Black Baron 6, LTC James Merryman, commander of the 269th Combat Aviation Battalion, was ordered by USARV headquarters to send one of his aviation companies north to help support the Koreans. After the devastating June 24th mortar attack Merryman, known as “old hook nose” by the men in his battalion, hoped to build-up the morale in the 188th.  He ordered Black Widow 6, Major James McWhorter to move part of the company and detachments north to Phu Yen province (population 327,380) in II Corps for a two-month TDY (Temporary Duty Station) operation. The Black Widows were temporarily based near the beach at Phu Hiep Army Airfield (known as Tuy Hoa south); located three miles south of the Tuy Hoa Air Force base.

Sixteen slicks, six gunships and their crews made the trip north to Phu Hiep. Support personnel from the 4th Signal Detachment, 603rd TC Detachment and the 154th Medical Detachment were shuttled by way of C-123s. During the two day 350-mile flight north the flight crews took in the scenic beauty of the aqua-blue South China Sea and the lush-green Vietnamese coast line. This TDY operation was the only time that the 188th enjoyed the comforts of a sandy beach and a secure base camp with wooden framed, concrete floored and tin roofed barracks. The other 10 months were spent existing in GP medium canvas tents called they called hooches.

On July 8, 1967 the 188th was put under operational control of the 10th Combat Aviation Battalion (CAB) Soldiers of the Sky. Operation Hong Kil Dong was named after a legendary hero in Korean folklore known for his sense of justice and similar in many ways to Robin Hood.  The 10th CAB using six assault helicopter companies; the 188th Black Widows and Spiders, 48th Bluestars and Jokers, 129th Bulldogs and Cobras, 155th Falcons and Stagecoach, 281st Intruders, 117th Beachbums, Warlords and Sidewinders, and two assault support helicopter companies, the 180th Big Windy, and the 196th Flipper, supported the Republic of Korea (ROK) White Horse and Tiger Divisions in the conduct of extensive search and destroy operations. The aviators of the 188th were impressed with the way the Koreans operated. They were hard working and disciplined soldiers and the officers had a way of keeping the enlisted men in line. Some of the physical discipline dished out by the Korean officers would have gotten any American soldier a very quick court martial. When ROK soldiers went into an operational area they burned everything to the ground so there wasn’t anything left for the enemy to come back to.

The latest intelligence estimate reported that approximately 1,800 local force VC including elements of the 5th NVA Division and the 95th NVA Regiment were located in the mountains west of Tuy Hoa. Operation Hong Kil Dong began on the morning of July 9, 1967 with a multi regimental combat assault 22 miles inland from the coastal town of Tuy Hoa; into an area in the mountains known as the Tuy Hoa-Dong Tre-Cung Son triangle. The terrain was mostly mountainous triple-canopy jungle. Subsequent combat assaults were conducted throughout the period to the southeast and northwest of this area until the 10th CAB terminated support of the operation on August 31, 1967.

When the 188th arrived at Phu Hiep the Koreans noticed that the 188th had the new H model Huey with the stronger Lycoming L-13 turbine engine. All Hueys were equipped with an external winch on the undercarriage of the slick that was used to sling load supplies. They got the OK from the 10th CAB to use the Black Widow slicks for sling loading (3) 55 gallon drums of water and other supplies to their troops in the field. This was a first for the two lift platoons and their crews. The slick pilots, through trial and error and a few tail rotors, honed their skills at hovering into and out off very tight LZ’s; that had been blown out of the 150 to 200 foot high triple canopy jungle for re-supply and medevac missions. It took the eyes of the entire crew to guide the slick down into the hole and then back up through the tight opening in the jungle.

One of the highlights for the company during their stay at Phu Hiep was a deer hunt and a company barbecue on the beach. During missions several flight crews observed many large deer roaming in unsecured areas up in the hills to the west of Tuy Hoa. The company cook offered to have a company beach party and barbecue if they could get one. So one afternoon a Spider gunship herded some deer and peacock’s out into a clearing with their grenade launcher and a slick swooped in, shot and picked up the deer and a couple of  peacocks. Expertly roasted on a spit, the deer was relatively tender and tasty and fed the entire company. The peacocks tasted too gamey and were tough. Thanks to the efforts of the Spiders and a slick crew the company enjoyed their only beach party. The highlight of the day, after the troops had consumed as much beer as possible, was when several of the enlisted guys and officers through Black Widow 6, Major James McWhorter into the South China Sea. When soldiers had any free time they enjoyed relaxing on the white sandy beach and swimming in the warm waters of the beautiful South China Sea.

