More detail on this person: I just received a
note from Joe Cacic's brother informing me of his
death. We were running buddies in flight school
(71-17 B3) and have kept in touch all these years.
He was an Emu. He apparently died in his sleep
two weeks ago and was not discovered for a couple
of days. He was a real hero. He related one of the
most hair raising stories I have ever heard. This information was last updated 05/18/2016
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Date posted on this site:
03/10/2024
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He was in county 30 days hauling ARVNs in to
Cambodia from their base at Dian. He was chalk 4
in a flight of 7. They landed in a very hot LZ and
the ARVNs refused to get out of his bird. The rest
of the flight took off while the crew attempted to
get the ARVNs out of the aircraft. As soon as the
flight left an NVA stepped out of the tree-line
right in front of him and unloaded his AK into the
cockpit. The instrument panel exploded attended by
low rotor rpm warning full christmas tree light as
they lifted off and crossed the trees the
hydraulics quit. They managed to fly to a nearby
ARVN firebase where they did a running landing on
the road outside. Joe said the good guys on my
side were shooting across the road at the badguys
who were shooting across the road at the good
guys. He said it sounded like a popcorn machine
inside his aircraft. They skidded to a halt with
approx one rotor rpm. The A/C door armor was
jammed by round and he had to climb over the peter
pilot seat to get out, as he was exiting an NVA as
getting in the bay door. The C/C bird came to a
high hover nearby over 6âÇÖ elephant grass. They
hauled ass through the grass and jumped up into
the C/C bird. Joe said he emptied his revolver
over his shoulder and was grabbed by the wrist by
the crew chief on the C/C bird and hauled on-board
given an M-16 and âÇo I started mowing them down
like I was cutting grass. Of the 8 Americans
involved there were no injuries. Joe thinks he was
the last goodguy on the base as the NVA overran
the firebase and killed everyone there.
He got the next day off.
The following day he was flying ash and trash to
the same firebase after the ARVN had retaken it.
On the way out they get a request for medivac from
the hot LZ. The A/C says we need to go down there
and get these guys. To which Joe says Dude I was
down there two days ago. They shot the shit out of
us. The A/C says look they are our allies we need
to help. Joe says you're the A/C. A/C says ok
we'll make a low pass, if we take fire we'll
leave. Down they go. They land and about 50
ARVNs try to get on-board none of whom are
wounded. While the crew are trying to bum's rush
the ARVNs out, hitting them with their cleaning
rods, they pull pitch with 25 ARVNs still
on-board. Max torque red lights flashing they make
it to the nearest tree line. Joe looks down
through the chin bubble and sees a 50 cal right
below. It was like a sledgehammer hitting the
aircraft¥, the instrument panel explodes, low rpm
audio screaming, no hydraulics, a round passes by
Joe's head and tears a hole in the overhead about
18 inches¥ long. They fly to the nearby firebase
and execute a running landing on the same road.
No bad guys this time. Joe gets out and looks back
at the cargo hold. It was like a bathtub of blood
came pouring out of it.¥ The 25 ARVNs had been
shot to pieces. The ARVNs had stopped the 50 cal
shooting the transmission out of the helicopter.
Joe had some minor cuts on his knees from the
shattered chin bubble. The A/C, the door gunner
and crew chief were uninjured. The round that
missed Joe appeared to go straight through the
cockpit in line with the center of Joe's body.
How it missed him was miraculous.
Later in his tour he was A/C chalk 4, the lead
came in too hot, did a tail dragging flare, chalk
2 goes right, chalk 3 goes left Joe's peter pilot
has the controls and buries the tail rotor in the
mud. The main rotor hit a paddy dike which rips
the transmission out of the helicopter, splits a
rotor blade lengthwise which enters the cockpit
and stops one cigarette length from Joe's face.
Joe flew 1500 hrs in eight months. Desired very
much to make the Army a career but was riffed in
the force reduction. He was a great pilot, a hero
in my mind and I miss him very much.
From: Olin Fite