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Introduction .. | 
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The 57th Assault Helicopter Company (AHC) "Gladiators," arrived in Viet
Nam in early October 1967, in time to participate in the Battle of Dak To,
and the bloody
battle
The FOBII mission, later called CCC for Command and Control Central, consisted
of supporting Special Forces reconnaissance efforts monitoring the movement
of North Vietnamese Army (NVA) troops and equipment infiltrating South Viet
Nam along
the The 57th AHC served in Viet Nam from October 1967 through March 1973, and was the last United States Combat Helicopter unit to leave Viet Nam. It was also the largest with three slick platoons, each having eleven lightly armed UH-1 Hueys, and a full compliment of eight heavily armed AH1G Cobra gunships.
At the top of this page is one of the the patches we wore on our shirt
pockets signifying assignment with one of the slick platoons. "Slick"
means relatively unarmed troop lift ships, as opposed to the heavily armed
gunships. The primary function of a "slick" platoon is troop lift,
with the ever present priority on medical evacuation. The job of armed escort
and suppressive rocket and machine gun fire fell to the gun platoon called
the "Cougars."
Now if your are thinking, "My but that Cougar patch looks familiar," you are right. When the 57th was formed at Fort Bragg, N.C. in 1967 an enterprising member of the newly formed gun platoon, the "Cougars," exercised a little initiative and made a request to the Ford Motor Company. As the story goes, Ford was thrilled that a military unit would carry their "colors" into combat, gave it their blessing along with a generous supply of "pocket patches," and the rest is history.
The "Gladiator" patch you see depicted here is of recent manufacture and
for a very good reason; it is the only version to be massed produced my automated
machines. When the 57th was originally formed they elected to call themselves
"The Avengers." In as much as all these "nick-names" are unofficial to begin
with, there was, of
course,
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for the infamous
Hill 875 of 173rd Airborne Brigade fame. Initially stationed in the Central
Highlands city of Kontum, the 57th flew missions in support of Northern II
Corps area. Flights in support of the 24th Special Tactical Zone (STZ), MACV,
Special Forces Camps, ARVN II Corps, and the 4th Infantry Division in the
Dak To area were the normal day's assignments. In January 1968 the 57th began
preparations for assuming the FOB II Special Forces mission from the 119th AHC, a normal rotation that occurred every 60 days within the units of the
52nd Combat Aviation Battalion.
Ho
Chi Minh Trail. However, weather conditions and other factors caused the
57th to stay on the mission well beyond the normal rotation. Such became
the experience level and reputation of the Gladiator slicks and Cougar guns
of the 57th AHC that there was no longer a question of their assignment to
the FOB mission; henceforth they were requested. "Prairie Fire," the Special
Forces equivalent of aviation's "MAYDAY," became a common term heard in Gladiator
headsets.
The 57th
AHC was just one unit of one of the largest aviation Battalions ever
formed, the 52nd Combat Aviation Battalion (CAB) "Dragons," which in
turn was subordinate to the 17th Combat Aviation Group (CAG). The 17th
CAG was in turn subordinate to the 1st Aviation Brigade, the largest Army
Aviation organization
formed since World War II. The 1st Aviation Brigade was comprised of
several Groups, themselves having several Battalions.
Their
job was to provide close air support for the "slicks" while we assaulted
troops into often hot Landing Zones (LZ), or when withdrawing troops from
"Hot" pickup zones (PZ); they got to do all the shooting, and they did their
job well. Business was good!