Berg, George Phillip, CW2

FINAL MISSION OF CW2 GEORGE PHILLIP. BERG: Pilot WO1 Gerald E. Woods, aircraft commander CW2 George P. Berg, crew chief SP4 Walter E. Demsey Jr., and door gunner SP4 Gary L. Johnson were assigned to Company A, 101st Aviation Battalion, 101st Airborne Division. On February 18, 1971, their UH-1H was dispatched as part of a flight of four on an emergency patrol extraction mission on the west side of the A Shau Valley in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam. The patrol to be rescued included SGT Allen R. Lloyd, CAPT Ronald L. Watson, and SFC Samuel Hernandez, part of Special Operations Augmentation, Command & Control North (CCN), 5th Special Forces Group.

During the attempt to recover the patrol, Woods' helicopter came under heavy fire and had to leave the pick-up zone with Lloyd, Watson and Hernandez attached to the three-staple rig. While in flight, the rope broke, and Hernandez fell 30-40 feet, landing in double canopy jungle. He was rescued the following day. The helicopter continued a short distance, and was hit by enemy anti-aircraft fire, crashed and burned. The next day a Special Forces recovery team was inserted at the crash site to search the area. It appeared to the SF Team that nobody had been to the crash site ahead of them. There were no footprints and the bodies still had their weapons on them. One of the pilots had a camera strapped over the seat and it was still there. Woods and Berg were found dead in their seats. Johnson's body was found in a tree. One leg of Demsey, the burned crew chief, was found in the cargo compartment. (The CE was identified by the jungle boot on the foot. He was the only crewmember that wore jungle boots.) All remains were put in body bags on the top of the aircraft wreckage for extraction, and the team left to establish a night defensive position. Enroute, the team found the remains of Lloyd and Watson, still on their rope slings, in the trees on the edge of a cliff.

Because of the rugged terrain and approaching darkness, the rescue team leader decided to wait until morning to recover these two remains. However, the following morning, the search team came under intense fire, and the team leader requested an emergency extraction, and in doing so, left all remains behind. All the crew and passengers on board the UH-1H downed on the border of Laos and Vietnam west of the A Shau Valley that day were confirmed dead. (Taken from pownetwork.org and macvsog.cc) The following is a lengthy account of the SOG mission: In early 1971, three American Special Forces troopers manned RT Intruder, from Command and Control North (CCN) at Da Nang. The Team Leader, or One Zero, was CAPT Ronald L. (Doc) Watson. The second in command, or One One, was SGT Allen R. (Baby Jesus) Lloyd and SGT Raymond L. (Robby) Robinson, was the One Two. Additionally, the team had ten Bru Montagnard tribesmen assigned. The team makeup changed, according to the needs of the mission, but most of the missions were conducted with all three Americans and five of the Bru tribesmen. On 8 February 1971, the South Vietnamese government announced Lam Son 719, a large-scale offensive against enemy communications and supply lines in that part of Laos adjacent to the two northern-most provinces of South Vietnam along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.

The mission was to interdict the flow of supplies from North Vietnam. The South Vietnamese Army (ARVN) would provide and command ground forces, while the US forces would provide airlift and supporting fire. Phase I, named Operation Dewey Canyon II, involved an armored attack by the US from Vandegrift Base Camp toward Khe Sanh, while the ARVN moved into position for the attack across the Laotian border. Phase II began with an ARVN helicopter assault and armored brigade thrust along Route 9 into Laos. American helicopters transported ARVN ground troops, while the US Air Force provided cover strikes around the landing zones. Ten days later, on February 18th, two teams, Recon Team Intruder and Recon Team Python, were inserted into opposite sides of the infamous A Shau Valley in support of Lam Sam 719. RT Python would insert six or seven kilometers east of RT Intruder on an abandoned fire base. On the second day another team was to reinforce RT Intruder at their location overlooking the A Shau valley and bring in additional ammunition and a couple of 60-MM mortars. Their mission was to tie down NVA forces by calling in air strikes, gather intelligence and run reconnaissance missions towards the valley. The A Shau Valley had never been hotter. Captured documents revealed that the NVA had moved eleven counter-recon companies there to reinforce LZ watchers, trackers, and dogs, rear security units and infantry battalions. Additionally, they had two anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) battalions defending the valley, with one located at each end. The A Shau diversion was initially assigned to the 2000-man strong 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division. However, the specter of heavy US losses forced the planners to reconsider using the airborne brigade.

