Hobby Master Archive

In early January 1964 a bloody two day battle raged near the Cambodian border with Vietnam. Every unit and aircraft engaged in the operation was assigned a separate call sign. The call sign for the 57th Medical Detachment (Helicopter Ambulance) was “Dust Off”. According to procedures the call signs were to be changed but the commanding officer requested that their call sign not be changed so there wouldn’t be any chance of confusion about who were the medevac units. After the battle it was determined that the Med Det needed a permanent call sign and since “Dust Off” had been used it was agreed that this would be the permanent one. The 57th was the first Medevac unit in Vietnam so they assumed the name “The Originals”. During an operation on July 1, 1964 Major Charles Kelly flew his UH-1B “Dust Off 90” to an LZ to pick up wounded. He was warned to stay away because it was a “hot LZ” but his reply became famous and the motto for all Army Medical Companies “I’ll leave when I have your wounded”. Shortly after that Major Kelly was mortally wounded by a snipers bullet. Kelly’s attitude about the mission of the MEDEVACs to fly, without hesitation, anytime, anywhere continued all through Vietnam and even to this day. During the eleven years from 1962 to 1973 that the 57th Med Det were in Vietnam they evacuated over 100,000 patients from combat zones.