Promises

Book excerpt: A Huey helicopter escorted by two assault Charlie-model gunship helicopters are flying somewhere over the South Vietnam jungles in search of a sniper and his spotter. Not able to locate or make contact with them and with enemy fire increasing, they have to cancel their mission and hopefully come back later. As they begin to fly away, the door gunner from the second gunship sees the sniper and spotter running through the jungle. Realizing there is not enough time for the Huey to turn back, his pilot breaks toward an area where they can pick up the sniper and spotter. Enemy fire picks up as the sniper and spotter run toward the gunship while the door gunner keeps them covered with his M60 machine gun. As the two soldiers jump into the cabin, the crew chief is mortally wounded with an enemy round. As they fly away, the sniper and spotter fight desperately to save his life. Arriving back to a MASH unit, the pilot, copilot, gunner, sniper, and spotter all stand close to the dying crew chief. As the crew chief slowly dies, his last request is for them to promise to look after his wife should she ever need help. All five make the promise. About forty-five years later, the gunner receives a telephone call from the crew chief's wife regarding their promise.