|
President Barack Obama awarded retired Army Lt. Col. Charles
Kettles the Medal of Honor during a White House Ceremony on Monday,
July 18, 2016.
|
President Barack Obama presents the Medal of Honor to retired U.S.
Army Lieutenant Colonel Charles Kettles for conspicuous gallantry,
in the East Room of the White House, July 18, 2016. Then-Major
Kettles distinguished himself in combat operations near Duc Pho,
Republic of Vietnam, on May 15, 1967 and is credited with saving the
lives of 40 soldiers and four of his own crew members. (Official
White House photo by Chuck Kennedy)
|
"You couldn't make this up. It's like a bad Rambo movie,"
Obama said, describing the harrowing exploits of then-Maj.
Kettles, on that fateful day, May 15, 1967, in "Chump
Valley," South Vietnam.
As commander of the 176th
Aviation Company, Kettles' mission was to fly in
reinforcements and evacuate wounded Soldiers of the 101st
Airborne Division, who were outgunned and outnumbered by the
North Vietnamese in a rural riverbed near Duc Pho. "They
needed support fast," the president said.
Towering
above Chump Valley was a 1,500-foot-high hill where the
enemy was entrenched in an extensive series of tunnels and
bunkers. It was "the ideal spot for an ambush," Obama said.
Despite the dangers that they all were aware of, Kettles
and his fellow company of Soldiers took off in their Hueys.
As they approached the landing zone, they met a "solid wall
of enemy tracers coming right at them," Obama said. "None of
them had ever seen fire that intense. Soldiers in the helos
were hit and killed before they could even leap off."
Despite the withering fire, Kettles landed his
helicopter and kept it there exposed so the wounded could
board.
SECOND RESCUE MISSION
After flying the
wounded to safety, Kettles returned to the valley a second
time, the president recounted. He dropped off four Soldiers
and supplies and picked up more wounded.
"Once more,
machine-gun bullets and mortar rounds came screaming after
them. ... Rounds pierced the arm and leg of Chuck's door
gunner, Roland Scheck," Obama said.
His Huey was hit.
Fuel was pouring out as he flew away. His helicopter was so
badly damaged that he couldn't make it to the field hospital
so Kettles found another helicopter and took them to safety.
By now it was near evening. Back in the riverbed, 44
American Soldiers were still pinned down. "The air was thick
with gunpowder, the smell of burning metal," the president
described. "Then they heard a faint sound. As the sun
started to set, they saw something rise over the horizon --
six American helicopters. One of them said, 'as beautiful as
could be.'"
THIRD RESCUE MISSION
For a third
time, Chuck and his unit "headed into that hell on earth,"
Obama said.
"Death or injury was all but certain," a
fellow pilot had said. "And a lesser person would not
return," the president related.
Once again, the enemy
unloaded everything they had on Kettles as he landed: small
arms, automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades. Soldiers
ran to the helicopters as they had before. When Kettles was
told all were accounted for, he took off.
On the
return flight, Kettles received a radio call informing him
that eight men had not made it aboard.
"They'd been
providing cover for the others," the president said. They
"could only watch as (the helicopters) floated away. 'We all
figured we were done for,'" one later said.
Kettles
came to the same conclusion, the commander in chief said
conveying his words: "If we'd left them for 10 minutes,
they'd become POWs or dead."
A Soldier who was there
that day said "Maj. Kettles became our John Wayne," Obama
said, adding his own take: "With all due respect to John
Wayne, he couldn't do what Chuck Kettles did."
FOURTH
RESCUE MISSION
Kettles couldn't shake from his mind
the idea of leaving the eight behind, so "he broke off from
formation, took a steep, sharp descending turn back toward
the valley, this time with no aerial or artillery support, a
lone helicopter heading back in," Obama said.
"Chuck's Huey was the only target for the enemy to attack.
And they did," he continued. Tracers lit up the sky once
more. "Chuck came in so hot his chopper bounced for several
hundred feet before coming to a stop."
As soon as he
landed, a mortar round shattered his windshield. Another hit
the main rotor blade. Shrapnel tore through the cockpit and
Kettles' chair. Yet, those eight Soldiers sprinted to the
Huey through the firestorm.
The president described
what happened next: "Chuck's helo, now badly damaged, was
carrying 13 souls and was 600 pounds over the (weight)
limit. He said 'it felt like flying a two-and-a-half-ton
truck.' He couldn't hover long enough to take off, but the
cool customer that he is, he saw his shattered windshield
and thought, 'that's pretty good air conditioning.'
"The cabin filled with black smoke as Chuck hopped and
skipped the helo across the ground to pick up enough speed
to take off, 'like a jack rabbit bouncing across the
riverbed.'"
The instant he got airborne, another
mortar ripped into the tail and the Huey fishtailed
violently. A Soldier was tossed from the helicopter, but
managed to grab a skid, hanging on as Kettles flew them to
safety," Obama said.
|
Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter presents the Medal of Honor
flag to Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Charles Kettles during a Medal of
Honor Induction Ceremony at the Pentagon, in Arlington, Va., July
19, 2016, for actions during a battle near Duc Pho, South Vietnam,
on May 15, 1967. Then-Maj. Kettles, assigned to 1st Brigade, 101st
Airborne Division, was credited with evacuating dozens of Soldiers
in a UH-1D Huey helicopter under intense enemy fire. (U.S. Army
photo by Sgt. Ricky Bowden)
|
WARRIOR ETHOS
"The Army's Warrior Ethos is based
on a simple principle: A Soldier never leaves his comrades
behind. Chuck Kettles honored that creed. Not with a single
act of heroism, but over and over and over and over. And,
because of that heroism, 44 American Soldiers made it out
that day," the commander in chief said.
The most
gratifying part of this whole story, "is that Dewey's name
and Roland's name and the names of 42 other Americans he
saved are not etched in the solemn granite wall not far from
here that memorializes the fallen in the Vietnam War," the
president remarked.
"To the dozens of American
Soldiers that he saved in Vietnam, half a century ago, Chuck
is the reason they lived and came home and had children and
grandchildren. Entire family trees, made possible by the
actions of this one man," the president concluded.
WHITE HOUSE CEREMONY
Kettles, 86, was joined at the
ceremony by his wife Anne. They will celebrate their 40th
wedding anniversary next March, the president said.
With them were eight of their 10 children and three
grandchildren. "It's the Kettles family reunion in the White
House," the president noted.
Also attending were some
of the Soldiers Kettles served with that day, including
Scheck, Dewey Smith, who was among the last eight Soldiers
rescued that day, and a number of other Soldiers who fought
in that battle. Past Medal of Honor recipients attended as
well.
By David Vergun, U.S. Army
Provided
through
Army News Service
Copyright 2016
Comment on this article
|
Medal of Honor Ceremony
|
Hall of Heroes Induction
| Medal of Honor Citation
|
