Good Read - HL 152

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 From: dick@thedillers.net
To: dwskjerven@aol.com
Sent: 12/9/2012 5:14:58 P.M. Central Standard Time
Subj: Fwd: TODAY IN SEA HISTORY: Friday, 5 December 1969: Boxer 22 SAR

Dave,

In light of the previous SAR video, I'll forward this to the Delta net. Please forward it. Jim George and I were at the memorial service for Ben Danielson in Minnesota in June, 2007. Bob Gross was also there as he was an ROTC classmate of Ben's at St. Olaf.

I have not read this version of Boxer 22 before. Unfortunately, two good men died before the survivor, Woodie Bergeron, could be rescued.

 

Dick

Reply-To: spadnet@googlegroups.com

And a million thanks goes out to all who tried so hard to rescue Boxer 22. I am the widow of Boxer 22A and I know some of these men…have had the pleasure of meeting them when Ben's remains were returned to MN in 2007. Airman Davison's family was with us in MN at this event which was most memorable. Many of the rescue foks, and Woody (Boxer 22B) were present as well. You will all forever have the appreciation and hearts of my family. ~Mary Danielson

On Dec 5, 2012, at 8:20 PM, Scatback Scribe wrote:

Friday, 5 December 1969: Boxer 22 SAR

 A1C David D. Davison was killed in action while flying on the Boxer 22 SAR in Laos. Let us all remember and honor Dave today and may he rest in peace.

 Boxer 22 was an F-4 crew who became the SAR objectives for one of the most contested SARs of the Vietnam War. The recovery area was on the Ho Chi Minh Trail near the small village of Ban Phanop. For three days, hundreds of airplanes fought to protect and rescue the two downed pilots. Hundreds of North Vietnamese Army troops were equally determined to prevent the rescue. The resulting heroics, against seemingly impossible odds, by the air rescue men are legends that are still told at USAF fighter squadrons all around the world.

 

A1C David D. Davison A1C David D. Davison

Graduate of Pararescue School Flying in Vietnam War

 CITATION TO ACCOMPANY THE AWARD OF

THE SILVER STAR

(POSTHUMOUS) TO DAVID M. DAVISON

 

Airman First Class David M. Davison distinguished himself by gallantry in connection with military operations against an opposing armed force as an HH-53 Pararescue/Recovery Specialist in Southeast Asia on 5 December 1969. On that date, Airman Davison participated in the attempted air rescue of two downed airmen deep within hostile territory. As the helicopter descended into the pickup area, Airman Davison repeatedly exposed himself to intense ground fire, with complete disregard for his own safety, while firing suppressive bursts from his gun position on the rear ramp of the helicopter. Although under heavy fire, he continued this valiant effort at the sacrifice of his life. By his gallantry and devotion to duty, Airman Davison has reflected great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.

 The following is an excerpt from SMSgt (Ret.) Bob LaPointe’s book “All for One – The Rescue of Boxer 22.” The book provides additional details of the death of David Davison.

Boxer 22 Bravo watched as “Vodka” (tear gas) was dropped all around and nearer to him than he expected. Following his rescue, he had this to say about it. “They had laid CBU-19 along the top of a nearby ridge; but, some of it fell out of the pattern and landed near me. I was lying behind a log that was in the middle of the bamboo patch I was hiding in. Oh that 19; I might as well tell you what it feels like when that goes off. They tell you remain calm. But that’s a bunch of bull. I was wrapped around a tree urinating, defecating and retching all at the same instant. That only lasted about a few minutes but it kept my eyes watering for quite a while. Physically and mentally you can’t control yourself. It goes into effect instantaneously. I got a direct dose of it and the gas also made me want to sneeze. It was a nice to have bombs go off because I could then sneeze without the enemy hearing me.[i]

