THE WALL OF FACES

I still carry the notice of his death in my Vietnam scrap book. We both attended basic helicopter maintenance school together at Fort Eustis, Virginia. Warm smile, great humor and a welcome member of our class. His best girl Margie will always be with me. I will never forget.

I couldn't imagine what you went through by leaving your family and your experience serving our country

but thank you we are truly blessed.

Hello there , I am a student from Apollo High school , and I was required to search for a name of a great hero in the Vietnam war. knowing that someone like you was brave enough to sacrifice his life for the country is a great blessing. thank you and everyone else who didn't make it 3

Personal account of this incident: I remember this incident well! At that time B317th Cav's base camp was Suoi Da (XT3357) on QL 13 west of Nui Ba Den. This was a last minute, scratch mission. Most of B Troop was out working an AO some place. Our Operations came looking for crews to man two gunships to respond to a contact (XT385860) on secondary route 246 near Bo Tuc, east of Katum going toward An Loc. Like the others on that mission, I had the day off. As I remember, when we had 8 guys for the two UH-1Cs, we launched. WO1 James F. Horan was the AC. I had joined B Troop from the 334th gun company as part of the infusion, DEROS shuffle. Anyway, when we arrived over the battle we learned the ARVNs were on one side of the road and the NVA on the other. The vegetation had been cleared about 75 yards on both sides of the road that was cut through very heavy jungle. A FAC had some artillery going in and directed us to make our runs east to west breaking short of where the rounds were landing. We had just about expended all our ordinance and I seem to recall that the FAC had directed an air strike from some F100s to come in after we were done. We were making about 400 yard gun runs. I remember the lead ship had fired and made his break. We were well into our firing run when I saw this F100 pass about 80 yards directly over us and on our same heading. I could see all sorts of stuff coming off the F100. I'd guess it was spent shell casings. I don't think it was CBU bomblets; but I don't know for sure. Almost immediately after that there were one or two major explosions. The one thing that sticks out most clearly in my mind was possibly on the nose of the Huey itself. This blast could have been caused by something for the F100 or something that the bad guy shot at us--I don't know for sure. We lost intercom so Jim and I started yelling at each other. I remember hearing our lead shouting over the radio that he needed a MEDEVAC and to get the Air Force out of there!! He was excited! Jim was flying and it was obvious that we were going down. He turned left to put us down on the ARVN side of the road. As we crossed the road, an enemy machinegun really stitched us up good. I remember working with Jim but there was no lateral cyclic control. We crashed into the trees on the edge of a small opening but as I recall, a stand of bamboo kept us from actually hitting the ground. I remember the blades were gone and the cockpit was all messed up! The transmission had broken loose and was laying almost between us. The engine was still screaming and I remember finding the fuel shut-off value which was nowhere near its normal position. I pulled it and was surprised that it worked because the engine shut down. I don't know how I got out of the wreck but I did. I remember working on gunner PFC James L. Reichelt's injuries and could hear Jim (Horan) wrestling to get out of the wreckage. Then he and I started working on crew chief SP4 Oscar Aguayo Jr., who had some serious injuries. We hadn't been on the ground more than about 20 minutes when an American infantry force arrived--it was our Blues! I remember they were lead by this SSG who really had his stuff together! We were in his element and he took charge of a very messy situation! A few minutes later one of our LOHs came in and we loaded Aguayo in it. A second LOH came in and we put Reichelt in it. I noticed there was no way to secure him; so I jumped in to hold him down. I remember holding his belt loops to a D-ring on the floor with my hands. I think the Scout pilot's name was Gary but I don't recall his last name. With his observer and the mini-gun, there were now four of us on that OH-6A. Gary took off and I noticed that he seemed to be doing clearing turns. I thought - No, we don't need to make any clearing turns now! Then I realized what was going on: Gary had lost tail rotor control. I knew this wasn't good and that we were going back into the bamboo. Basically we made about a 100 foot hovering autorotation and crashed very near the Huey. The LOH turned on its side. I don't think anyone receive any new injures in this crash. When we collected ourselves on the ground, I remember Gary saying that he knew they had loaded one man but didn't realize I was also in the LOH. I guess the decision was made not to send anymore aircraft into that location because the grunts helped us walk out. Soon the fire fight was all but over. The Air Force was bombing the crud out of the bad guys. I remember the bombs landing so close that we were lifted into the air with each explosion. I got to view the battle field from these frequent airborne trips. Eventually we got to a place where a medevac slick took Reichelt and me to an aid station. The place was a mad house-- there were lots of wounded. I had two wounds in my left arm that I knew weren't too serious that I went to get treated. When I returned to the area where the seriously wounded were, I learned that both Aguayo and Reichelt had died. I don't know if they died from gunshot wounds, crash injuries, had bled to death or what. The after-action report stated our UH-1C was really messed up. I have a photo that I think one of our Scout pilots took of a Chinook lifting out the gunship and the LOH beneath it piggy-back style. I am certain the Huey was written off as destroyed. Jim (Horan) wasn't seriously injured and was back flying in a few days. This was my fourth time being shot down and my wounds took a few days to heal. I transferred to HHT and was soon flying UH-1Hs for them. Submitted by Paul H. Fleming in May 2001. [Taken from vhpa.org]

I've heard so many stories about you, and I could honestly say that I am so proud of you and everything you have done. The day poppa told me about you changed my life, and like you I knew I wanted to do something for this amazing country. You're a true hero! You're my hero! I only hope that I'm making you proud by caring the AGUAYO last name into Afghanistan!

Hooooaah!