:41.090 time to speak to you. OK. Thank you very much. 00:11:41.750 --> 00:11:45.289 Thank you. All right, folks. So that's a nice 00:11:45.289 --> 00:11:47.070 thing that's going on out there, I think. Pretty 00:11:47.070 --> 00:11:49.669 cool. All right. We're going to take a quick 00:11:49.669 --> 00:11:51.769 break. And when we come back, we've got Medal 00:11:51.769 --> 00:11:53.990 of Honor recipient Lieutenant Colonel Charles 00:11:53.990 --> 00:11:56.580 Kettles. called Chuck by some people, called 00:11:56.580 --> 00:11:59.019 Charlie by other people. I'll just call him Sir. 00:12:00.460 --> 00:12:04.879 And joining him on our program is Colonel Donald, 00:12:04.879 --> 00:12:08.379 I think I said Daniel before, Donald Long, who 00:12:08.379 --> 00:12:10.799 happened to be there that day. We'll talk about 00:12:10.799 --> 00:12:13.419 that day in just a moment. You're listening to 00:12:13.419 --> 00:12:15.879 Veterans Radio. I don't know if there's anybody 00:12:15.879 --> 00:12:18.600 here today who doesn't thrill to the sound of 00:12:18.600 --> 00:12:23.490 those blades. That familiar wop, wop, wop. is 00:12:23.490 --> 00:12:27.929 the soundtrack of our war. The lullaby of our 00:12:27.929 --> 00:12:32.090 younger days. To someone who spent his time in 00:12:32.090 --> 00:12:34.629 NOM with the grunts, I've got to tell you that 00:12:34.629 --> 00:12:37.950 noise was always a great comfort. It meant someone 00:12:37.950 --> 00:12:40.750 was coming to help. Someone was coming to get 00:12:40.750 --> 00:12:43.590 our wounded. Someone was coming to bring us water 00:12:43.590 --> 00:12:46.830 and ammo. Someone was coming to take our dead 00:12:46.830 --> 00:12:50.549 brothers home. And eventually, someone was coming 00:12:50.549 --> 00:12:54.240 to give us a ride out of hell. Even today when 00:12:54.240 --> 00:12:58.139 I hear it, I stop, catch my breath, and think 00:12:58.139 --> 00:13:03.340 back to those days. I love you guys as only an 00:13:03.340 --> 00:13:07.580 infantryman can. No matter how bad things were, 00:13:07.919 --> 00:13:11.580 if we called, you came. Down through the green 00:13:11.580 --> 00:13:14.620 tracers and other visible signs of a real bad 00:13:14.620 --> 00:13:19.419 day, off to a real bad start. To us, you seemed 00:13:19.419 --> 00:13:22.519 beyond brave and fearless. that you would come 00:13:22.519 --> 00:13:25.720 to us in the middle of battle in those flimsy, 00:13:25.899 --> 00:13:29.120 thin -skinned crates, and in the storm of fire, 00:13:29.580 --> 00:13:32.659 you would sit up there behind that thin plexiglass, 00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:36.860 seeming so patient and so calm and so vulnerable, 00:13:37.639 --> 00:13:40.240 waiting for the offloading and the unloading. 00:13:40.639 --> 00:13:43.419 We thought you were God's own lunatics, and we 00:13:43.419 --> 00:13:46.940 loved you. Still do. We're the fortunate ones. 00:13:47.179 --> 00:13:50.340 We survived when so many better men gave up their 00:13:50.340 --> 00:13:54.139 precious lives for us. We owe them a sacred death 00:13:54.139 --> 00:13:59.519 to live each day to its fullest. What they're 00:13:59.519 --> 00:14:04.019 saying when you listen hard enough is this, we're 00:14:04.019 --> 00:14:08.179 at peace and so should you be. And so should 00:14:08.179 --> 00:14:20.289 you be. a sound never to be forgotten for anybody 00:14:20.289 --> 00:14:23.210 that was in Vietnam or anybody who's heard about 00:14:23.210 --> 00:14:26.470 Vietnam. That was Joe Galloway who was there 00:14:26.470 --> 00:14:31.490 in 1965 actually and is part of the book. We 00:14:31.490 --> 00:14:36.129 were soldiers once and young. I knew I'd get 00:14:36.129 --> 00:14:39.690 it right. Joining me in the studio right now 00:14:39.690 --> 00:14:45.600 is a special pilot. a special God's Own Lunatic, 00:14:46.500 --> 00:14:49.379 and that is Colonel Charles Kettles, and I'm 00:14:49.379 --> 00:14:52.519 just going to call him Sir or Colonel. Welcome 00:14:52.519 --> 00:14:55.379 back to Veterans Radio. Well, thank you. And 00:14:55.379 --> 00:14:57.779 joining me on the line is another Colonel. As 00:14:57.779 --> 00:14:59.379 I mentioned earlier, I don't know how to address 00:14:59.379 --> 00:15:01.759 all these people. I just call everybody Sir now. 00:15:02.659 --> 00:15:04.580 It's Colonel Donald Long. And Colonel, welcome 00:15:04.580 --> 00:15:06.940 to Veterans Radio. Well, thank you very much 00:15:06.940 --> 00:15:10.019 for having me. Thank you for agreeing to be with 00:15:10.019 --> 00:15:12.840 us. And Colonel Long is down in North Carolina. 00:15:13.179 --> 00:15:15.240 And Colonel Kettles is here in the studio. And 00:15:15.240 --> 00:15:17.240 I should say, if anybody does want to give us 00:15:17.240 --> 00:15:23.720 a call, you can do that by dialing 734 -822 -1600. 00:15:24.240 --> 00:15:27.039 734 -822 -1600. How often are you going to get 00:15:27.039 --> 00:15:29.399 a chance to talk to a Medal of Honor recipient? 00:15:29.740 --> 00:15:32.679 Not often. Speaking of the Medal of Honor here, 00:15:32.679 --> 00:15:34.860 and I'm just looking at the Congressional Medal 00:15:34.860 --> 00:15:37.580 of Honor Society's website. And it says that 00:15:37.580 --> 00:15:39.779 the Medal of Honor is the highest award for valor 00:15:39.779 --> 00:15:43.500 in action against an enemy force. which can be 00:15:43.500 --> 00:15:45.940 bestowed upon an individual serving in the armed 00:15:45.940 --> 00:15:49.100 services of the United States, generally presented 00:15:49.100 --> 00:15:51.279 to its recipient by the President of the United 00:15:51.279 --> 00:15:54.720 States of America in the name of Congress. And 00:15:54.720 --> 00:15:56.860 there have been a little over 3 ,400 Medal of 00:15:56.860 --> 00:15:59.860 Honor recipients or medals that have been distributed. 