The decision was then made to give the mission to MACV-SOG instead. On that date, RT Intruder pulled their final mission together. The team was being considered for a High Altitude Low Opening (HALO) mission. For this reason, their performance was to be evaluated on this particular road watch/interdiction mission in the A Shau Valley. SFC Sammy Hernandez and SFC Charles Wesley (Wes) joined the team as "strap hangers". They would determine if the team got the nod for the HALO training and subsequent missions. Both of these men were already HALO qualified and needed team members that they could trust for these difficult missions. Sammy and Wes did not volunteer for this mission. A few days prior to the insert, Sammy and Wes were in the Recon Club having a drink or two. Sammy suggested that they walk down to the TOC and see what was going on. When they entered the S-2 section, they saw SGM Billy Waugh talking to CAPT Watson and the AST. SGM Waugh turned and asked, "What are you two doing?" Sammy, with a smile on his face said, "Screwing off Sergeant Major." Billy replied, "Well, you two get your rucksacks and weapons. I'm sending you where you can't screw off. You two will be going with RT Intruder."

As the two headed back to their hooch to secure their weapons and rucks, Wes cursed Sammy and said, "See, I told you we shouldn't go down to the TOC. I was in the A Shau Valley as a Platoon Sergeant with the 101st back in 1968. All the bad guys in the world are in that valley." The A Shau was probably the most NVA-infested area south of Hanoi! This valley was not a place for amateurs, and a road interdiction mission was doubly hazardous. However, RT Intruder was judged to be ready. The mission of road watch and interdiction required that they go in a little heavier than usual, so the addition of two Americans was welcomed. The team was inserted onto a small rocky clearing, west of the A Shau Valley and just over the Laotian border (YC473783). The Covey pilot for this insert was CAPT Tom Yarborough flying an OV-10. This clearing did not offer much in the way of concealment. The enemy could spot the team from the ridge line and objective (Hill 1528) that they were heading towards, and they did just that. RT Intruder waited for the choppers to leave and tried to attune their ears to the jungle noises. Threading their way north-east through the lush jungle growth, the team disappeared into the forest, just as they heard a series of shots to their left and right front. This was the NVA's method of signaling each other when they had a team spotted. Sammy was carrying an M-60 machine gun and a CAR-15. Behind Sammy was Wes, and every time a signal shot was fired by the NVA, Sammy would turn and give Wes a smile. Sammy was on America's first combat HALO drop and had also run recon with Project Delta.

The M-60 that Sammy was carrying had the old style quick-change barrel lock, and every so often it would unlock and the barrel would fall out, making a nerve-racking noise. Sammy finally secured the quick-change barrel lock with a string. Traveling east, they soon crossed the Vietnamese border and arrived at the western-most ridge of the A Shau Valley. The ridgeline was heavily canopied, and there, hidden by the overhanging boughs, safe from aerial observation, was the trail! This wasn't just a footpath. A large number of personnel could walk side by side on this veritable walkway! Also strung along side of the trail were 10 or 15 strands of communications wire. The team crossed the trail and set up security. They were not sure if they were on the correct hill to conduct the road watch, so CAPT Watson radioed Covey and asked him to make a low level pass over the hill on which they were to set up. It turned out that they were around 200 to 300 meters south (YC480784) of the hill where they were supposed to set up. Not that it made much difference which hill they were on, RT Intruder ran into trouble right after Covey made his over-flight.

