Vietnam Service – United States Army
“I was trained as a helicopter mechanic, but when I got to Vietnam they needed people to be gunners because so many helicopters were being shot down. It was 100 degrees on the ground and it was cool in the air so I volunteered.“
As far as I know, I never killed anyone. It was night a lot of times or we’d be shot out, but we couldn’t see anybody. We didn’t see the people shooting at us.“
I went back to Vietnam in ’70 so that my brother could get out. He was infantry and a lot of men were getting killed on the ground. I felt that I was a lot safer flying.“