View Full Version : the Aircraft crewed by Raymond “MIKE” Clausen while earning the Medal of Honor.
GEORGE CURTIS
12-26-2003, 16:42
CH-46E BuNo 153389 is the Aircraft crewed by Raymond “MIKE” Clausen while earning the Medal of Honor. It is now serving overseas with HMM-161 and will soon be stricken from service and sent to the Marine Corps Museum Historical Branch for preservation and display.
Fortitudine Magazine Vol XXX No2, 2003
Tom Knowles
12-26-2003, 22:49
Speaking of "Mike"--
How is he doing?
Tom Knowles
VMO-2
Darrell Asplund
12-27-2003, 02:30
Speaking of Mike... Does anyone know how he's doing
these days?
Do the Marines overseas in that airframe have any idea about Mike and his MOH? I was just wondering if they knew their phrog was the one Mike was on during that mission. Do they even know of Mike Clausen? How much history is taught to the crewchiefs about their airplanes? Any active duty crewchiefs out there that know the answer?
Joe Reed
12-29-2003, 23:19
My guess would be no. Since HMM-773 didn't know about the Gerry Berry bird that brought the ambassador from the roof of the embassy (while in HMM-165 in RVN in 1975) was in their unit until research began to find it for the ceremony and subsequently the reunion, I can't figure how they would know about it.
Semper Fi
Joe
phrog167
12-08-2004, 12:19
I was a Huey crewchief at Al Taqqadum airbase with HMLA-775 serving along side 161. Being a former Phrog guy at heart I'm familiar with Mike Clausen's feat. The bird in question suffered a hard landing when the crew browned out and dumped the collective from 25-50 feet. It was severely wrinkled about the 410 section. During ground transport to Al Asad Airbase for return to CONUS and Depot, the aft pylon struck a bridge overpass and broke the camel's back.
Some squadron members I talked to were familiar with Mike Clausen and knew it was his bird. As to history lessons for crewchiefs I've never heard of it. Most crewchiefs today are not homegrown and enlist into the Marine Corps with a crewchief guarantee without even knowing what a crewchief is.
K.D. Logue
12-08-2004, 17:04
We have the Aircraft parked along the back fence at NADep Cherry Point. It is in very bad shape and about to be stricken.
It has been her about two weeks. I wish I could send you a picture of it.
K.D.
popasmoke
12-08-2004, 21:07
http://www.popasmoke.com/notam2/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4436
Joe Reed
12-10-2004, 18:41
J.D.,
We need to "move" whatever mountains are necessary to get this aircraft to a museum of some type. There aren't any CH-46's in any aviation museums that I'm aware of, probably because they're still flying them!! This one, however, we must have! Slick is doing what he can already, if the BOD can help, the wheels need to start turning!!
Ready APP!!!!!!!
Semper Fi
Joe
GEORGE CURTIS
12-11-2004, 09:03
CH-46E BuNo 153389 is the Aircraft crewed by Raymond “MIKE” Clausen while earning the Medal of Honor. will be sent to the Marine Corps Museum Historical Branch for preservation and display."
Fortitudine Magazine Vol XXX No2, 2003
Joe Reed
12-11-2004, 22:55
Since it was flight damaged in Iraq and further damaged on a bridge, apparently enroute back to the air station on a truck, maybe plans have changed?? I understand the aircraft is now in Cherry Point awaiting disposition, after recent arrival in a C-5. The recent damage, near station 410, is rather severe I'm told.
Sure hope nobody does anything dumb with it...........
Semper Fi
Joe
GEORGE CURTIS
12-13-2004, 19:57
The article I quoted from Fortitudine Magazines Vol XXX No2, 2003, clearly states that it is going the Marine Corps Museum Historical Branch for preservation and display, once it is struck.
I do not believe the aircraft has been struck yet.
K.D. Logue
12-14-2004, 09:49
Did I mention that this aircraft was damaged in Iraq due to a hard landing and was put on a low boy for transport to the rear when it's aft pylon struck an overpass. It was C-5'd to NADep Pensacola. I asked what it's status was and was informed that it was to be rebuilt cosmetically and sent to a museum. It is in extreemly damaged condition.
Semper fi K.D.
ACFT was officially stricken 30 Nov. Remarks section of msg is quoted below.
