16 Marine Corps Aviation

Over the course of 77 days inearly 1969, First LieutenantJoseph P. Donovan, a young

helicopter pilot, became one of themost highly decorated aviators in thehistory of the Marine Corps. Flyingwith what he later described as thefinest Marines (crew chiefs, mechan-ics, and gunners) the Corps had tooffer, Donovan earned an astoundingarray of medals, including two NavyCrosses, a Silver Star, twoDistinguished Flying Crosses, and aPurple Heart. He was also awarded a

total of 35 Strike/Flight Air Medals. Designated a Marine aviator on 2

April 1968, Donovan was originally aUH-1E pilot and later stated that hewas “fully qualified to serve my tourin Vietnam as a Huey gunship pilot.”However, by August 1968, he wasordered to Vietnam to serve withMarine Medium HelicopterSquadron 364 (HMM-364).Operating initially out of Phu Baiand later Marble Mountain AirFacility, located near Da Nang,HMM-364 was flying Boeing’s

improved CH-46D Sea Knight. Theirmission was one of resupply, mede-vacs, and insertions and extractionsof troops.After a period of transitioning to

the Sea Knight, Donovan settled intothe day-to-day realities of flightoperations in Vietnam. There wasrarely a “routine” flight. On 24January 1969, while copiloting air-craft YK-22, the flight came underenemy fire. A hydraulic line was hit,resulting in the loss of both the aux-iliary and number two hydraulic

First Lieutenants Joseph P. Donovan and William A. Beebe were photographed on 1 September 1969, the day they arrived at Phu Bai toserve with HMM-364.

Honorable Joseph P. Donovan

Trial by Fire:Donovan Earns Multiple Medals asSea Knight Aviator in VietnamBy Beth L. Crumley

CORE OF THE CORPS

100th Anniversary 17

February 1969. 1st LtDonovan, and his co-pilot 1stLt Sam Ware had preflightedYK-5 earlier . . . the bird and thecrew were ready for the eveningmedevac. I had just finishedbuttoning her up when I heardthe whooshing of incoming, fol-lowed immediately by theirexploding on impact in andaround Marble Mountain AirFacility. As the rockets andshells rained down on our loca-tion, I started the auxiliarypower plant in preparation forengine start as Lt Donovan andLt Ware ran toward the chop-per. Donovan launched at about 2200

as wingman in a flight of two SeaKnights, assigned to medevac a seri-ously injured Marine from an areanorth of the bridge. The lead aircrafthad the corpsman on board. Onceairborne, the lead aircraft experi-enced mechanical difficulties, and

boost system, and drenching the air-craft and crew with hydraulic fluid.The helicopter made an emergencylanding at a remote fire base on thewestern edge of Charlie Ridge, northof Thuong Duc. It would not be thelast time Donovan and his crewwould find themselves in peril. Marine patrols in the area north

of the Nam O Bridge in Quang NamProvince had increased. Troops hadswept the area and discovered noenemy, although an extensive tunnelsystem ran through the area.However, the situation heated up onthe night of 22–23 February whenthe enemy acted. Mortars and 122-millimeter rockets hit Da Nang,igniting a 450,000-gallon fuel tankand damaging six helicopters. Crewchief and earlier 1968 Navy Crossrecipient, Corporal Ernesto “Gooie”Gomez stated that

my aircraft had beenassigned the night medevacmission on the evening of 21

with no radio, the pilot was forced toreturn to Marble Mountain.Donovan, having never flown as anight helicopter aircraft commander,resolutely elected to continue themission, stating that “we will try.”Gomez handled the medical as wellas crew chief duties: “When theMarines call you in the middle of thenight with a medevac, somethinghappens inside you . . . it soundskinda crazy, but these guys are sur-rounded, these guys are getting hit,these guys are getting shot . . . andwe’re going out there in a helicopterto help them.”As they approached the designat-

ed area, Donovan observed a rocketlaunching site, and the accompany-ing gunships went after it. Despitethe heavy enemy fire and withoutgunship support, he maneuvered theSea Knight onto the side of a cliff andloaded the wounded Marine in theinky darkness, illuminated by rocketlaunches. Gomez stated that “it was

Marine Corps

A Sea Knight from HMM-364 delivers supplies to Company K, 3d Battalion, 5th Marines, in July 1969.

