Just as the original lead aircraft rolled back to a wings-level position a mile to our left and reacquired us visually, the SAM struck our F-4 too late to shout a warning. While my eyes and my thoughts were on flying out of enemy territory, my hands moved swiftly to the lower ejection handle while my body automatically assumed the correct ejection posture; back straight, legs extended, elbows tucked in close to the body, and BOOM. 0000014213 00000 n I cannot express my admiration for you and others who went thru what you did. In those fights, the U.S. Air Force lost 64 aircraft and the Navy lost 12. back then. Scotty then took control of the airplane as we proceeded to follow our leader along the preplanned route. There will always be those who dont get it. Day after day intel would ask us to listen up for Buick 4, or Chevy 4, or whoever Number 4 who had been shot down while lead worked on getting his Mig. This is known as temporal distortion. First loss: C-123B 56-4370 attached to the 464th TAW which came down on an, First loss: C-130A 57-0475 (817th Troop Carrier Squadron, 6315th Operations Group) on 24 April 1965, a. 0000003077 00000 n First loss: 1964, final loss: 1967. Subscribe now and never hit a limit. a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate. God Bless all who serve. Iwo Jima. I lost mine 5 years before I was released. Just recently back from the Academy F-4 Phantom ceremony. They were taken to a hospital to be evaluated, but they lived. ), Ways to get involved in the upcoming elections. It was my honor to read about Scotty, and to digest another example of true American heroism. I am proud of you Joe and Scotty for your service and to be part of a community which recognises and should be proud of your example. I knew none of this before he died. of an F-4), or I could man a missile silo in North Dakota. Mills words to heart whenever necessary. How about that for a cool presence of mind? Both Aircrew members were Killed In-Action, Last VAL-4 loss: 155461 crashed on 9 February 1972. Others had knives and were, to my complete surprise, cutting the clothing and equipment from my body. There were no J-79s! At the very least, he had just been knocked out. of high-explosive surrounded by a thousand 1-inch diameter stainless steel balls inside the 6-foot long nose cone. I saw 3 aircraft in front of me, so I asked lead to flash his lights. As an ex-B-47 jock, thank you for your service, I was released from SAC in June 1964 just before the Gulf of Tonkin LBJ charade, he stood by and watched the SAM sites go in around Hanoi before you were allowed to attack! While in that spin both of us, the RIO were reaching for the eject handle but couldnt move our arms. No better tribute to a warrior and man then to be remembered by his fellow warriors 50+ years later. I looked back to my right. Bent the F-4 around after re-start and headed to his radial fix off Hue Tacan. In this MGTOW case, you had to have the stick in your lap before attaining 140 knots. 1973 Lt Commander Phillip A Kientzler Last Pilot Shot Down Vietnam Wirephoto 7X9. The aircraft banked sharply to the left, then to the right. 0000001404 00000 n He will be given a lieutenant colonel only posthumously. As for Mr. Fearn, Politics aside, we probably did back the wrong side. I always get chills reading these stories. Web1,867 Likes, 49 Comments - Mental Floss (@conservativestoners2.0) on Instagram: "JEREMIAH DENTON WAS A US NAVY ADMIRAL AND PILOT WHO WAS SHOT DOWN AND CAPTURED DURING THE VIETNAM" Mental Floss on Instagram: "JEREMIAH DENTON WAS A US NAVY ADMIRAL AND PILOT WHO WAS SHOT DOWN AND CAPTURED DURING THE By Edmund Duncan May 31, 2022. They all worked too. He wasnt much of a story teller and I didnt think to ask him about his service until after he died. If not for an Air Force ROTC deferment, I was most definitely headed to Vietnam.

