Those two days at Kahm Duc always stood out as the scariest of my entire time in Viet Nam. I was on the last plane out of Kahm Duc. The one that took off before us was the one that was shot down. We were supposed to get on that plane but like your story said the Vietnamese rushed the plane ahead of us. I've always felt that God has watched over me and that he has protected me. So I always felt great gratitude to the pilots who risked their lives to get us out of there.

Recently I talked with Joe Jackson who was one of the C-123 pilots that day when we abandoned Kahm Duc. Joe won the medal of honor for rescuing the stranded forward observers that were left behind. I've recently been in contact with him to thank him on behalf of the other pilots for saving us that day. He just turned 76 on March 14 and only lives about 35 miles from me. He gave me some names of other people that were at Kahm Duc. He also told me of a book that is to come out soon about Kahm Duc.

The proposed title is "Bait". The authors contention is that we were all just bait to lure the NVA to our location. I must tell you that I've always felt that the whole operation was a huge fiasco and that a lot of people died needlessly. Maybe some truth will come out now about how this whole thing was handled.

Now that I am 51 years old I tend to view things differently than I probably would have when I was younger. I guess I just am trying to make
some sense of it all. The pain that you still feel for Donald is still there and having lost friends in Viet Nam I can empathize. It must be hard when you just don't have all the answers.

If you would like to talk some time or if I can be of any help please let
me know.

Sincerely,

Bill Tidwell
12 Alder Street
Everett, WA 98203 425 303 9019


PS
I have another account of the Kahm Duc story that was in the Seattle paper
in the early 70's. It is told from a little different perspective. If you
would like a copy let me know.

Non-Java  Realms Contents