Heroes 2011
'Like flying into a hornet's nest'
A routine mission to deal with a roadside bomb turned into the worst day since World War II for German troops. Were it not for their American counterparts, it would have been much worse.
Enemy fire erupted from all directions as the Germans made their way through Isa Khel, a town in Paktia province, on April 2, 2010. Suddenly, the soldiers were trapped, tending desperately to wounded comrades, and looking for a way out.
“You could barely see them,” one German soldier later recalled. “You should not think these are simply farmers. They know how to fight.”
Master Sgt. Patrick Bonneik, a German joint terminal attack controller, made the first call requesting a medical evacuation for two severely injured soldiers. Minutes later, U.S. helicopters from a base in nearby Kunduz lifted off to retrieve the wounded.
The injured needed help and fast. With the fight still raging, Bonneik worried that landing zones would be too hot for the U.S. medevac crews. He feared the wounded would not make it out alive.
The first time the helicopters came in for a landing, they came under intense enemy fire.
To Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jason LaCrosse, it “was like flying into a hornet’s nest, with 200 Taliban shooting at us.”
“They were shooting at us from compounds, they were shooting at us from an open field, they were shooting at us from a tree line,” he said. “Heavy fire came from all directions. I had two [rocket-propelled grenades] crisscross underneath my tail as we were coming in to land, and the aircraft was getting hit so much by small rounds ricocheting that you could see sparks flying off of our tail.”
The helicopter drew the Taliban’s fire, allowing the unhurt German troops to flee, according to battle reports. But the fire was so heavy that the Americans couldn’t land. LaCrosse ordered his crew to “go around,” signaling they would attempt to land again.
The helicopters had been unable to establish communication with the Germans on the ground, so it was disheartening for the soldiers to see LaCrosse abort the landing attempt.
“I thought [the pilot] was going to fly away,” said Bonneik. He thought wrong.
As the helicopters prepared for another landing attempt, pilots noticed white smoke from a different landing zone. They put down there and tried again to establish radio communications with the ground forces.
The German soldier on the ground could not establish a frequency both the helicopter and the ground forces could use, but he said that the patients were in the process of being moved to the new landing zone.
LaCrosse and his crew took off again, trying to avoid being a sitting target while the Germans readied the patients. After several minutes, LaCrosse brought the helicopter down again and medic Staff Sgt. Travis Brown ran out to establish communications with the Germans. He could not, and soon the bird was in the air again.
Finally, through relayed communications, the crew made contact with Bonneik, who said the patients were almost ready for pickup and they were moving them to the alternate landing zone.
LaCrosse, a pilot for 14 years, knew they’d already lost too much time. Waiting for the patients to reach the alternate landing zone was too risky.
“Allied troops on the ground are injured, and if we don’t get them to a hospital they are going to die,” LaCrosse said of his reason for landing, “and I am not going to allow that to happen.”
LaCrosse returned to the original landing zone, where they again faced heavy fire. But this time he was able to direct ground forces to provide cover fire, offering just enough distraction that the Americans could land twice, picking up two wounded soldiers and returning them to Kunduz.
By the time the second soldier was lifted out, Americans got word that a German vehicle had struck a roadside bomb. Four more wounded.
The helicopters were scarred from the earlier barrage of small-arms fire, but the crews managed to land and pick up the wounded Germans at an alternate landing zone without further incident.
The firefight continued on for an additional six hours. Over a period of three hours, LaCrosse and two other aircraft conducted three separate missions — two under heavy fire — and evacuated 11 soldiers.
When it was over, three German soldiers had died and eight were wounded.
“By flying in, he saved at least three more comrades,” said Bonneik.
Months later, LaCrosse was awarded the Silver Star. Thirteen other soldiers received the Distinguished Flying Cross. All 14 crewmembers were awarded the German Gold Cross for Valor, Germany’s second-highest military award. They became the first soldiers outside the German military to receive the award.
The awardees were: Capt. Robert McDonough, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Steven Husted, Chief Warrant Officer 3 Nelson Visaya, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Jason Brown, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Sean Johnson, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Eric Wells, Brown, Sgt. William Ebel, Sgt. Antonio Gattis, Sgt. Steven Schumaker, Spc. Matthew Baker, Spc. Todd Marchese and Spc. Gregory Martinez.
