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Butterflies

Viet Nam has some of the most beautiful butterflies in the world, but during the war it was also the home of the most lethal kind. The VC had many clever ways of killing people, but the fatal butterfly was the most insidious of them all.

It all started with a routine trip to the Army's depot ship at Vung Tau. One of the special test units for the Chinook helicopters needed repair, and the ship was the only place in the country that could do it. The Vietnamese HC-47 cargo choppers were grounded until I could get back with it, so one of the American Army advisors assigned to AFAT 3 commandeered a VNAF Huey to take me there as fast as possible.

I was never really comfortable in helicopters. One of my Sergeants once described them as a collection of constantly moving parts with each part bent on the destruction of the parts adjacent to it. I could only agree with that assessment after my first encounter with the weird machines; but after nearly a year with them, I had managed to calm my apprehension to the point where I could almost sleep on one. The flop, flop of the main rotor blades torturing the air reassured me we were still airborne while the hum of the transmission behind my head tried its best to lull me off to slumber. In the air, the steamy, humid, almost liquid, air on the ground was replaced by a pleasantly cool breeze through the open doors. Even the mildew smell of the red, dank earth disappeared. I did manage to doze off on the way down to Vung Tau; but, as we headed back to Bien Hoa, I stayed awake to shoot pictures of the lush, green countryside gliding by below.

As we neared Bien Hoa Air Base, my headset crackled to life with a call from the American Chaplain. Would we be willing to take him out to the leper colony? The Army guy looked at me for approval and I pointed to the test set. He told the Chaplain we would be there after we dropped it off for the VNAF.

"Did you ever see a leper?" the Army guy asked me.

"No, but if you don't mind I'd like to go along for the pictures," I said holding up my camera.

We picked up the Chaplain and two Air Force security police armed to the teeth. The Army guy just looked at me and smiled. We both knew they would be little help in any scuffle with the VC, but if it made the Padre feel better; so be it.

The leper colony was only a few minutes flying time from Bien Hoa. As we descended into a clearing surrounded by thatched huts, I noticed the place was deserted. I snapped a few pictures, but I was very disappointed

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