Many people are familiar with the combat search and rescue activities carried out by Air Force personnel during the Vietnam War, but few, even within the Coast Guard itself, are aware that Coast Guard aviators flew combat search and rescue in Vietnam. From 1968 to 1973, the pilots participated in an exchange program between the Coast Guard and the Air Force that called for five Coast Guard volunteers—three HH-52A pilots and two HU-16E pilots—to switch with five Air Force pilots in Southeast Asia. The exchange program was designed to familiarize each service with the methods and techniques of the similar missions of Coast Guard search and rescue and Air Force rescue and recovery.
In fall 1967, Lieutenant Commander Lonnie L. Mixon, Lieutenant Jack C. Rittichier, and Lieutenant Lance A. Eagan began combat crew training and sea survival school (which included escape, evasion, and prisoner-of-war training) at Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane, Washington. After 12 days at Fairchild, the three pilots transferred to Shepard Air Force Base, Texas, to train with the CH-3C “Jolly Green Giant,” so named because of its weird camouflage paint. This flight training was followed by res- cue-and-recovery procedures at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. Their combat rescue crew commander training included instruction in air-to-air refueling from the HP model of the C-130 and in combat search-and-rescue tactics with escort aircraft. Finally, the Coast Guard aviators prepared themselves for service in South Vietnam at the Jungle Survival School at Clark Air Force Base, Philippines.
Coast Guard pilots Lieutenant James “Casey” Quinn and Lieutenant Thomas Fritschman were selected to fly HU-16s with the Air Force’s 31st Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron out of Clark Air Force Base. Their mission was supposed to be rescuing downed aviators in the Gulf of Tonkin, but at about that time, air-to-air refueling capability was developed for the HH-3, and the HU-16s were phased out. As a result, Lieutenants Quinn and Fritschman were sent to Nashville, Tennessee, to train with HC-130s and then to Eglin Air Force Base to transition to the HP model, which had air-to-air refueling capability with the HH-3s. In May 1968, Lieutenants Quinn and Fritschman reported to Clark Air Force Base to fly HC-130s on combat support missions between the Philippines and the coast of Vietnam. This mission usually consisted of 8- to 13-hour patrols, during which they flew orbits in specific areas to help locate aviators or vessels in distress.
Lieutenant Commander Mixon and Lieutenants Rittichier and Eagan arrived at Da Nang, Vietnam, on 3 April 1968 to fly combat rescue missions with the U.S. Air Force 37th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron. When the men at Da Nang received word that a pilot had crashed, a four-man crew was underway within minutes. Most rescues called for two Jolly Greens; one was the “high bird,” which attempted to provide cover for the “low bird,” which was the primary rescue aircraft.
The Coast Guard exchange pilots quickly showed the Air Force the kind of courage they had. These pilots developed a code of “three of many” and strove to leave a legacy that would endure. On 21 April, Lieutenant Rittichier faced hostile ground fire to rescue four crewmen of two U.S. Army helicopter gunships that had been shot down. A week later, on 2 May, he braved numerous thunderstorms and antiaircraft positions to penetrate the extremely hostile and heavily defended A Shau Valley to investigate an aircraft crash site. Then two days later, as the rescue commander of an HH-3E, Lieutenant Rittichier reentered the A Shau Valley and landed at a bomb-cratered landing zone to prepare two downed helicopters for aerial recovery. He on- loaded all personnel, equipment, and portable aircraft equipment and departed the area that was littered with unexploded bombs and mines. On 12 May, he twice entered another extremely hostile area to rescue four survivors of a downed helicopter and five seriously wounded men. The survivors were located in an extremely small landing zone surrounded by tall trees on a steep mountain slope. Lieutenant Rittichier made the second approach and departure by flare light, because the site was obscured by smoke and clouds.
On 9 June 1968, 37 miles west of Hue, a Marine Corps fighter pilot was grounded in a roadside ditch with a broken arm and leg. He had the greater misfortune of parachuting into a North Vietnamese army bivouacking area, so the enemy was using him as bait to lure the Jolly Green Giant helicopters within killing range. After U.S. air strikes pounded the site around the downed pilot, the first rescue helicopter made three attempts to reach the Marine pilot, but it was seriously damaged in the process and had to break off the mission. The downed Marine pilot was beginning to lose consciousness, so Lieutenant Rittichier and his three-man crew dove their HH-3E in for the pick-up. Heavy enemy fire forced him off, so he swung around to let the A-1 gunships clean the area again. When he followed them in for another pick-up attempt, bullets punched the helicopter as he hovered over the Marine. As the HH-3E began to bum, Lieutenant Rittichier tried to pull away, but the damaged aircraft settled to the ground and exploded. Lieutenant Rittichier’s remains were never recovered, so he officially was listed as missing in action. He was the only Coast Guard MIA from the Vietnam War and was the first Coast Guard casualty in Vietnam by enemy action.
