Mended Wings: The Vietnam War Experience Through the Eyes of Ten American Purple Heart Helicopter Pilots

You hear them first, the whop whop sound of rotor blades chopping through the humid Vietnam air. Suddenly they appear, screaming toward the landing zone at treetop level. Gunships launch rockets into the nearby tree line. The resulting explosions announce the arrival of the lift helicopters, pointing their noses skyward like falcons coming out of a dive for landing. Bullets rip into the thin aluminum skin and plastic that surrounds the men who fly these machines. When one pilot is hit, the ...