Supporting Air America - 1969-70
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When I left Cu Chi on missions I normally would go North, or sometimes Northeast or East. On this occasion the Cobra directed me to go West or Southwest. When we reached the target area I wasn’t sure if we were still in Vietnam or had crossed over into Cambodia. It looked like mostly open delta, but there was a large island of trees that more resembled a forest than the dense jungle we saw.
The Cobra told me this was the area and to go down and start looking around. I pretty much followed the edge of the tree line and occasionally ventured further into the trees. I found nothing of note but continued to search the area.
We saw a helicopter coming towards us that appeared to be an American Huey, but as it approached us we noted the colors were grey and blue. Also there were no door gunners or weapons of any kind visible. The Cobra may have been in radio contact with them but I wasn’t. I kept running back and forth along the edge of the trees and the helicopter started an approach coming to rest a few yards from the trees.
At this point I could see ‘Air America’ painted in black letters on the tail boom. To my utter astonishment I saw the pilots were wearing white short sleeve shirts and ties and were wearing headsets instead of helmets.
The cargo door opened and a man got out wearing civilian clothes and carrying a briefcase and walked into the tree line. The helicopter sat there for a couple of minutes and then took off in a southerly direction. The Cobra called me back to altitude and we flew home.
Either the next day or maybe a couple of days later the same Cobra and I returned to the area and the blue and grey helicopter was circling the same general area. I was ordered down, and after a couple of minutes the helicopter landed next to the trees. A man came out wearing tiger camo fatigues and carrying the briefcase and boarded the helicopter that took off immediately. I can’t say for sure but I assumed at the time it was the same person we had seen on our first visit. We returned to the basecamp.