[9-A] As a result of the joint helicopter operations in I Corps, a vigorous debate developed within the Marine Corps concerning the value of armed helicopters. This debate and the subsequent development, procurement, and operations of Marine helicopter gunships will be covered in a separate historical monograph being prepared by the History and Museums Division, Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps. May was the last full month of combat support operations for Lieutenant Colonel Leu’s squadron. In the first week of June, transports from VMGR-152 began landing at Da Nang with the Marines of a new UH-34D squadron. Since assuming responsibility for helicopter support in I Corps in mid-January, HMM-162 had compiled a solid combat record. While under the squadron’s operations, the UH-34D helicopters had flown 17,670 sorties for a total of 8,579 flight hours. The O-1Bs added approximately 400 sorties and another 1,000 hours to these figures. In the month of May alone HMM-162’s helicopters flew over 2,000 flight hours--a number which approached the record set by HMM-163 during the previous summer in the Mekong Delta. Other statistics reflected the growing intensity of the Vietnam war. Since its deployment to Da Nang, Lieutenant Colonel Leu’s unit had lost three helicopters--two as a result of operations at extreme elevations and one to enemy fire. One member of the unit had been killed and three others wounded since the squadron entered the combat zone.[9-5] After a brief change-over period, the outgoing squadron commander officially turned over his unit’s aircraft and maintenance equipment on 8 June to Lieutenant Colonel Frank A. Shook, the commanding officer of HMM-261. Shook, who had flown Marine helicopters in combat during the Korean War, committed his crews to their first actual combat missions that same day.