30 VIETNAM
COURTESY^ LARRYGROAHIn early September 1970, Groah’s squadron received
a “warning order,” a heads-up to get ready for Mission
72, the code for any Marine air mission into Laos. This
particular mission’s code name was Operation Tail-
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Kontum, a town in South Vietnam’s moun-
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On the afternoon of Sept. 7, Groah’s
squadron got the word to “turn and burn,”
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the night there, and after morning chow, en-
listed crewmen headed for their birds and
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commando units of well-trained local
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cret missions into enemy territory, where
they conducted raids, destroyed supplies and other-
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had established operations in both places to support
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The Tailwind plan called for helicopters in Groah’s
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arms and other assistance to guerrilla units from Laos’
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in to help.
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troops in the area, forcing the North Viet-
namese to divert soldiers away from the
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ments and other intelligence that could be
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They waited for the green light to go into
Laos but were told that bad weather at the drop zone
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children appeared seemingly out of nowhere. They had
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were in no man’s land. Groah and his crew opened a few
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should have been a clue that something was up.
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[MI\WNPQ[PMTQKWX\MZ][QVOPQ[ÆISRIKSM\I[IXQTTW_0MMarine Sgt. Larry Groah,
enjoying an in-flight meal
of C-rations aboard a
CH-53 transport
helicopter, was a door
gunner on choppers hit
by enemy fire during the
landing of combat troops
on Sept. 11, 1970, an
attempted medical
evacuation on Sept. 13
and the pickup of the
ground troops on Sept. 14.;]LLMVTa
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left as fast
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which
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that
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