Local brothers share Vietnam stories with CAP cadets Published May 17, 2016 By Maj. Polly Orcutt 910th Airlift Wing Public Affairs YOUNGSTOWN AIR RESERVE STATION, Ohio -- For the first time, two brothers who served in the Vietnam War talked about their service and being awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) to Civil Air Patrol cadets with the Youngstown Air Reserve Station Composite Squadron, April 18 here. Robert (Bob) and Allan Parkhurst grew up in Vienna, Ohio. Bob was attending Youngstown State University in the early 1960s when money got tight. He heard about a program where he could join the military and learn to fly. Bob looked into the program and thought it would be a great opportunity. He was commissioned in the Air Force and became a navigator on the C-123 Provider cargo aircraft. As first lieutenant and captain, Bob Parkhurst served two tours in Vietnam. The first was in 1963 when he spent six months on embassy runs and troop and supply drops. He returned for a one-year tour in 1965. “The first time I was in Vietnam wasn’t too bad,” the former navigator said. “In 1965, that is when things got more hostile.” As the navigator, his job was to get the aircraft into position and give the green light to the loadmaster to push out the load. Due to small drop zones the crews would often have to make several passes to drop their entire load. The aircraft would work with forward air controllers on the ground to ensure it was safe to come around again and to avoid taking too much ground fire. “After the first drop the loadmaster would readjust the load, push the remaining cargo to the back and we would come around again,” said Bob Parkhurst. “On one mission the forward air controller must have swapped out between runs, and the message wasn’t passed on that we were coming in for a second time. We almost got in the way of a bomb run. That was a scary moment, but we dropped our load and got out of there safely.” Allan Parkhurst took a different path but still followed his older brother to serve in Vietnam. He became an Army warrant officer and flew UH-1 Huey helicopters for aeromedical evacuation, or DUSTOFF, missions. DUSTOFF stands for Dedicated Unhesitating Service to Our Fighting Forces. Allan Parkhurst was in Vietnam in 1967 and was a DUSTOFF pilot assigned to the 45th Medical Company (Air Ambulance). When he got in country he was assigned to fly with a more experienced pilot who helped him learn as much as possible about flying helicopters in Vietnam. “I developed my own way of flying from watching others,” said the younger Parkhurst. “You didn’t make mistakes there and survive.” A crew of four flew on the Huey: Pilot, co-pilot, medic and crew chief. A helicopter crew could be airborne in two minutes when called upon. According to a website dedicated to DUSTOFF crews, more than 900,000 soldiers survived their injuries due to DUSTOFF crews. The average time between a soldier being wounded and reaching the operating table was one hour, and 97 percent survived. On Dec. 2, 1967, the mission for which Allan Parkhurst was awarded the DFC, the crew had to extract a seriously wounded patient from an area with hostile fire. According to the award citation: “Immediate evacuation was needed for one critically wounded soldier from an insecure area. The density of the trees necessitated extraction by hoist. Warrant Officer Parkhurst carefully considered the dangers involved for his aircraft and crew, the serious condition of the injured soldier, and the grave tactical situation of the ground troops.” “I had to hover the helicopter to get the injured soldier out by hoist,” said Allan Parkhurst. “There was nowhere safe to set it down.” The citation continues: “He made the approach to the area and turned the tail of the aircraft toward the direction of the heaviest fire. Displaying outstanding pilot proficiency he lowered the helicopter into the tall trees. Despite intense enemy fire and gusting winds which made control of the aircraft extremely difficult, he held the aircraft at a steady hover while the patient was being loaded.” The former warrant officer said the blades of the helicopter nearly touched the trees as they extracted the patient. Once they got the critically wounded soldier out, the rest of the soldiers on the ground were able to get to safety and were extracted from the area. Bob Parkhurst was awarded the DFC for missions on Oct. 24 and 25, 1965. His citation reads: “On these dates, Lieutenant Parkhurst was engaged in airdrop missions over the joint Army Special Forces/Army of the Republic of Vietnam security hamlet of Plei Me, then so heavily besieged by hostile forces that they supported what later proved to be among the three largest Special Forces battles of 1965. In five dangerously vulnerable unarmed low altitude passes, Lieutenant Parkhurst and the rest of the crew delivered 22,000 pounds of critically needed supplies to a hard-pressed camp under heavy attack.” “I personally didn’t feel I deserved it (the DFC),” said Bob Parkhurst. “I was just doing my job. I volunteered twice to go, and I honestly enjoyed it, but I refused a third tour.” He didn’t want to push his luck. Both gentlemen were also awarded Air Medals for their service. According to Allan Parkhurst, crews were awarded an Air Medal for every 25 hours of combat flight, for every 50 hours of support and for every 100 hours of non-combat flight. Allan Parkhurst was awarded 19 Air Medals and Bob Parkhurst was awarded 11. The older brother said training was a big part of confidence and trust. “You needed to be mentally prepared that you may or may not make it back,” said Bob Parkhurst. “If you had time to plan, you planned, but there wasn’t always time to evaluate a situation, and you needed to trust your crew.” “The way to survive was to all work together, to know your job and to do it,” added Allan Parkhurst. The CAP cadets were asked to fill in a questionnaire on the value of teamwork as they listened to the two veterans being interviewed by CAP Lt. Dave Luther, volunteer chaplain for the composite squadron. One of the questions asked how teamwork helps in extremely intense moments. “Each member of the team does something vital to the success of the team,” said CAP Cadet Tech. Sgt. Tanner Mackall. The brothers share being DFC recipients with many famous people to include Clark Gable, Amelia Earhart, Chuck Yeager, Buzz Aldrin, George H.W. Bush, Charles, Lindbergh, Norman Schwarzkopf, Gus Grissom and Douglas MacArthur. “Bob and Allan are heroes among us,” said Luther, who arranged the CAP event after a chance meeting with the Parkhurst brothers at a Warren hot dog restaurant. “Men of their caliber and character need to be put in front of our cadets as role models.” Both men stated that if they could go back and do it again, they would.