Woody Bergeron book signing

The Book Nook will be hosting a book signing from 10 am to 1 pm on Friday, December 22. The Book Nook is located at 115 Cleveland Street in Blairsville.

The book, All For One, written by John LaPointe, tells the story of Bergeron’s rescue in 1969 in Laos during the War in Vietnam. On Dec. 5, 1969 a 26 yearold

Bergeron was shot down in the jungles of Laos on the Ho Chi Minh trail. For three days the Viet Cong hunted for him by night, while the Air Force Rescue team attemped to both protect and rescue him during the day.

This rescue is the largest and longest Air Force rescue ever. It required over 300 aircraft to silence the hundreds of

guns and thousands of North Vietnamese soldiers trying to kill both him and the hundreds of rescuers.

LaPoints, the author, was one of the para-rescue men in the Jolly Green helicopters. Pararescuers (similar to Navy Seals) are the young men in the back of the helicopters who aid with rescues by assisting downed airmen on the ground when appropriate andfiring the guns mounted in the helicopters.

Bergeron says “These guys are the real heroes. I was just in a bad place, needed help, and they came.”

The Air Force policy was, and is today, that if an airman is shot down, the Air Force and pararescue will do everything humanly possible to get you out.