Ben Kennedy
Dolphin Crewchief
SP4-SP5
1969
First Flight Platoon, 174th Dolphins based at Duc-Pho.
Assigned to the 174th in November 1968 on a "DEROS Shuffle" program from the 176th AHC Minutemen. Extended 174th tour twice, serving 14 months and the entire year 1969 with the 174th.
Departed the 174th in January 1970 on ETS from Vietnam.
Entire tour of duty with the 174th was served in the First Flight Platoon as a UH-1H Helicopter Crewchief (and door gunner), flying missions in support of the 11th Light Infantry Brigade and the Americal Division.
Returned to Vietnam later and did a third tour with the Ghostriders of A Co, 158th Aviation Battalion at Camp Evans in the 101st Airborne Division.
Photo below is of Ben Kennedy on the left and Tom Gauby on the right, both crewchiefs/gunners in the 174th.)
Photo below (left to right) is of Rod Calloway, Tom Gauby, and Ben Kennedy at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the "Wall," in Washington, DC. Rod was a First Flight Platoon pilot and Tom and Ben were crewchiefs.
Below is a pen-and-ink drawing by Ben of a 174th mission. Although it's a bit difficult to tell in this scanned image, the subject of this drawing is the smoke-belching Dolphin of Larry Whalen's "Smokey." (See Larry's bio for a description of this mission.)
To see more of Ben Kennedy's artwork, click HERE