Wednesday, May 8, 1968
At sea, SAR station. 1215 — SAR ALERT: A-4E Skyhawk ("Champion-406") from VA-56 "Champions," USS Enterprise, downed 18.5 miles inland, 41 miles from Jouett. Location: 49mi 160° from Vinh, 19mi INLAND — the deepest inland rescue of the deployment. PILOT RESCUED by Big Mother (SH-3A Sea King, HC-7 Det 110). Crew: LT Gary D. McConnell (pilot), LTJG John W. Nichols (copilot), AX John R. Cullivan, AX-3 Alan K. Nobles. Returned to Jouett at 1315. 1600 — Intelligence briefing for crew.
Original Logbook Page
Stars & Stripes, ~May 1968 — "2 Jets Lost in N. Viet": Mike annotated this clipping with the handwritten note "OUR HELO PICKED THEM UP" and starred the passage about the F-4 Phantom crew rescued near Vinh. The article reported 830 total American planes lost over North Vietnam. [Stars & Stripes]
From Mike's letter, 8 May 1968 (typewritten): "This afternoon we rescued two more pilots who were shot down about 1/2 mile off the coast. We launched the helo and in about 30 minutes they were back with the pilots... We got with in 12 miles of the mainland which is the closest we have ever been up here. It was a real clear day and you could see a lot of the land over there... So, this makes four rescues for us and all of them in this line period." [Letter]
From the May 19 Familygram: "In the most hazardous rescue of the three, JOUETT's helicopter had to fly deep into enemy territory and rescue the downed pilot from dense jungle." [Familygram]
Letters
Mike Ducy to HomeMike to Home
May 8, 1968 12:30 am
Tonkin Gulf
Dear Mother and Dad,
I got your letter of April 29 two days ago on the 6th. I'm making an attempt to type this just to keep in practice so, over look any mistakes I may make.
Here are some clippings I got over here. I thought you may find them interesting to read. This afternoon we rescued two more pilots who were shot down about 1/2 mile off the coast. We launched the helo and in about 30 minutes they were back with the pilots. They were shook up a little but were not injured. We got with in 12 miles of the mainland which is the closest we have ever been up here. It was a real clear day and you could see a lot of the land over there. Things have picked up considerably since our last time up here as you can most likely tell in the newspapers. So, this makes four rescues for us and all of them in this line period.
We are suppose to rendevous with an oiler tomorrow night and recieve 1,000 pounds of mail which will be mostly 3rd and 4th class. There is a chance your package may be there, I hope so.
I haven't yet made any firm decisions on when I'll be taking leave. The first half of August I will be taking the test for second class so that means I will have to be here for that and any leave upon arrival in the states is out of the question for that reason. As far as your coming out here I don't think it is really necessary right now. I think it would be better to wait till Bill got back from overseas, then you could see both of us out here. I don't really know when I will be home next. It may be in the fall or after the first of next year. As far as Christmas goes I can't say. I don't really care for that travelling this distance during those holidays after my experience with making connections last time. At any rate it is a lot easier and cheaper for me to come home than for you to travel out here. So, for right now lets hold off and see when I'll be making my way back home. No doubt both of us will stay here on the west coast for the rest of our time and there will be plenty of time to make it out here later on.
I got word that I will be taking the test for the correspondence course tomorrow morning. Would you believe I applied for it on Feb. 27 and it just got here? I was told that one test for another guy took seven months to get here. It is believed that the test officer failed to mail the application out promptly and this may have been the case in regards to mine. I'll let you know when I get the drastic results!
We will be in Hong Kong in less than two weeks. They have been giving us a lot of stuff about keeping out of trouble there because of the Communist groups there. We'll only be there for five days then on to Subic for about three days and back up here. I am pretty sure I am going to buy one of those super 8 movie cameras in Hong Kong. I would like to take some movies over here and I know you would enjoy seeing them.
I sent off the roll of film with the pictures of Bill and me in Da Nang today. They are slides and I'll mail them to you when I get them back with three other boxes of slides I have taken over here.
I guess that's all the interesting news from over here. So long for now, I'll write again, soon.
Your son,
Mike