Within minutes, the team made contact with a five-man NVA element that was coming towards them on the trail, and quickly killed them. Upon recommendation from Sammy and Wes, CAPT Watson called for a STABO extraction, since they were compromised almost from the start. It was getting late and the clouds would roll in soon, making an extraction impossible. Wes and Robby had retrieved the rucksacks from the dead NVA that held several documents, a communist flag, medals and clothing. It was decided that Robby would go out on the first bird with Wes and two of the Bru (indigenous soldiers). It took about thirty to forty minutes for the helicopters to arrive on station. The top of the ridgeline was now socked in with clouds and Watson had to vector the helicopters by sound. The helicopter pilots that supported SOG were among the best that Company A (Comancheros), 101st Aviation Battalion, had to offer. It took nerves of steel to hover a helicopter at tree top level in the clouds while moving forward a few feet at a time and trying to locate a SOG team that had just made contact. Just knowing that at any moment you were going to get shot out from under your rotor blades was enough to rattle anyone's nerves. LT Larry Hull flying an O-2 replaced CAPT Yarborough for the extraction of the team.

The first of three helicopter piloted by WO Steve Diehl appeared out of the clouds, hovered over the team and dropped an aluminum ladder out one door. Robby, Wes and the two Bru snapped their rucksacks to the first rungs of the ladder, and climbed up and snap-linked themselves to it. The Huey struggled to lift them in the thin, mountain air, dragging the ladder through the trees. The pilot was having trouble keeping the Huey straight. He had run out of control pedal as the helicopter made a slow turn and twisted the ladder in the trees. It may have crashed if the four had not jumped off the ladder just seconds before the crew chief cut it from the chopper. The team landed on top of the five NVA that they had just killed. Wesley's rucksack was still snapped to the ladder as they ran back to the team's perimeter. The next helicopter in line hovered over the team and dropped four STABO ropes. Wes, Robby and the two Bru snapped their harnesses into the STABO rope and gave thumbs up to the crew chief. In seconds, they were catapulted up through the trees. The pilot pulled pitch, pushed the cyclic forward, and nosed the helicopter towards the valley and down the side of the mountain in order to gain the needed air speed. The four were only a few feet above the treetops as the pilot gained air speed and flew up through the clouds. For the next twenty minutes they were in excruciating pain from the leg straps. Robby had the extra weight of the NVA's rucksack and one of the Bru had managed to stand on Wesley's shoulders while he adjusted the straps between his own legs. Wes promptly shoved the Bru's feet off his shoulders. Because the first bird had so much trouble, only three Montagnards were extracted on the next lift. This left Watson, Lloyd and Hernandez for the last helicopter. When they arrived at the 101st ABN DIV firebase, instead of lowering them to the pad, the helicopter came in too low and slammed the team outside the perimeter, and then dragged them a few feet through the concertina wire. An engineer stake pierced Robby's leg.

When the pilot realized what had happened, he immediately pulled the chopper up and set them back down on the pad. As the team was putting their STABO ropes into the helicopter, CWO George Berg got out and put his arms around Wes and said he was sorry for dragging them through the wire. He then said that he was going back to the area to pick up the rest of the team. Wesley, Robby and the two Bru got on the other two helicopters. On the way to MLT-1, the pilot turned and told Wesley that CWO Bergs helicopter crashed with Watson, Lloyd and Hernandez. Wesley told the pilot to fly back to the ex-fill point and see if they could locate the crash site with the help of Covey and rappel onto the site. By this time it was already dark and the pilot was ordered back to MLT-1. The helicopter that had the ladder cut by the crew chief evacuated Robby to the at hospital Phu Bai. After being released later that night from the hospital, Robby learned the horrible truth. The last helicopter had crashed! Back in the launch site at MLT-1, Wesley, the only American to make it out other than Robby, debriefed the OIC and NCOIC on the mission up to the extraction. By this time, the Covey rider, SFC Fernandez, had landed and came into the briefing room. He stated that he saw the main rotor blade come off as the helicopter tried to extract the rest of the team.

