Mission ends with pilot's rescue

This tale takes place in Vietnam and tells the story of Captain George Martin, a U.S. Air Force helicopter rescue pilot. 

The Air Force had started bombing up near Hanoi, up north. Pilots were getting shot down. One of the messages involved a pilot who had been shot down and was on the ground, but they didn't know his location. 

Martin had a co-pilot and a two-man crew; however, he had been having some problems with his engine overheating. They decided to go anyway. 

Martin had never picked up anyone off  the ground before. As they approached the area, he saw some red smoke in the distance and they headed for it. They were hovering over the red smoke in the jungle, but the rescue hoist wouldn't work, it was broken. Quickly, they grabbed a long rope that was on board and threw it down to the downed pilot, but they didn't have the strength to pull him up. After a couple of minutes, the engine started to overheat and they were worried they were going to have to leave. 

His co-pilot was a young pilot in his 20s, but he was a big football-type fellow. So then there were three of them to pull up the pilot. Now the red light comes on for the engine. The three of them started to pull up the pilot, but they had been hovering for over 20 minutes which was unheard of. 

Martin said, "we have got to get out of here, we can't hover anymore." He asked how far off the ground is the pilot, having a fear of dragging the downed pilot through the trees. Finally they got him just above the tree tops and took off.  

Martin asked his crew to find him a place to land. Fortunately, they found a place not too far away. The downed pilot was still there clinging to the rope. The co-pilot was still in the back, so Martin didn't have more eyes to make sure they didn't set the helicopter down on the rescued pilot. 

Finally, the pilot ran off to the side and Martin set the helicopter down and, as they were loading the pilot, the bullets started coming in at them. However, they were able to take off safely and returned to base.

Mission completed.