Captain Larry Taylor and his wife, Toni
Captain Larry Taylor circa 1968
Ferris Robinson
At 11 a.m. on Nov. 11, 1918 - the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month - the guns fell silent. The Great War was over. Over 16 million people died during World War I. On Nov. 11 every year, we honor our veterans.
Captain Larry Taylor is the 33rd Tennessean and sixth recipient with ties to Chattanooga to receive our country's highest military highest military award for valor, the Medal of Honor.
Almost a decade ago, Greyson Brown asked Capt. Larry Taylor how long he served in Vietnam, and, without hesitation, he said, “One year, five days, four hours and 20 minutes.” Greyson reported in an article for the Mountain Mirror that, during that time, Captain Larry Taylor of Signal Mountain flew 2,700 combat missions. The average time for a soldier to be engaged in combat during World War II was 40 days.
Captain Taylor was engaged 340 times, which he says was about average for soldiers in Vietnam. Among his many military decorations hangs a Silver Star.
This November, the month we observe Veterans Day, I’d like to share part of Greyson Brown’s interview with Capt. Larry Taylor.
“On the mission for which Capt. Taylor earned a Silver Star, the reconnaissance team had successfully infiltrated an area and were trying to scope out enemy trails that were used to enter the villages. Elsner, their leader, suddenly realized they had been spotted and radioed their base for helicopter help. The company’s tactical operations center had the Cobra team standing ready. Elsner reported that his team was boxed in and receiving gunfire from all sides. Gunships were scrambled at Phu Loi and the Cobras were soon in route. Then, Lieutenant Taylor established radio contact to locate the team.
“Wildcat Two, this is Darkhorse Three-Two.” That was Lt. Larry Taylor piloting one of the two Cobras. He was the flight leader of a two-ship flight from D Troop, 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry. These were welcome words to Elsner and his team, all flanked by the enemy on the ground. Taylor advised him to watch for the Cobra’s lights. This group of pilots had never failed a mission to cover their soldiers on the ground, and Elsner and his men trusted they would be successful again.
Taylor and Elsner devised a plan for Elsner’s team to fire star clusters over the enemy positions to help the gunships locate them. Their plan was successful, and the Cobras arrived with mini-guns blazing in attempts to free the team from its surrounded location. However, both Elsner’s team and the two Cobras on location were also receiving intense small-arms fire. This gunfire continued for 40 minutes, in spite of the suppressive fire from the gunships. The firing continued to escalate on both sides until Elsner radioed to Lt. Taylor that he was out of ammunition. Taylor replied that the two gunships had expended 72 rockets and nearly 16,000 rounds of mini-gun ammunition and were empty as well. The enemy quickly realized their advantage as they grew bolder and increased their fire.
Lt. Taylor told Elsner that the Cobras would fly to distract the enemy fire, and Elsner’s team should be ready to run, on his signal, across the gully into an open rice paddy. Elsner didn’t know what they had planned, but he complied. As Taylor informed higher command of his decision, he was told “he was not, under any circumstances, to endanger his valuable aircraft and crew in such an unorthodox manner.” Taylor responded that he was “commander on-the-scene”” and would try to extract the men on the ground. These pilots had never left fellow soldiers behind with no alternative, and they weren’t going to do so this time.
On his signal, Elsner’s team ran to rice paddy as Lt. Taylor swooped down while taking incoming fire. Somehow the men made it to the Cobra, to hanging on to the chopper as it lifted them to safety. There was nowhere to sit inside of the gunship so the men sat on the empty rockets and held tightly to the landing skids as he flew them out, taking fire the entire time, and finally, leveling off at 2,000 feet.
Everyone survived.
This was possibly the first, and one of the only extractions of soldiers via a Cobra. Captain Larry Taylor and his team never left each other in Phu-Loi. Twenty men left for Vietnam and, 20 returned home. Taylor said, “When you’re there, in a combat situation, you are fighting for the lives of your brothers at that time.”
To all you serve our country, past and present, we salute you.
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Ferris Robinson is the author of three children’s books, “The Queen Who Banished Bugs,” “The Queen Who Accidentally Banished Birds,” and “Call Me Arthropod” in her pollinator series “If Bugs Are Banished.” “Making Arrangements” is her first novel. “Dogs and Love - Stories of Fidelity” is a collection of true tales about man’s best friend. Her website is ferrisrobinson.com and you can download a free pollinator poster there. She is the editor of The Lookout Mountain Mirror and The Signal Mountain Mirror.