Lt. Col. Bruce McKenty, U.S. Army, Vietnam

Bruce McKenty was born into an Army family, as his father was a career officer. By the time he finished high school, McKenty knew he wanted to follow in his dad's footsteps. He was commissioned as an officer upon graduation from Texas A&M and soon went to flight training. After completing flight school in April 1972, McKenty was assigned to fly AH-1G Cobra attack helicopters in support of ground forces near the Cambodian border.

In this edition of Veterans Chronicles, McKentry tells us why he loved flying Cobras and why the enemy hated to see them coming. He also shares the riveting, emotional story of the day his Cobra was shot down,

McKenty explains the horrible sequence of events that led to his helicopter going down, blacking out upon impact, and how the other pilot on his Cobra, despite being badly burned, dragged him away from the burining helicopter and towards other Americans before enemy forces could locate them.