On 1 July, a pilot was down about 17 miles northwest of Dong Ha, just across the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ). Enemy gunfire drove off the first Jolly Green Giant attempting the recovery, but Lieutenant Commander Mixon was sent in about an hour later. He established a hover over the downed pilot but was forced to withdraw after his aircraft sustained several hits. When he went in again, gunfire knocked out his electrical system, ruptured a hydraulic line, and damaged his fuel tanks. Even then, he made another attempt until darkness suspended the rescue operations for the night. The next morning, Lieutenant Commander Mixon and his crew made another attempt to rescue the injured pilot but had to depart the area because of a low fuel state. Another HH-3E on scene was almost immediately damaged by ground fire, and shortly thereafter, an A-l supporting the mission was shot down and its pilot killed.
Jolly Green 21, commanded by Coast Guard pilot Lieutenant Eagan, was among the aircraft scrambled that morning. Before he began his run for the downed pilot, Lieutenant Eagan dumped all extra fuel to allow his aircraft the greatest possible maneuverability. A burst of 37/57- mm antiaircraft artillery fire at close range shook the aircraft, and Lieutenant Eagan swung it into a series of violent maneuvers to evade the fire. While in a spiraling descent, he established voice contact with the grounded pilot and spotted signal smoke rising through the dense jungle canopy. Lieutenant Eagan’s pararescueman descended on a forest-penetration hoist suspended from a cable to a small clearing in the jungle. The pararescueman located the downed pilot, carried him to the hoist, and prepared for ascent. Just then, North Vietnamese automatic weapons fire raked the helicopter, smashing the center windshield. While the enemy continued to spray the underside of the aircraft, Lieutenant Eagan held his hover until the penetrator was clear of the treetops. He then shot off at maximum power and swung into a left turn to shield the two men still on the hoist. Not stopping to count the battle damage, Lieutenant Eagan flew the injured pilot to Dong Ha Hospital for treatment.
The helicopter had taken 40 direct hits from small arms, .30 caliber, and .50 caliber weapons; a total of 66 bullets punctured the aircraft. Lieutenant Eagan commented at the time, “I had several hits in my rotor blades; a few more inches either way and my Jolly would have gone down.” When later asked what it felt like to fly that mission, Lieutenant Eagan smiled and answered, “Have you ever been to a shooting gallery at an amusement park—and wondered what the sitting-duck target felt like?”
In February 1969, Lieutenant Eagan and Lieutenant Commander Mixon departed Da Nang, and Lieutenant Quinn transferred from Clark Air Force Base to the Air Force 39th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron at Tuy Hoa, South Vietnam, just north of Cam Ranh Bay. Lieutenant Quinn was the only fixed-wing Coast Guard aviator to serve in Vietnam. The squadron’s HC- 130s operated out of both Tuy Hoa and Udom, Thailand, and flew combat support missions between the two air bases. In addition to serving as a mission coordinator for combat search-and-rescue missions, Lieutenant Quinn also refueled HH-3Es and HH-53s in flight. During his tour in Vietnam, Lieutenant Quinn flew 137 combat rescues—but a refueling mission over Laos in January 1970 was his most memorable.
