John C. Clayton died today after a long battle with cancer. His name will not mean much to any one on here. He was just another of the men that did what was needed done while serving their country. He was an egg beater jockey (helicopter pilot). I owe my life to him!!!!
In the late summer of 1971 my unit had been on a LRRP. We accidentally came into contact with a VC battalion, about 350-400 men. My unit was four US and six Vietnamese, ten total. We ran our butts off keeping in front of them. It was a running fight for almost two days. We finally where able to make radio contact and got some air support that helped slow the VC down. We all had wounds of some sort by then. The VC where catching up and flanking us. When we got to the extradition point the tree canopy was too close for the choppers to come in. John came in an just set there down in the trees as far as he could while we sent men up on the rope winch. His rotors where cutting leaves off the trees. He had to do it this way because the winch cable was too short for him to keep above the trees. He got six on the first load. The four of us that where left behind dug some real fast ground holes while a Puff dragon made the VC run like he!!. John got the rest of us on the second run. He had switched choppers a few clicks away as none of the others pilots would go down in the trees after us. Both choppers had to have the main and tail rotors replaced because of the damage from the trees. With out him I would not have made it through that battle. HE did not even write down anything unusual in his after flight report. He turned down some metals for his bravery/actions on that day.
I tracked him down a few days after he got us out. He and I became friends right then. Our families spent a lot of time together over the years. We all will miss him. The US lost a brave honorable man. The real sad thing is that he never smoke or drank but the chemicals we where in over there finally got him. GOOD BYE JOHN!!!
In the late summer of 1971 my unit had been on a LRRP. We accidentally came into contact with a VC battalion, about 350-400 men. My unit was four US and six Vietnamese, ten total. We ran our butts off keeping in front of them. It was a running fight for almost two days. We finally where able to make radio contact and got some air support that helped slow the VC down. We all had wounds of some sort by then. The VC where catching up and flanking us. When we got to the extradition point the tree canopy was too close for the choppers to come in. John came in an just set there down in the trees as far as he could while we sent men up on the rope winch. His rotors where cutting leaves off the trees. He had to do it this way because the winch cable was too short for him to keep above the trees. He got six on the first load. The four of us that where left behind dug some real fast ground holes while a Puff dragon made the VC run like he!!. John got the rest of us on the second run. He had switched choppers a few clicks away as none of the others pilots would go down in the trees after us. Both choppers had to have the main and tail rotors replaced because of the damage from the trees. With out him I would not have made it through that battle. HE did not even write down anything unusual in his after flight report. He turned down some metals for his bravery/actions on that day.
I tracked him down a few days after he got us out. He and I became friends right then. Our families spent a lot of time together over the years. We all will miss him. The US lost a brave honorable man. The real sad thing is that he never smoke or drank but the chemicals we where in over there finally got him. GOOD BYE JOHN!!!
