Flying unfriendly skies

One of the highest medals that a United States Armed Forces member can receive is the Air Force’s Distinguished Flying Cross. This award is given for heroism or extraordinary achievement in aerial flight.
Earning this award is rare for any service member, and is even more rare for any service member from Evangeline Parish to receive such an award. However, one Ville Platte native did so for his achievements in Vietnam.
“I was a machine gunner on a gun ship,” said Michael Lee. “We got called out to Phnom Penh Airport which is in the capital of Cambodia. It was being overrun by the Viet Cong. They were climbing over the fence, and we came in and steadily fired for hours. We stayed as long as we could. We ran out of ammo. Another gunship took our place while we went back to reload, and then we went back. This battle went on for hours.”
“We prevented it from being overrun,” he continued. “Once they would have gotten the airport, they could have gotten the whole city.”
That day’s battle occurred on December 25, 1970. “That was a day we weren’t supposed to be flying because it was Christmas Day, and we weren’t supposed to be flying in Cambodia,” Lee said. “It took a long time for that medal to catch up to me because the military wouldn’t give it to me until all of that settled down. They didn’t want to admit we were in Cambodia.”
Along with the Distinguished Flying Cross, Lee earned nine air medals during his one year of service in Vietnam. “When they pinned those medals on me after I got back to the United States,” he stated, “they had a ceremony for all the people getting their medals at Barksdale Air Force Base. All of us were lined up, and they put us in line according to what medals we were getting. I was number two in line.”
“I was just a two-striper or airman first class at the time,” he continued. “The general pinning the medals asked me what I did to get all those medals because he couldn’t believe how many medals I got especially the Distinguished Flying Cross.”
What happened next happens almost as rare as receiving the Distinguished Flying Cross. As Lee explained, “The general turned to the full bird colonel who was the base commander and said he wanted me to be a sergeant E-4 the next morning. He field promoted me right there on the spot. That never happens, but that general saw all the medals I was getting.”
Lee volunteered to join the Air Force when he was 18-years-old and then volunteered to join the special forces. He described what it was like going through special forces training. “The training was hell with survival school in Spokane, Wash., survival school in The Philippines, and parachute training,” he said. “I went through all of that. It took about 10 months. If I were to fail any part of that, I wouldn’t have become a special forces person.”
A chance encounter in special forces training allowed Lee to have some perks once getting to Vietnam. “When I was going through survival school, they paired us off,” he said. “We had to survive seven days with no food, and we had to cover so many miles a day using a compass and check into different places. I was paired off with a full bird colonel, and he was a little older man. I had to help him make it through because he was not in the best shape.”
Lee continued, “It turned out when I got to Vietnam, he was the base commander. “He saw I was coming to be stationed there, and he called and sent his car to pick me up. He had his people cook me a big steak. I ate supper with him, and, every once in a while, he would send his car to pick me up to meet with him. He also let me fly in the back seat with him in his F-4. That was awesome, but it’s crazy how that happened with him ending up being the base commander.”
Even with the perks, Lee’s time in Vietnam was not all a bed of roses. “I saw a lot of shit,” he expressed. “I was young and dumb when I went to Vietnam. I was 18. When you’re that age, you don’t think anything will ever happen to you. I saw bullets flying around us. The North Vietnamese would throw everything they could at us to try to knock us down.”
While in Vietnam, Lee was stationed primarily in Saigon, which was the capital of South Vietnam. Besides South Vietnam and Cambodia, he also flew in Laos and even drifted into North Vietnam. “I flew the whole country,” he said. “I flew wherever they needed us to cover the ground troops.”
Lee spent seven years total in the Air Force including two in the special forces. However, he spent only one year in Vietnam. “I couldn’t stay longer than that,” he explained. “In the field I was in, the likelihood of surviving a year was rare. People were getting shot down all the time, but I made it.”
Since returning home to Ville Platte, Lee does not like to talk about his time in Vietnam and is just starting to open up about his experiences. “I’m proud that I did it,” he stated.
Lee took time to wish his fellow armed service members a happy Veterans Day and finds satisfaction in the support Vietnam veterans are now getting. “I appreciate the fact that now the people and the public are showing respect for Vietnam veterans,” he commented. “Because when I got back, we couldn’t even identify ourselves as a veteran. I had to change clothes out of my uniform at the airport when I hit the states.”
He concluded, “I’m grateful that now the public is recognizing us and giving us some praise.”