The History of A/101 AVN - Thunderbirds
- On 7 December 1950, the 4th Light Aviation Section was constituted in the Regular Army and was assigned to the Eighth US Army in Korea where it remained until deactivated on 5 November 1954.
- The 4th Light Aviation Section was reactivated on 1 July 1956 as the 101st Aviation Company and assigned to the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. On 3 December 1962, as the Army's aviation force structure continued to grow, the 101st Aviation Company was redesignated as the 101st Aviation Battalion.
- Company A deployed to the Republic of Vietnam on 11 April 1965 and became the first element of the division to see combat since World War II. A Company, 101 Aviation served from 04/1965-09/1966 at Soc Trang, Republic of Vietnam.
- In 09/1966 the A Company Colors return to Ft. Campbell, the company assets were transferred to the 336th Assault Helicopter Company.
- A101/A336 was supported by the 167th Trans Det, Cargo Hel, Field Maint, 75 men; the 277th Sig Det, Radio Repair & Avionics, 7 men; and the 41st Med Det, OA, 10 men.
When A/101 was sent over, initial deployment in March 1965, they took men from HQ Co. (where I was at Campbell), A and B Cos. I think they pretty much gutted the battalion to make the beefed up A Co. that went over. They processed us, gave us leave to take care of personal business, flew us to San Diego where we boarded the USS Iwo Jima. The trip from San Diego to Hawaii was about 7 days as I remember and rough as all get out. I was assigned as a server in the officers mess and it was real common for our officers to come in' sit down, order their food, and then about the time the tray would be set in front of them they would turn a shade green and run for the head. Lots of uneaten food on that trip. Of course people were sick all over the ship, not picking on the officers. After we left Hawaii the rest of the trip was beautiful with mild seas, flying fish and really nice. When we were in the South China Sea the Navy brought one of their choppers up and flew off to Subic Bay I think, and the next morning as we lay at anchor off Vung Tau they fed us a breakfast of steak and eggs and fresh milk. We couldn't help but wonder if this was supposed to be the last meal of condemned men or not. We went down nets into landing craft for the trip ashore. I don't think they told us that Vung Tau was really secure and we had our personal gear and M-14 rifles with no ammunition.
Ed Schmelzer - A/101 AVN, 03/1965-11/1965
Loaded UH-1B T-Bird Gunship taking off. This one was taken some time in Sep or Oct 1966 at either Bac Lieu or Vi Thanh. Likely the former, but not sure. Both places had some PSP parking areas. Bac Lieu was location of the 21st ARVN Div Hq - Vi Thanh was the field used when going to CA into the U Minh Forest. Usually when the word came down that we were going to stage out of Vi Thanh, some people would go back to their hooches to write their "last letter home". We got in deep do do several times in/near the U Minh forest. Provided by John D. Kennedy
|
The Original Thunderbird Sign and it story is here. |
Thunderbird
Hat Pin. Circa 1966
Provided
by John D. Kennedy |
Provided By George Nonestied Read the story behind this AC
A collection of T-Bird memorabilia from Jerry Turner
A newspaper article on Stanley "Pappy" Rosinski
The 336th Assault Helicopter Company was assigned to the 13th Combat Aviation Battalion, headquartered at Can Tho before the redesignation and remained part of that higher HQ after redesignation. The 13th originated as the Delta Battalion (Provisional), later got the dignity of becoming a numbered battalion as a 1st Aviation Brigade asset.
More Pictures of this and other eras of A/101 Avn
Historical Documents from this era
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