No Warrior Left Behind – The Untold Story of HC-7

Helicopter Combat Support Squadron (HC-7) was formed during the Vietnam War and its primary mission was combat search and rescue (CSAR). Their mission is not for the faint of heart. CSAR is often dangerous and requires persistence to get the downed airman out of danger.

Its legacy of rescuing downed pilots, often deep in enemy territory epitomizes the mantra “Leave No Warrior Behind.” Among the tenacious airmen who flew these often-dangerous missions was Clyde Lassen. He was only one of four naval aviators to be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for their heroism in Vietnam.

By the end of the war, HC-7 had rescued nearly 150 grateful individuals and 94 aviators from People’s Democratic Republic of Vietnam (PDRV) and the Gulf of Tonkin. Their stellar performance and the awards given to its members established HC-7’s reputation as “one of the most highly decorated squadrons in Naval Aviation history.”

By September 1967 when HC-7 was established, Vietnam was fast becoming the “helicopter war.” Helicopters were its defining mode of transport and the image that remains in the minds of most Americans today. These birds brought men into battle and carried them home. 

With the passage of time, we are losing those who served in HC-7 and their stories. The movie No Warrior Left Behind will preserve the inspiring tales of a combat rescue squadron whose role evolved during from logistics and VIP transport and to solely combat search and rescue.

When Americans think about combat search and rescue during the Vietnam War, most think about the Air Force Jolly Green Giant helicopters and assume they made all the rescues. The truth is far different. Between 1965 and 1974 when the bombing of North Vietnam ended, there were hundreds of rescues, of which a large portion were made by the Navy. 

Few know about the Navy’s contribution and the squadron that made most, but not all the Navy’s rescues. During its brief history, the men of HC-7 made 87 rescues, many of which were under fire. Only eight times did they fail to pick-up the downed airman. This movie is intended to tell the story of the brave men who served in HC-7.

By 1967, the air war in Vietnam had been raging for two years and the Navy realized that it needed a squadron dedicated to combat search and rescue (CSAR). The ad-hoc system of having anti-submarine warfare squadrons and plane guard detachments on board the carriers take on the CSAR role was simply not sustainable. Early on, these squadrons were not trained nor equipped for the role. So, on September 1^st, 1967, HC-1, a squadron that was established in 1948, was split into five different units. 

• HC-1 to provide plane guard dets for carriers based on the west coast
• HC- 3 – to provide vertical replenishment dets flying H-46s for ships supporting the Pacific Fleet
• HC-5 – training squadron for the H-46 that also supplied detachments to non-aviation ships
• HC – 7 – combat search and rescue with a secondary logistics role
• HA(L) – 3 – close air support for Navy units operating in the Mekong Delta

For the next five years and four months HC-7 was on station in the waters around Vietnam ending in September 1973. The squadron was deactivated on June 30^th, 1975. In the history of the Navy, HC-7 was the only active-duty squadron dedicated to the CSAR mission. 

At one time, the squadron had four different types of helicopters in its inventory – several models of the H-2, H-3s, H-46s and even an older, piston powered H-34. The H-46s and H-34 performed logistics roles while the H-2s and H-3s flew primarily CSAR.

The single engine UH-2Bs were underpowered and were replaced by the twin-engine HH-2C which solved the power problem. However, its lack of endurance – 2.5 hours of fuel – and small cabin limited its effectiveness.

The H-2s were replaced by a modified H-3 which had armor, self-sealing tanks, a faster hoist with a longer cable, a mini-gun mounted to fire when the starboard cargo door was open and an M-60 firing through the port door and other modifications. With 4.5 hours of internal fuel, the twin-engine HH-3A was a much more capable search and rescue platform.

Initially, the squadron deployed in single plane H-2 detachments on large cruisers and destroyers stationed off the coast of North Vietnam and an H-3 detachment on a carrier on Yankee Station until Operation Rolling Thunder ended in November 1968. When the H-2s were phased out, HC-7 maintained a detachment of four to five HH-3As known as Det 110 on one of the carriers on Yankee Station that moved like gypsies from one carrier to another. HC-7 would deploy its helicopters from the carrier to the destroyers and cruisers off the coast of North Vietnam.

We are planning to interview pilots, air crewmen and maintainers and survivors. These interviews will be intertwined with photographs, movie footage as well as graphics that will let the viewer see what the pilot’s and aircrew’s saw on CSAR missions. 

The producer has had full access to the archives of HC-7, the Naval Helicopter Historical Society, and other sources to ensure that it is an accurate portrayal of HC-7.

Robert Child, a director, and published author will be the producer of No Warrior Left Behind. His work has earned him more than 26 writing and directing awards including an Emmy^® nomination. He is one of only a handful of writer-directors whose work has screened in the United States Congress.

The caliber of Child's military history work has attracted leading Hollywood "name" collaborators as narrators. Hal Holbrook narrated Silent Wings, which featured Walter Cronkite and Andy Rooney. Civil War theatrical director Ronald F. Maxwell who narrated Gettysburg, Gods & Generals also narrated Child's Lincoln and Lee at Antietam: The Cost of Freedom. Actor Dale Dye, Stephen Spielberg's Senior Military Advisor on Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers, narrated Child's 2011 film U.S.S. Franklin: Honor Restored.

In 2011, the survivor's association of the WWII aircraft carrier, U.S.S. Franklin, singled Child out for Honorary Crew Membership aboard the most decorated vessel in U.S. Naval history. U.S.S. Franklin Museum Association President, H. Prentice Baptiste, wrote, "We wish to extend to you a membership as a full-fledged crew member of the U.S.S. Franklin for your work in setting the record straight of the heroic effort in saving one of the great ships of the U.S. Navy in World War II and your name will be permanently inscribed on the official crew roster.”

Child’s documentary work has consistently been singled out and honored as among the best of the best. His films have aired on PBS, The Military Channel, American Heroes Channel, National Geographic Television, Armed Forces Network, and many international television networks. The following is a list Child’s productions and the year it was released:

• Serving for Justice: The 333^rd Field Artillery Battalion (2021)
• Pearl S. Buck: A Life, A Legacy (2015)
• America’s First D-Day: Washington Crossing (2014)
• Gettysburg: The Final Measure of Devotion (2013)
• U.S.S. Franklin: Honor Restored (2011)
• The Wereth Eleven (2011)
• Silent Wings: The American Glider Pilots of WWII (2007)
• Lincoln and Lee at Antietam the Cost of Freedom (2006)
• Gettysburg: Three Days of Destiny (2004)
• Gettysburg: The Boys in Blue and Gray (2002)

The movie project was launched in March 2002. Our first step is to raise the money through tax deductible donations to pay for a script we can take to a sponsor who will fund the production. We did that and the script is now complete.

We’ve recorded four interviews and are planning to record more later in August 2022 and early September while we continue to search for a sponsor to fund the full production. Assuming we raise enough money, we hope to be in production and editing in October 2022 and have the project “in the can” by early 2023. 

We are planning to coordinate the release of the two-hour documentary with other events in the spring or early summer of 2023.

Our intent is to offer the production to PBS first. However, we believe that the Discovery Channel, the Smithsonian Channel, and the American History Channel may also be interested. Keep checking this site for news.

All donations are accepted. Donors of $1,000 or more who helped fund the script will be listed in the credits of the movie.