A Marine Hero - Rescue at Hill 845: The story behind "Dec. 28, 1969 Que Son Mountains, Vietnam."

Via comment by Roy Goldammer on Dec. 28, 1969 Que Son Mountains, Vietnam

 

 Dec. 28, 1969 Que Son Mountains, Vietnam (Via Quan Nguyen Thanh)

by Greg Johnson, a retired CH-46 Driver, lives in Pennsylvania. He made many of these Med-evac runs. He currently is a college professor.  
 
The Noble Warrior: Rescue at Hill 845 
  
Glancing around at the clutter in my attic recently, I decided it was time to sort through  some of the unpacked boxes associated with my military retirement and move to  Pennsylvania. A fond smile crossed my face as I gingerly pulled out aging flight logbooks. As I randomly scanned the yellowing  pages, I was surprised by the vivid and  detailed recall the numerous sorties inscribed on those pages evoked. Aviation seems to have that effect on the mind.  
 
Locked in a trance with my memories, it was the flutter of a small newspaper clipping,  surrendering to gravity, as it fell from between the pages, that snapped the spell of the moment and brought me back to reality.  The clipping was a one-line notice from the Navy Times announcing the death of my friend, David Cummings, during 1988. When I first cut out the obituary notice and tucked it away in my logbook, I mentally promised myself that one day I would tell the story of his heroics--in another place and time...    

(Vietnam 1969) 

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