Pissing contest between US & Thailand. Thai Prime Minster, Kukrit Pramjob, has a splinter up his asshole because US Marines are staging out of Utapao - he claims without his permission. Public opinion is running Anti-US in Bangkok and other cities, slums, gheettos, geckos and other such latrines of this Far-Eastern paradise.

Jollys & Knives have deployed to Utapao to airlift Marines if needed. One knife crashed approximately 35 NM West of 89 with 27+ people on board. Large # of people were Sec. Police who were the original plan of assualt to recover the ship and crew. Pilots were Lts Kayes & Froehlich. No survivors. Cause: Aircraft believed to have thrown a blade - examination shows bad sleeve and spindle assembly.

15. Jollys takeoff @ 0415± L with Knives already heading for Koh Tang. Some Jollys going to USS Holt to offload Marines, others taking Marines directly to the island. Jolly Green 42 & 43 insert Marines on Koh Tang. JG 11, 12, 13, 41 off-load on Holt.

3 Knives shot down initially, one, Knife 22, badly damaged limps back to Thai soil.

42 & 43 insert Marines @ 0630± . 42 is damaged by ground fire (partial AFCS failure) and heads back to U Tapao with 43 as escort. Land @ 0900 - 42 is out of commission/43 hot refuels and returns to Koh Tang in formation with Knife 52.

JG 12 flies escort for damaged Knife 22 heading for Thailand, then proceeds back to U Tapao - lands at 0945, hot refuels, picks up another load of Marines and heads back to the war. Arriving just after lunch time, 12 drops off Marines then escorts Knife 52 (low fuel) back to U Tapao. Capt Jacobs & crew relinquish the aircraft to Capt Walls and crew. Note: JG12 is in excellent condition at this time, no damage, probably no hits.

Meanwhile back at the farm JG 43 is making an insertion (Marines, that is) around noon. This is one of the last Marine troop insertions and 43 takes numerous hits on the way in, in the LZ and on the way out. They get out OK and set up an orbit. The next action is at 1400, or a little, after in conjunction with JG 11 - So we'll stop here and look back and see what JG 11 has been doing all morning.

Seems 11 was to lead the initial flight of 3 HH-53's carrying Marines to the USS Holt - Henceforth the call sign Jolly Green 11. So what else is new. After dropping off its load of Marines, 11 air refueled then flew escort for Knife 22 with JG 12. When Knife 22 was safely down in Thailand, 11 landed and picked up 22's crew then returned to UT. Hot refuel, 27 Marines on-loaded and back to Koh Tang along with JG 12. The two aircraft arrived @ Koh Tang at 1200 noon (give or take). 11 went in first while 12 flew cover, then the roles reversed. 12 came out of the LZ with Marine wounded, joined up with Knife 52 as escort back to U Tapao. JG 11 joined in orbit with JG 43 for SAR coverage. That brings us to 1400 again.

Two mor airplanes flew out of UT this morning, so let's see what they did (JG 11 & JG 13). Both took off at 0415± heading towards Koh Tang. JG 13 was to drop off its Marines on the Holt and 41 was to make a troop insertion on the island. JG 13 arrived and off-loaded the Marines on the Holt @ 0600 - afterwards JG 13 set up an orbit, refueling with King 21.

Meanwhile, JG 41 has been trying to get into the LZ, but is driven off by intense ground fire. The first 2 run-ins were aborted, air refueled, aborted the 3^rd run-in, tried a successful 4^th run-in. Thenty-two of Twenty-seven Marines were off-loaded and 41 departed the LZ due to 60mm mortar rounds landing close to the aircraft. A fifth run-in was initiated to insert the remaining 5 Marines and pick up 6 wounded Marines. The insertion/extraction was aborted again due to mortar fire. RTB U Tapao.

JG 13 came out of its orbit about 0820 for an attempted run-in and pick up of the crews of Knife 31 & 32. During the extraction effort JG 13 took heavy battle damage - Fire in the left aux tank, left flare case fire, one blade 1-2 feet out of track, LLLTV monitor shot out (glass in cockpit), extensive damage to fuel system (no transfer from aux tanks), no brakes (suspected utility hyd lost) and eventually an oil leak was noticed on the tail, suspected to be coming from the intermediate gearbox. JG 13 headed for U Tapao. Air refueling was attempted, but breakaway required due to fuel spray inside the cabin. JG 13 made a precautionary landing at Rayong airfield. Parts to repair the aircraft were flown in by U Tapao's Pedros and JG 13 finally got back to UT @ 2335.

Now let's go back to 1400 and see what JG 11, JG 12, JG 43 & JG 44 are up to. JG 11 & JG 43 are orbiting near the island and are preparing to begin extracting Marines. JG 43 will go in first with 11 orbit close off shore providing covering minigun protection. About this time the A-7's were told to drop riot suppression gas to cover 43 on the run-in and hover. Well it seems they couldn't even hit the island. By the way, the F-4's didn't do such a shit hot job, either. One F-4 made a pass and dropped 4 500lb bombs, 2 on one side of the 2 on the other. That prompted a wingman to say "I can't believe you missed the WHOLE Island!" The F-4's were notorious that day for killing every fish within 10 miles of the shoreline. The best work of the day was done by Spectre, of course, and by the Klong - who delivered a rather large package - 15,000lbs it was!