Because Dau Tieng was off limits to all military personnel being stationed at Phu Hiep gave everyone a chance to get into the town of Tuy Hoa. Sp/4’s Dennis “Point” Pierpoint and Dick “Cherry Boy” Detra were close friends since basic training at Fort Lewis, Washington and advanced infantry training (AIT) at Fort Polk, Louisiana’s Tigerland. With 11Bravo MOS’s they were lucky to have been assigned to the 188th as security guards. There was a shortage of door gunners in the company at that time. After a month in the security platoon where their soul purpose was pulling night guard duty from 1800 hours to 0700 hours, they volunteered to be door gunners. After passing a flight physical Point was assigned to 1st lift platoon and Cherry Boy to the 2nd.

After a couple of weeks flying, both of their assigned helicopters were scheduled for a 100-hour PM (periodic maintenance) inspection. Which meant their crew chiefs would be busy working on the helicopters and they wouldn’t be on the duty roster; so given the opportunity to disappear they grabbed their M-16’s, hitched a ride for the eight mile drive on Highway 1 into Tuy Hoa where they took in the sights and did a little shopping. Cherry Boy bought a pair of custom made snake skin sandals. During their travels they spotted the local steam bath; commonly called a Steam and Cream by the Americans. It was your basic whore house and one of the reasons they had ventured into town. They paid mama-san for the girls and were well into the party when their reverie was interrupted by someone yelling, “VC…VC…VC!” Mama-san appeared in the doorway of their room; telling her girls to leave and for Point and Cherry Boy to hide under the beds and keep quiet. She closed the door and hurried off to greet her new customers. Scared shitless they hid under the beds and waited, clutching their M-16’s, set on full automatic. Outside the door they heard one of the VC talking loudly to mama-san about something; probably about her prices being too high. The twenty year old door gunners couldn’t believe what was happening; their first up-close encounter with VC was happening at a Steam and Cream. After what seemed like hours, mama-san opened the door and to their relief told them that the VC had left and it was safe to come out. A short time later they heard the sound of automatic weapons fire and grenades exploding near by. ARVN troops had ambushed the VC on their way out of town. There was no way that these two cherries were going out on the street while the sound of automatic weapons could still be heard. Tuy Hoa had a 9:00 o’clock curfew and was off limits at night, so they decided that the smart thing to do was to spend the night and leave in the morning. They continued their reverie with the girls till morning.

Early the next morning they slipped out of the Steam and Cream and went looking for a ride back to Phu Hiep. As they made their way through town they saw some things that no one should ever have to see. The bodies and body parts of the dead VC were wrapped in concertina wire and dragged through the streets and left in plain view for all to see. The ARVN soldiers used concertina wire to tie a captured VC to a post, then poured gasoline over him and set him on fire; all that was left was a charred body. After surviving their2 close encounter with the enemy the cherries hitched a ride back to Phu Hiep. They had been very lucky to have survived the experience.

While working with the Koreans the 188th experienced a massacre that occurred on one of the missions. A Korean officer and sergeant had gone into a VC controlled village under the guise of a white flag of truce. The next morning when the two Korean soldiers hadn’t reported back to their unit the Koreans returned. What they saw first was the heads of their friends staked out on top of wooden poles stuck into the ground. Shortly after this atrocity Door Gunner Sp/4 Ron Carpenter was on a 2nd platoon slick that flew the commanding officer of the Koreans in to meet with the village chief. He was given 24 hours to turn over the VC who had killed his men. When he failed to do this the Koreans went into the village and killed every man, woman, child, dog and livestock before burning the village to the ground. When word of the incident found its way back to the 188th a couple of slicks and a Spider light fire team were dispatched to check out the reported massacre. Door Gunner Sp/4 Leroy Lamb was on one of the gunships that low leveled over the burning village. From the air he could smell the distinct odor of burning flesh. All of the bodies had been dragged into the thatched huts and set on fire. Officially nothing ever happened and the massacre was covered up as the Koreans and Americans didn’t want news of this war crime to get out. Some of the flight crews saw what had happened from the air and in a very short time the entire company new what had happened. Many in the company started to question if what they were doing in Vietnam was right.

