Gio Linh

I was not at that time Aviation. I was during that period assigned to 1st Bn, 12 Mar Artillery, B Btry. (Camp Carroll) I was a Scout sgt for that battery. I remember that crash well. I saw it from the ground. At the time I was with 9 Marines. I served principly in that area. (DMZ) All the way from Khe Sanh,Con Thien, Cam Lo, to C1, C2, C3, C4, and the Cau Viet. (Camp Kistler.) Came in at LZ Vandergrift. Beautifull downtown Dong Ha. I am glad you all made it out OK. Memories. Semper Fi.

I was the copilot of YZ-72 (the H-34 on its side). I received an email from Mike Hoskins who was in Charlie Battery at Gio Linh the night of our crash. He sent me the following which was completely unknown to the aircrews of YZ-78 & YZ-72 the night of the crash. Reflected back on this, I am grateful that we didn't know this intelligence.

A footnote to this crash came as a result of an email that I received from a Marine attached to the artillery unit based at Gio Linh on May 11, 2004. He identified himself as Mike Hostler of Charlie Battery of the Marine artillery unit. He was at Gio Linh the night of the crash. Mike advised me that he was writing a book about his experiences during 2 months he was at Gio Linh. He had discovered my account of the crash on the Popasmoke website and wanted me to provide a more detailed account and my pictures so he could include this in his book. I answered him and began exchanging information. On May 14, 2004, Mike sent me the following:

Paul:

I just printed your email to start adding the story to the manuscript and after rereading the message, I realized I had not answered your questions. I think I mentioned I am in contact with the then battalion commander of Gio Linh, Lieutenant Colonel Bill Rice. He commented on your helicopters going down in the DMZ, I will include his memories at the end of the email. I do not know if the helicopters were restored to flight status, I do know they were fully recovered.

Colonel Rice dispatched a reinforced Marine Company to recover the helicopters. The rumor of them taking heavy causalities is not true nor is the artillery and mortar story. I have a good friend that was sent with the company, he was a driver of an Ontos. He has told me they first had orders to enter the DMZ with infantry but when the all staged on the border, an order from 3rd Marine Division came through, no armor was allowed to go into the "Z," only the grunts. They went in and it was a pretty uneventful recovery. Go figure though, a sniper starts shooting at the armor column staged on the edge of the DMZ, not the personal on foot; he was "eradicated" by a tank round.

They all returned safely, but here is the twist to your crash that amazes me to this day after reading your story. The evening of 20 March 1967 through the early morning hours of the 21st the North Vietnamese attacked Gio Linh with artillery and mortars. This was the first use of artillery in the Vietnam War by the Communists. We engaged them and "survived" their initial salvos.

They had us reconned and bracketed. We were attacked by 11 - 100 mm field guns (long range artillery, over 19,000 meters) and 9 - 105 mm howitzers. The 100s were to our northwest and the 105s to our northeast. They came in under the Army's 5 mile limit for their 175s so it was my 105 battery against them. We were caught in a 20-6 gun crossfire and did not have their locations.

As mentioned we survived the initial assault although we took a lot of hits no one was killed that night. I think there were 50+ wounded and you guys were great in getting our Marines out under heavy incoming fire. Communist military records indicate they fired 1,162 rounds of artillery and 350-82 mm mortar rounds that night.

We were still alive at 0200H when permission was finally given to allow aerial reconnaissance over the DMZ. The NVA artillery battalion to our northeast was located and we took them out with 90 rounds in a heartbeat. What they could not do in eight hours, we did in five minutes. I don't know how to explain our survival, it truly was a miracle.

There were also 6,000 NVA soldiers within 1 1/2 miles of Gio Linh, mostly concentrated west/northwest of the firebase. They were staging for an eventual ground attack on the firebase that came in a halfhearted attempt the early morning hours of 28 April after they attacked a second time with artillery. We did not fare as well that night due to a change in battlefield tactics by the NVA.

Your part in this? You crashed in the "middle of" those 6,000 NVA regulars. The DMZ was also crawling with NVA artillery personnel, pulling their weapons back out and remember, we were probed almost every night by Gook ground forces, who would have had to pass by you coming and going to Gio Linh the night of the 22nd.

Also, after being hit so hard the 20th and 21st, we were not hit the night of the 22nd. The four mortars you received was probably a message telling you they knew you were there. I also believe from my research, the probable reason they did not come after you and your crews were they were still trying to move their artillery under the cover of darkness.

Most of it was towed by animals and would require a great effort on their part to relocate it. We had caught them towing the 105s with elephants north of the Ben Hai in two northeast quadrants on the 21st; we took out the "Dumbos" and their artillery. They had no choice at that time because we had found them the night before but they were still trying to save their 100s from us and night was the only time they could somewhat safely move. I think that is what saved you from death or imprisonment; fate is a funny thing, literally the odds were 6,000 to 6-8? All were reported to be within walking distance of the PF hamlet you were in...

I have attached a picture of my gun (4) parapet; we took a direct hit from a 100 mm round that night as did our Gun 2 also a few of incoming craters and of helicopters landing at Gio Linh.
Saepe Expertus, Semper Fidelis, Frates Aeterni
Often Tested, Always Faithful, Brothers Forever

Mike