Had a bunch of old guys at the restaurant this week and saw that The Washington Times had an article on the front page about the dedication of a memorial to Vietnam era helicopter aviators the previous day. I remember Vietnam vets from about fifteen years ago when they all looked a lot younger. These guys are starting to get up there like all of us. BTW something like ten thousand aviators died in the conflict. 'They went to the sound of the guns'.
10K aviators? There were 58K deaths total during our involvement with Vietnam. 17% of deaths being aviation is something I never heard. I'm pretty sure they were a lot less than 17% of the forces.
Watched FMJ again last night. I forgot that Vincent D'Onofrio and Adam Baldwin were in it too. Great movie and made even better knowing the recruits' reactions were genuine. RIP Gunny.
In reply to Dr. Hess :
Just grabbed the crumpled paper out of the trash. Bad memory on my part as I got the numbers wrong. ".....the nearly 5,000 American helicopter aviators who lost their lives during the course of the conflict." Still a very high number.
And that's not including fixed wing casualties.
Chopper crews and river boats had the highest loss rates.
I think RLE's first role was in "The Boys from Company C"....
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