The Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association (VHPA) estimates that over 100,000 helicopter pilots and crew members served during the Vietnam War. Over 4,800 helicopter pilots and crew members were killed in action, and more than 300 are buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
Being a helicopter pilot in Vietnam was one of the most dangerous jobs in the military at the time. The military used 12,000 helicopters in the Vietnam War. Over 5,000, or nearly half, were destroyed. The average lifespan of a pilot in Riede's position was 30 days.
Every branch of the U.S. military employed helicopters in Vietnam. In total, nearly 12,000 helicopters saw action in the war and more than 5,000 were destroyed.
Over 10% of all combat and combat support deaths in Vietnam occurred in helicopter operations, a total of 6,175 (2,202 pilots, 2,704 aircrew and 1,269 passengers).
They didn't always make it back themselves. Two thousand and two pilots and 2,704 crew chiefs and gunners were killed in the “helicopter war.” They account for a disproportionate 7 percent of the names etched in black granite on the Vietnam memorial wall.
Over 10% of Vietnam casualties were helicopter crew members, and most of those were the door gunners that protected the helicopter, its crew, and its transports, from their exposed position. The average lifespan of a door gunner on a Huey in Vietnam was just two weeks.
Overall, the U.S. military used nearly 12,000 helicopters in Vietnam, of which more than 5,000 were destroyed. To be a helicopter pilot or crew member was among the most dangerous jobs in the war.
United States Navy
Twenty-one aircraft carriers conducted 86 war cruises and operated 9,178 total days on the line in the Gulf of Tonkin. 532 aircraft were lost in combat and 329 more to operational causes, resulting in the deaths of 401 naval aviators, with 64 airmen reported missing and 179 taken prisoner of war.
A sobering statistic: Out of 1,419 Loaches built, 842 were destroyed in Vietnam, most shot down and many others succumbing to crashes resulting from low-level flying. In contrast, of the nearly 1,100 Cobras delivered to the Army, 300 were lost.
The Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association (VHPA) estimates that over 100,000 helicopter pilots and crew members served during the Vietnam War. Over 4,800 helicopter pilots and crew members were killed in action, and more than 300 are buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
They now go where the Viet Cong goes. Sometimes this is not very healthy, for the Red guerrillas have developed tactics to counter the copters. In the early days, they tried to shoot them down with homemade shotguns and ancient French rifles; one helicopter even returned to base with an arrow stuck in its fuselage.
According to the report, Army research shows that nearly 90 percent of the mines and booby traps used against American troops in Vietnam were either American-made or were manufactured by enemy troops with captured American components. About 64,000 American troops were killed or injured by mines in the Vietnam War.
Valérie André is a medevac helicopter pioneer—and the first woman to fly a helicopter in combat. For her service in Vietnam she was decorated with the Legion of Honor, the National Order of Vietnam and the Croix de Guerre for valor in foreign operations.
Patrick Henry Brady (born October 1, 1936), is a retired United States Army major general. While serving as a helicopter pilot in the Vietnam War, he received the Medal of Honor, the nation's highest military decoration for valor.
Richard Blair, served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War working as a “tunnel rat.” The life expectancy of a “tunnel rat” in Vietnam was three seconds.
The United States Archives and other sources suggest that between 25 and 50 American soldiers a year were bitten by snakes during the war in Vietnam. Some 10,786 American soldiers died of non-combat causes, including 9,107 by accidents and 938 due to illness. Snake bites were not specified.
Estimated mortality rates associated with untreated bites from this species vary between studies from 25–35% to 70–100%. During the Vietnam War, American soldiers referred to the many-banded krait as the "two-step snake," in the mistaken belief that its venom was lethal enough to kill within two steps.
Harley Hall's feats with the Blue Angels precision flying team were many miles away when he ejected from his aircraft over South Vietnam. A Pentagon spokesman said Hall was the last Navy pilot to be shot down before the ceasefire agreement ended America's longest war.
By the early 1960s, North Vietnam also had pilots training on the MiG-17 in China—with Chinese pilots flying and fighting in North Vietnamese airspace at the beginning of the war.
The Army suffered the most casualties, 38,179 or 66% of all casualties. As a branch of the US forces, however, the Marine Corps lost the highest percentage of its own men (5.0%) which in turn accounted for 25.5% of all casualties.
Fifteen B-52s – the pride of America's fleet – were shot down, six in one day alone, and 33 airmen lost. Tragically, some believe all these deaths were largely in vain, with historians to this day debating the extent of the operation's influence on the wider conflict.
An Integral Allied Force in the Vietnam War
South Korean units were as tough and professional as any in the United States Army or Marines, and came to be justly feared by the communists. More than 300,000 Korean troops passed through Vietnam at some point, and more than 5,000 were killed.
Roy P. Benavidez, United States Army, who distinguished himself by a series of daring and extremely valorous actions on 2 May 1968 while assigned to Detachment B-56, 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces, Republic of Vietnam.
"Keith Lincoln Ware, Major General, United States Army". Arlington National Cemetery.