Madcat Podcast

Mike Fish

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Mike Fish served as a PJ at the 41st ARRS at Hamilton AFB, California, 38th ARRS at Tuy Hoa AB and the 71st ARRS at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska. He shares his story of earning the Air Force Cross and all of the jump missions he managed to get on! He remains a titan of the PJ community, this was an awesome interview for us to do in person.  

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Mike Fish:

my name's Mike Fish and, um, I gradu, I grew up in Oregon, graduated from high school in Eugene, Oregon. Uh, took a job driving a laundry truck and, uh, tried college. Went to one semester and. That didn't work. So, so I went to work in a plywood mill over in Payette, Idaho, um, and with my buddy, high school buddy, and his dad was the superintendent of the plywood mill. So we went over there and went to work and got fired a week later from him, from his dad. So,

Nick:

yeah,

Mike Fish:

so, you know, we really screwed up. So I went to, uh, went back home. Uh, my older brother, have three brothers and a sister. My older brother was already in college and, uh, I needed to do something. So one of my buddies and I went down, joined the Air Force, um, didn't know what I was gonna do in the Air Force. Of course, like everybody when they first sign up. At that, at that time. I don't know if you can choose your career now before you can sign up. I think you can.

Nick:

Right?

Mike Fish:

But, so I went to Lackman Air Force Base. Um, when I was, when we were just about done, they take you in and say, well, you, you, you're good for doing this kind of work or this kind of work. And so the guy, the guy, I sat down with him, he said, well, you'd be, you'd make a very good, uh, air conditioning and heating tech. I go, I don't even know what an air conditioner is. I grew up in Oregon. How can you say that? And uh, and he says, well, you know, that's what your scores say. And so I was looking around in there and there was a guy in the room, uh, the door opened. And, uh, he had his dress blues on and he had a whole chest full of medals. And I asked the guy, I said, well, what does that guy over there do? Maybe I could do that. And, and he goes, oh, you don't wanna do that. He said, that's too hard. He says, that's, he's the recruiting para rescue guys. I said, well, let me go talk to him. So I went in there and talked to Dean Nelson, uh, and he said, well, can you swim? I said, I've been swimming all my life.'cause I grew, grew up in Oregon and, uh, lake Oswego. Um, and I don't know if you know Olympic swimmers, Don s Schollander was an Olympic swimmer, and he used to swim with him and his brother and my older brother in the lake all the time. So that's why I said, I said, I've been swimming my whole life.

Nick:

Mm-hmm. And

Mike Fish:

he said, okay, well I'll put your name down here. Uh, then I went to, to, uh, casual barracks for a week until there was like 20 of us and they took us all to the pool and we had to swim. I don't even remember how, how long it was. And he had to swim a length underwater or something. And so I think, I think 12 of us passed the swimming test and had to go back to casuals for another two weeks till they got enough guys. And then 18 of us went from, uh, Lachlan to Orlando, Florida.

Nick:

Mm-hmm.

Mike Fish:

And that's where we stayed, uh, and went to schools from Orlando back and forth.

Nick:

And so from when you finally graduated and got your beret with all the schools, where did you end up going?

Mike Fish:

Uh, that was, our class was 67 2. Mm-hmm. And I went, uh, directly to Hamilton Air Force Base, which is no longer there in California.

Nick:

Mm-hmm.

Mike Fish:

They closed it down.

Nick:

And, and so who, what PJs were on that team? Did you have like a mentor out there?

Mike Fish:

Um, you know, I didn't really, I didn't know anybody that it was there at the time when I went there, first went there. Um, but was there from 67 to 68. Mm-hmm. Uh, through 68. And then, uh, went, d Nelson was there. Uh, Dennis Craft was there. Um, yeah, I can't remember who all was there, but there, there was, I don't know, maybe 12 PJs. Mm-hmm.

Andrew:

At this time, Vietnam wasn't a thing. Was there any other conflict going on that you guys were gainfully employed?

Mike Fish:

No. Just Vietnam. Vietnam was going on then. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And, uh, so I did, I don't even remember any missions I ever had there in that timeframe.

Nick:

Mm-hmm.

Mike Fish:

And then I went from there to Vietnam. I, in, uh, January of 69 is when I hit the ground in Vietnam.

Nick:

In what, where in Vietnam were you?

Mike Fish:

Ua UA was on the coast.

Nick:

Yep. Um, and so you went from there and then we were speaking before this, but uh. Then you headed to Thailand after that?

Mike Fish:

I was in Vietnam for, uh, probably eight months. Mm-hmm. Uh, nine months, then went to Thailand because they had lost some PJs during that timeframe. Mm-hmm. And they were, you know, low on PJs. So two of us went to Rick Evans and myself went to, uh, Udorn. Mm-hmm. And then from Udorn, we went to MKP, uh, and spent, I think we spent two months there and then went back to then when, when other PJs came back over from the States. Mm-hmm. Uh, we went back to twa.

Nick:

Okay. You're just doing, uh, backfilling at NKP 80 Y?

Mike Fish:

Yeah.

