"We had a black guy in our company. … And we'd sit around and listen to albums when we could. And he put on the Righteous Brothers. … I said, ‘Clark, that's a pretty good black group.’ I said, ‘Do you know much about them?’ He's just busted up laughing because that's how much I didn't know."
Description of Interview:
Jay Hendrix describes his stint in the military, beginning with basic training at Fort Bliss, which was so crowded at the time that “we slept on the lawn for three weeks with our duffel bag. … No tent. … No cots.” He then went to AIT at Fort Huachuca, where he played basketball for eight weeks after passing his clerk typist requirements almost immediately. Mr. Hendrix arrived in Vietnam in 1967, and was assigned to the 281st Assault Helicopter Company at Nha Trang. After four months as a clerk typist, they “were short some people and Major Shealy asked me if I wanted to be a door gunner one day. And I said, sure, that sounds exciting.” So he became a Huey door gunner. Mr. Hendricks goes on to recall the two helicopter crashes he survived. The first and “most memorable” was the result of pilot error, and he “got banged up a little.” The second time they were shot down in enemy territory, but they were rescued immediately by another helicopter that was right behind them. He also vividly recalls a mortar attack at Nha Trang during Tet of ’68.
Key Words: Fort Bliss, Fort Huachuca, Green Berets, steak night, the Beatles, Bob Dylan, Donovan, Motown, the Righteous Brothers, pilot error, shadow box
Key Names: Major Shealy, Clark Wardley
Unit:
281st Assault Helicopter Company
Specialty:
Clerk typist, door gunner
Read the Complete Transcript of this Interview.