YL 42 and the Death of Mike Carley
by Bill Willey Crew Chief
Through a lot of hard work, dedication, spirit, and
commitment, Yankee Lima 42 of the Ugly Angels, HMM-362, was resurrected in
1998. She was subsequently memorialized as a tribute to all those Angels
and other Marine air crewmen who perished in helicopters during the
Vietnam War.
She is proudly displayed at the National
Museum of Naval Aviation in Pensacola ,Florida. I was the crew chief of YL
42 during 1966-67 . I thought the reader might be interested in some of
the history, general and personal, lighthearted and very serious of the
actual YL 42 and my relationship with her “in-country”. I suppose I should
begin this rendition with the caveat that most of us probably share, that
being memory or lack, thereof.
I arrived at Ky Ha, RVN and was assigned to
HMM-362 in early June, 1966. The first task at hand was orientation, which
mainly consisted of the instructions on setting up a 14 man tent on the
side of a hill with 8-10 other FNG’s, and how to skillfully position all
four legs of a cot on the 5 inch boards of a pallet during the monsoon
season. Next, it was on to the flight line and various introductions,
brief descriptions of the ops offices, etc. After about a week I was
introduced and assigned to Sergeant and crew chief Hardin, or Hardesty
(not real sure of the name, his nick name was” Hard”), and he promptly
clarified his expectations regarding my duties on his helicopter. I was
soon flying as a port side gunner, as well as my regular assignments of
checking all fluid levels, wiping down the plane with avgas and oil,
cleaning the belly out, servicing the APU, cleaning the M-60s and
returning them to the armory at days end, and other tasks that were
assigned. By 7-11-66 I received my aerial gunner designation and by
7-23-66 I had earned my Combat Aircrew Wings.
Before I got too used to my new status I
went on mess duty. Several hot, and hard weeks into that assignment, I was
awarded Meritorious Mast for outstanding performance. Lt.Col. Garotto, the
CO of HMM-362 at that time, ordered me back to the squadron and returned
me to full flight status. It was about this time(8-15-66) that I was
assigned to be the crew chief of YL 42. I’ll never forget the feelings of
anxiety, trepidation, apprehension, and pride that came with that
assignment. After awhile, however, those emotions diminished when I
realized that I had the best of the best for support. I’m referring to the
wealth of skills and knowledge to help, guide, and instruct me on the
fine-tuning of this monster, UH34D. The NCOs and Staff NCOs that comprise
the Maintenance Section are the ones who make the whole thing work,
especially Top Sproule (the only enlisted Marine that I know the pilots
both feared and respected!)
These mechanical experts and dedicated officers,
as well as the side shops like the “bubble chasers”, “tin benders”, the
“tweets” and all the others were all a part of YL 42. Although I was
primarily entrusted with her care and may have had the most intimate
relationship
with this Dog, she was frequently tuned,
coaxed, manipulated, prodded, and stroked by all HMM-362 personnel and
pilots. I was and always will be grateful to all of you who kept YL 42 in
an ‘up’ status. My confidence in the pilots was the same. During the
period of time (Aug.66 – Mar.67) that I crewed YL42, we managed to
complete approx 200 combat missions. During one month alone we received
special squadron recognition for having logged in excess of 100 flight
hours. A few actual events that YL 42 and I shared during our 8-month
association will illustrate how well the squadron functioned.
We were on final approach to Ky Ha
when the right dampener slipped out of the main landing strut housing,
which made normal landing impossible. I forget who the pilot was but he
knew what to do; he called Willie on the radio. Top Sproule and a couple
of “Assistant Landing Officers” rolled out a flatbed cart stacked with
sandbags allowing the pilot to sit down evenly without a hint of ground
resonance. On another day, we were flying at about 3000 ft inbound for Ky
Ha, about 10-15 miles out. We apparently took a direct hit in one
cylinder, causing an engine failure. I’m sure Ron Fix was the pilot
although he says he doesn’t remember the event. It was my first complete,
unplanned, full auto-rotation and I must say that Ron sat the plane down
so easily and skillfully that the main landing struts only collapsed half
way down. They brought in a CH-53 and Top Sproule to the rescue again.
They screwed an eye hook on the main rotor and Yl42 was lifted back to Ky
Ha. I’ve got the pictures of that, and THANKS RON!!!