Nick:

Yeah. And, uh, were you with Chuck McGrath there?

Mike Fish:

No.

Nick:

No. Okay. Just we were interviewing him. We wanted to piece together maybe if Yeah. Overlap.

Mike Fish:

You know, there was, don't. That's been 50 some years. Mm-hmm. I don't really remember who was there.

Nick:

No, that's understandable. Remember what I ate for breakfast

Mike Fish:

sometimes.

Nick:

Right. Um, and we'll come back to kind of your experience while you were, uh, there, but, um, after you left, uh, and you went back stateside, where did you end up landing? Back at

Mike Fish:

Hamilton.

Nick:

Back at Hamilton. Right

Mike Fish:

back at Hamilton, yeah.

Nick:

Yep. Uh, with a, probably a promotion.

Mike Fish:

Oh yeah. Were you running

Nick:

a team at that point?

Mike Fish:

No, I was not.

Nick:

Okay.

Mike Fish:

I was, I think I was a staff sergeant.

Nick:

Mm-hmm.

Mike Fish:

I went from two striper to staff Sergeant. Gotcha. And I think, uh, Dennis Craft and, uh, someone else was running the team at Hamilton at that time.

Nick:

Okay. Um, and how long did you stay at Hamilton for the second time?

Mike Fish:

Second time I stayed there till, uh, 72.

Nick:

Okay.

Mike Fish:

So I came back in, uh, 70, about mid 70, stayed till 72 and then went to Alaska.

Nick:

Okay. And then how, and did finish your career in Alaska? I finished my

Mike Fish:

career in Alaska. Uh, I got out of the Air Force in 1976.

Nick:

Okay,

Mike Fish:

so 10 years.

Nick:

We wanted to start with getting into Vietnam and. The expectation as you were coming in there and then what your ops temple was like and some notable missions you had in Vietnam before you went up to HOR and NKP. Right. Um, is there anything So,

Mike Fish:

so, uh, I hit the ground in Vietnam in, uh, January 10th, I think. Um, did orientation flight and in the H 43, um, with a check ride. Okay, you're good to go type of thing. And the first mission I had was the Army helicopter that got shot down with four Army guys. They went in to pick up the LRP team.

Nick:

Mm-hmm.

Mike Fish:

And they got shot down. That was the first real mission I had over there.

Nick:

Really?

Mike Fish:

Yep.

Nick:

Can you describe, and I mean,

Mike Fish:

that was like eight days after I got in the country.

Nick:

Wow.

Mike Fish:

Yeah. Eight days.

Nick:

Wow. That's, I mean, that's crazy. Can you describe the mission, like kind of how it all unfolded

Mike Fish:

on, on alert and got a call that Army helicopter had crashed and the Army guys that they only had like, at, at the location, they only had like, I think one or two, uh, Hueys that had, were equipped with hoists.

Nick:

Mm-hmm.

Mike Fish:

So they called us and because there was injuries and uh, I just remember I was on alert, got called, flew out there, um, gun ships were in the area, uh, couple other, uh, aircraft. And what happened was the, the Army LRP team was on patrol. Ran into a, you know, consider considerable amount of NVA, like maybe ran into their camp. I don't know.

Nick:

Okay.

Mike Fish:

But they were supposed to be just recon and call in stuff, but they got found out.

Nick:

Mm-hmm.

Mike Fish:

And so they had to run, they, they were on the run and got through this, this, uh, valley that was real steep on both sides and kind of got caught in the middle. And they called for extraction. And that's when the, he, their Army helicopter came in to hit'em and got shot down.

Nick:

Mm-hmm.

Mike Fish:

And, um, so we went, we went out there. It was afternoon, we went out there to, to get everybody, uh, Rick Evans and I were the PJs. We had two PJs in the bird. And, uh. I, I got on the hoist, went down and, I mean, it my first mission, real combat mission. My real mission where there was blood and guts everywhere. Mm-hmm. I mean, what did, you said you

Andrew:

were like immensely prepared for that or? I,

Mike Fish:

I, I don't think so.

Andrew:

No.

Mike Fish:

But, you know, job's a job. Yeah. Yeah. So I got on the ground, one of the guys from the helicopter had already was killed in the crash. And the other, there was four, four guys in the helicopter. One was killed in the crash. Uh, the other three, one was trapped in the helicopter. The other two, one of'em had two broken legs and a broken arm and the other, and all of, they were cut up really bad from all the metal. Um. So funny story, not funny, but it was, now it's funny where I went down with my medical kit and my AR 15 and a 38 on my side. I guess that was to shoot me if I got caught or something. Anyway, uh, anyway, they were in a firefight with the NVA and I, I mean, you know, I'm a rookie, don't know nothing. I go down there with my AR 15 and my med kit. I get on the ground, I take off my med kit and my AR 15 i, I set my air 15 against the tree, turned around and got this guy ready to get in the helicopter, and as soon as he went up, I turned around to get my air 15. It was gone. One of the, someone took it, one of the army guys took it and was using it. Yeah, so I got ahold of the patrol lead. I mean, we were in a, our, I guess our perimeter was maybe half of this room.

