LZ: Georgia (photos coming soon)

LZ LIBERTY : The Grunt LZ

"We're not all veterans. But we're all patriots. And we all love our freedom and our liberty."

Patriotism and hospitality are in high supply in Liberty County, Georgia, where Vietnam DUSTOFF medic Bruce McCartney coordinated a down-home, all-American, Low-Country Landing Zone. McCartney signed the ITSOTB guestbook just days before 091 made her way toward Georgia; the next thing he knew he had two helicopters, a film crew and a couple of hundred guests in his backyard—including his Army buddy Jake Balaido, who came from Hawaii for the event. In a collage of American small-town life, Old Glory flew from the fire department ladder truck, local leaders made speeches, and volunteers prepared the area’s speciality, a low-country boil, for the gathered crowd. But more than seafood was doled out in Liberty County; they served up a lot of magic in that LZ.

"When I saw that Huey coming today, it reminded me of Thanksgiving day when it came out and brought us some hot chow."

101st Airborne Division infantryman Donald Singleton's story illustrates the lifeline that was the Huey helicopter in Vietnam. For "grunts" like Singleton, the Huey was their ride into and out of battle and the supply line that brought everything from bullets to food. He still remembers his Vietnam Thanksgiving, when the helicopters brought a feast, including "fresh, chilled fruit. It wasn't chilled, but it was fresh."

"This isn't a movie," Singleton says, "It's a healing experience."

"And he made me promise, 'tell my wife I love her," and he died in my arms..."

Donald talked his friend James Johnson into coming out to see the UH-1 the next morning. We call JJ our reluctant hero, because director Patrick Fries had to pry his story from him. "Tell me about your Silver Star," Fries said. "Do I have to?" was Johnson's shy answer.

Johnson earned that medal trying to save the life of a fellow soldier, to whom he'd made a promise that he hadn't kept. Several months after filming, Johnson sent us his Silver Star, saying he needed to "release it" so it might somehow find that family.

It did. ITSOTB historian Gary Roush found the widow and we brought her to Austin for the premiere screening, where she met James. And on Memorial Day 2004, ITSOTB Vietnam veterans returned the medal Johnson had earned... twice.

Check It Out: Look closely at ITSOTB participants and you'll see several Purple Hearts pinned to the chests of veterans. Most people have heard of the Purple Heart. Not everyone knows what it means. But everyone should.

It was cold on the morning when the dropped me off in a brand new uniform, free of cost. And the gun that they gave me had been used beforeby somebody's baby out there in somebody else's war...

Midway restauranteur Rodney Riley "walked the jungles and the hillsides of the Vietnam War carrying a gun and a backpack." He came home, pondered for 20 years, and finally wrote a song about it. At dawn on a misty Low Country morning, Riley sat in the gunner's well to play "Soldier."

A few months later we asked Rodney if he'd take a stab at an ITSOTB theme song. He tells us this one took "about two hours."

"Those whopping, popping blades, man
A soldier's best friend-
If I ever get outta here
I come back alive
I'll tip my brim to all of them
Who rode that wicked sky
For giving me light
Down here in the shadow....."

It was tough to leave our "Grunt LZ" in Liberty County. There was a lot there that felt like home somehow. We'd captured incredible stories, eaten a meal that would make Emeril jealous, and experienced our first true backyard LZ. Like Bob Baird said, it was the kind of place that makes you "proud to be an American."

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Behind The Scenes: It was at LZ Liberty, a last-minute stop, that the crew finally got its rhythm. Maybe it was having a few days experience, maybe it was the relatively laid-back pace, maybe it was the lectures Bob Baird doled out like a patient father of wild adolescents... or maybe there was something in those crabs. Whatever it was, from here on out, it was as if the mission itself had grown a soul and come to life. None of us would ever be the same.
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"This time I didn't have to imagine what it was like to sit in the pilot's seat and soar into the sky."

In Vietnam, they called Ernie Sylvester and his comrades in the 57th Medical Detachment "Kelly's Krazies." These were the men who pioneered Huey air ambulance rescues day and night, rain or shine, quiet or hot. Their commanding officer, Major Charles Kelly, put the lives of wounded men ahead of the value of helicopters and sent his unarmed aircraft wherever the wounded waited. A true hero, Kelly's dying words are DUSTOFF's motto: "I will leave when I have your wounded." It was Ernie Sylvester who evacuated Kelly.