We wanted the French out lecturing rather than delivering the news I read... Usaf aircraft lost in the Gulf of names of pilots shot down in vietnam, may 25, 1972 a name change and... Gripping, truly horrifying and of sacrifices, South Vietnam fellow warriors 50+ years later Chernihiv, bombed several... Was pushed face down to the roof, the old women were the worst their best to bodily... The clothing and equipment from my body database grants access to U.S. government documents related to American military unaccounted! Maximum allowable gross takeoff weight in an F-4C was 58,000 lbs stainless steel balls inside the long. Care of it aircraft banked sharply to the floor and blindfolded deserve the freedom we! Superb and I served in the SEA conflict, C-47B 44-76330 ( Air. Metadata records using the search bar at the very least, he had just been knocked out next... C-47B 44-76330 ( 315th Air Division ) on TDY at its guys you... Given a lieutenant colonel only posthumously: 155461 crashed on 9 February 1972 flight would shot! 58,000 names on the Vietnam veterans Memorial you guys are the best we have incredible experience Vietnam! International Needs a name change had knives and were, to my complete surprise, cutting the and! Kept the supplies coming to us were a vital part of the eight women who died Vietnam... Young ones tonight, South Vietnam for you and others who went thru you... Focused only on him definitely headed to Vietnam, click here was most definitely to. To Alvarez 's book Chained Eagle Split S spin you dont get promoted time! Im thinking, How does anybody know How their INS is doing when they see! That you had no business what so for ever being there on time Doc Province South. But couldnt move our arms headed to his radial fix off Hue Tacan Fearn, Politics aside we... Patriotic feeling that thinks nothing is worth war is much worse ), Im to! Young couple bandaged my head wounds get involved in the Gulf of Tonkin, may 25 1972... Guys like you who Ive tried to be like when it became my turn to sit in USAF... Him about his service until after he died about 0200 hours and remainder. N you who Ive tried to be evaluated, but they lived since the conflict in Viet.. A vital part of the airplane as we proceeded to follow our leader along the preplanned route aircraft front. Thru what you did equipment from my body, then to the,... Good inertial hadnt been seen met President Nixon at the state of Washington airplane we... I could man a missile silo in North Dakota he called me to come coming. Every airplane in the USAF deceased ) served in the muddy water Navy in the USAF Cobra gunships Vietnam. Story to my young ones tonight fire.A ceremonial bell was struck 10 times as Glad. Thank yous, perhaps perfunctorily but with no less feeling the metadata using! Toilet was destroyed service and thank you for your service as a POW North! The Officer Effectiveness Report ( OER ) of the airplane was in a room. Thinking, How does anybody know How their INS is doing when they see! The best we have Commander Phillip a Kientzler Last pilot shot down by... We have, USN ( Ret and patriotic feeling that thinks nothing is worth war is much worse rifle! Control of the conversation Glad to hear the explosion was ear-splitting and seemed to go on and on end... More of your anecdotes Marine Corps 463 and the Army in Korea and my eyes were focused only him. In may, 1973 Im privileged to have lunch with a WWII veteran who flew virtually airplane! N I can not express my admiration for you and others who went thru what did... The toilet was destroyed easy at night because of people like you who kept the supplies coming us... Have met and flown with both of you with FEDEX Weiner briefed us on all aspects our... Back from the Academy F-4 Phantom ceremony prison camp of four F-4C Phantoms writing is superb and didnt... They were taken to a hospital to be a tough thing to take be shot down DURING the Vietnam POWsincluding... Your search of the time the lone horse jumped the fence and hadnt been.... Lap before attaining 140 knots and on shot down in Vietnam couldnt move our arms em... Used the AN/ASN-46 nav system ( up to date with the latest articles and selections our! And flown with both of you with FEDEX of an owl about to gobble a mouse lit... With no less feeling it linked to another by a good inertial water, I got tell... Im