CW2 Donnell Medley, U.S. Army (1964-1968)

On June 13, 1966, while flying an Army Birddog out of Marble Mountain airfield, I was shot down supporting a Marine company that was pinned down by a Viet Cong force. My Marine observer and I had just taken off and were en route to Marine artillery base Hill 55 when there was a call on the radio, “Any Catkiller, any Catkiller near Hoi An?”. We were very near the area, so I answered with our location. The radio operator stated that they were pinned down by an enemy force and requested assistance. We obtained the coordinates and said that we were on our way. Arriving on the scene, we saw that the Marine force was on a narrow road and receiving fire from a trench line approximately 100 yards to their front. There were 12 to 15 VCs in the trench. Assessing the situation, I had the Marines set up their 60 mm mortar. The mortars weren’t coming close after several adjustments were made. I didn’t feel comfortable calling artillery as the Marines were too close. I then told the Marine observer to take my M16, and we would make some strafing runs.

After several runs, we broke up the attack. As I climbed to altitude, I flew over a clearing and saw the VC gathered in a circle. I armed a rocket and fired it into the VC. After firing the rocket, I applied power, but received no response from the engine. The Marine radio operator then called us and said, “Catkiller, have you been hit? You’re trailing flames and heavy black smoke”. I went through the engine restart procedures, but nothing worked. I told the Marine observer to put out a “Mayday” with our coordinates as I performed the emergency shutdown procedures.

As luck would have it, I had enough altitude to make an approach and land on the road the Marines were on. At approximately one hundred feet altitude, the Marines hadn’t moved off the road, so I could land and save the aircraft. I told the Major I was going to make a hard landing in the dry rice paddy next to the road. Had I tried to make a normal landing, we would have hit the rice paddy dike and flipped upside down. Had this happened, the gas tanks would have leaked because the rubber seals on the gas caps were in poor condition. We wouldn’t have been able to get out of the aircraft in time. My intention was to land hard enough to shear the landing gear and slide. It was perfect. After we crashed, flames were shooting under the firewall, and I couldn’t reach the emergency door release, so I went through the door. The Major was tangled up in the safety harness. I grabbed him by his shirt and literally pulled him out of the plane. We ran to where the Marines were on the road as the aircraft exploded. The Marine platoon leader ( a 2nd lieutenant) came to us, and I asked him why he didn’t move his people so I could land on the road and save the aircraft. He stated that both sides of the road were mined. In addition to surviving a bad plane crash, we had just run through a minefield. I was awarded the DFC for my actions. This can all be verified on the 220th RAC website.

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