Wayne Stafford

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Joined the Association:  03/13/2004

Note:

Wayne is living in Monroe, WA and working as a CTO - Network Integrator.

My Story

Wayne Stafford

RVN 68-69 USMC

One of the crew chiefs came to roust me out of my rack about 0500.  Pat Sajak wasn’t due to yell “Good Morning, Vietnam” until 0600 so it was early.  The crew chief opened with “You’re flying today”.  I responded with “No I’m not.  It’s my birthday.”  His answer was “Yes, you are.”  This exchange was followed by my crawling out of my rack and putting on my jungles.  It was a short walk to the chow hall for some eggs and whatever topped off by Kool-Aid that tasted like it had no sugar and “Filled Milk”.  It was good to see none of the guys in QC helmets were hanging around.  They always made me nervous.

After chow it was back to the barracks to get ready for the day.  We lived in a two story, wood barracks with siding up about neck high with screen the remainder of the way up the wall.  It was February so the screen was covered with plastic stapled on.  It was time to swap the jungles for a flight suit and the jungle boots for my stateside black boots.  The nylon on the jungle boots burns really well when mixed with a crashed helicopter and avgas.  The stateside boots give you a few seconds more before your feet burn off.  Keep in mind the UH-34D is a magnesium container full of avgas.

As an Aviation Electrician, Tweet, Wing Wiper, Airedale or whatever we were called at the time, it wasn’t normal to be working as a Gunner/1^st Mech.  Some guys were assigned due to manpower shortages but usually you had to volunteer.  In our squadron, you had to fight to get on flight skins, especially if you were not a mechanic.  Now why would someone volunteer to leave a sweet deal like working a flight line and going to the flick?  Well, after months of the same routine, seven days a week you start to twitch.  You know what you’re doing is important because more helicopters flying mean more Marines get support faster and wounded Marines get quicker medical attention but you feel a need to participate up close.

It was February 24, 1969 and another day at the office.  As I walked to the flight line past the water buffalo, four holer, Special Services shack and the Animal Pit (EM Club), I thought about what we would encounter in the upcoming travels.  It was getting light outside when I arrived at the armory to draw a couple M-60s, a few belts of 7.62 and a .38.  Walking out to my assigned Sikorsky UH-34D, I stared down at the Marston matting while carrying the two machine guns.  Periodically a small deformed area in the matting would appear that was rusted more than the surrounding surface.  It was a spot where a mortar had impacted.  Phu Bai had a history written in the flight line.

The weather sucked.  Low clouds put a weather hold on so no helos would be leaving for awhile.  Cpl Behan and I busied ourselves with clean up and preparation for the flight while the pilots hung around waiting for the ok to launch.  H&MS-36 was different from other squadrons on the flight line.  HMM-363 had recently rotated home and left their H-34s along with a few air crews.  Because we were a UH-34D composite squadron with older, slower helicopters, we needed to get to work sooner or the CH-46s and CH-53s would get all the good jobs. While other air crews typically waited in the Ready Room and went to their helos when the weather hold was lifted, we waited in our old Sikorskys at the ready so when the ok came, we lit the fires and we were gone.

We had time to kill so the first thing I checked was the M-60s and it’s good thing.  Both bolt faces had sand and dirt on them so I tore them down and cleaned them.  Cpl Behan checked the oil, lubed the head and did a thorough once over.  The pilots did a long preflight.

It must have been after 0700 when we were given the go.  The old Wright R-1820, 9 cylinder radial engine was fired up and we rolled with our wingman out to the Charlie taxiway.  As we entered the taxiway, the engines roared and the two helicopters lifted off turning to the right and taking a northern heading.  The wind began to pour through the open hatches as we picked up speed so I put on my bullet bouncer, not for protection from AK-47s but to keep the 100 mph wind off my chest.  We flew past the Citadel at Hue and on up Highway 1 staying close to the deck.

The first stop was Quang Tri to top off the fuel tanks.  We only carried 1000 lbs of fuel instead of the 1500 lb capacity to increase the load capacity and allow the exit from an LZ in a hurry if the situation demanded it.  The usual drill was Quang Tri, Dong Ha and Vandegrift and this day was no different.

