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During Operation ARES at Dong Xoai, I had to take
a sick Delta member into the Third Field Hospital in Saigon. I took the
281st admin run that was going to Tan So Nhut and got the patient to the
hospital. He was not sick enough for a MEDEVAC but too sick to keep at the
FOB. The RECON SGM asked me to pick up some beer as the beer supply was
running low, and gave me money from the beer fund to purchase some beer
and sodas. I bought a pallet of beer, a half pallet of soda and paid the
bill. The guy from the PX asked if I wanted some free beer and of course I
said yes. He showed me some pallets of beer, some off the wall brand (Blatz
something) that nobody wanted and that had been sitting around for so long
that the cans were rusting and leaking, but I agreed to take some. The PX
guy said to take all you want so we loaded another pallet of freebeer on
the 2 ton and set off to the airfield. Well, my eyes were bigger than
the cargo area of a Huey and it did not appear that two and a half pallets
of drinks would fit. However the makers of Hueys had underestimated the
initiative of thirsty DELTA members and the 281st aircrew. We
painstakingly stacked beer and soda, with the good stuff in the middle of
course, so that the free beer cases were hanging over the edge on the
chopper by of their length. By carefully stacking we were able to weigh
them down with cases stacked on cases until we got everything wedged in. I
had to squeeze in with a gunner on the ride back but what the hell, we had
a whole pallet of free beer on board. I felt good as I had made a good
deal for DELTA and the guys would have plenty of beer. Well, we were a
little heavy and the beer hanging over the side made the Huey a little
less aerodynamic but it was flying and we were on our way home. About
halfway back and flying over heavy jungle, we hit a downdraft and the
chopper made a huge lurch and began shedding cases of beer like a dog
shaking water off itself. I sat stunned as I watched my good deal for
free beer cascade toward the earth. There was silence for a moment then
we all burst out laughing and talking about Charlie looking up and saying
those crazy Americans are bombing us with beer. I can only hope that the
beer was so bad that it made them sick if they got any. We got back to the
FOB with all of the good beer and soda and a small amount of the free
beer which turned out to be flat as it had sat in the sun too long. I
believe we finally traded what was left of the bad free beer for some C-
rations with the artillery unit that set up next to us for a short time at
the end of the runway so things turned out all right in the end.
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