{"id":146908,"date":"2023-09-08T08:00:42","date_gmt":"2023-09-08T12:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=146908"},"modified":"2023-09-05T21:45:38","modified_gmt":"2023-09-06T01:45:38","slug":"valor-friday-241","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=146908","title":{"rendered":"Valor Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Captain Larry Taylor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This week Captain Larry Taylor was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Vietnam War. Let\u2019s see why he\u2019s been belatedly honored.<\/p>\n

Larry Taylor grew up in the St Elmo neighborhood of Chattanooga, Tennessee. His roots in the area extend back generations. His great-great-grandfather had served in the Civil War, his great-uncle fought in World War I, and his father and uncles served in World War II.<\/p>\n

During high school, Taylor was on the JROTC drill team. In his junior year, he was on the wrestling team for their successful season. During his senior year he was cadet captain and headed the drill team. He was also voted \u201cBest Dressed\u201d by his peers.<\/p>\n

In college, Taylor heeded the call to serve, joining the ROTC program at nearby University of Tennessee, graduating in 1966.<\/p>\n

Commissioned into active duty in the Armor Branch, after graduating the training, he jumped at the chance to move to the Aviation Branch. He already had his private pilot\u2019s license, so he figured his prior flight experience would help. As he recalled, it didn\u2019t help. \u201cIf anything, the old habits made learning the helicopter a little harder \u2014 but as soon as I found the hover button, boy did my life change. I couldn\u2019t wait to get to Vietnam. Lord forgive my innocence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trained to fly the brand new AH-1 Cobra, Taylor\u2019s first operational assignment was to press the new attack helicopter into action in Vietnam. When he arrived in Vietnam in August 1967 at Bien Hoa, to serve with 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry, 1st Infantry Division, they were met with nine brand new Cobras for them.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Larry Taylor in Vietnam<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Cobra was the first purpose-built attack helicopter gunship. It was built by Bell Helicopter, who had seen tremendous success with the venerable UH-1 Huey. As a specialized airframe, the Cobra was based on the Huey. In fact, in some circles the AH-1 was known as \u201cHueyCobra\u201d in a nod to its familial lineage.<\/p>\n

Introduced into Army service in 1967, they were immediately sent to Vietnam where they racked up more than a million hours in the air. Some 300 Cobras would be lost, but they proved their worth. The US Army continued to fly them for decades, and the US Marines continue to fly derivatives of the type.<\/p>\n

In contrast to the two pilots, crew chief, and gunner employed on Huey gunships, the Cobra required just one pilot and one co-pilot\/gunner. Designed from the outset to rain hellfire on the enemy, it quickly became a favorite of the troops on the ground.<\/p>\n

Once flying over the jungles of Vietnam, Taylor and his Cobra were frequently called into action. They primarily supported the 1st Infantry Division\u2019s long range reconnaissance patrol (LRRP) teams. LRRP units had, just in 1966, been authorized for all of the Army\u2019s brigades and divisions in Vietnam. LRRP were small units, typically composed of six-man teams. They would, as their name implies, operate alone, on long range patrols, conducting reconnaissance on enemy movements.<\/p>\n

Training for LRRP was grueling and demanding, as the job required nothing but the best. As Taylor recalled, \u201cThose [LRRP] boys wouldn\u2019t be out 15 minutes before the Viet Cong surrounded them.\u201d They\u2019d call for air support, and the Cobras would answer. With as fast as the Cobra could fly (upwards of 150 knots), they could arrive on station minutes after launch.<\/p>\n

To engage the enemy, the Cobras were equipped with a devastating amount of firepower. On the nose was mounted an M28 turret. The turret was equipped with two M134 miniguns. Each minigun is a six-barrelled Gatling-gun firing 7.62mm. Later versions would also mount 40mm grenade launchers in place of one or both minigun. On the helicopter\u2019s stub wings were provisions for another minigun, the M61 Vulcan 20mm Gatling gun, or, as most commonly equipped in these early days, dozens of 70mm rockets.<\/p>\n