ACFT BUNO 153389 STRICKEN FROM THE NAVAL INVENTORY PER EMAIL FROM PMA-226 AND COMNAVAIRFOR. LOCAL TIME OF STRIKE IS 0800. RECOMMEND CUSTODY OF THE AIRCRAFT BE TRANSFERRED TO THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF NAVAL AVIATION DUE TO HISTORICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THIS AIRCRAFT
From previous posts I'm not sure what
Marine Corps Museum Historical Branch is, but the National Museum of Naval Aviation is the official name of the P-Cola museum.
Joe Reed
12-30-2004, 00:48
Great News, Slick!
Thanks for the detective work and letting us know what you found out. 'Bout time they got a Phrog in Pensacola!
Semper Fi
Joe
"Blood, Sweat & Tears" , CH-46E BuNo 153389, will have a new home at the Carolinas Aviation Museum in Charlotte, NC where she'll be restored.
I'll help ensure that Mike's history stays with it.
Tom Thompson
03-20-2005, 09:02
Ed,
Any chance of getting digital pictures posted of the aircraft in it's pre-restoration condition.
Semper Fi
Tom
Joe Reed
03-20-2005, 11:09
Ed,
Glad to have you on the job up there to ensure the right things are done! Appreciate the "heads up" on the location. We've seen/heard of several sites mentioned with this aircraft, glad to know for "sure".
Semper Fi, Fast Eddie!
Joe
Wilco. ETA is April 2 at the Carolinas Aviation Museum, Charlotte/Douglas Airport, Charlotte, NC.
I plan to be involved in doing "grunt work" on her - I have no "practical skills".
SF,
Ed
Joe Reed
03-21-2005, 10:35
:D Ed,
Your practical skills are legendary in most arenas ;) . Knowing you'll be there is a comfort to all that know you and to many that you haven't met, yet. You'll have "aircrew" wings before you know it!
Semper Fi
Joe
Tom Thompson
04-09-2005, 08:13
Ed,
Hope the move went well, any luck with pictures?
SF,
Tom
Joe Jarhead
05-24-2005, 21:32
Military Trader magazine reported that Cpl. Clausen died 5/30/04. I didn't
note the cause.
Tarheel53
05-28-2005, 09:04
I am the Acquisitions Chairman of the Carolinas Aviation Museum in Charlotte, NC. In February 2005, Michael Starn, Aircraft Curator of the USMC Air and Ground Museum at Quantico called me and asked if we could do a job for him.
He told us that there was a CH-46 at Cherry Point that had suffered a hard landing in Iraq, but then had been seriously damaged during the recovery, having struck a low bridge while being trucked to the repair depot. It was estimated that it would take $4.5 million dollars to restore it to flying condition. He told me that this was a very historically important helicopter,
and that the Marine Corps wanted it saved, repaired, and properly displayed.
Since we are an all volunteer, nonprofit organization, we needed to take the expense of recovering this helicopter from Cherry Point, the transportation back to our Museum in Charlotte (310 miles) as well as the actual costs of repairing it into consideration. He provided us with a number of closeup photos of the damage that had been taken in Iraq, but they were such closeup we ready couldn't gage the overall condition of this bird. So I asked for time to be able to go over to NADEP at Cherry Point and examine the extent of the damage, and take along our metal fabricating expert for his opinion. Michael agreed to give us two weeks to reach a decision on weither
to take accept this project. We traveled over and closely examined all the damage. Our expert deemed it a do able project, so we have agreed to take on this task. During the week of March 27, our recovery crew removed the winglets, and took the fuselage apart at the production break at station 410.
Part of our agreement to repair this helicopter was that NADEP would allow us to secure needed parts off any other CH-46s that were available in their
"bone yards". It was apparent from the start that the whole rear fuselage was too badly damaged to consider repairing. NADEP offered us a CH-46E that had been damaged in a hard landing in Afganistan, then futher damaged by numberous fork lift punctures. However the tail on this helicopter was too badley damaged as well. So this only left us with a Navy CH-46D model which
was structually in pretty good condition. NADEP assured us that a D & E aft
section were interchandable and agreed with our plan to just swap the aft sections to over come the most heavly damaged area. Since we were going to use a D aft section, we pretty much decided from the start that we would
just go ahead and convert this helicopter back into a D model since these were going to be the only parts that would be available.
