LOCATION

1-31 December 1970, Marble Mountain Air Facility, DaNang, RVN

The "Purple Foxes" of HMM-364 flew 1,143.4 hours  during  the  month  of  De- cember.  This  effort represents 1,153 tasks for 4,505 sorties including  the  trans- port  of  9,879  passengers/troops  and  212.3  tons  of  cargo.  One  hundred one missions were flown  in  support  of  two  hundred  thirty  two  casualties.  These casualties represented 94 emergency, 54 priority, and 76 routine evacuees.

The "Purple Foxes" received  fire  ten times during  the month which resulted  in ten  hits to  various aircraft.   It seemed  that December  was going to be  a fairly quiet month  the way  everything went for  the two  weeks.  The only real  excite- ment occurred on the 6th of December when the Purple Foxes beat HMM-262 in a football  game to take  the Group trophy.  This  is a real tribute to  the men of HMM-364, who, despite  the  heavy  commitments and  never  having  the  same people on the field from game to game, were still able to compile a 9-1-1 record.

It was bound  to happen sooner or latter.  Despite a quiet beginning, on the 16th of  December  the dam  broke.  The  "Purple Foxes" had  a total commitment of 17  aircraft  that day and despite  the subsequent happenings  they upheld  those commitments completing ever mission.

The  day started out  with  Captain BLADES leading  the mission  86 flight.  His section inserted  a reactionary force to  try to trap about 30  enemy operating  at BT 034428.  After  that was completed  his section  returned to FSB Baldy where the  rest of  his  flight  was  briefed  on inserting  more troops in  the same  area. Again  Captain  BLADES  launched  but  this  time  with a  division  of  aircraft. There  were two  one bird  zones for  the four aircraft  to operate in.  As one air- craft  approached  each of  the two zones  everything  was  going  fine.   Captain GARCIA was approaching a zone at BT 034438.   He was no  sooner in the zone than he received heavy automatic weapons fire.  His crew chief,  Sgt. OTTO, was shot in the neck and Captain GARCIA aborted his portion of  the mission to fly the  injured  crew  chief  to  medical  facilities.  While  the  helo  gun  ships  were searching the area for the enemy, the rest of the troop insert was completed.

Not more than 30 minutes later,  Lt. TENNENT was flying  to AT 966394  to  ex- tract  an  emergency  MedEvac  by  jungle  penetrator.   Just  as  Lt.  TENNENT brought  his  aircraft  into a  hover over  the zone,  he  received  heavy  fire,  one round  of  which  hit  his  crew chief,  Cpl. MORRIS  in  the  leg.  Lt. TENNENT aborted his MedEvac to get his crew medical attention.

His wingman,  Lt. BARON, took over and after waiting  for another CH-46  and gun  ships to  arrive on  the scene,  he went into  the zone.   It was  an  extremely difficult  zone due to  the almost vertical  hill and high trees in the area.   As  the MedEvac  was being hoisted  aboard  the left gunner  lost his  intercom and  was unable to speak to  the rest of the crew.   Despite  his  frantic efforts to warn  the pilot of  the trees around  the area  the  gunner  had  to  watch  as  one  tree  was getting  a  Christmas  tree  trim  job.   At  the  completion  of  the  MedEvac  Lt. BARON pulled out of  the zone and started to gain airspeed when a  tremendous beat in the rotor system developed.  He notified  the chase aircraft that he would meet up with  him at LZ Ross where  they switched  the wounded  Marine to  the chase aircraft for continued transport to the medical facility.  Upon shutdown, it was  easy  to  see  what  caused  the  vibration.   There  were  four blades  heavily damaged by  the tree trimming.  It should be noted it was an  almost  impossible zone, under enemy fire and yet Lt. BARON completed the extract and saved  the Marine's life.  The honors were many this day but the unmentioned honors go to the  maintenance  section  who somehow  had sufficient aircraft for the 17  com- mitments despite temporarily  losing three aircraft  due to hostile fire  and blade damage.