Nick:

So I was Yeah, I was gonna ask you, so the recon patrol surrounded the, the wreck,

Mike Fish:

right? Yeah. Yeah. And

Nick:

so QE on the ground, you're there to get the people out surrounding you. How? Yes. Well, I'm guessing maybe a 12, 12 man team. Was that recon? Oh, five man. Team

Mike Fish:

five.

Andrew:

That's it. Yep. And they were in active fire fight.

Mike Fish:

Yeah. Active firefight. Yeah.

Andrew:

Was the helicopter getting shot at while you were getting horses down?

Mike Fish:

Yeah. And so, uh, yeah. Everything

Andrew:

was getting shot at, yeah. What was going through your mind as you're going down the hoist? Were you, did you go back to that moment at basic training? You're like, holy shit, what was that mean? Yeah, I could be fucking units right now. Well,

Mike Fish:

I, I, I thought they, when I heard that, I, I thought maybe they were just shooting at the helicopter Uhhuh and they'd leave me alone. They want, you know, they didn't care about one. They wanted the helicopter.

Nick:

Mm-hmm. Yep.

Mike Fish:

And so I, you know, I wasn't, I didn't even think I was worried about

Nick:

mm-hmm.

Mike Fish:

Getting hit.

Andrew:

Yeah.

Mike Fish:

It was just your mind just going other places,

Andrew:

there's so much going on. Yeah. Yeah. You're just thinking about the next step you need to take. Yeah. All right.

Mike Fish:

I had to concentrate on what was going on. And so, so I get this guy in the Oke litter, get him going up, uh, and then I reached for my AR 15, it's gone. So I got a hold of his team leader. I just yelled at him. He was just not far away. Said, Hey, I want, I don't need my rifle back. And so he went and got it. I think the guy ran outta ammunition or something and yeah. So he just grabbed it as he was going. And, um, so I got it back and I didn't put it back over there. I put it right here beside me.

Nick:

Mm-hmm.

Mike Fish:

So I'd have it, um, not that I was gonna shoot anybody because you know, I was actively trying to take care of. The patients.

Nick:

Yeah.

Mike Fish:

And the first guy, the first guy up then the next guy had two broken legs and a broken arm.'cause I kind of triaged, there was three guys I had to take up. First guy was really bad. I, I can't remember what, why I took him up first. But this guy had two broken legs and a broken arm. And he was, and cuts from the metal from the mm-hmm. Huey. And, mean, gaping cuts, not just little, you know, his arms were, anyway,

Andrew:

were you guys uh, throwing him on Stokes?

Mike Fish:

Putting him on Stokes? Yep. Yep. So I'm put trying to put this guy on the Stokes try. I wasn't even gonna try to bandage him or put, you know, put splints on him or anything. I was just getting him out of there. Right. And uh, he goes, oh man. He says, I need some morphine. I need some morphine. And I said. Uh, there's a guy up in the helicopter. As soon as you get there, he'll give you some. I had some already with me, but I was there any on

Andrew:

Bird or you had the med kit with all them?

Mike Fish:

I had the med kit. Well, we, uh, the other PJ had a med kit also. Okay. So, but just go there, man. Yeah, I wanted to keep it with me because I didn't know how many patients there, there were really at that time. And so, or what was gonna happen either. I mean, you know, somebody could have got shot, which did happen. But anyway, so I said, yeah, the guy up there, he's got morphine for you. So I sent him up there and then the third guy, I think he just had a broken arm and some lacerations on his face. And

Andrew:

were they able, able to kind of self extricate or did you have to do any extrication on the aircraft?

Mike Fish:

Uh, well there was one guy that was trapped

Andrew:

mm-hmm.

Mike Fish:

On the helicopter and, but he was. Medically, he was fine other than just couldn't. When the helicopter went down, his, of course, the, he was on the pedals and when it went down, one of his legs went underneath one of the pedals and it's hardened steel, those pedals. Mm-hmm. And when it went down and his leg was underneath it and just trapped him Right, right. To the helicopter.

Nick:

I didn't, uh, I, I don't wanna keep interrupting story. It's okay. But the question I had is, you're down there, there's obviously an effort to remove the recon patrol, but the priority became very quickly the Huey that went down, the four people in it. Yep. Did you realize, or were you told at any point, your mission is four people or your mission is nine total that are on the ground right now to get that, to get everything? Uh,

Mike Fish:

just, just four people.

Nick:

Just

Mike Fish:

before helicopter crash. Okay,

Andrew:

gotcha.

Mike Fish:

Yeah.

Andrew:

What'd you guys have been capable to take on nine?

Mike Fish:

Well, there, well, we had. We had, uh, we only had two 40 threes in the air at any one time, so probably not all of them. Mm-hmm. But we took, I put three of'em in one helicopter, the first three patients. Uh, so we had 3, 4, 5, 6, 6 people in one helicopter, which is pretty overloaded

Nick:

for 43. Yeah. Yeah.

