Statement
Of
Captain
Stephen W. PLESS USMC
[The following is a verbatim transcription of the official
statement of Stephen Pless. Paragraph breaks, italics and bold text have
been added for readability. .…Editor]
On 19 August 1967, I was assigned as
escort for the afternoon medical evacuation mission. Initially at 1220,
we were launched into the Cochise II operational area. During a pick up
from Nui Loc Son, the H-34 sustained damage to his tail wheel, so upon
completion of our missions we returned to Ky Ha to exchange aircraft. As
the Med-Evac crew was switching aircraft, we received an emergency Med-Evac
in an unsecure landing zone in the ROK Marine operational area. Rather
than wait for the H-34, I decided to proceed to the zone independently and
have it secured for his arrival.
As I approached the Med-Evac zone, I heard a
transmission on “Guard” channel: “My aircraft is all shot up and I
have a lot of wounded aboard. I’m going to try to make it to Duc Pho.”
Then after a pause: “I still have four men on the ground. The VC are
trying to take them prisoners or kill them; God, can somebody help them.”
At this time I directed my copilot,
Captain FAIRFIELD, to check on the emergency Med-Evac on FM and see if it
could wait. I continued to fly toward the distress area and monitor the
UHF. Captain FAIRFIELD said the Med-Evac was a priority, the landing zone
was secure, and it could wait.
In the meantime, from the radio
transmissions, I knew that there were four Americans on the beach one mile
north of the mouth of the Song Tra Khuc River, that they were under attack
by mortars and automatic weapons, and that a CH-47 had been driven off by
severe automatic weapons fire. There were three jets overhead and four
UH-1Es [apparently Army UH1H slicks] orbiting about a mile to sea.
None of these aircraft could get in close enough to the four besieged
Americans due to the mortar fire and severe automatic weapons fire. The
army UH-1Es were endeavoring to locate the source of the mortar fire, get
a reaction force launched, and get everyone organized.
I had made two transmissions offering
to help, but had received no reply. Since the other aircraft seemed
reluctant to aid the downed men and unable to get organized, I decided to
go in alone and hoped they would follow me and help me. My crew
all knew the situation and were all aware that we had very little chance
of survival. Yet, when I asked them if anyone objected to a rescue
attempt, it was a unanimous and emphatic “Go”.
I could
see the mortars exploding on the beach and headed for the area. Then, the
mortars quit and I saw a large group of people swarm the beach from a tree
line about 100 meters from the beach. I made a pass directly over the top
of the people at fifty feet of altitude and observed four Americans on the
beach. A VC was standing over one man crushing his head with a rifle
stock, and people seemed to be in the process of butchering the other
men. I ordered the door gunner, Gunnery Sergeant POULSON, to open fire on
the people. The crew chief, Lance Corporal PHELPS, thinking
that I had not seen the Americans, yelled “Don’t fire”; I told him
to “shut up”, and the gunner kept firing.
I pulled the aircraft into a hard
climb, switching my armament panel to pods as I did so. A hard wingover
put me into a firing position just aft of the mob which had started
running for the trees. I could now determine that they were all males,
armed, and a few of them had on khaki, or green uniforms. I hit in the
center of the retreating mob with all fourteen rockets. Several of the VC
turned to fire at us, but most of them were in full flight. Although the
trees were obscured by smoke and debris, I made a number of gun runs into
the smoke, praying that I would not hit a tree. Some of the VC ran out of
the smoke area, and I shot at point blank range, firing from so low that
my own ordnance was spraying mud on the windshield.
As I pulled off of one run, I spotted
one of the men on the beach waving his arm. I threw the aircraft into a
side flare, continually firing at the VC in the tree line as I lowered the
aircraft to a landing. I landed the aircraft about fifteen feet from the
nearest man, placing it between the VC and the wounded men so as to offer
my crew some protection while picking the men up.
Gunnery Sergeant POULSON immediately
climbed out of the aircraft and helped the nearest man into the aircraft.
Returning to pick up the second man, Gunnery Sergeant POULSON was unable
to move him due to his large size. Lance Corporal PHELPS was told he
could leave his machine gun to aid Gunnery Sergeant POULSON. My copilot
unstrapped and climbed out to help, also. As lance Corporal PHELPS left
the aircraft, he handed the wounded man an M-60 and told him to cover my
left side.
As Captain FAIRFIELD exited the right
side of the aircraft, he spotted three VC at the rear of the aircraft
firing at Gunnery Sergeant POULSON and Lance Corporal PHELPS. Using an
M-60, he killed the VC, then ran to assist in getting the wounded aboard.
During the rescue, I could see rounds spraying sand around the aircraft
and splashing in the water.
Although seriously wounded,
the wounded man had cradled the M-60 in his lap, was leaning against the
copilot’s seat, and was firing at VC who were attempting to close in on
the left side of the aircraft. As my crew was dragging the third man into
the aircraft, I could see that Captain FAIRFIELD and Lance Corporal PHELPS
were alternately dragging the man and firing their pistols at the VC who
were now within a few feet of the aircraft. I then noticed that one of
the UH-1Es had joined us and was making straffing runs around us.
Captain FAIRFIELD told me that the
fourth man appeared to have his throat cut and was quite dead. At this
point, a VNAF UH-34 landed next to me. Since I knew he would pick up the
dead man, I departed to get to a medical facility. The VC were still
firing at us with automatic weapons, and the only route of departure was
over the water. I knew that I was well over the maximum payload for the
aircraft; I also thought we had been hit, but had no idea as to the extent
of damages. The gauges were all normal, so I could only pray that she was
OK.
When I first lifted, it appeared that
I had over-committed myself. After about a mile of straightaway and
bouncing off the waves four times, I finally started picking up airspeed
and built my RPM back up. I jettisoned my rocket pods and told the crew
to throw anything else over the side to lighten the load so we could get
more airspeed. During the trip, Lance Corporal PHELPS, aided by Gunnery
Sergeant POULSON, continued to render first aid to the two most critically
wounded men, undoubtedly accounting for the fact that both men were still
alive when we reached the 1st Hospital Company.
On Sunday, August 20th, I
was informed that my gun and rocket runs had left 20 confirmed killed VC
on the beach, with an additional 38 estimated killed. I also learned that
a round had severed the tail rotor drive shaft and an engine oil line
which should have caused the aircraft to crash during the trip home.
S. W. PLESS
