The FReeper Foxhole Profiles Colonel James P. Fleming - June 11th, 2004

see educational sources

[snippy_about_it]

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Colonel James P. Fleming





Bank Shot

Lt. Jim Fleming had to win his desperate gamble, or the Army Special Forces team was doomed.



Bell's UH-1F light utility helicopter was designed to move people and things among SAC's missile sites--not to penetrate an enemy field of fire in the jungles of Southeast Asia. But, as in so many cases, Vietnam made a virtue of necessity; Air Force UH-1s went to war. On Nov. 26, 1968, 24-year-old Lt. James P. Fleming, assigned to the 20th Special Operations Squadron at Ban Me Thuot, flew into the annals of Air Force history at the controls of one of those vulnerable, virtually defenseless birds.



Earlier that day a six-man reconnaissance team of Army Special Forces Green Berets had been lifted into Vietnam's western highlands, near the Cambodian border and about 30 miles west of Pleiku. A few hours later, they found themselves with their backs to a river and penned in on three sides by enemy forces. The team leader's call for immediate evacuation was picked up by an Air Force FAC and by a flight of five UH-1s--three transports and two gunships--on their way to a refueling stop at the end of a four-hour mission. Fleming flew one of the transports with Maj. Paul McClellan in the right seat. All five choppers, despite low fuel, headed for the recon team, where the FAC, Maj. Charles Anonsen, briefed them on the situation.



The Special Forces men were taking fire from six heavy machine guns and an undetermined number of enemy troops. There was a clearing in the jungle about 100 yards from them--too distant to be reached through the dense undergrowth--and a smaller one only 25 yards away. As soon as the choppers sighted the team's smoke, the gunships opened fire, knocking out two machine-gun positions. One gunship was hit and crash-landed across the river. Its crew was picked up by one of the transports. A second transport, critically low on fuel, had to pull out, reducing the rescue force to Fleming and one gunship--piloted by Maj. Leonard Gonzales--that was almost out of ammunition.



At treetop height, Fleming checked out the smaller clearing and found it impossible to land there. Then he had an idea. If he hovered just above the river with his landing skids against the bank-a maneuver that called for considerable piloting skill, especially in the midst of a firefight--maybe the Green Berets could make the few yards to his chopper. And maybe, by some miracle, his hovering bird wouldn't be shot down. After what must have seemed an eternity to Fleming and his crew, suspended motionless against the river bank, the recon team radio man, who was barely audible above the gunfire, reported there was no way they could survive a dash to the helicopter. Fleming hastily backed his chopper over the river and flew out of range through a hail of bullets.

The FAC then directed the Green Berets to detonate their Claymore mines as Fleming came back to the bank for what they all knew was a last, desperate attempt at rescue.

While Gonzales fired the last of his ammunition, Fleming descended again into what he described as the "heaviest hostile fire I had ever seen." This time the enemy, knowing exactly where he would be, concentrated their fire on the pickup point. Fleming knew that the chance of survival for his crew and for the recon team was slim indeed.


James P. Fleming

As the Claymore mines went off, the six Green Berets ran for Fleming's UH-1, killing three Viet Cong only 10 yards from the chopper. With bullets whistling all around, Sgts. Fred Cook and Paul Johnson hauled the Army troops aboard as Fleming, unmindful of enemy fire crashing through his windshield, held the chopper steady just above the water. Fleming once more backed the helicopter away from the bank and flew down the river to safety.

What was Fleming thinking when he flew a second time into that curtain of fire? "Frankly," he recalls, "I was scared to death. " But valor is the mastery of fear, not the absence of it.

In a ceremony at the White House on May 14, 1970, President Richard Nixon presented the Medal of Honor to Fleming. Today, Fleming, now a lieutenant colonel, is a member of the Officer Training School staff at Lackland AFB, Texas. The young men and women starting an Air Force career at Lackland have. Fleming as a symbol of courage and character, the backbone of any fighting force.

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FLEMING, JAMES P.

