Pacific Stars and Stripes information
for 38 ARRS DET 11
For date 680621
38 ARRS DET 11 was a US Air Force unit
Primary service involved, US Air Force
Phu Yen Province, II Corps, South Vietnam
Location, Tuy Hoa
Description: 21Jun68-50-Minute Rescue Pulls F4 Pilot From Jungle
TUY HOA, Vietnam (Special) The steady nerves of an Air Force rescue team saved a crew member forced to eject from his disabled F4 Phantom. Hearing the distress call, the HH43 Huskie helicopter crew from Det. 11, 38th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Sq. at Tuy Hoa AB, was airborne in two minutes and heading toward the scene, 17 miles southwest of Tuy Hoa. Twenty minutes after takeoff, the rescue crew spotted the flier's parachute in the trees but could see no trace of the man. Hovering over the chute, Maj. Delmar G. Worsech, the pilot, backed the helicopter as Capt. James A. Darden, rescue crew commander, tried to locate the man. "I saw the sun flash off the bars on his flight suit, then saw him move his head and I knew we had found him," Darden said. Sgt. Robert F. Thompson, flight engineer, lowered Airman 1.C. Harry M. Krause, the rescue specialist, 30 feet to the ground below. "I could not see the pilot, but I followed his chute lines until I came to him," Krause said. "He just looked at me and sort of smiled." The pilot was wedged between the base of two huge boulders which hampered the paramedic in his attempts to treat the flier. "I checked him over the injuries and found that he had a slight scratch on his face and a swollen area on his leg and arm," Krause said. Applying first aid, he placed a temporary splint on the man's arm. Because a hovering rescue helicopter is an inviting target, two flights of F100 Supersabres, returning to the 31st Tactical Fighter Wing at Tuy Hoa from combat missions, were diverted to provide ground fire suppression if necessary. Army helicopter gunships were also scrambled into the area. Fortunately, no enemy fire disturbed the 50-minute rescue. Krause prepared the downed crewman for evacuation by placing him into the litter for the trip up to the helicopter. A thick canopy of trees overhead posed a problem which the rescue men solved by hacking out a hole three feet in diameter for the litter. Thus, the injured man had to be hoisted in a vertical position. As the pilot was raised toward the open door of the Huskie, Thompson realized getting the litter aboard the helicopter while hovering would be difficult. He directed Worsech to a nearby open area where they could land. After landing, Thompson had Worsech eased the pilot aboard and returned to pick up the paramedic. At the 31st U.S. Air Force Dispensary, a doctor examined the injured flier and decided to send him to the 91st Evacuation Hospital at nearby Phu Hiep for treatment. Final word on the patient revealed that he had a broken arm, broken leg landing in the boulders and slight back injuries from the ejection. A second member of the Phantom crew was killed.
Comments: MAJ Worsech, Delmar G.; ; ;
CPT Darden, James A.; ; ;
SGT Thompson. Robert F.; ; ;
A1C Krause, Harry M.; ; ;
The source for this information was 6806PSS.AVN supplied by Les Hines 3/97
Additional information is available on CD-ROM.
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Date posted on this site:
05/13/2023