Coming in over any beleaguered American ground troops, First Lieutenant Taylor sucked up his fear and, in the words of Chaplain Forgy, he would \u201cPraise the lord and pass the ammunition.\u201d Taylor felt a connection with the men on the ground. If he hadn\u2019t gotten the chance to leave the Armor Branch, he\u2019d likely have been down there among the brush with them, after all.<\/p>\n

Taylor said, \u201cI don\u2019t know if it was some spiritual connection or the fact that we shared a bond of brotherhood I\u2019ve never seen anywhere else, but whenever I came in rocking my minigun \u2026 I swear I could feel the LRRP team\u2019s relief. I was their savior. But to the enemy, I was the angel of death, come to collect their souls.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor\u2019s most harrowing mission is legendary in Army Air Cavalry circles, and still taught today as part of Ranger School I\u2019m told. The call came in about 2100 hours on 18 June 1968. Four LRRP teams had been sent out to reconnoiter a small village. Taylor had foreknowledge of the mission, and knew it was a dangerous one. He even told his superiors that it was doomed to fail, but the powers that be moved forward nonetheless.<\/p>\n

As they were known to do, the LRRP men soon found themselves heavily engaged. Taylor, listening to the radio of the elite warriors on the ground, said, \u201cChatter over the net crackled and screeched but the words came as clear as the desperation in the voice \u2014 \u2018We\u2019re surrounded!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Sergeant Dave Hill was the man on the ground who gave out the frantic call for help. Taylor says that \u201csometimes Dave\u2019s rank varied depending on which CO he had offended that week.\u201d That\u2019s usually the sign of a good warfighter in my experience. At the moment, even the best warriors needed help. Hill remembers, after being completely engulfed by enemy fire, \u201cWe settled in and called for support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hill\u2019s team was \u201cWild Cat 2\u201d, and Taylor was flying under the epic call sign \u201cDarkhorse Three Two.\u201d Taylor was the lead of two Cobras that answered the call, the other piloted by Roger Trickler. Taylor said he immediately felt that this mission was different from the hundreds of like missions he\u2019d already performed. Taylor\u2019s co-pilot Bill Ratliff similarly had gone eerily quiet as they ran to get their chopper in the air. This mission wouldn\u2019t be like any other.<\/p>\n

Less than 30 minutes later, the Cobras arrived on station. Taylor says, \u201cWe found the LRRP team in the middle of a rice paddy larger than a football stadium, surrounded by a reinforced company of North Vietnamese.\u201d From the ground, Hill remembers that the two cobras “Over the next 35 minutes, they continually made rocket and gun runs around us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor and his wingman repeatedly flew circles around them, trying to provide cover as the team repositioned themselves for extraction. The enemy was relentless. The two very loud, very obvious gunships drew the enemy\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n

Taylor says, \u201cI heard the plink of enemy bullets as they found their mark on my Cobra and returned in kind. No one shot at me twice. No one ever shot at a Cobra twice. Miniguns ripped the air with a stream of lead and rockets smashed the ground with explosive death, but the enemy refused to surrender with their prey so close.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the withering fire the Cobras laid into the enemy, the LRRP team was going to be overrun at any moment. \u201cThey were gonna die,\u201d says Taylor. \u201cThere were four of them and they were surrounded by about 60 [enemy combatants] in a ring.\u201d At that point the radio traffic from the ground came up, more desperate than before. \u201cWe\u2019re pinned down, get us out! God, we\u2019re going to die out here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNot on my watch,\u201d Said Taylor to himself, using his helicopter to draw the enemy fire, even though doing so put him directly above the LRRP team (and thus exposing their position). Taylor radioed to his command echelon, \u201cbut they were about as helpful as tits on a boar.\u201d Taylor told them that he was going to evacuate them himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cNegative-negative-negative, you will belay that.\u201d Came the reply, to which Taylor pleaded, \u201cThey\u2019re going to die.\u201d All they got in return from command was \u201cStandby\u2026 Standby\u2026 Standby\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Soon the Cobras were almost out of ammunition. The plumes from their own rockets and gunfire combined with that of the enemy and in the darkness reduced visibility to almost nothing.<\/p>\n

