Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans
5:47 | It was awful. He'd been flying all day and in the middle of the night, there was an attack. Helicopter pilot Bill Bates put on his steel pot and waited. He was scared on the ground. In the air he felt more at ease with people shooting at him.
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Bill Bates wanted to be a metallurgist but his grades slipped and he was disinvited from college. When he went to enlist, knowing the draft would get him, anyway, he tested well enough for the warrant officer program. They would make a helicopter pilot out of him.
At first, Bill Bates was flying Huey gunships but they really needed scout pilots so he switched over to the smaller Loach helicopter. He wasn't unarmed, though, the little birds had a mini gun. The main job was finding the enemy for the friendlies on the ground.
It was tough. The first time helicopter pilot Bill Bates killed an NVA soldier on the ground, it gave him pause. Better him than me, I guess. He was a scout pilot, a job that came with good odds on being a casualty. He loved flying the sporty little Loach helicopter, though. Much more fun than the boxy old Hueys.
Bill Bates was a team lead and the unit's instructor pilot. One day he did something else for the guys they really appreciated. As a scout pilot, he flew his chopper real low and down among the trees, he spotted a huge pig rooting around. Barbecue tonight!
He lied to his parents. The letters home contained none of the bad stuff he faced daily as a helicopter pilot or the misery of the rainy weather. And, yes, it could get worse. While supporting an artillery battery that was under attack, his engine was hit and he began to plunge through the trees to the jungle floor.
It was near the end of his tour when Bill Bates had a great idea. Hey, why don't we invite those nurses to this party we're having. Good idea! The nurses agreed so an hour before the party, he flew his helicopter over to the hospital and went inside. When he came out, he couldn't believe his eyes. They weren't going to make it to the party.
Helicopter pilot Bill Bates was made miserable by the rain and the mud when he was on the ground. In the air, the clouds often made navigation a real challenge. And they were short on scout pilots so he was always flying over the limit on hours that was the so-called maximum per month.
Bill Bates has no desire to go back to Vietnam, even when his wife and her cousin planned a trip over. His return from the war didn't help. After his tour, he entered college where one of his professors called him a baby killer. He is grateful that the attitude toward warriors is different today.