18 Marine Corps Aviation

difficult to see through the smoke ofthe incoming. A grenade went offnearby and Donovan yelled ‘I’m hit!’over the intercommunication system(ICS).” Although wounded in the leg and

face, Donovan managed to fly thedamaged helicopter and headedtoward Charlie Med in Da Nang. Henoted that “rockets were hitting allover Da Nang. I was flying very slow-ly along China Beach toward theriver and III MAF . . . and it waslights out at Marble Mountain.” Once at Charlie Med, Gomez

ascertained that the helicopter wasstill operational, and Donovanlaunched a second medevac mission.Again, he landed in an hazardousarea, without gunship support, totake on a wounded Republic of KoreaMarine. Informed there were eightmore seriously wounded Marines inanother area, Donovan proceeded to

the site. Coordinating his approachwith gunship fire, he picked up thewounded Marines, only to lift outand land again a third time, pickingup two additional casualties in criti-cal condition. After returning toCharlie Med and preparing to flyagain, at dawn Donovan was orderedby Major Ernest C. Cunningham tostand down. Said Gomez,

Not too many other heli-copters got off the ground thatnight . . . It was now almostdawn. We had refueled underthe flashes of incoming roundswhile the tower and airfieldwere closed. We had flown allnight from outpost to outpost.We were shot at, by, and flewthrough enemy rockets, .51-cal-iber machine gun rounds, andother assorted small arms. Wehad grenades thrown at us. Ihad seen black pajamas in the

LZ Lt. Donovan had managednot to pass out, but he was veryweak.For his courage and devotion to

duty, Donovan earned his first NavyCross. He earned a DistinguishedFlying Cross, less than a month later,on 17 March 1969. Go Noi Island is located on the Hoi

An River between An Hoa and Hoi Anin the Quang Nam Province ofVietnam. In 1969, it was a hotbed ofViet Cong and North VietnameseArmy activity. Donovan launched ona daytime medevac flight, given themission of picking up nine woundedMarines. Although UH-1E helicoptergunships attacked enemy positionsaround the landing zone, he encoun-tered heavy fire upon his approach.While his crew sought to suppressthat fire, he was able to land the air-craft. Almost immediately, however,the landing zone came under heavy

Marines of 2d Battalion, 26th Marines, board a “Purple Foxes” helicopter, 1969.Marine Corps

100th Anniversary 19

mortar fire, and he was forced to liftoff. After additional strafing runs bythe gunships, he landed once more,and although dangerously exposedto enemy fire, maintained his posi-tion until all the wounded were onboard the aircraft.Throughout the month of April,

Marines in Quang Nam Provinceundertook a series of operations,including large patrols to secure the“rocket belt” around Da Nang.Stretching from the Hai Van Pass inthe north to Marble Mountain in thesouth, this area was where enemyforces launched 122-millimeter rock-ets into the Da Nang complex. On 21 April, Donovan was

assigned to evacuate seriouslywounded Marines of Company B, 1stBattalion, 5th Marines, from a ricepaddy, northwest of Liberty Bridge.As he neared the designated landingzone, Donovan commenced a high-speed, low-altitude approach towarda tree line to the north of the wound-ed Marines. He immediately cameunder machine gun fire, which dam-aged the forward section of his air-craft. Despite the continuing enemyfire and his damaged helicopter, heflew close to the casualties who wereloaded and flown to the hospital atDa Nang.A subsequent inspection of