The damage on 153389 included a large vertical tear which ran from the centerline on top of the fuselage to almost four feet down the starboard
side of the fuselage forward of station 410. On the port side the major damage was aft of 410. All of our repairs are being done to keep the overall structures in as near flight worthly appearances as possible. All the damaged skin is being drilled out and new replacement portions are being fabricated and rivieted back in place. We have the torn section repairs about 85% completed, and the replacement tail has been bolted on.
Stay tuned for further updates. Since I'm new to your organization I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have and share the many photos that I have if you can tell me how to go about posting them. We would welcome any assistance anyone would care to give. It can be in the form of warm bodies to help buck all these rivets, or donations to help cover the expenses. We are located at: Carolinas Aviation Museum
4108 Airport Drive
Charlotte,NC 28208
Semper Fi
Tarheel53
06-02-2005, 16:44
Wilco. ETA is April 2 at the Carolinas Aviation Museum, Charlotte/Douglas Airport, Charlotte, NC.
I plan to be involved in doing "grunt work" on her - I have no "practical skills".
SF,
Ed
We're still waiting for you to drop by.
Stopped by on 11th to give there tin man a hand, I hope, to fix the bird up. She has lots of work to go to make her look right. Planning on helping again on the 18th also got two Phrog fixers looking to help out in a few weeks.
Glad that they let me help out. Thanks Dean (aka Tarheel53). Took a few pic's and need to send them off, will post if Dean doesn't mind.
Semper Fi,
Ryan
Here are the pic's of Mike's bird going through the rehab/rebuilt stages.
Taken 11June05.
04 and 07 was of the work done that day.....
You can post these on with Dean's other photos if you want....
Semper Fi,
Ryan
Military Trader magazine reported that Cpl. Clausen died 5/30/04. I didn't note the cause.
Medal of Honor Winner Mike Clausen Dies
By Adam Bernstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, June 10, 2004; Page B06
Mike Clausen Jr., 56, who died in a Dallas hospital May 30 of liver failure, received the Medal of Honor, the highest military award for valor, for rescuing a platoon of Marines trapped in a minefield during the Vietnam War.
In the Marine Corps, Pfc. Clausen liked to disobey authority; he had repeatedly been demoted after every promotion.
"I will come home a live private before coming home as a dead sergeant," he had said.
On Jan. 31, 1970, he seemed to have forgotten his credo.
That day, he was serving with Medium Helicopter Squadron 263. He was part of a mission to extract members of a Marine platoon near Da Nang that had wandered into a minefield while attacking the enemy. They were under heavy fire and frozen in their places, fearing that they would trip a mine.
Mr. Clausen was crew chief of his CH-46 helicopter and guided the pilot to a safe landing in a spot that had been cleared by a mine explosion.
The pilot told him not to leave, but Pfc. Clausen ignored him -- six times, as he repeatedly left the safety of the helicopter to help carry back one dead and 11 wounded Marines to the aircraft.
He then tried to lead the eight remaining Marines to the copter.
On one trip, while he carried a wounded man, a mine went off, killing a corpsman and wounding three other Marines.
"Only when he was certain that all Marines were safely aboard did he signal the pilot to lift the helicopter," read his Medal of Honor citation.
His other decorations included the Purple Heart and the Air Medal.
He once told an interviewer that the Americans pinned down in the minefield mistakenly thought he knew where he was going.
"I ran over there [and] picked up the guys that couldn't walk," Mr. Clausen said. "The ones that could walk were under the assumption I knew where the mines were, obviously, and they followed every footstep I made back to the helicopter."
Raymond Michael Clausen Jr. was born in New Orleans and raised in Hammond, La. After six months of college, he joined the Marine Corps in 1966 and became a jet helicopter mechanic.
He left the service in April 1970 and became an inspector for the Boeing Co. Soon after, he was in a car accident that left him comatose for months, nearly blinded in one eye and without the strength to walk. Back at home, he had all his furniture placed in the center of a room so he could walk the perimeter using the wall for occasional support.
He spent his time speaking to veterans groups and continued to suffer from poor health.
