Wade Jackson; "That afternoon we were scrambled to support the 5/7th again during the big push to recapture Hue. We had been on station for about 35 minutes, and I had taken pretty heavy fire on my last three passes... nothing but skin damage. As I was climbing out from my last run they hit me hard and we started to loose the aft trans and #2 engine. The Master Caution Panel lit up like a Christmas tree. I autorotated into a rice paddy and started taking heavy fire as soon as we hit the ground. Major Matthews started to level the village the fire was coming from and called in the 1/9th. They sent two Hogs which did a beautiful job. Major Matthews got a secondary out of the village. After about 10 - 15 minutes (felt more like a week) Major Matthews came in to pick us up." "It was a beautiful sight with the .50's firing and the crew bailing out to give us cover with their personal weapons." Everyone got out without a scratch; but when 49 was lifting off it took several hits which sprayed shrapnel all over Buzzell, Hiatt, Florez and Demaray. Florez got a tracer down his shirt and was nearly killed by all the people trying to hold him down to see what was wrong. That mob got off with Tetanus shots and bandages. Shortly after we dee-deed the ship, Charles mortared it and blew it up. She was completely destroyed, but as Lacy said, "She went out proud."
Jim Bradshaw; "Walt Lacy was pinned
down. Buzz and I were outside, he was shooting his pistol, and I had my M16. The fire was so heavy that it was hard to hear single rounds being fired....it was more like hornets buzzing. The ground seemed alive. Even then, however, it got funny....Buzz had this strange look on his face (like I'm getting shot at AND hit look) but it was the brass ejecting from my M16 hitting him. I really don't know if his reaction was from being hit by the brass or was caused by him seeing me laugh in the middle of all that."
Len Demaray; "As best that I can recall, I first fired at the tree line, way out in the distance. When I fired, people in the rice paddy looked up, which is when I realized that people had been crawling toward the aircraft. Another gun on board fired (I think that it must have been WO1 Jackson, as I believe it to have been the rear left .50, as I was on the Ramp mounted .50). I dropped my fire into the rice paddy, at what I then noticed to be movement within the paddy. I was told later that 'other aircraft' had confirmed 14 kills around 54."
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