00:16:00.980 --> 00:16:03.580 And we are very fortunate today to have Colonel 00:16:03.580 --> 00:16:07.759 Kettles with us. It's kind of an interesting 00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:10.639 story I think and I got some of our audience 00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:12.419 has probably heard some of it before because 00:16:12.419 --> 00:16:14.039 we've had to you know The privilege of having 00:16:14.039 --> 00:16:17.399 you on the program, but tell me when exactly 00:16:17.399 --> 00:16:21.059 did you join the military first time? Well, I 00:16:21.059 --> 00:16:25.340 was drafted in October of 51 for the Korean War 00:16:25.340 --> 00:16:29.320 I've been attending what was then Michigan State 00:16:29.320 --> 00:16:33.179 Normal College and dropped out in the fall and 00:16:33.179 --> 00:16:37.950 was for the fall and was going to start again 00:16:37.950 --> 00:16:40.970 in January. I was working two full -time jobs 00:16:40.970 --> 00:16:44.389 to accumulate enough funds that I could go back 00:16:44.389 --> 00:16:48.090 more like a gentleman and maybe my academic record 00:16:48.090 --> 00:16:51.250 would be a little bit more favorable. That's 00:16:51.250 --> 00:16:54.830 stellar, right? Yeah, so it was less than sterling 00:16:54.830 --> 00:16:59.129 by a long shot as the dean would, dean of men 00:16:59.129 --> 00:17:02.690 would attest to. I think some of us have had 00:17:02.690 --> 00:17:05.660 that experience before. I see. Well, yeah, I 00:17:05.660 --> 00:17:07.500 don't think I'm the lone ranger in that respect, 00:17:07.500 --> 00:17:11.579 but... So you went into the service in 1951, 00:17:11.680 --> 00:17:15.640 did you say? Correct. Did you go to Korea? Well, 00:17:15.839 --> 00:17:19.500 eventually. But first, of course, went to basic 00:17:19.500 --> 00:17:22.339 training in Camp Breckenridge, Kentucky. From 00:17:22.339 --> 00:17:25.619 there, I went to Fort Knox, Kentucky for officer 00:17:25.619 --> 00:17:29.859 count at the school and went to Fort Ord briefly, 00:17:30.420 --> 00:17:33.789 California, and then went to flight school. and 00:17:33.789 --> 00:17:37.690 completed that in April of 1954. When you went 00:17:37.690 --> 00:17:39.029 to flight school, what was it that you learned 00:17:39.029 --> 00:17:43.829 to fly in 1954? The L -19, which was later designated 00:17:43.829 --> 00:17:48.970 O -1. It's a tandem Cessna product. Okay, I'm 00:17:48.970 --> 00:17:50.690 going to say that's a regular airplane. This 00:17:50.690 --> 00:17:53.589 is not a helicopter. Not yet. Yeah, the wings 00:17:53.589 --> 00:18:00.569 stay rigid, hopefully. By the time I got to Korea, 00:18:00.650 --> 00:18:03.299 the war had been over by... some five months, 00:18:03.500 --> 00:18:08.460 I believe. And we stayed briefly until that fall, 00:18:08.880 --> 00:18:11.180 about October, November. And then the entire 00:18:11.180 --> 00:18:15.039 artillery group moved from there to Camp Drake, 00:18:16.420 --> 00:18:21.539 Japan, which was just outside of Tokyo. And they 00:18:21.539 --> 00:18:24.160 did their maneuvers out at the base of Camp Fuji. 00:18:28.279 --> 00:18:31.359 So there was kind of a break in the action here. 00:18:31.390 --> 00:18:34.150 I mean, you were in the military for how many 00:18:34.150 --> 00:18:35.769 years before you got out and then went back in 00:18:35.769 --> 00:18:39.890 again? Well, I completed my obligation in the 00:18:39.890 --> 00:18:45.170 fall of 1956, and nothing was happening. So I 00:18:45.170 --> 00:18:51.609 elected to get out and did so. And then my brother 00:18:51.609 --> 00:18:54.470 and I opened a Ford dealership in DeWitt, Michigan. 00:18:57.250 --> 00:19:00.549 Then of course Vietnam came along and so I volunteered 00:19:00.549 --> 00:19:03.970 to come back on active duty in 63 for Vietnam 00:19:03.970 --> 00:19:06.470 Okay, and then that's when you went to rotary 00:19:06.470 --> 00:19:09.829 flight school. Well, I cross -trained into into 00:19:09.829 --> 00:19:14.990 rotary at Fort Walters and in route to France 00:19:14.990 --> 00:19:18.650 Which was a bit of a surprise France you had 00:19:18.650 --> 00:19:23.789 to go to France Well, it wasn't tough but That 00:19:23.789 --> 00:19:25.849 was the direction they were sending me, which 00:19:25.849 --> 00:19:27.829 didn't seem to be in the direction of Vietnam, 00:19:27.890 --> 00:19:30.569 by any means, but anyway, that's where they sent 00:19:30.569 --> 00:19:33.910 me. And then I cross -trained, while there, I 00:19:33.910 --> 00:19:37.190 cross -trained over in Germany into the UH -1 00:19:37.190 --> 00:19:40.789 helicopter, because Fort Walters was simply a 00:19:40.789 --> 00:19:44.890 primary transition into an H -23 at that time. 00:19:45.630 --> 00:19:50.390 That's what I learned on, was the H -23, a Hiller. 00:19:50.410 --> 00:19:54.240 Yes. Hold that thought. Colonel Long, I want 00:19:54.240 --> 00:19:56.119 to bring you on now and find out how you got 00:19:56.119 --> 00:19:59.180 into the military. So what was your process? 00:19:59.819 --> 00:20:02.940 Well, it's similar in some ways. I had gone to 00:20:02.940 --> 00:20:05.779 college for two years. And again, money was a 00:20:05.779 --> 00:20:10.460 situation. And I dropped out to work. And I happened 00:20:10.460 --> 00:20:12.519 to be good friends with the president of the 00:20:12.519 --> 00:20:14.160 draft board in my hometown. And he wanted to 00:20:14.160 --> 00:20:16.180 hire me, do something. And I said, I want to 00:20:16.180 --> 00:20:17.759 go back to college. He said, well, I have to 00:20:17.759 --> 00:20:20.039 warn you. Within six months, you'll be drafted. 00:20:20.670 --> 00:20:24.650 if you don't, so I enlisted in the Army in 1960. 00:20:25.650 --> 00:20:30.369 And then I, like Chuck, I went on to OCS and 00:20:30.369 --> 00:20:31.890 infantry school and believe it or not went to 00:20:31.890 --> 00:20:35.730 Fort Ord and then from Fort Ord back to Fort 00:20:35.730 --> 00:20:37.950 Rooker for flight training, again in a bird dog 00:20:37.950 --> 00:20:40.970 just like him. Okay and when did you do your 00:20:40.970 --> 00:20:43.349 rotary flight training? Well the first assignment 00:20:43.349 --> 00:20:46.109 out of flight school was to Germany and I think 00:20:46.109 --> 00:20:47.769 that he and I were in Europe about the same time. 00:20:48.279 --> 00:20:51.019 I got all of my helicopter training in Munich, 00:20:51.019 --> 00:20:53.660 Germany. They set up a special school because 00:20:53.660 --> 00:20:56.079 they were training the helicopter pilots out 00:20:56.079 --> 00:20:58.339 of Germany to go to Vietnam, and there weren't 00:20:58.339 --> 00:21:00.180 a lot of them less, so they wanted to train us 00:21:00.180 --> 00:21:03.299 six -week guys to fly them. I graduated there 00:21:03.299 --> 00:21:08.859 in May of 66, probably August of 66. August of 00:21:08.859 --> 00:21:13.220 66. Colonel Kettles, when did you go to Vietnam, 00:21:13.680 --> 00:21:16.099 or when did you arrive in Vietnam the first time? 00:21:16.359 --> 00:21:21.019 in February of uh 67. February and Colonel Long? 00:21:22.099 --> 00:21:23.720 He was with us. Same thing we were in a unit 00:21:23.720 --> 00:21:26.099 at Fort Benning that foamed up to go over there 00:21:26.099 --> 00:21:29.259 as a unit and we all went at the same time. Okay 00:21:29.259 --> 00:21:33.240 um Colonel Kels were you were the were you the 00:21:33.240 --> 00:21:38.339 CO of the of your unit the 176? No uh we had 00:21:38.339 --> 00:21:42.400 a Lieutenant Colonel McDaniels who was the CO 00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:48.880 