He Is One Bad Assed Man...

...even though my guess is that he does not think so about himself. To say that he was brave, even courageous, under conditions that would have made most other men flee is a gross understatement. He was more than that, he was and remains a true American hero, or should I say he was an under-acknowledged hero at least until today. He acted with bravery and unselfishness, in fact with true heroism, in May 1967 when, at the Song Tra Cau riverbed, he flew in reinforcements and supplies to U.S. troops pinned down in a raging battle zone and then flew out wounded troops. Despite his helicopter being hit, he remained until all troops and equipment were offloaded and until as many wounded as could fit were loaded onto his Huey. He returned to base, offloaded the wounded, took on more supplies and then repeated the same trip. That second time, he landed right in the middle of enemy fire. His gunner was severely wounded and his Huey was badly damaged. He was again able to offload completely and load up with wounded troops and despite his helicopter having been badly damaged he made it back to base. 

Later in the day, he again volunteered to make the same trip yet a third time. He took the last remaining flyable helicopter in his unit and accompanied by 5 other evacuation helicopters from other units he returned to the same battle zone. They were going in to retrieve the 40 remaining troops and a crew of 4 from a downed helicopter from earlier in the day. They were supported by Army gunships.

At the battle zone, he was informed by another pilot that all of the troops had been loaded onto the helicopters and they departed the area. While in flight back to their base and relative safety, he was informed there were still 8 soldiers who had not made it onto the evacuation ships. He relinquished command of the evacuation to another pilot and turned his Huey back toward the fray. Without any support at all from gunships, he landed his lone helicopter in the midst of the battle zone once again and immediately came under very heavy enemy fire. His helicopter was, in essence, all the enemy had to fire upon. It took heavy fire and sustained heavy damage including from a mortar round that damaged the helicopter badly with damage to the main rotor and tail boom among other areas. Despite that, he was able to maintain the stability needed to load the 8 soldiers aboard. Then, regardless of the damage to the aircraft, he somehow maneuvered through the enemy fire and returned to the relative safety of their base (source).

That he did it once was brave, that he did it twice was courageous and both times with air support. That he did it a third time and alone - with no support at all - was truly heroic and far above and beyond the call of duty. How he only received the Distinguished Service Cross back then seems almost unfathomable. Today though, about 49 years after his actions, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Kettles (U.S. Army, Ret.) received our nation's highest distinction, he was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during that resupply and evacuation mission during that battle in the Vietnam War in May 1967 (source). I think it was an honor long overdue for one bad assed man among men. Even though I think him bad assed and a hero, Lt. Col. Kettles appears to be quite humble about it all. In fact, he said that the medal was not his but belonged to the other pilots and crew members who had been involved that day: "I didn't do it by myself. There were some 74 pilots and crew members involved in this whole mission that day, so it's not just me," (source).

Kettles has been quoted as saying something about that day that also tells a lot about himself: “We got the 44 out. None of those names appear on the wall in Washington. There's nothing more important than that.” While he says we, instead of referring only to himself (as all to often does the president who hung the medal from his neck) the thing is, when doom imminently was upon the last eight men stranded on the ground, it was Kettles alone who turned his helicopter back. He flew into the face of almost certain death to save them and he did so without air, artillery or ground support. Yes, I think, it is him who deserved that medal more than anyone that day! Americans should honor him and be proud that we have men like him among us.

All the best,
Glenn B