Re: last man out

The pilot of the A/C that pulled the Ambassador off of the roof was Gerry Berry in an HMM-165 bird call sign Lady Ace 09....
That aircraft was repainted in our old green and it was flown to Pensacola for our Reunion in 2002 by Major Andrew Ryan, the self proclaimed youngest Major in the Marine Corps at that time..He was X. O. of HMM 772, a reserve squadron in Quantico, then.

Re: last man out

Joe Reed;33646 wrote: The pilot of the A/C that pulled the Ambassador off of the roof was Gerry Berry in an HMM-165 bird call sign Lady Ace 09....
That aircraft was repainted in our old green and it was flown to Pensacola for our Reunion in 2002 by Major Andrew Ryan, the self proclaimed youngest Major in the Marine Corps at that time..He was X. O. of HMM 772, a reserve squadron in Quantico, then.

The way the story has been told, one would think Gerry Berry did it all himself. I have met him before this mission and after. Indeed he would like to leave it that way.

We need to learn the names of the entire crew. There were many others involved - as always - and they need equal credit and acknowledgement.

Re: last man out

I believe that the last aircraft out was a bird from 164 that flew out the Marine Security Detachment the morning after the ambassador was evacuated.

Re: last man out

The last flight from the roof was Swift 22, HMM-164 on the morning of April 30,1975.
Sgt. Chris Woods was crew chief . He could tell you the Names of the pilots for this
mission to e vac the last of the MSG that were hold up on the roof.

Re: last man out

The Pilot was Capt. Holden and co-pilot Capt. Cook .

Re: last man out

According to the writeup on the Fall of Saigon Marines Assoc website ( http://fallofsaigon.org/woods.htm), the pilots were Capts Holden (p) and Cook (c/p). Sgt Chris Woods was the crew chief and Sgt Stan Hughes was the left gunner.

Re: last man out

Thanks to all. I new it was Hmm-164. But did not know the crew names. We are suppose to have one of the pilots as guess speaker at our MCB. I don't know which one it will be yet.

Clear to turn sir:eek:

Re: last man out

Sure Has been many stories about WHO and What Unit was the LAST one OUT! Myself I
wonder if we will ever really know,because for me I sure would not be counting but just make sure we hadn't left a Marine down there waving as we flew OFF. Then I still think of (What IF) we have still Men that some how was left there and No one knows for sure, Or the Ones we know but never have gotten Home yet. What a WAR! "The War Still Rages"

Re: last man out

HMM-164 has long been known as "The first in.,last out." This in reference to the 1st
'46 squadron 'in country' & the last US military a/c in & out of an LZ in RVN.
Official records support the former & photo evidence supports the latter. Kinda hard to dispute that big ol' YT on the aft pylon of the bird loading the MSG on the embassy roof top.
Seems to me that they also had huey guns flying close air for them.
Craze

Re: last man out

Who or What ever Was Last >>>>>>>..God was sure with them that Day! Also pray for those that MAY have been left behind.>>>>>> Pray that they ALL know that WE never wanted to Go out that way! God Give each and every person the Peace needed.

Re: last man out

mecollins;33667 wrote: HMM-164 has long been known as "The first in.,last out." This in reference to the 1st
'46 squadron 'in country' & the last US military a/c in & out of an LZ in RVN.
Official records support the former & photo evidence supports the latter. Kinda hard to dispute that big ol' YT on the aft pylon of the bird loading the MSG on the embassy roof top.
Seems to me that they also had huey guns flying close air for them.
Craze

If I remember what I have read, the escorts were Cobras and one of them went down into the sea, - I believe the pilot was rescued. Maybe it's in "The Fall of Saigon". I'll check my book.

The last Marines, alive, that were extracted were the MSG Marines after they were nearly forgotten and left behind, _ the last Marines to leave, dead, were McMahan and Judge, maybe a year later.

The two H53? pilots that died were extracting the Embassy, but being at sea, they were not considered as having died in RVN !!!!

Re: last man out

I don't remember losing any CH-53 pilots.

Re: last man out

No 53's lost during Frequent Wind. The air craft in guestion was yt-14 # 154042 a
Ch-46 D. 1st.lt Mike Shae who was lost on that flight was a 53 co-pilot.

Re: last man out

bunniemccosar;33808 wrote: If I remember what I have read, the escorts were Cobras and one of them went down into the sea, - I believe the pilot was rescued. Maybe it's in "The Fall of Saigon". I'll check my book.

Eight Cobras provided escort. Four flew with HMA-369 and four with HMH-462 (det from 369). 157792 (HMH-462) went down due to fuel starvation. The crew (Capt John W Bowman and 1st Lt David L Androskaut) were rescued by USS Kirk.

Re: last man out

Stephen R Wills;33831 wrote: No 53's lost during Frequent Wind. The air craft in guestion was yt-14 # 154042 a
Ch-46 D. 1st.lt Mike Shae who was lost on that flight was a 53 co-pilot.

Thanks for clearing that up. It's important to keep our history as accurate as possible.

Re: last man out

hma1369;33835 wrote: eight cobras provided escort. Four flew with hma-369 and four with hmh-462 (det from 369). 157792 (hmh-462) went down due to fuel starvation. The crew (capt john w bowman and 1st lt david l androskaut) were rescued by uss kirk.

i have pictures of this bird leaving the uss okinawa on its final flight. It left and never came back. The pilots returned the next morning unharmed.