and we had some 13 majors in the unit. They had 00:21:48.880 --> 00:21:56.180 all come out of the woodwork. And I had initially 00:21:56.180 --> 00:22:00.359 the first platoon of the 176th. However, I was 00:22:00.359 --> 00:22:04.819 the junior major out of the 13. So when Don Phillips 00:22:04.819 --> 00:22:09.980 came in, he was the ranking major. And he took 00:22:09.980 --> 00:22:13.339 over the platoon, the first platoon. And I had 00:22:13.339 --> 00:22:18.019 the option by Colonel Daniels. To either stay 00:22:18.019 --> 00:22:20.599 in the platoon or else go elsewhere within the 00:22:20.599 --> 00:22:25.000 unit. I elected to stay with the first platoon 00:22:25.000 --> 00:22:30.740 and We did very well together with Major Phillips 00:22:30.740 --> 00:22:36.819 then about 30 45 days into Vietnam Colonel McDaniels 00:22:36.819 --> 00:22:41.460 departed on emergency leave and Phillips who 00:22:41.460 --> 00:22:48.109 was senior major took over the unit and uh that's 00:22:48.109 --> 00:22:51.170 a lot of real live officers all in one place 00:22:51.170 --> 00:22:55.710 well yes but uh i was still junior major among 00:22:55.710 --> 00:23:00.210 the 13 and he offered the platoon to each of 00:23:00.210 --> 00:23:02.970 the others who were senior to me and i guess 00:23:02.970 --> 00:23:08.210 none of them wanted it uh and uh he then offered 00:23:08.210 --> 00:23:12.549 it to me and i signed with both hands Understandable. 00:23:13.109 --> 00:23:16.309 Understandable. Colonel Long, what was your job? 00:23:16.309 --> 00:23:18.650 How did you fit into this scenario over there? 00:23:18.650 --> 00:23:20.170 We've got about two minutes before we have to 00:23:20.170 --> 00:23:22.990 take a break. See how fast this goes? Okay, well, 00:23:23.130 --> 00:23:25.029 East Platoon had two sections. I was a section 00:23:25.029 --> 00:23:28.630 leader of the first section when Chuck was a 00:23:28.630 --> 00:23:31.690 platoon leader. Okay, so what was your call sign? 00:23:33.170 --> 00:23:37.049 Minuteman 1 -6 -Alpha. 1 -6 -Alpha, okay. Yeah, 00:23:37.049 --> 00:23:39.950 but within the unit, they had a nickname for 00:23:39.950 --> 00:23:43.140 people. Mine was Pen Man. Okay, I can't tell 00:23:43.140 --> 00:23:47.779 you what mine was, at least not on the air. And 00:23:47.779 --> 00:23:51.299 so you were, so you're 1 -6. Six usually means 00:23:51.299 --> 00:23:53.160 a leader of some sort, either squad leader. Well, 00:23:53.259 --> 00:23:55.460 one was first platoon and six was section leader, 00:23:56.299 --> 00:23:58.680 A was the first section. Okay, and so you were 00:23:58.680 --> 00:24:01.680 1 -6 of the other one? Yeah, 1 -6 officer. Okay, 00:24:01.839 --> 00:24:04.160 I got it. Best my memory can tell me, that's 00:24:04.160 --> 00:24:06.119 been a long time. I know, I'm really testing 00:24:06.119 --> 00:24:08.680 you guys today, apologize for that. That is a 00:24:08.680 --> 00:24:13.670 test. Yes. All right, so you've been in country 00:24:13.670 --> 00:24:16.970 now. You got into country in February, you said, 00:24:17.029 --> 00:24:21.630 of 1967. Let's set up the day and then we'll 00:24:21.630 --> 00:24:23.630 take our break and come back and talk about what 00:24:23.630 --> 00:24:26.990 happened on May 15th of 1967. So what was your 00:24:26.990 --> 00:24:28.890 mission on that, Colonel Keller, what was your 00:24:28.890 --> 00:24:32.750 mission on that day? Which, 15 May? Yes. The 00:24:32.750 --> 00:24:35.269 first, when you were, it says that personnel 00:24:35.269 --> 00:24:39.150 101st were getting overrun and you guys were 00:24:39.150 --> 00:24:43.509 going out to resupply them, right? Well, if we're 00:24:43.509 --> 00:24:46.569 speaking of 15 May of 67, they simply initiated 00:24:46.569 --> 00:24:51.289 an assault into that LZ that day, so there was 00:24:51.289 --> 00:24:55.049 no one out there initially. Right. And we put 00:24:55.049 --> 00:24:59.309 in about 80 troops with eight helicopters with 00:24:59.309 --> 00:25:04.589 two lifts initially, about 0930 on the 15th of 00:25:04.589 --> 00:25:10.009 May. About three hours later, we inserted another 00:25:12.279 --> 00:25:18.579 80 and withdrew with a wounded and Dead or whatever 00:25:18.579 --> 00:25:22.279 All right, so so you There was nobody out. This 00:25:22.279 --> 00:25:25.000 was just an initial insertion initially Yeah, 00:25:25.500 --> 00:25:27.480 to take you know, this is a company size that 00:25:27.480 --> 00:25:29.200 you're putting in there, right? Well, they had 00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:34.839 moved around into the ambush position from a 00:25:34.839 --> 00:25:40.089 relatively secure area And so when they got ambushed, 00:25:40.089 --> 00:25:42.769 they were up against what was believed to be 00:25:42.769 --> 00:25:45.569 a battalion -sized North Vietnamese Army unit. 00:25:45.950 --> 00:25:47.930 Looks like the tables were kind of turned on 00:25:47.930 --> 00:25:52.430 the ambush. Well, the ambush is never good. We 00:25:52.430 --> 00:25:55.069 have to take a break here real quick. And when 00:25:55.069 --> 00:25:57.710 we come back, we're going to find out what actually 00:25:57.710 --> 00:26:00.009 happened on that day and the follow -up on that 00:26:00.009 --> 00:26:02.289 and how the Colonel ended up receiving his Medal 00:26:02.289 --> 00:26:03.789 of Honor. You're listening to Veterans Radio. 00:26:03.829 --> 00:26:06.680 We'll be right back after the news. That's Kelly 00:26:06.680 --> 00:26:11.420 Trudell a little song. You need to hear the whole 00:26:11.420 --> 00:26:13.640 thing and we'll play it again on another program 00:26:13.640 --> 00:26:16.039 but it talks about medevac pilots and how they 00:26:16.039 --> 00:26:18.119 used to go in and pull all these people out and 00:26:18.119 --> 00:26:20.099 it's kind of reason I played that is because 00:26:20.099 --> 00:26:23.299 this is kind of what happened to both of these 00:26:23.299 --> 00:26:25.680 kernels and I want to bring Colonel Long on for 00:26:25.680 --> 00:26:29.619 just a second here. So on this first lift that 00:26:29.619 --> 00:26:32.839 went in and then you had to go back what happened 00:26:32.839 --> 00:26:37.369 to your aircraft? chuckle the first assertion 00:26:37.369 --> 00:26:39.829 where we had what i think eight helicopters that 00:26:39.829 --> 00:26:43.309 correct uh... that's correct and uh... all heck 00:26:43.309 --> 00:26:45.970 broke loose and uh... tracers and orders and 00:26:45.970 --> 00:26:49.029 everything else thing is we were loaded offloading 00:26:49.029 --> 00:26:51.470 five or six people and we're all loaded two to 00:26:51.470 --> 00:26:54.190 three or four wounded so with a matter of dropping 00:26:54.190 --> 00:26:56.569 off the good guy that pick it up take it back 00:26:56.569 --> 00:27:00.450 and i had taken my back offload the wounded in 00:27:00.450 --> 00:27:05.720 the meantime go back in again And on my way back, 00:27:06.019 --> 00:27:08.119 he advised me to get a hold of another helicopter 00:27:08.119 --> 00:27:11.960 to take some ammo in and some other troops. And 00:27:11.960 --> 00:27:15.740 on my second trip in, we exposed ourselves too 00:27:15.740 --> 00:27:18.480 long. The fire was heavy and the second ship 00:27:18.480 --> 00:27:20.819 with us managed to get out. But we were left 00:27:20.819 --> 00:27:22.759 alone, so we hovered over to get wounded because 00:27:22.759 --> 00:27:25.720 they wouldn't bring them out of the trees. And 00:27:25.720 --> 00:27:27.660 by doing that, they focused all of their fire 00:27:27.660 --> 00:27:37.859 on us. and PFC Washington with a crew. By the 00:27:37.859 --> 00:27:39.460 way, one officer really retired as Lieutenant 00:27:39.460 --> 00:27:42.319 Colonel also. Anyway, we were left there to fight 00:27:42.319 --> 00:27:44.299 until Chuck came back to get us all. All right, 00:27:44.299 --> 00:27:49.500 so you're on the ground in this LZ. And in reading 00:27:49.500 --> 00:27:53.240 the details of the operation, we know that there 00:27:53.240 --> 00:27:56.420 were jets that came in and dropped their loads. 00:27:56.460 --> 00:28:00.279 You had gunships and everything else. And then, 00:28:00.279 --> 00:28:02.420 Colonel Kettles, how many times did you go in 00:28:02.420 --> 00:28:07.740 and out of this LZ? A total of six times. Wow. 00:28:08.180 --> 00:28:10.759 Six times. And you're still here. Pardon me? 00:28:10.900 --> 00:28:13.180 And you're still here. That's what's surprising, 00:28:13.339 --> 00:28:16.819 because it sounded like it was... You mentioned 00:28:16.819 --> 00:28:19.579 how many bad guys were down there. Were they 00:28:19.579 --> 00:28:23.160 NVAs? Yes. All right. Well, they were serious. 00:28:23.759 --> 00:28:27.220 Well, yeah. I understand it. So you went in there 00:28:27.220 --> 00:28:29.960 six times. You got Colonel Long as on the ground 00:28:29.960 --> 00:28:33.029 with his crew. So I'm sure, I know that would 00:28:33.029 --> 00:28:37.490 have to be a big concern to you as well. In many 00:28:37.490 --> 00:28:40.390 of these return flights that you're bringing 00:28:40.390 --> 00:28:44.109 people in, taking people out, you've lost a few 00:28:44.109 --> 00:28:48.410 aircraft yourself. Well, over the course of the 00:28:48.410 --> 00:28:51.869 entire mission that day, we went through some 00:28:51.869 --> 00:28:59.799 19. And one, the one that Don Long flew, on that 00:28:59.799 --> 00:29:03.279 resupply mission was destroyed entirely in the 00:29:03.279 --> 00:29:07.859 LZ. And each of the other 18, of course, were 00:29:07.859 --> 00:29:13.400 of varying degrees of damage. None, of course, 00:29:13.460 --> 00:29:18.640 were flyable. But in the two that I had, I had 00:29:18.640 --> 00:29:23.440 flown, both of those got evac'd with a CH -47 00:29:23.440 --> 00:29:26.940 down to Vung Tau and the Corpus Christi because 00:29:26.940 --> 00:29:32.170 they were damaged beyond. You broke them. Well, 00:29:32.430 --> 00:29:35.009 yes. Well, as a matter of fact, the Secretary 00:29:35.009 --> 00:29:38.190 of the Army presented me with an invoice at the 00:29:38.190 --> 00:29:44.869 ceremony for the 19 helicopters. Now, it's only 00:29:44.869 --> 00:29:52.109 a cost of $89 ,300 ,000. It's payable with a 00:29:52.109 --> 00:29:55.089 credit card. However, my credit card company 00:29:55.089 --> 00:29:59.670 has a different idea. The credit limit is not 00:29:59.670 --> 00:30:03.390 going to even come close. I think that's too 00:30:03.390 --> 00:30:05.150 modest to tell you that both of his helicopters 00:30:05.150 --> 00:30:07.970 were just laced to pieces with 30 to 40 holes 00:30:07.970 --> 00:30:10.410 in them. Plexiglass and everything. They were 00:30:10.410 --> 00:30:15.250 really messed up. You're on the ground. Colonel 00:30:15.250 --> 00:30:16.950 Long, you're on the ground and you're watching 00:30:16.950 --> 00:30:19.890 Colonel Kettles come in more than once with his 00:30:19.890 --> 00:30:23.109 entire team. And let's face it, Colonel Kettles 00:30:23.109 --> 00:30:25.529 wasn't the only pilot out there that day. He 00:30:25.529 --> 00:30:28.589 was the only aircraft. I mean, there were other 00:30:28.589 --> 00:30:31.849 18 crews that were going in and out of there 00:30:31.849 --> 00:30:34.890 on a fairly regular basis until they kept... 00:30:35.500 --> 00:30:38.500 I'm talking in aviation terminology here that 00:30:38.500 --> 00:30:40.539 we broke the aircraft and so we had to go get 00:30:40.539 --> 00:30:43.119 new ones. And you were able to borrow a couple 00:30:43.119 --> 00:30:46.059 or some from another sister company, right? Well, 00:30:46.059 --> 00:30:49.460 when it came to the emergency extraction for 00:30:49.460 --> 00:30:53.480 the last 44, which included the four of Don's 00:30:53.480 --> 00:30:59.279 crew, we in the 176th only had one flyable UH 00:30:59.279 --> 00:31:04.839 -1D lift type helicopter. So we had to borrow 00:31:05.530 --> 00:31:08.829 five with crews from the sister company, the 00:31:08.829 --> 00:31:12.490 161st, up the street. And I say up the street, 00:31:12.650 --> 00:31:17.109 probably 30 miles up the road. And then we simply 00:31:17.109 --> 00:31:21.349 rendezvoused in the area in close proximity to 00:31:21.349 --> 00:31:26.009 the LZ before going in. They were coming out 00:31:26.009 --> 00:31:29.890 from the north and we were coming out from Duck 00:31:29.890 --> 00:31:36.930 Foe. So then we, of course, went in trail formation 00:31:36.930 --> 00:31:43.390 because of the LZ configuration and picked up 00:31:43.390 --> 00:31:46.849 what we thought were the entire 44, which included 00:31:46.849 --> 00:31:51.750 Don Long and his group, when the trail aircraft 00:31:51.750 --> 00:31:54.730 commander announced that they were all on board. 00:31:55.430 --> 00:32:00.369 We departed the LZ, climbed to about 1 ,200 feet, 00:32:00.930 --> 00:32:06.079 and then started to... Left turn about 180 degrees 00:32:06.079 --> 00:32:09.220 back toward duck foal when the command and control 00:32:09.220 --> 00:32:13.700 aircraft someone on board that Told me that there 00:32:13.700 --> 00:32:17.740 were eight Infantry troops down there who did 00:32:17.740 --> 00:32:21.319 not get on board any one of the helicopters Any 00:32:21.319 --> 00:32:23.400 particular reason with a well they pinned down 00:32:23.400 --> 00:32:26.579 or lay they had been down the riverbed below 00:32:26.579 --> 00:32:33.240 putting up a last -ditch effort to defense against 00:32:33.240 --> 00:32:36.759 the North Vietnamese Army while the troops loaded. 