7
7point62
Guest
James T. Newman, 73, died Sunday. He wasn't a "special operator" so I'm not sure his obit belongs here, but I think he deserves a mention.
Newman was a US Army Huey pilot who first served in Vietnam in 1966 where he suffered a leg wound that nearly led to amputation. He was able to regain flight status, returned to VN in 1970 as commander of C Troop, 2/17 Air Cav, 101st Airborne. In Feb 1971, during Lam Son 719, he rescued four US crewmen from a crashed helo on a mountaintop base in Laos where SVN Rangers were under heavy attack from the NVA. The same week he rescued two other downed pilots, landing in an area so thick with vegetation it required him to use his rotor blades to cut down small trees. Five months later, Newman rescued two more pilots injured in a crash near the Laotian border, making the extraction under fire from enemy forces who were closing in on the crash site.
Newman was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, 4 Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart and 23 Air Medals.
RIP
Newman was a US Army Huey pilot who first served in Vietnam in 1966 where he suffered a leg wound that nearly led to amputation. He was able to regain flight status, returned to VN in 1970 as commander of C Troop, 2/17 Air Cav, 101st Airborne. In Feb 1971, during Lam Son 719, he rescued four US crewmen from a crashed helo on a mountaintop base in Laos where SVN Rangers were under heavy attack from the NVA. The same week he rescued two other downed pilots, landing in an area so thick with vegetation it required him to use his rotor blades to cut down small trees. Five months later, Newman rescued two more pilots injured in a crash near the Laotian border, making the extraction under fire from enemy forces who were closing in on the crash site.
Newman was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, 4 Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Purple Heart and 23 Air Medals.
RIP