Telling My Story George "OJ" Ojala            My Go Fundme page  I currently live in a house trailer. My dream is to have my own house and if you have it in your heart to help me reach that dream please contribute.  

George "OJ" Ojala is a United States Air Force Veteran of the Vietnam War. There, he was one of what another veteran remembers as “the bravest and most selfless men I have ever known,” according to the book “Horses and Helicopters” by Jim Downey. George was a crew member on rescue missions aboard helicopters known as Jolly Green Giants and “Big Ugly Fat Fellows.” Extended periods of time under fire, extreme stress, severe fear and hundreds of hours in the air on combat missions combine to take their toll, as Ojala later discovered. See his slide-show video here. A tribute to Jolly Green Aerospace Rescue & Recovery in Vietnam.  A recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross and six Air Medals, George tells in his own words what he remembers of Vietnam and flying aboard the Jolly Green Giants:

WHAT I DID IN VIETNAM          March of 1971 to March of 1972

I arrived at Da Nang Airbase on March 21, 1971. (Welcome to the 37th) I was the Flight Engineer, Hoist Operator and Door Gunner, on the biggest and most expensive Helicopter in the Armed Forces, the HH-53-C Sea Stallion. I was assigned to the 37th Aerospace and Rescue Service, at Da Nang, RVN.  We were called the Jolly Green Giants and we were one of the most respected outfits in all of Vietnam.  A National Geographic Article called “Behind Enemy Lines”, calls us, BUFF, for Big Ugly Fat Fellow. We flew with a crew of six to seven men. There was the pilot, co-pilot, flight engineer, and 2 PJ’s (pararescuemen) and we were all called “aircrew members”.  Our stated purpose was to rescue downed pilots behind enemy lines. Our “Patch” showed the Angel Gabriel beaming down and holding the earth in his hands, each wing had a thunderbolt inside. Our Motto was  “That Others May Live.”
           The HH-53 had Air Refueling Capacity and could fly for 12 or more hours, at a time, depending on the Mission. We had three mini-guns on board with the capacity to fire a .723 bullet at 2000 RPM (rounds per minute) with one finger, or 4000 rounds a minute using two. I was the guy in the door using the hoist. I would lower a PJ down to help bring up survivors. During that year, I can remember two Missions, in particular. We always flew on the edge of War and getting shot at became normal.  One Mission was to do a typhoon evacuation from Da Nang to Thailand.  We crossed the Ho Chi Ming Trail, flying in pairs, using  the same flight path.  I was in the third wave, being the last of six.  We all were fired upon by a 37MM Anti-Aircraft battery. And, when they got to us, they were on target and the shells were exploding all around us, coming within feet of hitting our rotor blades. The Helicopter jerked as the pilot responded to being under fire. I turned white as a ghost, my hair stood on end (like Alfalfa in the TV series Spanky and our Gang) and we all got to stare into the Eyes of War.  After returning from another terrifying Mission, I was so scared that I lost my ability to speak for half a day.  I flew over 900 hours of air time on the HH-53-C. I earned six Air Medal’s (123 combat Missions) and received the Distinguished Flying Cross, for a Mission where we rescued three Army crew members from a Light Operating Combat Helicopter (LOCH), that had crashed in the DMZ.
            We lost Jolly 70 on Thanksgiving Day, 1971. It crashed into the Song Na River after a Rescue Mission that saved the lives of eight Marines. Four crew members were killed. We lost Jolly 67, two weeks after I left Vietnam.  There was a Rescue Mission mounted for a downed aircrew member who was the leading expert in computer espionage  for the CIA.  Jolly 67 tried to pick up USAF Colonel Hambleton twice.  They aborted the first Mission due to heavy ground fire.  They tried again on Good Friday (this was during the 1972 Easter Offensive, when the North Vietnamese invaded the South and the Colonel was right in the middle of the surge).  Jolly 67 was shot down going in on final approach. Six crew members were lost. The call sign for Hambleton was BAT-21. (BAT-21 is also a movie)

         Upon return from Vietnam, I was assigned to the 41st ARRS in Marin County and to fly Missions in support of and protecting all Americans.  Among our notable Missions: we landed on top of El Capitan in support of rescuing a rock climber on the face. We flew cross-country to fly in the 1972 Air Show in Washington, DC. We flew a top secret Mission to George AFB in California in late 1972, to test the first captured Soviet/Chinese hand held surface to air missile (SAM). The HH-53C could hold two army jeeps inside the open area. On that Mission we loaded every kind of flare that the military had in its inventory into the ’53 and we flew at night, flying in circles, shooting off all those flares, and avoiding the SAM.

A mission of lighter note was flying a washing machine size atomizer and spraying the city of Riverside with cow piss to see if it would alleviate the fog...

Since his time in the Air Force, George has experienced extreme adversity in his dealings with and treatment by the Veterans Administration.