Chopper (64-127)

Summary:

"The Battle of la Drang Valley":

In 1961, there was a helicopter pilot named Leland C. Komich. He made a lot of landings under heavy fire from oppositional forces. These flights were very dangerous. His army helicopter, the UH-1 Huey could be shot down. But, he risked his life to save over 33 wounded and 7 normal infantrymen. This comes at a high price though-- your life. You're endangering your own life to save another's. That is honorable and everyone should give the most respect to these type of people. He was constantly interested in the Army. He was born and raised in Massachusetts, and enlisted in 1960 to the Army. After 4 years he had pinned a lot of pins and ribbons to his suit.

Anyways, what happened in the battle of la Drang Vally, was ....well alot of things happened. That's why it was called a Battle. While pilots such as Komich were in the Bell UH-1 Huey helicopter, they got shot at, a lot. Komich stated that "when you can hear the popping, and see the muzzle flashes, then that's when it's really, really bad". One time, he recalls that he was transporting troops some ammo, and all of a sudden a bullet from an AK-47 entered the back of his helmet. "All you could see is blood spilling all over the place". Komich then decided that he had to go back to base to get he copilot treated for this injury. it wasn't a big injury, because it said in the book it only grazed his head, but still blood splattered all over the place. Another thing that happened during this Battle was many ambushes. The helicopter sometimes goes over the hills in Vietnam, and there, waiting for it is a convoy of Vietnamese soldiers. This was bad, and you had to know how to get out of one of these situations. Quickly and swiftly, you must have known how to pilot this chopper.

The main reason why it was called a battle was because there were a lot of casualties, and frequent ambushes, and many other things such as bullets being shot at the helicopters.

Quote:

"When Dallas Harper's Helicopter went down right in the middle of the la Drang Battle, we had a lot of complicated things to think about." (Dorr 95)

Reaction:
I could imagine that they have a lot of things to worry about. Such as bullets flying everywhere, when you're trying to save one of you're buddies. things were tough in that battle, and I could not even comprehend the way it must feel to have bullets being shot in your direction. Must have a lot of adrenaline...