September 26, 2016 - “A mile of road takes you nowhere, a mile of runway takes you elsewhere, a helicopter takes you anywhere” ……. unknown.
To any Vietnam Veteran the “swoosh-swoosh” sound of helicopter will probably take their mind back immediately 40 years or more to a time when these sounds were heard continuously. Although helicopters in warfare dates back to World War II when downed American bombers in Burma could not be reached by any other means, helicopters were called in and successfully extracted the flight crews. The Korean War saw them used mainly in medical evacuation of wounded personnel to field hospitals as you see in the TV series “MASH”.
Vietnam was “The Helicopter War” and the United States relied on it as never before. Its role in combat expanded greatly and thousands of choppers rapidly transported personnel all over the war zone. Rapid mobility and firepower defined the American operations in Vietnam and the helicopter provided a lot of both. Most of us see in our minds the UH-1 Huey helicopter bringing in troops to battle zones as depicted by Vietnam films such as “Platoon and We Were Once Soldiers”. The Huey was a workhorse without question but the role of other helicopters in support activities cannot be overlooked. Thousands of combat missions were flown to resupply (food, ammunition and medical) and reinforce troops on the ground, to evacuate American and South Vietnamese wounded and countless other services.
The “Chinook, CH-47” helicopter became the standard medium transport helicopter and the Army’s 1st Cavalry Division brought them when they arrived in 1965. One of the most spectacular missions in Vietnam for the Chinook was the placing of artillery batteries in perilous mountain positions inaccessible by any other means and then keeping them resupplied with large quantities of ammunition. They were often overburdened evacuating wounded and were also used in the recovery of other US downed aircraft. The CH-47’s were usually armed with a M60 machine gun on either side for self-defense.
With the 1965 hit song “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” by the Animals playing in their heads, I’m sure there was no sweeter sound than the “swoosh-swoosh” that was coming to lay down support fire, extract ground troops, wounded, casualties or a combination of these. Those manning remote fire bases knew this meant ammunition, supplies and that precious commodity, mail from home.
During two tours in Vietnam (26 months and six days) you would find James “Jim” Fountain of Shelby County, Texas aboard a CH 47 Chinook during many combat missions. According to his DD Form 214 when he reenlisted at Chu Lai, Vietnam on his 25th birthday, March 3rd, 1968 he was a Ch-47 helicopter repairman and helicopter quality control supervisor assigned to the 35th Support Battalion of the 6th Air Cavalry Combat Brigade. He was also a crew member having been awarded the Aircraft Crewman Badge. His 214 also showed that he was awarded the Air Medal with numeral 23 which meant he had 24 Air Medals. In Vietnam the Air Medal was awarded to crew members for each 24 flight hours logged giving Jim 576 flight hours. It’s impossible to figure how many combat missions this entailed as they varied in length but he had a lot. Along with his Bronze Star and three Army Commendation Medals his record shows he was awarded the Vietnam Service Medal with two silver and two bronze oak leaf clusters which means he participated in 12 of the 18 recognized Vietnam campaigns.
With only his discharge and a few clippings from the Champion I feel safe in saying that Jim Fountain put himself in harm’s way many times and served his country in Vietnam with honor and distinction. He did what American Patriots have done from the beginning, “what his country asked”. A clipping from the Champion newspaper dated August 10th, 1967 said that “James Fountain and Newton Johnson have suffered serious injuries from combat in Vietnam” but probably due to an administrative oversight the Purple Heart was not included with his many other awards.
After giving over a decade of his life in service to his country, James L. Fountain, son of Bill and Lessie Fountain passed away on Friday, November 30th, 2012 at the age of 69. Shelby Country Memorial Veterans of Foreign War Post 8904 proudly rendered Final Military Funeral Honors at the Old Salem Cemetery. Welcome Home Jim.
(Sources: historyarmymil.com, 9/2016; FindAGrave.com, 9/2016; Wikipedia.org, 9/2016; Vietnam.army.mos, 9/2016; Vietnam.ttu.edu, 9/2016; Champion Newspaper, 8/10/1967; Champion Newspaper, 12/5/1968; Ancestry.com)
