174th Assault
Helicopter Company
DOLPHINS & SHARKS


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WO1 Robert B. Gentry

David Rosenthal provided the following caption: Below is WO1 Robert B. Gentry at the 14th Aviation Battalion area in Chu Lai during one of the two "Typhoon parties" we had there. In October of 1970, Bob and I had stopped in Chu Lai's POL on the way home and they wouldn't let us out because a typhoon was supposed to be bearing down on the region. Stuck without underwear or toothbrush, we--and every other aircrew who happened to fall into the pit with us--were instructed to wait there until after the Big Storm. That night, all the aircraft were hurriedly ground-handled into recently emptied Marine F-4 revetments (the Marine Air Wing had just moved out) and we spent the next four days sitting around waiting for the storm that never came. What a party it turned out to be!

Bob was later killed by a .51 cal. bullet through the chest on one of the first lifts into Laos during Lam Son 719. We were very close. I got an "inter-theater transfer" to Germany when I DEROSed and remember being on a train and finding an Army Times on the seat. Like so many of us in the business at the time, I went right to the "Deaths" section and found his name. A very very bad day. (Photo taken by David Rosenthal, Chu Lai, Oct 1970)