On  the  19th  of  December,  again  on  mission 86,  HMM-364 ran into trouble. LtCol. STEADMAN and his wingman, Lt. LEEK were doing a flip flop of troops from  LZ Ross  to AT 963343 in  the Que Son  mountains.   LtCol. STEADMAN was on short final to  the zone when he lost power  and settled into the trees and rocks.  Immediately his wingman flew back  to LZ Ross to drop his troops so  he could stand  by for any MedEvacs.  Upon arriving back at  the scene,  Lt. LEEK orbited overhead while the ground forces were proceeding with  the rescue  oper- ation.  The  aircraft  was  engulfed  in  flames and exploding from C-4 and other ammunition burning aboard the aircraft.  While the injured  were being brought to  a   clearing,   Lt.  BRANDT  arrived   on  the  scene  with  his  wingman,   Lt. MORHARDT.   Since  Lt. BRANDT  had a Corpsman  aboard he went  into  the zone.   While he was in  the zone ammo was  still exploding, but  this didn't stop him  from picking up  three emergency MedEvacs.  The next MedEvac  available required a "Niel Robertson" so Lt. MORHARDT went in and dropped the rig to the  people  on the ground.   He waited until the man was securely fastened into the rig, went back to  the zone and hoisted  the wounded Marine aboard.  About this  time, Lt. BRANDT was  back  from delivering  his  MedEvacs.  The  ground forces  informed  Lt. BRANDT and Lt. LEEK  that due to  the difficult terrain it would be  another 20 minutes before  they could get more wounded to  the clear- ing.   Lt. LEEK  flew down  into the  crash area and  dropped  off another  "Neil Robertson" rig. After this the supporting gun ships, Lt. BRANDT and Lt. LEEK flew  back to  Baldy to refuel.   Upon arriving  back on  the scene,  Lt. BRANDT went  in to pull out three  more emergency MedEvacs.  Lt. LEEK  followed   five minutes later and retrieved one emergency and four routine  MedEvacs.  Finally, Lt. MORHARDT  went back to  the zone and pulled the rest of  the injured out. In all there were 8 emergency and 12 priority/routine MedEvacs.

A word of mention about LtCo. STEADMAN.  Despite his injuries, he stayed on the scene and directed rescue operations.  Undoubtedly, his quick thinking saved the  lives of Lt. DAVIS and  LCpl. TROSTERUD  who were trapped in the burn- ing aircraft.

The probable cause of the crash is direct enemy  action.  Marines on  the ground and in  the aircraft reported tracers  and heard firing as  the aircraft approached the zone.

The 24th  of December  rolled around  and  Bob Hope and  his show were in  the Da Nang  area  once  again.   Lt. BARON and  Lt. CAHALL had  the  honor  of flying Bob Hope and  his cast around for the shows in  the Da Nang area.  These are combat pilots?

For the second time in as many years HMM-364 extended the hand of friendship to our brothers in the field.  Maj. VAN LEEUWEN and Lt. GRASSO along with Major SOLAN  and Lt. TUCKER  flew cold beer and soda to  the Grunts in  the field.  The beer and soda  was donated by the men of HMM-364 and  the crew of the  two aircraft   devoted  their  off  duty  time to  fly  it  to  them  in  the  field. Needless to say,  the Grunts were not expecting  it and for them it was a welcome Christmas Eve surprise.

The following day again the Purple Foxes spent  their time delivering a bit  more of Christmas to  the Grunts in  the field.  They delivered hot chow to  the Grunts and their  efforts were appreciated by  the CO of the 1st Recon. Bn. as evidenced by his comment, "My sincerest  thanks for bringing Christmas to my Marines in the field.  Where would we be without the Swift Birds?"

6 December 1970 - While landing in a zone (AT 955402) on mission 86, the pilot struck a stump and rock puncturing a hole in  the ramp and stub wing.  Return- ed to LZ Baldy with no further incident.

8 December 1970 - During a  MedEvac (AT 905538)  in poor weather  and at low altitude,  the pilot of A/C 153376  received  fire resulting  in (1) one  hole  in  the nose, (1) one in the blade and (1) one in the cabin area.

16 December 1970 - The  pilot of  A/C 154014  flying  mission  86,  was  on short final into the zone (__ 034281) when  he received  (4) four hits in  the cabin  area injuring the crew chief.

16 December 1970 - The pilot of A/C 153350 was hovering in a zone (AT 966394) performing a  MedEvac  extract.   Fire was received  resulting in (3) three  hits in the cabin area, (1) one hitting crew chief in the leg.

16 December 1970 - At (AT 966394)  the pilot of  A/C 154807  damaged  forward blades while performing a jungle penetrator extract.

19 December 1970 - The  pilot  of  A/C 153351  received  fire  on  short final to a zone  (AT 963343),  power was  lost and  the aircraft  settled  into the  trees.  The aircraft caught fire and was a total loss.  All crew members were injured with the co-pilot, crew chief and gunner MedEvaced out of Vietnam.