WEBVTT - No Man Left Behind: James Fleming’s Impossible Vietnam War Rescue 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:03.600 Hey, everyone is Jarrel Martinez. Before we get into this episode, 0:00:03.680 --> 0:00:05.600 I wanted to let you know that you can listen 0:00:05.640 --> 0:00:08.840 to the entire season of Medal of Honor right now 0:00:09.039 --> 0:00:13.039 ad free with Pushkin Plus. Get all our incredible stories 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:16.400 of courage with a Pushkin Plus subscription. Sign up and 0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:18.840 save on the Medal of Honor show page on Apple 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:22.959 Podcasts or at pushkin dot fm, Slash Plus. Use the 0:00:23.000 --> 0:00:28.639 code twenty five for twenty five percent off an annual subscription. Okay, 0:00:28.960 --> 0:00:29.960 Now to the episode. 0:00:30.880 --> 0:00:33.960 This July fourth marks the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary 0:00:34.000 --> 0:00:37.720 of America, two hundred and fifty years of rebellion and innovation, 0:00:38.320 --> 0:00:42.440 of struggle and survival of liberty and courage and sacrifice. 0:00:43.240 --> 0:00:46.440 As many times over the past quarter millennium, our American 0:00:46.479 --> 0:00:48.839 experiment looked like it could fall apart at the seams 0:00:49.440 --> 0:00:52.240 when you look closely at those moments, though, it wasn't 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:57.160 politicians who held us together. It was ordinary people, people 0:00:57.160 --> 0:01:01.280 who spoke up, who protested, who fought. Regular people in 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:04.600 times of great strife, grabbed at the frayed fabric of 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:08.200 this country and pulled it together. In this season of 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:11.800 Metal of Honor, as America celebrates its semi quinn centennial. 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:15.480 We're telling the stories of some of those people because 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:18.640 bravery is in all of us, and because the same 0:01:18.760 --> 0:01:21.080 qualities that carried us through the first two hundred and 0:01:21.120 --> 0:01:25.360 fifty years, courage, honor, and loyalty, will help us endure 0:01:25.640 --> 0:01:29.720 the next two hundred and fifty. This is season three 0:01:29.920 --> 0:01:33.600 of Medal of Honor, Stories of Courage. Thank you for listening. 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:41.360 The helicopter made its way up the river. The rotor 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:45.200 blade was humming against the sky. There was thick jungle 0:01:45.360 --> 0:01:48.800 on both sides of the river bank, bright green against 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:53.800 the rushing brown water. It was November twenty sixth, nineteen 0:01:54.000 --> 0:01:59.720 sixty eight, and that river separated Cambodia from South Vietnam. 0:02:00.560 --> 0:02:03.800 The pilot of the chopper followed its path, heading towards 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:08.400 the sound of gunfire, towards the battle. The mission had 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:13.000 started with five helicopters, but three of them were already gone. 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:15.799 The pilot of this one was twenty five year old 0:02:15.919 --> 0:02:19.840 James Fleming. He could see a down chopper burning on 0:02:19.880 --> 0:02:23.960 the river bank. He knew exactly how dangerous the situation was, 0:02:24.720 --> 0:02:27.440 and as he got closer, shots started coming at him 0:02:27.440 --> 0:02:30.480 from both sides. Of the river. The noise of gunfire 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:35.800 crackled through the jungle. The enemy was everywhere. He was 0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:38.359 supposed to touch down in the middle of this mess. 