On another mission we were sent to an
LZ to confiscate and transport a large quantity of VC stored rice. Captain
Sheehan was the pilot. Upon landing near the vats of rice, I stepped out
of the plane wondering how we were going to get the rice onto the plane.
The Captain calmly communicated to me over the intercom that he thought he
was seeing dirt kicking up from bullets being fired at us. I immediately
returned to the plane and he demonstrated the most amazing ground effect
transition to forward air speed that I could have imagined possible from a
UH-34D. I was still firing at the VC who were firing at us for at least a
half mile past the breaking sea waves. To you, Father Sheehan, I say Thank
you and Thank you. You were so calm in your greatness; I shall never
forget you or your abilities. I got two confirmed kills that day and YL 42
received about 8 bullet holes in her. Thankfully no one was injured.
Another memorable experience was the
night that Lt. Sachs drew YL 42 with me as co-pilot for a fly-away. The
six helo’s taxiing in front of us, also on fly-away duty progressively
approached the T/O pad, did their instrument checks and were off to
wherever for the night. As we began our engine run-up, Lt. Sachs called
for the magneto check.....and you guessed it, I turned the switch to the
right instead of the left or off instead of on and BANG! Lt. Sachs
embarrassingly taxied back to the parking area and I remained on duty to
remove the exhaust collection ring for magna-fluxing. Funny, I don’t
recall ever flying along side Lt. Sachs again! Must’ve just been a
scheduling glitch ....
The following is my account of the tragic loss of
Lt. Michael Carley and the downing of YL 42 on 27 Feb. 1967. We were one
of a flight of three on a troop transport mission, with 6 grunts in the
belly. The HAC was Capt. Jim Hippert. Lt. Carley had apparently been thru
the same area on a similar mission earlier that day as I heard him
over the IC informing Capt. Hippert of the extremely low ceiling (perhaps
6-900 ft.).His last words were "the best approach thru here is tree top
tall and balls to the wall". The first round I heard was just moments
after his statement which brought me to the ready. The bullet pierced the
front wind screen and killed Mike instantly according to the surgeon who
examined Mike’s body. We took additional fire but I was unable to pinpoint
its origin. Immediately after Mike was hit, Jim Hippert took a round in
his leg. By this time we were literally crashing thru the tree tops. Jim
transmitted a mayday several times and still managed to maintain control
of the A/C, although, we were going down fast. One can only imagine the
obstacles and decisions he was faced with during those few critical
seconds. First, the shock of just seeing his co-pilot shot in the face,
his awareness that he is at max speed(approx.125 knots), max. gross weight
with eight Marines in the cargo hold , critical and sudden loss of
altitude, engine RPM fluctuating, warning lights flashing on the
instrument panel, a bullet piercing the leg that he needed to control the
direction of flight, and finally, he needed a clearing beyond the trees in
which to set the bird down . We bounced thru what seemed to be about 3
rice paddies and we were later informed, was an active mine field, before
coming to a complete stop. I am eternally grateful to Jim Hippert and
thankful for his unquestionable and demonstrated proficiency in the face
of certain peril. We were still taking small arms fire. The officer in
charge of the grunts deployed his men to set up a perimeter around our
A/C. I was aware that my gunner, Pfc. Robert Switzer had been wounded but
he managed to maneuver out of the belly of the plane. My immediate concern
was to assist Jim Hippert out and down from the cockpit and over to the
nearest rice paddy dike. He informed me that Mike Carley had taken the
first round in his face and he was certain that he was dead. I returned to
YL 42 twice to retrieve the machine guns and extra ammo. By this time Ron
Fix, our wingman was landing approx. 100-150 yards from our position and
their crewmen were running over to assist us with the weapons and Capt
Hippert. I recall being overwhelmed with a sense of guilt at leaving Lt.
Carley still in the cockpit. I did, and always will regret that I was
unable to get him out. As we lifted off in the chase bird I saw the HU-1E
helicopter as it began circling the site. I later learned that it required
the co-pilot, crew-chief, and gunner of the Huey to extricate Mike's body
from the armored cockpit. YL42 was guarded throughout the night. The next
day a small maintenance crew headed up by Willie Sproule was flown back to
the site and after performing emergency repairs and replacing the lost
avgas. Capt. Curt Ryan, I believe, with Willie flying left seat flew YL 42
back to Ky Ha. Captain Hippert was flown out to the hospital ship 'Repose'
to recover from the wounds to his leg. My gunner had sustained minor
shrapnel wounds to his arm and hand, and recovered rapidly.