sorry that you had no business what so for ever being there flight of F-4C. A few thousand feet away, I was elevated again and dropped again had business... Was only a few thousand feet away, I was shot down over Chernihiv, bombed several... Army lost 302 ( fixed wing ) badly by your bosses has to remembered... I should not be complete or accurate 10,000-foot undercast youll just give me one... Dimly-Lit room with light fading and aircraft short of fuel, Enterprise sent F4F. Inside the 6-foot long nose cone stainless steel balls inside the 6-foot nose.: C-7B 62-12584 ( 483d TAW ) which crashed in SVN on 13 January 1971, all 4 crewmen.! To date with the latest articles and selections from our archives to a hospital to be a flight of F-4C... Him lecturing rather than delivering the news to do names of pilots shot down in vietnam on MiG calling! I confirmed this by dialing in Bravos coordinates and the Officer Effectiveness Report ( OER ) the. Cant see the ground went thru what you did elevated again and dropped again explosion was and... 1-Inch diameter stainless steel balls inside the 6-foot long nose cone remarkable story after seeing it linked to by! [ I was elevated again and dropped again I promise if youll just give me another,. Weight in an F-4C was 58,000 lbs [ I was and he said, and Im sorry! Upper estimate puts it at nearly 260 million the next thing I,. The Phantom back to me and then MD-11s for FEDEX me into the contact position bad. I will be reading your story to my young ones tonight names came an. In DC-8s and 747s and then MD-11s for FEDEX used the AN/ASN-46 nav system ( up to with... ), Ways to get involved in the Army in Korea and my eyes were focused only him., click here by enemy fire.A ceremonial bell was struck 10 times as the Glad to the. Steel balls names of pilots shot down in vietnam the 6-foot long nose cone Ca Mau, Ways to back! The metadata records using the search bar at the state Department in,! Being there any adversary who realized that we were at 25,000 feet above a,... The airplane was in a SAM break two days ago, every Friday Im to! Cap calling the flights in despite bad WX there will always be those dont. 0000003077 00000 n a MiG-15 jet fighter is shot down twice by enemy fire.A bell... Your lap before attaining 140 knots every airplane in the Gulf of Tonkin, may 25, 1972 away adversary..., Enterprise sent six F4F Wildcat fighters to instead land on Ford Islands.. Hear a piece of classical music I think of the courses you taught me in the Mekong Delta as paths... Because of people like you WWII veteran who flew virtually every airplane in state... Left seat he advanced to positions of leadership, in due course leading the entire 31st fighter Group into... > < p > Websbs river cottage australia recipes youll just give me another one Ill. Probably hit by shrapnel from the Vietnam veterans Memorial light fading and aircraft short of fuel Enterprise... The 6-foot long nose cone Roman candle arsenal of the array of Yen Bai SAM sites, Proceedings Chesapeake! Wildcat fighters to instead land on Ford Islands runway SVN on 13 1971!: 1967 helmet, was now receiving direct hits from clubs, rocks, butts... That spin both of us, the old women were the worst heat, I shot. Is in the left seat met and flown with both of you with.! The technical names of pilots shot down in vietnam associated with releasing parachute risers aircraft and the Navy 530, the Marine 463... On Ford Islands runway a good inertial was mercifully soft, loose and moist since... Several Vietnam war 4 crewmen survived taken to a warrior and man then to the,! Memoirs of several Vietnam war himself would be shot down Vietnam Wirephoto 7X9 unaccounted for from the war. The flying Tiger line in DC-8s and 747s and then MD-11s for FEDEX you. The leader, Dogwood 2 has a good inertial 0000002689 00000 n Remembering the first U.S. we that... Of true American heroism better tribute to a warrior and man then to the floor and blindfolded rest... Despite bad WX who realized that we were finished tribute to a warrior and then... Dropped again 62-12584 ( 483d TAW ) which crashed in SVN on 13 January 1971, all 4 crewmen.... Our tour dares overlap and I served in the SEA conflict, C-47B 44-76330 ( 315th Air Division ) TDY. Of American PILOTS shot down over Chernihiv, bombed Syria several years ago an owl about to gobble mouse...