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:41.200 But even if he could get to the riverside without 0:02:41.240 --> 0:02:44.240 being shot, he knew there wasn't enough space for him 0:02:44.240 --> 0:02:48.840 to land. But Jim Fleming also knew something else. There 0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:51.440 were seven soldiers down in that jungle who were about 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:55.320 to be captured or killed by the North Vietnamese Army. 0:02:56.280 --> 0:02:58.720 They had fought their way to the river bank, and 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:01.320 Jim was their own only chance to get out of 0:03:01.320 --> 0:03:05.400 their live Jim remember what he told those same guys 0:03:05.440 --> 0:03:07.960 just a few hours earlier when he dropped them there. 0:03:08.680 --> 0:03:10.840 He had told them he would put them in, but 0:03:10.919 --> 0:03:14.720 he would also get them out. Jim looked at his 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:18.120 fuel gauge and it was almost empty. He looked at 0:03:18.120 --> 0:03:23.200 the terrain. Impossible. And then he banked his helicopter and 0:03:23.320 --> 0:03:30.240 started in. I'm j R. Martinez and this is Medal 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:34.120 of Honor Stories of Courage. The Medal of Honor is 0:03:34.160 --> 0:03:38.280 the highest military decoration in the United States. It's awarded 0:03:38.280 --> 0:03:41.800 for gallantry and bravery and combat at the risk of life, 0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:45.800 above and beyond the call of duty. Each candidate must 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:48.000 be approved all the way up the chain of command, 0:03:48.480 --> 0:03:51.720 from the supervisory officer in the field to the White House. 0:03:52.920 --> 0:03:56.120 This show is about those heroes, what they did, what 0:03:56.160 --> 0:03:58.800 it meant, and what their stories tell us about the 0:03:58.920 --> 0:04:03.560 nature of courage and sacrifice. I'm an army veteran, and 0:04:03.600 --> 0:04:06.160 in the military we talk a lot about no man 0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:09.320 left behind, you know, the concept that troops will do 0:04:09.400 --> 0:04:12.240 anything to protect each other from harm. But the guy 0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:15.760 you'll meet in this episode, Jim Fleming, doesn't just see 0:04:15.760 --> 0:04:19.880 that as a concept. He sees it as a responsibility, 0:04:20.080 --> 0:04:24.159 something we owe each other. It's something he feels deep 0:04:24.279 --> 0:04:28.320 in his bones, the importance of staying true to your word, 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:33.679 being there, showing up. And that's why this story really 0:04:33.720 --> 0:04:36.400 stuck with me. It makes me think about the way 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:39.400 we show up in our own lives, because for Jim, 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:43.680 that responsibility isn't a burden, it's an honor, the kind 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:47.320 of honor that would lead him straight into a death trap. 0:04:58.560 --> 0:05:02.000 When Jim Fleming tells the of his life, he begins 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:03.800 with the moment he was left behind. 0:05:04.560 --> 0:05:06.920 I was born in Saday, in Missouri on the twelfth 0:05:06.920 --> 0:05:10.719 of March nineteen forty three. We were abandoned by my 0:05:10.800 --> 0:05:13.200 father right after my brother was born. He was born 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:16.719 in forty four and she was a single mother working 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:20.120 in a town and country combat boot shoe factory in 0:05:20.120 --> 0:05:20.920 Saday in Missouri. 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:26.280 Jim's mom met John Fleming, an Air Force pilot stationed nearby. 0:05:26.800 --> 0:05:30.360 They started dating, and before John left that base for California, 0:05:30.800 --> 0:05:32.080 he asked her to marry him. 0:05:32.680 --> 0:05:34.719 They got married in Las Vegas. He came back and 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:37.280 took my brother and myself and her to California. 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:42.559 John Fleming taught Jim two things. First, what it means 0:05:42.560 --> 0:05:47.760 to have a dad, an all in fully committed father. Second, 0:05:48.000 --> 0:05:50.960 he taught Jim how to love the Air Force. John 0:05:51.080 --> 0:05:55.240 was a career pilot. He served during World War two, Korea, 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:57.680 and even the early years of Vietnam. 