Category: This great Nation & Its People
Shot down in a hostile landing zone, blasted apart, and stabbed through the leg, Gary Wetzel still fought his way back to an M60 machine gun. What happened next earned him the Medal of Honor and made his Vietnam story almost impossible to believe.
Gary Wetzel’s Medal of Honor Fight Began in a Huey
Gary Wetzel was born in 1947 in South Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 1965, he was an 18-year-old soldier working in ordnance. He enlisted for three more years to serve as a door gunner on UH1 Huey helicopters in Vietnam. Wetzel was assigned to the 173d Assault Helicopter Company near Ap Dong An.
A group of four Australian helos flew into Wetzel’s firebase and got badly shot up for their trouble. Most of the hostile ground fire they had taken originated a mere kilometer from the perimeter.
Realizing the imminent threat this represented, Wetzel’s commander put together a quick reaction mission to seek out the local VC force and eliminate it. On January 8, 1968, PFC Wetzel climbed aboard his Huey and charged his M60 machine gun. They took off as a flight of fourteen aircraft. Ten were American UH1s. The four Australian helicopters took part as well.
The Guns Gary Wetzel Carried Into a Vietnamese Killing Zone
By 1968, Vietnam was a mature war zone. That meant weapons were absolutely everywhere. The M16 was and is a solid combat rifle. However, at 39 inches overall, it is a bit bulky for the confines of a tactical helicopter.
The XM177E2 was the stubby carbine version of the M16 that was just seeing widespread issue to Special Forces troops. It would yet be a while before there were enough carbines to filter down to aviation units. In the meantime, Wetzel and his mates scrounged whatever they could find.
The US gifted untold tons of WW2-surplus ordnance to the South Vietnamese. Among these weapons were huge numbers of vintage M3 Grease Guns as well as M2 carbines and Thompson SMGs. Many of these weapons ended up available for barter among American troops.
Among aircrews, folding stock Kalashnikovs were prized but hen’s-teeth rare. I have heard of captured cut-down RPD belt-fed machine guns being used as well, but they were about as common as Bigfoot or fiscally responsible Congressmen.
Flight crews not infrequently tucked an M79 40mm grenade launcher into their birds for a little serious thump. However, WW2-vintage .45ACP submachine guns were not uncommon. Wetzel packed a Tommy Gun himself.
The Thompson really was a niche tool. Those big, fat .45ACP rounds lost energy quickly at long ranges, and the thing was heavier than Aunt Edna’s prize Christmas fruit cake.
Additionally, the ergonomics were all wrong, so it took some attention to technique to run the gun accurately and well. However, for a generation raised on Saturday afternoon gangster movies, the Thompson carried some undeniable sex appeal.
RPG Impact: Gary Wetzel’s Huey Falls Into a Kill Zone
Standard Operating Procedure had Huey gunships in the lead to sterilize the landing zone with machine gun fire and rockets.
However, in this case, the gunships inexplicably fell behind. Wetzel’s slick was one of the first aircraft into the LZ. As they were on final approach, VC streamed out of the jungle like ants and opened fire. Wetzel noticed the RPG-2 rocket just before it impacted his aircraft.
I used to fly Army helicopters myself. They are amazingly capable machines. However, they were never designed to withstand hits from anti-tank weapons. The RPG struck the Huey solidly in the left front. Wetzel’s pilots got the stricken bird to the ground more or less intact, but they were in a world of hurt.
One of the pilots had his legs shot to pieces. Wetzel and his crew chief wrestled the stricken officer out of the aircraft and took cover behind the disabled machine. At that moment, one of the VC threw a Combloc grenade that exploded among them.
The blast liberally peppered Wetzel with shrapnel and shattered his left arm, leaving it dangling uselessly at an unnatural angle.
One Arm Ruined, Thompson Roaring: Wetzel Fights Back
So, imagine the scene. One moment, you’re making a low-level approach into a hostile LZ. Next, your aircraft is shot to pieces, and your pilot is bleeding to death. Then the VC blows your arm off. Most normal guys would have just rolled over and quit. However, Gary Wetzel was no normal guy.
