11/11/2022
Remembering our veterans and thanking all who serve and served
Medals a daily reminder of service to the US Army
Tammie C. [email protected]
John B. McNamara knows combat.He has the scars to prove it and can regale you with stories of being shot down three times over the mean jungles of Vietnam.You can also see the evidence on the walls of his Diboll home. There’s a painting of two Huey helicopters flying a mission, the same chopper he flew in Vietnam.Nearby is a shadow box containing five of the medals he was awarded for his service: the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Republic of Vietnam, Distinguished Flying Cross, and Air Medal.Underneath the medals is a photo of a young McNamara posing next to a Huey in Vietnam and a message dated June 26, 1968. It reads:“Award of the Distinguished Flying Cross“1. To 320. The following award is announced,“McNamara, John B. W3156289 Warrant Officer W-1 United States Army Troop D, 1st Squadron, 9th Calvary“Awarded: Distinguished Flying Cross“Date action: 22 February 1968“Theater: Republic of Vietnam“Reason: For heroism while participating in aerial flight evidenced by voluntary action above and beyond the call of duty in the Republic of Vietnam. Warrant Officer McNamara distinguished himself by exceptionally valorous action on 22 February 1968, while serving as an aircraft commander of an armed helicopter, during a support mission the Republic of Vietnam. When notified that another aircraft was down in enemy controlled territory, officer McNamara immediately went to the area. Disregarding his own safety, he began making assaults on the enemy positions in an attempt to direct their fire from the downed crew. He continued making assaults on the enemy until the crew had been rescued. His outstanding flying ability and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the military serving, and reflects great credit upon himself, his unit and the United States Army.“Authority: By direction of the President, under the provisions of the Act of Congress, approved 2 July 1926.”Going to NamMcNamara served a year in Vietnam, calling out the enemy as a helicopter pilot.“I got my walking papers and rather than let them put me where I didn’t want to go, I enlisted,” he said,He passed his flight and physical testing and became a proud member of the US Army, serving from May 1966 until May 1970.“When I first got to Vietnam, they asked me what I wanted to do,” McNamara said. “I said I don’t care as long as I can shoot.”McNamara was a young 20-year-old when he went to Vietnam where he spent his 21st birthday fighting the enemy. He learned to fly in Mineral, Texas, advanced to Fort Rucker in Alabama and wound up from there in Vietnam. Today he is 76 and relocated to Diboll a year ago with his wife, Vickie. Her brother, who died from COVID, lived in Hudson. She traveled to Hudson and fell in love with East Texas, so the couple moved from Montana about a year ago. They got tired of shoveling snow and she grew weary of splitting eight cords of wood each winter.McNamara spent a year in the Vietnam War as a pilot as part of the United States Army Troop B, 1st Squadron, 9th Calvary. “We went out and looked for Charlie’s,” he said. “We didn’t’ want for them to come to us. We went after them.”Charlie is a term that was used to identify the people they were fighting against in Vietnam.The 1st Calvary Division (Air-mobile) began to arrive in South Vietnam at Qui Nhon, taking US troop strength to more than 125,000. The unit, which had a long and storied history, was the first US Army division deployed to Vietnam.The division consisted of nine battalions of air-mobile infantry, an air reconnaissance squadron, and six battalions of artillery.The division also included the 11th Aviation Group, made up of three aviation battalions consisting of 11 companies of assault helicopters, assault support helicopters, and gunships.The division used a new concept by which the ground maneuver elements were moved around the battlefield by helicopters. Running HueysMcNamara was co-pilot and eventually pilot of a Huey helicopter. More than 5,000 Hueys operated in Vietnam; about 2,500 were lost to enemy fire. McNamara recollects that his division conducted one or two missions a day over a year’s time.And it was during those missions that he was shot down three times.The first time McNamara went down, he was in his armor coated seat, which prevented bullets from penetrating the material.A shot from the enemy went through the chin bubble of the helicopter, entered his calf, hit the middle of the seat, flew to the center of his face and existed through the skylight.“That’s when I got my purple heart,” he said.He was also awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross medal. “I got that for rescuing a Chinook,” he said. “They got shot down by a 50-caliber machine gun during the Tet Offensive.”The Tet Offensive was a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. It was launched in January 1968 by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese People’s Army of Vietnam against the forces of the Republic of Vietnam, the United States Armed Forces and their allies. It was a campaign of surprise attacks against military and civilian command and control throughout South Vietnam.McNamara said his command took out the 50-caliber machine gun with about 10 rockets.“It was kind of overkill, but we got it done,” he said. “We picked up the crew and took them back to the base.”He got the Bronze Star for rescuing his company commander.“He was shot down by a 50-caliber and we all went in and rescued him,” McNamara said.He received an air medal for every seven hours of flying.“Of course, I don’t know how many Air Medals I have, but I know I have about 1,200 (flying) hours over there.”Going downAs for being shot down three times, the first was when a shot from the enemy hit the nose of his helicopter, wiped out the battery, all instruments and spit out through the tail of his helicopter.“Charlies were hiding in the trees and shooting AK 47s,” he said. “Unfortunately, I didn’t have a pistol to shoot at them.”He and his crew were able to safely land on a road.On a second mission his chopper was hit in the turbine section of his helicopter. He and his crew managed to sit down in a road and called for a larger chopper to rescue them. A third brush with death came when he was sent on a mission to look for a surface to air missile site. He flew over a small hill on the way out, but never found the site. On the way back he was met with gun fire from the enemy that was hiding on the hill.“They all shot at the same time taking out our transmission line,” he said. He knew the transmission was going to seize and told the crew to prepare for a crash landingHe did not move the controls and stumbled into base.“I got it down, but the rotor system seized,” he said.But he survived.McNamara left Vietnam in 1968 and flew directly to San Francisco.“I went to San Francisco, the home of the hippies,” he said. “People called me a baby killer and everything else. It’s a good thing I didn’t have a gun with me.”From San Francisco he went to Fort Richardson in Alaska where he flew Chinooks for two years.He went back to San Francisco at Fire Island to do the paperwork to get out of the service and received the GI Bill to go to aviation mechanic school.“I did that so I could not only fly them, but work on them,” he said.When he got out of the service he left as a chief warrant officer.McNamara keeps up with a couple of the guys he flew with in Vietnam. The others, he can’t find, although he has tried.Today he enjoys being part of the community of Diboll and participates in senior citizen events. He will celebrate Veteran’s Day tomorrow at the senior citizens center in Lufkin.
