| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
February 3, 1968
February 3rd, what a day. It was raining and the sky was overcast. We were going on a mission and
1st platoon had started loading onto a Chinook helicopter. Just minutes from now, we would be shot
down, Brandon will die, and the rest of us would received a welcome message from charlie.
We heard pings hit the chopper. I looked out the small window and saw flashes below in the wood
line next to the flooded rice paddies. That is when I notice the ground coming up fast and the smoke
coming from the chopper.
It was a rough landing but the chopper was in one piece. We ran out the rear door and took up a
defensive positions in the rice paddies. Fisher was the furtherest out and to my left. Everything was
happening fast. The flight crew repaired the chopper and we got out of there.
Brandon was killed by a rifle round through the floor of the chopper. Everyone wondered who would
be first.
Story by: Floyd Turnley
1st platoon had started loading onto a Chinook helicopter. Just minutes from now, we would be shot
down, Brandon will die, and the rest of us would received a welcome message from charlie.
We heard pings hit the chopper. I looked out the small window and saw flashes below in the wood
line next to the flooded rice paddies. That is when I notice the ground coming up fast and the smoke
coming from the chopper.
It was a rough landing but the chopper was in one piece. We ran out the rear door and took up a
defensive positions in the rice paddies. Fisher was the furtherest out and to my left. Everything was
happening fast. The flight crew repaired the chopper and we got out of there.
Brandon was killed by a rifle round through the floor of the chopper. Everyone wondered who would
be first.
Story by: Floyd Turnley
Photos provide by:
Jim Lanning
Jim Lanning
This is the Chinook we were in when we were shot down.
|
