Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
4:12 | He was another kid who always wanted to fly. When the Army said he could go to flight school, Dennis Eakin volunteered ahead of the draft. His first time in the air was on the trip down to Ft. Polk for basic training but he did just fine when he sat at the controls of the helicopter.
Keywords : Dennis Eakin Farmington MI Detroit MI pilot flight school Vietnam Fort Polk Fort Wolters Fort Rucker helicopter (chopper) Bell UH-1 Iroquois (Huey)
The heat and the humidity were overwhelming when Dennis Eakin got off the plane in Vietnam. He had to make his own way to Chu Lai where the choppers were. He was an Army pilot but the Marines had a large aviation operation there which meant that he had security and a nice officers club.
The Huey was a target for ground fire every time Dennis Eakin took it up. His base was on the coast at Chu Lai but the majority of the missions were in the mountains to the west where flying was tricky. He transported Army troops, Rangers and Special Forces personnel.
There were a couple of unforgettable things that happened during Dennis Eakin's first tour of Vietnam. One was the crash landing when his helicopter came falling down through the jungle upside down. The other was the chaos of the Tet Offensive which began for him in a trench with an M-16.
The heat and humidity were pretty bad but when the monsoons arrived, the flying conditions got worse. You had to fly low which meant it was easier to shoot at you. Huey pilot Dennis Eakin nearly got shot by his own door gunner but that problem was fixed when new gun mounts were installed.
After an R&R trip to Australia, Huey pilot Dennis Eakin loved the place so much that he extended his tour for six months just so he could go back there. He contracted malaria, though, and was sent back to the States to recuperate. After a short stint as an instructor pilot, he volunteered for Chinook school which meant that he would return to Vietnam.
His second tour of Vietnam was at the controls of a Chinook. Dennis Eakin got shot at a lot less on this tour, especially after he moved to a maintenance detachment. Shortly after his birthday he got two pieces of really good news. He had a new daughter and he was going home.
It's a shame that they did away with the draft. Dennis Eakin flew helicopters in Vietnam and he explains how the draft was a positive thing by forcing young men from different backgrounds to work together as a team. The military is still a good option these days and his suggestion is that you use ROTC as a means to pay for college.