Rank and organization: Captain, U.S. Air Force, 20th Special Operations Squadron

Place and date: Near Duc Co, Republic of Vietnam, 26 November 1968

Entered service at: Pullman, Washington

Born: 12 March 1943, Sedalia, Missouri



Citation:

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Capt. Fleming (then 1st Lt.) distinguished himself as the Aircraft Commander of a UH-1F transport helicopter. Capt. Fleming went to the aid of a 6-man Special Forces long range reconnaissance patrol that was in danger of being overrun by a large, heavily armed hostile force. Despite the knowledge that 1 helicopter had been downed by intense hostile fire, Capt. Fleming descended, and balanced his helicopter on a river bank with the tail boom hanging over open water. The patrol could not penetrate to the landing site and he was forced to withdraw. Dangerously low on fuel, Capt. Fleming repeated his original landing maneuver. Disregarding his own safety, he remained in this exposed position. Hostile fire crashed through his windscreen as the patrol boarded his helicopter. Capt. Fleming made a successful takeoff through a barrage of hostile fire and recovered safely at a forward base. Capt. Fleming's profound concern for his fellow men, and at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Air Force and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country.

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Operation DANIEL BOONE



20 SOS was a US Air Force unit
SOG was US Army unit
Primary service involved, US Air Force
Pleiku Province, II Corps, South Vietnam
Location, Duc Co

Description:

1LT James P. Fleming was flying his second day as a UH-1F slick AC for the 20th Special Operations Squadron. The rest of his crew were: MAJ Paul McClellan, pilot, SSG Fred Cook, gunner, and J.J. Johnson, gunner. That morning as part of a flight of five (two gunships and three slicks) GREEN HORNETs he had departed Duc Co and inserted RT Chisel for SOG CCS in Cambodian target Tango-51 as part of Operation DANIEL BOONE.

The team leader of Chisel was SSG Ancil "Sonny" Franks. The one-one (assistant team leader) was SGT Charles Hughes. CPT Randolf Harrison, the new CO of the CCS Recon Company, was a team member who came along to learn how his men worked. Three Montagnards made up the rest of the recon team.

As the indigenous peoples of the Central Highlands, the Montagnards are completely different in their culture and language from the mainstream Vietnamese. The U.S. military, particularly the army’s Special Forces, developed base camps in the area and recruited the Montagnards, who fought alongside American soldiers and became a major part of the U.S. military effort in the Highlands. Montagnard bravery and loyalty earned them the respect and friendship of the U.S. military forces as well as sympathy for the Montagnard struggle for independence.

The GREEN HORNETs returned to Duc Co for lunch and fuel. Midafternoon the flight inserted another team further south in Cambodia. In the mean time, Chisel had moved quickly toward a wide river where they were to surveil enemy boat traffic. The NVA hit the team as they were setting up their site and trapped them in a small depression near the river. Hughes’ initial radio calls were not answered. As the NVA threw more troops into the battle, Chisel was surrounded on three sides and pinned against the river.

Their next set of radio calls were picked up by their COVEY FAC, USAF MAJ Charles E. Anonsen, flying in a Cessna O-2 Skymaster. He alerted the GREEN HORNETs, now returning the Duc Co, and they diverted toward Chisel but were low on fuel. The two gunships attacked the NVA and knocked out two 12.7mm heavy machine guns only 200 yards from Chisel. CPT Dave W. Miller’s gunship was shot down. They managed to land in a clearing and were immediately rescued by MAJ Dale L. Eppinger, SLICK LEAD, who then departed for Duc Co for fuel. Another slick had to depart for fuel, leaving only Fleming’s slick and MAJ Leonard Gonzales’s gunship on station with the FAC.



The gunship continued to engage the NVA but took hits. When Fleming told the FAC he had to get the RT out now or depart for fuel, the FAC directed the Huey around a low hill to mask the approach from enemy fire. At high speed, they came in over the river and nosed the Huey into the bank where Chisel should have been.

The NVA, however, had launched another attack and the six member team was too busy shooting for their lives to make it to the Huey. Chisel radioed, "They’ve got us! They’ve got us! Get out, get out!" to the Huey. As Fleming backed the Huey into the river, Chisel blew their last claymores and the Huey crew saw an NVA’s body thrown in the air. Gonzales later recalled, "It was a sheer miracle that he wasn’t shot down on take-off." Fleming asked, "What’s going on down there?" as he reached altitude and surveyed the situation. "We blew them back," Hughes explained, "but we’re out of claymores and can’t hold out much longer." Fleming knew it would be over an hour before the refueled GREEN HORNETs returned, figured there was only about an hour of daylight left, and determined that the river was too wide to swim and too open to rush across. He told the other aircraft, "We’ll give it one more try." Gonzales said, "I’ll make one more pass over ‘em, give ‘em everything we have, but then I’ve got to get out of here."

