Foil: 6 Panel: Distinguished Flying Cross Society Column: 4 Line: 12

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:

On the evening of July 3, 1969, then Lt. Hal Klee and his crew had been stranded with their C-123J Provider while under hostile attack at Tien Phoul, RVN. The crew had volunteered to divert to extract seriously wounded Special Forces soldiers defending their forward operating base. Lt Klee ran under fire to his aircraft while the wounded here were being loaded. He decided to make a black take off, without lights, from a short field with obstructions. While on takeoff run, the aircraft took machine gun fire lost #1 engine. Using ground effect at 100’ wet, Lt. Klee and crew reached Da Nang without further casualties.