Air Commando!: 1950-1975 - Twenty-five years at the Tip ... - AFSOC

"Knife" H-53 lands in North Vietnam in
1971 to extract sixteen fully armed
"defectors" (to right of helicopter) guarded
by one "friendly"; the other guard having
been killed by the same defectors the
night prior to pick-up. Although pick-up
was organized by American sources on
the ground, one miscue on either side
could have lead to an instantaneous
bloodbath for everyone in the clearing.
(Jerry Gilbert)
exceptions. In January, 1970 for
example, the 21st was again tasked to
evacuate Laotian refugees, this time
from the Plain of Jars, where they had
been encircled by communist troops.
From 4-15 January, the 21st moved
more than 4,000 refugees, along with
their livestock and belongings, to
safety. 170
In August, 1970, CH-53C "Super
Jolly Green Giant" helicopters began
arriving to augment the battle-worn and
underpowered H-3s. With the larger,
more powerful choppers, the 21st began
flying troop-carrying missions in
airmobile assaults, primarily supporting
Laotian army and Yang Pao's Hmong
irregulars. Three months after the
arrival of the "Super Jollys" in the 21st,
its crews lifted 2,000 troops onto the
Plain of Jars in an offensive intended
to drive the North Vietnamese and
Laotian Pathet Lao forces out. Codenamed
Operation Leapfrog, the mission
was only a temporary success and by early 1971, the more heavily armed communist
forces were back in force on the Plain. 171
The last major air assault in Laos took place on 20 January 1973. Seven 21st CH-53s
and two Air America CH-47s moved 1,000 Laotian troops in an operation intended toreopen
the highway between the Laotian capitol of Vientiane, and the city of Luang Prabang
some 120 miles to the north. The assault successfully ended the isolation of Luang Prabang
by the communists. 172 Just a month later, on 22 February 1973, missions by the 21st SOS
(and all other allied forces) in Laos were ended by international agreement. The Laotians
and the Hmong irregulars were on their own.
The 21st remained in Thailand after the cease-fire and the subsequent U.S. withdrawal
from South Vietnam in 1973. It was placed on alert for the evacuation of the Cambodian
capitol, and assisted in the evacuation of Saigon as it fell to the communists in late April,
1975.
With the assistance of two Air Rescue Service HH-53s, the 21st evacuated 1,479 Americans
and Vietnamese, as well as 249 U.S. Marines from the American Embassy in Saigon. They
were later tasked to sling-load former South Vietnamese A-37 and F-5 fighters, flown by their
pilots from Vietnam to Thailand to prevent them from falling into communist hands, to the
aircraft carrier MU1way. 173 Scheduled for de-activation in Thailand in September, 1975, the 21st
found it had one last mission to accomplish before retiring its colors.
In early May of that year, the Dust Devils participated in the costly attempt to rescue the
crew of the American container ship S.S. Mayaguez, captured in international waters by
Cambodia's new rulers, the Khmer Rouge. While the crew were eventually released
unharmed from the Cambodian mainland, the bloody Air Force and Marine Corps assault
on Koh Tang Island, thought to be the location of the incarcerated crew, proved to be one
last bloody nose for America as it closed down the curtain on the longest war in this
country's history.
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