On May 15, 1967, soldiers from the 101st Airborne were ambushed in the Song Tra Cau riverbed and upon hearing the call for help, Major Charles Kettles volunteered to lead a flight of six UH-1D helicopters to bring reinforcements and to evacuate wounded personnel.
As the flight approached the LZ, it came under heavy fire, inflicting heavy damage to the helicopters and soldiers. Kettles, however, refused to depart until all wounded personnel were loaded on the helicopters to capacity. Kettles then led the flight out of the battle area.
He returned to the ambush site, bringing more reinforcements, landing once more in the midst of heavy fire that seriously wounded his gunner and severely damaged his aircraft. Still, he evacuated the wounded and returned to base.
Kettles volunteered to return to the deadly landing zone for a third time to rescue the remaing troops. The helicopters managed to land and get everyone on board.
While returning to base, Kettles was advised that 8 troops had been left behind. So, without hesitation, Kettles passed the lead to another helicopter and returned to rescue the remaining troops. Without gunship, artillery, or tactical aircraft support, the enemy concentrated all firepower on his lone aircraft, which was immediately hit by a mortar round that damaged the tail boom and a main rotor blade and shattered both front windshields and the chin bubble. His aircraft was further raked by small arms and machine gun fire. He managed to land the stricken craft and rescue the remaing troops, but the helicopter was so damaged that it fishtailed wildly, and was too overweight to lift off. So, Kettles “skipped” the Huey across the ground, gaining speed with each hop, and after five or six hops finally reached 40 knots, with enough lift to fly. The soldiers and crew made it home safely, and Kettles was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his heroism.
In 2016, his DSC was upgraded to the Medal of Honor. “We got the 44 out. None of those names appear on the wall in Washington. There's nothing more important than that.” – Retired Lt. Col. Charles Kettles. #zerofoxtrot #stayzero #vietnamwar