John Bahnsen - Vietnam, First Tour

Vietnam, First Tour

Arriving in Vietnam on 4 October 1965, Bahnsen reported for duty with the 145th Combat Aviation Battalion then stationed at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, contiguous to Saigon. Bahnsen soon convinced his battalion commander, LTC Chuck Honour, to let him fly helicopter gunships. His initial assignment in that capacity was as the commander of the 118th Aviation Company's (Thunderbirds) gunship platoon (Bandits). Based out of Bien Hoa Air Base, the Bandits flew combat assault after combat assault, just the kind of action Doc for which had a passion. Among the many highlights of this assignment was a mission to support Marine Aircraft Group 36, 1st Marine Aircraft Wing for Operation Double Eagle, working out of Ky Ha south of Da Nang. Bahnsen's leadership and courage under fire during this mission led to his being awarded his first of five Silver Stars.

Doc was not the only Bahnsen to be serving in Vietnam during this period of the war. His younger brother Peter (USMA, 1958) was in-country running a variety of operations for the Special Forces. Although their duties kept them too busy to visit one another, Peter did drop in to see Doc once. Peter's visit didn't deter Doc from his duties; he just took Peter along for the ride when a combat assault mission was called into Doc's gunship platoon. Peter was not pleased. He didn't like getting shot at while flying in a helicopter regardless of the theme park thrill ride excitement it gave his brother.

Soon after returning from Operation Double Eagle, Bahnsen became operations officer for the 118th. That assignment didn't take him out of the fight, a fact for which he was grateful. However, half way through his first 13-month tour in Vietnam, Doc was assigned to the 12th Combat Aviation Group headquartered at nearby Long Binh, but not before he was promoted to major.

Although his duties with the group took him out of the fight, Doc found a way to stay involved with helicopter gunship training: by creating a "Top Gun" competition. The goal of the competition was to improve helicopter weapons marksmanship throughout the group. The crew scoring the highest during the competition was recognized as the best of the best in the group.

During this combat tour, Doc had a relationship with Thach Thi Hung, "the Dragon Lady of Bien Hoa." On his departure from Vietnam, she was pregnant, making for a very difficult situation for Bahnsen who was married at the time. Three months after he left Vietnam, Hung gave birth to their son, Minh, who miraculously survived after his mother was killed in an automobile accident and later made his way to the United States where he met his father for the first time. Doc would later take Minh into his home for about a year before Minh returned to California to seek a job in the movie business.