In 1996, Mr. Clausen made news reports for facing a speeding ticket charge in Louisiana. He chose to defend himself and was ready to do so when the state district judge ordered him to take a sobriety test. He refused, claiming all he had had that morning was a nonalcoholic beer. The judge sentenced Mr. Clausen to a night in jail for contempt of court.
In court, he had worn the Medal of Honor "to remind [judges] that people fought and died in wars to defend the Constitution."
At his death, he was awaiting a liver transplant.
Survivors include his wife, Lois Clausen of Ponchatoula, La.; two brothers; and a sister.
Semper Fi Marine RIP
Ryan
Thru Sept 22 we have made quite a lot of progress. All of the metal repairs and replacement have been completed except for the lower corner of the window on the left side.
We entered the reassembly mode on Saturday Sept 17 and began to put the parts that we have back on the helicopter. This is extremely important since we need to determine exactly what parts we are missing so we can send an updated want list to Cherry Point so we can try and secure as many of the missing parts as possible for our next trip to the base. If anyone can secure a Boeing/Vertrol CH-46D Parts Manual that we could borrow or copy, it would certainly speed up this process. Heard the Midway just restored one, giving them a call today.
Because of the lack of manpower, critical parts, coastal storms, and the extreme heat, it probably will be the latter part of October before we can schedule our next trip to Cherry Point. We will probably need to dismantle a donor helicopter once we get there, so this will entail an over night multi day visit. Our greatest need is for the right hand stub wing assembly that is needed in order to get it back up on it's landing gear. Then we can move it around.
We have installed the clam shell doors on the front of the tail, and will have the engine air intakes back on tomorrow, Saturday the 24th. We have also begun to build up the front cowling area, but have a couple of problems in this area. The right front panel won't line up with the hinges, so that we can insert the hinge pin. This means we'll need to remove the hinge and redrill the attachment screw holes. Also we are missing the right rear side cowling panel,and also various pats for the work platform support rods and attachment points. So it is really beginning to look like a helicopter If anyone would care to help us work on this project, let me know as my schedule is very flexible. Normal work days are Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Give me a call or e-mail me.
Dean Demmery (Tarheel 53)
Waiting on some film to developed and I will post pics.
Is the plumbing for the ramp different in a Delta than an Echo?
Lastly any pics for HMM-263 Jan 1970 of Mike's bird?
Semper Fi,
Ryan
PS The CHAC has an open house Oct 1st and 2nd.
More work was down this past weekend. Will post photo's when I get them back. Right stub wing is on, done earlier.
FYI - The PIO department at New River is sending a reporter & photograher to Charlotte on 2 December to do a big spread on the helicopter and museum.
Semper Fi,
Ryan
berry3HMM263
12-01-2005, 10:01
More work was down this past weekend. Will post photo's when I get them back. Right stub wing is on, done earlier.
FYI - The PIO department at New River is sending a reporter & photograher to Charlotte on 2 December to do a big spread on the helicopter and museum.
Semper Fi,
Ryan
I will be forwarding to Ryan several pictures of Mike and his bird to Ryan in a few days. He may post as he wishes. I lived in the same hootch (Party House) with Mike in 69-70.
I was Crew Cheif on True Grit and had the pleasure of crewing Mike's bird a few times while he was on R&R.
Semper Fi,
Mike
I will be forwarding to Ryan several pictures of Mike and his bird to Ryan in a few days. He may post as he wishes. I lived in the same hootch (Party House) with Mike in 69-70.
I was Crew Cheif on True Grit and had the pleasure of crewing Mike's bird a few times while he was on R&R.
Semper Fi,
Mike
Mike,
Will post when I get them.
Semper Fi and thanks,
Ryan
I received these through the never ending email grapevine today. I figured they should be posted here.
Joe Reed
03-08-2006, 18:49
Brook,
THANKS! Posting these does good for those of us that wanted to help but are too far away and unable. Bird is really getting there!
sfresina
05-12-2006, 20:10
Brook,
THANKS! Posting these does good for those of us that wanted to help but are too far away and unable. Bird is really getting there!
I'm working on finishing Blood Sweat and Tears up. It is comming along great. Any questions contact my email steve@carolinasaviation.org
This I took in May 2006 The armor plates are alomost on and soon we'll have the ram working again. I'Ve got the engines and waiting for the Fwd Rtr Hd, Aft Green PV arm and 6 blades.
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