FAIRMONT, W.Va. — One night in 1970, Lucky Strike went down.
Lucky Strike was a Bell UH-1 Huey, assigned to fly perimeter defense and hunt hostile Vietcong activity in the Mekong River Delta region in Vietnam. John Leandro, captain and leader of the 2nd platoon of the 336th Helicopter Assault Company, remembers not wanting to slot another crew to take over Lucky Strike’s mission.
The mission was difficult, flying at night over rice paddies where trees were just as lethal as bullets. Lucky Strike went down to a rocket attack, from the air all Leandro could see that was left of the helicopter was a burnt hole in the ground.
But the job was not finished. So Leandro turned to Tom Feigel, crew chief of a helicopter named Super Slick, to fill the role.
“These guys took their role over, but they wouldn’t take the name, Lucky Strike,” Leandro said. “You had too much respect for the men. We lost six men that night.”
For one year, aircraft commander Randy Olson, aircraft commander Dana Brown, door gunners Tom Wilkes and Rob Sandwith and Navy SEAL Ray Smith dodged fire and transported U.S. troops in and out of combat zones.
Feigel captured their experiences in a new book called “Super Slick: Life and Death in a Huey Helicopter.” The crew reunited Sunday at the Marion County Vietnam Veterans Memorial at East Marion Park to celebrate the release of Feigel’s book. Leandro also contributed his recollections to the book.
Larry Weill ghostwrote the book. Weill, himself a Navy veteran, knew Feigel from their employment at Xerox together in the 1990s. Weill has 15 books to his name. He worked from Feigel’s notes to put the book together. Weill said he couldn’t imagine seeing what Feigel and the rest of the men aboard Super Slick saw and being the same person afterward.
“They’ve all got PTSD, you’re over there, it just goes with that territory,” he said. “It’s incredible to hear a story about, you’re flying side by side with your sister ship, your sister helicopter, all your friends on that ship, and watch it explode in mid-air at 2,000 feet.”
The helicopter has patches all over it where bullets went through the airframe. Super Slick landed for the final time in Marion County in 1993. In 2012, Feigel learned his former helicopter had survived the war. He was impressed with the work Bombardier Aircraft did to restore the craft, which still carries a lot of memories for the men.
“We were down in the delta area,” he said. “We go out and control waterways, rivers, canals and we’re looking for VC, moving equipment and parts and stuff like that because they moved that stuff at night, not during the day. We would patrol these areas at night, and if an outpost near us came under attack, we would fly into that outpost and give fire support.”
The nights were so dark that Feigel said he could see the faint red glow of a cigarette’s tip from miles away. Feigel reached about 750 flying hours in the helicopter in the span of eight or nine months. Seeing the helicopter again brings back memories of when the men, now in their 70s, were 18, 19, 20 years old.
Leandro, then at 21, was called the old man by the crew.
“It’s interesting, isn’t it,” he said. “We’re only together for like, six or seven months of our life. But those bonds formed in battle are forever.”
Vietnam is a far different place today than Feigel remembers it. Although the country is nominally communist under the control of a single party, it’s also embraced market capitalism. One island U.S. forces used to take prisoners has become a tourist destination with high-rise hotels and beautiful beaches, Feigel said. It’s a far cry from the underdeveloped nation Feigel knew in his youth. Feigel wants to return one day.
He complimented the Vietnamese for being an industrious and smart people. He’s also asked people who have traveled there how they were treated, and he’s heard of no issues. Although part of that may have to do with the fact a lot of the fighters from the era have also passed on.
In 2023, the U.S. State Department celebrated 10 years of comprehensive partnership and 28 years of diplomatic relationships between the U.S. and Vietnam. Much of it has to do with the ascendence of Vietnam’s traditional opponent, China, which the U.S. is also in geopolitical competition with. The country has a long and complex history with China, which also includes friendship.
Another thing that has changed is the attitudes of those who served in the Vietnam War. Leandro recalled a difficult homecoming filled with intense criticism and insults hurled at returning veterans. Today, veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq don’t face the same abuse.
“What I’ll say is love the warrior but hate the war,” he said. “I think America woke up and realized what they had done, but like I said, hate the war, love the warrior. We did what we were asked to do.”
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