Flying out of Udom, he was directed to refuel a number of HH-3 and HH-53 helicopters. The pilots agreed on an altitude of 8,000 feet, and Lieutenant Quinn descended for the rendezvous with the two HH-3s and four HH-53s in a valley about five miles west of the North Vietnam border. Four A-Is also accompanied the mission. Lieutenant Quinn planned to refuel the HH-3s first and then the HH-53s, but the operation became complicated, because the helicopters still had most of their fuel and were unable to maintain maximum air speed. Lieutenant Quinn had to slow his aircraft to a knot or two above stall speed to make the refueling possible—and in fact did stall out at least once. It took about eight minutes to refuel the first Jolly Green Giant, and just as he asked the second HH-3 to slow to 80 knots, a MiG-21 attacked. One of the four A-Is accompanying the group reported that the MiG had shot down one of the HH-3s. The MiG came in for a second run while all the aircraft attempted to descend to treetop level to avoid lock-on by a heat-seeking missile. In his quick descent, Lieutenant Quinn was unable to retract his refueling hoses, which were ripped off by the treetops. One of the Jolly Greens reported to Lieutenant Quinn that the MiG was passing over him and heading toward the HC-130 (the biggest target). Lieutenant Quinn flew just above the treetops, changing his speed and direction constantly to avoid lock-on by the MiG 21 ’s weapons systems. Because of his slower speed, Lieutenant Quinn could make quicker turns than the MiG pilot as he flew between the mountains. The MiG-21 later disappeared.
Coast Guard pilots Joseph “J” Crowe and Rod Martin joined the exchange program in May 1971. Stateside training had ceased at that time, and the unit began to get unqualified pilots to train in country. Lieutenant Crowe was put in charge of the program to qualify new pilots for combat—in a new aircraft in a combat zone with no secure areas for training. Occasionally, the pilots flew typical Coast Guard missions, which were made easier by new sophisticated equipment, safer aerial refueling, and improved night illumination equipment. One such mission was the medical evacuation of a Korean soldier on a troop ship 400 miles off shore. The soldier had developed acute appendicitis and required immediate surgery. A tanker was available, so a maximum range mission was greatly simplified. Instead of refueling to maximum gross weight, rushing a hoist at heavy weight, and having to return to the nearest point of landing, Lieutenant Crowe departed Da Nang at his standard weight—thereby increasing his cruise speed—refueled before the point of no return, made a safe standard weight hoist, and returned to the nearest appropriate medical facility. Lieutenant Crowe was the natural choice for the mission, because his Air Force comrades had never hoisted from a ship.
On 2 April 1972, Lieutenant Crowe was involved in BAT 21B ACR, the longest and perhaps most costly rescue mission of the war. An EB66 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile just south of the DMZ but behind friendly lines. A-Is went in for strikes to suppress any ground fire, and the Jolly Greens flew in for the pick-up. Then—in what he later described as “the most exciting 90 seconds of my life”—Lieutenant Crowe descended and saw enemy tanks, tracked vehicles, and troops, took 40 hits, and climbed back into the clouds. The enemy had been hiding all around BAT 21B—it was a trap.
Later intelligence revealed that the friendly lines had been pushed back by a North Vietnamese invasion. The following day, when Army teams tried a rescue, three aircraft were lost and one crew killed. An OV-10 controlling fighters was shot down later, and in the following days, even more aircraft and their crews were lost. During this rescue mission, Lieutenant Crowe became the assistant operations officer assigned to control all air support, and all branches of both the U.S. and South Vietnamese forces were used. After 11 days and nights, the downed pilots, Lieutenant Colonel Hambleton and Lieutenant Clark, were carried to safety.
Lieutenant Crowe’s final operation during his tour was the evacuation of Quang Tri Citadel. A North Vietnamese offensive began on 30 March with a drive across the DMZ. Four North Vietnam Army divisions surrounded Quang Tri; cut Highway 1, the only escape route south to safety; and proceeded to hit the compound with artillery, mortars, and rockets for several weeks. Eighty U.S. advisors and several members of the Republic of Vietnam Army were grouped in Quang Tri with only one way out—by helicopter. The landing zone inside the Citadel, however, was large enough for only one helicopter at a time and had been zeroed in by the enemy artillery. The rescue normally would have been assigned to the Army, but the Jolly Greens got the job because of their great capacity and firepower. On 1 May 1972, 20 crewmen in four HH-53s flew the unprecedented rescue mission and returned to Da Nang safely with 132 survivors. Lieutenant Crowe was not allowed to fly because of the amount of classified planning he had been doing. Later called the “Miracle Mission,” this was the largest aerial evacuation of the Vietnam War and was planned by a Coast Guard pilot.
A total of 12 Coast Guard pilots flew in Vietnam, and two others served in Thailand, as part of the Air Force- Coast Guard exchange program. But those men were more than participants—they were heroes. In addition to Lieutenant Rittichier, six other Coast Guardsmen lost their lives in Southeast Asia; 59 others were wounded.