Fleming fell in behind the gunship. At first he couldn’t find the team, yet he knew he was getting close by the volume of enemy ricochets coming off the river. Then a door gunner saw one Montagnard leap in the river and move toward the Huey with four men close behind. Even Franks couldn’t believe the Huey hadn’t been shot down or driven off by all the enemy fire. Despite AK fire and exploding rockets, Fleming held the bird rock-steady in what the Air Force citation later called "a feat of unbelievable flying skill."



The crew could see NVA trotting and crouching along the riverbank as the gunners alternated between firing their machine guns and pulling men aboard. At last five recon men were aboard but Harrison was not there. Even though Fleming knew Randy best of all these men, he knew he had to leave or be shot down right there. As he began pulling back from the bank, Harrison suddenly appeared in the bushes as he sprayed fire at the unseen enemy. The lanky captain ran four strides, jumped into the water, stroked twice and snared a rope ladder Cook managed to throw out to him. Dragging the man through the water, Fleming catapulted them above the trees as several hands heaved Harrison aboard. Fleming and McClellan were so focused on what they were doing that it was several seconds before they noticed the shattered windshield. The fuel gauge read EMPTY as they landed at Duc Co. Randy Harrison grabbed Jim Fleming by the head and shouted, "You sweet motherf*cker!" - the highest form of heart-felt compliment SOG soldiers paid those who supported them. Franks said, "They were great people. Every one of ‘em there, there wasn’t none of ‘em flinching."

In all two Air Medals, eleven Distinguished Flying Crosses, one Silver Star were awarded with Gonzales receiving the Air Force Cross and Fleming the Medal of Honor.

Comments: 1LT James P. Flemming; Medal of Honor; ; MAJ Paul McClellan; pilot; ; SSG Fred Cook; gunner; ; *** J.J. Johnson; gunner; ; SSG Ancil "Sonny" Franks; SOG RT leader; ; SGT Charles Hughes; SOG RT assistant leader; ; CPT Randolf Harrison; SOG CCS Recon Co CO; ; MAJ Charles E. Anonsen; USAF COVEY FAC; ; CPT Dave W. Miller; gunship AC; ; MAJ Dale L. Eppinger; slick AC; ; MAJ Leonard Gonzales; gunship AC;

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Today's Educational Sources and suggestions for further reading:

www.vhpamuseum.org/usaf/20sos/
www.flyarmy.org/panel/battle/68112600.HTM
www.afa.org/magazine/valor/0884valor_print.html
www.af.mil/history/

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UPDATED THROUGH APRIL 2004



The FReeper Foxhole. America's History. America's Soul

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[SAMWolf]

Good Night Snippy

[snippy_about_it]

Good night Sam.

[gatorbait]

Did you know that not too many years ago,Colonel Fleming was head of the CAP for the Soutwest Region? Trivial, but kind of nice.He really inspired the cadets.

[snippy_about_it]

Long time no see gatorbait! Hope all is well. While reading about Fleming I did run across this site.

[Aeronaut]

Good morning Snippy.

[Iris7]

I hear those SOG fellows did a lot of dangerous work.

In 1968 the flyboys gave those men good support. Not always at Colonel Flemings level of commitment, but more often than you would think likely.

Never liked those darn helicopters, too complicated, too easy to give them bad maintenance. Besides, Hueys nearly always burned, seems like, and all they left after the magnesium burned you could fit into the trunk of a car.

[WaterDragon]

What an incredible accounting, snippy! Thanks so much for finding it. Every generation has elements of The Great Generation, and the brave warriors of Viet Nam are definitely among them!

[E.G.C.]

Good morning Snippy and everyone at the Freeper Foxhole. Running a little behind due to thunderstorms in the area.

[CholeraJoe]

20th SOS? I flew with those guys at Hurlburt.

There is one inconsistency in the account, though. In contrast to fixed wing aircraft, in Hueys, the right seat is configured as the AC's position. If Fleming was the AC, it would have been he, not McClellan in the right seat.

This account must have been written by someone unfamiliar with this nuance.

[The Mayor]

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise. —Ephesians 5:15.

The wise know God's limits—fools know no bounds.

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning everyone.

[Professional Engineer]

Good morning ladies. Flag-o-gram.

[Soaring Feather]

Good morning PE. Wonderful pictures this morning. Thank You.

[Professional Engineer]

You're quite welcome.

[SAMWolf]

Morning gatorbait.

Thanks for the info on Colonel Fleming. Did you know him?

[SAMWolf]

Morning Aeronaut.

[SAMWolf]

Morning Iris7.

I have a soft spot for the Huey.