VHFCN
POST EXCHANGE / BASE EXCHANGE
For the BEST in Aviation Art
Learn more about VA guidelines and getting a VA loan from the experts at the
VA Mortgage Center.
Check out these models - WOW! Great details - decent prices. They'll even do custom ones for you. Send them pictures of your ship and they'll replicate it. Cool Beans!
Do you need a certificate of service for your Hero wall? How about a banner for your unit reunion. This x-marine is great with graphics and creates 1st class products....check it out..............
National Vietnam War Museum
The museum US Army Aviator wings are cast of 2024 aluminum
from melted
Cobra and Huey fuselages.
Length; 18 inches, Height; approx. 4 3/4 inches, Thickness approx. 1/3rd inch.
The wings are treated to appear as subdued combat wings
Crewmember wings also available.
https://www.fwcvhpa.org/MuseumOrder.htm
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WEBMASTER APPROVED BOOKS
Here's our latest addition! Penned by another LilSis!
KILLED IN ACTION
HE CONTINUES TO HEAL OTHERS
Faced
with a life-threatening health problem, Stephanie Hanson needed a biological
family medical history. Adopted as an infant, she never knew her birth parents.
During a relentless search through tangles of government red tape, she learned
her father, a Navy Hospital Corpsman, was killed in a Marine Helicopter crash in
Vietnam two months before she was born. Young and alone she needed answers only
the military establishment held and was reluctant to reveal to a civilian.
Undaunted and obsessed, she pushed on with the tenacity of a bulldog and
repeated her questions over and over in frustration as they steered her from
office to office down the “yellow brick road.” Unexpectedly, at a key moment
everything suddenly changed, and the Marines took her in wholeheartedly as one
of their own when they learned her father was a Corpsman killed in combat. They
gave her helpful information about her father and provided links to his past.
Four and a half years into her quest, Stephanie Hanson not only obtained the
cold statistics she needed, but felt close to a father who served his Country
heroically. While attending a large helicopter organization’s reunion, a three
star U.S. Marine General arrived and proudly presented her with the Air Combat
Wings her dad earned, and desperately wanted, but never received.
“There is no person more respected and loved by Marines than their "Doc" - their
Corpsman who shares the hardship and misery of combat to save Marine lives,
sometimes sacrificing their own. Stephanie's dad is a true hero to all of us who
wore the Marine uniform.”
--LtGen
Michael A Hough, USMC (Ret), Former Deputy Commandant for Aviation
"Read this book and learn of a daughter's love and
commitment to honor her father, who gave his last full measure of devotion to
his country in a far off land long ago."
Senator John McCain
This
compelling story is told with great care and compassion to honor not only her
father, but also all those who touched his life and made a difference in the
military. “A Corpsman’s Legacy” is taken from the notes she wrote as she
lived through her search and is a book you will treasure forever. Note:
Importantly, too, as Stephanie searched for her father’s background and history
her medical condition vanished, to the astonishment of her physicians, with all
symptoms gone. They cannot logically account for the healing. Those who come
into contact with Stephanie, also feel the power of the healing force.
Leatherneck Publishing publishes “A Corpsman’s Legacy”, in Oceanside, CA.
It is available directly from http://www.leatherneckpublishing.com, or
your local bookstore. Dealer discounts offered through Ingram Books and Baker
&Taylor.
Order from here! http://www.acorpsmanslegacy.com/index.htm
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Seawolf 28
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MWSA Book Review |
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Author: Al Billings Publisher: Booksurge Reviewer: Bill McDonald – President of the MWSA A Navy Maverick With True Grit! Seldom do I ever read a military aviation book where I come away thinking that I would have really loved to have flown with the author of that memoir. Author Al Billings is a veteran’s veteran! He is a man among men. It was men like Al that made flying in Hueys the heroic aviation adventure it was. His book “Seawolf 28” explodes with energy and action and much more. His personality certainly comes shinning through and shows him for whom he was. Billings was awarded over 40 medals and citations including the Silver Star and The Distinguished Flying Cross. He was a member of the Navy’s most decorated helicopter attack squadron in the Vietnam War. I have met several members of the Seawolfs when filming the documentary film “In the Shadow of the Blade.” You could not find any better group of honorable men for sure. It is not surprising to read how well they did in combat. This book not only honors the role of the author but also adds to the almost myth like tales of those fine young men. The book is well written and is a great read. I admit that the last chapters in the book were not the way I would have liked to see it end for the author, but Billings is true to himself all the way to the end and shows a lot of class. When you finish reading his book you will be left with many emotions about the war, the men, leadership in the military and what it means to stand up and be counted when someone has to be accountable and honest. Al Billings is a true leader in the real sense. I think most veterans will agree that he would be the guy that you would like to have had in the pilot’s seat on your flight! This is a must read book and receives the MWSA’s HIGHEST RATING – FIVE STARS! *The great book cover is by award winning Vietnam veteran artist Joe Kline. (Joe Kline’s website: www.joekline.com)
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Primer of the Helicopter War by Charles Holley & Mike Sloniker
From the publisher:
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Unlike other history books written about the Vietnam War, this book was written with helicopters and their crews as the main focus . . . and, it was written by helicopter pilots. Charles Holley flew scout helicopters in Vietnam and is the author of the highly acclaimed Bantam War Series book, Aero scouts. Mike Sloniker flew slicks and is widely-known as a Vietnam War historian. Together they have put together a highly-informative book, filled with first person accounts and photographs, that has no equal. The chapters in the book follow the events of the Vietnam war chronologically, and include the roles played by helicopters in each of the major battles. If you crewed a helicopter in Vietnam, this book is a must have! |