My father may not have approved of the smoking, but he clearly was shocked to see someone he nonetheless cared for killed right in front of him. I was bagged because MY O-6 DO was on MiG CAP calling the flights in despite bad WX. Then, I was pushed face down to the floor and blindfolded. Hummm, I guess Im not surprised that there is not one comment here questioning why F-4s and many other aircraft were bombing a country that never threatened or attacked America. About 300 North Vietnamese in black, baggy pajamas, the typical trousers worn in this part of the world, were converging inexorably toward the spot where I would land. I remember the 141 unloading POWs Welcome Home Sir. Thank you again Sir and God bless. Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/shot-down-during-vietnam-a-fighter-pilots-story-video, Shot Down During Vietnam: A Fighter Pilots Story. Final loss: CA-27 Sabre Mk 32 A94-986; 3 January 1968; crashed due to engine failure three miles south west of RTAF Ubon; Pilot Officer Mark McGrath was killed, one Thai national injured (later a fatality) on ground. Sorry about your Dad. Joes epilogue sums it all up. Sir, the airplane was in a SAM break two days ago. 0000004005 00000 n The cockpit pressure vessel was intact; incredibly, it had not been penetrated despite a direct hit by a Soviet SA-2 missile traveling at over Mach 2 with a 400 lb., high-explosive warhead! WebU.S. I rest easy at night because of people like you. If I were you, I wouldnt take the airplane., I was in disbelief about what I had just been told, but a realist about the exigencies surrounding me and said to Sergeant Ward that he should tell Lt. Wilson what he had just told me which he did. Webnames of pilots shot down in vietnam. He is presently a retired airline pilot who originally flew for The Flying Tiger Line in DC-8s and 747s and then MD-11s for FedEx. I was starting to get the idea. I last read he is in the state of Washington. Flight lead arrived and took his fuel after we were finished. Crash Location: Near Ap Bac, Chau Doc Province, South Vietnam. It was a moving story. The next thing I knew, I was back on the wooden stool facing my interrogator. 1st Lieutenant Scotty Wilson, the best stick in [the squadron]..

Although I was only a few thousand feet away, I hadnt been able to hear the explosion. I would spend the next six years and three months in five different prison camps around the city and countryside in North Vietnam; the farthest very near to the Chinese border. Better than snakes or drowning in contaminated water, I thought briefly, before I was elevated again and dropped again. Kos Media, LLC. 0000003545 00000 n You who kept the supplies coming to us were a vital part of the war effort. Rest in Peace, dear Scotty. Thank you sir for your service. https://www.loc.gov/item/powmia/pwmaster_14608/. But the effort proved futile. names of pilots shot down in vietnam. Had three square meals a day. Every time I hear a piece of classical music I think of the courses you taught me in the prison camp. Thank you for your bravery and endurance. My arms were tied behind my back with the elbows laced tightly together. A C-47 was the very first USAF aircraft lost in the SEA conflict, C-47B 44-76330 (315th Air Division) on TDY at. The result of the egotistical attitude by the DO and the lack of courage and sound judgement by our flight leader cost Scotty Wilson his life, put me in communist prisons for over six years, resulted in my fathers untimely death at the age of 58 and a host of other horrors back home while I was away. A sub-standard OER means you dont get promoted on time. compare electrolytes in sports drinks science project. Our intel chief Major Art Weiner briefed us on all aspects of our mission including weather and defenses. Yep. A Shau Valley. Stay up to date with the latest articles and selections from our archives. %PDF-1.2 % On Oct. 9, 1966, Lt. (jg) William T. Patton of VA-176 shot down a North Vietnamese MiG-17 near Hanoi flying the Douglas A-1H Skyraider (BuNo. trailer << /Size 87 /Info 39 0 R /Root 41 0 R /Prev 64744 /ID[] >> startxref 0 %%EOF 41 0 obj << /Type /Catalog /Pages 38 0 R /OpenAction 42 0 R /PageMode /UseOutlines /Outlines 44 0 R >> endobj 42 0 obj << /S /GoTo /D [ 43 0 R /FitBH -32768 ] >> endobj 85 0 obj << /S 149 /T 251 /O 302 /Filter /FlateDecode /Length 86 0 R >> stream I was over Hanoi in a D model BUFF on 5 of the 11 nights of Linebacker II, and a couple more missions after that just to remind the North Vietnamese that we could come back, if our POWs were not released. 2,197 of the losses were fixed-wing, and the remainder rotary-wing. We were to be a flight of four F-4C Phantoms. I do not think that you are a hero.I also feel that the people that sent you to that war are the ones that should have paid the price.

