Memorabilia Memories Of The 240th by Steve Beckner This is the cover of a copy of the ORIGINAL Greyhound Bus Lines Magazine, dated "Number 1, 1968, Volume 3, NO. 1" and it has a full feature article with color pictures about the association between the Greyhound Bus Company and the 240th Assault Helicopter Company. Page 2 of the 1968 edition of the Greyhound Bus Company's Magazine. Here's the 3rd page of the 1968 Greyhound Bus Lines Magazine. Quite an article about the relationship between Greyhound Bus Lines and the 240th Assault Helicopter Company in their magazine; here is page 4. In the top picture on the left from left to right, that is First Sergeant Manuel Perez, Killeen, Texas; Commanding Officer, Major Glenn F. Hoffman, Somerset, Texas; and Executive Officer, Major Edward B. Derr, Altus, Oklahoma. In between running the 240th with the many administrative duties involved, flying missions and writing home to his beloved, lovely wife, Lil, with what little spare time he had, Major Glenn Hoffman designed the 240th Company Sign and what a wonderful job he did. To the ground units we supported, that sign represents to them a chopper outfit that would never leave them behind, always do whatever it took to get the mission done and an aviation unit that gave their all when it came to protecting their brothers on the ground! Wish we knew who the crew chief and doorgunner were in the bottom picture on the right. Good job on designing the sign, Major Glenn, darn good job! There was nothing prettier to the GRUNTS (always capitalized out of respect for those men that fought on the ground) than a flight of Greyhound SLICKS and Mad Dog GUNS coming into an LZ to take the men of the 9th (Old Reliables), 25th Tropic Lightning), 199th (Light Infantry Brigade) and 5th Special Forces (Green Berets) Infantry home after a hard and tough mission was successfully completed! I was talking with Major Glenn recently and we both agreed that there would be no Greyhound nor Mad Dogs choppers flying if it were for our fabulous Kennel Keepers Maintenance Platoon. Our Kennel Keepers were professional, dedicated, and worked long days and toiled hard to make sure the 240th AHC had enough aircraft to fulfill the mission requirements for the next day. In the picture top right we have from the Kennel Keepers: The aircraft of Kennel Keeper 6, Captain John R. Crist. Left to right in the same picture: 1SG Edward Schorstein, Dewitt, Arkansas; Captain Crist, San Bernardino, California; Captain James Rester, Poplarville, Mississippi; and WO Henry H. Troutt, Corpus Christi, Texas. Kennel Keepers of the 240th AHC, the Greyhound and Mad Dogs render a salute of respect and admiration to you along with a heartfelt thanks for making our ships safe to fly and often bringing us home alive even though we took numerous enemy battle damage many times but our beloved Hueys brought many of us back alive! Pictures on bottom of page left to right: Unit Property Book Officer, CW3 Albert Riley, Mowdaqua, Illinois with a version of the sign designed by Major Glenn Hoffman; second picture, some of our expert maintenance men, SP5 Theodore Palmer, Louisville, Ky and Dwaine Grubbs, Wilson, KS; and in the last picture one of the most important and beloved men of any company, including our 240th, our morale builder, mail clerk Sp4 Eugene Turner, Syracuse, NY. This is an original Stars and Stripes newspaper that carried the headline about the tragic 240th mid air collision which took place on July 25, 1968. Twelve 240th Brothers lost their lives on this day, along with 16 Thai infantry soldiers and one Vietnamese. KIA from the 240th AHC on UH-1H 66-16601 were WO1 Ralph M. Havnaer, Captain Franklin J. Hiner, SP5 Joseph G. Catoir and SP4 Charles C. Sales. KIA on UH-1H 66-16206 were WO1 David R. Hoffman, WO2 Arvi Rohtvali, SP4 Robert Powell and SP4 Wayne M. Smith. KIA from UH-1H 66-16592 were WO1 Harvey C. Addison, CW2 Thomas J. Smith, SP5 George D. Dell and SP5 Henry L. Page. Those of us that survived the Vietnam War will never let our 240th Brother's sacrifice nor memory be forgotten. The top picture show our Kennel Keeper area, which by the way, was always full of choppers either receiving their 100 hour flight overhauls or often times fixing the many bullets holes that the Greyhound Slicks and Mad Dogs Guns received during battles with the VC or/and NVA. Our Kennel Keeper choppers often received their own battle damage from the weapons of the enemy when they would fly out to try and fix a downed Hound or Dog in the field. In the bottom picture, there goes another Greyhound, nose over and heading for the battle field. Thank you, Kennel Keepers, and in your honor I have written the following words. They worked long and hard hours in the sweltering heat and cold monsoons Most often they didn't receive the recognition, praise nor glory After their long shifts of duty often retreating for a few hours of rest to their rooms Let me assure you of this the 240th wouldn't be complete without their story They were well aware their work meant the difference between life and death They took pride in their jobs and cared about the crews of the Dogs and Hounds Working long and hard in the heat and humidity would take their breath In between turning wrenches they would have to dodge 82 mm mortar rounds Sweat dripping from their tired, fatigued bodies as they work so hard They never stopped because they knew the mission had to have so many ships When their shifts were over often times they had to pull perimeter guard They were exceptional men whether they joined or were conscripts So on behalf of the Hounds and Dogs of the 240th AHC I hope to meet and shake each of your hands in October of 2002 Because there will always be a debt of gratitude owed by the us And I would consider it an honor if you allowed me to buy you each a brew