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Vietnam: Helicopter Gunners

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Great Vid, maybe from 1966"? As for the door gunners. The CH 21 Shawnee had a door gunner in Vietnam with M 1918 Browning or the new M 60 in 1962/63 during the Advisory support stage. But was taken out of combat service by August of 1964. I think some of those early door gunners assigned to the 33rd Transport came from the 25th ID at Shoffield barracks HI .

Never saw a video of these helos in Vietnam.

Good history lesson.

jfko6 wrote:Never saw a video of these helos in Vietnam.

Good history lesson.

They used them 1961 to August 1964
121st transport 1962 through 1964



http://www.criticalpast.com/video/65675 ... helicopter

the movies made about the Vietnam war don't focus on that period, I.e., they follow, usually, 1966-1969 the years of the heaviest fighting.

jfko6 wrote:the movies made about the Vietnam war don't focus on that period, I.e., they follow, usually, 1966-1969 the years of the heaviest fighting.

Yes they for the most part do not consider the period from 1959 to 1964
. The first American Military advisers went to fledgling The Republic of South Vietnam in 1957.
The first two lost to hostile fire were in 1959
large numbers of CH 21 Shawnee Helicopters to South Vietnam in late 1961. They flew South Vietnam's elite Rangers and Paratroops into combat. By 1962 they were involved in heavy combat
This was called the Advisory period and president Kennedy told the public we are taking losses and there may more to come.
In 1963 they increased support in every way they could think of short of sending in Infantry.
Helicopters and aircraft need mechanics , fuel specialist, air traffic control, signalmen, These troops then needed barracks, doctors dentists, MPs, cooks, jeeps trucks you name it. All that stuff needed to be secure, so you needed troops to guard it. By 1964 it was a strange blurry area called Advisory and Support period. Over 400 American servicemen KIA in 1964.