John A. Bercaw

As a Vietnam Infantry veteran, I have always held the chopper crews in the highest regard for always being there when needed. Without them, we would not have survived. I had jumped from choppers into hot LZ’s, finding the deepest depression or fattest tree for protection before returning fire - a real pucker moment! These pilots were relentless and continued to ferry and land reinforcements with not much protection for themselves. They flew their machines through steady streams of gunfire, and yet, they continued as if they were invincible. Dust off’s, ash and trash runs, troop deployments and evacuations and over-head support were all part of their everyday job.

Mr Bercaw does a wonderful job with this well-told story which offers the reader a glimpse of the everyday life of these flying warriors, which by the way, wasn't a nine to five job. The book is easy to read with short chapters, each highlighting a special event in his Vietnam Tour. I did, however, find somewhat of a disconnect between his career in the Marines and his ending up at Fort Wolters as an Army Helicopter pilot in training wondering how this change took place. The author has a fantastic sense of humor that sometimes caught me off-guard and made me laugh out loud. I particularly enjoyed the way John wrote about his first few days in Marine Basic Training…he was spot on with the way DI’s confuse and break down the new recruits. Funny now…not then!

There are a couple of times in the story when Mr. Bercaw and crew were asked to go out of their way to rescue wounded soldiers on the ground. The landing zones were totally socked in and these pilots took extreme risks to both themselves and the crews by attempting to retrieve these men and get them to hospitals for treatment. Then have these dying soldiers get up and walk off the chopper on their own – leaving me with my mouth agape.

After reading “Pink Mist”, I have bumped up these crews a couple of notches on my high esteem list. I also have a much better understanding of what these sky warriors had to endure in order to survive…sadly, many did not!

Great job Mr. Bercaw! Thank you for your service and Welcome Home sir!

John Podlaski, author
Cherries - A Vietnam War Novel… (meer)