The next morning, RT HABU, the on-call Bright Light, team was flown up from Da Nang. The team leader was SSGT Danzer. On his team were SSG Cliff Newman, (also on the first combat HALO jump), SFC Jimmy Horton, SGT Lemuel McGlothren, and SSGT James Woodham as the Medic. Cliff practically forced his way on this Bright Light team when he heard that his friend Sammy was in trouble. They both were like that. Wes thought he was going to return to Da Nang and was outside when SSGT Danzer asked him what had happened. Wes was briefing Danzer on the mission and showing the infill LZ and the route to the extraction point on the map when SGM Waugh walked up and said, "Wes, you'll go back with RT HABU and lead them to the hill." Wes said, "Right, Sergeant Major, I think I've just volunteered again." Wes got another rucksack and put one of the six body bags, extra water and ammo in it. They would go in light, as they were not going to RON. The team now had six Americans and six Montagnards. They loaded on two helicopters and headed west for the A Shau Valley and the Laotian border. As they flew high above the valley, the team could see what was left of the old A Shau Special Forces A camp and its airstrip. Turning to the southwest, the Hueys started final approach as they crossed over into Laos. Wesley, kneeling between the two pilots, pointed to the LZ. The lead helicopter turned to the northwest and started its final approach, with two snakes (AH-1H Cobra attack helicopters) flying alongside. The LZ was the same rocky area with very little growth.

Once off the helicopters, the team started moving in the direction of RT Intruder's extraction point. The team had been moving about thirty minutes when Covey, CAPT Yarborough came up on the radio and asked Danzer to count his people because someone was on the LZ popping an orange panel. Danzer informed Covey that all his team was accounted for. The Covey then made a low level pass over the LZ, and reported that the person looked like an American, that he was sending in the chase bird. The team later learned that it was Sammy. SGM Waugh was in the chase helicopter and came in over Sammy and threw him a STABO rope. Sammy looked up at Waugh in the door of the Huey and showed Waugh his middle finger. SGM Waugh understood what Sammy meant by that hand signal and had the pilot land. Sammy later said he was not riding another STABO rig after the last one. The Bright Light team made it to the top of the hill and the trail without incident. Once there, they discovered a STABO rope that was frayed on the broken end, like it had been stretched before it broke. Wesley found what was left of his rucksack. It had been cut up and everything was missing. This included ten toe popper M-14 mines, three or four claymores, hand grenades, extra ammo and rations.

A good piece of intelligence for the NVA was left on the ground next to Wesley's rucksack. It was an envelope from Sears with Wesley's name and unit on it. Wesley had received the letter just prior to inserting on the first day and without thinking, stuck the letter in the side pouch of his ruck. He had left the ruck snap-linked to the ladder when he jumped off. Sammy later said he had secured Wesley's rucksack to his own STABO rig. Sammy was then carrying an M-60 machine gun, CAR-15 and two rucksacks. The extra weight may have saved Sammy's life by causing the rope to break. Sammy said that when the rope broke that he was knocked unconscious when he crashed back to the ground. When he regained consciousness, he heard voices and could see flashlights not far from where he lay. Sammy crawled over the side of the hill as the NVA passed by him. He remained hidden until daylight and made his way back to the insert LZ. SFC Jose Fernandez was flying right seat in an O-2A Skymaster as Covey rider. This was his second Covey mission. He had run recon for many years and he had had enough. Fernandez informed Danzer that he had the crash site spotted. It was only a short distance over the side of the hill in the direction of the A Shau Valley and he would direct the team to it. It was real hairy on the trail and everyone wanted off as quickly as possible. The team started moving in the direction that Covey had gave them. The thick undergrowth hampered their movement, and they had to snake their way through the wait-a-minute vines and deadfall. Wes used his signal mirror to let Covey know their location.

