More about
night terrors in Soc Trang, on one of our infamous evacuations, we had run out
to the aircraft, cranked up, departed and joined up for the flight to Bac Lieu.
I flew initially and then turned the aircraft over to my co-pilot so I could
buckle in, finish tying my boots, get my flight helmet on correctly, (it was
unstrapped and not plugged in to the radio system)! We did not have time for all the "niceties" as the
rounds were falling, priority one was crank and leave! We always left the aircraft in the “cocked”
configuration, so all we had to do was untie the blades, jump in, turn on the
battery and hit the starter switch, no lights until we were airborne and away
from the airfield.
Anyway, after
having done all that stuff, I started looking for my cigarettes and realized
that I had left them in the hooch, my Copilot did not smoke, and I remember
saying, "I wish I had a cigarette".
I had no sooner completed that statement when over the console between
the pilots, out of the dark, this “hand” appears with a pack of Camels and
lighter! I swear, it looked like some
kind of apparition, and startled me, but I took the offered cigarettes, shook
one out of the pack (Literally!) and lit up. I put the cigarettes and lighter
back into "the hand" and it withdrew towards the rear of the
aircraft. After having a smoke and
recovering my wits somewhat, I turned and looked in the rear of the aircraft,
and there sat Bill Hitch along with several others, who had jumped on board my
aircraft during the evacuation, I never even realized that anyone else had
gotten on board or when. The hand and
the cigarettes belonged to Bill!
I'll never
forget the sight of that hand, cigarettes and lighter seemingly appearing out
of thin air! Thanks for the smoke Bill!
Jerry Turner
Warrior 25
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Revised: 12/06/02.