MCN’s ‘Veteran of the Week’ – Dwane D.Shirley, United States Army: October 1969 thru July 1973
Article by: David Harrigan
This week’s veteran of the week is Dwane ( D.D.) Shirley who served in the U.S. Army from October 1969 thru July 1973 as a combat Cobra pilot in Vietnam. Originally growing up in DeRidder, La. In his early years, his family moved from there to Bon Weir, Texas where his father opened a gas station. Interestingly, one of the customers was Ernest Tubb, a country western singer. DD’s father, while stationed in the Philippines, had seen Ernest during one of the USO shows during World War II. When DD was stationed at Da Nang AFB in Vietnam – who shows up for a USO show, none other than Ernest Tubb! After graduating from Klein High School, DD got married and soon had a family on the way. Having good grades in HS, he approached the Army recruiters and they asked if he had an interest in flying helicopters. He did and took all of the requisite tests to qualify. He passed them all, but flying was going to be contingent upon him making it through basic training at Ft Polk, LA. DD did well and made it through basic with no problems, but in the interim, the Army lost all of his military and testing records. Finally DD was off to warrant officer training at Ft Wolters, Texas. DD has described that training as the hardest he ever faced. “They tried to make us quit by constant harassment.” Of the 59 who started, 26 graduated. From Ft Wolters, DD went to Ft Rucker, Alabama for advanced helicopter training – serious no harassment learning – navigation, dynamics, night operations. These were full 10 hour days every day. If you graduated in the top 10 of your class you were able to select another helicopter for transitioning – DD chose the Cobra gunship. Next stop Vietnam. DD said about an hour out of Vietnam he knew things were real when he looked out the window of the airplane and two F4 Phantoms pulled up next to the plane to escort them into Vietnam. A short wait at the repo depot and DD received orders to F Troop/8th Cav located at Marble Mountain at Da Nang Air Base. Many of us have seen the movie Bat 21, starring Danny Glover and Gene Hackman. The story involved a Navy pilot who had been shot down and was on the run from the NVA. In the movie two huey helicopters from F Troop 8th Air Cavalry tried to come in and rescue him on the ground. Both helicopters were shot down and everyone was killed. Ironically, DD was a replacement for some of those pilots. DD arrived at 9:30 PM and was shown a room but most importantly where the bunker was located if shelled. They were. He went out to get in the bunker but it was already occupied by two large rats. With his new call sign “Blueghost 21” he flew as the copilot on the Command and Control helicopter with Major Jack Kennedy – who according to DD was the finest commander he had ever served with then and now. Around 1 April the Easter Offensive began with the full assault by the NVA. F Troop had been focusing on evacuating all of the military advisors near the DMZ. The item that changed everything in terms of flight operations was the introduction of heat seeking missiles (Strella 7) provided to the NVA by the Russians. Because of these missiles, flights had to fly low level constantly – which was a technique that was entirely new and had to be learned by all. In an operation near Quang Tri, slated to use over 100 hueys at once, a big battle broke out. DD and his copilot were hit by 51 caliber machine gun rounds that exploded the canopy and tore the engine out at 160 knots. Getting out of the damaged cobra, they ran. They were told a B52 was coming to destroy the aircraft. After a long time of evading the enemy, a unit LOH (Loach)- light observation helicopter was able to locate them and extract them. Concurrently the political situation totally deteriorated and the unit began to withdraw from Da Nang back South to Bien Hoa Air Base near Saigon. There they continued to fly recon missions until the cease fire was declared. DD then continued to fly but under the UN. F Troop 8th Air Cav was the last combat flying helicopter unit in Vietnam. Now what? DD rotated back to the US and had a desire to continue to fly, but the Army had too many pilots and so he left the military. He made an attempt to fly for the police department, but they did not accept applications for pilots who already have a pilot’s license. So he entered the Houston Police Academy and at 22 was considered an “old guy.” He worked several years in the motorcycle division and then spent 5 years undercover in the Narcotics Division. D.D. studied for the detectives exam and passed and spent the next 27 years as a homicide detective. DD and his lovely wife Claudette live in Woodforest and both of his sons followed him into the police force and are now also retired. Congratulations to DD Shirley, our MCN Veteran of the week.