A Vietnam Retrospective
PART 20
Click on the blue cube to go back to Part 19
==========================
On Friday, March 26th, I shut down at the Logger Pad at Khe Sahn. The area took in almost forty
rounds of NVA artillery. I spent over an hour lounging around under a filthy old APC (armored
personnel carrier). Those things leak more transmission fluid than any ten helicopters. I
believe I took the below twelve B&W photos ( ground & aerial) at that time.
 
 
 
 
I hadn't flown in over a month and OPS was anxious to get me back up to speed. That night they woke me about 1:30 AM to scramble a team to the Rock Pile where some mechanized units were getting probed, and we got to shoot a whole lot of rockets in their direction. We took two hits from small arms .30 cal.
About this time I failed--or just quit taking--any notes. My last entries were made on Sunday, March 28th, where I was awoken in the early AM hours to scramble a team out to Khe Sahn to engage some NVA tanks that had surrounded another ARVN fire base. My attitude was just a bit cynical, as we were never equipped with anything that could stop a tank. We got to Vandy before the mission was scrubbed. Guess they gave it to the Air Force guys.
 On
Friday, April 2nd, we supported CA's west of LZ Scotch and caught two NVA in the open. I was
flying with the newest Shark 6, who I only listed as FNG 6. I have no recollection of who this
was. Captain Greg Smith (left) had returned to maintenance shortly after his being shot down
on the 3rd and 5th of March, and I don't recall us having a '6' outside of Bob Hackett or
Jimmy Souders until we returned to Chu Lai.
While I was on leave, an outstanding career Chief Warrant came to us, Chuck Blake. He was
a second tour gun pilot and about to make CW3. He was thrown immediately in as an AC and
fire team lead. He did a great job and was looked upon as highly as Major Spratt. Bennie
Holmes told me a tale of this period that he recalled a Shark pilot, flying up to, or across
the DMZ and salvo'ing an entire load of rockets. Hopefully, in years to come, we'll find out
the responsible party or just hear the rest of that tale.
In any event, it didn't end the war.
 
Above l-r: Blake and Berry. Right: Klotz. Below
are Berry, Klotz and Blake harrasing the band outside the "O Club".
My last entry during this period was on Sunday, April 4th, where P.J. Roths, Bennie Holmes,
and myself were directed to take a three-quarter-ton truck to the223rd Aviation Battalion of
the 101st ABN headquarters, and pick up priority orders. They directed the 174th AHC to stand
down on April 6th and leave Quang Tri on the 7th.
There was a lot of drinking incorporated with the packing of gear.
On Monday, April 5th, I was scheduled as primary lead but we had no missions, so I packed my
gear for our return to Duc Pho. Of the eight gunships we flew up to Quang Tri, we were returning with only two. Shark 540 "The Grim Reaper" and Shark 140 "Hooded Cobra." Five of our aircraft were left on the ground in Laos. In the Sharks we had more than our share of wounded, but all personnel were alive. As a unit, we lost Gentry, Erb, Birch and Padilla.
For me, great disappointment would come on the evening of the 7th as we re-fueled at Chu Lai after leaving Quang Tri. The 14th Battalion was going to close its ranks and the 174th would stay at Chu Lai. We would move into the vacant, cannibalized shacks once occupied by the 176th Minutemen before they took over the departed Marine aviation units housing.
I personally felt betrayed. We had done all that up north only to get more-or-less punished by having to live in Chu Lai. My attitude turned sour. In Chu Lai we would hitch hike to the flight line and live in open bayed barns in the middle of a sand flea paradise. The 174th was still responsible for supporting elements of the 11th Brigade in the southern AO, so one fire team would live down at the vacant Duc Pho on 48-hour standby. I volunteered for every one that the new Shark 6 (Morgan Mills) would allow. I don't remember much of Chu Lai for that, and other alcohol related reasons.
I hung out with Art Magee and the other Primo LOH crews still in Duc Pho until I deros'd at the end of May 1971. Sometime during those weeks, Dolphin 19, Neal "Duke" Varner and I took our R&R in Sydney, Australia together. It just wasn't the same around Chu Lai. We had very little contact with the Dolphin pilots and crews as we lived in different areas.
A senior Dolphin AC and then Shark buddy, Rick Gregore, was observed to hover from POL to shut
down with his gunner unsecured (not strapped in). This chicken-shit airfield safety officer
insisted that his AC orders be pulled. He was given the option to fly as a peter pilot or go
to the guns. He came over to the Sharks, and we had some great times.
Bob Magee was sent to us during this period along with Patrick Lindsey,
who I called "April" as that's when he joined us. After I left, someone dug in his mail
and played with his head over personal things his wife had written to him. It had an impact
on his flying and he left the unit disgruntled.
I may have used the wrong words here but I know Pat will forgive me, as we've remained friends
to this day. When he came to the unit, I was really happy to see him as that meant I was
leaving soon. Doug "Killer" Berry was a lot of fun to fly with those last weeks I was in
country. He's in some of my films as capturing Kodak moments became a priority to me, as
I just didn't want to forget what I'd just been through. Jack Klotz was new to the Sharks
also. I have some pictures of him sun bathing. I think he's still active in the Guard back
east. 
According to PJ Roth, Big Al Harris (pictured right in the Shark Hut Chu Lai 1971)
would be assigned to the Sharks shortly
after my departure and he would be the last pilot to be killed. He too was from California.
Above left: My DEROS party Chu Lai 1971. Above center: I was inspired to take this photo at the airport waiting departure to home. My photo of this GI “says it all”.
When I got off the plane in Los Angeles, I'd been drinking for most of that day. Nobody spit on me when I came home. My Mom and a close friend met me at the airport in Los Angeles. Mike Brennan drove her to the airport. We'd gone into the Army at the same time. He'd joined the Special Forces and had a whole different collection of experiences. Upon viewing me, I didn't expect my Mom to cry and I didn't expect her to shake her head and say, "I've lost my baby!"
The eighteen-hour flight home was only broken up by a re-fueling stop in Okinawa. I was buying a miniature tripod in a souvenir stand when I walked head long into a guy I'd known before we were in the Army. Taki Tzimeas would later become a dogcatcher for the City of Los Angeles until I talked him into becoming a Policeman. I've just recently retired from the LAPD and he's still out there doing it.
The account I've put down here is in no way meant to be a total picture. A lot of 174th guys experienced a lot of things that are not mentioned here, and this is merely a partial reflection of my observations and recollections from the days that I did make some notes. Some I was witness to and some were second hand from information I'd received from other observers or participants.
A number of years ago (1986) I went to Washington, D.C. for the 3rd reunion of the Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association (VHPA). I met Jim McDaniel at the Wall as we were both wearing our Shark patches. He was with his sons and we've been close friends ever since. That meeting motivated both of us to begin a search of all our 174th friends, and of all the periods. That search has resulted in a substantial number of us having contact today. I don't know of any of us who will ever forget.
After compiling this, I'm truly amazed that I had the good fortune to survive it. I have personal knowledge of only three other Warrant Officer pilots from my hometown; Pete Goodnight, John Souther and Doug Erb. I was the only one who survived to share our story. I miss them. We miss them all.
Completed April 23, 1999 at Big Tujunga Canyon, California. For my Wife Donna, Son Terry and Daughter Bonnie, I love you all.
------------------------
Fred Thompson
Shark 7, 1970/71
August 1948
- November 2002
Succumbed to lung cancer
8 November 2002
He went out as he lived
--- With style! ---
Goodbye Fred -- We'll miss you!
|
Return to top of the Biography Page.
