More detail on this person: He did his work in a Huey. This was the guy who missed Dennis Fujii
the CE on that downed Medevac who spent 4 days with the ARVN in Laos and was in Jim
Lloyd˘s Charlie 158 huey that got shot up coming out of Ranger North and crashed on Ranger South all
in Laos.. On the attached map, the Ranger Firebases were north of 30 and 31. Note Chuck Vehlow˘s
comments. His picture is from a Feb 71 Newsweek. Two pictures of freshly inserted ARVN on Ranger
North shows the deep slopes on all sides of that Firebase. The Ranger North picture without the
number shows Ranger South in the background on the ridge through the purple smoke where Jim Lloyd
and David Nelson crashed with Fujii on board.
From: Mike Sloniker
Retired Army Major James T. Newman, an air cavalry troop commander whose personal courage
rescuing downed helicopter crews in Vietnam made him a
legend among his troops, died Sunday, January 11, 2009, at the UNC Medical Center in Chapel Hill.
His son said the cause of death was complications associated with lung cancer. He was 73. Newman,
who was twice nominated for the Medal of Honor, was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the
nation's second highest award for combat valor, and numerous other medals. A former enlisted man
promoted to commissioned officer, Newman was severely wounded flying supplies to beleaguered
ground troops on his first tour in Vietnam in 1966. He was evacuated to the United States and spent
months in a military hospital, where doctors proposed to amputate his leg to stem the spread of
infection. He refused and eventually regained his flight certification, although he limped the rest
of his life. The UH1 "Huey" helicopter he was flying just feet off the ground when he was hit by
rifle fire, was repaired, returned to service and is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution's
National Museum of American History on the Mall in Washington.
Newman returned to Vietnam in 1970 as commander of C Troop, 2/17 Air Cavalry, part of the 101st
Airborne Division. The unit, nicknamed the Condors, established a reputation for daring
reconnaissance missions over territory controlled by North Vietnamese regulars in the northernmost
region of South Vietnam and in neighboring Laos, where U.S. and South Vietnamese forces tried
unsuccessfully to cut the Ho Chi Minh supply trail in early 1971. The Laos invasion, known as
Operation Lam Sanh 719, was the most dangerous period in Vietnam for helicopters because North
Vietnamese forces were entrenched with heavy anti-aircraft weapons designed to bring down much
faster jet fighters and bombers that routinely attacked the trail from bases in South Vietnam and
aircraft carriers offshore. Newman won the Distinguished Service Cross for defying withering enemy
fire to rescue the crew of a medevac helicopter downed in Laos. He also wore the Silver Star, Bronze
Star, Purple Heart, four Distinguished Flying Crosses and 23 Air Medals. On one occasion, when two
Cobra gunship crewmen were stranded on the ground in Laos as North Vietnamese troops closed in,
Newman steered his helicopter into a grove of trees, cutting down saplings with the spinning main
rotor blade to clear enough room for him to land and pull the downed crew aboard. He often remarked
that a manufacturer's representative who examined the damaged chopper afterward determined it was
so mangled as to be unflyable. "Well," Newman replied in his characteristic Georgia drawl, "I flew
it in here."
Charles Vehlow, a Cobra pilot who often flew cover for Newman's command ship, said Newman "would
stop at nothing to not only complete the mission
but, more importantly, to take care of any downed pilots or air crew members." Vehlow was quoted in
Lost Over Laos by Richard Pyle and Horst Faas, in which some of Newman's exploits were recounted
years later. The book notes the troop commander was recommended for the Medal of Honor, the
nation's highest award for valor, for maneuvering his Huey through a storm of fire to retrieve four
crewmen of a U.S. Army medevac helicopter that had been shot down at a besieged fire base in Laos.
Unknown to Newman at the time, a fifth American was left behind. The recommendation for the Medal of
Honor was downgraded to a Distinguished Service Cross, and Newman always suspected it was
because he inadvertently had left someone behind. The soldier, who said he was trapped in a bunker
by incoming mortar fire, was rescued days later and was decorated for valor in helping South
Vietnamese forces prevent their base from being overrun. Members of Newman's troop were fiercely
loyal to their commander, at least in part because they knew he would make every effort to rescue
them if necessary-and protect them from superiors, too. Newman boasted that some of his men had
stolen a jet engine intended for a general's helicopter because they needed it to keep their own
ships flying. He quietly commended them, even knowing they had technically committed a crime. "It
always amazed me at how so many people with so many different backgrounds and personalities could
all find common agreement on the value of this one man," said Richard Frazee, one of his former
pilots after learning of Newman's death. "Jim Newman was a man of immeasurable courage that made
us all feel invincible and hard pressed to keep up. I was and am a better person from having known
and served with him."
In an action in the A Shau Valley on July 4, 1971, C Troop lost three helicopters at once. One
rescued the crew of another but was hit and crashed on its way home. All aboard were saved. The
third disappeared from the sky, and no one in the unit knew what had happened to it. The gunship's
two-man crew was wounded, and one of them desperately tried to call for help with a signal mirror
from his fellow crewman's survival vest. As North Vietnamese infantrymen swarmed over the downed
chopper and searched the surrounding high grass for its crew, Newman caught the glint from the
mirror and swooped down to pull his men to safety with seconds to spare. The pilot, former Warrant
Officer Mike Sherrer, who was decorated for helping save his co-pilot and was awarded the Purple
Heart for his wounds, said: "I was an accidental hero. Jim flew into the situation. He's my hero,
and he deserves it. A great human being."
Several of the crewmen who served under Newman tried a few years ago to persuade the Pentagon that
he deserved the Medal of Honor for his many acts of bravery in taking care of his troops. They
learned that he couldn't be considered for the July 4, 1971, action because he had already been
approved for a Distinguished Flying Cross that had never been awarded. Word of the Army's decision
to make the award had been lost in the closing days of the war. Then-Rep. Robin Hayes, R-N.C.,
arranged a ceremony in November 2005 to present Newman's long-lost medal in front of several of
Newman's men in
Fayetteville, NC, near Fort Bragg. As the United States withdrew its forces from Vietnam, Newman
was reassigned to Fort Bragg, as executive officer of a cavalry squadron. He retired from the Army
in March 1973 after 20 years' service. Following his retirement, he remained in the Fayetteville
area near Fort Bragg, where he managed and owned several used car dealerships. In 2000, Newman
was inducted into the 101st Airborne Division's Hall of Fame at Fort Campbell, KY.
A native of Newnan, GA, he is survived by a son, James T. "Jay" Newman of Raleigh; daughter-in- law,
Elizabeth, their two daughters, and a younger sister, Elaine Bagby of Bremen, GA. Newman is to be
buried February 18, 2009 at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington with full military
honors. By coincidence, it will be 38 years to the day after the rescue mission in Laos that led to
his first Medal of Honor nomination.
Burial information: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA
This information was last updated 05/18/2016
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