The VC soldier who threw the first grenade was now readying a second. Firing his Thompson one-handed, Wetzel stitched the man up, causing him to drop his primed grenade. The little sputtering bomb exploded among the attacking VC and caused a brief lull in the incoming fire.
Wetzel and his crew chief took advantage of the respite to get tourniquets on the legs of the grievously wounded pilot. Then Wetzel noticed half a dozen VC struggling to remove his M60 from its pedestal mount on the side of the crashed helicopter. Once again, taking his Tommy Gun in his one remaining good hand, the badly wounded gunner took out all six with a long full-auto burst.
Despite their best efforts, the young pilot bled out and died. This was more than Gary Wetzel had signed up for this day. Now simply angry, he stuffed his useless left hand into his pistol belt so it wouldn’t flop around while he ran, stood up, and charged back over to the smoldering aircraft.
Back to the M60: Gary Wetzel Charges Through Enemy Fire
The VC had not been idle throughout all of this. They marshalled in the treeline and prepared for a massed attack.
The enemy well appreciated that the greatest strength of the American military was its essentially unlimited close air support. If they had any hope of defeating the American assault, they had to get in close, too close for helicopter gunships and fast mover jets to lay down effective supporting fires. What happened next would determine whether Wetzel and his buddies lived or died.
Under suffocating enemy fire, Gary Wetzel charged across the open rice paddy toward his pedestal-mounted machine gun. Communist bullets sleeted across the space by the hundreds. Then one of the charging VC stabbed him through the leg with a bayonet, knocking him to the ground.
I saw an interview with Gary Wetzel where he related what happened next in his own words. His left arm was essentially shot off, and he had just taken a bayonet to his leg.
His chest was thoroughly ventilated with shrapnel, as was his remaining good arm. He claimed he had no idea how he cleared the distance to the downed helicopter. He just said that the bayonet wound knocked him to the ground and that the next conscious memory he had was behind his gun.
The aircraft was dead, but Wetzel’s pig was just fine. He also had access to plenty of ammunition and was savvy enough to run his gun one-handed. Despite multiple horrific wounds, PFC Wetzel poured fire into the enemy emplacements. He eventually suppressed and then destroyed the VC gunners that had taken them under fire.
Bleeding Out, Wetzel Still Dragged His Buddies to Cover
With the major threat eliminated, there was still plenty to do. The VC kept shooting into the LZ, and there were scads of American wounded. Despite having his arm blown to pieces and having taken a stab wound through the leg, PFC Wetzel dragged injured American troops across the slippery mud of the rice paddy so that the medic could work to stabilize them. He lost consciousness several times due to his own bleeding, but refused to stop until his fellow soldiers were behind cover.
PFC Wetzel was eventually medevac’d. He lost his left arm but saved an LZ full of GIs. Here is his Medal of Honor citation:
Gary Wetzel’s Official Medal of Honor Citation
“Sp4c. Wetzel, 173d Assault Helicopter Company, distinguished himself by conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Sp4c. Wetzel was serving as door gunner aboard a helicopter which was part of an insertion force trapped in a landing zone by intense and deadly hostile fire. Sp4c. Wetzel was going to the aid of his aircraft commander when he was blown into a rice paddy and critically wounded by two enemy rockets that exploded just inches from his location. Although bleeding profusely due to the loss of his left arm and severe wounds in his right arm, chest, and left leg, Sp4c. Wetzel staggered back to his original position in his gun-well and took the enemy forces under fire. His machine gun was the only weapon placing effective fire on the enemy at that time. Through a resolve that overcame the shock and intolerable pain of his injuries, Sp4c. Wetzel remained at his position until he had eliminated the automatic-weapons emplacement that had been inflicting heavy casualties on the American troops and preventing them from moving against this strong enemy force. Refusing to attend his own extensive wounds, he attempted to return to the aid of his aircraft commander but passed out from loss of blood. Regaining consciousness, he persisted in his efforts to drag himself to the aid of his fellow crewman. After an agonizing effort, he came to the side of the crew chief who was attempting to drag the wounded aircraft commander to the safety of a nearby dike. Unswerving in his devotion to his fellow man, Sp4c. Wetzel assisted his crew chief even though he lost consciousness once again during this action. Sp4c. Wetzel displayed extraordinary heroism in his efforts to aid his fellow crewmen. His gallant actions were in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Army and reflect great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country.”
