Finding out your father and hunting partner is tougher than you thought

[TTundra]

I've written here that my hunting partner for my Africa hunts is my father. He always dreamed of going to Africa and spoke of it highly in my youth and I was ecstatic to take him these past 3 trips. I'm 38 now and planning our 4th trip over now.

I've always know my father is a Vietnam veteran. He was a crew Chief on a Huey and then went thru SF selection to 5th group. I've also seen his medals and awards enough to know he saw some serious action. He was awarded 2 purple hearts , Bronze Star, Silver Star (Battle of Lang Vei), 28 air medals, and a host more.

I recently found and read his citation for his DFC with V device....and I was stricken with more pride than I think I had ever felt.

To sum it up as this citation is 2 full pages. Katum camp January 1968. My pops is on chalk 2 flying in infantryman from the 25th. First drop takes sniper fire, second has all hell break loose. They keep flying in and out (my father says very similar in appearance to what is seen on "We Were Soldiers"). His first bird was shot down and they made their way back to camp and got in another and resumed the fight. My father did the pre flight check while the base was being mortared and got the bird ready to go. At one point in the citation it reads he crawled to the helicopter while avoiding mortar fire to get back in the air faster.

Once fire is too much to fly into the main LZ, they are ordered to take a squad of the 25th to a cleared adjacent LZ to check for intel on some dead NVA. My father recalls thinking how dumb it was as this LZ was only a few hundred yards from the main battle.

The squad hops out and begins checking the NVA. My father then spots incoming NVA, and a lot of them. The 25th guys couldn't hear him yelling to get back to the helicopter. He dismounts his M60D, unplugs his comms, and ribbons the belt over his arm and runs out to the men in the field with the NVA bearing down on them unaware. He was holding the M60D with the front carry handle in his left hand and the butterfly style trigger of the M60D in his right (for those that don't know, look up M60D as it was an aviation configuration and not shoulder fired). After reaching them and yelling for the guys to get back on the bird the citation reads he held fire until he could distinguish friend from foe, and then opened up. He backpedaled to the Huey firing on the NVA, hopped in, plugged in his comms and said get the F*** out of there while continuing to fire upon the NVA while pitching out.

After I read this I asked my dad, "You unhooked the gun and ran out to the guys to get them back on the helicopter and held off the NVA while they ran back?! That is some Rambo style stuff, Pop!"

But it was over. After getting the 25th guys back on, they saw a Huey from their detachment take fire and go down. My father popped green smoke and the pilots landed near by. One more time with M60D in hand he now runs to the downed Huey to pull the crew out, some friends of his to this day.

Back in the fight and into the main LZ to do more evac flights, his second Huey is hit and crashes in the jungle. An APC crew from a fire support base sees it go down and heads to out them. My father recalls hearing the NVA getting closer and waiting for the fight that would come, but here comes the APC and as the back door opens he hears them say, "You boys need a ride?".

They didn't get into a 3rd helicopter that day...


My father is one who says what's on his mind. I've often said I'm his bodyguard as he doesn't hold back and I never know what may happen. Again, I always thought of him as a military hero. Reading his DFC citation is one example that really solidified how much of a bada$$ he really is.


To all of you that served and have family who served, thank you. I hope you can get to the point where you may share you're experiences and/or they share with you if ready and willing. So many acts of bravery in so many different forms to be remembered.

 

[spike.t]

WOW.......

 

[Scott CWO]

You come from good stock, Brother!

 

[TTundra]

You come from good stock, Brother!

Thank you. Certainly lots of pride in our family and happy to share one of his stories. His silver star was awarded from his efforts during Lang Vei and the march to Khe Sanh with the Laotians and Montagnards after he was hit while on a bunker with a Katyusha rocket. Blew him off the bunker into a pile of metal. The scars still visible on his back almost 60 years later.

 

[Fatback]

A true American Hero!! What is most interesting to me is how humble most of these heros are when asked about their service.

 

[Doug Hamilton]

I've written here that my hunting partner for my Africa hunts is my father. He always dreamed of going to Africa and spoke of it highly in my youth and I was ecstatic to take him these past 3 trips. I'm 38 now and planning our 4th trip over now.

I've always know my father is a Vietnam veteran. He was a crew Chief on a Huey and then went thru SF selection to 5th group. I've also seen his medals and awards enough to know he saw some serious action. He was awarded 2 purple hearts , Bronze Star, Silver Star (Battle of Lang Vei), 28 air medals, and a host more.

I recently found and read his citation for his DFC with V device....and I was stricken with more pride than I think I had ever felt.

To sum it up as this citation is 2 full pages. Katum camp January 1968. My pops is on chalk 2 flying in infantryman from the 25th. First drop takes sniper fire, second has all hell break loose. They keep flying in and out (my father says very similar in appearance to what is seen on "We Were Soldiers"). His first bird was shot down and they made their way back to camp and got in another and resumed the fight. My father did the pre flight check while the base was being mortared and got the bird ready to go. At one point in the citation it reads he crawled to the helicopter while avoiding mortar fire to get back in the air faster.