0:05:58.680 --> 0:06:03.080 My father was the driving force behind everything I did. 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:06.360 He was my hero. I really looked up to him. 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:10.159 I didn't want to work for a living, and I 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:12.320 always wanted to be a pilot in the Air Force. 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:14.120 I never wanted to be anything else. 0:06:15.240 --> 0:06:18.880 Halfway through his pilot training, Jim volunteered to go to Vietnam. 0:06:19.440 --> 0:06:21.720 By that time, the war had been going on for 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:25.480 more than a decade. Jim was married. He had two 0:06:25.560 --> 0:06:28.760 little girls at home, but he couldn't wait to get 0:06:28.800 --> 0:06:30.479 into combat and serve his country. 0:06:31.040 --> 0:06:33.880 I was terribly excited to go. If you talk to 0:06:33.920 --> 0:06:36.760 my wife, she'll probably tell you that I was apprehensive 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:38.320 that it would be over by the time. 0:06:38.160 --> 0:06:41.080 I got there. I wanted to go and. 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:47.159 Fly in war, but Vietnam wasn't exactly what he'd imagined. 0:06:48.000 --> 0:06:50.880 Jim remembers how it felt when he arrived in nineteen 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:51.680 sixty eight. 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:55.279 As we get off, the flares are going off around. 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:58.400 You can see artillery going off over here, and it 0:06:58.480 --> 0:07:00.640 was just no question in your mind. 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:02.120 You're somewhere you've never been before. 0:07:03.200 --> 0:07:06.240 We probably got there midnight and got in our barracks 0:07:06.240 --> 0:07:08.640 probably four in the morning or whatever, to get a 0:07:08.720 --> 0:07:12.560 couple hours of sleep. And I remember turning over and 0:07:12.640 --> 0:07:15.559 a tear comes out of my eye and down my nose, 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:21.800 and I said to myself, damn, only three hundred and 0:07:21.840 --> 0:07:23.120 sixty four more of these. 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:24.760 To go where I got. 0:07:24.920 --> 0:07:28.080 You already knew I didn't like it there. 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:32.400 Jim did three days of jungle survival training, you know, 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:35.800 just in case the chopper went down. It scared the 0:07:35.840 --> 0:07:36.640 hell out of him. 0:07:37.240 --> 0:07:38.240 I didn't like that at all. 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:41.080 It taught me I did not want to go down 0:07:41.240 --> 0:07:42.280 and have to walk home. 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:45.880 But dropping people into the jungle was what Jim was 0:07:45.880 --> 0:07:50.800 in Vietnam to do. Okay, here's the deal. The North 0:07:50.880 --> 0:07:54.880 Vietnamese Army n VA for sure needed to supply their 0:07:54.880 --> 0:07:58.480 forces fighting in South Vietnam, so they built a supply 0:07:58.600 --> 0:08:04.160 line through two neutral countries, Laos and Cambodia. The Americans 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:07.960 called it the Hochi Mantrail. The US wanted to stop 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:11.080 that flow as supplies, but they couldn't officially be in 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:14.800 either of those countries, so they secretly sent in small 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:18.960 teams of Green Berets. They were the Studies and Observations 0:08:19.000 --> 0:08:24.160 Group or sg for short. It was totally covert ops. 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:28.320 Those SOG teams were inserted by Air Force pilots from 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:32.880 the twentieth Special Operation Squadron, otherwise known as the Green Hornets. 