Real American Heroes: the ‘trash haulers’ of 374th Tactical Airlift Wing

Unto the Breach ^ | 11 August 2019 | Chris Carter

[fugazi]

By April 1972, the American military presence in Vietnam had largely been reduced to air power. North Vietnam launched their Easter Offensive — the largest military invasion since China crossed the Yalu River during the Korean War. Soon, the 5th Division of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam'(ARVN) was surrounded by three enemy divisions at An Loc, the capital of Binh Phuoc province. Their only hope of the defenders was American air power, calling on B-52s and AC-130 gunships to hammer the enemy infantry and armor.

The ARVN troops were holding out, but badly needed supplies. The roads to An Loc were cut so the defenders had to rely on aerial resupply. The drop zone was in such a small area (a soccer field), in close proximity to what one crew member described as the “deadliest concentration of antiaircraft fire ever seen in South Vietnam.” Vietnamese Air Force C-123 pilots, used to daylight drops in far less challenging situations, couldn’t get the supplies on target, so the job fell to the C-130 “trash haulers” of the United States Air Force.

Vietnamese gunfire was so deadly that air crews began building custom armor to improve their chances of surviving the flight. On 15 April, the enemy guns tore through the belly of a C-130 flown by Capt. William Caldwell, killing the engineer, Tech. Sgt. Jon Sanders and wounding two crew members. Also hit was the 27,000-pound load of ammunition, which caught fire. Loadmaster Staff Sgt. Charles Shaub quickly jettisoned the pallets, which exploded almost instantly after leaving the plane, then fought a raging fire which burned him badly. Although two of the Hercules’ four engines were no longer operable, Caldwell limped the broken bird back to Tan Son Nhut Airbase. The landing gear

[fugazi]

I know how difficult manually pumping the emergency gear and doors on a C-130 can be on the ground during training... I can't imagine how challenging it would be on a bird that is down multiple engines, with nasty exhaust from the fire and the hot air venting in from broken lines, plus having been burned and wounded. Impressive.

[PilotDave]

My son is a loadmaster on C-17’s in Charleston SC. Another great story is that of the lowest ranking USAF member to be awarded the Medal Of Honor. He was also a loadmaster.Here is his story:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Levitow

[fugazi]

Whatever makes a man do what Airman Levitow did is either in you or not; I don’t think you can train someone to sacrifice yourself for your crew like he did. I think I’d take my chances with a grenade before I hugged a giant magnesium flare.

[mabarker1]

WOW !!! RIP Sir.

At a loss for words PING.