On the moonless night of July 31, 1967 the Spider light fire team (LFT) on counter mortar standby was scrambled for a night reconnaissance mission. At a point two miles southwest of Phu Hiep the two Charlie model gunships lost contact with each other, resulting in a mid-air collision at approximately 2345 hours. Both aircraft were totally destroyed in the resultant crash and fire. There were no survivors. The gunships became separated while approaching an ARVN compound, one half mile north of the crash site. 1Lt Bobby Wallace was the fire team leader that night. Helicopter 66-00707, crewed by AC 1LT Robert Michael “Bobby” Wallace (24 years old), Pilot 1LT James Robert “Poggy” Poggemeyer (24 years old), Crew Chief Sp/4 Wayne Van Lant (21 years old) and PFC Douglas Ray Noel (21 years old), a pathfinder from the 10th Aviation Battalion Headquarters Company, filling in as door gunner, circled to the left. This fact was given in a statement by one witness who said that the aircraft he was trying to follow appeared to be further away, as the sound moved west and south. Also the radio transmission between the gunships indicated that 707 was in a left turn. After the first pass over the area, helicopter 66-00710, crewed by AC CW2 Henry Clay Cauthen Sr. (36 years old), Pilot Warrant Officer Rodney Owen Davie (22 years old), Crew Chief Sp/5 Joseph Wayne Allwood (22 years old) and Door Gunner Sp/4 Paul Edward Williams (19 years old), circled left toward the bridge and then turned back right over the bridge towards the southeast. At the moment the gunships collided in the air, 710 was on a heading somewhere between 140 degrees and 180 degrees. Helicopter 707 was at a heading somewhere between 320 degrees and 360 degrees. At the point of contact, it was assumed that 710 was turning away from 707 or 707 was turning away from 710. That fact was evidenced by the main rotor blade marks made on the left door of 710. It was a glancing blow with the under side of the rotor blade scoring the door. The force of 707 striking 710 and the resulting vibration caused the transmission and main rotor head to separate. The transmission fell nearly straight down. The rotor blade and head, having some aerodynamic characteristic, fell south of the point where the mid-air collision occurred. Helicopter 707 became a flaming ball falling from the air to the southeast. Witnesses stated that they saw the burning wreckage falling to their left, which some believed to be to the north. Helicopter 710 did not burn until after ground impact. Parts of 710 fell in a southerly direction, with the main wreckage making contact with the ground at a heading of 160 degrees. The gunship struck a rice paddy dike, flipped around, causing the engine to tear loose, and continue another 25 feet. The helicopter burst into flames at, or shortly after, ground contact. Pilot, Warrant Officer Rodney Owen Davie, seated in the left seat of 710 was thrown clear along with the pilots’ seat on impact of the mid-air collision. He became separated from the seat prior to ground contact. The blade had apparently hit the back of Mr. Davies seat, one leg was severed below the knee, but he was still alive on the ground. After being taken to the nearest hospital he later died from his wounds.

Several gunnies lucked out that night. Sp/5 Gary “Pineapple” Cabigon was the assigned crew chief on 707 and had been since Fort Campbell. Due to a freak accident after a mission Pineapple fractured his right ankle, when he bounced off the gun platoon’s ¾ ton truck used to transport them to and from the flight line. He was riding on the running board at the time and ended up in a cast for three weeks and didn’t fly. WO1 William Sipes was the assigned AC, but for some reason didn’t flying that night.

Sp/5 Tom “Black Bart” Bartleson was the assigned crew chief on 710. The guns had been flying a lot of hours the last few days. That same day Black Bart flew with Poggy on his first mission in the guns and they had gotten in late. He was one of most well liked and respected officers in the company. Poggy had a Saint Christopher’s medal with wings painted on the back of his flight helmet. After squaring away his gunship Black Bart and a few of the other gunnies headed over to an artillery unit EM club for Doug Crain’s 21st birthday party. Everyone was looking forward to having a party to remember. Later that evening, when Staff Sergeant Joe Lane came into the club looking for Bart because his Door Gunner Sp/4 Stan Moody was sick and couldn’t fly, he saw that most everyone there was shit-faced. Sp/4 Paul Williams, who wasn’t drunk volunteered to fly in Bart’s place if Bart promised him that he could fly as his door gunner the next day. He said “OK” and as Williams walked out the door of the club it was the last time he ever saw him alive. Sp/4 Wayne Van Lant who usually crewed with Crew Chief Sp/5 Billy Oates on 708 was filling in that night for Sp/4 Leroy Lamb because Lamb was still recovering from a gun shot wound to his left arm. Pathfinder PFC Noel volunteered to fly that night because he had the opportunity to fly on a gunship and was working towards the 25 hours of flight time needed to earn himself an Air Medal. He was awarded the Air Medal posthumously.