The team made a couple of course corrections and found the crash site. Covey had already called for a CH-53 from Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base (NKP), Thailand, to extract the bodies and team. Then the unexpected happened. Covey was orbiting above the team and gathering information about the crash from Danzer. On his last pass over the team, the pilot was in a sharp left hand bank. The team could see the top of the wings. Seconds passed and then the team heard a crashing sound; the noise of the O-2A Skymaster's engines stopped. You would have had to been there to understand the feelings of the six Americans. The team continued putting the bodies of the helicopter crew into body bags. Both pilots were still strapped in their seats. One door gunner, SPC Gary Johnson, was hanging from a tree. Wes and Cliff lowered him down out of the tree. Meanwhile, McGlothren and Horton put the two pilots, CWO George Berg and WO Gerald Woods, in body bags. A single leg was also found, but not the rest of the body. It was assumed the body was that of SPC Walter Demsey, and that he was under the helicopter, which had caught fire when it crashed. The engine and transmission had completely melted and had started to flow like lava.

The only recognizable part of the helicopter was the tail section and rotor mask, without its rotor blade. Then another setback came: when a replacement Covey arrived on station, it informed Danzer that the CH-53 that was enroute to extract the team would be diverted to the crashed O-2A. The Air Force had declared a SAR emergency because it was their aircraft that went down. They would extract the team that had already rappelled onto the crash site. CAPT Fred "Lightning" Wunderlich tells about his rescue mission this way: "We would rappel onto the crashed O-2A from a Huey and look for survivors. I picked only three men; my One One, SSG Kloecki, and two Montagnards from my team, and my team only. One enduring memory is giving the old 1-2-3 count down to rappel in on the wreck, and then only I went down until I started yelling at the rest to join the party." It turned out the Covey pilot, 1LT James (Woodstock) Hull, and SFC Jose Fernandez, were dead.

Ironically, just before leaving on this mission, Horton had given Fernandez his ten baht gold chain and Buddha for safe keeping until he returned. Lightning and Kloecki found the gold chain and Buddha lying in Fernandez's lap. "We were able to pull Fernandez from the wreckage, put him in a body bag, strap him to the jungle penetrator and hoist him up. The pilot could not be recovered because the engine was up against his chest. As the CH-53 hovered over us, one of my commandos started firing from the perimeter around the wreck site, we could not see the bad guys. A Parajumper from the CH-53 came down to look at the wreckage, as it was a SAR mission. It was found out many years later that he was not an Air Force Parajumper, but actually a SOG Recon man." At this point, it was late and the weather was closing in fast. The Bright Light team knew they would not be extracted, so they placed the body bags on top of the burnt-out helicopter. Danzer decided to look for a RON (remain overnight) site and moved the team away from the crash.

A short distance away, the team spotted two STABO ropes and followed them to a cliff. At the bottom of the twenty to thirty foot cliff lay CAPT Watson and SGT Lloyd. They did not appear to be alive and Danzer decided to retrieve them the next morning. It was almost dark and the team followed the cliff for another twenty five to thirty meters and set up a perimeter with their backs to the cliff. Danzer, with the radio, was at the edge of the cliff, sending a spot report to Covey. McGlothren, Horton and Wesley were in the center. Newman and Woodham were up the hill about twenty meters with the Bru, putting out claymores and setting up the perimeter. Wesley and McGlothren pulled the body bags from their rucksacks and spread them on the ground. Wesley told Mac that he was going to use his for a sleeping bag because it was getting chilly. Mac said hell would freeze over before he would crawl in a body bag. The team had established an E&E route over the cliff in the event they were hit by the NVA during the night. The night was uneventful, so they thought. During the night, unknown to the team, the NVA did sneak in close. At first light, Danzer was on the radio giving a spot repot to the Covey that was orbiting in the area. Across the valley, on an old, abandoned firebase was RT Python with CAPT Jim Butler, SSGT Les Chapman and SFC Brazer. They were inserted the same day as RT Intruder and had been surrounded by two hundred NVA from the first day and had been in constant contact. Stinger and Specter aircraft were used extensively during their three-day, two night ordeal. A CH-53 was on its way from NKP, Thailand, along with a flight of A-1E Skyradiers, to extract RT Python. Horton asked Wesley for a cigarette and Wes said, "As soon as we light one, we will get hit." Newman heard movement to his front and signaled Horton, then set off his claymore and emptied a magazine at the approaching NVA.

