Lest We Forget: The Kingsmen, 101st Aviation Battalion, 1968

It takes a special kind of man--and a special kind of courage--to routinely risk one's life for others. . . .

Lt. "Wild Bill" Meacham was a former enlisted man turned UH-1 pilot assigned to Bravo Company, 101st Aviation Battalion, an assault helicopter company whose liftships were called the Kingsmen. Meacham quickly learned that the fighting in Vietnam wasn't confined to hot LZs: He killed nine enemies on the ground during the Tet 1968 defeat of the VC.

Bravo Company carried troops and supplies for many units, but Meacham preferred flying insertions and extractions for the LRRPs of the 101st and for the men of SOG, whose operations frequently took them into Laos. From combat assaults in Cu Chi to night operations in the enemy-infested A Shau Valley to hot extractions from Laos, Meacham engaged in some of the most dangerous flying imaginable. As he hovered a few feet off the ground in LZs exploding with mortar shells and crackling with AK-47 fire, it was often only Meacham's relentless daring and calm hands at the chopper's controls that kept the men on the ground from the enemy--and certain death.

The Kingsmen were held in the highest esteem by LRRPs and other special-operations forces throughout Vietnam. This heroic, harrowing, and utterly absorbing account is a powerful tribute to those men and their fearless reputation.