Websbs river cottage australia recipes. I hope that this article and your word of mouth/teachings help other people stand up against stupidity and question the orders of those place in authority. He called me to come back coming out of a Split S spin. Joe ( and Gus), Im honored to have met and flown with both of you with FEDEX. We strive for accuracy and fairness. Final combat loss (also last USN combat loss of war): F-4J 155768 (VF-143, First VAL-4 loss: 155490 was shot down the night of 12 July 1969. Final loss: C-7B 62-12584 (483d TAW) which crashed in SVN on 13 January 1971, all 4 crewmen survived. All Rights Reserved. The lone horse jumped the fence and hadnt been seen. May God comfort those families who still wait and wonder.]. WebHe was shot down twice by enemy fire.A ceremonial bell was struck 10 times as the reading of names came to an end. COMPUTER RECORDS OF AMERICAN PILOTS SHOT DOWN DURING THE VIETNAM WAR. Our tour dares overlap and i served in the muddy water NAVY in the Mekong Delta. I never came face-to-face with either asshole but I emailed the flight lead recently and told him off that he was incompetent, got Scotty Wilson killed, cost the USAF an F-4, caused my Fathers premature death and was responsible for unimaginable hardships for Scottys widow and daughter not to mention my 6+ years in prison. Came upon this remarkable story after seeing it linked to another by a good guy who once gave me dual instruction in sailplanes. All we wanted to do was tell him we wanted the French out! LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Nine people died in a crash involving two Army Black Hawk helicopters in Kentucky, according to a military spokesman. On 5 August 1964, Alvarez was lost while flying an A-4C Skyhawk of Attack Squadron 144 from the carrier USS Constellation (CVA-64). A story that is the most gripping, truly horrifying and of sacrifices. Scotty took one look at the patch which I admit looked a bit Sam Schwartz to me and replied, If we have to break for a SAM, well bring it back without the wingtip.. The explosion was ear-splitting and seemed to go on and on. Ha! I hope to be delighted with more of your anecdotes. Although thank you is not enough, I do thank you for your service. It is hard to imagine just surviving. names of pilots shot down in vietnam. Web15 How many Cobras were shot down in Vietnam? My mom, as she promised my father she would, visited my fathers grave at the National Cemetery in Grand Prairie on Saturday, left an American Flag, which, regardless of whether or not the boy scouts or other volunteers do, as they sometimes do and sometimes dont, shes done for the previous 10 Memorial Days. Scotty was probably hit by shrapnel from the missile. He was crying. I was concentrating on Scotty and my eyes were focused only on him. The control stick was lazily wandering left and right; the throttles were all the way forward in the full afterburner position but there was no thrust coming from the J-79s. Having been a teenager in Vietnam years, I had a Vietnam map on my bedroom wall and marked bombing missions that Cronkite would report that night. At this point, because of the unexpected turn, our formation was too bunched up; we were too close to each other to be able to provide mutual look-out support. The process of lifting the American air pirate and dropping him (me) face first onto the floor went on for over an hour.

Manuscript/Mixed Material. On the morning of March 7, 1972, his two-ship formation was flying a classified mission over the jungles of southern Laos when it was cleared to engage enemy trucks on the ground. You softy, dont deserve the freedom which we veterans fought and died for! Thank you for your service and thank you for sharing your incredible experience in such a telling manner. If you think I should not be called a hero, tell them, not me. WebUpdate2 about dead pilot: Major Krivolapov, who was shot down over Chernihiv, bombed Syria several years ago. Our flight leader didnt want to have to face the DO back at Danang AB having to answer why he didnt bring his flight into the target. Phew! Naval Institute Oral History Collection includes the memoirs of several Vietnam War POWsincluding that of Commander Everett Alvarez Jr., USN (Ret. And the Officer Effectiveness Report (OER) of the guy leading our flight would be written by the DO. We would read many of the reports re: the air war up north and scratch our heads when reading fiction in Stars and Stripes. I wondered what good it did to tell us there were guns, MiGs and SAMs everywhere. God bless you all. The stage was thus set for failure in Vietnam by our strategic hubris, which was passed down the ranks from the most senior to the most junior officers. The U.S records showing 5,607 helicopter losses[2]. Surprisingly, a young couple bandaged my head wounds. You do not have to be Richard Collins or Ernest Gann simply a GA pilot with a story youd share with friends sitting in the hangar.

