May Day

Company A

227th Assault Helicopter Battalion

1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile)

"May Day" Sends SGT to Rescue

by SP4 George Vindedzis
Reprinted from in-country newspaper

Lai Khe - One downed Cobra, two trapped pilots and Sergeant Richard J. Korbel, a door gunner with Company A, 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion, proved the necessary ingredients for a heroic rescue.
A formation of UH=1H 'Huey' helicopters had just combat assaulted an element of 5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry, into a landing zone near Landing Zone Buttons when a 'May Day' call flashed over the radio.
A 1st Cav Cobra had spun 500 feet and crashed nearby. The lead Huey immediately flew to the scene to aid the downed crew.
'I had planned to rappel to the Cobra when we got close enough to the ground,' said SGT Korbel. 'But, it turned out that we didn't have a rappelling rope in the survival kit. So the crew chief and I guided the pilots as close to the Cobra as we could and I hung from the skids and dropped about 15 feet to the ground.'
The Cobra way laying on its left side. The two pilots, in a state of semi-consciousness, were still seated in the cockpit of their downed bird.
'The windows were jammed,' said the door gunner, 'I looked around and spotted a part of the Cobra's radio lying on the ground. With it, I managed to break the glass and pull out the pilot.'
By this time, a MEDEVAC bird was hovering above and lowered its jungle penetrator. Korbel secured the stunned pilot to the line and returned to the downed craft for the co-pilot.
After breaking the glass over the co-pilot's seat, the door gunner tried to pull him out.
'I was really exhausted,' said Korbel. 'The co-pilot's feet were caught on the control stick and I just couldn't pull him loose.'
Looking up, the sergeant saw an approaching MEDEVAC bird and immediately guided it in as close to the accident scene as possible. He then signaled the MEDEVAC to send down another man to assist him.
The MEDEVAC responded with a stretcher and Specialist 5 Steve Richards lowered to aid in the rescue. Together the two men managed to get the co-pilot out of his craft, strapped him to the stretcher and sent him up to the hovering MEDEVAC.
SP5 Richards, a medic from Co. B, 15th Medical Battalion, and Korbel then retrieved the pilot's maps, weapons and personal items from the cockpit. They were then hoisted up by the jungle penetrator.
The MEDEVAC took the injured men to the aid station at Quan Loi for treatment while Sergeant Korbel's Huey followed.
After describing the events to the doctors, the door gunner and his crew flew back to Song Be where the Huey was needed once again.