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45 Years Late


Graywolf88
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45 years after Doc Jensen's crew was picked up from the burning wreckage of their plane (63-7775 c/n 3841) while under fire from the bad guys, the Army helicopter crews that rescued them have finally been awarded the Silver Star. This was one of the planes shot down during the An Loc Airdrops of 1972. The rescue probably saved the lives of the entire crew.

You can easily find all the stories of the Battle of An Loc on the Internet. The crews who recently received the Silver Star for the rescue are the ones who picked up the C-130 crew of Capt. Don (Doc) Jensen after his plane was hit during the air drops and crashed into unfriendly territory.

 

Fox News Article and pictures

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  • 1 month later...

 

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/04/19/vietnam-war-heroes-honored-silver-star-45-years-amazing-rescue/

Spc. Leonard “Bruce” Shearer of Indianapolis, Chief Warrant Officer Robert Monette, Capt. Robert Frank, and Spc. John DesLauriers saved five men from a burning plane, WTHR reported.

They followed a burning C-130 transport plane that crashed near Saigon in 1972 when they took enemy fire, returned fire of their own, and pulled five men from the burning plane into their Army UH-1H “Huey.”

All of the men, including two men who were rescued by a nearby helicopter, survived.

“We did these sorts of things in the air cavalry all the time, the difference this time being it was recognized and documented,” Frank told Stars and Stripes. “Heroic things were done every day. Sometimes somebody would see it, other times they wouldn’t.”

Shearer made multiple jumps from the helicopter to the burning C-130 below while DesLauriers battled North Vietnamese soldiers.

“We were running on fumes,” Monette said. “We were critically low on fuel. But we weren’t going any place until we had the guys on board.”

After nearly five decades and several attempts to get medals for the heroes, they were honored with the Silver Star on the 45th anniversary of the rescue. The Silver Star is the third-highest military honor.

 

silverstarreceipients.jpg

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Great to see this sort of thing happen. A very good friend I worked with when he was a C-130 crew chief at Dobbins ARB, Ga. was finally awarded his Silver Star about 30 years late also. He was a crew chief on "Dust-Off" Hueys in VN. His whole crew was awarded the Silver Star but he had left the Army before it was awarded. He was sent a letter some time later which he did not open. Years later he found it and opened it to find out his AC had asked him did he get his Silver Star. We went to see the 22nd AF Commander at Dobbins who followed up to see if it was real...it was, and I had the honor of putting together the ceremony and the Maj.Gen. pinned the Silver Star on my friend . A nearby Army Guard Dust-off unit flew a Huey to the hanger. After the ceremony which included his AC and medic, all got into the Huey and flew off. Quite a sight to see. So what did he do to be awarded the SS?     His crew landed in a hot LZ where he and the medic left the Huey     ( Which is normally NOT permitted) and in knee deep mud and under fire carried several wounded GI's to the aircraft and  then to the hospital. All this was done with no guns on the Dust Off chopper. Lots of heroes in VN that didn't get the medals they deserved.     Bill

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On ‎4‎/‎20‎/‎2017 at 5:22 PM, Graywolf88 said:

45 years after Doc Jensen's crew was picked up from the burning wreckage of their plane while under fire from the bad guys, the Army helicopter crews that rescued them have finally been awarded the Silver Star. This was one of the planes shot down during the An Loc Airdrops of 1972. The rescue probably saved the lives of the entire crew.

You can easily find all the stories of the Battle of An Loc on the Internet. The crews who recently received the Silver Star for the rescue are the ones who picked up the C-130 crew of Capt. Don (Doc) Jensen after his plane was hit during the air drops and crashed into unfriendly territory.

 

Fox News Article and pictures

Does anyone know what the aircraft's tail number was?  I would like to link this post to the database.

--Casey

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  • 2 years later...
9 hours ago, Ralph T. Bemis said:

Just found this while messing around on computer. 

Since I was one of the loadmasters I want to say these are four of the most wonderful guys that I'm proud to call them my "Brothers"

Ralph Bemis. 

 

Yeah, you and Charley both went straight to the hospital. They let us  in to see Charley. You was in the operating room by the time we got there.

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