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Show “1 thought mld have to put Teould neverdoths, 1 suflered two years with large running, up, tryi rr k, The Lord should bless you jor such a fine oduct,” says Mrs, John Burmester, New Jersey. SULFODENEis a scientific liquid Tbe e Atall drug stores and leading pet shops. EEndurance They Lead the Wayfor Our Gls in Vietnam a i Army Pathfinders— 8 THE UH1D (Huey) helicop- ter hovered over an enemy ridge south of Bong Son, Viet- nam, a rope ladder dropped: from its belly, and GIs, laden with # = chain saws, radios, and dynamite, i began scampering down. Then the # Viet Cong opened fire. PARK GALLERIES, Dept. 4, iW f 4z4iitet 5 i Ii ii g i i$ 5 <€ b i 3 : iaa3 [ ifk it i iI . Pay Attention? “A routine Pathfinder operation—except for losing the chopper,” says Maj. Richard D. Gillen, who commanded the detachment. “We held the ridge without casualties. The man on the skid? Oh, we found him hanging upside down from a tree—sore, but he still could do his job.” The job of Army Pathfinders is to lead the way for surprise airborne assaults. They are selected from infantry volunteers with one primary character- istic: the ability to operate on their own in complex ghd dangerous situations. Usually they go in with the first helicopter, but frequently they precede all other units by anywhere from 20 minutes to 24 hours. In effect, they are air-traffic controllers, 29% Fat i > oO g bf | :iit; if i: 1 Slipping orIrritating? 58, Worry of FALSE TEETH ufHlii © 7 __Navy Hammocks @ $8.95 each. r Enclosed is check or m.o. for$____ The first Pathfinders were still dangling 15 feet above ground when a shout penetrated the roar of the Huey’s engine. “The ship’s hit . . . Here we go!” From the wildly spinning ladder, the Gls plunged to earth, looking up long enough to see the chopper dive over the ridge, with a Pathfinder buddy still hanging to its skid. With VCs sniping away, the Pathfinders helped engineers hack away underbrush and blast tree stumps to clear a landing zone for a score of troop-carrying helicopters eriroute to the area for Operation White Wing. Next, they set up radio communications to guide in the main airborne force, » Family Weekly, July 23,1967 charged with setting up visual and/or radio contact with chopper aviators flying attack troops into new landing zones. A secondary job is to clear these LZs of obstructions, ranging from jungle growth to giant anthills—usually while under fire. Pathfinders not only often are the first Gls in but also the last out. For instance, during the bloody battle of the Ia Drang Valley in the Central Highlands, three Pathfinders landed with a rifle company ordered to rescue a pinned-down reconnaissance unit and some downed aircraft crewmen. The Pathfinders cleared a small LZ, set up communications, and prepared for an extraction at last light. By dusk, however, rescuers and rescued were surrounded by North Vietnamese regulars, and the first Chinook extraction ship was shot down, blocking the 100x50meter LZ. Ammunition began running low, and bad weather closed in, jeopardizing future air strikes against the surrounding enemy. It was up to the Pathfinders'to “talk in” a Caribou helicopter with a resupply of ammunition. In blackest night and under heavy fire, the three Pathfinders set up lights near the downed Chinook and radioed such precise reference points to the resupply chopper that its crew dropped two heavy loads of ammo from 300-feet altitude into an area not much larger than the average back yard. That was the turning point. The North Vietnamese, facing a renewed fire fight, broke contact. The next morning the Pathfinders cleared a larger LZ and guided in the extraction ships. Then, as the last chopper lifted upward, they clambered aboard—with radios, lamps, chain saws, and the units they’d come to help rescue, —JACK RYAN |