COL Charles S Kettles

COL Charles S KettlesCharles S. Kettles Volunteered on 15 May 1967 to carry reinforcements and evacuate wounded for an Infantry unit during a battle near Duc Pho, Vietnam. He led a flight of helicopters into the landing zone through a savage barrage of enemy fire and remained until all the craft were loaded to capacity before taking off. On his second trip in, his gunner was wounded and the helicopter damaged but he was able to fly it back to his base. He secured another helicopter and led a flight of six to extract the unit. All but eight men had been loaded when he directed the others to take off. He then maneuvered his lone craft through savage enemy fire over to the remaining infantrymen. During his time his windshield was blasted out and the tail boom damaged, but he still guided his damaged ship to safety.