Hartselle veteran survived helicopter crash, enemy fire

Nov. 11—It was 2 in the morning and a Huey 1D helicopter carrying about 15 American soldiers had just been hit by enemy small arms fire while flying a few miles south of Saigon, Vietnam, in March 1967.

The damaged helicopter stalled, then started spinning out of control. Eight soldiers were slung out into the darkness to the ground below. John D. Johnson was a 20-year-old Army corporal gunner on that helicopter that crash-landed hard on its side.

"We were taking about 12 troops to a hot landing zone. We were the first chopper in," said Johnson, now 75, and pastor at Hartselle Holy Church of Christ. "When we started spinning, it slung most of the men out. Back then, nobody was buckled in. I don't know what happened to those men. Some were probably hurt, some were killed. That is why they call it war."

He said he and five others, all wounded, moved away from the crashed helicopter that fortunately didn't explode. He said the group "stayed hunkered down until daybreak."

"Because of the crash, it messed my back and knees up pretty bad," he said. "It put my knees in my mouth when we hit the ground.

"People were everywhere but nobody came to help. We didn't know who was friendly and who wasn't. It was chaotic. It was dark."

He said during the next four hours, as the six laid "toe to toe" injured in a field near Tan Tru, Vietnam, they heard Vietnamese talking "but we didn't know if they were enemies or not. We saw some Vietnamese walk by in a nearby field, but we didn't shoot. We didn't want to expose our position."

Johnson said at first light, a medical helicopter escorted by fighter helicopters picked them up and shuttled them to a field hospital.

The injured Johnson, who joined the U.S. Army after graduating high school in Conway, North Carolina, in June 1964, earned a Purple Heart from the helicopter crash, but it was not his first and would not be his last.

After a training stint in Hawaii, Johnson, an infantryman, was shipped to Vietnam in January 1966.

Three months later, then a corporal, Johnson suffered injuries and earned his first Purple Heart when he was a passenger in an Army personnel carrier (APC) that struck a land mine. "I heard a loud blast, and the next thing I remember was I was hanging half in and half out of the APC and was bleeding pretty bad all over," he said.

His second Purple Heart came when his squad was on patrol and the enemy tossed a hand grenade at it. "I got shrapnel in my back and head," he said pointing to a scar on the right side of his forehead. — 'Gallantry in action'

Two years after the helicopter crash, Johnson would receive the prestigious Silver Star medal and his fourth Purple Heart for his role in a combat firefight at an Army Advisory Military Assistance Command post in Vietnam. Johnson was a heavy weapons infantry adviser at the time.

"My responsibility was to make sure heavy weapons were operational," said Johnson, who was 22 at the time. When the attack began on the post "I was shooting a 50-caliber machine gun, mowing them down for a while."

In a Silver Star award letter dated April 22, 1969, Maj. Gen. Elias C. Townsend wrote that "enemy forces launched an attack on Sgt. Johnson's operational base. The initial attack commenced with heavy rocket, recoilless rifle and small arms fire. Taking immediate action, Sgt. Johnson fearlessly exposed himself to enemy fire as he moved about the compound directing the fire of his Vietnamese comrades.

"Sgt. Johnson, though painfully wounded by an exploding grenade, continued to race from position to position, alternately firing a grenade launcher and a machine gun at the hostile force. Inspired by his personal bravery and gallant example in the face of overwhelming odds, his Vietnamese and American comrades repulsed the attack, inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy.

"Sgt. Johnson's conspicuous gallantry in action was in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Army and reflects great credit upon himself and the military service."

Johnson, who was in combat units for more than three years in Vietnam, was transferred back to the United States in October 1969.

He became a drill sergeant with stops in Fort Jackson, South Carolina, Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Fort Knox, Kentucky, and the Panama Canal Zone, where he was stationed for five years.

He became a weapons adviser at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where he met and married his wife, Helen Wright of Hartselle, who was working in central Arkansas. They had four sons, Victor, John Jr., Jerry and Charlie, who was killed in a car accident in 1991 at age 22.

Johnson was transferred to Ulm, West Germany, and later became an ROTC instructor at Central Missouri State and then Georgia Southern. After 28 years in the army, Johnson retired in 1991 as a sergeant major, the highest rank an enlisted soldier can achieve.

He taught JROTC at a high school in Savannah, Georgia, before his family moved to Hartselle and he took over the JROTC program for 21 years at Buckhorn High School in New Market. He also founded the Hartselle Holy Church of Christ 20 years ago. — Fulfilling life

Johnson said the military gave him what he needed as an 18-year-old high school graduate.

"I was tired of being poor. I didn't like where I was living," he said. "I wanted some direction in my life. If I had to do it again, I wouldn't change a thing, except for getting hurt. If this country ever needs us veterans, I am willing to go."

He said servicemen and women "sign a contract with the government that they are willing to give up their life if the country demands it and a lot of people don't understand that."

"I've seen a lot of people give up their lives," said Johnson, who now serves as the commander of the Disabled American Veterans Chapter 11 based in Decatur. "A lot of veterans have brain injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Some of them are messed up. I have no regrets. Vietnam taught me how to teach my soldiers to keep them alive."

Johnson said that at Disabled American Veterans, "every day is Veterans Day."

"We are honored people remember us on this day," he said.

Navy veteran Wayne Dunkin, past commander at the local Disabled American Veterans, said it's members like Johnson who make it a worthy organization.

"We look out for all veterans, especially disabled veterans," he said. "It's nice to be recognized on Veterans Day."

Helen Johnson said her life as a military wife has been wonderful. "I worked most of the time. I volunteered for children in Germany. We worked hard and praised God. I've got no complaints," she said.

— mike.wetzel@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2442. Twitter @DD_Wetzel.