A door gunners story

[727Sky]

Good story good pictures and music


Funny OH-6 pilot story

[727Sky]

Just some period music from a time long ago : For some it might bring back some memories.

[hounddoghowlie]

Good story good pictures and music

157 dead gooks killed and 50 water buffalo to,....them are all certified.

best damn door gunner ever.

[727Sky]

Some day if I get motivated I will tell the story of whem flying how I was nearly killed by a hostile Elephant charge while airborne.

[drussell41]

Some day if I get motivated I will tell the story of whem flying how I was nearly killed by a hostile Elephant charge while airborne.

Please do!

[727Sky]

I had been in country for about three months as was still a new guy right seater. I was flying with Captain Vance who was the aircraft commander. Vance's call sign was Possum as everyone in the unit had their own nick name call sign. Vance was from West Virginia with an accent that would put a west Texas accent to shame. I flew several times with Possum and we always made it back alive.

This particular day we had been doing an 8 ship insertion with two snakes (Cobra gun ships) their call signs were Delta 21 and Delta 23 who seemed to fly with us quite a bit. Delta 23 was famous for putting rockets on target and even shooting rather close to you when on final approach to an L.Z.

We were returning to an out lying base to rearm and load up more troops for a later mission when someone in our flight called "Elephant" !

There were no friendly elephants in our area of operation as the NVA used them to carry heavy rockets and ammo.

Someone in the flight called in for a clearance to fire but we were told friendly were a few clicks to our south from our guesstimated position. The thing I liked about our unit is sometimes we paid attention to the REMF (MF does not stand for "My Friend") sometimes we didn't.

Vance had purchased a brand new camera and wanted to get some pictures of the elephant so he had me fly down to the spot where the elephant was standing in a big open area in about 3 feet of water. I brought the bird down to a hover in front of the elephant which had huge tusk and appeared to be very healthy. Vance was clicking away with his camera and saying get closer, closer, closer, until I was nose to nose and the rotor blades were almost over lapping the elephant's head.

The whole time the elephant just stared at us and stood it's ground..... until.... It filled it's trunk with water and charged while spraying enough water to make it impossible to see out of the front wind screen. I pulled pitch to gain altitude as the creature passed under us making all kinds of elephant noises which you could hear over the noise of the helicopter and through our helmets !

I remember thinking what a letter would have said if we would have been killed...." Mrs. Sky we are sorry to inform you your son was killed while flying a combat assault by a charging elephant. You have our condolences."

As we climbed up Delta 23 shot his only remaining missile at the elephant and missed !! He never lived that down.

I saw many things killed in Nam but few things remain with me like the death of that beautiful animal. He was put down with about 2500 rounds of mini gun from Delta 21. Some guys went back later and removed the tusk. I was offered a piece but I did not want anything to do with it.

As the elephant was sat down dying Vance had me fly back down for a few more pictures. He snapped a couple of pics and then pulled out his S.W. 38 revolver and shot the elephant between the eyes. Timing is everything as the elephant just lay over on its side and other than a few twitches he moved no more.

A .38 would never penetrate the skull of an elephant and would be nothing more than a thorn prick but like I said timing is everything. As the elephant rolled over Vance brought his arm and .38 back into the cockpit and blew over the end of the pistol to clear the smoke and make like a movie gesture. Vance's full call sign afterwords was "Possum the elephant killer" or PEK.

[drussell41]

I had been in country for about three months as was still a new guy right seater. I was flying with Captain Vance who was the aircraft commander. Vance's call sign was Possum as everyone in the unit had their own nick name call sign. Vance was from West Virginia with an accent that would put a west Texas accent to shame. I flew several times with Possum and we always made it back alive.

This particular day we had been doing an 8 ship insertion with two snakes (Cobra gun ships) their call signs were Delta 21 and Delta 23 who seemed to fly with us quite a bit. Delta 23 was famous for putting rockets on target and even shooting rather close to you when on final approach to an L.Z.

We were returning to an out lying base to rearm and load up more troops for a later mission when someone in our flight called "Elephant" !

There were no friendly elephants in our area of operation as the NVA used them to carry heavy rockets and ammo.

Someone in the flight called in for a clearance to fire but we were told friendly were a few clicks to our south from our guesstimated position. The thing I liked about our unit is sometimes we paid attention to the REMF (MF does not stand for "My Friend") sometimes we didn't.

Vance had purchased a brand new camera and wanted to get some pictures of the elephant so he had me fly down to the spot where the elephant was standing in a big open area in about 3 feet of water. I brought the bird down to a hover in front of the elephant which had huge tusk and appeared to be very healthy. Vance was clicking away with his camera and saying get closer, closer, closer, until I was nose to nose and the rotor blades were almost over lapping the elephant's head.

