Vance "Ohio" Vo

Description
Vance "Ohio" Vo

Early life
As a kid he grew up in Ohio. His family had immigrated to America before World War Two from Europe. To avoid the wrath of Hitler and fascists. His mother was pregnant during the immigration to America. They wanted to give their growing family a better start. "Ohio" grew up with a older sister and a younger brother. He wasn't to close with his sister but he would always look out for her. He was pretty close with his brother as he would try to see him everyday at lunch at school. When he grew he originally wanted to become a firefighter but his Draft Board said otherwise.

Military career
In 1956 he was drafted into the United States Army mostly against his will at the age of twenty. After his first term in the military, he decided to stay and was promoted multiple times before the outbreak of the Vietnam War. He served as a Door Gunner for all of his time in the military as he seemed to fit very good with the role. He was nicknamed "Ohio" when a CO he worked under asked him where he came from. He responded with Ohio which shocked the CO as he was from their too. The CO from there on out called him Ohio which caught on with others. (He gained his nickname before the outbreak of the war.) When the war started he served all over with the 11th Pathfinders and First Cavalry Division. He and his crew were very tightly nit until an incident in the An Lao valley where the helicopter crashed and all of Ohio's primary crew were killed. Luckily for Ohio he flew out of the Huey before it hit the ground and exploded killing everyone inside. He continued to serve with the Pathfinders until 1976 when he was finally discharged from the United States Military.

Late life
Being 40 when he was discharged, he was scarred by his time in Vietnam. He had many war stories of rescuing comrades and the lost of his crew. He lived with friends from High School until he died in his sleep in 2005.

Day the primary crew crashed
On the day his helicopter crashed, 1st Sergeant "Draft" was leading a patrol. Meanwhile, "Ohio" and his crew were preparing to take off, his CO's (Lieutenant Smith) last words to him were "Buckle up, Sergeant." Their mission was evacuate a squad of Pathfinders. It is unknown how they crashed but when "Ohio" woke up in a rice paddy under some debris from the helicopter he found a group of Pathfinders which was convenient because he himself was one. When he woke up he pushed the debris off of him and turned to see a man remark "The hell?" as the team of Pathfinders didn't even realize he was there. At this point 1st Sergeant "Draft" had been killed and a specialist was now in command. "Ohio" had to tag along with the group of them when they assaulted a village. During their assault he set up his bipod in a window. He managed to kill multiple Vietnamese while providing covering fire for the rest of the team. After the assault the team regrouped on the other side of the village, "Ohio" said this to the Specialist in command "That was good shooting you got to admit." The specialist responded with "Good shooting, for an aviator." Soon after the attack they moved to a hill and called in evacuation. It was a mission accomplished.

Bravery and Command
"Ohio" was also known for his bravery both in the air and on the ground. He was also known as a survivalist and very lucky. He was in multiple helicopter crashes, and survived most of them with minimal injuries. He also took part in a defensive operation on the ground when Vietcong attacked an FOB. In fact, he had been in multiple ground operations for a variety of reasons falling under base defense, helicopter crashes, and rescue operations. He gained a some sort of fame amongst the other soldiers as being a good luck charm on helicopters. Because if the bird went down and you made it, "Ohio" would be the man to take you back home safely. He was also known for saving multiple soldiers from a variety of situations. He acted very bravely in commanding men on the ground in mostly defensive situations. If his bird wasn't in the air you could most likely find "Ohio" with his M60 strolling around the base waiting for Vietnamese. Their was also another time when "Ohio" took part in a rescue operation of a soldier named Vito. "Ohio" had spotted some sort of tunnel from the air. He told the pilot to bring him down and he single-handedly examined the tunnel figuring this must be the area where Vito was being held. He ran over and told the ground team about the tunnel and then hopped back aboard the chopper and provided air cover from his Huey. The team went into the tunnels and extracted Vito thanks to "Ohio". The chopper then extracted them from the combat zone and headed back to the FOB. "Ohio" known for his bravery and many soldiers stuck by him during his time in Vietnam.