With his observer’s parachute shredded, this pilot gave up his own

In the spring of 1972, the communist People’s Army of Vietnam (PAVN) launched an offensive into South Vietnam that dropped all pretense regarding Hanoi’s involvement in the conflict, including the use of conventional weapons and tactics.

The largest, longest and most savage struggle in the campaign was the Second Battle of Quang Tri , which began on June 28, 1972. The United States played a reduced, peripheral role in the battle, but the advisors and air support it provided played a vital role in opposing the invasion.

Although the PAVN did not commit aircraft to its attack, it supplemented its anti-aircraft artillery with a formidable innovation: the SA-7 (dubbed the codename Grail by NATO), a shoulder-fired guided missile. Among the Grail’s earliest victims was a U.S. Air Force groun