My tour in South Vietnam was challenging, stimulating and maturing. I flew ‘slicks’ and gunships. My first ‘sortie’ was an unscheduled medevac into a village infiltrated by the Viet Cong (VC). We extracted wounded South Vietnamese while under fire. A US adviser was killed by the VC that night. I wasn’t at the scene. I also participated in the battle of Binh Ba as co-pilot in Bushranger 71 (the lead gunship). We destroyed several houses under fire and engaged North Vietnamese Army soldiers. We winched wounded soldiers from 5RAR from the jungle during a firefight and our aircraft was damaged. It was demanding, yet satisfying work.
Service No. O317557