What we know about this incident comes from Major Al Chancey, USMC, who at the time of the explosion of General Hockmuth’s aircraft, was flying the chase helicopter mere meters away. According to Major Chancey in 2005:
“The flight schedule for 14 Nov 1967 was especially accommodating to someone who had been in-country only two weeks and flying for the first time as a HAC in Vietnam. Mission #58 was an admin flight —and a VIP admin flight to boot. The General would visit outlying units, giving us an opportunity to become more familiar with the area. Lt. “Rocky” Darger and I, along with a crew chief and gunner from HMM-263, would be flying chase on a UH-1E, piloted by qualified VIP pilots who would do the navigation and make the radio calls— a chance to watch, listen and learn. But I could never imagine how quickly I would come face to face with the painful realities of flying helicopters in combat. And among the things I learned this day was that there is nothing to prepare you for seeing an aircraft filled with Marines falling to earth in a ball of fire. The first reaction is unimaginable shock at the sight of an aircraft exploding in mid air only a few yards away, but the shock is momentarily tempered by total disbelief and the urgent action to avoid the debris. More lasting is the overpowering feeling of helplessness as the aircraft tumbles to earth and you realize you are witness to the last agonizing moments of life for the five men on board. Only later does the profound sadness settle into the pit of your stomach along with the nausea it creates. Even today, 38 years later, I often think of these few good Marines and what they might have done with their lives, and I pray that the loved ones they left behind have found peace.
“Upon being relieved on station by other aircraft we returned to the flight line at Phu Bai and shut down. By late afternoon the recovery team and security forces that were inserted were ready to be extracted and Lt. Darger and I joined a flight of four aircraft to help with the extraction. When we returned to the flight line and shut down this time we thought the harrowing day was finally over. Instead we were immediately escorted to a GP tent filled with flood lights, TV cameras and reporters with microphones and a steady barrage of leading questions. At this time the anti-war movement was at a peak in the US and it seemed the press just needed confirmation that the war was being lost. One reporter even tried to get Lt. Darger to admit that the crash was caused by a suicide attack carried out by an ARVN officer who was on the helicopter. There was an ARVN liaison officer aboard, Maj. Nguyen Ngco Chuong, but BGen. Robert Keller’s report attributed the crash to a tail rotor gearbox failure. The story, of course, was headline news in the papers and on TV back in the US where our families lived, including the much edited interview at Phu Bai. Even before the story broke a local reporter picked it up on the wire services and called my wife, who was one week away from delivering our son, and told her that her husband was involved in a helicopter crash that killed a general and wanted to know if she had any additional information. She knew nothing about the incident at the time and was obviously quite traumatized.”
This story is a reminder that there is almost nothing the military does that isn’t dangerous to life and limb. Our servicemen and women are regularly injured or killed in training accidents, as well as in actual combat operations —and some of those are accidental, as well. And here’s another reminder about this story: the American press are miserable cretins, dishonorable in the extreme. I sincerely hope that the media who imposed upon Mrs. Chancey all contracted a debilitating disease and suffered mightily before their corpses finally rotted away.
1 comment:
General Hochmuth was our Commanding General when I was at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, California. Later, in Viet Nam, I remember hearing about his chopper going down.
Your assessment, Mustang, of the American press is EXACTLY why I no longer had an interest in journalism and didn’t pursue a career in the ‘bought whore’ industry after my tour of duty in the Marine Corps.
My only hope is that the media, after contracting a debilitating disease, were able to maintain consciousness while maggots ran through their brain housing group and exited through their eye sockets BEFORE their corpses finally rotted away.
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