Spider AC WO1 Mike Mullin and 2nd lift platoon Pilot WO1 Herm Fulp were on the flare ship that night and scrambled after receiving intelligence of enemy movement near a bridge on the river just south of Phu Hiep. The river branched off in three directions near the sighting. Fulp was monitoring the Spiders and heard them say that they had lost visual contact; one pilot said his ship was on the west side of the river and the other pilot said his ship was on the east side. Fulp had a feeling that something bad was about to happen. The mid-air collision lit up the sky for miles. They circled the crash site and radioed Black Widow operations about what they had just witnessed. A DC-3 spooky gunship was called in to cover the crash site, along with an Air Force air rescue crew. When they landed to help the survivors they couldn’t get close to the two gunships because the ordinance was still cooking off. The fact that the river had three branches made the radio contact irrelevant. If it had been just one channel, the collision may have been prevented.  The gunnies died as a result of third degree burns and other fatal wounds. In order to identify the bodies the rescuers had to remove the crew member’s chicken plates (Kevlar vests). The chicken plates prevented the front of their fatigue shirts from burning, so their name tags were still visible. Whoever reached Bobby first said that the cross he always wore around his neck was fused to his chest and that he was alive for a few seconds. Someone back at Phu Hiep, who was monitoring the company net, heard one of the pilots say that his crew chief had lost visual with the other gunship a few minutes before the mid-air collision. There was also another standby fire team that went up after the crash. Later a CH-47 Chinook lifted what was left of the two gunships back to Phu Hiep air field where the charred hulks were viewed by the entire company. The team leader should have immediately called for altitude separation until contact was re-established. Fulp detailed his thoughts on the accident in a report requested by the 1st Aviation Brigade.          

CW2 Henry Cauthen was not a regular member of the guns. He was the weapon systems expert and certainly helped a bunch of wet behind the ears lieutenants understand how things worked on a Charlie model gunship. Cauthen always wanted to get some stick time in the guns; he got his chance that night. Some heard Cauthen over the company net. He panicked and squeezed the cyclic trigger too hard and yelled at his pilot to “Bank left, Bank left” but he was on transmit, not intercom, and the other gunship banked right into them. Cauthen’s lack of experience and procedure in flying in a LFT as a wing man was part of the problem that night. The sad truth is that the light fire team did not use proper procedures when they became disorientated.

Shortly before the mid-air collision 1LT Dick Sperling volunteered to work as the company safety officer. Sperling and the 154th Medical Detachment flight surgeon, Captain Ed “Doc” Atlee were immediately summoned by Major McWhorter and ordered to work on the accident investigation board. Sperling flew out to the site that night on one of the slicks lifting troops in to secure the area. Both gunships were still burning and didn’t resemble helicopters…just burning rubble. Since nothing could be done until first light, they left and early the next morning Doc Atlee, Sperling and Major Sites flew back to the crash site; where the wreckage was still smoldering and undisturbed. Sites was very knowledgeable about accident investigation work. Under his tutelage Sperling served as the junior officer and recorder for the entire accident investigation board. Unofficially Major McWhorter asked Sperling to keep him advised so he could preempt problems by updating unit operations standard operating procedures (SOP). According to Doc Atlee the ultimate blame should have gone to the ground commanders who compromised safety by restricting the use of navigation lights. Doc was told to leave this out of his report for the investigation. Command did not want to hear what they called his opinion. McWhorter and the XO, Major Joe Sites, were both new and did not have the respect of the company. In spite of the nice setting on the coast, everyone in the company was still unhappy about losing 29 helicopters in the June 24th mortar attack and having their well liked CO, Major Bobby Wofford replaced by old hook nose.