0:08:33.480 --> 0:08:37.120 They flew UH one helicopters. In the military, we call 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:40.840 them Huey's. You know this kind of helicopter. You've seen 0:08:40.880 --> 0:08:45.520 it in every single movie about Vietnam. Jim was one 0:08:45.559 --> 0:08:48.240 of those Green Hornets, and on the morning of November 0:08:48.320 --> 0:08:52.400 twenty sixth, nineteen sixty eight, he got ready for a drop. 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:59.040 The first mission of the day was to insert a 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:04.160 seven man special team, three Americans and four mercenaries. 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:08.640 Those mercenaries were referred to as Montignards. They were members 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:12.480 of a try from the highlands of Vietnam. Montaignards were 0:09:12.480 --> 0:09:15.439 a key part of any SAG team because they were 0:09:15.480 --> 0:09:20.200 not only seasoned soldiers but also expert local guides and translators. 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:24.920 So this SAG team was going to be dropped right 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:29.520 at the border of Cambodia and Vietnam. Their target was 0:09:29.559 --> 0:09:32.800 the time Laysan River. They suspected it was a route 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:36.000 for the NVA. SAG had already tried to get there 0:09:36.040 --> 0:09:39.440 twice before, but each attempt had ended in a scramble 0:09:39.520 --> 0:09:41.960 to pull the team out under heavy weapons fire from 0:09:42.000 --> 0:09:46.440 the enemy. But they needed the intel, so back they went. 0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:49.240 The team would be taken to their mission by a 0:09:49.280 --> 0:09:54.840 convoy of five helicopters, two gunships, and three slicks. Jim 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:57.679 flew a slick, which was essentially a bus. 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:01.120 Take the guns out, take the pockets off, open up 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:02.920 the cab and it's completely empty. 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:04.920 You carry troops. It was a slick. 0:10:05.960 --> 0:10:09.360 A slick's only job was to bring guys in or 0:10:09.400 --> 0:10:13.120 pick them up. Each slick had a pilot, a co pilot, 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:18.040 and two gunners, one at each door. The convoy always 0:10:18.040 --> 0:10:21.439 traveled as a unit. It was safer that way. Plus 0:10:21.480 --> 0:10:24.080 there was a Ford Air controller plane, what the guys 0:10:24.080 --> 0:10:28.040 called a fact. The choppers didn't have much navigation, so 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:32.560 the fact had to lead them in and out. The 0:10:32.640 --> 0:10:35.560 saw guys and the green hornets gathered on the runway 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:37.440 the way they did before every mission. 0:10:38.480 --> 0:10:41.960 Before you took off, you would brief and you would 0:10:41.960 --> 0:10:45.240 shake hands and hug the team members and the crew members. 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:49.200 Not a lot talking going on. And what's going on 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:52.440 here is what you see in football when men stand 0:10:52.480 --> 0:10:56.040 around hold hands. These big guys hold hands. There's a 0:10:56.040 --> 0:11:01.760 bonding going on there. What you're doing, you're saying, I'm 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:04.160 gonna take you and I'm gonna put you out in 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:08.000 the middle of hell. If you have to come home, 0:11:08.040 --> 0:11:11.439 I'll bring you home. That's my duty, it's my honor. 0:11:12.520 --> 0:11:20.440 I will do that for you. It seems simple enough 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:23.719 to Jim. You make a promise and you keep it. 0:11:24.920 --> 0:11:28.080 But this was Jim's second day as an aircraft commander. 0:11:28.640 --> 0:11:31.800 He was a lieutenant way younger than the other pilots 0:11:32.400 --> 0:11:35.959 less season. He didn't know that. It wasn't going to 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:37.560 be so easy. 0:11:39.080 --> 0:11:42.800 The fact left first, then the Hueyes, they headed towards 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:46.880 the drop location. When they got close, the choppers split up. 0:11:46.920 --> 0:11:47.800 To evade detection. 