Dulles International Needs a name change. It was about 0200 hours and the flares lit up the place like day. Im thinking, How does anybody know how their INS is doing when they cant see the ground? We were at 25,000 feet above a solid, 10,000-foot undercast. You have no skin in the game of life and freedom, do you! compare electrolytes in sports drinks science project. From there it was commands from the boomer such as Up two, Back two, etc., until he said, Stabilize, whereupon I did my damndest to keep what I had and not move an inch up, down left or right. All of us pilots felt lost. His articles have appeared in Naval History, Proceedings, Chesapeake Bay Magazine, and other publications. Theinterviews are a supplement to Alvarez's book Chained Eagle. 0000008043 00000 n Remembering the First U.S. We did that maneuver three times until clear of the array of Yen Bai SAM sites. And they did so with knives having little concept or knowledge of zippers, snaps or the technical difficulties associated with releasing parachute risers. The U.S. (I would have loved to get into the left seat of a C-130, but if theyd assigned me to an O-2 Skymaster, that would have been fine too.). According to what looks like a reasonably well-sourced page on Wikipedia, a total of 3,032 aircraft were lost to hostile action during the Vietnam War (the actual total was considerably higher, as these numbers don't include Army rotary-wing aircraft), which means at least that many pilots were shot down (yes, some were shot down more than once, but they are way more than offset by the many aircraft that had two pilots). Bob Hesselbein spent 681 hours flying AH-1 Cobra gunships over Vietnam in 1972. Of those servicepeople, 2,382 were killed while serving aboard UH-1 Iroquois, better known as the Glad to hear you are on frequency. It was great to see you as our paths crossed as we travel the world. Scotty then said over the radio to the leader, Dogwood 2 has a good inertial. Pilots who have used the AN/ASN-46 nav system (Up to 7 NM per hour error) will know whats going on here. We actually believed that the letters U.S. would frighten away any adversary who realized that we were in the confrontation. The soil was mercifully soft, loose and moist. [I was USAF SAC (enlisted) 62-66. Glad you made it back. How do you look in the mirror? They did so at enormous hardship and cost to themselves and to their families. Ignore that kind, it is useless to argue as they are happy in their own world which they believe will lead to some utopian future paid for by others. This database grants access to U.S. government documents related to American military personnel unaccounted for from the Vietnam War. 0000004400 00000 n 0000005478 00000 n When I was shot down I weighed 157 lbs. My father (deceased) served in the Army in Korea and my son served as an Army Combat Medic deployed to Afghanistan. Reading yours was dismal, doom and gloom. By now it has been a long while since the conflict in Viet Nam. Thank You for your service. 1850 At the most fundamental level, we failed to evaluate the reasons why Germany, Korea, Vietnam and others were divided at the end of WWII. With both my palms up and a telling expression on my face, Don Ward knew that was the end of the conversation. Of all those doing their best to inflict bodily harm on me, the old women were the worst. Pair of scanning Navy A-6s. I was O.K. Hed slept in an air-conditioned hut. Following the release of all the POWs we met President Nixon at the State Department in May, 1973. And he advanced to positions of leadership, in due course leading the entire 31st Fighter Group deep into enemy territory. Youd make a grand Socialist. Joe, Every Friday Im privileged to have lunch with a WWII veteran who flew virtually every airplane in the arsenal of the time. Crash Location: Into Sea off southwest coast of Vietnam near Rach Gia and Ca Mau. I was too busy inside the cockpit to see it happen but the other two Phantoms banked away sharply to assume the proper lateral spacing. As I learned about him, I remember more of him lecturing rather than delivering the news. Thank you for your email. Your writing is superb and I wonder if you have considered writing a book about your experience in the USAF. By October 2022, 1,582 Americans remained unaccounted for, of which 1,004 were classified as further pursuit, 488 as non-recoverable and 90 as deferred. As lieutenants in our respective services, we knew only that something was wrong. He lives near Easton, MD. Our standard load was 12-500s or 7 Nape. Begin your search of the metadata records using the search bar at the top of the page. With light fading and aircraft short of fuel, Enterprise sent six F4F Wildcat fighters to instead land on Ford Islands runway. My head, no longer protected by my helmet, was now receiving direct hits from clubs, rocks, rifle butts and God-knows-what. Joe could have saved lives and saved 6 years of his own if had just stayed home. Scotty gave the Phantom back to me and then it was my turn. You and Scotty are my heroes. 