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For many Vietnam veterans it is cathartic to see the H-1s and the U-H1s at events like today’s fly in for the Dallas Jones Roanoke Valley Veteran’s Center.“Wives come up to us and say, ‘thank, you, I’ve learned more about my husband in the last 10 minutes than I have in years,’” said J.D. Lawson, president of the North Carolina Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association.
Veterans of that era remember being flown in the choppers while injured, being transported or being dropped into a battlefield, said Lawson, who flew medical evacuation missions for a year.
Many veterans never discuss what happened but when they see the helicopters it sparks a memory and they talk. Wives and children hear the stories. “Dad’s stock just went up,” Lawson said.
Lawson remembers a man coming up to him. “He hangs on to me and starts crying. He says, ‘thank, you.’ I just got credit for what someone else did. I have had guys walk up and start crying.”
Lawson sees his tour of Vietnam differently than how it is often portrayed in popular culture. “War is 98 percent boredom and 2 percent terror.”
He was shot at while flying wounded soldiers to the hospital but he and his crew did what they had to. “I’ve never flown with people who weren’t ready to fly. The medics did amazing things on a helicopter to keep people alive. I flew with very professional people.”
There was only one time he asked for volunteers. “We flew a guy to the hospital in the middle of typhoon.”
Lawson was drafted as a private but went to Vietnam as a second lieutenant and a helicopter pilot and never doubted what he was sent to do. “I really feel like what I was doing was worthwhile.”
Now, Vietnam veterans are honored like World War II veterans, Lawson said. A new generation didn’t get caught up in the politics. “We served our country and did what we were told to do.”
That may be why the helicopter displays are so popular because Vietnam was the first helicopter war. “Helicopters were useful. With a turbine engine they could carry people, ammunition and supplies.”
There is also a simpler reason the choppers are popular. Unlike the some of the vintage World War II planes whose value has escalated, the helicopters are hands on. Children can get in the cockpit and move the controls and flip switches. “It’s hardware,” Lawson said, adding later, “It’s show and tell.”
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