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Chapter 21

  by Kent Hufford

Marine Corp Rescue Team on the deck
of the USS Kearsarge, June 1995

After about a month and month and a half flying as a Peter Pilot in 1967, I became an Aircraft Commander/PIC. On about my second mission as an AC, we picked up a mission to support the 9^th Division to do their ash and trash for a day. Much of the 9^th DIV units were called Riverine units, they were on barges on rivers and such.  Supporting a 9th Div infantry unit, on one flight out of a field location, we were allowed to use our door guns for suppression,  So, there were 7.62 machine gun brass and the links that kept the rounds together all over the floor of the aircraft.

At one fire support base, we picked up a NAVY Officer that had been supporting the 9^th. Our mission was to fly him to Vung Tau bay and land on the NAVY boat, the "Killer Alpha." So off to Vung Tau we went at 1500 AGL. On a slip of paper the NAVY officer gave me was an FM frequency, the coordinates of the boat, and the call sign of the boat. As we neared Vung Tau Bay , I called on the FM radio and got a hold of them. They were a little surprised that I was coming, but said ‘sure, they had a "green deck, and the winds were 180 degrees at about 10 knots, land port to starboard.’ Then they asked me who I had on board. I told them a NAVY Officer. They asked for his "code word." I asked the crew chief to ask the NAVY Officer his "code word." The crew chief said he said he had none. Told the Killer Alpha that. They came back and said he must have one. He did not. They asked what rank he was, I looked back and saw he was in Class B’s and wearing rail road tracks (two parallel silver bars). I called back and told them I had a NAVY Captain on board. They said "are you sure," I looked again, and confirmed the two parallel silver bars, and said confirmed, a NAVY Captain. They said "ok".

By this time we had made it to Vung Tau Bay and we were looking for a boat called the Killer Alpha, that had a green deck. We spent about 20 minutes looking at all the names on all the big boats we could find. No Killer Alpha, nor a boat with a green deck. So I called them on the radio and asked them what the name written on the side of their boat was. They came back and said it was NOT A BOAT, but a SHIP, and the ship was the USS Kearsarge. Well, we found the Kearsarge, but no green landing deck and the winds were not 180 at 10, but about 020 at 10, so I decided to land into the wind. As I landed, I find out that we are going to shut down and have lunch on the boat, uh... ship. So, I start shutting down the helicopter and a little NAVY officer comes up to my window and asks ‘where is the NAVY Captain.’ I point to the NAVY officer getting off the aircraft. He swears at me and tells me that’s no NAVY Captain, but a NAVY Lieutenant.  The crew chief and door gunners are trained to clean out the helicopter when we land, so they started brushing out all the machine gun brass and links on to the deck of the ship. This NAVY deck officer goes berserk and orders us to pick it all up off of his nice clean white deck.

We got to have lunch in the Officers Mess of the USS Kearsarge. We drank real milk, served by real Philippine mess stewards at the time. Then we left. Took the NAVY LT back to the 9^th DIV base camp at Bear Cat, and flew back to Bien Hoa. Before we got back they filed a bad mission report on us. When I landed I was ordered to the company Operations. The Operations Officer wanted to know if I had ever landed on a boat, uh... ship before, and I said no. Had I ever passed "deck qualifications?" I said, of course not. He said I was not authorized to land on a ship. No one told me that before! It was not hard. A GREEN DECK refers to the landing area being clear and that I could land. The wind direction is from the NOSE (bow) of the ship, and port to starboard is left to right. I did all the right things, because of the past experience we had. The Operations Officer made me give a class to all the pilots the next day about landing on ships. A boat becomes a ship when it is longer than 180 feet or carried other boats. The USS Kearsarge was a big support ship at the time.

Back in ARMY flight school at Fort Wolters , Texas , we received a one hour class on "Customs and Traditions of the Sister Services." I guess I was asleep when they talked about NAVY rank and boats and such.

I never was at the controls, nor landed on a NAVY ship again, until two weeks before my retirement from the Army in 1995. In June 1995, Air Force Captain Scott O’Grady was shot down in Bosnia and evaded capture, then was rescued by a US Marine Force. I was selected by the ARMY DCSOPS to be the ARMY Chief of Staff’s representative on the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs’ investigation of the "Shoot down, Evasion, and Successful Recovery of Capt O’Grady". So, this team of about 6, led by a NAVY Admiral, flew to Germany , then Italy , then by CH-46 Helo to the Navy Amphibious Assault Ship, the USS Kearsarge, off of the Adriatic Coast ! Yes, same name, but the forth hull with the same name. This was the ship that the O’Grady rescue force launched from. We interviewed the Marine Rescue Force; they all looked liked they came from central casting in Hollywood .

A week later, in the Ronald McDonald House at Andrews AFB, outside of Washington DC , we interviewed Capt O’Grady. He said four things saved his life. 1. God, 2. Air Force Survival School , 3. His handheld GPS, and 4. The US MARINES from the USS Kearsarge.

The end of that week we reported our findings to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who testified before Congress. I then retired the next week.