The Warrior 26 Crew, 42 years after their tour: Sp 4 Steve Zanini, CWO Jim Miller, and Sp 5 Don Johnson.

By JOYELL NEVINS
Record Herald Editor
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To survive in Vietnam, a place where life and death is constantly on the line, requires a different state of mind. Jim Miller described the military as very good at “brainwashing” in training to achieve this state.

“You’re ‘programmed’ to go fight the war,” said Miller, “It’s so much mental – you quickly realize how the military [training] is to keep you alert and alive.”

The problem is, that there is no deprogramming. Miller came back to the states in February of 1968 and was expected to immediately be a normal functioning member of society again.

“It was all suppressed, continually suppressed,” said Miller of the things he’d seen and done, “It was a real bad time in America – there was a lot of polarization.”

Across the table sat Colonel Eric Galey, who when heard about Miller’s service, looked directly at him and said “Welcome home.”

“That was the first time in thirty years someone said that to me. It really got to me,” Miller said, “I just cried.”

Being able to acknowledge his experiences, through situations like that one, military organizations like Veterans of Foreign Wars or Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Associations, or events like the national Operation Welcome Home, helped give Miller find peace of mind.

But the biggest help to him was getting behind the stick in a chopper again.

After being in civilian industry for thirty years, Miller retired from Spinnaker Coating (formerly Brown-Bridge Mills) and realized he missed aviation.

The first time he got back in a helicopter was at Midwest Rotor & Wing, a private aviation service out of Vandalia.

“I was put in the helicopter and Mike [Armocida] says to me, ‘okay, let’s see what you remember’,” Miller recalled.

Miller found out he remembered more than he thought. “Mike told me when we landed ‘you really are a helicopter pilot – a good one’,” said Miller, “We’ve been best buddies ever since.”

Through Midwest, Miller has flown Channel 2 newspeople during a tornado, helped the Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification with marijuana eradication (spotting plots from the air), and flown tourists at Kings Island. He also served as a corporate chauffeur with Helo Two Six.

Miller now volunteers with American Huey 369, a non-profit organization that works to preserve Hueys for educating future generations and bringing healing to older ones. Through that group, Miller was able to fly a Huey for the first time since Vietnam in 2008.

“That started the healing process,” he said, “It’s cathartic, to see and touch the helicopter.”

His wife, Jan, said of that first trip, “I was shocked at how emotional it was for him to be ‘back at the stick’ again.” Miller likened flying the bird to riding a bike.

“You might be a little wobbly at first but you haven’t forgotten how to do it,” he said.

Miller learned that American Huey 369 had just acquired a Warrior 11, a chopper that had been assigned to his company in Soc Trang. He organized a reunion with his crew (the only one still intact after all these years) and about 20 other men from the 336th AHC. At the reunion, the company received autographed copies of the book “We are Soldiers Still,” (the movie of which is the only one many veterans say is truly representative) and replica flight helmets, since the originals had to be left for the next crew coming to Vietnam when they went back to the States.

When Miller’s crew members, crew chief Don Johnson and gunner Steve Zanini, first saw the Huey again, it stirred up something in them, too.

“They were not sobbing, but the tears were just rolling,” said Jan.

The three gentlemen climbed on board for their own ‘honor flight.’

In a later email to Miller, Zanini wrote of that flight, “What a great thrill it was for me to join you and Don for one last flight together as a crew on a Warrior Huey. As we stood together in that meadow in Indiana when Warrior 11 first approached – and, later, when you flew us over the corn and soybean fields (which I could have sworn looked like rice paddies), the memories of our time in combat flooded my mind.”

Zanini also wrote of the bond he had with Miller and Johnson, “As you so warmly stated on your inscription in “We are Soldiers Still,” we share a very unique bond. It is a bond not many can understand; a bond I am so very proud to have … Thank you for being the great pilot you were, for the service and sacrifice you gave to your country, and thank you for bringing us home.”

The American Veterans Institute, one of the sponsors of the Operation Welcome Home, an event to honor all veterans (but especially welcome home those from Vietnam), wants to give other crews this cathartic experience. They are currently raising funds to bring two Huey’s to the Operation Welcome Home celebration in Dayton this November. To help with this project, call 669-2040 or visit www.americaneteransinstitute.org.