Daring Rescue Earned Navy Cross
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Episode #748 of Hometown Heroes, airing August 26 – September 1, 2022, captures the story of a daring rescue 50 years ago, behind enemy lines in Vietnam, through the memories of a helicopter pilot who was awarded the Navy Cross as a result of his efforts to save a pilot’s life. 76-year-old Harry Zinser of Hanford, CA relates his journey from college football running back to search and rescue pilot in Vietnam. The son of German immigrants who settled in Flint, MI, Zinser served 26 years in the U.S. Navy, retiring with the rank of Captain.
Fascinating ! I had never heard of helicopters called “Clementine” or “Big Mother” so I did a computer search and found a video of stills of Clementines and their crews with a few pix of Big Mothers. One particular shot was a group of men posing in front of a copter with names. On far right, back row was a “LTJG Zinser”. I’ll assume that was Capt Harry Zinser, USN (Ret). Also found a well produced documentary video of the whole HC7 operation, narrated by a rescue swimmer named Wilson, with footage identified as June, 1972 – very timely. Was great to hear Mr. Zinser’s story and the background of that documentary video really fills it in.
I also know a man (one of my Boy Scout fathers from 2 decades ago) who was a brown-show rescue swimmer in that era, so I’ll ask him whether he was assigned to one of the helicopters mentioned. Gentleman’s name is Crawford.