Mike Fish:

And, and then, uh, then when they left, the other helicopter came in and I, I put, uh, I put the, I can't remember exactly. Anyway, I got three patients up.

Andrew:

Okay.

Mike Fish:

And, um,

Andrew:

and then I think we were talking about the, the pinned pilot

Mike Fish:

and the pinned pilot.

Andrew:

Yeah.

Mike Fish:

So this was like in the afternoon when we got the call.

Nick:

Mm-hmm.

Mike Fish:

I don't know, I can't remember exactly how long it took. But in the jungle, uh, in this valley started getting dark pretty quick. So, um, when they radioed down, said that they're leaving and to come on up, uh, to go, to get out of there, I still had a patient, so I said, you guys go, I'll stay here and take care of this guy. I'll, you know, come back and get me in the morning. I didn't tell come back and get me in the morning, but I just said, you guys go ahead and go.

Andrew:

Who was on the ground with you? It was just you? Just me

Mike Fish:

and the army guys. Mm-hmm.

Andrew:

Okay. So you had the recon boots saw?

Mike Fish:

Yeah. Alright. So, you know, they, they said, you know, I, I can't remember what actually all they said and everything I just said, you know, I'll stay here. That's what it said.

Nick:

Mm-hmm.

Mike Fish:

And so they left and, and, uh, the army, uh, the gunship stayed for a little while after that.'cause um, they were just kind of making a oval, you know, up the canyon and then out and then back. And I think there was two of them. And I don't know, they killed a couple of guys that were in a creek bed somewhere. I don't know. Uh, but I didn't know that until much later, of course. And so I stayed and tried to the guy that was pinned, it was, it was pinned by his ankle and his leg. think he had a broken leg. I couldn't tell at the time, but he was kinda not in too good a shape with his leg. And so he was kind of screaming and get me outta here. But, you know, typical. Thing when you're trapped, you, I mean, Jesus, you know, how would you feel like people are shooting and you're trapped. You can't go anywhere, can't do anything, you know? So, uh, but it was jungle. It was a jungle. It wasn't, you know, you, our perimeter was half this room, you couldn't see, you couldn't see, you know, a hundred yards. You couldn't see 50 yards even. Mm-hmm. So you couldn't really see where they were. You could, but anyway, um, so I gave him some morphine.

Nick:

Mm-hmm.

Mike Fish:

Right before it got really dark, just to try to keep'em quiet. And that seemed to work. And then I stayed, um, I let the patrol team do all the shooting and taking, watching for, you know, watching us. Um, and I stayed. Excuse me. There was a big log where the helicopter had went, gone in, and the helicopter was kind of on its side like this. There was a big log in front of that. Mm-hmm. And the pilot was right here.

Nick:

Okay. So the, he, the log stopped the progress of the helicopter rolling and yeah, he was right there at the ground logging the helicopter meeting. Yep. Yeah.

Mike Fish:

so that's where I stayed all night. I kind of dug a little trench underneath the log and I stayed there and, and within arm's reach of the guy that was the pilot that was trapped. So I could tell, you know, or I don't know what I was gonna do other than I gave him the morphine, you know?

Nick:

Yeah. So, you know, luckily that was some cover. Yeah. For me. Yeah, for sure. I was

Mike Fish:

just, I, you know, I can remember thinking that. I hope somebody doesn't walk over this log, step over this log tonight. And because I wouldn't know what to do. Yeah. You know, I was just a kid really, too. Just a kid. I was, you know, 19, 20 years old.

Nick:

Yeah.

Mike Fish:

I'm like, whatever.

Nick:

Yeah. And so what did you try as far as getting his foot out? Did you have any,

Mike Fish:

they, they lowered a had lowered a, uh, saw mm-hmm. To us. And just a long day or? No, just that, just the last part of the whole thing. Okay. They had lowered a saw, uh, with a, a fireman and they, we tried to, we tried to start the saw and it wouldn't start, uh, you know. Wow. And then so I said, well, you get outta here with the saw and everything. And so he went up. But we did try the saw and then that didn't work. Uh, so that night we just kinda h hunkered down and, uh, we could hear, we could hear if it was real quiet, we could hear some people walking around and talking. There were, you know, I didn't hear too many. I heard, I heard some people walking around down by the creek that was right there that we were kind of on a side hill because it was a canyon and the creek was down below us. And, uh, one of the other things that I've not really told too many people was that 30 that was, or it was probably a king bird that was orbiting up and he was throwing flare. They were throwing flares out that night for, uh, I don't know exactly why they were trying to keep the place lit, but. I radioed up to'em because the, the, you know, they, they were throwing flares out right where we were. Mm-hmm. And I didn't think that was a good idea. Marking your spot? Yeah, they were just marking where we were. So I called radioed up, called them and said, uh, hey, would you guys mind, you know, you, you're way off. I said, could you drop those flares about five miles to the south? And pretty soon they went, took off and went over there.