On August 1, 1967 a memorial service was held in the company area at Phu Hiep. It was a very somber ceremony for the seven brave aviators and pathfinder who had given their lives in service to their country. The loss f some close friends to an avoidable accident like this was devastating to everyone in the company. Morale in the188th hit rock bottom

1Lt’s Jerry Smith, Poggy, Herb Sims, Bobby Wallace, Bob Buss and Frank Glass were the best of friends. After IOBC training at Fort Benning they all (except Glass) graduated from airborne school and subsequently enrolled in flight school at Fort Wolters, class 66-18. Poggy and Smith became very close at this time even though he was rooming with Frank Glass. After graduation they headed to Fort Rucker where they shared a house trailer and spent many a night sleeping on the beach. After graduation at Fort Rucker Poggy and Smith took a weeks leave and skied at Vail, Colorado with a couple of Smith’s female college friends. When they reported for duty with the 188th they again shared a house trailer. Bruce “El Rojo” Wright, Bobby Wallace and Herb Sims who were married were their neighbors. Smith, Poggy, Wallace and Sims arrived in-country with the advance party. After a few days at Dau Tieng Smith and the supply officer CW2 Sonny Listion were sent to Saigon; where they stayed at the Red Bull Inn for two weeks and shipped supplies back to Dau Tieng. After two weeks of in-country training in other units Poggy and Smith returned to Camp Rainier and shared the same GP medium tent. They were excited about repositioning to Phu Hiep. They had been flying in III Corps for three months and experienced way too many hot LZ’s and had heard good things about II Corps and the Tiger and Whitehorse Divisions and that Charlie seldom messed with them. Once again they shared a cubicle in a large hooch with concrete floors. Shortly after the company arrived at Phu Hiep Poggy transferred into the guns. That night Smith was alone reading a book entitled Fate is the Hunter, by Ernest K. Gann while Poggy was on counter mortar standby. He heard the siren go off and the gunships scramble and knew that his friend was in the air. He went back to reading his book until he heard another siren and people screaming mid-air. He immediately thought about Poggy but wasn’t sure who the other crew members were. He threw on some clothes and ran to the operations tent where there was mass confusion. 1LT Glass was the operations officer on duty and he asked for volunteers to fly out on a rescue mission. Smith volunteered to go and climbed into the left seat of one of the slicks and waited for the crew to arrive. The flare ship provided good illumination and the burning wreckage was easy to spot. They circled the wreckage and landed fairly close to one of the gunships, that was not burning much at all. He got out and looked around only to see many dark shapes with rifles approaching his position and not knowing if they were friend or foe. It turned out that they were ours, thank God, as they hadn’t brought any weapons to speak of. The grunts formed a perimeter and they began searching for remains. They found body parts and loaded them on board. They found one torso mostly intact except for the head. When they tried to lift it, there were only two or three of them, it was too heavy so they removed the chicken plate and that’s when Smith realized it was Poggy because of his very athletic build and a very hairy chest. Smith gagged and vomited for the first of many times that night. They did eventually get him loaded aboard along with other remains. Everyone on board was in a state of shock and disbelief but Smith managed to fly back to Phu Hiep where medics were standing by to unload the remains.

1Lt Smith was assigned to inventory Poggy’s belonging and it was almost as gut wrenching as the night before in the rice paddies. He started writing a letter to Poggy’s folks and his fiancé but was ordered by Major McWhorter not to send anything until the bodies were identified. Hell, he had already identified Poggy. He later discovered that the Army had notified all next of kin that their loved ones were missing in action. Two weeks later he received a letter from the Poggymeyers asking about their son. Against orders, he sent a letter describing the accident and how much they had all loved and respected their son. He was summarily dressed down by McWhorter but later received a warm thank you from the Poggymeyers. They had spent sleepless weeks worrying and although devastated welcomed the truth and the closure that it brought.

The Spiders needed crews and against advice from many friends, officers and enlisted alike, he volunteered to take his best friends place. He flew in the guns until they returned to Dau Tieng and then transferred to the 116th AHC at Cu Chi and flew guns with the Stingers as Stinger 95 and 96. He has read Fate is the Hunter at least five times and watched the movie probably as many. When he gets to the part where the B29 is making the instrument approach up the fjord he thinks of Poggy and the night of the mid-air.      

Sp/4 Ed Pettinato, a 2nd flight platoon door gunner, was awakened about midnight to the sound of someone screaming, “MID-AIR COLLISION.” Pettinato immediately got up, dressed, grabbed his two M60D machine guns and ran to the air field with loose pants, open shirt, and untied boots. 1LT Smith was waiting while he climbed aboard. Their slick was the first to land at one of the crash sites. What was left of the gunship was still burning, so Smith and Pettinato jumped out to see what they could do to help. The carnage was awful…the bodies were unrecognizable.