Between Cam Lo and Vandegrift we received a call for a medevac so we passed over Vandegrift and continued up the river, turned right and traveled up a steep canyon on the way to LZ Cunningham.  I looked at my watch as we entered the canyon and noted it was 0820 on my 21^st birthday.  It was 21 years earlier at 0830 I was born at the Naval Hospital in Long Beach, CA.  The thought crossed my mind that I might not make it to 0830.  At LZ Cunningham we continued for what seemed like another 4 klicks where the grunts on the ground were contacted.  They described an open area for one of our Sikorskys to land at which time our wingman set down.  The wounded Marine was up the hill from this site and they would have him down as quickly as they could get him there.  The helo in the zone now started taking sporadic and inaccurate small arms fire so they returned fire but we, as the cover bird, were instructed to hold fire since we weren’t sure where the grunts were.  Our helo circled the site for what seemed like forever but was probably only 5 minutes until the wounded Marine was loaded.  The other crew said he was hit in the head and we needed to get him down to Vandegrift now.  Our helo followed the other H-34 in right, trail watching vapor coming off the advancing blade as the pilot pushed the helicopter to its limit.  As we returned through the canyon an AK-47 opened up on us but nothing of consequence was hit.  The two helos set down at the Vandegrift med and two men with a litter immediately came out to the plane, loaded the Marine and disappeared.  It would be good to know if he made it.

The Sikorskys landed at the fuel pit and the gunners jumped out to gas them up.  It was an easy process to hot refuel the 3 tanks on the H-34.  As a tank was filling, the pilot would watch his gauge and when he had what he wanted for that tank he would lift the helo a little to signal to the gunner to stop filling that tank.  After the refueling, we taxied off to the side of the area, shut down and took a break.  It was about this time we looked down the valley and saw a gaggle of helicopters arriving.  That’s why we sat at the ready during the weather hold.  We got here first.  The remainder of the day was spent hauling stuff here, Marines there and whatever.

Over the next couple days we pieced together some additional information about the circumstance surrounding the medevac we just pulled.  Apparently the fire taken by our helo in the zone was from an NVA battalion that was aware of an air strike being called for the area and busy getting out of Dodge.  Word back was the NVA were badly mauled by the fast movers.  Pick up a copy of Stars & Stripes from that time and read about it.  It was a couple days later that we heard about LZ Russell

There was the usual flight of two H-34 turning at Vandegrift when a request came in to haul some replacements up to LZ Russell.  The Marines grabbed their gear, loaded into the helos and settled in.  The crew chief made a last quick inspection and jumped in.  We started to lift off but the landing gear failed to stay off the ground.  The plane just tiptoed a little and dropped back down.  The old H-34 must be overloaded so someone was going to have to get off.  Wrong!  Another Marine came running with his sea bag and piled on.  This didn’t look good.  This time the crew chief ran out to the front of the helo and gave the signal to back up.  The helicopter backed into the corner of the LZ onto the grass and almost into the wire.  The crew chief then jumped back aboard and the Sikorsky started a mad dash diagonally across the LZ.  Helicopters can gain additional lift with forward motion so the pilot was doing a fixed wing takeoff.  By the time we reached the wire at the opposite corner, the helo had enough momentum to jerk our way over the wire and make a gentle left turn down river.  It took quite a distance down the river to get enough speed to gain altitude.  Also, the R-1820 was burning gas at more than 50 gallons an hour so the plane was getting lighter every second.  I don’t remember how many times we circled the mountain to get up to the top but it took awhile.  The pilot started his approached and I started thinking about how heavy we were.  We had burned fuel but not that much.  The helo yawed to the left and began a flare sideways with the left side down.  The dirt was going past my hatch as I pulled down the tinted visor on my helmet.  The grunts onboard were looking at me with their eyes like saucers as we neared the LZ sideways so I didn’t want them to see my eyes like saucers.  The helo hit the pad like a load of bricks.  I knew we must have broken something but the first priority was to get everyone out.  Once unloaded, the newly lightened Sikorsky jumped off the mountain and back to Vandegrift.  The plane was given a quick look and nothing appeared to be out of order.  February was a busy month in the Vandegrift area.

Looking back at this period in our history has always given me a sense of satisfaction.  Flying those missions as a Gunner/1^st Mech on a Sikorsky UH-34D was the highlight of my life and it was over by April 1969.  Today, I’ve been blessed with a wonderful wife, two great sons, owning my own business and now retired doing as I please, but those days of doing what I could for those Marines on the ground gives me a tremendous sense of accomplishment.