Once fire is too much to fly into the main LZ, they are ordered to take a squad of the 25th to a cleared adjacent LZ to check for intel on some dead NVA. My father recalls thinking how dumb it was as this LZ was only a few hundred yards from the main battle.

The squad hops out and begins checking the NVA. My father then spots incoming NVA, and a lot of them. The 25th guys couldn't hear him yelling to get back to the helicopter. He dismounts his M60D, unplugs his comms, and ribbons the belt over his arm and runs out to the men in the field with the NVA bearing down on them unaware. He was holding the M60D with the front carry handle in his left hand and the butterfly style trigger of the M60D in his right (for those that don't know, look up M60D as it was an aviation configuration and not shoulder fired). After reaching them and yelling for the guys to get back on the bird the citation reads he held fire until he could distinguish friend from foe, and then opened up. He backpedaled to the Huey firing on the NVA, hopped in, plugged in his comms and said get the F*** out of there while continuing to fire upon the NVA while pitching out.

View attachment 672233

After I read this I asked my dad, "You unhooked the gun and ran out to the guys to get them back on the helicopter and held off the NVA while they ran back?! That is some Rambo style stuff, Pop!"

But it was over. After getting the 25th guys back on, they saw a Huey from their detachment take fire and go down. My father popped green smoke and the pilots landed near by. One more time with M60D in hand he now runs to the downed Huey to pull the crew out, some friends of his to this day.

Back in the fight and into the main LZ to do more evac flights, his second Huey is hit and crashes in the jungle. An APC crew from a fire support base sees it go down and heads to out them. My father recalls hearing the NVA getting closer and waiting for the fight that would come, but here comes the APC and as the back door opens he hears them say, "You boys need a ride?".

They didn't get into a 3rd helicopter that day...


My father is one who says what's on his mind. I've often said I'm his bodyguard as he doesn't hold back and I never know what may happen. Again, I always thought of him as a military hero. Reading his DFC citation is one example that really solidified how much of a bada$$ he really is.


To all of you that served and have family who served, thank you. I hope you can get to the point where you may share you're experiences and/or they share with you if ready and willing. So many acts of bravery in so many different forms to be remembered.

Tell your dad that a story.like that makes me proud to be an American.

 

[Pablo]

You are right, he was/is a badass! Thanks for his service.

 

[TTundra]

Tell your dad that a story.like that makes me proud to be an American.

I certainly will. Thank you for the kind words.

 

[Hunter-Habib]

Your father sounds like a true war hero.

My father is my best friend & my inspiration. He turns 94 years of age this year & he is just as sharp as I remember him from my childhood. He regularly hunts jack snipe in the rice paddy fields around our family home, and is a far gifted wing shooter than I ever will be (just last month, I watched him down 16 jack snipe on the wing within the hour using only 16 rounds of Sellier & Bellot 36 gram Fortuna #7s).

He instilled all of my sporting ethics & moral values in me and I could not be half the man I am today without his watching over me. He has hunted Cape buffalo, hippopotamus & plains game with me over the years. Although his sporting preferences are invariably more towards feather than fur.

He used to be the DC (District Commissioner) of our locality. During my childhood, there were many hate crimes being committed in our town against non-Muslim minorities. But my father publicly spent two decades of his life fighting against all that. He protected churches & temples in our locality and provided protection to all minorities during those times of religious turbulence in East Pakistan. At a time when religious segregation was still rampant in our country, father helped pass many of the first anti discrimination laws. In many ways, watching him do these things in my youth inspired me & my outlook towards life in adulthood. At a time when schools in East Pakistan were teaching us to hate people of Jewish faith, father taught us to never discriminate against anybody for “Who They Pray To”. In 1950s & 1960s era East Pakistan, that truly was extremely forwarding thinking & civilized.

We had only one serious argument in the last 73 years of my life- The day I went off to serve in the Indo-Pak War of 1971. He & my mother just could not allow me to go off into the war to “Die For A Conflict Started By Old Men Sitting In The Comfort Of Air Conditioned City Offices”, but I went and joined the East Bengal Regiment anyway. When the war ended nine months later, I returned home & met my parents again for the first time in a while. The moment we saw each other, all three of us just burst into tears and uncontrollably cried for what seemed like forever (actually it would be probably for around ten minutes of so). Without saying anything.

A good father is a very crucial thing for a young boy (or even girl) to have growing up. I always strived to be just like him when raising my own two children.

 

[TTundra]

Your father sounds like a true war hero.

View attachment 672304

A good father is a very crucial thing for a young boy (or even girl) to have growing up. I always strived to be just like him when raising my own two children.

Thank you @Hunter-Habib for your kind words and post.

I highlighted your last sentence as it should be reread by all. Boys and girls need a good father as much as a nurturing mother. Mine became the better father in my later years with no doubt due to what he witnessed and did for his brother's in arms. For that, I'm truly thankful.