Sylvester brought 091 into a backyard LZ hosted by Special Forces veteran Charles Hinson, where we focused on the DUSTOFF story. In that one gathering, we found a whole passel of heroes.

Hinson was a Special Forces commander in Vietnam. When his camp came was ambushed and young patrol man Robert Pryor was severely injured, Hinson walked straight into the bullets to retrieve him. They called for DUSTOFF and Pryor says he remembers hearing his friends telling the aircraft that he was dying. With the camp surrounded by enemy fire and the wounded Pryor lying near flag poles and wires, DUSTOFF made a 3:00 a.m. pick up, guided only by Hinson's flashlight.

And get this... this was not unusual. Dustoff pilots call these types of missions "routine." Read more about DUSTOFF in this ITSOTB Recommended Read by Steve Vermillion.

There was more to the Columbus LZ: Charles Kelly’s namesakes—his son and grandson—met John Givhan, whom Kelly had saved in Vietnam. When 091 left Hinson’s backyard for RON at the airport, Charles Kelly, Jr. flew in his father’s seat—and Givhan was, once again, flown in a Huey by a Kelly.

It was a life-altering experience for both of them. Flying through the air above Columbus, Givhan was holding his cell phone in the air. When a crew member asked why, his explanation said it all: "I've called my family so they can hear the sound of freedom."

"I didn't have to imagine what it sounded like, either, because now, more than 35 year after my father flew a machine just like this, I was in the pilot's seat."
-Charles Kelly, Jr.

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Behind The Scenes: We first met John Givhan in 2000 when we were filming the ITSOTB proposal at Fort Rucker. Two years had gone by and we'd lost touch with him, so had no way to tell him that the mission was off the ground. Two days before filming in Columbus, Givhan was waiting for sports scores on the local news when he saw a Huey on the screen and turned up the volume. He was shocked and delighted to see that "In The Shadow of The Blade" was making its way across the country, and picked up the phone to call Austin, fearing he'd missed his opportunity. We were thrilled to be "reunited" with John. "Can you get to Columbus two days from now?" And that is how, three decades after the man who'd saved Givhan's life died while trying to save another, John Givhan met his hero's son and grandson.
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LZ ATLANTA : Baby Kathleen

"When we came home and they said we killed babies, here's a picture that say we didn't."

Actually this a story that goes from Georgia to Texas, because it took place at two Landing Zones.

Vietnam triage nurse Donna Rowe came to the Kennesaw State University LZ only because Donna is the kind of person who does anything she can to support veterans and she'd heard a Huey was coming to town. When director Patrick Fries found out she was a nurse, he sent her home to retrieve her photographs and sat her in the gunner's well. "I hadn't looked at that scrapbook in years," Donna says. "And suddenly there I was being filmed for a documentary."

Little did anyone know what was about to unfold...

As Donna turned the pages she came to an old black-and-white picture of an injured Montagnard infant. "This is my favorite story. This is Kathleen," she said with a smile.

Kathleen was the only survivor of an attack on her village, found in her dead mother’s arms by the infantry and brought to the 3rd Field Hospital by DUSTOFF. In a hasty pre-surgery baptism, Rowe became the child’s godmother and two medics, Richard Hock and Darrell Warren, became her godfathers. The child lived, Rowe reported, and they named her Kathleen—after an old Irish song Donna loved. “So, when they called us baby killers, this story proves otherwise.”

An Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter, Bill Osinski, was traveling with the film crew at the time, covering the Georgia shoots, and his article included Donna's story. Six months later, long after we'd wrapped filming and begun post-production, we found this entry in our guestbook one Saturday morning:

"My name is Kathleen Epps. I am 33 yrs old now. I was given my name (Kathleen) by Capt. Donna Rowe back in May of 1969. Came into Third Field Hospital on May 15th I believe. She was a nurse at the hospital. I am that little girl who was found on her dead mother's stomach. A many thanks to the men who found me that day and saved my life and if anyone knows where Donna is, could you let me know? Thank you."
-Kathleen Epps

And that led to "LZ Reunion" at the home of Army Medical, Fort Sam Houston, Texas, where once again a Huey brought "Baby" Kathleen into the arms of the nurse and the medic who'd cared for her as an infant and stood as her in-country Godparents.

"I owe my life to Vietnam veterans." -Kathleen Cords-Epps

Next ITSOTB Stop: Kentucky.

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