The Cobras expended 152 rockets and nearly all of their 16,000 rounds of 7.62mm minigun ammo. Now also low on fuel, Taylor radioed for permission to land 100 yards away from the besieged recon soldiers. Landing amidst that melee, by all accounts, was a death sentence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the hell are you waiting for? Either get me a Huey, or I\u2019m extracting them,\u201d Taylor hollered into his headset. The reply was that the landing zone was too hot, the LRRP men would have to make it two kilometers south, and meet the Huey there. Well, that wasn\u2019t happening.<\/p>\n

Taylor was exasperated. He remembers thinking, \u201cWhat part of \u2018they\u2019re surrounded\u2019 don\u2019t you understand? Forget it. I\u2019m getting my men out. \u2026 I am exercising my prerogative as the senior commander on the scene!\u201d<\/p>\n

In the perhaps inflated lore surrounding the incident, the story is told by men of the 1\/4 Cavalry that, in his enthusiasm to properly relay to his command the desperation of the situation, \u201cone of the pilots\u201d accused the commander of \u201chaving unnatural relations with his mother.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor remembers, \u201cI switched the radio channel back to the LRRP team. \u2018You guys still have your claymores?\u2019 The answer was \u201cRoger\u201d so I let them know, I only got enough rounds for a quick pass. Set up them claymores, aim them toward the village, blow them after I make my pass, then sit tight. I\u2019ll come find you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, the Cobra is a two-seat helicopter. While I mentioned earlier it doesn\u2019t need the same crew as a Huey, it\u2019s also not provisioned for any more than two pilots. There\u2019s no jumpseat and no cargo hold. There\u2019s just two stub wings (upon which were mounted the gunship\u2019s offensive rocketry) and two landing skids. Just where Taylor planned on putting an additional four men is\u2026well\u2026inconceivable.<\/p>\n

Taylor made his pass on the team\u2019s western flank, Trickler expended the last of his minigun ammo with a strafing run on the eastern flank, and the men on the ground triggered their claymores (which will force even the most hardened soldiers to take cover). Hill recalls out of the darkness, \u201cAll of a sudden we feel this down draft of wind, and here comes Taylor\u2019s Cobra and he\u2019s landing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The four LRRP troops, out of ammo, ran for the safety of the helicopter. Hill still had some grenades, so he fell back. Running behind his three teammates, he\u2019d stop every ten yards or so to turn back towards the tenacious enemy and lob a few grenades.<\/p>\n

The infantrymen jumped onto the Cobra and grabbed whatever they could, and held on for dear life. Taylor said, \u201cTwo of them jumped on the far side. They were sitting on the skid holding on to the strut and the other two jumped on the rocket pods.\u201d In a 2023 interview, he told the Associated Press that he was on the ground for all of 10 seconds. He wasn\u2019t sure exactly where the men were holding on, but \u201cthey beat on the side of the ship twice, which meant haul ass. And we did!\u201d<\/p>\n

Hill was one of those who sat on the rocket pod. Like Slim Pickens in Strangelove<\/em>, he \u201crode it like a horse backwards\u201d as the Cobra took to the skies. For his bravery under fire that night, Hill would receive the Silver Star.<\/p>\n

Before landing in the rice paddy, Ratliff had warned Taylor that their fuel light had come on. They were out of gas before even setting down. They had 20 minutes of fuel. The flight back to base was 25. To Lieutenant Taylor this was one more obstacle that he would overcome through sheer force of will.<\/p>\n

Taylor skillfully and carefully flew up to about 2,000 feet, gently enough that he wouldn\u2019t shake any of his passengers off. This altitude allowed them to get out of range of small arms fire. Flying on borrowed time, with four men literally clinging to the side of his chopped, Taylor brought it in for a perfect, soft landing near Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Saigon.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The LRRP men jumped off, and gave Taylor their thanks through thumbs up signs and salutes. Then Taylor was gone, to make it back to his base at Phu Loi.<\/p>\n

