50 years ago today.
Official period caption, 1st Marine Brigade aboard the carrier USS Hancock (CV-19) on 28 April 1975. Operation Frequent Wind. “Sgt. M.C. Murdock, assigned as a side gunner in one of the CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters of Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 463 (HMH-463) onboard the USS Hancock, poses beside the .50 caliber machine gun prior to flying into Saigon for evacuation exercises.”
Marine Photo A150915 (091-0850-86-75) by: GySgt.D.L.Sbearer, via NARA 127-GVB-279-A150915
Founded originally as a SBD bombing squadron (VMB-463) in 1944, by 1966 HMH-463 was reborn hard as a CH-53 unit and not only served in Frequent Wind– the evacuation of Saigon– but also in Eagle Pull, the evac of Phnom Penh two weeks prior.
The number of fleeing refugees they could pack on a CH-53, once the gloves were off and pressure on, was amazing, as retold by retired Sgt. Maj. Michael G. Zacker:
“Our 53s were picking up 60 (evacuees). On our second load, we took on three sticks since we had no problem with 60, so then we had 90 aboard. On the third flight, we still had room on the ramp, and so we waved the CIA guy to have him send another stick. With a six-man crew and about 120 passengers, we left the DAO compound just east of Saigon for the Hancock at sea.”
HMH-463, flying CH-53s to the last, was decommissioned on 22 April 2022 as part of the Marines’ “divest to invest” budget cuts to fund the Marine Littoral Regiments.