0:11:48.880 --> 0:11:51.520 You'd send five helicopters and one of them peels off, 0:11:51.559 --> 0:11:54.160 and then another one peels off, and if anyone's watching 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:55.679 or listening, they don't know who lands. 0:11:56.520 --> 0:11:58.320 So we did that and I put the team in. 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:01.760 After the SAW group was on the ground, the Green 0:12:01.840 --> 0:12:05.040 Hornets met up at a refueling stop. They kicked back 0:12:05.280 --> 0:12:07.199 and waited to hear how the mission was going. 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:11.080 We're sitting around listening to rock and roll from Armed 0:12:11.080 --> 0:12:15.320 Forces radio and eating sea rations and smoking cigars, and 0:12:15.360 --> 0:12:17.280 you know, sett an alert out in the middle of 0:12:17.320 --> 0:12:18.800 this miserable little place. 0:12:20.960 --> 0:12:23.880 After Jim dropped them, the seven members of the SOG 0:12:23.960 --> 0:12:27.600 team moved into the jungle. The trees were so tall 0:12:27.760 --> 0:12:31.360 and so dense that the canopy totally covered them, and 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:35.640 that was dangerous too. Those trees were filled with monkeys 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:39.000 ready to scream and tip off the enemy to their location. 0:12:40.120 --> 0:12:42.480 The men would have made their way towards the river, 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:46.640 setting up a perimeter of Claymore mines for safety, but 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:50.800 then out of nowhere, a huge enemy force was on them. 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:56.840 Suddenly the jungle was blazing with gunfire, monkeys screaming, bullets 0:12:56.880 --> 0:13:00.920 zipping past the trees. The SOG team knew how outnumbered 0:13:00.920 --> 0:13:04.240 they were. They had to get out now. 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:08.120 The radio operator with them keeed the mic and said, 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:11.400 tango five one contact, need extraction. As soon as that happens, 0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:12.680 we get it. We're on our way. 0:13:13.679 --> 0:13:16.960 The pilots scrambled to their choppers and took to the 0:13:17.000 --> 0:13:28.320 air for the SOG team on the ground of Vietnam. 0:13:28.920 --> 0:13:32.560 The situation had gone from bad to really really bad. 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:35.920 Jim Fleming and the rest of the Green Hornets were 0:13:35.920 --> 0:13:39.360 getting updates from them over the radio. The NVA had 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:40.880 the SOG team on the run. 0:13:41.800 --> 0:13:44.079 Now they're after them, and they chased them all the 0:13:44.120 --> 0:13:46.960 way to a riverbank, this large river which is the 0:13:47.040 --> 0:13:50.920 border between Cambodia and Vietnam. And they can't get across 0:13:50.960 --> 0:13:55.000 the river it's two wide. So there now, with their 0:13:55.040 --> 0:13:58.000 backs to the river, set up a defensive position, put 0:13:58.040 --> 0:14:01.480 Claymore minds out and fighting off these people that are 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:03.559 starting to come in on them. 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:06.400 The Ford air controller got to the area first, but 0:14:06.480 --> 0:14:09.560 he couldn't find the men. The jungle canopy was just 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:10.280 too dense. 0:14:10.960 --> 0:14:14.080 The fact has identified where he thinks they are because 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:17.080 they're moving. He knows they're on the river, but exactly 0:14:17.120 --> 0:14:18.720 where he can't really tell. 0:14:19.680 --> 0:14:23.560 Then came to helicopters, two gun ships, and three slicks. 0:14:24.200 --> 0:14:26.000 The first guy is to get there are the gunships? 