Staff sergeant Frank Nitchy was in charge of the night maintenance crew up at Phu Hiep, night after night till dawn. The guns were constantly on standby and were scrambled many times to support night operations. Rest for the gunnies was always a problem, but mostly from being on standby and having a hard time sleeping in the standby tent. Because of this schedule the guns didn’t get much rest. Nitchy received word that there had been a crash and someone heard a call over the radio that said, “PULL UP! PULL UP!” Nitchy was on one of the first slicks that flew to the crash site. When they arrived at the crash sites they saw two distinct burning wrecks. They landed by one crash site and were briefed by an American infantry unit that was on patrol in the area and showed them where the bodies were. WO1 Rodney Davie, who was still alive, was loaded on board and flown back to the base hospital, where he died a short time later. Nitchy sadly made his way back to the flight line and finished out the night.

The Spiders fire team leaders at that time were 1LT’s Bobby Wallace, Bob Buss, George Andrews and Herb Sims. Just prior to the move north the Spiders were scrambled at Dau Tieng. Sims was riding on the running board of the gun platoon’s ¾ ton truck when the crew chief driving took an outside corner too fast and Sims, who was wearing his chicken plate, was thrown onto the tarmac. His chest was saved but his hands lost a couple of layers of skin. As a result of his minor injuries he was left in charge of the rear detachment at Dau Tieng. At the end of July Sims was designated as the paymaster. On July 30th after paying the rear detachment troops at Dau Tieng he caught a ride on an Otter to Phu Hiep to pay the main body. At the pay table on the morning of the 31st he saw the faces of everyone in the company, including the gunnies that would die that night. Later that evening he was awakened by loud shouts about an accident. Poggy replaced WO1 Chuck Restivo in the gun platoon after the move to Phu Hiep. Restivo made the decision to quit the guns because he was getting very little flight time. It seemed as though he was always on counter mortar standby and he knew he would get more stick time flying slicks.

Soon after the crash there was a very heated argument between Spider Pilot WO1 Bruce “El Rojo”Wright and Major McWhorter. The next day when the company stood down, more accusations and recriminations were being voiced by company officers. There were slick pilots in the 188th that refused to join the guns because of their dislike for the gun platoon leader. CW2 Herm Fulp was one of those pilots who turned down requests to come into the guns. Because of poor leadership at that time, team building efforts were greatly impaired in the guns.

In an Operational Report-Lessons Learned for the 269th CAB for the period ending October 1967 gunship night operations was discussed: Two gunships with complete crews were lost as a result of losing visual contact with each other at night. The wing gunship of the team had habitually flown lower than the team leader to silhouette the lead ship against the sky. This procedure also afforded the wing man an unrestricted fire area in the event the leader was taken under fire. The hazard involved was that the wing ship was the first to recognize a loss of contact, and once recognizing it, until visual contact was again established, the wing ship could not readily change altitude. This problem of loss of visual contact was further amplified by the combat requirements to mask all navigation lights.

A procedure was established directing that the wing man maintain a flight level at least 150 feet higher than the team leader until a target is actually engaged. This policy improves night visual contact with the references available on board the aircraft, i.e. navigation lights or beacon. This also allows the wing man to immediately initiate a climb should contact be lost, precluding the hazard of a mid-air collision. The cost of the crash was estimated by the Army at $789,679.00.

During operation Hong Kil Dong the 188th lifted 26,446 troops, 2,670 tons of cargo while flying 12,857 sorties and amassing 3,549 hours of flight time. Of the 62 combat assaults 39 were company size, 17 were battalion size and six were regimental size. The 188th had their share of the 100 recorded medevac missions during the operation and were involved in 22 company size, nine battalion size and 6 regimental size extractions. Enemy losses during the operation were 637 KIA, 88 VC captured, 12 defectors and 34 VC detained for questioning, while friendly losses were 27 KIA and 68 WIA. During the operation 27 aircraft received anti-aircraft fire, seven were hit and four air crewmen were wounded. By the end of the operation the Koreans had achieved a kill ratio of 24 to one. Enemy losses included 359 individual and 94 crew served weapons captured along with 15 telephones, three switchboards and 36 radios. The Black Widows were released prior to the completion of Operation Hong Kil Dong and returned to Dau Tieng. The 10th CAB “Soldiers of the Sky” bestowed the honor of sister company to the 188th Assault Helicopter Company Black Widows for a job well done.