As a Christmas gift in 1969, the men up on Nui Ba Den Mountain, in Tay Ninh wrote a poem for Mike and his fellows in the 242nd Assault Support Helicopter Company who were affectionately referred to as Muleskinners. His wife, Nikki has the original poem and it reads as follows:

An Ode to Muleskinner 1969

Atop Nui Ba Den Mountain at thirty two hundred feet,

the weather is wild and winds are real neat.

But daily we wait for your ship to arrive

for without you MULESKINNER we could not survive.

From Cu Chi wach morning you take to the sky,

vowing “Curses on Dutcher” when you start to fly.

At Tay Ninh’s “Viking” you hookup the stuff,

then on to the MOUNTAIN – that’s when it gets rough.

The radios chatter and the voice that you hear,

is Nui Ba Den Control bidding you cheer –

“Winds Southwest no Northeast, at ten no it’s forty”

then one-six-Delta asks, “Hey, what’s on this sortie”?

Is it Class One, or ammo, or diesel you bring?

so to avoid confusion we do our thing –

Pop smoke in three places – red, green and “grape”,

then watch you hover while our ground crew goes ape.

When the dust finally settles and we show you the place,

But at these times we are sure you ask yourself why

a “slick” or a Cobra you weren’t destined to fly.

Now this holiday season is a time to insure

that we speak of Good Will and request you endure

the daily harassment we know we provoke –

MERRY CHRISTMAS MULESKINNER – this wish ain’t a joke!

On January 2, 1970, Mike mailed the original piece of paper that this poem was typed on to his family with a note that said the following,

 Nui Ba Den Mountain
( AKA Black Virgin Mountain )

Cu Chi year book
1969

Captain Michael D. Medeiros

Contact: LilPixie4u@aol.com