It was a Thursday. We were about to complete a three day RON (remain over night)at Dak To. Since the beginning of October we had been sending five ships for three day assignments. On the fourth day after completing the day's mission we would rotate back to Holloway and five new ships would take our place. During the day other ships would join us at Dak To to resupply the fire bases and pull other missions.

The area had become very active in the past 45 days or so. The 2nd Brigade of the 4th Infantry had moved into the Kontum area from Ban Me Thuot at the beginning of November. They would be moving into the northern section of the Plei-Trap Valley at the end of the month. We had been operating in the valley for the past two months. We had placed LRRP (long range recon patrols)teams in several places in the valley. On Oct.3rd Gator 265 while extracting a team had run into some trouble. While hovering in a small landing zone the LRRPs had to be pulled into the ship by the crew. The weight on one side and a sudden gust of wind caused the ship to move towards the trees and caused a main rotor strike. The ship crashed in the landing zone. No one was hurt but the ship was declared a total loss. On Nov.1st Gator 519 while on a LRRP extraction west of FSB 29 received heavy fire. The team was extracted but the ship was hit several times and was forced to land at Ben Het. Both pilots were wounded and were evaced. The ship was declared a total loss. On Nov. 11th Gator 371 while making another LRRP extraction in the same area as Gator 519 came under heavy fire. Nobody was injured but this ship also suffered heavy damage and was removed from service.

Besides the LRRP missions and the resupply we were also conducting "Sniffer" mission every three to five days. The machine which looked like a large metal box was the newest weapon to be used against the NVA. Mounted in the cargo area with seat belts and the collection tubes duct taped to the skids this was our latest high tech weapon.

I had spent the last three nights in Dak To as part of the crew of Gator 540. This was the CO's ship. The three ships which had been lost in the past couple of months had been assigned to the first flight platoon. His ship was now pressed into service until replacements were received. The RON tent was a transit tent with dirty cots and about two 60 watt light bulbs in the entire tent. We were close to the mess hall and the LRRP bar. That was the only good thing. The LRRP bar had cold beer and several chess boards. There were many on going games staged on the boards. The pilots slept in the CQ bunker. One of my friends from the 2nd platoon was with us during this time. Billy had come to the company about a month after me. I think we were friends because we were new guys together. That was about the only thing we had in common to begin with but after a few months we got to know each other pretty good.

The day started like normal. We got some breakfast and pulled pre-flight just before dawn. We had loaded our stuff in the ships because we would be headed to Holloway at the end of the day. The first few sorties of the day were mostly mermike cans of food and fresh water for the fire bases. About mid morning we were pulled for a sniffer mission. My ship and Gator 297 met at the Hot Spot near the CQ bunker. They decided to mount the sniffer in Gator 297 because the ship I was on had a large UHF antena which was mounted along both sides of the tail boom. The operators felt that this would interfer with the machine's readings so they installed it in Gator 297.

Flying west out of Dak To we skirted along the ridgeline which led to FSB 29. We turned to the south west and headed towards the Cambodian border. We started our first run from west to east on the northern edge of the valley. Gator 297 would fly at tree top level at 50 to 70 knots. We would shadow his path at about 1500 ft. The operator would call out reading as we flew. Clear was no reading. Mark was small reading. Heavy mark was a strong reading, and a X was off the scale. We had made several passes before getting any readings. On the west to east pass we had gotten a Heavy mark. On the next pass we got an X. We had cut the last run short and pulled a 180 to make one more pass in the suspected location. The next thing I knew was the sky was full of red and green tracers. I saw Gator 297 nose over to its left and cart wheel into the trees and saw a bright flash of light and they were gone. I threw smoke and my pilot Mr. Taylor was on the radio calling for help. There was no MayDay or any contact from Gator 297 after the enemy fire was received. Several ships came on station and we continued to throw smoke to mark their location. We were order to return to base after a LOH from the 4th Avn. Bn. came on station. We were told an infantry unit would be sent into the area to recover the crew.

We continued to resupply for the remainer of the day. We listened to the radio as the grunts were put in but by dusk they still had not gotten to the crash site. We returned to Holloway that night. The following morning as we were headed back to Dak To we learned what the crew's fate had been.

I won't be here on Thursday to offer a toast so I thought I would do it a few days early. I thought I should share that day with all of you because they all meant something to us. To the crew of Gator 297, HAND SALUTE. Rest in Peace my friends.