50 years ago today I was on flight duty on Det 1 at the newly manned Solid Anchor , Tomorrow, the 15th of September,I would be relieved by Bill White and Dave Smale as the doorgunners on our single ship that was flightworthy, and within a short time, the hell that was the "Incident at VC Lake " would unfold . 17 Army and Navy helicopters would be shot up or shot down in the area that day , and Jose Ramos and pilot Bill Pederson would lose their lives trying to protect and cover the extraction of the downed Det 1 helo in VC Lake . badly injured Ltjg Ford and Jim Plona would be rescued from the crashed Det 6 aircraft . A noteworthy fact of the Day was that Ltjg Pederson had completed his tour on Det 6, was back in Binh Thuy doing some Sealord missions as he wound down to go home. "Mr Pete" was Flying a Sealord that had arrived at Son ong Doc on a "ash and Trash" when the scramble call was received ....... Being a Det 6 FTL, and knowing all the crews there because of his previous Det 6 assignment, Ltjg Pederson "conned" his way into the pilot's seat of a responding to the "Scramble" call Det 6 aircraft ------ it would be his last "take off" but even though fully knowing the risk, he was there for his fellow Seawolves, even though "Home" was nearly in sight. please go to "Seawolf History" on this site for much more on this day 50 years ago ......
Even then, before I had seen "The Bridges of Toko Ri" , the thought "Where do we get such men" was in my mind -- I had 9 months to go, and vowed not to fail when it was my time to be tested ------ RIP Sailors
Mike Dobson (ROH)
Locked
