U.S. Army Huey Crew Chief retrieved damaged aircraft from the jungles of Vietnam

DERBY, Kan. (KSNW) – Carl Woods knows everything there is to know about Hueys. He fell in love flying in them during his days in Vietnam. Today, he dedicates his time to making sure we don’t forget the men and women who didn’t come home from Vietnam.

The product of tiny LaTour in western Missouri, Woods graduated from Holden High School in 1965. He couldn’t find a job in the small town, so he decided to go down to the recruiting office.

First, Woods wants to make something clear:

“I’m not doing this to bring anything all to myself,” he said. “I don’t want anybody to forget about the 58,479 men and women that didn’t come back.”

Pratt native served two tours to Vietnam, jumped in the war’s largest allied operation

Before Woods was sent to the jungles of Vietnam, he walked into that U.S. Army recruiting office in Holden, Missouri.

The sergeant in the office looked at the young man and said, “What do you want to be, boy?”

“I don’t know. I just don’t want to be an infantry,” Woods said.

“We’re gonna make you a helicopter mechanic,” said the sergeant.

“I swear on a stack of bibles, I said, ‘What is a helicopter?’ because back in those days, you didn’t see them flying around or anything like you do today,” said Woods.

Thus began Woods’ training on Huey and Chinook helicopters at Fort Rucker, Alabama, and at Fort Eustis, Virginia.

“So my actual MOS in the Army, or my job in the Army, was a flight engineer for a Chinook. So anyway, I was with the 196th. I got orders for Vietnam, and I shipped to Vietnam in September of 1966,” recalled Woods.

Woods was deployed as a mechanic and assigned to the 335th Aviation Transportation Company at Dong Ba Thin. Then, he was transferred to the 610 transportation company.

“So, the 610 stayed at Dong Ba Thin for about three months, and then the whole unit was transferred to An Khe, Vietnam, which was in the Central Highlands, which was the division headquarters for the 1st Cav. (U.S. Army 1st Cavalry Division),” said Woods.

It was at An Khe where Woods found his true love.

“I love flying in that Huey. So, I took every test flight at the 335th. We did after maintenance. I took every test flight that we did with the 610 after maintenance,” said Woods. “So, they finally decided, the companies finally decided that I liked to fly. So, they promoted me to crew chief on a Huey.”

Woods’ primary responsibility for the next 18 months was delivering supplies to forward bases in his Huey, Number 65-10001, or “Double Aught One.”

“The primary role, my role, my ship and the company’s role as far as getting into combat situations where we had to go out and retrieve aircraft that had been shot down or failed for mechanical reasons. Because you don’t leave with helicopters sitting out in the middle of the jungle,” said Woods.

Woods figures he flew over 800 hours in “Double Aught One,” 253 of those hours were in combat.

“I had Double Aught One. She always brought us home,” he said.

Sitting in a recliner with an iPad in his hands, Woods looked up the flight records for “Double Aught One.”

“Checking the crash record, they crashed in ’08 of ’70. So, they fixed it, shipped it back, and they crashed the damn thing,” he said with a laugh.

Woods served for three years. He was discharged in 1968. He says adjusting to civilian life wasn’t easy.

“It wasn’t good. You know, because I don’t care, if you go into a combat situation, it affects you for the rest of your life,” he said.

When Woods sees pictures of his Huey, “Double Aught One,” he still gets choked up.

“Oh God … Love. Love,” he said. “She never let me down.”

Once Woods came back to the States, he returned to the Kansas City area and worked as a millwright for the Thomas J. Lipton Company in Independence, Missouri, for 21 years. Then he moved to Attica, Kansas, and went to work selling fire trucks and equipment for Danko in Hutchinson for 14 years.

He is also the commander of the American Legion post in Attica.

Marine from Augusta supported Vietnam combat troops from behind the scenes

These days, Woods lives with his wife, Joyce, in Derby. He stays busy in his garage carving wood.

Woods has become so good at his hobby that he teaches a wood carving class through the Derby Rec Center.

One thought Woods left with me is this. He says humans are adaptable. We’re products of our environment. He says he never went into a warzone afraid of dying or expecting to die because he was just doing a job.

If you want to nominate a veteran for our Veteran Salute, email KSN reporter Jason Lamb at jason.lamb@ksn.com.

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