The Air War Expands (1965 - 1968)
On 7 February 1965, the Viet Cong attacked Camp Holloway near Pleiku, killing eight Americans. The President responded with Operation Flaming Dart, a series of strikes against military barracks near Dong Hoi in North Vietnam, as well as other targets. Increased air strikes against targets in the northern half of the country, code name Rolling Thunder, began less than a month later on 2 March. Rolling Thunder was the first sustained bombing campaign of the war against North Vietnam and lasted through 1968.
As offensive air operations increased, Air Force presence in Southeast Asia also increased. For example, about 10,000 Air Force personnel served in Vietnam in May 1965. This number doubled by the end of the year, and as 1968 drew to a close, 58,000 airmen served in the country. Airmen performed a variety of duties, ranging from support to combat to rescue. Prime BEEF personnel, for example, built revetments, barracks, and other facilities. Rapid engineering and heavy operational repair squadron, engineering (Red Horse) teams provided more long-range civil engineer services. In the realm of combat operations Air Force gunners flew aboard gunships as well as B-57s and B-52s. In December 1972, B-52 tailgunner Staff Sergeant Samuel Turner shot down an enemy MiG, the first of only two confirmed shoot downs by enlisted airmen during the war—both victories from gunners belonging to the 307th Strategic Wing at U-Tapao, Thailand.
Enlisted personnel also served on gunships during the war as both aerial gunners and as loadmasters. With the Gatling-style guns actually aimed by the pilot through speed, bank, and altitude, the responsibility of the aerial gunners was to keep the quick-firing guns reloaded. Crewmembers occupying this position were particularly vulnerable to ground fire. Meanwhile, loadmasters released flare canisters over target areas during night missions—another hazardous undertaking. On 18 December 1966, a flare on board an AC-47 gunship exploded prematurely, deploying its parachute in the aircraft. With only seconds before the 4,000-degree Fahrenheit flare ignited, Staff Sergeant Parnell Fisher of the 4th Air Commando Squadron searched the darkened cabin and threw the flare out just as it ignited. The parachute, however, caught under the cargo door, and the flare burned next to the fuselage. Fisher cut the lines while leaning outside the aircraft, probably saving the crew and plane. These efforts earned him the Silver Star.
Three years later, another loadmaster earned the Medal of Honor. On 24 February 1969, an enemy shell exploded on the right wing of “Spooky 71,” an AC-47 on a night illumination mission near Long Binh, South Vietnam. The explosion resulted in injury to all four enlisted personnel in the aircraft’s cargo bay, including Airman First Class John Levitow, as well as an armed Mark 24 flare rolled about the cabin floor. Suffering 40 shrapnel wounds, Levitow fell on the flare, dragged it to the cargo door and heaved it outside. It ignited almost immediately. President Richard Nixon presented him with the Medal of Honor in a White House ceremony on 14 May 1970.
Combat came not only in the air for Air Force enlisted members. With the continuing threat of guerilla attack throughout the country, air base defense became a monumental undertaking performed almost exclusively by Air Force security police squadrons. In one instance, Staff Sergeant William Piazza of the 3d Security Police Squadron earned the Silver Star for helping defend Bien Hoa during the North Vietnamese Tet Offensive of 1968.
The Air Force used helicopters for everything—personnel and supply transport, infiltration and exfiltration of special operations troops, and search and rescue. Pararescue personnel were among the most decorated individuals in the war. Some of the honors received included the Medal of Honor, Air Force Cross, and the Silver Star. While assigned as a pararescue crew member in Detachment 6, 38th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron, Airman First Class William Pitsenbarger distinguished himself by extreme valor on 11 April 1966 near Cam My, Republic of Vietnam. On that date, Pitsenbarger was aboard an HH-43 rescue helicopter responding to a call for evacuation of casualties incurred in an ongoing firefight between Company C of the United States Army’s 1st Infantry Division and a sizeable enemy force approximately 35 miles east of Saigon. With complete disregard for personal safety, Pitsenbarger volunteered to ride a hoist more than 100 feet through the jungle to the ground because Army personnel were having trouble loading casualties onto the Stokes litter. On the ground, he organized and coordinated rescue efforts, cared for the wounded, prepared casualties for evacuation, and insured that the recovery operation continued in a smooth and orderly fashion.