 At 13:20 p.m., Sandy 1 and 2 (A-1 Skyraiders) were “Winchester” (out of ordinance). For over two hours of intense combat action, Captain George (Sandy 1) and Captain Preyss (Sandy 2) had done everything humanly possible to rescue Boxer 22. Now because they had run out of ammo and bombs, they were forced to turn over on scene commander duties to their replacements. Sandy 3, flown by 1st Lt Ron Rounce assumed on-scene command. His wingman was Lt Jim Bender in Sandy 4. Sandy 3 had been watching Sandy 1 organize the rescue for over an hour and one half. He concluded that Captain George had been on the right track to success in this SAR. Sandy 3 would continue on with the original plan. Lt Rounce radioed King 1 (HC-130E SAR command bird) and requested more of every kind of ordnance, especially “Vodka.” Nail 14 (OV-10A) reiterated to King 1 his earlier request for Paveway laser guided bombs. King 1 radioed back that A-1’s with “Vodka” were on the way and that Paveway aircraft (Ubon F-4D with LGB) should arrive in twenty minutes.

Vodka 44 flight arrived at 13:48 p.m. The flight consisted of eight A-1s led by Capt Ernie Anderson. Sandy 3 radioed Anderson and explained where to put the ordnance. Ten minutes later, four F-4s using the call sign “Coach Flight” arrived. They had conventional bombs and Paveways. They began by dropping conventional bombs on some targets Nail gave them. They discussed among each other if they could use their Paveway. The consensus was that the Paveway laser guided bombs could hit the caves; but, the caves were danger-close to the survivors. Coach flight was worried that if they bombed the caves, they might kill the survivors.

 Captain Anderson’s Vodka flight dropped tear gas all around the survivors and on all of the known or suspected gun positions. While the gassing was in progress, the Nails FAC’ed hard ordnance from several more flights of fast movers. Sandy 3 was now Winchester and he passed on scene command to Maj Earl Deneau in Sandy 5. He told Sandy 5 that he thought the area had been sanitized enough to try another pickup by the Jollys. At 13:54, Sandy 5 used smoke bombs to screen off the survivors positions and radioed the Jollys to find out who would be coming in next.

At this point the HH-53s had been airborne for nearly three hours. Jolly 76 was low bird and Jolly 72 was the high bird. The low birds crew was pilot Capt Holly Bell, copilot Capt. Martin Weeks, FE Sgt James Corcoran, photographer Sgt Lawrence Brown and PJs Sgt Douglas Crowder and A1C David Davison. In his after action report, Captain Bell describes what happened next. “At 13:55, Sandy told us to approach from the west-northwest at high speed and low altitude. We began to pick up ground fire from the top of the karst about a mile and a half from the survivors positions, and were under fire of varying intensity until we exited the area. A1C Davison was the first to spot and return fire from the #3 minigun position. Breaking out of the karst and over the open valley, the ground fire dropped off momentarily, then it increased tremendously. The Sandys were dropping CBU and firing 20mm cannon shells into the karst face and into the ground and as close as 100 feet of us. The FE mistook a string of CBUs going off as really heavy ground fire and called for me to abort the attempt. He immediately realized his mistake and called for me to continue. I had started to roll right to exit the area, but reversed the roll and continued the approach. This placed me directly over Boxer 22 Alpha at high speed but headed directly into a karst face infested with gun positions. I saw one large caliber tracer round pass off to the right side. My main focus was directed to surveying the area below for the lowest possible area to hover near the survivor. JG 76 was nearly in a hover at this point when the entire crew called that ground fire was increasing. It really erupted. Through the noise of the engines, rotors and our own miniguns, it sounded like we were inside a pop corn machine. The Sandys executed a “Daisy Chain” around us as we slowed to make the pickup. JG 76 got directly over Boxer 22 Alpha when heavy ground fire erupted from all sides. We received multiple hits in the fuselage and rotor system and the aircraft began to vibrate badly. I knew if we took more hits, my Jolly would be shot down. I applied power and began to exit the area. As I flew by the karst face on the west side of the valley, I could see numerous caves along the base of the karst which held gun positions that were firing on us.

