Update -

1st ANGLICO Marine Tom Petri is now writing a book on our Sub Unit One. Few Marines even know who ANGLICO was, but those of you who flew missions to allied forces, especially the Koreans, spoke with us on the receiving end.

If anyone wants to share information with Tom, I can provide his contact information.

Looking for Ch-46 pilots/Feb 68

As I read of this incident, it sure sounds familiar. I was crewchief on EP-1 HMM-265. It is very possible that my bird was the wing man for the bird you are talking about of this mission. I observed this since we were in orbit right over where all of what you discribed happened.

Just as you discribed, the lead bird landed in the zone to pick up a WIA. According to radio from the pilots on the ground, when the bird started to take fire the personnel (ROK) on the ground ran on board thus overloading the helicopter. The helicopter crew were in the process of getting the overload taken care of. The result was it sat too long in the zone. It was then I observed a tracer trail come from a near tree line. It was actually an RPG that hit some where near the aft pylon, rear main trans or engine compartment. I saw the dust from the rotor wash billow out and away from the helicopter as it moved forward and appeared to be taking off. It did not go very far before I saw more dust from the rotor wash appear and of which time the helicopter went down. There may have been radio traffic but I am not for sure. The bit I do remember is later that radio traffic came from one the pilots transmitting on his emergency survival radio on the ground out of the crashed helicopter and calling for medevac. At that time I was really up set that we did not go for a pickup emediately. My pilot chose to call in more assistance so we just continued to orbit till some one else came. This incident was a bummer for me not being able to go right down for a pickup. It may be such that I have blocked out what went after that. I think we may have just returned to base and let some other medevac take over.

This may or this may not be the incident you have mentioned but want to share with you my incident. The time frame is the same, we did operate that area, and we did work with ROK Marines.

a side note is, We just returned from Futema,Okinawa with fresh birds, completely reworked,beefed up aft pylon. We were there to rock and roll
We were based out of Marble so we never say the light of day at Marble, we left before sun up and returned after dark. We would shut down at the ROK's compound and eat at their mess halls. Had to see how they cooked and serve all the steaks we were supplying them with. Needless to say the ROK's boiled the steaks with rice so we had beef stew and rice

Basil Heth
"the Injun"
Semper Fi

Thank you Basil,

This incident is one of several that has been on my mind for 40 years. Whether or not you were on that mission, I thank you for supporting our Korean Marine Corps brothers, and the 1st ANGLICO Marine teams who were there with them. Many more wounded would have died without your courageous rescues, and some battles would have been lost without you guys improving the odds.

You spoke about Korean food, I swapped my C-rats for their K-rats for the duration, living on kimchee, spicy pork, squid, octupus, and they always shared their rice. At this time we had been without food for several days and they killed an awful tasting water buffalo, a pig and some chickens, always sharing with us.

Thanks again, Bro

Vance Hall,
1st ANGLICO Sub Unit One
04OCT67-24OCT68

Our incident not the same

bmheth;21523 wrote: It did not go very far before I saw more dust from the rotor wash appear and of which time the helicopter went down. There may have been radio traffic but I am not for sure. The bit I do remember is later that radio traffic came from one the pilots transmitting on his emergency survival radio on the ground out of the crashed helicopter and calling for medevac.
Basil Heth
"the Injun"
Semper Fi

None of the 46's that took fire actually went down so far as I know. The one during the day time though, left with my partner Jim Chally on board who had carried on a WIA. He said he was about to jump from 10 feet up when they took more fire and off they went.

In any case, thanks for keeping us (with the ROK Marines) alive.

S/F
Vance Hall

Call Sign

CRS disease was cured by the 1st ANGLICO Reunion in June. My call sign during this incident was "Nightcover One Four Bravo", the call sign for the 1st ANGLICO Marine accompanying 10th Co., 3rd Btn., 2nd ROK Marine Brigade.
If you heard that call sign, it was me calling for help.