Not so Merry Christmas

submitted by: Alva Leon Matheson


I was assigned to the 23 TASS and arrived at Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Airbase (NKP) in October 1967, Friday the 13th to be exact. After flying as a FAC (Forward Air Controller) for about six weeks on day missions, I got my night checkout on December 8th. I started flying night missions in the O-2 over the Ho Chi Minh Trail (in central Laos) with a FAN (Forward Air Navigator). The FAN sat in the right seat and operated the starlight scope. Night missions were unusually tense because, due to the tracers, you could see every round of the ground fire being directed toward your aircraft. During the approximate one hour flying time from NKP to the Trail, you had ample opportunity to reflect on your own mortality as you could see the ground fire being directed at guys who were already working the Trail. Nights were the most active time on the Trail as the North Vietnamese used the cover of darkness to move most of their trucks. Consequently their gunners were more active at night because they had more men and material to protect. The AAA used by the bad guys included 57 mm, 37 mm, 14.5 mm, 12.7 mm and the real killer – a rapid firing 23 mm gun that had as many as four barrels. In actuality, however, night missions could be relatively safer than day missions because the gunners had a difficult time seeing you because of the darkness. Another problem posed by night missions was the tendency to fly lower; therefore, you were much closer to the trees and rocks. Most FACs would probably agree that night missions had the overall effect of increasing the “pucker” factor by about 10.
On Christmas Eve night 1967 my FAN and I were working the Trail between Tchepone, a major road junction in central Laos, and the “Chokes”. The “Chokes” were designated interdiction points on the Trail where the steep mountain ridges forced the trail down into narrow river valleys. The air strikes got more bang for the buck due to the concentration of the roads.
We were dodging flak (which was particularly intense) around Tchepone when we got a call from “Moonbeam”, the night Airborne Battlefield Command and Control Center (ABCCC). They wanted us to go down and check out Channel 77 (a covert TACAN site operated by a few USAF personnel and a lot of covert people who do that sort of thing for a living). “Moonbeam” had lost radio as well as TACAN contact with the site. Channel 77 was located at Muong Phine, about 20 miles SW of Tchepone on Route 9. We headed southwest, in the general direction of the site, and had no trouble finding it because the entire site was ablaze. We could not make contact with anyone on any frequency, VHF, UHF or FM. We began to make low passes over the field to see if we could make visual contact with anyone, good or bad. The burning structures gave us plenty of light, but no luck. The elevation of Muong Phine is about 750 feet, and there are a 2,000 foot mountain and a 1,400 foot mountain to the E and SE of the field; so we were pretty puckered about them too.
During the passes we could see many bodies strewn about and all the buildings were on fire. What appeared to be the TACAN station was blown over on its side. There was continuous gunfire observed in what was probably the last of this firefight by the Lao defenders. We were unable to put in any air strikes, as we could not tell the good guys from the Gomers. It was extremely frustrating to sit there and not be able to do anything. The next morning, Christmas Day, Air America sent in two helos to recover the bodies of the airmen that had been manning the TACAN. There were reports that the airmen had been brutally mutilated and burned. We can only hope that they were already dead when that happened. On the way out of the site one of the helos was shot down but, luckily, with no casualties.
On Christmas night we were back on the trail and misfortune continued. Terry Koonce, a T-28 driver from NKP, was shot down and killed. Three FACs from the 20th TASS were also killed that day. Christmas night the flak was extremely heavy, and we had many close calls. It was as if the NVA (North Vietnamese Army) was trying to give us a fireworks display to celebrate Christmas. I claimed one truck and one gun that night, but that was a very unequal payback for our losses. Somehow since then, Christmas has not been my favorite holiday as Christmas 1967 crowds my memory with sadness and loss.