A Significant Emotional Event

submitted by: Alva Leon Matheson


After clearing into the 504th TASG, new FACs were sent to Phan Rang to attend the in-country check out program in the OV-10 at the school we affectionately named FAC U. We arrived late in the day after standing around for eight hours waiting for transportation. When the C-47 taxied up we learned the REMFs who had drawn the short straw at the office, and who were logging a combat mission, were upset because they were going to be late for a party at the O’Club.
I flew four missions there in January 1969. One evening several of us were invited to the ALO BOQ for a drink before dinner. The ALO assigned to the 1st Air Cavalry Division for the conversion from the O-2 to the OV- 10 took me aside and said he was looking for somebody to be an ALO/ FAC for the 1/9th ACS, an element of the 1st Air Cavalry Division. He told me they often needed air support because their job was to actively look for the enemy. I had heard the 1st Cav was a good unit and I thought of the chance to be an ALO was also a good one, so I agreed.
There were three Troops in the ACS. ‘A’ Troop “Apache” was with the 1st Brigade at Tay Ninh, ‘B’ Troop “Saber” was with the 3rd at Quan Loi, and ‘C’ Troop “Cavalier” was with the 2nd at Phouc Vinh. They most often operated in what were called Pink Teams. Here’s how it worked. An OH-6 LOH, commonly called a Loach, and using the call sign White, would fly just above the treetops. Their job was to locate and track the enemy, often by following footprints or bicycle tracks on trails through the jungle, until they either spotted the enemy or bullets started flying. They were as skilled at tracking as their predecessors, the Buffalo Soldiers, in the Indian Wars.
An AH-1 Cobra, with a call sign of Red, (thus the name Pink, as in Red and White), loaded with some combination of rockets, mini-gun, and grenade launcher, provided cover for the Loach from 1,500 feet. Once the Loach located the enemy it would clear the area while the Cobra attacked. The contact would be reported to the TOC and a decision could be made on how to proceed. If the opposing force was relatively small, the Blue Platoon would be landed using the UH-1 Iroquois, commonly called a Huey. Obviously sometimes they walked into some very hot situations, and using tactical air, I was able to get them out of trouble.
Early in my assignment, I had made it a point to fly with each of the Troops. One day, I had gone to Quan Loi and flown with B Troop, which supported the Division’s 3rd Brigade. One of the flights was with Saber White, the Scout Troop CO, who was a first lieutenant. I thought it rather strange that a guy so young would be in command of such an important part of the Squadron mission, but he was a real pro. Another was with a young warrant officer who also amazed me with his skill.
Some days later, I had pretty well oriented myself with the three Troops and decided to spend the day in the TOC watching how things were coordinated and supported from that end. I was sitting in the FAC lawn chair listening on the radios to the actions taking place in the three AOs when they turned up the volume on the one from B Troop. Saber White had been shot down while investigating a stone house that had shown signs of activity for several days. The Cobra Pilot covering him was screaming for a medevac because Saber White’s OH-6 was burning and because he could see the Pilot and the Crew Chief moving but unable to get out. Then he said he saw a VC run out of the house carrying a pistol. Before he could do anything the VC shot them both in the head and ran back toward the house. We’ll never know whether he was saving them from burning to death or executing them because the Cobra nailed him before he got back to the house.
Tactical air support was called in, and a couple of flights hit the house pretty well. The FAC, Rash 31, declared the house destroyed as all firing from it had ceased. Saber Six, the 1/9th Squadron Commander, came on the air and angrily demanded airstrikes continue until the house was leveled. He got what he asked for.
After the stone house was destroyed, Saber Six said to hit the helicopter so there would be nothing left that the NVA or VC could use. He assured Rash 31 that the crewmembers were already dead and it was too dangerous to go in to pick up the bodies. I’m not sure if they went back later or not. The pilots of the fighters were reluctant to make the strike, and Rash 31 had to pass on to each his assurance there was no one alive in the chopper. Finally they went in and flattened everything in the vicinity – still a very difficult thing to do for all concerned.
That was the worst experience of my life. I had to listen helpless as a pilot I knew died. I never sat in that chair again nor spent any more time than necessary in the TOC. I left it to my Radio Operator and the 1/9th people and just hunted VC and NVA. I don’t know how the guys who worked there stood it.

Editor’s note: The details regarding the strike on Saber White’s helicopter are from the FAC that put in the airstrikes, RASH 31, ALO of 3rd Brigade of the 1st Air Cavalry, Arthur R. Mahon.