BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) – 50 years ago this month, some of the most dramatic, traumatic moments in American history took ...

it’s such a shame that we had to be in this war.” A helicopter door gunner and crew chief, Nahooikaika was shot down five times during his two years of service in Vietnam and, like many ...

HOLLIDAYSBURG — He returned from Vietnam 51 years ago ... “I gave 110 percent” as a helicopter door gunner. He said his job with the Army 173rdAssault Helicopter Unit was to take soldiers ...

On April 14, 1975, North Vietnamese tanks burst through the gates of the South Vietnamese government’s presidential palace, a short distance away at the American Embassy, as people scrambled to escape ...

The three Vietnam vets gathered ... on every smoke mission as a door gunner. “I think in the Army’s wisdom they say, ‘Well, make the guy who fixes [the helicopter] fly it every time, and ...

It is used in a variety of rotor wing aircraft in the “door ... of helicopters, such as the UH-1 Iroquois, OH-6 Cayuse, and AH-1 Cobra, as well as the AC-47 gunship, during the Vietnam War.

Long before the Vietnam conflict had ended, the “Huey” (its original Army designation was HU-1A, for Helicopter, Utility, Model 1A) was probably the most recognizable helicopter in the world ...