00:32:37.200 --> 00:32:41.160 And they had simply not gotten up in time to 00:32:41.160 --> 00:32:43.259 get on board the helicopters. And of course, 00:32:43.440 --> 00:32:46.319 the aircraft commander on that last one, he had 00:32:46.319 --> 00:32:50.420 no idea they were there. I don't think anybody 00:32:50.420 --> 00:32:52.680 sometimes can realize the confusion of what goes 00:32:52.680 --> 00:32:54.579 on on the ground when you're trying to get everybody 00:32:54.579 --> 00:32:57.819 on board an aircraft and trying to make sure 00:32:57.819 --> 00:33:00.640 that you have enough power to get off. actually 00:33:00.640 --> 00:33:04.160 get off the ground sometimes up there. So you 00:33:04.160 --> 00:33:06.720 already had some troops on board yours? I only 00:33:06.720 --> 00:33:10.279 had one on board. I had no idea what the distribution 00:33:10.279 --> 00:33:14.319 was behind me in the balance of the five helicopters, 00:33:14.420 --> 00:33:19.220 but I had only the one and so I simply turned 00:33:19.220 --> 00:33:23.420 the flight over to number two for him to take 00:33:23.420 --> 00:33:27.140 them back to Duck Fo and the medical facilities 00:33:27.140 --> 00:33:31.079 that were co -located there. And I simply broke 00:33:31.079 --> 00:33:34.759 off. When I got back, I beamed the troops, and 00:33:34.759 --> 00:33:37.200 I could see them. I was in the left seat. They 00:33:37.200 --> 00:33:40.740 were to my left. Zechrist, who was my co -pilot, 00:33:41.220 --> 00:33:42.940 was on the right. And of course, he couldn't 00:33:42.940 --> 00:33:46.099 see them, but I could. So I simply took the controls 00:33:46.099 --> 00:33:50.660 and broke off from the flight and went back into 00:33:50.660 --> 00:33:53.259 the LZ again. You had no guns at this point. 00:33:53.450 --> 00:33:55.450 I mean, you had the guns on the helicopter, but 00:33:55.450 --> 00:33:57.450 you didn't have any gunships supported? One of 00:33:57.450 --> 00:34:00.710 the gunships and the fast movers, the Air Force 00:34:00.710 --> 00:34:04.390 that is, with napalm and such, had departed along 00:34:04.390 --> 00:34:06.470 with, and the artillery had shut down because 00:34:06.470 --> 00:34:10.929 they were of the opinion that the LZ was clean. 00:34:12.230 --> 00:34:16.530 So anyway, with only by, I guess the element 00:34:16.530 --> 00:34:19.489 of surprise, I went back in to pick up the eight. 00:34:21.960 --> 00:34:24.460 I'm sorry, I'm kind of breathless here as I'm 00:34:24.460 --> 00:34:28.099 listening to this story. Colonel Long, were you 00:34:28.099 --> 00:34:32.699 able to get out on that lift that went out? Yeah, 00:34:32.699 --> 00:34:36.019 I was able to get out on the first one. I got 00:34:36.019 --> 00:34:39.780 wounded in my leg and I couldn't walk. So two 00:34:39.780 --> 00:34:41.579 of the instrument got on each side of me and 00:34:41.579 --> 00:34:45.380 helped me across the LZ. I told them too many 00:34:45.380 --> 00:34:47.219 people try to get on the closest helicopters. 00:34:47.639 --> 00:34:52.809 So we're going to the farthest helicopter. I 00:34:52.809 --> 00:34:55.309 carried the radio for them and they dragged me 00:34:55.309 --> 00:34:58.050 and got me on a helicopter. So I was part of 00:34:58.050 --> 00:35:00.809 the initial group, not the final eight. Okay, 00:35:01.190 --> 00:35:05.070 all right. So just quickly, tell me what your 00:35:05.070 --> 00:35:07.449 feelings were when you took off out of that LZ. 00:35:08.449 --> 00:35:12.030 Tell it to me? Yes, sir. Oh, relief. Great relief 00:35:12.030 --> 00:35:16.110 and lots of thanks because as you may have surmised 00:35:16.110 --> 00:35:18.849 by now that myself and 43 others probably wouldn't 00:35:18.849 --> 00:35:21.989 be here if it hadn't been for him. Well, yes. 00:35:22.269 --> 00:35:25.789 And I had five children married at the time, 00:35:25.929 --> 00:35:31.690 as did he. It continues to be an amazing story. 00:35:31.829 --> 00:35:34.010 We're talking here with America's newest Medal 00:35:34.010 --> 00:35:36.309 of Honor recipient, Colonel Charles Kettles, 00:35:36.650 --> 00:35:42.590 and also Colonel Donald Long. Both of these people 00:35:42.590 --> 00:35:47.550 were very busy on that May Day of 1967 when they 00:35:47.550 --> 00:35:52.119 had gone into a landing zone, initially to drop 00:35:52.119 --> 00:35:54.480 off troops for a mission and they ended up the 00:35:54.480 --> 00:35:56.719 troops on the ground ended up being ashbushed 00:35:56.719 --> 00:35:59.139 and then they had to go back and get them and 00:35:59.139 --> 00:36:03.219 that's where we are in our story right now so 00:36:03.219 --> 00:36:05.920 colonel kettles does a reverse and goes back 00:36:05.920 --> 00:36:11.480 into this lz and i'm sure that that the even 00:36:11.480 --> 00:36:13.460 the bad guys on the ground are going what the 00:36:13.460 --> 00:36:16.260 heck is going on here what is this person doing 00:36:16.260 --> 00:36:19.889 and i'm sure they unloaded on your aircraft Well, 00:36:20.070 --> 00:36:22.730 yes, then of course they had one single target. 00:36:23.070 --> 00:36:25.929 Yes, which was I guess to their advantage and 00:36:25.929 --> 00:36:29.630 almost immediately after touchdown why a mortar 00:36:29.630 --> 00:36:32.989 round went off the nose of the helicopter and 00:36:32.989 --> 00:36:35.889 which took off the left chin bubble where I was 00:36:35.889 --> 00:36:41.349 and the part of each of the windshields and The 00:36:41.349 --> 00:36:44.750 rest of the damage I didn't shut down and do 00:36:44.750 --> 00:36:47.469 a pre -flight You didn't do an inspection at 00:36:47.469 --> 00:36:51.789 the time? No, I still had a clean panel and the 00:36:51.789 --> 00:36:58.010 troops of course loaded with great haste and 00:36:58.010 --> 00:37:00.489 when the crew chief said they're all on board 00:37:00.489 --> 00:37:03.989 and I had turned over the controls back over 00:37:03.989 --> 00:37:07.469 to Ray Sechrist in the right and gave him a thumbs 00:37:07.469 --> 00:37:10.829 up and let's go and he picked it up and it began 00:37:10.829 --> 00:37:13.230 to fishtail back and forth for whatever reason, 00:37:13.230 --> 00:37:15.179 I don't know. It doesn't make much difference, 00:37:15.300 --> 00:37:19.619 but anyway. In the process, I learned later, 00:37:20.179 --> 00:37:23.500 one of the grunts got thrown out the left side 00:37:23.500 --> 00:37:26.519 when it fishtailed like that. And he grabbed 00:37:26.519 --> 00:37:29.739 the skid on the way out, and his buddies were 00:37:29.739 --> 00:37:34.519 able to pull him back in again. And then I took 00:37:34.519 --> 00:37:39.599 control of the