Word: medevac
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...mysterious name of Operation Egress Recap. (Possibly a combination of the prisoners' "egress" from North Viet Nam and their "recapture" by the U.S., though Washington spokesmen profess uncertainty as to what the terms actually mean.) U.S. officials hope to bring out the prisoners by sending Air Force C-141 Medevac planes directly to Hanoi; more likely the Communists will fly the men to Laos or some other neutral point. There, Operation Egress Recap will begin...
...when the first gunships and Medevac helicopters arrived, the entire base was in flames. "You couldn't see because of the smoke," said Lieut. Mat Noonan, a Medevac pilot. "We had to circle three times just to see where the pad was." Noonan finally set down amidst "the worst carnage I have ever seen at an American installation. There were rows and rows of bodies-some burned to charcoal, others completely disemboweled. There were nine body bags full of bits and pieces of flesh...
...Twenty minutes later, the Cobras arrived over a scene of total chaos. As Hayden and Walters carved circles in the sky several thousand feet above the fire-scarred hilltop, they watched errant rockets from choppers already on the scene blazing into friendly and enemy positions alike. Other ships, including Medevac Hueys, milled around the Ranger landing zone but were unable to penetrate the murderous curtain of fire...
...over Laos today are the ubiquitous Hueys, which serve as everything from VIP tour buses to combat assault gunships that fire 6,400 rounds of minigun fire in a minute. Though U.S. pilots generally give ARVN high marks for bravery, some pilots complain that the South Vietnamese have misused Medevac on occasion. Angry flyers tell of having braved fierce Communist fire to answer ARVN calls, only to find "shammers"-men swathed in bandages but with no wounds-when they arrive. Other pilots gripe that ARVN commanders sometimes purposely minimize hostile activity in an area. A typical radio exchange over Laos...