H-46

The H-46 Sea Knight.

"Turning up" and awaiting clearance for liftoff somewhere off the DMZ. Summer - 1967

Welcome to Hotel Vietnam

Hotel Marble Mountain

Ville of hootches

I remember as our flight from Okinawa made its final approach into Danang, I could see flares off to the south and west of the airfield floating downward, rocking slowly ... strange smoking lights falling from a black, black sky. They seemed so far away.

As the pilot throttled back the 707's engines to make his approach much steeper than normal, we had no idea what awaited us ... but those flares drifting slowly down on that night with no horizon was clearly a first exposure to what would become our new reality.

I remember thinking how odd it felt as we touched down in that strange country, not knowing what was to come next, but, at the same time, not being afraid. It was an odd excitement. "State-side" immediately seemed far, far away, and everthing I knew there was transformed into memory as that reality was replaced the new.

We had left Norton Air Force Base in San Bernardino, Ca., and flown to Hawaii. There we stopped for less than an hour before heading on to Okinawa. They had given us just enough time to deplane, see what a lei looked like, and grab a pineapple rum toddy. Then back on board for the next leg to Okinawa. There we would stay the night and part of the next day.

On Okinawa, I somehow found my sister, Ginger, who was staying there with her Air Force husband on an "accompanied" tour. I remember walking in with my 2nd Lt. bars. Six months later I would return on "R&R" from Vietnam with Captain's bars. I know George, her husband, must've noticed but he never mentioned it.

When I had made promotion to 1st Lt., there was an administrative time lag before I would actually receive and be authorized to wear the silver bars that signified the new rank. Flying helicopters in Vietnam was hazardous duty. The life expectancy of a Marine helo pilot was very short. Since there were mostly captains flying helicopter missions for the Marines in Vietnam, the Marine Corps was finding itself with a shortage of captains. So, 2nd Lt.s being promoted to 1st Lt. were were simply promoted again within a few months to Captain. Many of us, consequently, never saw 1st Lt. bars. We went directly from the rank of Second Lt. to Captain.

It created an odd situation sometimes when a second Lt. that was used to saluting and saying "Sir" to a salty old captain suddenly found himself with the same rank. It was awkward for both.

I didn't stay with my sister for more than a few hours that evening. I had to get back to the base where we would be boarding another flight for Vietnam the next morning. After leaving their house and getting back to the base, I stowed my gear and found my way over the Officer's club with some of the guys I had met on the flight over from Conus.

There, we saw a number of helicopter pilots who had just completed their thirteen-month tours of duty "in country" and were now on their way home. They were a strange lot to us. Drinking heavily, sitting relatively quiet in groups clearly apart from us, the "newbies." We would see them glance our way ocasionally but mostly they kept their distance giving us looks that to me ranged from disgust to sadness. It was strange. We wanted to talk to them and ask a thousand questions, which is probably why they stayed away.

In any case, we had to turn in early. They stayed drinking early into the next morning, though, and when we saw them the next day they were red-eyed and weary. The few I noticed as we boarded our flight had a look about them that was confusing. It seemed to me they should've been happy to be headed home, and I'm certain they were, but that wasn't how they looked.

Eventually, we went our separate ways and didn't see them any more. The bottom line was that we were headed west to a reality we could not fathom at the time and they were headed east, back to the "real world" which they had left a very long time ago.

So, on we went to Hotel Vietnam where living would be world class at MCAS Marble Mountain and I would be assigned my first missions with HMM164 flying H-46's.

Marble Mountain

Any Marine helicopter crew member will recognize this place. It's the primary airfield used by Marine helicopter pilots for operations in the Northern I Corps, Marble Mountain.

All in-country Marine helicopter squadrons were located here except those temporarily aboard a ship. H-46's, Hueys, H-53's and the workhorse H-34.

This is where I checked in and was assigned to HMM 164, a squadron of H-46 Sea knight helicopters built by Boing Vertol. The field was located just east and south of the City of Danang. Just to the north of the field was a series of low mountains that had several distinct peaks jutting into the Pacific. This ridge was called Monkey Mountain and so, sometimes the airfield was called Monkey Mountain. Some of the guys claimed the reason they called it that was because that's what the locals called it. Some said the ridge looked like a monkey, but I could never see any resemblance.

H-46 Sea Knight

I met Pat Connelly while at my last assignment with HMM-264 in Jacksonville New River, North Carolina. He and his wife were really nice and we had become close friends. So when I was asked if I had a squadron preference, I requested his squadron, HMM-164. I even spent my last night in CONUS at their house. Pat was already in Country so Terry had her brother stay there that night with us. Having me there was a very, very thoughtful thing for them to do.