F. Harold Kushner was four months into his deployment as an Army flight surgeon in the Vietnam War when a driving rainstorm caused the helicopter he and three other soldiers occupied to crash into the side of a mountain in the middle of enemy territory.
The pilot was killed on impact. The co-pilot was gravely injured, crushed against the chopper’s instrument panel with bones protruding from his leg. The crew chief had been thrown from the aircraft and lay unconscious on the ground.
Kushner was unconscious, still strapped into his seat. When he came to, the chopper was ablaze.