Nick:

Yeah. Just reminded the people in the creek that, oh, there's Americans still here. Yeah, yeah. We're gonna keep,

Mike Fish:

I guess,

Nick:

I don't know, because no one had night vision gago. Nobody had anything. Did the firefights typically just kind of have a little bit of a stalemate at night?

Mike Fish:

Yeah, it just stopped. Basically stopped. Yep.

Nick:

Couldn't see anything. So you were preparing for the sun to come up. So, all right. We're about to get hit again.

Mike Fish:

Yep. And

Nick:

then as

Andrew:

a 19-year-old kid, you know, in the middle of the night in a war zone, were you able to like rest at all? Were you just game planning the next day? I was. What was going through your mind? I

Mike Fish:

was hoping that a big centipede wouldn't crawl up my pan legs or whatever, or, you know, things you'd think about when you're still there. It's like, yeah, the, the firefight actually just stopped when it got almost dark. And I think what they were doing is they were waiting for the helicopters to come back.

Nick:

Mm-hmm.

Mike Fish:

Because that, when, that, when they did come back, it, you know, then it started again. Mm-hmm. Um, so I'm just there all night. Uh, I didn't, I don't, I'm, I sure didn't sleep. I was just hoping nobody came over the log. Uh, I remember that.

Nick:

Mm-hmm.

Mike Fish:

And then the next morning, uh, the gunships came back in and, uh, and they, you know, once they got in and, and they, they drew a little fire, but not as much as the day before. Uh, sure they probably called in the, the rescue helicopters. Mm-hmm. And when they called in the rescue helicopters, they, uh, they sent down, uh, another fireman and we were able to get to his leg and get his leg out of there, then, the, uh, him him and of the LRP in And got in. and I

Nick:

out back

Mike Fish:

Yep.

Nick:

How long

Mike Fish:

A year? got on army the as Kept from already, even I and Yes.

Nick:

Yeah. that kind kind

Mike Fish:

that there you know, of 40 got took me I on your to and or weird For That's they And, I a

Nick:

happened

Mike Fish:

I

Nick:

I, I when Mm-hmm. don't

Mike Fish:

Right. Yeah.

Andrew:

that like it

Mike Fish:

I just, you know, know. know, didn't really know. we, have any, any You know, like got We got were all out Vietnam. I just is Tah. we that's about

Nick:

know, made that

Mike Fish:

did not. At that time, Right. was job? done and I kind focus your

Andrew:

off

Mike Fish:

that mean, I the then I'm laying It Yeah. Guilt is sin. like, a over some were in written I no problem.

Andrew:

would would probably write

Mike Fish:

put down on it, I don't all

Andrew:

is lot of writing, also are out mm-hmm. helps back

Nick:

Right.

Andrew:

it

Mike Fish:

Sure. Yep, it does.

Nick:

We back mm-hmm. outta States Mm-hmm. Um, I'm there that

Mike Fish:

the Yeah. Hamilton. weeks. back The were were like, damnit, I'm, I'm gonna take your alert

Nick:

That Yeah.

Mike Fish:

one a It on, They air went and Okay. and. Uh, on and, uh, to snow of hundred yards. him and don't know was it Yeah. Some kind litter. It know didn't have any, Anyway, then, came picked

Nick:

that uh,

Mike Fish:

Yes.

Nick:

like think it

Mike Fish:

Probably mean, And, worried

Nick:

a or static Yeah,

Mike Fish:

yeah.

Nick:

Squares didn't come in until the eighties. Yeah. I,

Mike Fish:

my, all my jumps were static lines.

Nick:

Wow. Okay.

Mike Fish:

Only one time didn't open. You had a second off. My para did.

Nick:

Oh really?

Mike Fish:

Yeah. You gotta pull the reserve, huh? Yep.

Nick:

Geez,

Mike Fish:

that, and that was from 1200 feet.

Nick:

Yeah. So the ground's coming quick. Boom,

Mike Fish:

it opens up. Ground,

Nick:

really. So what you were training when that happened? Yeah. Yeah. Where

Mike Fish:

in Alaska? That was in Alaska. Oh

Nick:

really? Yeah. Oh my gosh. How quickly afterwards you jump out of a plane again?

Mike Fish:

Well, I don't know. Probably the next day. Yeah. But the first thing I did was I went, we weren't packing our own shoots,

Nick:

Uhhuh.

Mike Fish:

So the first thing I did was got the, the, uh, the little log out who packed it and went to the parachute shop and talked to the guy. What the hell? Yeah. I actually

Nick:

had a cutaway in England when I was stationed in England. And uh, yeah, it didn't open. I looked at the log the same. The guy who packed my main parachute packed my reserves, so he almost killed me. And then he saved. Yeah. Yeah. I was like, all right, I guess I owe you a bottle. You owe me a bottle. I owe you a bottle. Funny. I worked in the same thing, uh, team leader at the time, on ground with like, Hey. Get a parachute on and get back up in the air.

Mike Fish:

Yeah. Yeah. Best thing

Nick:

you can do. Jump right outta behind. Yeah. I think it was

Mike Fish:

the next day.

