At our business meeting during our 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion 2023 reunion a committee was formed to look into funding a memorial plaque to be installed at the National Museum of the United States Army, Fort Belvoir, VA.

From 1965 to 1972, aircraft and crews of the 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion served proudly in the sky over Vietnam. When the unit came home, the 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion continued to serve our nation and does so even to this day as descendant Regiments within the 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, Fort Hood.

Our committee is working to establish a unit tribute plaque at the National Museum of the United States Army for the 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion.
 
The plaque will be positioned along the Path of Remembrance and is 12″x18″ in size. It is to be engraved in polished Mesabi Black granite. Members are currently working on the final design within the parameters set by the National Museum. This will be an excellent way for those of us that came home from deployments and served in the unit to establish a notable remembrance of the unit’s history.  

We need everyone’s help to do it. Including you. The cost for the plaque is $5,000 and that is our goal. To achieve this, we need your help. Your contribution will take us one step closer to making this endeavor a reality.

Make a donation there through paypal or venmo. Continue reading

This spring Nick Johnson was inducted into the DUSTOFF Hall of Fame. Nick flew with A/227 in 1968-1969 as platoon leader/flight leader, was in command of the aviation assets from A/227 that were TDY with the Special Forces at Dong Xoai. Later Battalion S3 at Phouc Vinh.

This year’s recipient of our 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion Honor Sword was not able to attend our reunion this year. We were able to travel to New York to present the sword to Chris Lockwood and have a short two part video of the presentation below.

and the presentation of the Spurs to Linda Lockwood
Video by Hannah Bell

We have had contact from Richard Gadigian about the dedication of a flagpole at Brand Memorial Park in Allen Park, MI. to honor SP4 Dennis Durand.

SP4 Durand joined A/227th in 1970 and stayed with the unit as it was transferred to the 1st Aviation Brigade when the 1st Cavalry Division left Vietnam in the spring of 1971. SP4 Durand was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions on 25 May 1971 while serving as Door Gunner on the flight to rescue crew members from Firebase 6. A/227th Assault Helicopter Company lost four members that day, including the Company Commander, Major William E. Adams (MOH), Executive Officer, Captain John Curran, Crew Chief, SP4 Melvin Robinson and Door Gunner, SP4 Dennis Durand.

Photo below from the Allen Park Today magazine (2022),which is published quarterly.

Several flagpoles are now installed on the site for the dedication planned for later this spring.
(photo below shows the developer concept)

Contractors are now being approached to complete the site development.
Fundraising is being spearheaded by the Director of Parks and Recreation, Pat Hawkins.

December 2022 Update
Allen Park Today magazine
December 19,2022

John Brennan, the author of a series of books on the nose art and helicopter names from Vietnam, has provided his research on the unique “Chickenman” nose art.

“The creative nose art and individualized copter names applied to the UH-1H fleet in A Company, 227 AHB between 1969-71 had no equal in Vietnam. Utilizing the CHICKENMAN call sign the entire fleet of twenty-five Army slicks were adorned with the “drunk duck, funky chicken” caricatures dressed to reflect the chosen name painted below it. No other in-country Army helicopter unit comes close to matching this notable achievement. Unit artists Mike Scovel and Joe Paranal have been identified as the creators of this unique artwork. In addition, luckily for aviation history all twenty-five renditions of the original CHICKENMAN nose art have been preserved on film. Below is a roster of crew chosen helicopter names, each in their own way a complimentary salute to the unit’s CHICKENMAN call sign.”

There are photos in our A/227 photo album of a lot of this nose art. Check out our photo album and use the search option for “nose art”.

A number of our members have been holding Zoom meetings over the past few months. These meetings have been hosted by Dr. J.P. (Pat) Edwards, A/227, (1967-1968), and during these meetings there have been a lot of stories about Vietnam. It was decided recently to record these Zoom meetings and post them to our website for everyone to see for historical reference. The first recorded session was on March 15th and is in two parts below. The basic topic for this session was “first impressions” of Vietnam and of joining A/227th. We will soon be creating a new section of our website in the future to display all recorded sessions available – as well as other videos of our members sharing their stories from Vietnam. Future Zoom topics might include:

* First mission
* Weirdest mission
* Leadership styles
* Where were you when
* Orientation
* War stories

Check in with Pat Edwards if you are interested in participating

PART ONE
Participants: Joe Zigler, Chuck Bell, Jim Gray, Jay Durenberger, Pat Edwards & John Pennypacker

PART TWO
Participants: Herschel Ryan, Pat Edwards

Several of our members have taken the opportunity to participate in the Library of Congress project to record their oral history. The website for this project is:
https://www.loc.gov/vets/

You can search their site from that page.

If you search for [ 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion ] you will find several videos from our members.
Another different search [ 227th ] will result in more videos of members from the 227th AHB.

Gary Bridges (AKA Matt Jackson), A/227AHB, 1969-1970, has written a three book series about his Vietnam experience flying with the 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion. His first book: “Undaunted Valor: An Assault Helicopter Unit in Vietnam” details daily events and missions with A/227. His second book: “Undaunted Valor: Medal of Honor” includes information about the 1970-1971 actions of the unit as the 227th units were reassigned when the 1CAV returned home to the US. His third book will be available in November: “Undaunted Valor: Lam Son 719” covers the actions by numerous units as they supported Vietnamese units in action in Laos, with details about the actions by D/227.

All of these books are well researched and give an accurate account of the events and actions of flying for the 227th Assault Helicopter Battalion, 1st Cavalry Division during Vietnam.

All of these books are available now on Amazon (softcover or kindle).

The attached photo is one of SATURN’s DC-6B’s that flew troops to Viet Nam.

As a member of WORWAC 661-, graduating March 29, 1966, almost the entire class flew to Viet Nam on a Saturn Airways DC-6B. We departed Travis AFB on April 18, 1966. Our next stop was Hickam AFB, Hawaii. At that first stop, the Flight Engineer told us that they had to add 55 gallons of oil!! I really think he was just trying to scare us? It was probably only 55 quarts? Next stop was Wake Island about 9AM. I think the ROLEX in the BX was an OYSTER, SUBMARINER-PERPETUAL at a cost of $225.00. That’s the one I should have purchased. Next, it was on to Okinawa and then Clark AFB. A night-time flight into Ton Son Huit, but on FINAL, we received tracer fire!! Missed approach and then a landing over at Bien Hoa. They bused us over to Camp Alpha after midnight. Before heading into our “hooch,” the NCOIC briefed us on rolling out of the cot, place ourselves up against the sandbags and cover with the mattress. WELCOME TO VIET NAM!!
Most of us new WO’s were sent to the First CAV; only two went to units they served with as Crew Chiefs on a previous tour.
John Keller
A/227, 1st Flight Platoon
April 1966-67