On Aug 23, 1968 I was part of the group that went up towards the site that Vern Meyers and his Sidekick crew were last heard from, out around Bao Loc and Di Lin. We took off from DBT early in the hopes we could find them. I remember that there were about three or four birds out on the search and rescue. The flight was led by the CO, Maj. Miller. The weather was getting bad and we were forced to come down from 1500 feet to tree top level because it was getting so bad. We were in trail scattered from Bao Loc to Di Lin low leveling back towards Di Lin when we were hit by AK-47 fire. I was flying with, I believe Joel Hageman. I can't remember the crew chief or door gunner. We had little time to do anything but get off a mayday call and zero the airspeed and drop into the trees. We had an extra person on board, why I don't remember, and as we came down in the trees a tree impaled the bird and pinned this guy to the firewall. The door gunner and crew chief spotted the rounds coming up and returned fire on the VC all the way down. Probably one of the major reasons were weren't killed or captured. I was the only one injured, fractured my back. We were on the ground for less that an hour. I remember that Ackerman (killed in a crash in October 68) was in the right seat of the Stallion that rescued us. The name of the AC escapes me right now, tall light haired kid out of the second lift. 676 was airlifted out of the site. I was airlifted back to DBT and then over to Cam Rahn Hospital for a few weeks and then back to the unit to finish my tour.