Source: Congressional Medal of Honor Society, Gary George Wetzel recipient record and official citation.
Gary Wetzel Comes Home: A Medal of Honor Legacy
Gary Wetzel returned home to Milwaukee after he recovered to take a job as a heavy equipment operator. This guy is a freaking animal, the kind of amazing American hero who made America what it is today. This one-armed military machine would not quit when quitting was the only reasonable thing to do. In so doing, he showed us all what it truly means to be a man.
Will is still trying to figure out what he really wants to be when he grows up. However, shooting guns and claiming it was work seemed like a pretty sweet hustle. As a result, Will serendipitously transformed an avocation into a vocation.
Raised in the Mississippi Delta, Will flew UH1H, OH58A/C, CH47D and AH1S helicopters operationally as an Army Aviator. He is SCUBA-qualified and has parachuted out of perfectly good airplanes at 3 o’clock in the morning. Will has summited Mount McKinley, Alaska, six times…always at the controls of an Army helicopter, which is the only way sensible folk climb mountains.
Will has delivered sixty babies and occasionally wrung human blood out of his socks. He is married to his high school sweetheart and has three awesome adult children. Turn-ons include vintage German machineguns, flying his sexy-cool RV6A airplane, Count Chocula cereal and the movie “Aliens.”
www.word-monkey.com
Experience:
-Professional Writer-thousands of publishing credits for dozens of titles
-Mechanical Engineer/Practicing Physician
-Instrument-rated Commercial Pilot
-Sunday School Teacher
One of his better efforts in my humble opinion! Grumpy
In Congress, July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Georgia
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
North Carolina
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
Massachusetts
John Hancock
Maryland
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Pennsylvania
Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
New York
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
New Hampshire
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire
Matthew Thornton
It took a lot of guts to do this as they could of been hanged or worse for doing this! Grumpy
Categories
Rodeo: Hoe-Down
Categories
What a Stud!
Astronaut Gordon Cooper climbed into a capsule barely larger than a phone booth and launched into space aboard Faith 7.
The mission was simple on paper:
Orbit Earth 22 times.
Stay in space for a full day.
Come home alive.
For most of the flight, everything worked perfectly.
Then, on the 19th orbit, the warning lights came on.
First, a faulty sensor falsely reported reentry.
Then the electrical system failed.
One by one, the automated controls died.
Guidance system: dead.
Orientation system: dead.
Reentry calculations: dead.
At 165 miles above Earth, Gordon Cooper suddenly had no functioning instruments to bring him home.
And reentry is unforgiving.
Too shallow, and the capsule skips off the atmosphere into space forever.
Too steep, and friction turns it into a fireball.
The difference between life and death was fractions of a degree.
Mission Control could only watch.
So Cooper became the computer.
He drew reference marks on the capsule window with a pen.
He stared at the stars he had memorized before launch and used them to orient the spacecraft by eye.
He strapped a wristwatch to his arm and timed everything manually.
Then he did the math in his head.
No autopilot.
No navigation system.
No backup computer.
Just a man, a watch, and the stars.
At exactly the right second, Cooper fired the retrorockets manually.
The capsule dropped into Earth’s atmosphere.
For several minutes, communication vanished as plasma wrapped the spacecraft in fire.
Nobody on Earth could contact him.
Then the parachutes opened.
Faith 7 splashed down just 4.4 miles from the recovery ship USS Kearsarge — the most accurate splashdown of the entire Mercury program.
Later, Cooper described it simply:
“I used my wristwatch for time, my eyeballs out the window for attitude.”
That’s it.
In one of the most dangerous moments in early spaceflight history, a human being outperformed the machines.
We live in a world obsessed with automation and software.
But Gordon Cooper’s flight is a reminder that when everything breaks, the final backup system is still the human mind.
Calm under pressure.
Thinking clearly.
Making the call when nobody else can.
It was true in 1963.
It still is.