At that moment, hand grenades rained down on the team and every claymore on the team's perimeter went off. A grenade landed between Mac and Horton and exploded with a bright yellow flash. Horton jumped up; his foot was nearly blown off and was left just dangling. The grenades continued to be thrown onto the team. Newman ran past Horton, grabbed him with one hand and pulled him over the cliff. Woodham and the rest of the Bru followed close behind. Wes followed Mac over. Danzer jumped off the cliff from where he had been standing while talking to Covey. Danzer tried to pull his rucksack and radio with him. All he ended up with at the base of the cliff was the handset. Horton was dragged by Mac and Woodham a short distance from the cliff. Most of the Bru had moved over the second cliff, which were only five or six feet high. In between the two was an outcropping of large rocks, which provided some cover from the AK fire and grenades. Wesley saw movement from over the small cliff and thought the NVA had moved around behind them. He was ready to fire them up when he saw the faces of the team's Bru. He signaled for them to come up.

They managed to climb back up and take up positions in the rocks. The NVA were still throwing grenades over the cliff, but not as many. Newman saw Danzer staring at his handset with nothing attached. That's when Cliff thought it prudent to call for some help. He got on his URC-10 survival radio and made contact with Covey, explaining the grave situation to him. Covey had already launched a set of slicks and Cobras to the area. In the meantime, CAPT Butler, who had been monitoring everything over his radio, told Covey to send his extraction CH-53 to RT Habu and get them out first because his situation had calmed down some. Now the team was getting movement from the left and right, as well as from the top of the cliff. The team was now firing in these three directions with everything they had. Covey told Newman that the CH-53 was still about thirty to forty-five minutes out because they had to fly around the AAA sites, but the A-1E's would be there shortly. Mac was laying on top of Horton trying to protect him from the grenades while Woodham worked on his ankle and foot. A Huey showed up and while standing in the open, Newman directed him over to the team. They dropped a STABO to take Horton out, but when it went over the second cliff, Wes sent one of the Bru down to retrieve it so Horton could be snapped to it and extracted. Instead, the Bru snapped himself into the rig.

At that same moment an RPG-7 was fired at the helicopter from the ridgeline and exploded, sending hot shrapnel into the helicopter, wounding WO Scott Optenberg, the pilot and the right door gunner. The pilot pulled away and took a surprised Bru with him. Wes was at the edge of the cliff waiting for the rope to be handed to him when the Bru went flying by, his eyes as big as silver dollars. The helicopter took fifty hits and still flew. Newman was still standing in the middle of the small clearing talking to Covey, who was in an OV-10, directing him to make gun runs on the ridge line from where the RPG fire came from. After a couple of gun runs on the ridge, Covey informed Newman that the A-1E's were on station and that he needed smoke to mark the team's location. Newman threw a smoke, but instead of going straight up it followed the ground up and over the cliff. Covey could not get a positive mark on the team's location. So, he tried to talk the A-1E's in on a gun run. The first A-1E came in hot and low, releasing a string of CBU's the size of baseballs in one side of the team's perimeter and out the other. Mac was wounded in the back along with some of the Bru. Wesley was knocked down by the concussion but got to his feet and pulled the pin on a smoke grenade, balanced it on the butt of his CAR-15, and held the weapon above his head by the barrel. The smoke went up through the trees.

