News Letter April 2007

| home

“The Monthly Diamondhead”

April 2007

Editor-Reporter-Chief Cook-Web Slave-

Ron Leonard

918-429-0252

E- mail: webmaster@25thaviation.org

This page survives strictly on Donations, no Donations no exist.

Web Page Accounting as of NOW

Note:

Please Add Yourself to our electronic US MAP "Where We Are", then I can loose all these pins and flags on my wall

Company Stuff:

This month we brought several new people to the fold of long lost 25th Aviation Personnel. Newly found personnel:

For the Little Bears we added Clifford Mosier and Jess Forester

For Diamondhead we drew a blank this month

For HHD we found , absolutely no one

After doing quite a bit of research on our members past and present. It is evident that now more than 25% of us are pushing up daisies in a grave somewhere, or sitting in an urn on someone's mantle. Sad but true people, we are getting old.

Notifications:

I wish to apologize for being so out of touch these last couple of months. Since the pickup truck that hit my house and turned my office upside down with me in it, my neck and back have been screwed up and I just cant sit at a computer to long at a time. I have had to go to the chiropractor several times a week, and get worked over. Finally I am almost back to normal after four months or so.

To go along with that I have been taking a photography class at the local college, and taking baseball and basketball pictures for them, and afew local high schools. See http://Ron Leonard.eventpictures.com

I will be leaving for Alaska for the summer in afew days, so I am making a concentrated effort to get this edition out before I leave. I will start something new this year, I will just keep a daily blog spot for the summer, instead of the usual compilation at the end of the trip. It can be found at http://25thaviation.org/blog , and it will assure the end product is much better than in the past.

During April I went to visit my daughter in Connecticut, it rained the entire time so not much but visiting got accomplished, although Ed Davis drove up to meet me for lunch, and we had a good chat. More would have came but the weather was calling for a nor easter and they stayed home for safety's sake. As it turned out the airlines had canceled many flights and it was a true adventure getting back home.

On the 21st of April I drove to Dallas to attend the Donut Dollie Reunion. It was fun to visit with a couple of the gals I hadn't seen in nearly 40 years. But believe me, the petite round eyed 20 year olds we all remember have changed just a little bit, but then haven't we all.:)

While there I ran into Susan Mclean, (Ginny Kirsch was her friend) and George Slook? He is writing a book about Ginny Kirsch, the Donut Dollie who was murdered in 1969 at Cu Chi. The mystery after all these years is finally solved..but hey that is another story, so stay tuned.

During the reunion Arrowhead Films who produced In The Shadow of The Blade previewed their new film about the Red Cross Girls, "A Touch Of Home". It will be a winner just as Shadow was. As time allows I will add more to the events in Dallas, and post afew more pictures. If any of you remember some of the girls by name, ask me and I can most likely help you locate them, with a little help from my friends:)

Cheryl Fries (Arrowhead Films lower center)

Afew Pictures of the gals

I have a pretty big list of dead email addresses, if you have a new one please let me know " If you are dead" you didn't give notice

first :)

We still have afew of our reunion coins available. There was only 100 made so they will be collectors items. If you want one let me know. They are $10 and the proceeds go into the reunion fund. If you have paypal, my account is webmaster@25thaviation.org,

or mail a check to

Ron Leonard

PO Box 1451

Krebs Ok

74554

The real deal

The new Association patches are in, they are 12" in diameter and suitable to frame, or sew on the back of a jacket.

Cost is $15 each, and includes shipping send a check or money order to :

Charlie Rodgers

12011 Las Nubes St.

San Antonio, TX 78233-5942

Care Packages:

The 25th Aviation Regiment is deployed to Iraq as we speak, so how about it send them a little something from us old guys. It will be apppreciated.

CSM Rob Felder or LTC Frank Tate

TF 2-25th Avn

FOB Speicher

APO AE 09393

History:

We have approached a very special point in time. There is a window open to us to tell our stories, to get our side of the story told. Every day this window gets smaller, as can be attested to by the number of our members that have left us since coming home. If you can all just take the time to sit down, and write that one good story, send it to me so I can record it. This way the historical events are not forgotten. Don't worry about it being perfect, I can fix it up for you.

