like so many things pertaining to the Vietnam War by the late 1960s, the NVA’s tactics were changing—and becoming a more aggressive threat to U.S. forces in the area. By early May of 1968, thousands
of NVA troops as well as Vietcong occupied the area around Kham Duc, and General William Westmoreland was calling for the site’s evacuation. While this sense of urgency was well received by those stationed in Kham Duc, there also were concerns with the evacuation plan from the start. Te 5,000-foot-long airstrip at
Kham Duc always had a less-than- great reputation among the 7th Air Force aircrews that frequently flew into it. Te fact that the runway was in a valley surrounded by hills made it difficult to fly in to and out of—plus, the dense growth of those hillsides offered opportunistic enemies both
USAF enlisted medical personnel carry a wounded person to a waiting C-130 for transport to medical facilities at Da Nang Air Base, South Vietnam. Kham Duc airfield was located less than an hour away from Da Nang. (USAF photo)
coverage and an elevated vantage point. But the natural environment of
Kham Duc could not be helped at this point, and on May 12, 1968, dur- ing the Tet Offensive, the evacuation operation began. Tose who survived it would remember the torrential hell that rained down on them that day. As feared, the enemy established a
position on the hillsides surrounding Kham Duc as the evacuation went into effect. Teir forces that day were so great in number that some were even inside the fences surrounding the camp. Despite the fact that enemy artil-
lery shells were pockmarking the runway, USAF evacuation aircraft were still coming in. Among them was Maj. Bernard Bucher’s C-130 Hercules, which managed to get down amidst the shells and holes on the runway, while also taking fire directly. After quickly loading up more than 150 passengers—many of whom were civilian dependents of the men sta- tioned at the camp—Bucher prepared to again run the runway gauntlet and take off with his passengers and crew in tow. His crew that day included enlisted USAF members engineer Staff Sgt. Frank Helper and loadmas- ter Airman First Class George Long. As the plane sped down the tarmac
in an attempt to get airborne, it was quickly ravaged by enemy tracer fire. It caught fire and crashed into a ravine after it had barely left the ground. Tere were no survivors. Many of the USAF and Special Forces service- men still on the ground at Kham Duc watched helplessly as their loved ones perished. Bucher’s flight attempt would not
be the last one to end in horrific tragedy that day, and those yet to be evacuated faced a daunting reality: Te only way out of Kham Duc was by air. For even a chance of survival, they, too, would have to brave the shells and bullets coming from the enemy hillsides. But in the immediate aftermath of the crash of Bucher’s aircraft, a second
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