helicopter. And being overweight 00:37:39.599 --> 00:37:45.059 by probably six, 700 pounds, I... The dash 11 00:37:45.059 --> 00:37:49.980 engine was not up to it. So rotor RPM dissipated 00:37:49.980 --> 00:37:53.659 slowly and that warning horn, of course, came 00:37:53.659 --> 00:37:58.539 on. So simply lowered the collective, which offloads 00:37:58.539 --> 00:38:02.260 the blade, regained the RPM again, then traded 00:38:02.260 --> 00:38:05.659 that RPM for forward speed because what I needed 00:38:05.659 --> 00:38:11.250 was about 35 -40 knots to get the... machine 00:38:11.250 --> 00:38:14.630 into translation of lift. And if it was going 00:38:14.630 --> 00:38:17.070 to go, why it would go at that point. If not, 00:38:17.130 --> 00:38:19.710 why we were going to be a two and a half ton 00:38:19.710 --> 00:38:22.369 truck going down the road with a rotorhead, I 00:38:22.369 --> 00:38:25.750 guess. We're just riding on down the road. Forget 00:38:25.750 --> 00:38:29.489 about this getting up into the air. For people 00:38:29.489 --> 00:38:32.610 that are not in aviation, that's a difficult 00:38:32.610 --> 00:38:36.530 thing to do. It's kind of your... I'm using my 00:38:36.530 --> 00:38:41.130 hands here. You're playing with the controls 00:38:41.130 --> 00:38:43.670 in order to get the blade to turn fast enough 00:38:43.670 --> 00:38:46.469 so that you can get any lift at all and continue 00:38:46.469 --> 00:38:49.969 moving forward. And you've got to remember, he 00:38:49.969 --> 00:38:51.849 doesn't have any chin belt, he doesn't have any 00:38:51.849 --> 00:38:55.969 windshield. I'm sure that all the needles are 00:38:55.969 --> 00:38:58.150 going back and forth all over the places. He's 00:38:58.150 --> 00:39:01.269 trying to nurse this thing and actually pull 00:39:01.269 --> 00:39:04.250 it into the air. As we say, you know, pull pitch, 00:39:04.309 --> 00:39:06.489 just go, and hope that you can get up there. 00:39:06.510 --> 00:39:08.289 And you probably bounced a few times before you 00:39:08.289 --> 00:39:10.929 finally got off. It took about five or six of 00:39:10.929 --> 00:39:16.110 the change, treating the rotor RPM for forward 00:39:16.110 --> 00:39:20.070 speed, then treating that for rotor RPM and back 00:39:20.070 --> 00:39:22.289 and forth about five or six times down that river 00:39:22.289 --> 00:39:26.730 valley before it actually took off. Okay, so 00:39:26.730 --> 00:39:29.929 you're up and you're out of there. Yes. How did 00:39:29.929 --> 00:39:33.420 that feel? As he said really seemed like a damn 00:39:33.420 --> 00:39:38.480 good idea to me So when how far did you have 00:39:38.480 --> 00:39:40.539 to take these these people that were on board 00:39:40.539 --> 00:39:44.559 your aircraft while everything is You know wind 00:39:44.559 --> 00:39:47.519 is blowing in your hair as they say well. It 00:39:47.519 --> 00:39:51.420 was quite well Air -conditioned at that point 00:39:51.420 --> 00:39:54.780 with a ventilation through there, so it was more 00:39:54.780 --> 00:39:59.039 comfortable. I guess that way Humble is not the 00:39:59.039 --> 00:40:03.349 word I can I can use right here right now So 00:40:03.349 --> 00:40:05.210 you had to fly them back to where did you take 00:40:05.210 --> 00:40:07.570 the troops back to duck foal and the facilities 00:40:07.570 --> 00:40:11.949 that were there co -located medical um What's 00:40:11.949 --> 00:40:14.730 really amazing about this story folks is how 00:40:14.730 --> 00:40:18.670 many people were wounded from Your unit or are 00:40:18.670 --> 00:40:20.750 the unit of the 80 all the aviation units how 00:40:20.750 --> 00:40:23.409 many were wounded? I think there were a total 00:40:23.409 --> 00:40:31.320 of nine Don long being one Roland Sheck, who 00:40:31.320 --> 00:40:36.159 was my gunner up until the last, up until the 00:40:36.159 --> 00:40:39.300 point we did the emergency extraction, he had 00:40:39.300 --> 00:40:43.800 taken a 51 in the knee, which destroyed his leg 00:40:43.800 --> 00:40:48.920 and the upper part of the leg as well. So it 00:40:48.920 --> 00:40:54.019 was later amputated at Quignon in the day. And 00:40:54.019 --> 00:40:56.280 he also took a round in the chest protector, 00:40:56.719 --> 00:41:01.039 but he survived all that. Matter of fact, he 00:41:01.039 --> 00:41:04.219 served in the post office system his entire career. 00:41:04.739 --> 00:41:07.739 He was an interesting youngster. I say youngster 00:41:07.739 --> 00:41:10.079 relatively speaking, he was certainly a youngster. 00:41:10.639 --> 00:41:14.960 At the time, for sure. Well, I learned after 00:41:14.960 --> 00:41:18.239 he had left, my official title among the enlisted 00:41:18.239 --> 00:41:24.139 was Papa, created by Roland, no less. Another 00:41:24.139 --> 00:41:27.280 one of these old men. Well, anybody over 22 or 00:41:27.280 --> 00:41:30.219 23 was the old man of the unit, so I've got a 00:41:30.219 --> 00:41:31.659 feeling you were a little bit beyond that at 00:41:31.659 --> 00:41:34.599 the time. Well, I was 37, I guess, and he was 00:41:34.599 --> 00:41:37.380 just fresh out of school, I guess. Sure. And 00:41:37.380 --> 00:41:39.920 he was a German national who had gone to Canada 00:41:39.920 --> 00:41:44.300 and joined the Canadian militia with the intent 00:41:44.300 --> 00:41:47.199 of going to Vietnam. Having learned that they 00:41:47.199 --> 00:41:50.260 were not going to Vietnam, he... got authorization 00:41:50.260 --> 00:41:52.519 to be relieved of duty with them for the purpose 00:41:52.519 --> 00:41:55.519 of coming across the border at Detroit and joined 00:41:55.519 --> 00:41:58.920 the U .S. Army. And he joined us at Fort Benning 00:41:58.920 --> 00:42:04.539 when the unit formed. Okay. So he was the worst 00:42:04.539 --> 00:42:08.940 wounded, I guess? Yes. Okay. And Colonel Long, 00:42:09.880 --> 00:42:14.139 what happened to you? Where did you go? After 00:42:14.139 --> 00:42:17.119 I was evacuated. After you were extracted and 00:42:17.119 --> 00:42:19.889 evacuated, where did you end up? Well, they took 00:42:19.889 --> 00:42:23.670 me to the 1st Brigade, 101st Medical Tent, because 00:42:23.670 --> 00:42:27.090 I had trapped one through my leg. But they repaired 00:42:27.090 --> 00:42:30.889 it and had a tow tag on me to send me on to Quinion. 