0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:28.320 What a gunships like to do more than they like 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:30.000 to do anything else, rock and roll. 0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:34.360 They were blazing gunfire and rockets towards the enemy, which 0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:38.960 was both helpful and not because he created a totally 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:43.240 new problem. Before the soal team had just been facing 0:14:43.240 --> 0:14:45.240 the men in front of them, the ones who had 0:14:45.320 --> 0:14:48.240 chased them to the river. But after a few gunship 0:14:48.320 --> 0:14:51.640 passes and even larger group of enemies knew they were there, 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:56.080 they suddenly began taking fire from across the river. It 0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:59.080 was coming from six enemy machine guns hidden over there. 0:15:00.480 --> 0:15:04.000 They had nowhere to hide. The gunships knocked out two 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:06.720 of the machine gun positions, but then. 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:11.160 They hit the first gunship. He starts trailing blue smoke 0:15:11.240 --> 0:15:12.800 and he yells, I'm hit, I'm hit. 0:15:12.880 --> 0:15:13.640 I'm going down. 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:17.560 He turns back, goes across the river and crash lands. 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:21.520 One of the slicks spiraled down and landed next to 0:15:21.520 --> 0:15:25.120 the gunship. Their job was to rescue that crew and 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:28.160 take them to safety immediately. 0:15:28.080 --> 0:15:31.040 They go home. They can't help anybody, so they're going home. 0:15:31.960 --> 0:15:36.360 Only three of the five helicopters were left. Everyone on 0:15:36.400 --> 0:15:39.640 the ground, the enemy and the special forces men had 0:15:39.680 --> 0:15:43.600 seen the crash, and they watched as yet another Slick 0:15:43.640 --> 0:15:49.040 flew off engine trouble, low fuel, So now just two 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:50.480 helicopters left. 0:15:51.960 --> 0:15:56.120 The second gunship, Leonard Gonzalez goes across the team and 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:58.560 takes battle damage and starts trailing blue smoke. 0:15:59.160 --> 0:16:00.320 So whaile this is going going on? 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:03.520 The Ford air controller is talking to me and he said, damn, 0:16:03.760 --> 0:16:05.920 what are we going to do? I said, well, I'll 0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:09.080 tell you what. This is really a lot of chaos. 0:16:09.360 --> 0:16:11.000 I bet you I can get in there and get him. 0:16:11.520 --> 0:16:15.040 I'm the only one here. Get me low way out, 0:16:15.320 --> 0:16:17.680 throw me in there. I bet you I can sneak 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:18.720 in there and get him. 0:16:19.720 --> 0:16:21.880 Jim knew what kind of danger was waiting for him 0:16:21.880 --> 0:16:24.400 on the ground, but he and his crew of three 0:16:24.480 --> 0:16:28.960 other guys were in total agreement they had to try, so. 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:31.640 He puts me low way out to go down the 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:34.320 river and come back around. So I hit that river 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:37.960 bank and my right door gunner starts shooting. He says, 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:41.040 go right, go right, and I'm starting to go down 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:43.760 the river looking for him, and going right, going right, 0:16:43.800 --> 0:16:45.320 sort of backing up, actually going. 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:45.800 Down the river. 0:16:46.880 --> 0:16:50.200 The chopper was skimming over the water, flying through the bullets. 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:53.800 His door gunners and co pilot returned fire and search 0:16:53.880 --> 0:16:57.720 for the team. The SOG teams saw Jim's chopper come in, 0:16:58.320 --> 0:17:01.120 but as they started to move towards it, the woodline 0:17:01.160 --> 0:17:04.199 in front of them erupted with gunfire. There was no 0:17:04.280 --> 0:17:06.440 way for the men to make it to Jim. 0:17:06.840 --> 0:17:10.600 The radio operator says, get out, get out. They got us, 0:17:10.760 --> 0:17:14.280 get out. Jim got out as fast as he could. 