Anyway, 43 makes its run-in and begins to take intense ground fire when established in a hover. Major damaged was sustained and a 12.7mm penetrated the #1 engine fuel feed line. The engine unwound and JG 43 had to exit the area - momentarily torque was probably 120, T5 - 890° C, aircraft was descending to the beach at an altitude of 25-40 feet. 43 pulled out immediately and headed for the Coral Sea with 11 as an escort. Landed at 1545 (single engine to the carrier must have been interesting), 11 hot refuels and heads back to the island. Repairs on 43 will take till 1700.

JG 11 arrives back at Koh Tang at 1635 and orbits. JG 12, coming down from U Tapao with a new crew and some H-53 maintenance troops, goes to the Coral Sea, off loads, hot refuels thens goes out and orbits with 11. Both aircraft orbited until 1815± when Nail 68 made a final low pass over the LZ to assess the enemy threat. JG 11 made its run-in and was in the LZ @ sunset, 1820L, picking up 25 survivors amid heavy small arms fire. 12 was making strafing passes offshore while 11 was sitting in the LZ. JG 11 took its load of 25 back to the Coral Sea and 12 went into a hover over Knife 23 at about 1828 looking for a crewmember of that aircraft who was believed to still be in the aircraft. No survivor was seen and since ground fire was accurate and intense, JG 12, with a wounded Flight Mechanic, headed back to USS Holt fro medical attention. On short final to the Holt, JG 12 aborted and went to the Coral Sea where maintenance was also available. JG 12 would not fly again. As a matter of fact, 12 was so badly damaged it was left on the carrier and taken to the Phillippines.

Meanwhile, JG 43 repaired & refueled, arrived back at Koh Tang @ 1720. Orbit until 1845 when a run-in was initiated, landing in the LZ @ 1847 and picked up 54 Marines and went back to the carrier. Another refuel and back to the island to orbit until 2010 when released to RTB U Tapao came down.

JG 11 came back to Koh Tang from the carrier, but all Marines/crewmembers had been extracted from that side of the island. JG 11 orbited for awhile then returned to the carrier.

JG 44 was one of the last aircraft participating in the extractions. Take-off from U Tapao was 1645L, 1848L was 1^st approach to the LZ (aborted because JG 43 was in the LZ), 2^nd approach @ 1851 aborted due to groundfire, 3^rd approach @ 1854 resulted in successful landing in the LZ and the pick up 35 Marines. JG 44 departed for the Holt, arriving @ 1905 - offloaded and returned to Koh Tang and another landing in the LZ. After picking up 37 more Marines, JG 44 headed for the Coral Sea. Hot refueled & take-off to orbit with JG 43 and King 23. RTB to U Tapao @ 2010.

Disposition of aircraft by midnight 15 May 75

358 - JG 60 in Phase @ NKP

364 - Mission call sign JG 11 @ U Tapao

784 - Sat at U Tapao, did not participate in mission

785 - Mission call sign JG 42 @ U Tapao

786 - Mission call sign JG 44 @ U Tapao

792 - Mission call sign JG 13 @ U Tapao

793 - Mission call sign JG 12 on Coral Sea

794 - Mission call sign JG 13 @ U Tapao

795 - Mission call sign JG 41 @ U Tapao

Jolly Green 11 /364

1Lt Backlund AF Cross

1Lt Weikel Silver Star

SSgt Cash Silver Star

MSgt Eldridge Silver Star

SSgt Stanaland Silver Star

A1C Marx Silver Star

Jolly Green 12 / 793

AM PM

Capt Jacobs Capt Walls Silver Star

Capt Nickerson 2Lt Comer

SSgt Kaiser SSgt DeJesus

MSgt Gray TSgt Patterson

Sgt Cook A1C Rheinheardt

Jolly Green 13 / 794

1Lt Greer Silver Star

1Lt Brown

SSgt King

SSgt Froehlich

Sgt Lundrigan

Sgt Lemminn

Jolly Green 41 / 795

1Lt Cooper Silver Star

1Lt Keith

TSgt Little

SSgt Donovan

Sgt Beranek

A1C Ferris

Jolly Green 42 / 785

1Lt Pacini Silver Star

Capt Dube

TSgt Straughn, Jr

SSgt Jablonski

Sgt Brown

A1C Dunham II

Jolly Green 43 / 792

Capt Purse AF Cross

1Lt Gradue Silver Star

TSgt Willingham

TSgt Harding

Sgt Bateson Silver Star (got hit)

A1C McKiver

Jolly Green 44 / 786

1Lt Blough, Jr Silver Star

1Lt Mason

SSgt Bounds

SSgt Howell

Sgt Daly

A1C Ash

16. 40^th ARRS Maintenance working hard to patch up the Jollys and get badly damaged birds OR.

17. Mx has 6 Jollys ready to come home. 793 is on the Coral Sea going to PI/794 is too badly damaged and will stay at U Tapao until repaired (it won't get home until 12 June)/364, 784, 786, 792 & 795 are all OR & heading for NKP. Two stop @ Korat and the other 4 continue on to CH 89, landing @ 1430± . Warm welcome by Wing CC and small celebration which seemed subdued most likely from the aftershock and losses of the 21^st SOS.

19. H-53's are grounded from findings of crash of Knife near Sakon Nakhon. Appears to be defective sleeve & spindle assemblies.

30. H-53's taken off grounded status.