USAF Retires Mayaguez MH-53

The U.S. Air Force has retired the MH-53M Pave Low 4 number 68-10928, a special forces helicopter involved in the last U.S. combat action in Southeast Asia. Aircraft 928 on May 15, 1975 carried U.S. Marines on an assault on Cambodia's Koh Tang Island in an effort to find and rescue the crew of the U.S. merchant ship the S.S. Mayaguez. The sailors were not on the island, but held in a nearby town. The mission earned Aircraft 928 and its crew a Silver Star. The Pave Low was sent off by the last man to fly her, Maj. Frank Cooper of the USAF's 20th Special Operations Sqdn., according to the Northwest Florida Daily News. Its home is now the Memorial Air Park at Hurlburt Field, headquarters of the USAF Special Operations Command. For related news