During our egress from the valley, Sgt. Corcoran called that A1C Davison had been badly hit. Dave Davison had bravely defended his aircraft by firing from his minigun position almost continuously until wounded. I told my other PJ to give him aid and we would RTB. Fellow PJ Doug Crowder ran to Dave to provide emergency medical care. Shortly afterward, Sgt Corcoran informed me that A1C Davison was dead. He had taken a small arms round through his head. Sergeants Crowder and Corcoran reluctantly moved back to their duty stations.

 The FE then inspected the aircraft for battle damage. He found numerous holes in the fuselage, right aux fuel tank, and a small hydraulic leak in the forward cabin area. The aircraft was vibrating moderately as we climbed out of the area at 80 knots. I tried different airspeeds to see how it would affect the vibration. At about 105 knots, the vibration disappeared. This speed was maintained back to NKP. About 30 miles from NKP, the utility hydraulic system failed. We reviewed bailout procedures and discussed what was affected by this system failure. A shallow approach to a running landing was made at NKP. The brakes failed, so I used the rotors to stop the aircraft. Post flight inspection revealed hits in all rotor blades, swash plate, utility hydraulic system and numerous holes in the fuselage.”[ii]

 After getting out of the Nam Ngo Valley, Jolly 76’s pilot immediately radioed the OSC. “Sandy 5, this is Jolly 76. My crew just advised me that the survivors are surrounded. We took small arms fire from every direction around the survivors. The bad guys have climbed up into the trees and were firing on us. You guys have to get that 23mm gun that is shooting at us from the cave. Over.”

 “OK Jolly 76. I understand. I think I got the cave in sight. I thought I saw muzzle flashes out of there. We dropped nape and everything else on that mother and he is still hanging on. So, we’ll have to get him."[iii]

Major Deneau in Sandy 5 realized that he had a lot of work to do before another helicopter pickup could be tried. Normally, the CBU-19 tear gas would really quiet an area down. This time it did not appear to be effective. He needed to find out why and Jolly 76 had given him a clue. What were enemy troops doing in the trees? Deneau told his wingman to follow him down for a strafing attack on the trees around the survivor. The A-1s came down at tree level firing their 20mm cannons at the treetops. They saw several men fall from the trees.[iv] The Sandy pilots could also see their rounds impacting the ground and the impact of the 20mm shells kicked up dirt and tear gas. The tear gas was actually a powder and not a gas. The powder settled on the ground. The enemy troops were in the trees because they could escape the powdered tear gas. If they were on the ground, they kicked up the tear gas as they moved around. With that mystery partially solved, the OSC could develop countermeasures.

 

Sandy 5 radioed King 1 and told the AMC that he was going to need more of every type of ordnance and more Jollys. The AMC ordered the Jolly s pulling strip alert at Lima Site 20A in Laos to head to the Boxer SAR. Jolly Greens 79 and 68 were off the ground at 14:10 with an ETA of 15:45.[v] There was no rush to get there because once again, the Nam Ngo Valley was going to be pounded hard. The AMC also decided to reposition four Jollys and their Sandy escorts from Da Nang AB, RVN to NKP. This SAR looked like it might go on for a long time and the AMC did not want to run out of helicopters.

 

Note: Want to find out what happened to Boxer 22?

 Contact the author, SMSgt Bob LaPointe about his book “All for One – The Rescue of Boxer 22” http://www.pjsinnam.com/Book/Info_All_for_One.htm

 

<All for One - SMSgt Bob LaPointe.jpg>

[i] Corona Harvest Report #0294592, 12 Dec 69 Interview 1Lt. Woodrow Bergeron by Maj. John Schlight

 [ii] JG 76 Mission Report, 13 December 1969, Capt Holly G Bell, Aircraft Commander, AFHRA call # K318.221-40 Oct-Dec 1969

 [iii] Ibid., King Audio Recording

 [iv] Ibid., Corona Harvest Report #0294592, Bergeron Interview

 

[v] JG 68 Mission Report, 6 December 1969. Maj Hubert M Berthold, Aircraft Commander, AFHRA call # K318.221-40 Oct-Dec 1969

 

"Without courageous families,

there would be no courageous Airmen."

 

✯✯✯✯ General David C. Jones, CSAF/CJCS

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