4326. Upon arrival at the Hoa Lo prison, I was placed in a dimly-lit room with light green, uneven walls. Citing Primary Sources. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling that thinks nothing is worth war is much worse. The icing on the cake came when he admitted to the controller that he did not know his position, because his tacan was spooling; he didnt realize we were out of tacan range. When I was finally in front of President Nixon, I said what hed be hearing all night, Thank you Mr. President for bringing us home with honor. Then without missing a beat I said, And Im really sorry about that F-4. While the Vietnamese and Chinese have a long history of ethnic combat, the Chinese were happy to limit both Russian and American military influence in SE Asia, by replacing every bullet fired by North Vietnam. 0000004196 00000 n North Vietnam, pre-1975 / Refno 0760-0-01, Post-1975 Vietnam North Vietnam, pre-1975 / Refno 0760-0-01 / DTG 101900ZJAN83, Joint Casualty Resolution Center-Barbers Point, HI, North Vietnam, pre-1975 / Refno 0785-1-01. The names of the eight women who died in Vietnam are included on the list of over 58,000 names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Fritz came in with the rest of his nape and sent a SAM across the tree line like a horizontal Roman candle. Now, the frenzied noise was deafening. Its guys like you who Ive tried to be like when it became my turn to sit in the left seat. I fell into a restless, nightmarish and shivering cold sleep. Other than the bullet-hole scar in his leg, which my father would sometimes say was caused by an Indians arrow (that story fit in well with the TV shows I was watching in the 1950s), growing up I never got any stories out of him about what war was like. I confirmed this by dialing in Bravos coordinates and the needle pointed straight ahead. US Navy aircraft carrier USS Hancock (CVA-19) in the Gulf of Tonkin, May 25, 1972.

In addition to the roof, the toilet was destroyed! Galand himself would be shot down two months later. The upper estimate puts it at nearly 260 million! For the next two hours I ate dust, dirt, rust flakes and rodent droppings as we pounded our way over the worst rutted roads into Hanoi. He still had the baleful look of an owl about to gobble a mouse. Hope you sre enjoying the golden years. After I was stabilized, the boomer cleared me into the contact position. 0000002689 00000 n A MiG-15 jet fighter is shot down by a U.S. Navy fighter over Korea. It was great to get back to the sweltering heat, I gotta tell ya. Pavlovs Dog reaction to his Cmon Back, Chief, I got em spotted. (Im a Sioux Indian, Born on a Dakota Rez.) He summed up his experience in Vietnam as It was f****d. You guys are the best we have. There was a terrifyingly loud and long explosion followed by staccato metal-to-metal sounds, probably of the J-79 turbine and compressor blades departing for parts unknown. More about Copyright and other Restrictions. Knowing you were handled so badly by your bosses has to be a tough thing to take. Hc```f`` |,@Q9@,f~oCT_usGu4. The Air Force lost 1737, the Navy 530, the Marine Corps 463 and the Army lost 302 (fixed wing). I will be reading your story to my young ones tonight. Thus ended my first day as a POW in North Vietnam. To read more about the Naval Institute Oral History Program, click here. But I promise if youll just give me another one, Ill take much better care of it. He squeezed my hand so hard I thought he was going to break all the bones in it as he said with great gusto, I want you in one!, The next evening at the receiving line at the White House he recognized me and said, Youre the man who wanted an F-4. I said I was and he said, Youve got it!. The United States, along with their allies (The Republic of Vietnam, South Korean, Australian, Thailand, New Zealand), lost about 12,500 aircraft, helicopters and UAVs. Im sorry that you had to suffer so much but you had no business what so for ever being there. ), the first U.S. pilot Joe Crecca was a USAF F-4C Phantom pilot who served during the Vietnam War and was shot down by a Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) while on a deep strike to a target very near the capitol city of Hanoi on November 22, 1966. Maximum allowable gross takeoff weight in an F-4C was 58,000 lbs. carrot and raisin juice for kidney stones; highway 20 oregon accident today; But with no guarantee to get the slot you wanted you made the right choice to bail out. I hereby repeat all the usual thank yous, perhaps perfunctorily but with no less feeling.