Society of the Fifth Division
United States Army
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Flying With the Men of the 220th
Extracted from
A HUNDRED FEET OVER HELL
Flying With the Men of the 220th Reconnaissance Airplane Company
Over I Corps and the DMZ, 1968-1969
Copyright © Jim Hooper 2020
Jim Hooper
All rights reserved
Chapter 13
OPERATION RICH
There is no such thing as a small battle or tiny war at cockpit, squad and platoon levels.
Col. Jack L. Mullen, Road Runner 6
SEARCHING FOR THE MEN WHO FOUGHT AT KINH MON on 25 October 1968, the author sent a query and
rough draft of Bill Hooper’s memories of that day to the website of the 5th Infantry Division. The reply saw his and
another Catkiller’s recollections of that day develop into something far more than either ever imagined.
Yes, sir, I remember YOU VERY WELL!! I have waited all of these years to say THANK YOU. I have
always thought that I would not be alive today if it hadn’t been for your very timely “air strike” on that NVA 12.7 machine gun. I was a sergeant with Recon 1-61. A 12.7 was chewing us UP—I had crawled to within fifty meters from it and stood to fire my LAW at him. He spotted me and adjusted to me. I fired the LAW and it said “CLACK”—misfire—sir, that 12.7 had me cold—then you swooped in and GOT him, just in time for me!! I also remember the M16 firing out the side window and the hand grenade “bombs.” It has taken me a long time to finally get to say this, THANK YOU, Sir.
Jim Roffers
Recon Platoon, 1-61
About Us
The Society of the Fifth Division, United States Army was created by the World War I veterans of the Fifth Division at the Fifth Division Headquarters in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg, on the eleventh and thirteenth of June 1919. It had some 18,000 members on its early membership roster. It is the oldest United States military unit organization with a continued existence from its beginnings to present day.