I'll make it easy for you, below is a composite of events from the Daily Journals from 1968. Most of the import things are left in tact and most unimportant things have been omitted. If you can make comments on the events of those days listed, or others, drop me a note and I will add them to the list of events with our stories, news articles etc. If I can get a little cooperation with this I will do it for the rest of the years.

Marlin Price made this copy afew years ago and it is listed on the web page, but no one seemed to give a hoot where it was posted, so lets try it this way.

Enjoy

Ron:

To get you in the right frame of mind, watch this first then this ..almost as good as flying again!

		25th Aviation Battalion Battle Staff Log
		Items of interest taken from the 1968 Staff Log. All mortar and rocket attacks are noted if listed in log.
		Little Bear aircraft are usually listed by aircraft number. Diamondhead aircraft are seldom listed by number
		But are often listed by their mission number such as DH10, DH20 or LFt for Light Fire Team

		This compilation done to assist in research. Items of interest can be found in the actual Staff Log
		At the date and time indicated.

Date	Time	Incident

2-Jan	250	LB Scramble for Emergency Resupply of Katum
	1352	FSB Bert On Fire, Ammo Exploding
17-Jan	1525	POL and Rearm on Fire
19-Jan	1244	DH170 and DH603 took numerous hits from mortar attack. 3 crew had minor wounds
19-Jan	1945	Mortar Attack LB Orderly Room Hit, Shower hit, 1 UH1D damaged, NCO Club minor damage, Hq. Major Damage.
20-Jan	700	DH961 major damage to main and tail rotor from mortars, DH657 minor damage, OH808 2 minor holes
20-Jan	900	25th Aviation notified they will be receiving 3 UH-1H, 1 in Jan, 1 in Feb, and 1 in Mar. UH-1ds to be turned in.
	1450	DH? Compressor stall on sniff mission, jettisoned rocket pods
	2100	DH603 sheared trunnion, Pipesmoke from Tay Ninh
	2110	Mortar Attack
30-Jan	1455	DH808 down NW of Mushroom XT576332, Pipesmokeed
31-Jan	305	Mortar Attack
	325	Mortar Attack
	430	Mortar Attack
	440	LB631 Crashed inside Dau Tieng - Engine Failure, Pilot Bankhead has broken leg
	453	Mortar Attack
	533	Mortar Attack
	550	Runway damage reported
	725	LB118 has 20 holes, LB915 has 10 holes
	850	DH1 received hits, down at Ton Son Nhut
1-Feb	250	Mortat Attack, HHC assembling reaction force
	1910	Mortar Attack
	2100	2 rounds in Bear Pit
2-Feb	420	Mortar Attack
	555	Mortar Attack
	655	Mortar Attack
3-Feb	310	Mortar Attack
	355	Mortar Attack
4-Feb	5	Mortar Attack
	230	Mortar Attack
	500	Mortar Attack
5-Feb	1800	DH708 at 12th Evac, ocket Pod Exploded, Gunner hit - WIA
	1800	DH210 Smokey took hits
7-Feb	2315	Mortar Attack
11-Feb	100	Mortar Attack
13-Feb	30	Mortar Attack
15-Feb	2237	Mortar Attack
17-Feb	2400	Mortar Attack
18-Feb	715	Mortar Attack
