Imagine you’re surrounded with the enemy closing in. You’re running out of ammo, and so is air support, and the only way out, is to grab onto a Cobra attack helicopter anywhere you can and hold on for dear life as it flies you away and you get to live a long blessed life.
It sounds like an action movie, but it really happened 55 years ago, and the pilot who did it – U.S. Army Capt. Larry L. Taylor – has received the Medal of Honor for his heroism.
“When I called Larry to let him know he finally was receiving this recognition, his response was, ‘I thought you had to do something to receive the Medal of Honor,'” recalled President Joe Biden. “Well, Larry, you sure as hell did something,” said Biden.
A call for help
On the night of June 16, 1968 Taylor acted with “gallantry and intrepidity, going above and beyond the call of duty” to aid 4 soldiers who met trouble on a reconnaissance mission northeast of Saigon. At the time, Taylor was a 1st Lt. team leader with Troop D (Air), 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry, 1st Infantry Division, near the hamlet of Ap Go Cong.
With their night vision, the recon team realized that hostiles had completely surrounded them. They would inevitably be caught, so team leader Bob Elsner called for help.
Taylor got the call, hearing “we’re surrounded, we’re surrounded” on his radio. He and his co-pilot and another Cobra arrived on scene shortly after, but needed Elsner to pop flares so Taylor could locate them. Unfortunately, it also exposed them to the enemy, who immediately opened fire.
All hell breaks loose
Both Cobras rained hell upon their foes with rockets and bullets to save the recon team for over a half-hour. But ammo and fuel does not last long. As they were running out, the enemy was closing in. And all the recon team had left were a few grenades and knives.
A Huey was called, but the request denied because the Army believed it stood 0 chance of surviving. They were on their own, with nothing left to fight with, and no help coming. Both Cobras were ordered to return to base. Taylor refused.
“I knew that if I didn’t go down and get ’em, they wouldn’t make it,” recalls Taylor.
Both Cobras unloaded everything they had left. Taylor used his landing lights to distract the enemy, while the recon team headed for a location Taylor told them. He then flew over to extract them.
“We were able to make a breakout finally because he had directed us through the very weakest portion of the enemy envelopment,” said David Hill, one of the member of the recon team that night. Hill attended the ceremony awarding Taylor’s Medal of Honor.
Taylor landed right beside the team
“I’m on the ground for no more than 10 seconds — you and your folks find a place on my ship and I’m gonna get us all out of here,” he ordered.
Cobras only have 2 seats, and both were taken by Taylor and his co-pilot. Under enemy fire, with bullet holes tearing through the helicopter, the soldiers grabbed on anywhere they could, standing on the Cobra’s skids and clinging to its rocket launchers.
With everyone onboard, the soldiers banged the helicopter twice to signal the GO to takeoff. Taylor got airborne without hesitation.
Such a feat had never been accomplished, or even attempted, according to the Army.
But they were not free of danger yet. They cleared small arms fire, but with 4 guys handing onto the outside of a flying helicopter, he had to fly carefully. They could easily fall, or cramp and freeze from the 150 mph wind and then fall. Taylor flew them to a nearby water treatment facility under American control.
“The four of them ran out in front of the helicopter, and then they turned around and lined up, and all four of them saluted,” said Taylor.
With that, they went their separate ways and life went on. Hill and Elsner met Taylor again in 1999, where they could finally shake his hand and say thank you.
Now there’s a movie for you, Jerry Bruckheimer.