The whole time the elephant just stared at us and stood it's ground..... until.... It filled it's trunk with water and charged while spraying enough water to make it impossible to see out of the front wind screen. I pulled pitch to gain altitude as the creature passed under us making all kinds of elephant noises which you could hear over the noise of the helicopter and through our helmets !

I remember thinking what a letter would have said if we would have been killed...." Mrs. Sky we are sorry to inform you your son was killed during a combat assault by a charging elephant. You have our condolences."

As we climbed up Delta 23 shot his only remaining missile at the elephant and missed !! He never lived that down.

I saw many things killed in Nam but few things remain with me like the death of that beautiful animal. He was put down with about 2500 rounds of mini gun from Delta 21. Some guys went back later and removed the tusk. I was offered a piece but I did not want anything to do with it.

As the elephant was sat down dying Vance had me fly back down for a few more pictures. He snapped a couple of pics and then pulled out his S.W. 38 revolver and shot the elephant between the eyes. Timing is everything as the elephant just lay over on its side and other than a few twitches he moved no more.

A .38 would never penetrate the skull of an elephant and would be nothing more than a thorn prick but like I said timing is everything. As the elephant rolled over Vance brought his arm and .38 back into the cockpit and blew over the end of the pistol to clear the smoke and make like a movie gesture. Vance's full call sign afterwords was "Possum the elephant killer" or PEK.

What a story!  No one expects Death by Elephant while airborne.

It made me burst out laughing at one point, but the ending.   I wish the elephant hadn't been killed.

[727Sky]

I wish the elephant had not been killed too as through no fault of his own he was being used for nefarious purposes.

I have actually wondered how many human lives were saved by the death of the elephant as like I said, they were used to pull and or pack pack heavy weapons/ammo/rockets/mortars into position to hit targets chosen by the NVA or VC.

[drussell41]

I wish the elephant had not been killed too as through no fault of his own he was being used for nefarious purposes.

I have actually wondered how many human lives were saved by the death of the elephant as like I said, they were used to pull and or pack pack heavy weapons/ammo/rockets/mortars into position to hit targets chosen by the NVA or VC.

Yeah, that changes the complexion of the whole thing.

[guohua]

@"727Sky" 
 Awesome Story.

[PLOTUS]

I wish the elephant had not been killed too as through no fault of his own he was being used for nefarious purposes.

I have actually wondered how many human lives were saved by the death of the elephant as like I said, they were used to pull and or pack pack heavy weapons/ammo/rockets/mortars into position to hit targets chosen by the NVA or VC.

Yeah, that changes the complexion of the whole thing.

Agggggg.............. PTSD We killed several Elephants while I was there. Vietnam was a war of horrors and deprivation, all in hostile environments where a life was worth no more than a can of peaches from your C Ration box. The first time I went out as a door gunner was un eventful, and it was also scary. Setting on the right side of the Slick with nothing between you and the world but an M60 machine gun and ammo can. Yes killing elephants I had forgotten until this post, and re-hearing of it gave me closed eye shakes and convulsions. And I'm looking nowhere with my eyes closed right now, empty inside, quiet, remembering, remorseful, in great Angst.

[PLOTUS]

This was us, my Wobblies Mr. MaGee and Kato, my Crew Chief Mike Raney from Utica NY. I was a door gunner in Company D in the second platoon. Every day we would fly

And every day we would pray. It started with fear when I first became a Gunner, then quickly Jaded to Hate. A Hate you could not escape, no letter from home could fix, no Joints could calm, a life of deprivation and constant awareness you were a trigger pull from death. 
I too went to the Republic of Vietnam in 1970, in August, just a few month later. 19 years old, from Southern California, now I had become Death, much like Robert Oppenheimer had said of the bomb he created.  I really only had four friends while there, well five with my Crew Chief, and if you counted my wobblies who were officers that we were seperated from as policy between officers and enlisted. Wobblies were another name for  Pilots and Co-pilots.  We had a few die. I remember Owens and JJ incinerated  in a Loach by a rocket the NVA fired at them. That same  day, or evening rather, my one friend Cricket from Barstow Ca. picking shrapnel out of my side and arm pit, pieces of copper. It went on... the war didn't stop for that little nuisance.  There was Cricket, and Pete, they both went through Basic and Advanced training with me, then in Vietnam there were two 'Lee's' , my hooch maid and a Cambodian Scout named Lee. I grew to be Very attached to both and heart broke I could not bring them back to the world with me. The rest all made it back to the world, Cricket first, then me, then Mike and later the wobblies. By then if you crossed me I could waste you for very little provocation. I later learned to tame my anger and hostility.

The Elephants........ that hurts, even now...