Nick:

Yeah. Yeah. Um, and so,

Mike Fish:

but I don't have a lot of jumps. I mean, I, uh, compared to you guys, I got like 171 jumps is what I had.

Andrew:

Okay. All static. All static

Mike Fish:

line. Yeah. Got a

Andrew:

speed though on the operational jumps.

Nick:

Yeah, you do. You gotta speed pretty good. What was the, uh, what was another one? So,

Mike Fish:

so there was, uh, my second, uh, jump mission was, uh, Norwegian freighter out, uh, in the Pacific, about 500 miles out. Um, some, one of the crewmen had fallen down one of the stairs going down to another level or whatever, and, and, uh, hit his head real bad and was unconscious and bleeding and. They thought maybe he, you know, was gonna head was gonna swell up and they needed help. So we flew out in one 30, myself and teammate, and, uh, the ceiling was at 800 feet. But what we flew out of course, and then went down below the ceiling. So when we went out, we went out about seven 50 in static line. I, if I'd have done that and the parachute didn't open, I wouldn't have made it. Yeah. But we went out at seven 50 and uh, they launched a little boat, came out and got us. We just let all the parachute and everything go. Of course. Mm-hmm. Um, and we came from 500 miles out with that patient. They gave us the captain's room, uh, state room

Nick:

mm-hmm.

Mike Fish:

On the ship. Uh, and so we monitored this guy. Uh, the flight surgeon had given us, uh, something to give the guy so his brain to keep his swelling down. His brain. I can't remember what it is or what it was, but some kind of medicine that administer to this guy to keep his swelling down. And, uh, so we just stayed with him until we got all the back into San Francisco. The SS bar phone is, what is the name of the place? Was the ship.

Nick:

Mm-hmm. And is that tradition with the guys in California that they'll take the the life ring

Mike Fish:

We did.

Nick:

You guys did?

Mike Fish:

Yep.

Nick:

Yeah. Wow.

Mike Fish:

We did.

Nick:

And that's gotta be one of the earlier missions coming outta Hamilton then for Jump Or how many missions do you think prior? I, I read the water. We're done prior to you doing that?

Mike Fish:

I don't really know. Okay. I'm not sure.

Nick:

Yeah.

Mike Fish:

And then I had ano, I had another, I had like four or five jump missions in less than, almost less than a year. Really? Okay. Yeah. And the guys were all pissed. They were all pissed at me. So, and, and the next jump mission I had was a F 1 0 5 that, uh, the pilot and co-pilot were out training off the coast and somehow went into a flat spin and they ejected. And my buddy and I went out, they weren't even hurt.

Nick:

Mm-hmm. But we went

Mike Fish:

out and did a jump mission on them and, uh, got them, we went out in the one 30, which was a lot faster than the helicopters. Mm-hmm. And we jumped, got in the, got their, got them back into their life rafts. Mm-hmm. Or, or stayed with'em in their life. Rafts. I think they were already in their life, rafts. And then, uh. A helicopter came out and picked him up.

Nick:

Were they co-located or somewhere? Yeah, they were.

Mike Fish:

Yeah, they were somewhat, they were probably 500 yards apart. Okay.

Nick:

Yeah. So if you, you got two PJs jumping.

Mike Fish:

Yep.

Nick:

One takes one, one takes the other.

Mike Fish:

Yep.

Nick:

And you were self jump mastering, so you would go out on your own on one of'em. Yep. And then told your buddy, Hey, I don't know. Who was the other pj? Do you remember?

Mike Fish:

I can't remember,

Nick:

but no, he was like, all right, I'll go to the other one.

Mike Fish:

Yeah.

Nick:

Were you both

Mike Fish:

Well, no, I would send, well, I sent him out

Nick:

first. Okay. You were the John master? Yeah. Okay. Yeah.

Andrew:

How close did you get into the raft?

Mike Fish:

Uh, hundred yards. Maybe

Andrew:

bad. Good enough. Good enough for government work. Yeah. Yeah. That was good. Well, yeah, I thought like, you don't have a steerable, parachute, you're just like, alright, we'll get close.

Mike Fish:

Hey wind.

Nick:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Were you guys thrown streamers at that point to, to try and figure out wins?

Mike Fish:

Uh. I can't remember. Maybe we did a couple times. Yeah. Okay.

Andrew:

You don't have that many operational jumps. You feel it. Yeah. You know about now,

Mike Fish:

except, you know, hey pilot, you see the smoke down there, the guy pop smoke.

Nick:

Yeah.

Mike Fish:

Just go downwind to that and head up wind and get me right over the top of him. Perfect. And we'll be fine.

Nick:

Yeah. Nice. That's awesome. Um, and then

Mike Fish:

that's another jump mission. So, so this one was really significant because I, I, I really feel that, uh, you know, this guy would've been gone if I hadn't have been, there was a C seven that was coming back from Vietnam. They stopped in Hawaii and fuel up and, uh, and then they're, they're called duck butts.

Nick:

Yep.

