We’ve been learning about Karl Porisch’s Vietnam service, piloting Marine CH-46 helicopters out of Marble Mountain Airfield south of Danang. He recalled that night medevac missions were challenging because of limited visibility; the urgency of emergency medevacs; and the greater likelihood of enemy activity.

“Night medevacs were scary. We only did emergency medevacs at night, which meant if they didn’t get out, they probably weren’t going to survive.”

Karl remembered a difficult night medevac with two CH-46s and two AH-1, gunships to recover a wounded Marine in the Que Son Mountains. Karl’s aircraft recovered the injured troop and headed back to Marble Mountain when the DASC (Danang Air Support Center) directed them to extract wounded ARVN troops at a hard-hit firebase.

“I was flying in the right seat, acting as aircraft commander. We were the lead 46 and started taking small arms fire. They hit the tail Cobra and he headed back to Marble Mountain. The further we went, the worse it got. There was no way we were getting to that LZ. We told DASC we were getting shot at; already had one aircraft damaged; and we were going back. When we’d go low-level the crew usually didn’t wear their bullet bouncers, but we told them to put them on. When we turned and went down on the river the crew chief got shot by an AK-47 in the chest with his bullet bouncer on. It knocked him to the floor. He was yelling, ‘I’ve been hit, but I’m OK, I’m OK.’ I thought, ‘What am I doing here?’ When we returned to Marble Mountain and got off the helicopter, I could hardly stand because my knees were shaking.”

Karl was squadron duty officer in the Ready Room on Nov. 18, 1970, when the squadron suffered casualties. A squadron pilot recovered a Marine Recon team in the cloud-covered, Que Son Mountains. When he pulled up and began turning he went into the clouds and flew into a mountain. The accident killed the five aircraft crew members; the seven member recon team; and four passengers from the recon battalion.

That accident required squadron members to contact their families.

“The day of that accident you could send telegrams. I sent one to my wife and my parents because I knew this was going to be in the news.”

Karl described the usual methods he kept in touch with Teri.

“It was almost all letters. They also had a Military Affiliated Radio System station on-base. They’d contact ham radio operators on the West Coast who’d patch you through on a land-line and you could talk. Funny thing, though, you had two people listening on the conversation. I’d say, ‘Hi, Jeri, how are you doing? Over.’ The guy here would change to receive and the other guy’d go from receive to transmit. Then she’d say, ‘Hi, honey. How are you doing? I love you. Over.’ (Karl laughed) It wasn’t a real private conversation.”

Karl went to dinner in Danang once and took R&R to meet Jeri in Hawaii for a few days. Otherwise his off-duty hang-outs were limited.

“It was either in your quarters or you were at the Officers’ Club. That was where everybody hung out. If you walked in with your hat on and somebody saw you, they rang a bell (Karl laughed) and you bought a round for everybody.”

Karl’s unit redeployed from Vietnam in the spring of 1971, shortening Karl’s tour of duty.

“President Nixon started pulling the Marines. They were the first ones in I Corps, so they would be the first ones to leave. I was on the advance team. We left at night before the main part of the squadron.”

That nighttime departure was memorable.

“We got on this (cargo truck) and started through Danang in the middle of a rocket attack. (Karl chuckled) I remember sitting in the back with Major Tobin, looking out, and I said, ‘God, there’s a lot of sparks flying!’ He replied, ‘They’re not sparks, that’s shrapnel!’ (Karl chuckled) That was how I left Vietnam; in the middle of a rocket attack.”

They departed at daylight.

“Another American Airlines jet arrived. The minute that plane was done refueling we got on the plane. The engines were already running. The minute the wheels were off the ground, everybody started screaming! We’re going home!”

Karl experienced a bittersweet return to the United States via Norton Air Force Base near Los Angeles.

“At that point the Vietnam War was really unpopular. Every time you traveled on orders in the Marine Corps, you were expected to be in uniform. They stopped that and let everybody fly in civilian clothes. So, we kinda had to sneak back in the United States. It’s just the way it was.”

Karl received orders to another CH-46 squadron in Hawaii where he completed his Marine Corps service in 1974. He returned to Jackson and began working with his dad’s insurance agency. He continued flying with an Army Reserve aviation unit out of Saint Paul. He divorced and moved to Marshall in 1989

Karl reflected on his Vietnam service with Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 263.

“I was impressed by the Marines’ esprit d’corps. Everybody took their job seriously. I don’t recall anybody complaining about having to go to Vietnam. They looked on it as, ‘That is what our country asked of us and that’s what we did to the best of our ability.’ I’m sure there were guys in the Army or the Navy who would say that also.”

Thank you for your Vietnam service, Karl. Welcome home, Marine!

©2025 William D. Palmer.