Author: David Freeman

David Freeman For several days near the end of 1971, we all knew something was going on, but only the select few were privy to the facts. The CO’s office was home to a bunch of closed door meetings with people from Can Tho. That was really unusual and naturally started the rumor mill flying.… Continue reading POW Rescue Attempt

David Freeman The first attack on the base camp outside of Tieu Can came just after midnight. It started with mortars–extremely accurate mortars. The first one landed inside the compound and left two ARVN soldiers dead. A few minutes later, the sniper fire started. The VC sniper obviously had a starlight scope. His firing into… Continue reading Raid on Tieu Can Outpost

David Freeman On December 9, we made a pickup in the South China Sea. It was a Dustoff mission that had been called in by the US Navy destroyer, the Arnold Isabel. An injured seaman required medical treatment at the Third Surg hospital in Binh Thuy. It was my first pickup at sea, but there… Continue reading Bad Day in the UMinh

David Freeman November 4, 1971 was a busy night for the 57th Medical Detachment, otherwise known as “Delta Dustoff.” 1Lt. Steve Hamman was the first-up Aircraft Commander. Though he had a seasoned crew in back, he was saddled with me as Peter Pilot. I had barely a month in country and had been on the… Continue reading A Typical Night

David Freeman I must be losing it. It’s my last day on the duty roster, the LZ’s hot, and I’m letting the Peter Pilot fly. Those are Australians out there–Free World Military Forces. They’re in contact, have four wounded, and we’re off Long Binh enroute to them. It started when we got a call in… Continue reading Last Mission

David Freeman With the Viet Cong on the move throughout the Delta, the VNAF Dustoff crews could not keep up with their missions. We began helping them again during the day, along with flying most of the night missions ourselves. Gunships were usually available during the daytime and we began to work regularly with Cobras… Continue reading Cobras in Action

David Freeman The compound at Navy Binh Thuy was seldom bothered by the VC. There were open fields all around and the fact that the airfield was home to both the Sea Wolves and the Black Ponies was obviously a deterrent to would-be aggressors. We did experience one attempt to breach the perimeter in mid-December… Continue reading Spades

David Freeman Our Hueys were equipped with four different radios. An Ultra High Frequency (UHF) and a Very High Frequency (VHF) were both used for air traffic control. Typically, military controllers and facilities use UHF, while civilian facilities use VHF. The fact that we had both didn’t do us much good in Vietnam, but VHF… Continue reading Radios

David Freeman Second day back from R&R and I drew First-up night. At least I wasn’t on the daytime shift. I wasn’t quite ready for Lai Khe standby and picking up wounded ARVNs in and around An Loc. Because I’d been gone for two weeks, Captain Jackson, the 159th’s CO and an IP gave me… Continue reading Night Rescue From a River Boat

David Freeman After we moved to Long Binh in March, 1972, we sent a crew to the Delta each week to support the few Americans that were left in that part of the country. We found an abandoned shack at the south end of the airfield and used this for staging the remote Dustoff Operations.… Continue reading Fireworks at Binh Thuy Ammo Dump