"Scratch One Bird Dog"

"Scratch One Bird Dog"
Submitted by -CPT Dave Miller, HH45, Section Leader, 4th Plt. Kontum Sep '68-Oct '69

It started out as just another summer day of 1969, in Vietnam’s Central Highlands. I flew the first 3-hour mission, then Bernie took the second, I was to fly the third - we’d flip-flop missions the next day. 1LT Bernie Serafinowicz & I were a 2-aviator section of the 4th Platoon flying in direct support of the 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division. We bunked on Fire Base Mary Lou, home of the Brigade HQ, and we flew out of Kontum. While we usually had 2 planes, when a bird was in for maintenance or repair, we would share one Bird Dog - this was one of those days.

We were working a contact area near Dak To that day and, as Bernie banked for home, at the end of his mission, the plane took a number of small arms & .50 cal. MG hits. Bernie managed to call in a message that they’d taken hits and that he was going to try to bring the bird home - almost all of the radio gear & controls had been shot away.

Using mostly trim and power, Bernie set up about a 17-mile straight-in final to the Kontum strip. Later, Bernie said that adrenalin kept him going until they were almost to the threshold and he shut everything down - that’s when he blacked out.

Without power, their glide path was too shallow and they hit the ground just short of the runway. The plane suffered lots of damage as it skidded along, finally coming to rest near a Huey that was refueling from a bladder. Bernie & his passenger were quickly pulled out of the wreckage and loaded onto the slick which hopped over to receive them. The chopper then flew directly to the hospital in Pleiku.

The Bird Dog’s ‘cage’ did a good job: Bernie’s injuries were limited to 2 bruised knees (from hitting the instrument panel) and a cut near one eye (from hitting the center-mounted compass above the instrument panel). He was sent to Japan for plastic surgery on the cut and returned quickly to finish his tour. His passenger, an Intelligence Lieutenant, who had been on his first ‘small’ plane ride (to see the AO), suffered a minor shrapnel wound to his posterior (from the exploding radios under his seat) - he was also diagnosed with malaria and was immediately sent back to the States. (See Pictures)

“While attending the 2011 Headhunter Reunion, I was told that Bernie did not survive the crash of a cargo plane that he was piloting, sometime after he left the Army.”