Welcome Home Vietnam Veterans! • They flew more day and night missions, and more combat missions than any other unit in Vietnam. They flew over 78,000 missions, accumulated over 131,000 flight hours, and flew 1,530 medical evacuations. • Their actions saved countless lives! For their bravery, courage, and heroism, they were awarded medals at the highest levels - 5 Navy Crosses, 31 Silver Star Medals, 2 Legion of Merit Medals, 5 Navy and Marine Corps Medals, 219 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 156 Purple Hearts, 101 Bronze Star Medals, 142 Gallantry Crosses, over 16,000 Air Medals, and many more awards. • Their service came at a price - 44 Seawolves were killed in action and over 200 were wounded.
Photo by Gary Ely
By Holly Shaffner This fall Honor Flight San Diego will open their “Tour of Honor” flight to Vietnam veterans for the first time. Approximately 100 Vietnam veterans will travel to Washington, D.C. to visit the memorials built for their service and sacrifice. Since 2010, Honor Flight San Diego has been taking senior veterans (currently WWII and Korea era veterans), and veterans from any era with terminal illnesses on the three-day trip. The trip is no cost to the veteran and nearly 1,500 veterans have flown from San Diego.
• Their unit was not formally recognized until 38 years after the Vietnam War. They were finally recognized by Congress in House Resolution 1228 in July 2010. The Seawolves were established to provide close air support for the Navy’s Game Warden River Patrol Force (a.k.a. Brown Water Navy) in South Vietnam to take control of the rivers. Navy helicopterpilots, skilled at antisubmarine warfare and search and rescue operations which required a similar all-weather capability which was better able to cope with this environment than their Army counterparts.
In September, history will be made as the organization starts with the Vietnam era. The organization wanted to start with an extraordinary and unique group; they selected the Navy HA(L)-3 Seawolves. If you haven’t heard of the Seawolves, they were an all-volunteer squadron in the US Navy formed in support of Naval Special Warfare operations and Mobile Riverine Forces during the Vietnam War. They served in country from July 1966 to March 1972. Here’s a few facts about the Seawolves: • They are the most decorated Navy Squadron in the Vietnam War, and in all of Naval Aviation History. • They were the only rapid reaction armed helicopter squadron ever commissioned in the U.S. Navy and only Naval Unit to be commissioned and decommissioned in country during the Vietnam War. They had no U.S. home base during the war. 10
WWW.SanDiegoVeteransMagazine.com / APRIL 2022
Photo by Anthony Rosario
