T. Harry Williams Center for Oral
History Collection
ABSTRACT
INTERVIEWEE NAME: Michael Blakeney #4700.0937
IDENTIFICATION: Vietnam veteran
INTERVIEWER: Dudley Meier, Jr.
PROJECT: Americans in Vietnam
DATES: 2/7/74, 1/24/75
FOCUS DATES: Feb. 1969-Feb. 1972; Mar. 21,
1970, Mar. 20, 1971
ABSTRACT:
Tape 1363
Blakeney was helicopter pilot in Vietnam; from career military
family; upbringing and family; ROTC training and education at
LSU; took advanced ROTC training to avoid being drafted before he
finished school; hoped to wait out war in college; ROTC flight
program; commissioned as 2nd lieutenant in Armor;
basic training at Fort Knox, KY; helicopter school at Fort
Walters, Texas; advanced helicopter training at Fort Rutger,
Alabama.
Tape 1364
Served in Air Cavalry troop; three platoons into which Air
Cavalry was divided; gun ships, scouts, and slick platoon;
Blakeney assigned to slick platoon; peter pilots; mission to Quon
Loi; formation flying; ash and trash missions; process of
becoming aircraft commander; pressure to become a scout pilot;
dangers of scout work; working at Cambodian border; Cambodian
invasion; boastful reputation of 1st Cavalry unit;
description of battle at Cambodian border, as seen from air;
Blakeney's decision to become a scout; people who volunteered to
become scout pilots; advantages of being a scout; Blakeney became
scout, shot his nerves, nicknamed "Shaky"; ten months
as scout pilot; duty with the 25th Aviation company;
no contact with Vietnamese people while serving as scout;
piloting a Vietnamese warlord who killed anyone he wanted; [SIDE
B] difficulty of crossing rice paddies on foot; Viet Cong bunkers
built of mud; piloting Vietnamese warlord; booby traps;
similarities between terrain of Vietnam and Louisiana; hooch
maids, old Vietnamese women who cleaned their quarters;
Vietnamese attitudes toward Americans; Viet Cong murdering South
Vietnamese during night; pro-communist sentiment of many poor
people; Blakeney's empathy for Vietnamese; American efforts were
fruitless; prostitution as an institution created for American
soldiers; staggering scale of drugs, prostitution, black market
activities; soldiers who functioned while on heroin; heroin was
drug of choice; Army encouraged soldiers to drink; prevalence of
prostitutes; prostitutes on front lines in Quon Loi; black market
trade; military payment certificates; spread of secret
information in Vietnam; Blakeney's service as piaster control
officer; contact with Air America and attitudes toward them;
culture shock of being in Vietnam, then returning to US; bravery
and sacrifice of men in Vietnam; hope that Vietnam would be the
US's last war; worries about US getting involved with Middle
East.
Tape 1365
Raised in Army family; education of parents; Blakeney's
education; father's work in Vietnam in early 1960s; participation
in ROTC; didn't want to go to Vietnam; trouble in French
Indochina ever since WWII Japanese invasion; Tet invasion;
training as Armor officer at Fort Knox, KY; learning about tank
units; flight training at LSU; friend blown up in tank; Israeli
and Egyptian officers training at Fort Knox; Vietnam terrain
ill-suited for tank war; nasty weapons of Americans; dangers of
flying helicopters; other dangerous occupations; camaraderie
between soldiers in flight school; learning to fly helicopters;
Vietnam simulation in Alabama; arrival in Vietnam; adapting to
Vietnam; assignment to unit that moved troops and supplies; scout
platoon; grenades they used; tear gas; rift between Army and Air
Force; close fighting in Vietnam; inefficiency of Air Force
approach; Army aviation's relation to ground troops; light
observation helicopters; reconnaissance missions; color coded
platoons; special skills needed to operate in Vietnam jungles;
tracking the enemy; flying missions at first light and last
light; patience of VC; strategy of VC.
Tape 1366
Why Blakeney decided to become a scout pilot; assignment to slick
unit; new pilots paired with experienced aircraft commanders;
responsibilities of crew chiefs; duties of aircraft commanders;
alcoholism among aircraft commanders; had to be unanimously voted
into position of aircraft commander; learning to fly in
formation; pressure on Blakeney to become a scout; lots of
crazies volunteered to become scouts; flying into Cambodia during
invasion; getting shot at in Cambodia; decision to become a
scout; traits of scout pilots; scout training; purpose of being a
scout; chasing enemy, trying to make them mad; visual
reconnaissance missions; weapons; distinct smell of gangrene;
Vietnamese were experts in camouflage; Vietnamese man offering a
naked woman to soldiers as peace offering; mission in Quon Loi.
TAPES: 4
TOTAL PLAYING TIME: 4 hours
# PAGES TRANSCRIPT: 9 pgs index
RESTRICTIONS: none