|
Common Thread: Larry Burrows,
SSgt Dave Deyerle, Yankee Papa 13, and Yankee Sierra 4
The above photograph was taken by
SSgt Deyerle in 1965 while he was working as a Marine photographer
in Da Nang, Vietnam. The helicopter is YS4.
Why show this photo? 1. I like it.
2. This chopper also shows up in one of Larry Burrows most
famous Life magazine photoessays - One Ride With Yankee
Papa 13. If you have the Life issue, April 16,
1965, you can see YS4 on page 25. It's also in the recently
published book of Mr Burrows' Vietnam work, Larry
Burrows: Vietnam on page 103.
SSgt Deyerle was this Marine's boss
at MCAS Cherry Point, NC. One of his favorite memories was
meeting and working with Larry Burrows and Henri Huet.
Henri Huet was another combat photographer
in Vietnam. Henry had a special relationship to Vietnam.
He was born there. Henry's most memorable essay, On With
The War And 'Operation Masher,' that appeared in Life
magazine (and on the cover) on February 11, 1966 was published
because Larry Burrows insisted Life do so.
Both Larry and Henry were killed
in February 1971 while covering the South Vietanese incursion
into Loas. For more about this incident read Lost
over Laos: A True Story of Tragedy, Mystery, and Friendship.
Another photographer killed along
with Burrows and Huet was Kent Porter. Prior to going to
Vietnam to work with UPI Kent was a photographer in the
Marine Reserves. He attended the Navy/Marine photo school
in Pensacola, Florida only a month after this photographer
was at the same school.
SSgt Dave Deyerle later transferred
to photo-reconnaissance. In 1969 he went back to Vietnam
serving with the Marine air-wing VMCJ squadron at Da Nang
where this photographer met up with Dave one last time prior
to returning to the states.
Common threads.
Now for a small mystery. The
helicopter below is YS14. Not YS4 but still a YS chopper.
Is YS14 in the same squadron as YS4? Stranger still this
is not Vietnam 1965 but Cherry Point, NC 1967. Also the
chopper looks like it has been updated. Were all the YS
choppers returned to the States, updated, and then put back
in service, possibly at New River, NC? Only the Marines
can give the answer.
We got it! Each squadron has
a unique two letter designation. YP is HMM-163. Searching
Google using h34 as the search criteria we ended up at USMC-Vietnam
Helicopter Assoc. On one page it listed all the tailcodes.
And there it was, YS HMM-162. So that's it. We finally found
it.
In 1967 HMM-162 was at New River,
NC and they were in the process of trading in those venerable
UH-34s and moving up to the CH-46. The last H-34 was retired
in December, 1967.
Historical Note: HMM-162 flew
the first Marines ashore during the amphibious landing at
Da Nang following the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. BLT 1/3
came ashore by air as BLT 3/9 landed by sea on 8 March 1965.
Larry Burrows' photo of the sea landing
appears on page 91 of the Burrows book. Still searching
for a photo of BLT 1/3 landing by air.
|
