I
n the late afternoon of
September 21, 1968, the
crew of an Army Huey
helicopter with the call
sign Ghostrider 281 began
a perilous descent into jun-
gle terrain to assist a chop-
per shot down by the North
Vietnamese.
Leaning out of Ghostrider
281 as far as possible, 19-year-
old door gunner Kenneth
McGarity was helping di-
rect the pilot when an en-
emy rocket struck the Huey.
McGarity took the brunt of
the explosion. The pilot was
able to crash-land. McGarity
was picked up and flown to
the Army’s 71st Evacuation
Hospital.
“Oh, God! I hurt so bad,”
McGarity cried over and over
as he was brought in on a stretcher.
The young soldier was covered in
mud, with one leg hanging by a thin
strip of skin and the other mangled
almost as badly. His arms were bro-
ken, a finger was missing, and he was
bleeding from his left eye.
The surgeon on call, Dr. Kenneth
Swan, 33, had arrived in Vietnam only
a month before. “I couldn’t believe
the man was still alive,” Dr. Swan later
wrote. “I didn’t want him to be alive.”
Still, the surgeon in him told him what
he must do.
Fortunately, Dr. Swan had the time
and resources to give the woundedsoldier his full attention that night.
He was the only serious new casualty
brought in.
Dr. Swan directed the surgical team
and amputated one of the soldier’s
fingers and both legs from the thigh
down. A neurosurgeon cut through
the skull to treat massive head in-
juries caused when a metal fragment
pierced McGarity’s left eye and en-
tered his brain. As a urologist worked
on extensive wounds in the groin area,
two orthopedic surgeons set both
arms in plaster. An ophthalmologist
was unable to save either eye. The
operations took eight hours.McGarity (left) and Dr. Swan, at the ceremony
where the gunner received his Purple HeartReader’s Digest Classic
114 may 2019 | rd.com