Taylor would receive the Silver Star for the incredible rescue operation. Hill and others would spend years trying to get Taylor proper recognition. Taylor remained in the Army for a bit longer. He ultimately left the service as a Captain in 1970 and was discharged from the US Army Reserve at the same rank in 1973.<\/p>\n

During his service Taylor was also awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross four times, the Bronze Star Medal, and a whopping 43 Air Medals. He flew more than 2,000 combat missions over Southeast Asia. He came under enemy fire at least 340 times, and was forced to land by said fire five times.<\/p>\n

For his role that June night in 1968, Taylor is humble. He says, \u201cI just got caught doing my job. I didn\u2019t plan on it. Didn\u2019t expect it. It just happened. That\u2019s what you do. I told my men, \u2018You never leave a man on the ground,\u2019 and we never did, and I never lost a man. Not one. \u2026 I\u2019d flown thousands of missions in Vietnam and saved countless lives. But none had meant so much to me as the four we saved that night, for life had never become so sweet as the night I became the angel of death \u2026 no man left behind.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the Army, Taylor returned to Chattanooga and ran a successful roofing and sheet metal company.<\/p>\n

In July 2023, Taylor\u2019s wife Toni picked up the phone. \u201cStandby for the President of the Unites States.\u201d There was no advanced call to coordinate. Soon they were talking to President Biden. Taylor was told his Silver Star would be<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Taylor said of the call, \u201cWe talked for quite a few minutes. I told him, \u2018I thought you had to do something to receive a Medal of Honor.\u2019\u201d Biden responded, \u201cI have your 201 file. You are coming to Washington.\u201d Larry says he \u201ctold me to wear whatever I\u2019d wear to Sunday school.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an interview prior to heading to D.C. Taylor reflects, \u201cMost people on the street don\u2019t know what the hell [the Medal of Honor] is, but I do, so I\u2019m proud. To be mentioned in the same company as those people kind of makes you stop and think. It\u2019s an exclusive fraternity, that\u2019s for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2022, on the 54th anniversary of that harrowing night, Sergeant Hill said,<\/p>\n

\u201cIn extracting our LRRP team, “Wildcat 2”, on your Cobra, from a very hostile, deadly and lonely rice paddy near the village of Ap Go Cong, Republic of Vietnam. Who would have bet that any of us would have even seen the sun come up on the morning of 19 June 1968, let alone the dawns of another 54 years. Words are inadequate to describe your actions, nor my humble gratitude, for the many years of friendship given you and me since then, so i will just say: “Thank you, sir”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Taylor received the Medal of Honor from Biden at the White House on 5 September 2023. The President said that despite Taylor being ordered to leave the LRRP team, \u201che refused to put his own life above the lives of those in need. That\u2019s valor. That\u2019s our nation at its very best.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the ceremony, Taylor, humble as ever, said, \u201cYou just do whatever is expedient and do whatever to save the lives of the people you\u2019re trying to rescue.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, with help from local government and civic organizations, will be having a \u201cWelcome Home\u201d parade for Taylor when he goes back home, with his new silk ribboned medal around his neck, on 11 September 2023.<\/p>\n

The lesson taught to future aviators by Captain Taylor has resulted in at least one similar rescue. In 2007, in Ramadi, Iraq, AH-64 pilots then-Chief Warrant Officer 4 Kevin Purtee and Chief Warrant Officer 2 Allen Crist conducted a similar rescue of a critically wounded soldier. Read about it here.<\/a> Both men received the Distinguished Flying Cross for it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week Captain Larry Taylor was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the … Valor Friday<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":146909,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[359,232,10,593,130,389,217],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146908","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-army","category-army-news","category-historical","category-medal-of-honor","category-real-soldiers","category-valor","category-we-remember"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146908","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/664"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=146908"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146908\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/146909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=146908"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=146908"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=146908"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}