Page 9 - Aerotech News and Review, April 7, 2017

HISTORY, from 8
experience. He flew in the later stages of the war. “I had 15 air combat training missions, and the training was not adequate,” he said. “I was not ready to be subjected to combat ... I later heard from (an) Israeli said they wouldn’t think about sending you out with less than 100 train-
ing missions.”
Typically, 10 combat missions would be flown
over territory in the Republic of South Vietnam, and the 11th would sortie into North Vietnam. Martin said he arrived at Da Nang Air Base in South Vietnam as the Marines were pulling out in 1972 and South Vietnamese troops were taking over security of the base perimeter. So, rocket attacks by the enemy accelerated.
His first night in country, rocket shrapnel pen- etrated his “hooch,” the sleeping quarters. Martin was on the top bunk. The air crewman from a gunship was in the low bunk, and the shrapnel “took out his eyes. I realized this was serious.”
With his squadron moving to Thailand, he met a brother officer, a “hooch mate,” roommate real- ly, who said he had to catch some sleep because of a special mission the next day. His roommate was killed the next day.
A flight leader’s encouragement to “stay on my wing and I’ll bring you home” provided Mar- tin the encouragement, and the courage, that he needed to fly and fight.
“I realized, don’t ever fall behind. Don’t be- come isolated. You have to keep up.”
Missions to take out air targets in the environs of Hanoi were started and stopped during various stages of the war for reasons of politics, Kit- tinger recalled with some bitterness.
The president, “Lyndon Johnson would pick the targets,” Kittinger sputtered.
From the time of Ettinger’s tour during a bombing offensive in 1967 named “Rolling
Thunder,” followed by a bombing halt in the north, until 1972 when Nixon decided to resume bombing, the tactics and technologies improved, Martin said.
During the late-in-the-war “Linebacker” of- fensives, electro-optical and laser-guided muni- tions provided the Air Force the means needed to take out bridges used to resupply North Viet- namese Army forces.
“They would have the bridges rebuilt and back in use in 12 days,” Martin recalled.
The offensive known informally as the “Christmas bombing” of Hanoi and Haiphong harbor starting on Dec. 18, 1972, involved hun- dreds of aircraft dropping untold thousands of tons of bombs — the intention, to usher in nego- tiations to end the war, free the POWs and bring about accounting of the Missing In Action, MIA Americans.
“We could have won the whole damn war if we had started that bombing 10 years earlier,” Kittinger said. “We didn’t do that, and we lost
57,000 fine young Americans for no good reason — because of decisions by crappy politicians.”
Pearson, sobered by watching B-52 heavy bombers blown out of the sky, and losses of his friends and comrades, said he understood that the Christmas bombing would compel the North Vietnamese to come back and negotiate.
Flying over Hanoi, Pearson said, “We were ordered to stay away from the ‘Hilton,’ but there was an F-4 that flew over on Dec. 27, Joe, and I hope that you heard it.”
Kittinger said his brother American POWs returned with pride, and honor, for having maintained their morale and integrity. He said he remains angry that American troops were not welcomed home with the honors they had earned, but that he and his fellow POWs “were treated like royalty, and we returned to a grate- ful nation.”
It was a paradox of history, but both things happened.
Kittinger said America’s cause was to save a
small democracy from being overrun by a com- munist invader. And he remains bitter that the United States failed to protect the people that America had promised to defend.
“We did not keep our word to those people,” he said. He added “It was the Jane Fondas who turned Americans against the people who fought the war.”
With the return of the POWs, Rutan recalled the words of the American warriors’ most be- loved leaders, Adm. Jeremiah Denton, the most senior officer to be awarded the Medal of Honor.
Stepping off the return aircraft to a red carpet welcome at Clark Air Base in the Philippines, Denton spoke for the men he was responsible to lead through their ordeal in captivity.
Rutan observed, “These men were shot down ... he spent six years as a POW in the most abominable conditions.
Rutan recited Denton’s words, saying “Every time I say this, I choke up.”
Quoting Admiral Denton, he recited “I con- sider it an honor to have had the privilege to serve my country under difficult circumstances.”
Rutan reflected, “I think about the totality of what he said, and I think to myself, ‘Who are these people, such remarkable people?’”
Kittinger summed it up, saying, “I came out of Vietnam as a POW. Fifteen percent of us were shot down ... many buried there. The rest of the POWs were lucky as hell. We were determined to maintain our morale. We were Americans, some who had been there for seven years, no food, no mail, no nothing. We never lost faith. We kept faith that ‘My country will not leave me here. We came out as better Christians, better Americans, better people.”
Typically, 10 combat missions would be flown over territory in the Republic of South Vietnam, and the 11th would sortie into North Vietnam. Martin said he arrived at Da Nang Air Base in South Vietnam as the Marines were pulling out in 1972 and South Vietnamese troops were taking over security of the base perimeter. So, rocket attacks by the enemy accelerated.
Cheryl Broadenax, Broker CalBRE#01422234
Broadenax R.E. Properties, Inc
43629 Rembrandt St Lancaster CA 93535
Office 661-317-6553
cbroadenax@yahoo.com www.BroadenaxRealty.com
Kathy Federico, Sales Manager
NMLS #423169
Dignified Home Loans LLC
41235 11th St. W B Palmdale CA 93551 Mobile 661.965.7186
Office 661.434.6477
Fax 661.434.6478 www.dignifiedhomeloans.com kathy.federico@dignifiedhomeloans.com
This is for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon by you. Broadenax R.E. Properties, Inc is not a mortgage lender. Contact Dignified Home Loans LLC directly to learn more about its mortgage products and your eligibility for such products. © 2016 Dignified Home Loans, LLC. Equal Housing Lender. Licensed by the Department of Business Oversight under the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act #413-1108. NMLS #309234. Credit and collateral are subject to approval. Additional restrictions may apply. Terms and conditions apply. This is not a commitment to lend. Programs, rates and conditions are subject to change without notice.
April 7, 2017
Aerotech News and Review www.aerotechnews.com ........ facebook.com/aerotechnewsandreview
9