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Daniel L Arnes, CMDCM
to remember
Porch, Stephen Letson, LCDR.
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Contact Info
Home Town Portland, ME
Last Address Sedgewood Commons Nursing Home, Assisted Living, Short Term Care 22 Northbrook Dr Falmouth, ME 04105
Date of Passing Jan 06, 2013
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Additional Information
Last Known Activity:
Steve was cremated, location of ashes unknown.
Other Comments:
http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/k4/kitty_hawk-ii.html 22–23 May 1967: Big Mother 69, an SH-3A, LT(JG) Stephen L. Porch and his crew, HS-2, attempted a nighttime CSAR over North Vietnam for Twerps 2, a USAF F-4C, 1st LT David L. Baldwin, downed by “enemy action” after encountering “an intense wall of flak.” Receiving North Vietnamese small arms, automatic weapons and 75 mm fire, Porch and his crew located the pilot and tried to retrieve him, only disengaging when a crewman was wounded and the crewman’s radar altimeter was knocked out. Porch and his co-pilot, LT(JG) Stuart B. Williams, were each awarded the Silver Star.
http://www.hc7seadevils.org/CACArticle.pdf AX-2 Paul DeGennaro, Coronado, CA served in Helicopter Antisubmarine Squadron (HS-2) from June1966 to Sept 1967. Paul was aircrewman in the SH-3A helicopter armed with M-60 machine guns and Thompson sub-machine guns while conducting Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) operations. He shares this most memorable mission; Attempted Night Rescue by Paul DeGennaro.
On the evening of May 22, 1967 aboard the USS Kittyhawk (CVA-63) the men of HS-2 SAR DET 1 were at a relaxed state. This was the final day of the SAR DET 1 tour because air operations were secured and the USS Hornet (CVS-12) and the main body of HS-2 would be arriving on station the next morning. Then the 1MC blared “Big Mother standby crew, man your aircraft “ The crew consisted of aircraft commander Lt. (JG) Stephen L Porch, Co pilot Lt (JG) Stuart B. Williams, First crewman AX2 (AC) Paul DeGennaro, Second crewman AX2 Duane A. Shaffer. We launched about 2100 and flew up to North SAR Station. We orbited for a number of hours while they tried to get a fix on downed Air Force pilot, Lt. David L. Baldwin, who punched out in the mountains north of Haiphong. At this point it was about midnight and it was decided that we would in-flight refuel from a DE. This was tricky because our rescue hoist had an intermittent electrical problem and I didn’t want the problem to get worse. We had the DE crew throw us a line and we pulled up the fuel hose with rope. We successfully refueled this way. The downed pilot was located and the OK was given for us to make the rescue. We had two A1 Spads escorting us. We flew at 6000 ft and flew over numerous coastal islands before hitting the mainland. We drew heavy Anti-aircraft fire from the islands. There were shells exploding above us and below us the whole time we were over the island airspace. After flying about 45 minutes we got to the rescue area which was covered with tall trees and at about 5000 ft in altitude. We were communicating with the downed pilot and the A1’s guided us in. We were hovering over tall trees and could not see through them. I clipped a light I took off a Mae West onto the Jungle Penetrator and lowered the penetrator through trees and we waited. At this point we were drawing heavy small arms fire and lost communication with the downed pilot. The aircraft was taking numerous hits. I was knocked over by one bullet going through my shirt and the other crewman took one through the leg. We could not regain communication with the downed pilot and the aircraft started spinning because the rudder controls were damaged by enemy gunfire. Reluctantly we left the area and headed back to the ship. We drew sporadic gunfire until we got to the islands. Our friends on the islands were waiting for us to return and threw every thing they had at us. It was like the 4th July. We landed on the USS Long Beach (CGN 9). A few minutes after landing the self sealing tanks gave out and all the fuel we had left dumped out on the deck of the Long Beach. At first light the next morning another HS-2 DET 1 helicopter commanded by Lt Richard T Daniels went in and successfully made the rescue. With daylight they could see the enemy positions and F4’s were called in to deal with them. It’s amazing what a few well placed cluster bombs can do.
Vietnam War/Counteroffensive Phase VI Campaign (68-69)
From Month/Year
November / 1968
To Month/Year
February / 1969
Description This Campaign period was from 2 November to 22 February 1969. When Admiral Zumwalt launched SEALORDS in October 1968 with the blessing of the new COMUSMACV, General Creighton Abrams, allied naval forces in South Vietnam were at peak strength. The U.S. Navy's Coastal Surveillance Force operated 81 Swift boats, 24 Coast Guard WPBs, and 39 other vessels. The River Patrol Force deployed 258 patrol and minesweeping boats; the 3,700-man Riverine Assault Force counted 184 monitors, transports, and other armored craft; and Helicopter Attack Squadron Light (HAL) 3 flew 25 armed helicopters.
This air component was soon augmented by the 15 fixed-wing OV-10 Bronco aircraft of Attack Squadron Light (VAL) 4, activated in April 1969. The lethal Bronco flown by the "Black Ponies" of VAL-4 carried 8 to 16 5- inch Zuni rockets, 19 2.75-inch rockets, 4 M-60 machine guns, and a 20-millimeter cannon. In addition, five SEAL platoons supported operations in the delta.
Complementing the American naval contingent were the Vietnamese Navy's 655 ships, assault craft, patrol boats, and other vessels. To focus the allied effort on the SEALORDS campaign, COMNAVFORV appointed his deputy the operational commander, or "First SEALORD," of the newly activated Task Force 194. Although continuing to function, the Game Warden, Market Time, and Riverine Assault Force operations were scaled down and their personnel and material resources increasingly devoted to SEALORDS.
Task Force 115 PCFs mounted lightning raids into enemy- held coastal waterways and took over patrol responsibility for the delta's larger rivers. This freed the PBRs for operations along the previously uncontested smaller rivers and canals. These intrusions into former Viet Cong bastions were possible only with the on-call support of naval aircraft and the heavily armed riverine assault craft.
In the first phase of the SEALORDS campaign allied forces established patrol "barriers," often using electronic sensor devices, along the waterways paralleling the Cambodian border. In early November 1968, PBRs and riverine assault craft opened two canals between the Gulf of Siam at Rach Gia and the Bassac River at Long Xuyen. South Vietnamese paramilitary ground troops helped naval patrol units secure the transportation routes in this operational area, soon named Search Turn.
Later in the month, Swift boats, PBRs, riverine assault craft, and Vietnamese naval vessels penetrated the Giang Thanh-Vinh Te canal system and established patrols along the waterway from Ha Tien on the gulf to Chau Doc on the upper Bassac. As a symbol of the Vietnamese contribution to the combined effort, the allied command changed the name of this operation from Foul Deck to Tran Hung Dao I.
Then in December U.S. naval forces pushed up the Vam Co Dong and Vam Co Tay Rivers west of Saigon, against heavy enemy opposition, to cut infiltration routes from the "Parrot's Beak" area of Cambodia. The Giant Slingshot operation, so named for the configuration of the two rivers, severely hampered Communist resupply in the region near the capital and in the Plain of Reeds.
Completing the first phase of the SEALORDS program, in January 1969 PBRs, assault support patrol boats (ASPB), and other river craft established patrol sectors along canals westward from the Vam Co Tay to the Mekong River in Operation Barrier Reef. Thus, by early 1969 a patrolled waterway interdiction barrier extended almost uninterrupted from Tay Ninh northwest of Saigon to the Gulf of Siam.