An excerpt from Black Cat 2-1 by Bob Ford, including his experience at Fort Wolters:

By October 1966, I was stationed at Fort Wolters near Mineral Wells, Texas, home of the US Army Primary Helicopter School. New student pilots try to absorb their surroundings and every word spoken.

All 105 officers in my class, 67-10, were looking forward to their first fight with our instructor. There were two informative posters by the preflight briefing room door that opened to the tarmac where the helicopters were parked on the flight line. One warned to bend over when approaching or exiting a Hiller OH-23-D Raven on the ground when the rotor blades were spinning. It read, "The OH-23-D min rotor can flex down to four feet. How tall are you?" The other pose stated, "You will not run on the tarmac. However, there is no speed limit on walking."

I received my first real experience in a cockpit as I handled the controls of an OH-23-D. My stocky Southwest Airways civilian IP, J. L. Walker, monitored my every move. Like most of the students, l overcorrected the aircraft while on the practice field. After a couple of hours though, I improved and felt it would only be a short time before I soloed.

After a few more flights with the IP, I felt I had a knack for flying.

Handling the emergency techniques such as autorotation, which is landing the helicopter without engine power to the rotor blades, rook more time.

A day before my first solo flight, my IP pulled me to the side and said, "OK, Ford. If I had my way, you'd have your solo wings even though you don't have the required seven hours. But you will be the first one in this class to receive them."

The next day, we were about to leave the Da Nang Stage Fick. about seven miles north of the main heliport in Mineral Wells. I had just completed a practice autorotation without any assistance from my IP. As the helicopter skids touched the ground, he looked at me and said, "I'm going to walk over there and wait. Take it up and fly three traffic patterns."

As soon as he was clear of the main rotor and gave me a thumbs-up, I lifted the helicopter off the ground and flew the traffic patterns. The flight lasted about fifteen minutes. When I was back on the ground, my IP got into the aircraft and said, "Congratulations, Ford. How did you like it?"

With a feeling of accomplishment, I answered with a grin that it felt good to be the only one in the cockpit. I started to add "and much lighter" but didn't.

"You're one of the best I've had," he continued. As I accepted his praise, he stopped abruptly, pointed his finger within six inches of my nose, and said, "Now don't get cocky!" His advice has stayed with me.

After completing my first solo flight, my classmates carried out a military tradition by throwing me into the closest water available. It was a half-full drainage ditch they found during the bus ride back to the main heliport. Since it was November, the cold water chilled me to the bone. The rest of my classmates were thrown into the nice clean hotel pool at the Mineral Wells Holiday Inn after their solos.

I was pleased to be the first in my class to solo. After debriefing at the operations building back at the main heliport, I hurried to take my yellow cap, which was used to identify my flight class, to a seamstress to have my solo wings turned right side up.

Several weeks later, I was one of three officers chosen for an experiment. We were taken out of our officer flight-training course to train with the warrant officer candidates (WOCs) in the Hughes TH-55 Osage, which we nicknamed the "Mattel Messerschmidt." The WOCs were enlisted men who after passing a battery of tests were admitted to flight school. They wanted to fly more than anything else. After graduation, they would become a single-specialty type officer-warrant officer army aviator. I found my training with them both challenging and rewarding.

Transitioning to another helicopter after only two months of student training was not easy. All of the flight characteristics of the TH-55, especially emergency procedures, were quite different from the Hiller H-23. They even looked different. The experiment rested whether we could catch up and complete the next two months of full training I soloed after two hours and caught up with the training requirement.

The other two lieutenants with me in the experiment had difficulty. To my knowledge, the transition to another aircraft this early in training was never attempted again with student pilots.

The Museum would like to thank Bob Ford for allowing us to include this excerpt in our newsletter and website. His book is sold in the museum gift shop and available online.

This past month, on January 3, 2025, President Joseph R. Biden Jr. awarded two Vietnam War veterans the Medal of Honor, in addition to five veterans of the Korean War. While Specialist Fourth Class Kenneth J. David, U.S. Army, received the Medal in person, Captain Hugh R. Nelson Jr., U.S. Army, was awarded posthumously. Both SPC4 David and CPT Nelson Jr.’s awards were upgraded from the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army’s second highest decoration for valor in combat.

On June 5, 1966, near Moc Hoa, Binh Dinh Province, Republic of Vietnam, CPT Nelson Jr. sacrificed himself for his fellow three aircrew. While commanding a search and destroy reconnaissance mission with the 114th Aviation Company (Airmobile Light), 13th Aviation Battalion, 12th Combat Aviation Group, 1st Aviation Brigade, U.S. Army Vietnam, the Huey helicopter he was in charge of was downed by volleys of small arms fire, which severely limited the crew’s ability to land the aircraft safely. Upon crashing, with the enemy pouring fire onto the disabled, grounded helicopter from roughly ten yards away, CPT Nelson Jr. repeatedly shielded his crew with his own body while freeing them from the mangled helicopter and being wounded on a series of occasions. At that point, with the aircraft’s weapons inoperable, the trapped crew were all but defenseless. By CPT Nelson Jr.’s last full measure of devotion, he gave his life by covering a wounded crewmember with his body, thereby permitting the wounded crewmember the chance to direct patrolling aircraft to their aid and rescue by use of a smoke grenade. Undoubtedly, Nelson Jr.’s three fellow crew were ultimately saved by his lack of hesitation and selfless courage.