00:42:31.469 --> 00:42:33.230 But they got the word that Quinion was getting 00:42:33.230 --> 00:42:36.289 full to the hospital because it wasn't just 101st 00:42:36.289 --> 00:42:38.070 having problems that day. I suppose others were, 00:42:38.210 --> 00:42:41.630 too. So they told me to stay in the area and 00:42:41.630 --> 00:42:43.670 get daily treatments at the medical tent. I was 00:42:43.670 --> 00:42:47.809 able to walk with a cane. So I stayed in my tent. 00:42:48.909 --> 00:42:51.730 could I get a ride down the medical tent. And 00:42:51.730 --> 00:42:54.070 that took me quite a while to recover because 00:42:54.070 --> 00:42:56.789 mostly from infection more than anything else. 00:42:57.030 --> 00:43:00.070 Right. So did you, you stayed in country when 00:43:00.070 --> 00:43:02.349 you recovered? Did you go back in the air? I 00:43:02.349 --> 00:43:05.230 stayed in country and then while I was grounded, 00:43:05.409 --> 00:43:07.369 believe it or not, Chuck became ops officer and 00:43:07.369 --> 00:43:09.650 he pulled me up there to train me to be an ops 00:43:09.650 --> 00:43:12.389 officer too. And I got back on flight status 00:43:12.389 --> 00:43:15.829 and eventually left the unit because they were 00:43:15.829 --> 00:43:19.210 getting rid of experience. and I went to another 00:43:19.210 --> 00:43:21.449 unit to be the ops officer, but I did get back 00:43:21.449 --> 00:43:24.289 on flight status yet. Okay, that's good. All 00:43:24.289 --> 00:43:27.809 right, so now everything kind of speeds up. You 00:43:27.809 --> 00:43:30.650 are put in for the Distinguished Service Medal, 00:43:31.590 --> 00:43:34.710 which you received, and then what did the Army 00:43:34.710 --> 00:43:38.369 do? Because you didn't remain on flights while 00:43:38.369 --> 00:43:41.190 you were still flying, but I mean, you weren't 00:43:41.190 --> 00:43:44.090 the CO anymore or your platoon leader. Where 00:43:44.090 --> 00:43:46.809 did they send you? Well, the following day... 00:43:47.000 --> 00:43:52.320 I had dinner with Major Phillips, who was then 00:43:52.320 --> 00:43:56.099 commanding the company, which was not unusual. 00:43:56.300 --> 00:44:00.300 We normally had, but he made a point of telling 00:44:00.300 --> 00:44:04.239 me he'd like to have dinner. And so I knew it 00:44:04.239 --> 00:44:08.860 was more serious than the usual evening meal. 00:44:09.539 --> 00:44:13.280 And shortly after we began having dinner, while 00:44:13.280 --> 00:44:16.849 he said I'm... Going to move you into flight 00:44:16.849 --> 00:44:22.309 operations And I asked why because I was quite 00:44:22.309 --> 00:44:26.070 happy where I was and with a platoon and he said 00:44:26.070 --> 00:44:30.949 well I thought maybe you could figure out what 00:44:30.949 --> 00:44:33.750 an assault helicopter company does without any 00:44:33.750 --> 00:44:39.489 helicopters Since you had broken them all yes, 00:44:39.570 --> 00:44:42.969 so I stayed there probably 30 days or so and 00:44:42.969 --> 00:44:48.239 then He had another meeting with me. I was not 00:44:48.239 --> 00:44:51.019 doing very well. I was not going the direction 00:44:51.019 --> 00:44:55.059 I wanted to go, but he pointed out that I was 00:44:55.059 --> 00:44:58.519 going to be transferred up to be the brigade 00:44:58.519 --> 00:45:02.239 aviation officer. That they were losing their 00:45:02.239 --> 00:45:04.780 brigade aviation officer, and I was to be the 00:45:04.780 --> 00:45:07.280 replacement. I said, hell, I don't want to go 00:45:07.280 --> 00:45:12.929 up there. I'm as far back as I care to be. And 00:45:12.929 --> 00:45:15.130 he said, well, neither one of us have any choice. 00:45:15.849 --> 00:45:18.429 The general says, you're going to be the next 00:45:18.429 --> 00:45:22.170 brigade aviation officer. So it's one step further 00:45:22.170 --> 00:45:24.929 back from where I wanted to be. So you're moving 00:45:24.929 --> 00:45:28.750 into relatively safer and safer areas. Well, 00:45:28.949 --> 00:45:34.929 yes. And up the ladder. Well, yeah. I would call 00:45:34.929 --> 00:45:37.750 it being kicked upstairs, but usually they think 00:45:37.750 --> 00:45:41.070 that's a negative, but I guess it was supposed 00:45:41.070 --> 00:45:44.519 to be favorable. I didn't see it that way, but... 00:45:44.519 --> 00:45:48.579 So when did you receive the Distinguished Service 00:45:48.579 --> 00:45:53.840 Cross? About a year later, in May of 68, to my 00:45:53.840 --> 00:45:59.900 surprise, because the day after the event there 00:45:59.900 --> 00:46:03.699 at 15 May, Colonel Ponder, who was the battalion 00:46:03.699 --> 00:46:07.280 commander, aviation, came down to the unit and 00:46:07.280 --> 00:46:09.860 we talked about it a bit and he asked if I would... 00:46:10.740 --> 00:46:14.679 come up to the battalion and put on paper what 00:46:14.679 --> 00:46:18.599 had really happened. And I was frankly not accustomed 00:46:18.599 --> 00:46:22.000 to having a full colonel ask me to do anything. 00:46:22.679 --> 00:46:26.480 They usually told me what to do. But anyway, 00:46:27.340 --> 00:46:31.320 I said, well, that's all right. I'll be happy 00:46:31.320 --> 00:46:36.519 to do that. But I really am not comfortable doing 00:46:36.519 --> 00:46:42.679 that unless you can assure me that Whatever whatever 00:46:42.679 --> 00:46:46.139 is on paper will not be used for favorable action 00:46:46.139 --> 00:46:49.800 toward me because otherwise it's going to look 00:46:49.800 --> 00:46:54.579 self -serving and he indicated that he was agreeable 00:46:54.579 --> 00:47:01.019 to that and So I did exactly that so when the 00:47:01.019 --> 00:47:04.460 award came down the track I was at Fort Sam Houston 00:47:04.460 --> 00:47:07.400 at the time. I was out at Randolph Air Force 00:47:07.400 --> 00:47:10.920 Base Because we had a flight detachment in support 00:47:10.920 --> 00:47:14.199 of fourth then fourth army headquarters with 00:47:14.199 --> 00:47:17.300 the With Randolph because of course there were 00:47:17.300 --> 00:47:21.739 no facilities at Fort Sam Houston so I was the 00:47:21.739 --> 00:47:26.000 maintenance officer for the detachment and Secretary 00:47:26.000 --> 00:47:28.960 to General Lincoln who was the commander of then 00:47:28.960 --> 00:47:34.039 fourth army She called and told me she had this 00:47:34.039 --> 00:47:36.780 award the Distinguished Service Cross and would 00:47:36.780 --> 00:47:40.440 I be available for presentation on that following 00:47:40.440 --> 00:47:48.280 Friday at the Quadrangle. And I said, well, why 00:47:48.280 --> 00:47:51.780 don't you just put it in distribution because 00:47:51.780 --> 00:47:53.780 we have a courier going back and forth. Send 00:47:53.780 --> 00:48:00.320 it by mail. And there was a long pause. And she 00:48:00.320 --> 00:48:02.800 said, oh, my, General Lincoln would never be 00:48:02.800 --> 00:48:08.199 agreeable to that. I said, well. Let me go check 00:48:08.199 --> 00:48:10.900 the flight schedule because I have no idea whether 00:48:10.900 --> 00:48:17.420 I'm on or off for Friday and They hung up the 00:48:17.420 --> 00:48:19.780 phone and probably about a minute and a half 