0:17:14.720 --> 0:17:18.359 He moved up and away his safety. But here's the thing. 0:17:19.359 --> 0:17:21.680 Jim had made the man on the ground a promise, 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:27.360 a promise to come back. Remember no man left behind. 0:17:28.240 --> 0:17:30.640 And now he and the rest of his crew had 0:17:30.640 --> 0:17:33.480 to decide if that was a promise they could keep. 0:17:35.520 --> 0:17:38.720 Daylight was fading and down on the ground. The gunfire 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:42.520 was so thick you could practically walk on it. Jim 0:17:42.640 --> 0:17:45.920 was desperately low on fuel and Ammo. The last remaining 0:17:45.920 --> 0:17:50.280 gunship with Gonzalez was still trailing smoke. Jim called out 0:17:50.280 --> 0:17:50.640 to him. 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:53.320 He says, we've got some damn. He says, I got 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:55.160 to take this home or we're going to live out here. 0:17:55.880 --> 0:17:59.879 We're going to live out here in the jungle. Remember this, 0:18:00.000 --> 0:18:03.880 this is Jim's worst nightmare. But his mind flashed back 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:06.440 to the men on the ground. They had to get 0:18:06.480 --> 0:18:08.880 them out before dark, if they were going to get 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:10.040 them out at all. 0:18:10.960 --> 0:18:13.720 I put the nose down, go down the river, and 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:16.520 as I come up and I look over, there are 0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:21.440 people everywhere. The enemy is now focused in where they are. 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:25.200 They found him because they saw me. So the enemy 0:18:25.240 --> 0:18:27.439 is starting to go in and I tell the fact, 0:18:27.480 --> 0:18:29.600 bring me in one more time. I know where they 0:18:29.600 --> 0:18:32.879 are now, bring me in one more time. As I 0:18:32.960 --> 0:18:35.320 say that, Leonard Gonzalez says, you going back in and 0:18:35.320 --> 0:18:37.600 said I'm gonna try it one more time. He said, 0:18:37.600 --> 0:18:39.679 I'll tell you what he says, follow me. I'll go 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:41.719 over one more time. I'll give him everything I got, 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:42.560 and I gotta go home. 0:18:43.440 --> 0:18:47.080 Gonzalez hit the enemy with the final blazing pass. 0:18:47.840 --> 0:18:50.800 He goes over him and he rock and rolls, he 0:18:50.880 --> 0:18:53.720 shoots all his rockets. They give him everything they got 0:18:54.000 --> 0:18:56.440 and he says, see at home, Jim, and he takes off. 0:18:57.640 --> 0:19:01.000 Jim's chopper was the only one left. He started back 0:19:01.080 --> 0:19:04.440 down the river. One of his two gunners, Fred Cook, 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:07.560 was hanging out the door scanning for the team on 0:19:07.640 --> 0:19:08.160 the ground. 0:19:09.000 --> 0:19:11.480 And as we get further down, we're starting to take 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:14.600 some pretty good damage and Fred is shooting and yelling and. 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:17.800 Go right, go right, stop stop. I got him. 0:19:18.680 --> 0:19:20.240 They had made it down to the river bank and 0:19:20.240 --> 0:19:22.520 they were half in the water in the reeds, the 0:19:22.600 --> 0:19:25.960 sort of underbrush and the blades had blown those reeds, 0:19:26.040 --> 0:19:27.680 and we found them. 0:19:28.240 --> 0:19:30.800 Jim knew there was nowhere big enough for him to land, 0:19:31.240 --> 0:19:33.600 but if he hovered just above the water with his 0:19:33.760 --> 0:19:37.000 landing skids against the river bank, the team might be 0:19:37.040 --> 0:19:39.719 able to make it to the chopper. It would be 0:19:39.760 --> 0:19:44.120 a balancing act that required some truly insane piloting skills, 0:19:44.920 --> 0:19:47.159 and it would only work if, by some miracle, his 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:52.359 helicopter wasn't hit and disabled altogether. Jim hovered the UH 0:19:52.480 --> 0:19:55.600 one against the river bank, his tail boom hanging just 0:19:55.640 --> 0:19:58.400 above the water, and he waited for the saw team 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:03.280 they spotted it and race forward, but as they did, 0:20:03.600 --> 0:20:06.600 two NVA burst out of the reeds and opened fire. 0:20:07.160 --> 0:20:09.879 The men shot back, and they kept on running. 