On May 7, 1970, in the vicinity of Fire Support Base Maureen, Thua Thien Province, Republic of Vietnam, SPC4 David (then a Private First Class) waged a series of disorienting and disruptive suppressive fires against a large enemy assault on Company D, 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division. Given the immediate casualties inflicted on many in the company, SPC4 David instinctively delegated his radio duties to his sergeant and rushed to the defensive lines surrounding their position. Understanding that the enemy was attempting to annihilate the wounded at the heart of their perimeter, SPC4 David traversed beyond the perimeter in an attempt to attract the enemy’s focus on him, requiring him to continually shift positions and yell for attention—eventually being wounded by enemy explosives, fighting back directly with hand grenades while being nearly depleted of ammunition. Despite his wounds and the arrival of reinforcements, he continued to pour suppressing fire to aid the insertion of medevac helicopters, which ensured the extraction of the wounded. Even then, SPC4 David continued to fight until the enemy withdrew their attack. Undoubtedly, SPC4 David’s courageous, selfless actions led to the rescue of numerous comrades and the denial of the enemy’s objective. 

In receiving the Medal of Honor, CPT Nelson Jr. became the first graduate, and third cadet from The Citadel to receive the award, and together, SPC4 David and CPT Nelson Jr. were inducted into the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes on January 4, 2025 by Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III, Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth, and Chief of Staff of the Army General Randy A. George. CPT Nelson Jr., who was 28 when he sacrificed himself, served faithfully, in the footsteps of his father who had served prior in the U.S. Army Air Corps. SPC4 David, who entered into military service as a draftee, has spent much of the decades since his Vietnam War service actively serving the veterans community in his local Ohio area through the Disabled American Veterans organization. Although SPC4 David found civilian life difficult following his discharge in 1971 and overcame challenges in the following decades due to the impact of his experiences, felt he had no regrets in accepting being drafted and in choosing to make his valorous stand to save his comrades. The recent upgrade of these two selfless soldiers’ combat decorations is further evidence of the depth of sacrifice, valor, and courage yet to be told about U.S. service members in the Vietnam War. The National Vietnam War Museum looks forward to continuing to shed light on the overlooked and untold narratives of this most complicated war.

Article by ,
Ryan Sisak, Vice President, Board of Directors, & Historian

Seventy years ago today, January 12, 1954, Master Sergeant (Retired) Clyde Moore of Columbus, MS joined the Air Force. A mere two weeks after his 16th birthday, Mr. Moore visited a local recruiting station and, having been taken at his word about his age, Mr. Moore began what would become a highly decorated 24-year career in the military.

Mr. Moore attended Basic Training at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale, AZ. There, he relied on the help and strength of his grandmother who wrote and encouraged him daily. With a driving commitment to help his family back home, Mr. Moore completed training to become a postal worker who served at 11 different bases over a span of 11 years. His assignments included Texas, Arizona, Japan, Florida, New Jersey, Guam, France, and Italy. His training did not, however, include combat training and nothing could prepare him for the rigors he would experience in Vietnam.

From January 1, 1965, to March 28, 1973, approximately 2,594,000 US Servicemen and women served in country during the Vietnam War. Of those, 293,000 were US Airmen, yet only one of those, Master Sergeant (Retired) Clyde Moore, served three separate tours in theater.

His first tour of duty was the postal assignment at Pleiku Air Force Base, a post that was so hostile that Mr. Moore recalled the planes kept their engines running as they dropped the mail. The 16-year-old Airman was also required to stand guard duty ‘just like all of the lieutenant’s other men.’ He recalled being given a half-cocked weapon by his lieutenant and, having never handled a gun before, he nervously asked him how to reload it. The lieutenant replied, “Don’t worry. If you have to shoot it, someone else will be there to help you by the time you needed to reload.”

And so began his three tours of combat duty. Airman Moore soon became one of the most popular, well-known individuals on the installation as he was the mail handler. Letters from home, predating current day email and text messages, were the lifeline for morale in theater, and Airman Moore helped to ensure the timely distribution of thousands of cards and letters sent overseas to U.S. troops.

Following his tour at Pleiku in 1965, Mr. Moore was transferred to Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth, TX. He was only back stateside for a few months before receiving orders for Tan Son Nhut Air Force Base, Saigon. He was once again assigned to a postal unit and served there from July 1966-March 1967, followed by a third and final tour in Vietnam at Da Nang Air Force Base. His third tour began in April 1970 and concluded in March 1971. Mr. Moore then transferred to Lowry Air Force Base in Denver, CO where he changed his military occupational specialty (MOS) to Finance in 1971. Rising through the ranks, the now MSgt Moore ran the office that handled pay and finance matters for all the Air Force. He retired June 1, 1978, after completing 24 years, four months, and 19 days in service to our nation.

Mr. Moore settled into civilian life in Denver, CO and began selling real estate before he found a second career with Honda Corporation. Mr. Moore excelled at Honda as he had in the Air Force, earning Top 10 honors recognition four times at Honda nationwide. He was ranked #1 in the U.S. in 1986 and #1 in the Western Zone 1987, 1988, and 1989 at the peak of his sales career before he retired a final time and eventually returned home to Columbus, MS.

Mr. Moore stated the greatest thing he learned from the military was persistence. When asked what was his ‘why,’ Mr. Moore said, “Being in the military, you serve the purpose of helping the U.S., and I love the U.S.” He said, “I have two flags flying over my house. I have no regrets at all.”

Mr. Moore now resides in Columbus with his wife Christine. They have a blended family of six children and a host of grand as well as great grandchildren.

Article submitted and written by Gwendolyn Tavira, Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.), U.S. Army.

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