21-Feb	132	Mortar Attack
	1315	LB142 Mayday - down at 7296 - AC shot down XS573934, Crew out and safe
22-Feb	650	Mortar Attack
23-Feb	110	Mortar Attack
	700	Mortar Attack
28-Feb	100	Mortar Attack
	200	Mortar Attack
	2200	Mortar Attack
	2337	Mortar Attack
Feb-29	116	Mortar Attack
	453	Mortar Attack
	1120	Mortar Attack
	1915	Mortar Attack
	2309	Mortar Attack
1-Mar	720	Mortar Attack
	1505	OH23D #6312867 hit tree at XT849052
	2330	DH6 engages sanpan at XT670971 sanpan destroyed, 2 KIA
4-Mar	1925	LB615 fires on friendly troops after being fired upon at XT710095 3WIA
5-Mar	2205	Mortar Attack
6-Mar	120	Rocket Attack
	625	Rocket Attack
8-Mar	115	DH10 2 of 12 rockets exploed 50ft in front of aircraft
8-Mar	1825	LB628 Down to unk Cause at XT712070, Pipesmoked
	2145	Disturbance at NCO club, Sgt Fannin, Alexander, Shaffer, and Harvey
10-Mar	1350	Mortar Attack
	1900	DH LFT fired on US troops, unk casualties
11-Mar	630	Mortar Attack
13-Mar	1050	DH961 hit tree, chin bubble out
14-Mar	200	Mortar Attack
	445	Mortar Attack
	1905	Mortar Attack
15-Mar	515	Mortar Attack
16-Mar	1135	DH808 took 2 rounds through chin bubble no injuries
17-Mar	1005	A and B company area receives AW fire
20-Mar	700	All missions late due to early morning Ground Fog
21-Mar	1630	DH829 took 5 rounds had to be pipesmoked
2-Apr	710	LB080 Down at Tay Ninh due to transmission and power failure
7-Apr	210	Mortar Attack
10-Apr	1405	LB 622 Down at XT782122, rolls on side, burning. Crew out and recovered by LB 628
	2200	Mortar Attack
	2225	LB 577 took 10-15 schrapnel hits in Bear Pit
	2255	Bunker officer states Bunker 65 has 122 rocket embedded in ground 30 meters from bunker.
15-Apr	1030	Mortar Attack
20-Apr	1215	Mortar Attack
21-Apr	650	LB 065 down east of Trang Bang XT529229, Crew uninjured
23-Apr	2005	Mortar Attack
24-Apr	1440	DH961 door blew off
1-May	1405	DH 170 accidential discharge of 6 rockets, no damage. WO1 Haymer, SP4 Harkenberg, SP5 Farren,
		Sp4 Godfrey. 1 rocket hit 4th/9th mess hall
5-May	405	Mortar Attack - Incoming rounds hit Orderly room - 4 WIA
	620	DH23 Pilot hit
	1315	Mortar Attack
6-May	250	Mortar Attack
	715	Mortar Attack
7-May	1130	LB Emergency resupply to Conex City
	1740	LB 634 down at VIP Pad due to FOD
9-May	200	Mortar Attack
10-May	645	Mortar Attack
11-May	1000	Mortar Attack
14-May	730	DH815 took hits in tail rotor while in bunker
16-May	1735	Mortar Attack, day room has minor damage
	2120	DH603 autorotates at XT792981, Crew, radios and guns out
19-May	220	DH31 (Wingman) puts door guns on friendly position, no mention of any WIAs
21-May	1407	DH20 hit and down 500m NW Cu Chi, pilot wounded XT643215
23-May	750	Mortar Attack
	1845	DH10 gunner receives schrapnel wounds in face
	2040	Infiltrators inside the wire
25-May	920	Mortar Attack
29-May	1455	LB 633 Hit by Ground Fire, down at Katum

