Local Men Part Of Elite Helicopter Unit During Vietnam War

by Ronda Lickteig
R-T Staff Writer
While many in the community are looking forward to seeing the movie, “Scramble the Seawolves!” on Monday, July 29 at the Hoover Theater in Trenton, two Trenton natives were actually a part of the legendary Navy attack helicopter unit.
The movie tells the story of the Helicopter Attack Light Squadron-3, the most decorated squadron in not only the Vietnam War, but in Naval aviation history as well. The squadron was known as HA(L)-3 or the Seawolves. The title of the movie comes from the urgent call for help that came when the Seawolves were needed, “Scramble the Seawolves!”
Trenton resident Larry Huffstutter and former resident Eric Alexander were members of the all-volunteer squadron. Huffstutter, who volunteered for the Navy at age 19, said a buddy volunteered himself and seven others to be part of the unit.
“That’s how I ended up in HA(L)-3,” he said.
Huffstutter found himself at Naval Amphibious School at Little Creek, VA, where he participated in a counterinsurgency course. The two-month course was designed to prepare members for what might happen if they were captured by the enemy North Vietnamese. Among his memories of training are being kept in a POW cage for a week, being waterboarded and spending eight hours in an underground sweatbox – with water and a snake.
In Vietnam he was stationed at Bihn Thuy, which was close to a U.S. Army base and down the road from a U.S. Air Force supply base. On the other side of Bihn Thuy was a cement facility which was, he said, full of Viet Cong.
Huffstutter, who was in the helicopter maintenance department, said there were 2,556 men in the squadron, which he said was a “child” of the Vietnam War, being commissioned, operated and decommissioned entirely within the Mekong Delta of South Vietnam. It operated during the years of 1966 through 1972. The squadron was needed to help protect U.S. troops who were patrolling the waterways at night (the River Patrol Force of the Brown Water Navy), which was how the Viet Cong travelled. They provided air support for the Navy patrol boats, which included the swift boats and PBRs, a 31-foot river patrol boat built on a pleasure craft hull and adapted to a war-time atmosphere, according to the booklet, “River Patrol Force.” The PBRs were well-armed and highly manueverable and could travel at a maximum speed of over 25 knots. In addition, Navy SEAL teams counted on the squadron for protection.
“Our job was to protect the swift boats, the PBRs and the SEAL teams,” Huffstutter recalled. “If the Seawolves weren’t flying, the SEALS wouldn’t go. We were ready to go 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
In “River Patrol Force,” a typical flight for HA(L)-3 is described:
“Moments after receiving the scramble call, the light helo fire-team is airborne and on its way. In the cockpit a flight experienced pilot receives exact coordinates from the ambushed PBR patrol. The door gunners peer from the open sides of their UH-1B gunships and check the readiness of their M-60 machine guns. The co-pilot insures that the firing mechanism for his mini-guns and 2.75-inch rockets is functioning properly. As they reach the area the patrol officer marks the enemy position with smoke grenades and tracer rounds. The helos roll in at almost tree level and make their first firing run…After the second firing run the fire is suppressed and the fire-team returns to the LST to be rearmed and refueled. The maintenance crew aboard the LST works hard to have the gunship ready, for as it landed, another call for assistance was received.”
According to House Resolution 1228, passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in July 2010, the unit flew over 130,000 hours of combat and logistical support; inflicted several thousand casualties on enemy forces; performed 1,530 medical evaluations; and delivered over 37,000 passengers and over 1 million pounds of cargo during the war.
“Scramble the Seawolves” made its world premiere on the flight deck of the USS Midway on Sept. 4, 2018 during a Seawolf reunion event.
Huffstutter believes those who view the award-wining movie, which is narrated by Mike Rowe, will have a true picture of what the Seawolves provided during the war and he hopes they will understand the sacrifice made by those in the squadron, which included 200 who were wounded in combat and 44 who were killed in action.
“The movie is so interesting,” he said, noting that members of the squadron have been donating money for years to help it be made. “I want people who see it to know that HA(L)-3 existed. This movie will explain and give folks here knowledge of what we did. It’s really one of the greatest tools of learning that a young adult can possibly have to learn about what it was really like over there.”