Terror and Hilarity: by Byron Edgington

Warrant Officer 1 B Edgington 3rd from the left

War is filled with opportunities to get yourself killed. 

Sometimes these opportunities arise in seconds, unanticipated, their outcomes something not even Hollywood could manufacture. 

I suppose if I’d died on this mission I never would have felt a thing. It would have been a classic case of one second alive, chuffing one breath out, another in, then zap... I suppose that’s the way it always is. 

It seemed like a routine mission, an easy LZ in a place as serene and green as the bucolic fields of my Ohio childhood. I suppose if I’d been killed that day it would have been as good a place as any to fulfill life’s ultimate function.

 
The mission was to insert a special operations team onto an LZ in Laos ten kilometers west of Khe Sanh. I was flying lead ship that day. The escort plane marked the LZ for me, and three other Hueys to follow, and then the Air Force ‘covey bird’ zipped away. The marked spot was a half-acre field covered in elephant grass six feet deep. 

My crewchief, Gil, was behind me in the well of the aircraft.  John, the door gunner of whistle fame, was once again on the right side. I briefed them for landing, slid my visor down and entered final approach. Down I went, the LZ a hundred yards ahead. Soon I was over it, and ready to land.

As I hovered above the deep grass, the Huey’s rotorwash blasted it flat. And there he was. Forty feet away, a lone North Vietnamese soldier, gray-green fatigues, jungle hat, as surprised to see me as I him. His AK swiveled up, aimed directly at me. 

The next three seconds were a blur to me then, and they are now. I turned my head slightly left at the anomalous item in my peripheral view and wondered what it was. It was the enemy soldier, of course. 

Then a shriek of M-16 fire exploded directly behind me, and I jerked so hard I locked my inertia reel. Hot rounds snapped out, a burst of six, or perhaps twenty, I cannot say.

The enemy soldier crumpled like a burst balloon, his lifeless body a heap of gray-green camo. His hat flew off. His weapon clattered away. The man was dead. One instant a breath chuffing in, then out, and then...

But I wasn’t dead. Somehow I’d escaped. Not my time? Coincidence? I don’t know. Yet another dodged bullet, this one literal. 

The GI who fired had anticipated the scene. Because of his training, or instinct, or a sixth sense, he knew that the NVA soldier would be there, and before the enemy could pull the trigger, he caught a hail of hot ammo. 

The guy who saved my life leapt off the aircraft and never looked back. I had no chance to say thanks, or ask how did you, or holy crap.

I lifted the collective, took off, and ceded the controls to my rookie right seater. My knees shook like a dog passing busted glass. I remember this part so well that years later I’m still ashamed of myself: I had to fight an urge to laugh. Terror and hilarity. 

It wasn’t the only time in Vietnam that I saw the ugly truth of 'what the hell we were doing there', in the unvarnished part of war that Hollywood won’t touch. 

Friendly and enemy alike, we were just a bunch of kids playing with fire, trying to kill each other, while joking around to get through it, or trying to stay alive, or wondering, who decides? 

That day I was twenty-one years old. The other fellow was as old as he was ever going to get ...

Byron Edgington

Byron Edgington

The SkyWriter

[Excerpt from Chapter 12]
The Sky Behind Me: A Memoir of Flying & Life 

Other Articles by Byron Edgington:

A Return to Vietnam
The War That Will Not Let Us Rest
War: A Waste of Youth
The Right Seat is the Wrong Seat
Jim, Frank, and The Snake
Smokey, The Alcoholic Pup

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Byron's Blog

“I am only one, but I am one. I can't do everything, but I can do something. The something I ought to do, I can do, and by the grace of God, I will.” ~Everett Hale


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Book: "The Sky Behind Me: A Memoir of Flying & Life"

by Byron Edgington

Biblio Publishing (May 2013)
Paperback, Kindle, ebook
304 Pages

About the Book:

The Sky Behind Me: A Memoir of Flying & Life is an aviation memoir, and much more. It's about life balance, resilience, grace and the necessity we all feel to take off again regardless of how hard we crash.

The author had a childhood dream of the missionary priesthood. After abuse in a Catholic seminary at age fourteen, he was dismissed, his dream taken away. 

He was drafted out of college at the height of the war in Vietnam, entered flight school and served for a year in the war. The irony is rich: He'd dreamed of anointment to the priesthood, then a posting to an exotic land where he would meet people who needed his help, and serve them. 

Instead, he was anointed a Warrant Officer in the Army, sent to an exotic land, where he looked for those same people and assisted in killing them.

The Sky Behind Me is a true "lemons into lemonade" story of one man's resolve to use his skills as a pilot to fulfill the altruistic impulses of his childhood, and he succeeds beyond his wildest imaginings.

Buy at Amazon


Reviews:

“… makes me ready and waiting for Byron Edgington’s next book.” ~Timothy Hurley

“It’s nostalgic and endearing and touching and sentimental and contains some great stories.” ~Buzz Malone

“Well written with character description and dialogue that points a colorful picture.” ~Harrison Jones

“My criteria for a good book are: It must be technically clean (spelling, punctuation, grammar), it must be stylish (whether transparent style or effectively odd), and it must immerse me in its world. The Sky Behind Me meets all these requirements …” ~Marian Allen

“… this book will enlighten, fascinate and keep your mind focused and thinking about what Byron Edgington presents in this fascinating, thoroughly enjoyable memoir. Wonderfully written, highly entertaining... simply a damn good read.” ~Kevin W. Johnson

“Without a doubt the best book I've read in 2014, and I am to books what the average American is to the television set … well done, Byron.” ~Don Wills

“The author provides a very clear honest look at his life in the service and as a pilot and his thoughts in each event. I was able to relate to his experiences very easily.” ~Greg Mudd

“…This is one of the few books that I have read lately that, when I reached the last page, I was disappointed that there weren't more chapters.” ~R. Ratliff

Byron Edgington/101st Airborne Ret.

About the Author:

Byron Edgington is a retired commercial helicopter pilot and recent graduate of The Ohio State University. He received his Bachelors in English from OSU in June 2012 at age 63. 

Edgington's most recent book is titled The Sky Behind Me, a Memoir of Flying and Life, which is based on his 40 year career in aviation.

Byron Edgington is the winner of The Bailey Prize for non fiction for his essay titled 'Lift Off', in which he writes about caring for his dying father. It was published in the 2012 edition of the Chrysalis Reader offered by the Swedenborg Foundation Press. 

His works in progress include a family memoir, working title Growing up Crowded, or When I was Eleven and Waiting for Willie Pete, a Helicopter Novel of Vietnam.  It will be finished ... someday. [See his website for more publishing credits.]

Byron Edgington is a father, step-father and grandfather. Married to his best friend, Mariah, he lives and writes in Columbus Ohio.

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"I used to live in the sky; now I write about it." ~Byron Edgington

“I am only one, but I am one. I can't do everything, but I can do something. The something I ought to do, I can do, and by the grace of God, I will.” ~Everett Hale