From the Webmaster This is OUR book. Loadhacker and Holley pulled many many emails from the early days of VHFCN. Check it out, you might be in it! I did and I am! |
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An Year in the Skies of Vietnam Joseph R. Finch ISBN 0-910155-45-3 • $16.95
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Elephant's Ear. Dog's Head. Angel's Wing. These names evoke the image of children playing a whimsical game, identifying objects in the clouds. But for Joe Finch and his fellow helicopter pilots of 25th Aviation Battalion, they meant something vastly different: They were the shapes created by map coordinates that defined their location within the "area of operation." Angel's Wing is Joe Finch's account of the year he spent with A Company, the "Little Bears" during the Vietnam War. His story is raw and authentic, unflinching in his honesty. Sometimes his tale is humorous. Sometimes it's tragic. Whether he writes of a preposterous moment or of brutality and death, his personal account is powerful. If you weren't there, at times his experiences in Vietnam are hard to imagine: the blood, the noise, the smells. At other times, you will open your eyes in wonder at the dedication that the young men fighting there demonstrated. Finch arrived in Vietnam in 1969 as a young, naive lieutenant. His flying skills were untested. The task before him was unknown. But almost from the moment of his arrival at the forward base at Cu Chi, Finch began to learn what would be required of him. He would learn to fly under the most difficult of conditions, straining the limits of both the pilots and their machines. He learned to support ground troops, inserting and extracting men into and out of the most dangerous of situations. And he learned the importance of medical evacuation of the wounded--the Medevac--in saving soldiers' lives. He made it his personal mission and his most significant achievement. It is in this task that Joseph Finch exhibited the compassion and courage that make Americans proud of his service to our nation. Joe Finch's unforgettable story is very personal, yet reveals
something larger: a glimpse into the character of many who flew in
the skies of Vietnam.
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Read about
Joe Finch's recent trip to Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii, where he
spoke at the 1-25th Aviation Regiment's annual Christmas ball.
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Rattler One-Seven puts you in the helicopter seat, to see the war in Vietnam through the eyes of an inexperienced pilot as he transforms himself into a seasoned combat veteran. When Chuck Gross left for Vietnam in 1970, he was a nineteen-year-old Army helicopter pilot fresh out of flight school. He spent his entire Vietnam tour with the 71st Assault Helicopter Company flying UH-1 Huey helicopters. Soon after the war he wrote down his adventures, while his memory was still fresh with the events. Rattler One-Seven (his call sign) is written as Gross experienced it, using these notes along with letters written home to accurately preserve the mindset he had while in Vietnam. During his tour Gross flew Special Operations for the MACV-SOG, inserting secret teams into Laos. He notes that Americans were left behind alive in Laos, when official policy at home stated that U.S. forces were never there. He also participated in Lam Son 719, a misbegotten attempt by the ARVN to assault and cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail with U.S. Army helicopter support. It was the largest airmobile campaign of the war and marked the first time that the helicopter was used in mid-intensity combat, with disastrous results. Pilots in their early twenties, with young gunners and a Huey full of ARVN soldiers, took on experienced North Vietnamese antiaircraft artillery gunners, with no meaningful intelligence briefings or a rational plan on how to cut the Trail. More than one hundred helicopters were lost and more than six hundred aircraft sustained combat damage. Gross himself was shot down and left in the field during one assault. Rattler One-Seven will appeal to those interested in the Vietnam
War and to all armed forces, especially aviators, who have served for
their country. |
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The Last Hookers:
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Thunderbird Lounge
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Born in Brooklyn. . . . Raised in the CAV!
by
John E. Flanagan
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for the first time, the author attends a reunion of former pilots who
flew helicopters in Vietnam. Reuniting with his classmates and some of
his fellow pilots he flew with in Vietnam brings back a rush of memories
and stories of times past. The following years´ reunions build on the
first as more and more of the pilots he served with are reunited. The
reunions stir memories and deeds of times past are recounted in a steady
stream of war stories. He soon realizes that he doesn't want these
stories -- these war stories -- lost and decides to write them down
before he forgets the details. As the stories unfold more memories come
back and he records them too. His intent was not to document the history
of the US involvement in the Vietnam War, nor be a definitive history of
the famous B Troop 1st Squadron, 9th US Cavalry Regiment. His intent was
to record his personal memory of the events some 30 plus years ago from
his perspective. The life of a warrant officer candidate presented a number of challenges that needed to be overcome if his plan to beat the army system was to be realized. He tells of some of the more interesting incidents in his flight training and preparation for combat. Things changed after earning his wings and arriving in Vietnam. Somewhere along the line the reality of the situation presents itself and John volunteers for the famous reconnaissance squadron of the 1st Cavalry Division. The 1st of the 9th was known for its ferocity in combat and its high casualty rate especially among flight crews. History records that this single unit was responsible for a large percentage of the entire division's enemy kills. His description of some of the sights and sounds of life in B Troop will surely remind other veterans of their time in Vietnam. He will certainly stir the memories of others that served in the air cavalry and perhaps even others who were supported by them.
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