Published: August 19, 2008 09:23 am         

Ceremony brings vets together to reflect on the fight of their lives

Icon of the Vietnam War – a Huey helicopter – is raised, mounted atop pole for permanent display at national museum site

By David May
editor@mineralwellsindex.com

Former Vietnam helicopter commander Doug Hopkins didn’t make the 225-mile drive from Eufaula, Okla., to Mineral Wells for just any “Huey” celebration.

This ceremony – a “Hoist the Huey” dedication – involved UH-1D 65-10068.

That tail number has a lot of meaning for the retired captain who served in the Rattler platoon of the 71st Aviation Company.

It was in that very Bell 205 H Iroquois helicopter that he and three fellow Rattlers took enemy gunfire while ferrying troops from the 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized) on Dec. 8, 1966, in the area known as Ho Bo Woods, northwest of Saigon.

That day, gunfire came from a schoolhouse. American gunships attached to the Firebirds platoon returned fire, taking out the enemy combatants, but not before Spec. 4th Class Ernest Palmieri, crew chief that day on board “068,” was hit by the only two bullets to find the helicopter. Palmieri later died.

So it was with some mixed emotions that Hopkins watched as that same 5,200-pound Huey helicopter was lifted into the air Saturday morning onto a platform atop a pole – mounted at a 45-degree angle — for permanent display at the site of the developing National Vietnam War Museum, located just east of Mineral Wells on U.S. Highway 180.

“It just brings back a lot of memories, good and bad,” said Hopkins. “I still think of that young man, what a nice kid he was.”

Hopkins reached into his pocket and produced one of the slugs that struck and killed his crew chief. He recovered it from the helicopter after they landed, and he has kept it for the nearly 42 years since.

Now a cattle rancher, Hopkins was present at Saturday’s Huey dedication because of fellow Rattler Ron Seabolt, who also attended. Seabolt, of Terrell, Texas, learned of the ceremony and the helicopter special to him and Hopkins on the Internet.

Both knew they had to be at Saturday’s event.

Seabolt was aboard UH-1D 65-10068 another time when it took fire, this time in the tail. “Can you imagine, 41 years ago I took a hit in that helicopter, and now here it is,” Seabolt said.

Interestingly, Seabolt said “068” is not the only Huey flown by the Rattlers now on permanent display. He said another one is located at the airport in San Angelo, Texas, one that he said he also took a hit in. Unlike the Mineral Wells display, the Huey at San Angelo carries the colors and logo of the Rattlers.

Though Hopkins doesn’t recall flying with Seabolt, Seabolt said he remembers flying with Hopkins. “He was a damned good pilot,” Seabolt said.

The two were among several hundred people – many of them veterans of the Vietnam era – who attended the ceremony marking another step in the development of the museum dedicated to telling the story of the Vietnam era and the military men and women who served in it. Attendees gathered to hear speeches. Rock and roll linked to the soldiers and Vietnam played over loudspeakers.

To date, a memorial garden has been completed at the museum site, and work is progressing on a recreation of the famed “Camp Holloway Memorial Wall.” The museum’s foundation has reportedly raised two-thirds of the amount needed for its planned one-half scale recreation of “The Vietnam Memorial.”

“Raising that helicopter is another step in our goal of building this museum,” said Friends of The National Vietnam War Museum’s Communications Director Edd Luttenberger.

He noted that this particular Huey had three tours of duty during Vietnam. He said it took gunfire and made a number of hard landings, but would be repaired in country and returned to service. The helicopter received a recorded 201 bullet holes during its service.

UH-1D 65-10068, purchased by the U.S. Army in August 1966, now bears the colors and insignia of the 282nd Assault Helicopter Company, the “Black Cats,” representing the unit in which Jerry Staggs, of Weatherford, Texas, served as a crew chief during Vietnam. Staggs led the restoration and museum dedication project for this Huey helicopter.

While “068” was never assigned to the Staggs’ unit, Luttenberger said, “It is meant to serve as a representative of all the Hueys and units that served in Vietnam, honoring all the men who served in them, especially the Ernie Palmieri’s of this world who will be with us today in spirit as we lift this aircraft to its place of honor.”

The Huey is considered the symbol of the Vietnam War for American troops. If you served in Vietnam, the Huey was a lifeline. It was Huey that likely carried you into the action, and a Huey that carried you out. It is said the Huey’s distinct “chop-chop-chop” sound made by it large blades bring back many memories for the Vietnam vet.

“When they hear the chopping of the blades, they can taste being back in Vietnam,” said Richard Guarkee.

The military helicopter is an important symbol for Mineral Wells, and why the museum is being constructed near the entrance to the former Fort Wolters, one of America’s major helicopter pilot training facilities during the Korean and Vietnam wars. Hopkins – as did 90 percent of the helicopter pilots during Vietnam – trained at the Mineral Wells base before it was decommissioned in 1973.

One of the ceremony’s speakers, retired U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Nate C. Vail, one of the museum’s special “Board of Visitors” and representing the Fort Worth, Texas, chapter of the Military Order of the World Wars, thanked the people who are part of the museum’s construction efforts.

A Vietnam veteran, Vail told the crowd, “I make no bones about my feelings. I resent that this country sent us to battle then refused us the chance at victory. We won that war.”

Mineral Wells resident Jack Jackson, who served a tour of duty in Vietnam in 1964-65 as a member of the 114th Assault Helicopter unit, aka “Knights in the Air,” based at Vinh Long, said Saturday’s event was “great. Once you see (a Huey) it just bring back old stories, old memories. Hopefully this is just another step toward construction of the National Vietnam War Museum.”

Foundation board member Jim Messinger said the next milestone for the museum is the planned Nov. 8 dedication of the Camp Holloway Memorial Wall.