00:48:19.780 --> 00:48:24.639 later way the lieutenant colonel Detachment commander 00:48:24.639 --> 00:48:28.719 came I think through the door I don't think he 00:48:28.719 --> 00:48:32.280 even bothered opening it. He was mad or how and 00:48:32.280 --> 00:48:35.460 Said what the hell you doing? What are we talking 00:48:35.460 --> 00:48:38.360 about? He said you know damn well what we're 00:48:38.360 --> 00:48:41.699 talking about he said you not only won't be on 00:48:41.699 --> 00:48:44.340 the flight schedule but you will be at the quadragal 00:48:44.340 --> 00:48:51.280 on friday at the designated time so yes sir he 00:48:51.280 --> 00:48:55.300 still want right right and uh so that's what 00:48:55.300 --> 00:48:58.280 i did well and that's almost where the story 00:48:58.280 --> 00:49:01.519 probably we thought was going to end well yeah 00:49:01.519 --> 00:49:05.909 and uh colonel long i i don't want to be remiss 00:49:05.909 --> 00:49:08.889 in saying that you also received a number of 00:49:08.889 --> 00:49:12.150 awards for your actions on that day as well yes 00:49:12.150 --> 00:49:15.050 i did uh the other pilot and i got silver stars 00:49:15.050 --> 00:49:16.849 and our crew got distinguished flying crosses 00:49:16.849 --> 00:49:19.349 and it's quite a few of that went around the 00:49:19.349 --> 00:49:21.289 unit and we don't know where they came from either 00:49:21.289 --> 00:49:24.849 basically i think it certainly is you know well 00:49:24.849 --> 00:49:26.309 deserved the other thing i understand is you 00:49:26.309 --> 00:49:29.929 got yourself a combat infantry badge no i'm i'm 00:49:29.929 --> 00:49:32.650 attempting to do that there's a okay i won't 00:49:32.650 --> 00:49:35.340 belabor that point right now i think We don't 00:49:35.340 --> 00:49:36.900 have time to get into that. I'm always wondering 00:49:36.900 --> 00:49:38.800 how those guys can get air medals, but we can't 00:49:38.800 --> 00:49:40.440 get, even when we're sitting on the ground, people 00:49:40.440 --> 00:49:43.360 shooting at us, but that doesn't count. But anyway, 00:49:43.380 --> 00:49:45.460 I just wanted to make sure that you didn't get 00:49:45.460 --> 00:49:48.920 cut off on that. This whole story, you know, 00:49:48.920 --> 00:49:50.360 we're running out of time already. We're coming 00:49:50.360 --> 00:49:55.820 up to the top of the hour. As you can go to vva310 00:49:55.820 --> 00:49:59.300 .org, which is the local Vietnam Veterans of 00:49:59.300 --> 00:50:03.260 America. And I guess it's in the studio, but 00:50:03.260 --> 00:50:05.739 he won't talk. Vance McGrum has put this whole 00:50:05.739 --> 00:50:07.880 thing up on the website. So if you go to that 00:50:07.880 --> 00:50:10.639 website up in the right hand corner, it says 00:50:10.639 --> 00:50:12.420 Lieutenant Colonel Charles Kettles. Click on 00:50:12.420 --> 00:50:17.119 that and you've got the Medal of Honor ceremony 00:50:17.119 --> 00:50:19.400 that you were able to go to at the White House. 00:50:19.420 --> 00:50:21.039 I understand that the President called you up 00:50:21.039 --> 00:50:26.579 and said, hey, could you come to my house? He 00:50:26.579 --> 00:50:28.679 clearly outranked me, so I just said, yes, sir. 00:50:29.960 --> 00:50:31.860 Which sounds like it was a great ceremony. I'm 00:50:31.860 --> 00:50:34.940 sorry I didn't get to go to that. Anyway, they 00:50:34.940 --> 00:50:38.280 upgraded the Distinguished Service Cross to the 00:50:38.280 --> 00:50:42.159 Medal of Honor, which is, knowing you as I do, 00:50:42.340 --> 00:50:44.960 is very humbling experience. And as you pointed 00:50:44.960 --> 00:50:48.099 out, that it really isn't just you. It's also 00:50:48.099 --> 00:50:51.639 the 44 guys that came out of there. pilot and 00:50:51.639 --> 00:50:53.679 crew member that was there with you that day. 00:50:54.139 --> 00:50:58.840 There were some 74 helicopter crew members involved 00:50:58.840 --> 00:51:02.579 in the total mission that day. And it's so amazing 00:51:02.579 --> 00:51:04.960 that only really one person got seriously injured. 00:51:06.340 --> 00:51:09.599 That's amazing. And I know that for anybody who's 00:51:09.599 --> 00:51:13.900 ever gone down to their local veterans, whatever 00:51:13.900 --> 00:51:16.559 it happens to be, and there's a Huey there, go 00:51:16.559 --> 00:51:19.980 up and push your finger against it. There's no 00:51:19.980 --> 00:51:22.280 armor plating in those things folks and we sat 00:51:22.280 --> 00:51:24.739 on armored seats and we wore chicken plates armor 00:51:24.739 --> 00:51:28.579 You know with s but that was about it and So 00:51:28.579 --> 00:51:31.659 I want to congratulate you for the for all of 00:51:31.659 --> 00:51:34.760 pilots and crew members that were in Vietnam 00:51:34.760 --> 00:51:39.380 from 19 Whatever it was to 1973 and thank you 00:51:39.380 --> 00:51:43.280 for your service and thank you for Setting a 00:51:43.280 --> 00:51:46.900 role model for all of us. Well, thank you And 00:51:46.900 --> 00:51:50.559 Colonel Long, the same for you. I wish that I 00:51:50.559 --> 00:51:55.159 had known my real live officers better when I 00:51:55.159 --> 00:51:58.219 was in his service, but it just wasn't to be 00:51:58.219 --> 00:52:01.159 at the time. And I think it's a mutual admiration 00:52:01.159 --> 00:52:03.739 society that we've got going now with the people 00:52:03.739 --> 00:52:05.380 that were on the ground, to the people that were 00:52:05.380 --> 00:52:07.860 on the air, to the fast movers, to the tank drivers, 00:52:08.179 --> 00:52:12.380 to everybody else. And I got about a minute left, 00:52:12.880 --> 00:52:16.119 right? So is there anything that you would like 00:52:16.119 --> 00:52:19.320 to end on? Yeah, I would just like you to repeat 00:52:19.320 --> 00:52:24.679 that. Was that vva310 .org? Yes, vva310 .org. 00:52:24.840 --> 00:52:26.519 Up in the right -hand corner, click on Colonel 00:52:26.519 --> 00:52:29.300 Kettle's whole story. Colonel Long's story is 00:52:29.300 --> 00:52:33.309 there. Colonel Kettle's story is there. I'm sorry, 00:52:33.469 --> 00:52:35.070 we run out of time. Hopefully I can get you, 00:52:35.070 --> 00:52:36.929 too, Ben, back on the program again some other 00:52:36.929 --> 00:52:39.090 day and we can go on to... Say thanks to Chuck 00:52:39.090 --> 00:52:41.989 again one more time. You got it, Colonel Long. 00:52:42.170 --> 00:52:43.969 Thank you very much also for being out there 00:52:43.969 --> 00:52:45.710 in North Carolina. Colonel Kells, thank you very 00:52:45.710 --> 00:52:48.829 much. We'll be back next week. Everybody tune 00:52:48.829 --> 00:52:50.909 in to Veterans Radio and fly your flag. Until 00:52:50.909 --> 00:52:52.789 then, you are dismissed.