Mike Fish:

And so Hawaii. Contingent would duck bite'em, have about halfway and then we would pick'em up halfway and get'em to California. Well, C one thirties, not necessarily the helicopters. So, um, but this really, this, I guess this one wasn't really a jump mission. This was helicopter. Mm-hmm. That what jumped outta the helicopter. But, but, uh, he, about halfway over, he lost one of his engines. So about 25 miles off the coast. He lost all his fuel too. Made used up all his fuel. Fuel, yeah. And so they ditched and we were there, of course we knew that what was gonna happen. So we were out there with a helicopter. They ditched, good ditching. And, you know, the, I wish, I don't wish somebody would've been taking pictures'cause. It came in and ditched in when they hit the water, went like this and then just kind of popped right back out.

Nick:

The C one 30,

Mike Fish:

the C seven.

Andrew:

Oh, it was the C seven. C seven. Okay. So it went nose in and then

Mike Fish:

Yeah. Popped

Andrew:

right out.

Mike Fish:

And so Lou Craig was with me Okay. Uh, on that mission. And, uh, so we're watching at the helicopter and as soon as it came back up, somebody came running out the back and jumped in the water and the pilot had his arm out the window like this. We came in, Lou Craig jumped towards the back of the helicopter, I don't know where, 20 feet, maybe 15 feet. And he took the guy that came out the back and I had the helicopter move forward and I jumped in front of the, uh, C seven and I took the pilot. When I swam over to him, he was, the water was, I don't know, probably up to here on him already. Mm-hmm. And he was trapped. He couldn't, he couldn't get extricate himself. I don't know exactly why.

Nick:

Mm-hmm.

Mike Fish:

Uh, so I get there and he says, help me, help me, of course. And then, so I just started grabbing stuff and slinging it here and there. I, I had no idea what, where he was trapped or how, um, and at, at one point I just reached in and grabbed his flight suit and just yanked him right out of the cockpit. Right through the front windshield.

Nick:

Mm-hmm. He had popped the windshield.

Mike Fish:

The windshield, I think popped when they,

Nick:

yeah,

Mike Fish:

when they crashed. Okay. Or ditched. I just reached in and grabbed him and pulled him right out. I probably cut his legs a couple times, but. I pulled him right out and set him on top of the cockpit, and as I set him on top of the cockpit, the airplane just went like this.

Nick:

Wow.

Mike Fish:

Yeah.

Nick:

What timing?

Mike Fish:

Unbelievable.

Nick:

Oh my gosh.

Mike Fish:

Unbelievable.

Nick:

Yeah. You don't have faith in something, you'll have it after

Andrew:

that.

Nick:

Yeah.

Andrew:

Which is also crazy because another COA could have been both of you guys go to the back and then one swim forward, and that would've been at that point too late. Yeah, it would've been

Mike Fish:

too late. It would've been.

Nick:

You said he was, you said he almost probably, he wouldn't have made it. He hadn't have been there, I don't think.

Mike Fish:

No, no. He wouldn't have,

Nick:

no, couldn't have self rescued.

Mike Fish:

Uh, he was trying.

Nick:

Yeah. And so you that was what, 25 miles off the coast of San Diego where they have San Francisco. San Francisco, okay. Yep.

Mike Fish:

They were handled to Hamilton.

Nick:

Okay. Really? Okay.

Mike Fish:

Yeah, and he, he, he made this little. Trophy thing and presented it to both of

Andrew:

Okay.

Mike Fish:

It's kind of cool.

Andrew:

Yeah. Still have it.

Mike Fish:

Yep.

Andrew:

Yeah,

Mike Fish:

I do. That's cool.

Andrew:

Would you, would you say that was your most mo notable mission? Because in my mind, like you

Mike Fish:

truly in in, in the States? Yeah.

Andrew:

In

Nick:

United States, yeah. Wow. Wow. I can't believe that. And also, I'm just trying to visualize it. Right. I would've expected that plane to go down a whole lot faster, but it's sitting on the water for a little bit. I don't know what

Mike Fish:

the time was.

Nick:

Yeah.

Mike Fish:

Timeframe.

Nick:

Yeah.

Mike Fish:

Could have been two minutes, could have been 10 minutes. I, I don't really remember.

Nick:

Yeah. Yeah.

Mike Fish:

I mean, you're not thinking about time, of course. When that happens, you're just thinking about trying to do something.

Nick:

Yeah. Think, thinking about, thank God I'm a good swimmer. Yeah,

Mike Fish:

yeah. You know, focus, I mean, that's a, I I went to the school

Nick:

mm-hmm.

Mike Fish:

And did a little speech to everybody at the school there. Mm-hmm. And one of my main things was when you're on a mission. You gotta focus on what you're doing.

Nick:

Mm-hmm.

Mike Fish:

You can't get distracted. I mean, I tried in Vietnam, I tried not to get distracted from the doing this. Mm-hmm. Every time a bullet came over your head, you know. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You gotta focus on what you're doing.

Andrew:

Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. So, I'm curious, um, if you want to transition to you getting out of the military,'cause that is another big, uh, life's decision. What, what went through your process? Well,

Mike Fish:

when I, uh, so that was at Hamilton. I went to Alaska. Alaska, yeah. And, uh, Udo Fisher was the N-C-O-I-C up there.

