An American soldier watching North Vietnamese troop movements from high above.
Mekong Delta - January 2, 1963
Airlifting a damaged helicopter.
Vietnam War - April 27, 1969.
Wounded soldiers signalling for a medevac from a helicopter flying overhead during the Vietnam War.
Hue, South Vietnam - April, 1968.
A US soldier running away from a crashed helicopter after rigging it with explosives.
The helicopter crashed near the border of North/South Vietnam, and was blown up to keep the technology out of the hands of the North Vietnamese government, who might have passed it on to the Soviet Union.
Under JFK the number of Americans forces in Vietnam increased from 900 to over 16,000.
Ca Mau, South Vietnam - December 11, 1962.
A pilot ditching his helicopter in mid-air during Operation Frequent Wind.
April 29, 1975.
During Operation Frequent Wind 7,000 people would be evacuated from Vietnam.
In order to make room for everybody on the available ships many vechicles, especially helicopters, had to be abandoned either by pushing them into the sea or ditching them in mid-air.
Members of the CIA on the roof of the American embassy in Saigon evacuating Vietnamese citizens on April 29, 1975.
Saigon would fall to Communist forces the next day.
A US infantryman getting medevaced after get shot while looking for missing soldiers on patrol.
Iraq, 2007.
Soldiers from the 101st Airborne touching down on the ground from a Huey during the Battle of Hamburger Hill during the Vietnam War. Also known as Hill 937, it had little (if any) strategic use for US forces.
Nevertheless between May 10th-20th of 1969 U.S. troops faced hard fighting, weather, and friendly fire to eventually gain control of the hill at the cost of 72 KIA and nearly 400 WIA.
Two weeks later US forces abandoned it.
U.S. Army Infantrymen fighting in the Battle of la Drang. The pictured helicopter was flown by Bruce P. Crandall, who later received a Medal of Honor for his efforts during the battle while evacuating troops and dropping supplies in an unarmed helicopter.
Ia Drang Valley, South Vietnam - November 14–18, 1965
