Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Made In...

My friend Troy retired last year from his law enforcement job, and he has been keeping busy hunting, babysitting for his grandkids, and transporting veterans to the V.A. hospital at Marion, Illinois.  He was wearing this hat the last time he stopped in to visit, and I took that opportunity to have him tell about the fight where he won his Silver Star.

He and a buddy jumped out of a helicopter so they could rescue two helicopter crewmen who had crashed and were surrounded by enemy.  Troy landed successfully, but his buddy broke a leg when he hit the ground.  So...Troy fought his way to the crashed helicopter, fought his way out while carrying one man, threw him into a helicopter, then did the same trip again for the second crewman.  Then he had to rescue his buddy with the broken leg and throw him into a chopper.  The chopper couldn't set down during these rescues, and Troy flew out of there hanging onto a helicopter skid with one leg and one arm.  When he finished retelling all this for me, Troy handed me the hat and said, "Look at where this thing was made!"


Figures.

2 comments:

Borepatch said...

Wow. Wow.

David aka True Blue Sam said...

Borepatch: Troy joined up in 1969 after a recruiter told him he wouldn't be sent to Vietnam if he enlisted.

He started out in the jungle, but managed to get a spot as a door gunner, then he got into Helicopter Scouts.

In this fight, he was carrying an M2 Carbine, and ran out of ammunition before he got out of there.