From the S&S archives: GIs save thousands of victims of Viet flood

DA NANG, Vietnam — Heroism was taken for granted Friday and Saturday as Army and Marine helicopter crews braved poor visibility, high winds and enemy ground fire to rescue thousands of flood victims in the storm-drenched lowlands south of here.

Pilots risked their ships and lives maneuvering near trees and buildings and dozens of times crew members went out of their ships and into the water to rescue people who were frightened by the helicopters as well as the flood. One Marine sergeant plunged into eight feet of water with his steel armor on to save a 5-year-old who had fallen from a helicopter cable while dangling 40 feet above the water.

The sergeant was James Hunter of the 262nd Marine Medium Helicopter Sq. As his ship hovered overhead, Hunter moved to rescue four people from the roof of a hut. He watched them hoisted to safety one-by-one. On the last lift, the hoist stopped, and the men on the ship started to haul in the 5-year-old boy by hand.

Forty feet off the ground, the child slipped out, bounced off the thatched roof of the hut and disappeared into the muddy water. Hunter dove in, brought the boy to the surface and revived him with a thump on the back.

The child was saved, and it happened more than once across the flooded lowlands.

S. Sgt. Darwin Curtis and S.Sgt. Bernd Doss both plunged into deep water to rescue a woman with four children strapped to her body, helicopter crewmen said.

The woman had been perched on a tombstone, but had fallen into the water as the helicopter approached.

At least eight helicopters were hit by enemy ground fire as they flew rescue missions Friday, officers with the 263rd Marine Medium Helicopter Sq. said.

A Marine CH46 Helicopter was forced down by enemy fire on a rescue mission south of Hoi An Friday. Another Marine chopper went down and capsized in flood waters when its tail rotor struck an obstacle while the ship was on a rescue mission to save Korean Marines.

Many helicopters were transformed into flying farmyards as refugees carried pigs, ducks and chickens on board with other belongings, crewmen said.

By mid-day Saturday, sources put the number of flood victims evacuated to high ground by all means of transportation at more than 200,000. The death toll stood at 159 Vietnamese, 11 Koreans and six Americans, informed sources said.

Although thousands of people remained in flooded areas, all those in severe danger appeared to have been rescued by Saturday. By Sunday, flood waters had dropped four to five feet since the high of Friday night and people were beginning to move back to Go Noi Island and other flooded areas southwest of Hoi An. By Sunday there was speculation about whether it would be possible to re-plant rice crops destroyed in the flood.