Nick:

Mm-hmm.

Mike Fish:

Um, we had a few missions. I can't remember, I don't think I had a jump mission up there. Nothing of significance that I can remember. Mm-hmm. Um, so I'm there for four years. Um, and at that time I was a tech sergeant. I didn't really, in my mind, I didn't see any future in the military. For me, Vietnam was winding down. Promotions weren't really going, you know, real good. Um, I had two little boys at that time. I really liked Alaska. I wanted'em to kind of grow up in Alaska. Mm-hmm. And not in Chicago or whatever. So, yeah. Um, so I decided to get out after 10 years.

Nick:

Okay.

Mike Fish:

Yep.

Nick:

And, and you're still involved with the squadron still?

Mike Fish:

I go see him every now and then, but no, I'm not.

Nick:

Yeah,

Mike Fish:

I don't, I don't know anybody there.

Nick:

Mm-hmm.

Mike Fish:

You know, that was in 1976.

Nick:

Mm-hmm.

Mike Fish:

How many years ago was that? Be quite a few years. I don't know anybody up there.

Nick:

Yeah.

Mike Fish:

That are, uh, I know a couple of guys, some of the guys that, uh, are on the fire department

Nick:

mm-hmm.

Mike Fish:

Are working out there. Uh, because when I got out of the service, I was gonna, the pipeline was about to explode up there, you know, they were hiring right and left. Mm-hmm. I just about went work on the pipeline, but I didn't want to be gone for two weeks at a time. Mm-hmm. Had two little kids and a wife. Mm-hmm. I didn't really wanna be gone at, you know, two weeks at a time, two weeks on, two weeks off. So I saw a little ad in the paper for fire department, went down and tested, and the next day the guy called me and said, uh, hey, we wanna hire you as a medic. I go. I don't wanna be a medic. I've been doing that for, I don't wanna be a medic, I wanna be a fireman. So he said, oh, okay, well, uh, we'll call you back when we have an opening. Yeah. And like four days later, he called me back and said, come on in. So I went to work for the fire department in 1976 and, uh, worked for 25 years.

Andrew:

Okay. Up in Alaska?

Mike Fish:

in Alaska in the fire department.

Nick:

Yeah.

Mike Fish:

Retired in 2000.

Nick:

And so you have, uh, I'm sure there's so much similar camaraderie than it was in the Air Force and mm-hmm. Got a team house, everybody's going and doing the dangerous job and enjoying it. Yep. So probably, uh, a really fun transition from one occupation to another. Right. Very similar. Right.

Mike Fish:

And I think, I think a personality, uh, leads people to those types of jobs. I mean, you're kind of on the edge, you know, a personality, as a pair rescue man, you're on the edge. Mm. As a fireman, you're on the edge.

Nick:

Mm-hmm.

Mike Fish:

Every time the boat, you know, every time the alarm goes off, you're,

Nick:

yeah.

Mike Fish:

Something's, you know, 50% of the time nothing. There's nothing. And then 30% of the time there's just something, but not anything significant. And then maybe 10% of the time there's something significant.

Nick:

Mm-hmm.

Mike Fish:

You know, a gunshot victim, a car wreck, a structure fire.

Nick:

Mm-hmm.

Mike Fish:

So you're always right on the edge, I think of a disaster either way,

Nick:

honestly, you've seen it all. It's pretty cool, um, to kind of be in the same room and, and have the time to sit down with you. It's, uh, it's awesome and, and we like to. Kind of wrap up interviews by asking, we, we've, we kind of did it about the focus, like staying mission oriented. Mm-hmm. But, uh, do you have any other things you'd like to impart on current and future generation of PJs? Uh, even firefighters too. Uh, don't wanna leave them out, but, uh, to make themselves better. Um, and, uh, to just be better pararescue men for the community and just everyone at large. Oh, wow.

Mike Fish:

I mean, I can, I can truly say that, you know, when you, I, I'm not sure, I mean, you guys are all, know, probably a lot smarter than I was when I went in the Air Force. Uh, and you get better training, obviously. You get better training, uh, better equipment. So just use that to your knowledge and your physical abilities and train, train, train. Yeah. I mean, you, the first time you need to tie a knot, you better tie it. Right? I mean, and the first time you need it for a rescue, it better be, right? Yeah. So train that's, you know, in the fire department we train every day. Mm-hmm. Every day we're on shift. We're either throwing ladders, tying knots, you know, pulling hose.

Nick:

Mm-hmm.

Mike Fish:

And the first thing I do when I go to a new station, uh, as a captain, I get the crew that, you know, and say, okay, here we go. I want firemen to pull a line. I want the engineer to set up a fold the tank so I know, I know that they can do it.

Nick:

Doing a validation exercise. Yeah, absolutely. Well, thank you much for the time. Yeah, sure. Yeah, no problem. No, thank you. That was awesome. That was awesome. You, uh, honestly, like a legendary career. That was really cool. Really cool.