While returning to base, 1st. Lt. James P. Fleming and four other Bell UH-1F helicopter pilots get an urgent message from an Army Special Forces team pinned down near a river bank. One helicopter is downed and two others leave the area because of low fuel, but Fleming and another pilot flying in an armed Huey press on with the rescue effort. The first try fails; but not willing to give up, Fleming lands again and is successful in picking up the team. He then lands at his base near Duc Co, South Vietnam, nearly out of fuel. Fleming is later awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions.
The Air Force is on track to reach its annual goal of graduating 1,500 new pilots that had proved elusive to this point, one year after the service launched a sweeping overhaul of its undergraduate pilot training program, Air Education and Training Command said Sept. 14.