[PLOTUS]

Titty mountain was always a good sight, it meant you were only about ten minutes away from home on your fire base. 

[drussell41]

I wish the elephant had not been killed too as through no fault of his own he was being used for nefarious purposes.

I have actually wondered how many human lives were saved by the death of the elephant as like I said, they were used to pull and or pack pack heavy weapons/ammo/rockets/mortars into position to hit targets chosen by the NVA or VC.

Yeah, that changes the complexion of the whole thing.

Agggggg.............. PTSD We killed several Elephants while I was there. Vietnam was a war of horrors and deprivation, all in hostile environments where a life was worth no more than a can of peaches from your C Ration box. The first time I went out as a door gunner was un eventful, and it was also scary. Setting on the right side of the Slick with nothing between you and the world but an M60 machine gun and ammo can. Yes killing elephants I had forgotten until this post, and re-hearing of it gave me closed eye shakes and convulsions. And I'm looking nowhere with my eyes closed right now, empty inside, quiet, remembering, remorseful, in great Angst.

I'm sorry it brought it all back. 

My husband was a door gunner/crew chief there also.  He never mentioned Viet Nam elephants.....only the herd killed in Rhodesia afterwards.

[Ninurta]

I had been in country for about three months as was still a new guy right seater. I was flying with Captain Vance who was the aircraft commander. Vance's call sign was Possum as everyone in the unit had their own nick name call sign. Vance was from West Virginia with an accent that would put a west Texas accent to shame. I flew several times with Possum and we always made it back alive.

I'll bet you dollars against donuts that I'm kin to Captain Vance. Many, many moons ago, when the Earth was still young, Abner Vance shot Lewis Horton out of the saddle while Horton was crossing Clinch River. Vance shot Horton for "debauching" Vance's daughter, as the story goes. Anyhow, old man Vance pulled up stakes out of Russell County, VA, and moved his whole family farther into the interior, up to Levisa Fork in Buchanan County in order to evade the varmint sheriff seeking to arrest him for what he considered a justifiable homicide.

Abner was hung in Abingdon, VA, in around 1816 I believe, after the sheriff caught up with him and a trial was held. It was a pretty famous case back in the day. There is still a song, "the Ballad of Abner Vance", about it. Several versions of the song, as a matter of fact.

Anyhow, from Levisa Fork, the Vance tribe fanned out in all directions - back closer to civilization in VA, further down Levisa into KY, and across the ridge into what is now WV, but was still VA back then. They were a part of the Hatfield clan of "Hatfield and McCoy feud" fame. That feud was fought back and forth across Tug Fork of Levisa. Devil Anse Hatfield's mother was a Vance, and her brother, Uncle Jim Vance, was a primary player in the feud, and probably the instigator of it when he killed Asa Harmon just after the Civil War.

Abner Vance was my a-few-greats-back grand daddy... and I bet he was Captain Vance's, too. That also puts both of us as kin to the Hatfields...

... but he's at least one up on me. I ain't never shot an elephant with a .38!

.

[Ninurta]

My husband was a door gunner/crew chief there also.  He never mentioned Viet Nam elephants.....only the herd killed in Rhodesia afterwards.

Was he RLI? They were accepting a lot of "foreign volunteers" into the RLI in Rhodesia back in the day. A lot of Vietnam vets found their way there.


"Be a man among men" was what all the RLI recruiting posters said.

.

[guohua]

Mr. G, here: Never heard of Elephant's attacking humans on purpose there, but yes, they could and did destroy a village I knew of. 
We all had Prickly-Heat, do elephants get Prickly-Heat? 
Door Gunner,,,, NO, Not this Ground-Pounder.

[drussell41]

My husband was a door gunner/crew chief there also.  He never mentioned Viet Nam elephants.....only the herd killed in Rhodesia afterwards.

Was he RLI? They were accepting a lot of "foreign volunteers" into the RLI in Rhodesia back in the day. A lot of Vietnam vets found their way there.


"Be a man among men" was what all the RLI recruiting posters said.

.

I asked; he doesn't want me to discuss it beyond saying it was for a game ranch. Sorry.

[Ninurta]

My husband was a door gunner/crew chief there also.  He never mentioned Viet Nam elephants.....only the herd killed in Rhodesia afterwards.

Was he RLI? They were accepting a lot of "foreign volunteers" into the RLI in Rhodesia back in the day. A lot of Vietnam vets found their way there.


"Be a man among men" was what all the RLI recruiting posters said.

.

I asked; he doesn't want me to discuss it beyond saying it was for a game ranch.  Sorry.

No problem. That tells me all I need to know. I know how things went in Rhodesia before it became Zimbabwe. He wasn't so very different from me during my Central American sojourn.

Sometimes you just gotta do a nocturne in the 10-ring.

.