Memories of Vietnam: Event opens at Air Museum, By Gerry Gilmour, The Forum

Memories of Vietnam: Event opens at Air Museum, By Gerry Gilmour, The
Forum

(EXCERPT) Published Saturday, May 01, 2004

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Dan Stensvold spent Friday afternoon waiting on the arrival of an

AC-47 "Spooky" gunship at the Fargo Air Museum.

"If it weren't for those things, I wouldn't be here today," the
president of the North Dakota Vietnam Veterans of America said.

The AC-47 is one of nine aircraft on display today as the museum, 1609
19th Ave. N., hosts the opening of Vietnam Week 2004.

Stensvold, of Park River, N.D., on May 18, 1969, found himself in the
middle of a fierce battle near Xuan Loc, west of Saigon. The AC-47, a
modified World War II cargo plane, was a godsend for U.S. troops in
the Vietnam War. Equipped with three Gatling guns in its fuselage, the
gunship could lay down ropes of intense fire. The arrival of Spooky
that night nearly 35 years ago ended a battle. Stensvold's unit had 13
men killed and 55 wounded. When they counted the enemy dead th...

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---------------------------
Otis Willie
Associate Librarian
The American War Library
http://www.americanwarlibrary.com