Donovan’s helicopter revealed theaircraft was no longer airworthy. Hetook command of a second aircraftand immediately received anothermedevac mission to the same area.Once again, he was forced to flythrough intense enemy fire. As thewounded were being moved onboard, additional ground fire erupt-ed which prevented the Marines onthe ground from getting the rest ofthe casualties into the helicopter.Lance Corporal John E. Harris, whowas manning the starboard .50-cal-iber machine gun, was wounded inthe right arm but continued to laydown suppressive fire. Donovan wasthen forced to lift out of the landingzone. Once he determined that

Harris was not seriously woundedand the aircraft was still capable ofaccomplishing the evacuation, hecommunicated to the Marines on theground that he would attempt anoth-er landing. He was, however,informed that another helicopterwould complete the medevac mis-sion. Donovan later stated thatHarris “was, and is my personal heroon this mission.” For this action, hereceived his second Navy Cross (GoldStar in lieu of second award.) Sevendays later, he would, once again, findhimself on a mission that wouldrequire courage and devotion to duty.The 1st Reconnaissance Battalion

was stationed at An Hoa CombatBase. On 28 April, Donovan flew areconnaissance team of 15–18Marines into enemy-held territorysome twenty miles southwest of DaNang. During his briefing, he advisedthe reconnaissance team that “whenwe land and the ramp goes down,wait one minute, if no fire, then getoff.” He initiated a high-speedapproach to the planned landingzone and, once again, encounteredintense enemy fire. Climbing to asafe altitude, he selected an alternatelanding zone. As the Sea Knight land-ed and unbeknownst to Donovan, ayoung reconnaissance lieutenant andanother Marine bounded off theramp and immediately engaged thewell-concealed enemy. As small armsand automatic weapons fire pep-pered the helicopter, he lifted off andhis crew chief said “Sir, we left a manin the zone.” He returned to the land-ing zone and maintained his positionuntil the two Marines were on board.According to Donovan, they didn’tclimb out of the landing zone asmuch as they dived off the side of amountain. Said the red-haired, blue-eyed, reconnaissance lieutenant atthe debriefing at An Hoa, “Sureappreciate you coming to get me.”Donovan would be awarded a GoldStar in lieu of his secondDistinguished Flying Cross.On the morning of 9 May 1969,

Donovan and another pilot assignedto HMM-364, First LieutenantWilliam A. Beebe, had been flyingmedevacs for more than six hours.They returned to Marble MountainAir Facility and refueled, fully expect-ing to be relieved by another sectionwhen a call came in from AlphaCompany, 1st Battalion, 5thMarines. The company had twokilled and another ten wounded:They were still fighting a large NorthVietnamese force near the village ofMy Hiep 3. The terrain was flat,teeming with rice paddies and dikes. As information flowed in over the

radio, it became apparent that thecasualties were widely separated atmultiple locations. In 2003,Donovan’s crew chief, SergeantKenneth A. Altazan stated that “thir-ty-four years later I can still hear thegarbled chatter and almost sublimi-nal flow of information over myheadset . . . It was a disaster lookingfor a place to happen.” Donovanneared the landing zone, marked byyellow smoke, flying at low level andescorted by gunships. He later statedthat “the Marines and the NVA wereall mixed up, and there was no clear-ance to fire.” Because the woundedwere scattered over a large area atfive different positions, Donovanflew at low altitude over the rice pad-dies and spent an inordinate amountof time on the ground. As such, hisSea Knight got hit many times.At one point, as the helicopter

began taking on casualties, one ofthe Marines carrying a casualty wasshot, and both men fell. Altazan laterstated that “at this time I unpluggedmy intercommunications system(ICS) cord and ran to help the twofallen men at some distance from theaircraft. Carrying one on my shoul-der, and helping the other as best Icould, I heard or felt a sniper’s bullethit the man I was carrying. Theimpact caused me to fall with mywounded Marine, and I injured myknee.” With the help of HospitalCorpman-3, John L. VanDamme,

