Air Commando Award Paper One of the most well known Air Force pararescuemen was the late Chief Master Sergeant Duane D. Hackney. He is known as the most decorated USAF airman in history by having a total of twenty-eight decorations for valor and a combined total of over seventy awards and decorations. Along with the myriad of awards he had, he was awarded eighteen Air Medals, most of which were for single acts of valor. However, his greatest accomplishment would be as the first living enlisted man to receive the Air Force Cross. His most notorious feat would happen on the sixth of February, 1967, where he would later receive the Air Force Cross for his outstanding heroism. Earlier that day, a O-1F was shot down near the Mu Gia Pass in Northern Vietnam. Two Sikorsky HH-3 helicopters, Jolly Green 05 and 36, were scrambled from Da Nang Air Base to recover the pilot of the O-1F, Nail 65. The first attempt to locate the pilot was unsuccessful due to increasingly …show more content…
The helicopter, Jolly Green 05 piloted by Major Patrick Wood, took evasive maneuvers, but alas the helicopter was hit by a 37mm flak shell that set the aircraft on fire. Hackney removed his own parachute and put it on the recovered pilot, and then moved to the storage area of the helicopter to get another parachute. As he put on his parachute, another 37mm shell caused an explosion, throwing Hackney from the aircraft. As he dangled from the harness of the parachute, he was able to pull the ripcord and his chute opened as he hit the trees. He fell an additional eighty feet before landing on ledge in a crevasse. He was pursued by enemy combatants from which he narrowly avoided capture. The companion helicopter, Jolly Green 36, made an immediate run to locate any possible survivors. The helicopter found the burning wreckage of Jolly Green 05 and Hackney waving his arms to signal a pickup, he was the only