A Marine Hero - Rescue at Hill 845: The story behind "Dec. 28, 1969 Que Son Mountains, Vietnam."

Via comment by Roy Goldammer on Dec. 28, 1969 Que Son Mountains, Vietnam

by Greg Johnson, a retired CH-46 Driver, lives in Pennsylvania. He made many of these Med-evac runs. He currently is a college professor.  
 
The Noble Warrior: Rescue at Hill 845 
  
Glancing around at the clutter in my attic recently, I decided it was time to sort through  some of the unpacked boxes associated with my military retirement and move to  Pennsylvania. A fond smile crossed my face as I gingerly pulled out aging flight logbooks. As I randomly scanned the yellowing  pages, I was surprised by the vivid and  detailed recall the numerous sorties inscribed on those pages evoked. Aviation seems to have that effect on the mind.  
 
Locked in a trance with my memories, it was the flutter of a small newspaper clipping,  surrendering to gravity, as it fell from between the pages, that snapped the spell of the moment and brought me back to reality.  The clipping was a one-line notice from the Navy Times announcing the death of my friend, David Cummings, during 1988. When I first cut out the obituary notice and tucked it away in my logbook, I mentally promised myself that one day I would tell the story of his heroics–in another place and time…    

(Vietnam 1969)