Pilot Receives Honor 42 Years Later

Opelika-Auburn News | August 06, 2007

When it comes to getting a task accomplished, Jack F. Saint isn't the kind of man to waste a lot on words.

"I just do my job,"

is often the only response you'll get from Saint, 65, who now resides in the Lake Martin community.

But it was in the course of him simply "doing his job" one day in 1965, that Saint went above and beyond the call of duty -- a day he was recently recognized for at the U.S. Army Aviation Museum at Fort Rucker with the Distinguished Flying Cross, the highest award a serviceman can receive for heroism while participating in aerial flight.

Saint's military career took flight only a few years earlier.

After enlisting in the Army's Flight Training Program in 1963 and graduating in 1964, Saint found himself stationed at a base in Tan Sanut, Saigon, as part of a UTTH (Utility Tactical Transport Helicopter) company.

"It was primarily a prototype helicopter company that was the only armed helicopter company at the time,"

said Saint, who is also qualified to pilot fixed-wing aircraft.

"We were to take helicopters, design weapons systems for them as well as tactics for using those systems."

As a helicopter pilot in Vietnam, Saint's duties also included the job of clearing LZs (landing zones) where troops would be inserted into the field as well as providing cover fire for troops on the ground.

Saint's helicopter platoon consisted of five Bell Huey UH-1Bs equipped with rockets and machine guns.

Each helicopter platoon consisted of a four-man crew, according to Saint.

And while Saint logged more than 1,300 hours in a helicopter cockpit flying on sorties (military missions) during his yearlong tour in Vietnam, what happened on that fateful day in February still resonates with Saint.

[quote]"We picked up the LZs that day and there were two loads we had to offload,"]/quote] recalls Saint, who was a Warrant Officer at the time.

"Two of the ships in the airlift were shot down."

Other members of the Saints platoon quickly moved in to rescue downed members from the two helicopters.

"Shortly after that, another helicopter that was part of our team was shot down, so we moved in to pick them up,"

said Saint, a native of Hatton.

After landing his chopper, Saint then jumped out of it making a beeline for the crew of the downed helicopter sustaining intense small arms fire as he did.

"It was a rare day that we weren't getting shot at,"

Saint said.

"Getting fired on was a common thing. The only difference was the degree of."

When Saint finally did make it back to his helicopter with the surviving members of the downed crew, he found that his co-pilot had been wounded; but Saint was still able to pilot his helicopter and crew to safety.

Sadly, one of the four members of the downed helicopter crew Saint helped pick up was mortally wounded.

"We never left anybody behind- dead or alive,"

said Saint, who had himself been shot down in his helicopter three times during his time in the Republic of Vietnam.

Having both seen aircraft get shot down and having been shot down himself have given Saint a unique outlook on combat.

"Flying in combat is a lot like playing baseball,"

said Saint, who always wanted to be a pilot.

"There are a set of rules to it and everyone on the field has a role. The more you know that role and the more often you play it, generally the better off the team is for it."

As a helicopter pilot, sometimes knowing what to do was just as important as knowing what not to do.

"There are certain things you just don't do as a pilot like fly down tree lines exposed,"

Saint said.

"You also usually never flew lower than 600 to 1,000 feet. That minimized the time that the enemy could visually see you. The enemy could hear you, but they didn't know what direction you were coming from."

But as excellent as Saint would tell you his military training was, there was always a degree of tempered fear he performed his duties with as a helicopter pilot in Vietnam -- a fear he's not ashamed of admitting.

"There was always an element of fear you had,"

Saint said.

"Anybody that's not afraid in a situation like that, is a fool because as a pilot you're not only in charge of your own life; but you're doing the flying and thinking for the guys in your platoon too."

After spending an initial year in Vietnam and moving on to other duty stations, Saint would eventually return to Vietnam a second time from 1967 to 1968, this time serving as a helicopter test pilot where he supervised the maintenance and recovery of downed aircraft.

And while he received a Purple Heart and Bronze Star medals for his military service, it would be years later when Saint caught up with his friend Jack Johnson.

Johnson was the helicopter co-pilot that had been wounded that day in February in Vietnam so many years ago and had been since recognized by the military for his actions that day.

That's when Johnson asked Saint what award he'd gotten for his actions that day to which Saint replied 'none.'

Johnson then set about going through the proper channels to change that, resulting in Saint being formally recognized and presented with the Distinguished Flying Cross some 42 years later.

And while some folks might be a little sore about not being rewarded for their service for so many years, Saint is anything but that.

"I'm very honored and appreciate being awarded the medal,"

said Saint, father of two adult daughters, Cheryl and Sophia.

"I don't get too uppity about it; because when I think back on that day, I was just doing the job I was trained to do. But I loved doing that job."

"For every guy that gets a medal, I've seen hundreds more that have done great things during their military service that deserve one too,"

Saint said.

After serving at various duty stations in Texas, Louisiana, Kentucky and Virginia, Saint retired from Auburn University's ROTC Program after which he attended law school and practiced law for a number of years.

Saint does some traveling in his spare time and is involved with the volunteer fire department of the community in which he lives with his wife, Sue.

Saint said it's difficult for him not to compare Vietnam with the current situation in Iraq and Afghanistan when it comes to politicians who are critical or second guess military decisions.

"War is never a good thing,"

Saint said.

"People get shot and killed, but politicians shouldn't be making military decisions."

"In war you have to make split-second decisions,"

Saint said.

"War isn't precise, but death is."