Leave No Man Behind

"From the book: " Ron Clarke saw a shadowy figure running toward the helicopter from the right. He wasn't certain if it was the downed air force pilot or a Vietcong. At the same time, George Armstrong, manning the machine gun in the forward left personnel door, shouted, "Here they come--let's get out of here." He opened fire with his M60 [on enemy soldiers running] toward the helicopter. . . . "Full power," Clarke shouted to [copilot Jerry] Smith, who shoved the two engine throttles to the stops. Clarke eased up on the collective pitch lever, and the helicopter began to get light on the wheels. Back aft, [Jimmy] Conrad identified the running man as friendly and watched him dive past head first, sliding across the cabin deck on thousands of empty 7.62mm shell casings like the floor was covered with ball bearings. He fetched up under the troop seat . . . grabbing the bench leg to stop from slipping down the tilted deck. As the helicopter accelerated and then climbed . . . the adrenaline-charged helicopter crew began to realize that they were safe and had somehow escaped death or worse.