Background Information
On the afternoon of April 2, 1972, two Thailand-based EB66
aircraft (Bat 21 and Bat 22), from the 30th Air Division, were flying pathfinder
escort for a cell of B52s bombing near the DMZ. Bat 21 took a direct SAM hit and
the plane went down. A single beeper signal was heard, that of navigator Col.
Iceal Hambleton. At this time it was assumed the rest of the crew died in the
crash.
The crew included Maj. Wayne L. Bolte, pilot; 1Lt. Robin F. Gatwood, LtCol.
Anthony R. Giannangeli, LtCol. Charles A. Levis, and Maj. Henry M. Serex, all
crew members. It should be noted that the lowest ranking man aboard this
plane was Gatwood, a First Lieutenant. This was not an ordinary crew, and its
members, particularly Hambleton, would be a prize capture for the enemy
because of military knowledge they possessed.
It became critical, therefore, that the U.S. locate Hambleton, and any other
surviving crew members before the Vietnamese did - and the Vietnamese were
trying hard to find them first.
An Army search and rescue team was nearby and dispatched two UH1H "slicks"
and two UH1B "Cobras". When they approached Hambleton's position just
before
dark, at about 50 feet off the ground, with one of the AH1G Cobra gunships flying
at 300 feet for cover, two of the helicopters were shot down. One, the Cobra (Blue
Ghost 28) reached safety and the crew was picked up, without having seen the other
downed helicopter. The other, a UH1H from F Troop, 8th Cavalry, 196th Brigade,
had just flown over some huts into a clearing when they encountered ground fire,
and the helicopter exploded. Jose Astorga, the gunner, was injured in the chest
and knee by the gunfire. Astorga became unconscious, and when he recovered, the
helicopter was on the ground. He found the pilot, 1Lt. Byron K. Kulland, lying
outside the helicopter. WO John W. Frink, the co-pilot, was strapped in his seat
and conscious. The crew chief, SP5 Ronald P. Paschall, was pinned by his leg in
the helicopter, but alive. WO Franks urged Astorga to leave them, and Astorga
was captured. He soon observed the aircraft to be hit by automatic weapons fire,
and to explode with the rest of the crew inside. He never saw the rest of the
crew again. Astorga was released by the North Vietnamese in 1973.
The following day, Nail 38, an OV10A equipped with electronic rescue gear
enabling its crew to get a rapid "fix" on its rescue target entered
Hambleton's area and was shot down. The crew, William J. Henderson and Mark Clark,
both parachuted out safely. Henderson was captured and released in 1973. Clark
evaded for 12 days and was subsequently rescued.
On April 3, the day Nail 38 was shot down, a UH1H "slick" went down
in the
same area carrying a crew of four enlisted Army personnel. They had no direct
connection to the rescue of Bat 21, but were very probably shot down by the
same SAM installations that downed Bat 21. The helicopter, from H/HQ, 37th
Signal Battalion, 1st Signal Brigade, had left Marble Mountain Airfield, Da
Nang, on a standard resupply mission to signal units in and around Quang Tri
City. The crew, consisting of WO Douglas L. O'Neil, pilot; CW2 Larry A. Zich,
co-pilot; SP5 Allen D. Christensen, crew chief; and SP4 Edward W. Williams,
gunner; remain missing in action.
On April 6, an attempt was made to pick up Clark and Hambleton which resulted
in an HH53C helicopter being shot down. The chopper was badly hit. The
helicopter landed on its side and continued to burn, consuming the entire
craft, and presumably, all 6 men aboard. The crew of this aircraft consisted of
James H. Alley; Allen J. Avery, John H. Call III, Peter H. Chapman, William
R. Pearson, and Roy D. Prater. Search and rescue noted no signs of survivors,
but it is felt that the Vientamese probably know the fate of this crew because
of the close proximity of the downed aircraft to enemy locations.
On April 7 another Air Force OV10A went down in the area with Larry Potts and
Bruce Walker aboard. Walker, the Air Force pilot of the aircraft, evaded
capture 11 days, while it is reported that Potts was captured and died in
Quang Binh prison. Potts, the observer, was a Marine Corps officer. Walker's last
radio transmission to search and rescue was for SAR not to make an attempt to
rescue, the enemy was closing in. Both men remain unaccounted for.
Hambleton and Clark were rescued after 12 incredible days. Hambleton
continually changed positions and reported on enemy activity as he went, even
to the extent of calling in close air strikes near his position. He was
tracked by a code he devised relating to the length and lie direction of various
golf holes he knew well. Another 20 or so Americans were not so fortunate.
In July 1986, the daughter of Henry Serex learned that, one week after all
search and rescue had been "called off" for Bat 21, another mission
was
mounted to recover "another downed crewmember" from Bat 21. She doesn't
know
whether or not it is her father or another man on the EB66 aircraft. No additional
information has been released. When the movie "Bat 21" was released,
she was horrified to learn that virtually no mention of the rest of the crew,
including her father, was made.
In Vietnam, to most fighting men, the man that fought beside them, whether in
the air or on the ground, was worth dying for. Each understood that the other
would die for him if necessary. Thus, also considering the critical knowledge
possessed by Col. Hambleton and some of the others, the seemingly uncanny
means taken to recover Clark and Hambleton are not so unusual at all.
What defies logic and explaination, however, is that the government that sent
these men to battle can distort or withold information to their families, and
knowingly abandon hundreds of men known or strongly suspected to be in enemy
hands.
Thousands of reports have been received by the U.S. Government indicating
that Americans are still alive, in captivity in Southeast Asia. It has been 17
years for those who may have survived the 1972 Easter crashes and rescue attempts.
How much longer must they wait for their country to bring "peace with honor"
to them and bring them home? |
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