The Bell UH-1
'The Huey'
With this memorial, Cushing Airport wishes to
honor yet another hero of the Vietnam War (1963-1975)
... The 'Huey' Helicopter!
This hero was wounded many times, yet saved
thousands of lives. It was a hero who received
not one decoration for all those times it served
and performed flawlessly.The UH-1 helicopter (identical to the one
displayed here) brought back many soldiers from
the battlefield, some alive, some wounded,
some dead. Ask any Army 'grunt' what the most
beautiful sound he heard in Vietnam, and he'll
tell you that it was the loud thump, thump, thump
of the Huey rotor blades.
Ask any pilot who flew the 'Huey' if he ever
screwed up, then depended on a 'hero' to save
his butt by performing tasks it was never designed
or built to do! He'll say the 'Huey' never
complained, rarely failed.
These hero-birds flew thousands of servicemen
in the most adverse of conditions; some even
flew with their lifeblood leaking from enemy-inflicted
wounds to their fuel tanks or oil reservoirs.
This project is made possible by
Cushing's Regional Airport, the City of Cushing
and those who served during the Vietnam War.