4-Jun	104	Rocket Attack
	325	Rocket Attack
	2115	B Company reports possible sabotage to OH23 cooling fans
5-Jun	1035	LB 577 down 6K north of Trung Lap - Excessive Tail Rotor vibration - Pipesmoke
6-Jun	920	LB 629 down at Trang Bang due to compressor stall
	1845	DH2 LFT hit by unk explosive, 1 WIA, enroute 12th Evac
	1945	DH210 examined, 1 large cal round hit rocket pod, exploded 1 rocket, shrapnel cuts bungee and m60 goes out
7-Jun	1825	OH23 down at XT 625154
9-Jun	305	all ARVN compounds in vicinity of Cu Chi under attack. Bunker line reinforced.
11-Jun	140	DH11 takes two hits , all normal, DH10 confirs one hit
23-Jun	300	DH10 recieves intense 50 cal fire off Cu Chi
28-Jun	1255	DH10 receive hits, neg injuries, continuing mission
	1320	DH111 and DH 174 both receive hits at XT5023
10-Jul	1000	OH23 #317 down at XT 6443 Engine Failure
22-Jul	1455	DH961 Reports CS canister exploded in ship
26-Jul	956	Viking C&C crashed on Takeoff at Viking VIP pad Tan Son Nhut. Crew OK, extensive damage to undercarriage
27-Jul	2130	DISCOM informs BTOC that 9th VC Div supported by local VC and 200 122 Rockets have orders to attack
		Cu Chi July 22-29. With orders to hold Cu Chi for 2 days
31-Jul	1830	DH? Down at XT7516 loss of oil pressure
5-Aug	1505	LB 629 down at Hoc Mon XS7303, 086 to recover personnel
	1926	LB 627 hit by ground fire DH5 shot in foot while riding in LB627
8-Aug	2036	DH539 received 14 hits and is down
	2258	LB 627 tail rotor failure, landed on active
9-Aug	1303	DH42 reports receiving SA fire XT723005 at 1200 ft.
11-Aug	1700	DH 535 down at Hoc Mon bridge, low oil pressure, pipesmoked to beach
13-Aug	1130	LB 577 hit in tail rotor drive shaft
14-Aug	1205	LB 637 15 min overdue at Trang Bang, diverted LB819 to look for aircraft
	1255	LB 814 spots LB 637 crashed on road XT458951, Two injured, both 101st.
	1528	LB 637 crashed at LZ 745851 2 injured, both 101st
	2030	LB 629 hit by ground fire picking up crew
18-Aug	753	LB 633 sent to Tay Ninh, Pilot Lt. Labarsh hit by small arms
	820	LB 120 took hits it Radio
	1512	LB 633 crashed on Nui Ba Dinh, heavy damage, 1 broken leg, dustoff unable to land due to weather
19-Aug	1015	LB 142 has engine failure at Tay Hinh POL
	1345	LB 142 crashes inside perimeter on Nui Ba Dinh, heavy damage. CG injured back. Dustoff
21-Aug	1025	LB 153 requests pipesmoke due to damage from claymore mine.
	1405	LB 577 reports Dau Tieng under heavy mortar attack
	1615	LB 677 shot down XT276513
24-Aug	1105	ADAO reports unk aircraft flying over MP jeep and dropped smoke on drivers head
25-Aug	1302	LB 120 reports crew chief shot in leg, evac.
	1830	DH 174 had hit
29-Aug	1415	LB 636 down at Trung Lap, All safe.
4-Sep	1637	LB667 hit by schrapnel on Ground at FSB Darby
5-Sep	620	Dau Tieng under ground Attack
	1700	LB 814 took schrapnel in tail rotor
8-Sep	1215	LB 557 Hit tree at XT632338, major damage, pipesmoke
11-Sep	155	FSB Buell under ground attack, Tay Ninh on Red Alert, DH reports 40-50 antiaircraft around Buell
13-Sep	215	FSB Buell under Ground Attack
23-Sep	1220	DH 876 down XT197507 unk cause
28-Sep	1355	DH961 Rotor blade hit
30-Sep	1315	LB 613 Flying defoliation mission 20-30 feet off ground, set off claymore mine, gunner hit, hospitalized
1-Oct	1845	DH 170 Battle damage to main rotor
2-Oct	1402	DH 111 Battle damage to tail rotor
5-Oct	1500	Cobra down at XT3926, DH 657
6-Oct	1730	DH535 down at Trung Lap possible hits to oil pressure hoses
7-Oct	1215	LB 814 has engine failure at POL
	1420	LB 134 (2nd Brig C&C) hit, changing ships
9-Oct	1615	DH814 had damage due to other aircraft hovering over
11-Oct	900	DH new cobra arrives #672
11-Oct	1245	Gen Williamson inspects bomb racks used on UH-1D (LB 629 and others)
16-Oct	1530	DH805 down at XT298362 rotor damage
19-Oct	1730	DH170 Lost rocket pod over mushroom
21-Oct	1200	Aircraft down and burning at XT665400 (b-57)?
	1225	Parchutes sighted, pilots Ok
	1830	DH961 down at Duc Hoa, compressor stall
23-Oct	1035	DH 111 has engine failure on final approach, everyone ok
24-Oct	2045	LB conducts emergency resupply to Patton II
4-Nov	915	LB 769 Took small arms fire at XT5617, hit forward of crosstubes
	1935	3 aircraft down XT545165, 1 aircraft down XT555135
	1954	5 ship lift off to Persing to pickup security force for downed aircraft.
6-Nov	145	Mortar Attack - 6 rounds in Battalion area, 5 at airfield
	245	Phu Cong bridge under attack
8-Nov	42	FSB Patton under ground attack
11-Nov	1715	LB 086 Hydraulic failure, landed safely on active
16-Nov	1431	ADAO notified that "Charlie" aircraft down at XT564106, LB 086 reports all occupants killed
21-Nov	1	Report of NVA Regimental size in Angel Wing
	2309	FSB Reed Under ground attack
24-Nov