Jay Hawk 79

Jim Wagner recounts his experiences as a Huey crew chief in Vietnam, flying combat and support missions during the war.

At the start of 1967, Jim Wagner shipped out to Vietnam. As a UH-1D Huey crew chief and door gunner, Wagner was part of the 9th Aviation Battalion that would ferry infantry of the 9th Infantry Division into and out of combat in III Corps Tactical Zone in the Mekong Delta in South Vietnam. Interdicting the movements of Viet Cong kept Wagner and his unit in near constant combat with the author accumulating over 1800 air hours on combat operations.

Day to day, Wagner flew direct support, combat assault, medical Evac, or low level aerial recon missions for platoon or company sized elements of the 9th Division.

Wagner experienced it all, from the surreal of flying over Nancy Sinatra at a USO concert to secret missions flying special forces across the border into Cambodia to the Tet Offensive.