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Tom Morrissey

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The helicopter outfit was a Special Missions Unit which meant they did anything that Army command needed. Huey pilot Tom Morrissey would often join large combat assaults which impressed him with their intricate staging. If only they had built the aircraft with a cigarette lighter. (5:11)

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Not to be outdone by their contemporaries back in the States, those serving in Vietnam had their share of sex, drugs and rock and roll while there. Tom Morrissey saw it happening but it was the rock and roll part that was his thing and it would always be playing in his Huey. (4:53)

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Tom Morrissey was flying the light ship, illuminating the area where there was a Medevac in progress. Once the wounded were safely away, he went searching for the VC that might have been in the firefight. There was one guy walking through a rice paddy. (4:18)

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When Tom Morrissey left for Vietnam, a chance meeting with a friend who was also flying that day really lightened the mood as his single mom was seeing him off. That was nice. His return to the States was not nice at all. (6:33)

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Huey pilot Tom Morrissey didn't usually mention that he was a Vietnam veteran in the years following the war. He became a college professor and that was increasingly somewhere you didn't want it known. He believes the entire culture was knocked out of whack by the anti-war movement. (6:21)

Dennis Eakin

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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. (4:12)

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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. (4:41)

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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. (3:17)

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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. (4:45)

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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. (4:21)