Covey and the A-1E's now had a good fix on their position. During most of this ordeal, Newman was standing in the open talking to Covey and continued to do so, directing the air strikes and gun runs. Two F4-C's showed up and dropped 500 pounds bombs on the east side of the team's position towards the valley. Covey informed Newman that the CH-53 was on final to their position, and to get Horton on the jungle penetrator first. The A-1E's continued to make CBU and gun runs "danger close" around the CH-53 while the team was being extracted. In the CH-53, Mac was attending to Horton's grenade wound. Out the left window, the mini-gun gunner was spraying the top of the ridge where most of the enemy fire was coming from. Two of the Bru were at the rear of the helicopter firing M-79 CS grenades and an M-60 machine gun off the ramp. The CS was being whipped up by the rotor wash, so the pilots were wearing their oxygen masks. Newman kept Woodham and Danzer until the last ride up. As they cleared the trees the winch released because of the weight and they fell back to the ground. Newman unhooked from the jungle penetrator and stayed on the ground by himself. Even when he was finally hoisted up, Newman continued to fire his weapon. On the way back to the hospital at Da Nang Air Base, the pilot, a full Colonel, asked Wesley where their NVA prisoner was. Wesley, understanding the situation said, "We had to kill him." Wes reached in his shirt pocket and pulled out the two NVA medals that he got off the dead NVA two days before and gave them to the Colonel.

Wes told the Colonel that they belonged to the POW. A big smile came over the Colonel's face. Fourteen A-1E Skyraiders made victory rolls past the Jolly Green CH-53 before heading back to Thailand. The pilot must have called ahead to the hospital and told them he was bringing a seriously wounded Special Forces team member in and that they may look a little different from the average Army troops, and that they would have Montagnard tribesmen with them. As they landed at the hospital, a lot of AP's encircled the helipad. It looked like every doctor and nurse was also outside watching the big CH-53 land. It wasn't everyday that a helicopter of that size landed on that small pad. As the rear ramp was lowered, hundreds of expended shell casings from the M-79 grenade launcher and M-60 machine gun fell onto the helipad. Some of the hospital personnel were collecting the expended shell casings as the American team members helped carry Jimmy Horton into the emergency room. The Montagnards followed and one of the ER personnel told McGlothren that he couldn't bring the Montagnards in. McGlothren told the nurse "If I was you, I would not try to stop them from coming in." Newman informed the staff that they were not to ask Jimmy Horton any questions about where he had been and what he had been doing.

The team loaded back onto the CH-53 and one of the nurses was overheard saying, "Who are those guys?" Mac and the others would have their wounds treated at the CCN dispensary. The team was flown back to the CCN compound for debriefing, where they found out that RT Python, commanded by CAPT Jim Butler, was to be extracted by the same CH-53 that extracted RT Habu. Butler had told Covey to divert the CH-53 over to RT Habu and extract them first. Remember, RT Python was surrounded by hundreds of NVA and had been in continuous contact from the first day. CAPT Jim Butler stayed awake for three days by taking green Hornets. SSGT Les Chapman, the One-One of RT Python, had engaged an NVA with hand-to-hand combat while trying to save one of his Montagnards, who had been wounded and fell down the side of the hill into a ravine. The Montagnard died in that ravine. Chapman received the DSC for his actions, although not until years later. The next day, RT Habu learned that the CH-53 had taken 17 hits in the tail section. SSGT Les Chapman started flying as a Covey Rider after his mission with RT Python. He stated that after a week, the jungle reclaimed the crash site as it could no longer be seen from the air. On March 9, 2002 Cliff Newman, Charles Wesley and Lemuel McGlothren will return to Vietnam on invite from JTF-FA (Joint Task Force-Full Accounting). Their mission is to lead or show JTF-FA team members the crash site of the Bell UH-1H Iroquois.

This return to Vietnam has been in the planning stages for a number of years. It is due in part to the efforts of Dave Demsey, the brother of Walter Demsey. Also traveling with the team will be Tanya S. Biank, the Staff Writer for the Fayetteville Observer. (The Lost Men of RT Intruder was written in part by the men who were actually there: Charles Wesley, Cliff Newman, Lemuel McGlothren, Sammy Hernandez, and Fred C. Wunderlich. With comments from Les Chapman, Jim Butler, Billy Waugh, and Robby Robinson. Other information came from the after action reports (AAR) and the pilots Tom Yarborough, Bob Clewell, Scott Optenberg, and Steve Diehl. [Taken from macvsog.cc]