The relationship between YL 42 and
myself became quite intense over the next 2 to 3 weeks. First stop was the
wash rack where we spent several days. Then we towed her to several
fix'm'up stations such as the metal shop, hydraulics, avionics, and
finally to the hangar where she received her third engine. She had taken a
couple of rounds in the oil tank directly behind my seat and was setting
off a number of magnetic warning lights. In this brief interim our
Squadron transferred to an LPH and LSD headed toward the Philippines for
war games. It was at Cubi Point that I began the dreaded replacement of 5
or 7 of the 11 fuel cells which were also pierced. By the way, none of the
grunts in the cargo hold sustained injuries. I remember being dragged out
of the belly several times, totally inebriated on 115/145 Avgas. After
final repairs and several test flights, YL 42 proudly joined up with
several other Ugly A/C and ascended to that international R&R spot,
Bagguio, at least twice to transport a few of you lucky Marines to the
rest haven you so richly deserved.
YL 42 was also selected to
participate in " In Flight Gunnery School” with yours truly as the
instructor. This, unfortunately, turned into an embarrassing encounter. To
top it off, Lt. Deak Warner was our hack. You remember, Deak, the squadron
Ordinance Officer who, in our cruise book is portrayed with one of every
kind of weapon lashed to his body. I had 5 students including a First
Shirt and a Warrant Officer apprehensively sitting in the belly to take
their turn with the M-60. We would begin with a demonstration by me on the
"how to do it right". Right! Remember your first instruction class on what
to do with a hang fire with the M-60 machine gun? You are supposed to
stop, count to 10 before attempting to eject the round from the receiver,
(the one rule you shit-canned when in combat.) Get the ‘eff-ing’ round
out, reload and keep firing. Well, with a short lapse in classroom
protocol, I jerked the bolt back, not noticing that the first round had
not ejected, slipped another round into the receiver behind the cook-off,
and pulled the trigger. Very impressive! It was one smart son-of-a-gun
that once said “two 7.62mm rounds will not simultaneously spiral easily
thru the gun barrel.” You guessed it; in front of God, the Ordinance
Officer and several shocked Marines who outranked me, the receiver blew
up, both rounds went off (somewhere), the butt plate buried itself in my
chest and shoulder and shrapnel bits hit everyone (except me). School was
out and fortunately no one was seriously injured (other than my pride.)
Deak took it all in stride, Thank God. However my instructor-hood was
terminated!
Over the following years Rusty
(Gunny) Sachs and I maintained intermittent contact with one another, he
on the East Coast and I on the other, thru letters, cards, and by phone.
Somehow he must have sensed an unsettled, discontented part within me
relating back to our time in-country . Thru his unrelenting, unselfish
persona, and uncanny ability, he initiated a search for Mike Carley's
family. He discovered that Mike had left a wife and a two-year-old son at
the time of his death. With this information, he contacted Michael Jr. and
Connie, in New York and Connecticut respectively, and made arrangements
for them to fly to California to meet me. Gunny picked up Deak Warner in
Southern California on the way and in 1991, almost 25 years after Lt.
Carley's death I had the honor to be their host in my home. Michael Jr.
was now a young man and still searching for information, confirmation, and
some understanding of his dad's death. I in turn was needing very much to
gain some sort of closure to that event on 2-27-67, and finally found it
by looking directly at both of them and telling them that I was unable to
retrieve their loved one’s body from the helicopter. It was a very
emotional and, on their part, forgiving conclusion to that fateful day
in'67. I can never thank Gunny Sachs enough for what he did to secure that
peace of mind for myself, and I hope for Michael Jr. In 1998, when YL 42
was memorialized in Pensacola during our reunion, Michael Jr., his wife
and infant son were in attendance. Currently, we stay in touch thru e-mail
and hopefully future reunions.
In conclusion, I return briefly
to those days “in-country” where we all share the memories; the good, the
bad, and the Uglies (pardon the pun.) Some are happier memories than
others, but they are of times shared with one another and with our fallen
brothers. They are memories that we’ll never forget in our private, and
not so private, thoughts.
Semper Fidelis
Bill Willey
E-Mail
YL42@juno.com
