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The Rescue of Dustoff 65 was a battle in April 1968, during the Vietnam War. A Medivac helicopter was preparing to evacuate wounded soldiers from the United States 101st Airborne Division when a rocket hit the tail rotor, forcing the helicopter down into the jungle. A rescue team spent five days finding, retrieving and extracting the men from the crashed helicopter while fighting off communist forces. ==History== Following the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War American forces tried to limit arms and material from being resupplied to depleted enemy units via the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Supplies flowed through the A Shau Valley, about 30 miles (50 km) southwest of Huế, South Vietnam. There elements of the 101st Airborne Division would frequently interact with NVA units. On 3 April 1968 during one such firefight the 101st took several casualties that required immediate medical evacuation. A Bell UH-1H Iroquois helicopter (serial number: 66-17043) from the 498th Medical Company, 55th Medical Group, 44th Medical Brigade, originally from Fort Benning, operating under callsign ''Dustoff 65'', was assigned to evacuate the wounded.〔 Due to the thick jungle foliage the helicopter could not land and so the Americans used a "jungle penetrator", which is a wedge-shaped stand attached to the helicopter's winch, to lift the wounded from the jungle floor to the hovering helicopter. On board Dustoff 65 were:〔 * Pilot First Lieutenant Ben Knisely * Co-Pilot First Lieutenant Mike Meyer * Crew Chief James Richardson * Medic Bruce Knipe 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Rescue of Dustoff 65」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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