20 Marine Corps Aviation

Altazan and the wounded enteredthe aircraft. The quick-thinking gun-ners, realizing Altazan had no com-munication with the cockpit,informed Donovan that the heli-copter was clear to take off. As thehelicopter continued to take hitsfrom enemy fire, they were advisedto pull out of the zone. According toAltazan, Donovan “respondedemphatically and in no uncertainterms that ‘We’re not leaving thiszone until we’ve got all your mede-vacs! Do you understand that?’”Donovan said that “the last loca-

tion was the most difficult. It wasclose to the tree line.” Altazannoticed movement some distancefrom the helicopter and realized thata Marine was located in a smallcrater waving a green T-shirt.According to Altazan,

I did not have time to tell LtDonovan that I was leaving theaircraft, but I decided to go tothis man who obviously wasnot able to come to us. As Ibolted from the front door ofthe aircraft, I forgot to unplugmy long cord and in full stridewas jerked from my feet when Ireached the end of that cord.As I got up again I felt a terriblepain in my knee and was notcertain that I was going to beable to even get to the mede-vacs, much less help them . . . When I got to the spot, I

found two men. One wasunconscious, and the other wasexhausted and suffering heatstroke. I picked up the uncon-scious man and grabbed theother man by the belt . . . I canstill reflect back on the surrealscene before me as Iapproached the plane—a pilotholding his aircraft fast in afire-swept zone, my right gun-ner firing his .50-calibermachine gun, the other gunnerstanding in full view on thesteps of the front door firingover and past me with his rifle,

Huey gunships and fixed-wingaircraft literally right over ourheads . . .The floor of the helicopter was

covered with “wounded Marines,spent brass, medical bandage wrap-pers, hanging intravenous bags,windblown grass, and debris” asthey finally lifted out of the zone.Both Donovan and Altazan wereawarded Silver Stars for theiractions. A year later, Donovan was pre-

sented the 1970 Frederick L.Feinberg Award by General Lewis W.Walt. The award, established by theKaman Aircraft Corporation, isawarded annually to a helicopterpilot for “outstanding achievementin rescue, flight, and test develop-ment of a new aircraft or generalhigh level of performance in opera-tional flying during the preceding

year.” Given Donovan’s record, it wasan honor he deserved. Years later, Donovan would reflect

on his service in Vietnam and hisMarine air-ground team:

By my count on every mission,we were a team of pilot, copilot,crew chief, two gunners at each.50 cal, and the Navy Medic, or inthe case of Doc Linkous, a NavyDoctor on board, not to overlookthe maintenance crew that con-stantly went without rest to keepthe aircraft ‘up.’ We were and area Marine air-ground team linkedby oath and blood to those onthe ground we serve. We allachieved the missions, and we allrespect the memory of oursquadron mates and Marines onboard who paid for the lives oftheir fellow Marines with theirown.

On 27 July 2007, LieutenantEileen C. Donovan, daughter

of Joseph and Beba Donovan,earned her “Wings of Gold” aftercompleting her training at TheNaval Aviation Training Center, inPensacola, Florida. The wings shereceived were worn by ColonelEugene R. “The Papafox” Bradywho commanded HMM-364 whenher father flew under Brady’scommand in Vietnam. She hascontinued in her father’s foot-steps, flying Sea Knights inMarine Medium HelicopterSquadron 166. Perhaps mostnotable, Captain Eileen Donovanand Captain “Big Cat”Stephenson, flew the very sameHMM-364 “Purple Fox” heli-copter on 21 April 2010, 42 yearsto the date, that LieutenantJoseph Donovan completed the21 April 1969 mission for whichhe was awarded his second NavyCross. On 23 June 2010, HMM-

Eileen C. Donovan

166 was redesignated as a tiltrotorsquadron, VMM-166. CaptainEileen Donovan, is currentlyassigned to VMM-166, flying theV-22 Osprey.

Captain Eileen C. Donovan.Honorable Joseph P. Donovan