[2][3] After leaving active duty, Kettles established a Ford dealership in Dewitt, Michigan, and continued his service with the Army Reserve as a member of the 4th Battalion, 20th Field Artillery.

During a tour in France the following year, he was cross-trained to fly the Bell UH-1D "Huey" In 1966, he was assigned as a flight commander with the 176th Assault Helicopter Company, 14th Combat Aviation Battalion, and deployed to South Vietnam from February through November 1967.

In 1970, he went to Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, where he served as an aviation team chief and readiness coordinator supporting the Army Reserve.

Senators Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, and Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing as a result of a grassroots level campaign started in 2012 Ypsilanti Rotary Veterans History Project [4][5][6][7] On May 15, 1967, personnel of the 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, were ambushed in the Song Tra Cau riverbed by an estimated battalion-sized force of People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) regulars with numerous automatic weapons, machine guns, mortars, and recoilless rifles.

Upon hearing that the 1st Brigade had suffered casualties during an intense firefight with the enemy, then-Major Kettles volunteered to lead a flight of six UH-1D helicopters to bring reinforcements to the embattled force and to evacuate wounded personnel.

As the flight approached the landing zone, it came under heavy fire from multiple directions and soldiers were hit and killed before they could dismount the arriving helicopters.

[8] Small arms and automatic weapons fire continued to rake the landing zone, inflicting heavy damage to the helicopters and soldiers.

Bringing additional reinforcements, he landed in the midst of mortar and automatic weapons fire that seriously wounded his gunner and severely damaged his aircraft.

Later that day, the infantry battalion commander requested immediate, emergency extraction of the remaining 40 troops as well as four members of Kettles' unit who had become stranded when their helicopter was shot down.