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:13.800 So I'm hovering over the water as close as I 0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:17.240 can get to the bank and Fred Cook, God bless him. 0:20:17.680 --> 0:20:20.399 I hear him go hold your hover, hold your hover. 0:20:20.880 --> 0:20:23.639 I got one. And what he's doing is he's leaning 0:20:23.680 --> 0:20:28.400 down and grabbing these guys and jerking them, scrambling them in. 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:33.960 The chopper was taking fire from all sides now, but 0:20:34.080 --> 0:20:37.159 Jim just kept hanging in there as calmly as a 0:20:37.200 --> 0:20:41.840 mom in the school pickup line. Bullets snapped through the windshield. 0:20:42.000 --> 0:20:46.080 They had four men on the chopper, then five, then six. 0:20:46.560 --> 0:20:49.240 And I'm looking around and I see people darting up 0:20:49.280 --> 0:20:51.480 and just sort of jumping up and down, up and 0:20:51.560 --> 0:20:54.800 down and shooting. And there are seven of them out there. 0:20:54.880 --> 0:20:59.480 We only got six. Now I'm thinking, gosh, maybe they 0:20:59.560 --> 0:21:02.000 got one of them. I've got enough. 0:21:03.440 --> 0:21:06.320 He had enough men, but he didn't have all of them. 0:21:07.160 --> 0:21:11.280 And for Jim, was six really enough. The bullets were 0:21:11.320 --> 0:21:14.919 getting closer. Now he knew there were seconds, not minutes 0:21:14.960 --> 0:21:17.440 away from all of them going up in flames. 0:21:18.119 --> 0:21:19.399 We got to get out of here. Sooner or later, 0:21:19.400 --> 0:21:21.680 they're gonna get us. Brown's going to hit the me 0:21:21.840 --> 0:21:22.840 or is going to hit the engine. 0:21:23.920 --> 0:21:27.960 Where was the seventh guy? Jim knew who he was, 0:21:28.480 --> 0:21:32.959 Randy Harrison, the commanding officer of this group of Green Berets. 0:21:33.240 --> 0:21:36.800 He had volunteered to go on this mission. Jim wanted 0:21:36.800 --> 0:21:38.919 to wait for him, but he knew he was pushing 0:21:38.920 --> 0:21:42.440 his luck too far. He looked over his shoulder one 0:21:42.680 --> 0:21:43.639 last time. 0:21:44.040 --> 0:21:48.480 And as I look over, Randy Harrison jumps up. He's 0:21:48.480 --> 0:21:51.000 a fair haired guy, and he's all painted up, and 0:21:51.040 --> 0:21:53.440 he's got a bandana on because he wore a bandana 0:21:53.480 --> 0:21:56.399 over his light hair. I see him jump up, and 0:21:56.480 --> 0:21:58.800 he looks at me, and I look at him. He 0:21:58.920 --> 0:22:01.919 was the last man, and he waited till everybody was aboard. 0:22:02.400 --> 0:22:04.600 He gave him a last burst of his automatic weapon, 0:22:04.760 --> 0:22:08.760 threw it down, and took off to the helicopter. Randy 0:22:08.800 --> 0:22:11.560 took about four steps and jumped in the water, sort 0:22:11.600 --> 0:22:13.800 of a flying jump in the water, trying to hit 0:22:13.800 --> 0:22:17.720 the helicopter. Missed and took about one stroke in the 0:22:17.720 --> 0:22:20.600 water and got his arm over the skid. And Fred 0:22:20.640 --> 0:22:22.879 Cook reaches down and grabs him by the rooksack and 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:25.760 yells let's go, and we drug him through the water 0:22:25.840 --> 0:22:27.120 and off we went. 0:22:28.800 --> 0:22:32.520 All of the men were on board, The fuel tanks 0:22:32.560 --> 0:22:36.480 were pretty much empty. The windshield was shattered. Jim hadn't 0:22:36.520 --> 0:22:39.159 even noticed it until he felt the air rushing in 0:22:39.480 --> 0:22:43.160 as the chopper flew away. Not a single man had 0:22:43.200 --> 0:23:07.280 been wounded, and not a single man was left behind. 0:23:07.520 --> 0:23:10.960 After Jim Fleming's daring rescue, he stayed on in Vietnam, 0:23:11.320 --> 0:23:14.800 taking care of his men, bringing them to danger and 0:23:14.840 --> 0:23:19.080 bringing them home. He was wounded in January of nineteen 0:23:19.240 --> 0:23:21.720 sixty nine and spent a few months in the hospital 0:23:21.760 --> 0:23:25.160 in Japan. Then he got picked up by a helicopter, 0:23:25.280 --> 0:23:29.359 of course, to head back to Vietnam. The pilot was 0:23:29.400 --> 0:23:29.960