Ray Swenson is an old friend.  In the late 1960's and early 1970's, he was an Army Military Policeman (dog handler) in South Korea.  This was at the height of the Vietnam War further south and no one was sure that the North Koreans might just decide to violate the 1953 ceasefire and pickup the Korean War where they'd left off before.

 

Ray was part of the security detail for a "special weapons" ammunition control point for 8-inch howitzer rounds.  ["Special weapons" is military speak for those bombs and shells that bloom like mushrooms.]  At this time, a new Corps Commander had just arrived in-country and was chomping at the bit to visit the various commands.  Ray's was one of them.

 

The new Corps Commander was a real "hotdog."  He wanted to hit the ground running and to really impress the upper brass.  He was on the fast track to bigger and better things -- or so he thought.  On his second full day in Korea, Corps Commander warmed-up his personal UH-1 "Huey" helicopter to visit the ammunition control point.

 

Now, access to such sensitive areas is taken as a VERY serious matter.  In this case there were only two ways to the ammunition control point: (1) by a narrow, winding road and (2) by a heavily restricted air approach.  Air Approach Control required that the UH-1 fly a very specific approach to the control point at a very specific altitude, course, and speed. No deviations from the flight plan were permitted.

 

However, the Corps Commander was in a hurry and, in his lofty opinion, he did not need to bother with all the guff from Approach Control.  He ordered his pilot to make a straight-in approach to the helo pad at the control point.

 

Approach Control saw the Huey change course and the duty officer hit the ALERT claxon.  The commanding officer came charging out of his office to see the Huey boring-in on the helo pad.  He flipped on the microphone and said: "Security Detail, shoot that damn chopper down!  Shoot it down!!"

 

It took a microsecond for the security detail to process what they'd heard.  An then everyone with a weapon opened up on the hapless UH-1.  My buddy Ray pulled out his M1911A1 .45 pistol and banged off a magazine at the helo, dropped the empty magazine, reloaded, and fired another.   The guard towers unloaded with .50 calibers and with 7.62 from the M60 machine guns.  Other security personnel opened up with M14's.

 

On the in-bound helicopter, the pilots began frantic evasive action.  Too late.  A couple of .50 caliber bullets hit something vital and the engine started to shutdown.  The pilots quickly transitioned to auto-rotation and put the wounded helo on the ground.  Before the chopper was on the ground, security personnel were on the run to the landing site.  The Huey's main rotor was still slowing to a stop as the security people pulled the pilots, crew, and passengers out of the chopper, threw them on the ground -- spread-eagled -- with loaded weapons pointed at their heads.

 

Meanwhile, when the ALERT claxon had gone off, a flash message went out to the upper echelons of Eighth Army command.  The commander of Eighth Army ordered his own helo to scramble and raced to the airfield to launch for the ammo control point.

 

By the time Eighth Army arrived at the ammo control point, the "prisoners" were being interrogated by some very unsmiling people.  The Corps Commander was sputtering about how his life had been endagered by such reckless and unacceptable actions.  Eighth Army sought out Corps Commander and asked him to explain what he had done.  Corps Commander started to explain why he had ordered the deviation from Approach Control and how he thought that . . . and Eighth Army cut him off.

 

"That's just about enough." he said to Corps Commander.  "You are relieved of command effective immediately.  Get on my helo until I can figure out what to do with you." 

 

Eighth Army turned to the CO of the ammo supply point.  "I'm sorry for all the trouble that his actions caused.  Fortunately, no one was hurt.  I'll make sure that someone will pickup the [helo] crew and that damaged bird." 

 

Then Eighth Army reboarded his helicopter and was gone.  Later, another Huey flew in to extract Corps Commander's aircrew.  Still later, a CH-47 "Chinook" heavy lift helicopter came in to airlift out the shot-up Huey. 

 

By the time Corps Commander reached Eighth Army's command area, orders were in process to ship him stateside.  Less than 48 hour later, he was on his way home.  Needless to say, Corps Commander's actions at the ammunition control point had a negative impact on his officer's fitness report.

 

As Ray recounted, the story to me, a sudden smile curled his lips.  "You know the one thing I regret about the whole thing?  I didn't have my M14 with me."