Page 42 - DFCS NEWS MAGAZINE 2020-1

“Cleared In Hot!”
The Night a FAC was Awarded the DFC By Mark Carlson
The President of the United States takes great pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Flying
Cross to Captain John P. Calamos for extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight
as a Forward Air Controller near Thuong Duc Special Forces Camp in Southeast Asia on 28
September 1968. On that date, Captain Calamos flew in support of the Special Forces camp which
was under heavy hostile attack. In spite of darkness, marginal weather conditions and poor
visibility, Captain Calamos directed two sets of fighter aircraft, one flare aircraft, and one
”Spooky” gunship against the hostile forces. Throughout the four-hour mission, hostile forces
continuously fired at his aircraft. Due to his outstanding airmanship, the camp was later relieved
of the hostile pressure. The professional competence, aerial skill, and devotion to duty displayed by
Captain Calamos reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.
In the quaint vernacular of governmental praise, President Nixon honored one of the Distinguished Flying Cross Society’s newest members, Air Force Captain John
Naperville, Illinois,
where he still runs the firm he founded in 1977, Calamos Investments. W
The story of how John Calamos earned the DFC had its origins in 1965, when the Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MAC-V) began establishing Special Forces camps in South Vietnam near the Laotian boarder. They were manned by Special Forces A-Teams and paramilitary Montagnard tribesmen, called camp strikers. Camp A-109 at Thuong Duc was located in a river valley about 40 klicks southwest of Da Nang, inland from the populated coastal plains. The Fifth Special Forces Group monitored North Vietnamese Army (NVA) activity in the region, occupying Camp Thuong Duc from 1965 to 1970.
The Special Forces camps were prime targets for the NVA. Camp A-109 at Thuong Duc was very well placed along two ridges that had a commanding view of the river valley. Moreover, the nearby presence of Da Nang Air Base added to its tactical importance.
The camp was actually on one of the most important NVA infiltration routes and the North Vietnamese were determined to attack and eliminate the camp, no matter the cost. The American Special Forces occupied the compound in the center, connected by a complex network of communications and reaction routes to the outer ring of Montagnard camps and outposts.
Calamos. But the citation that accompanied the medal only provided
the basic, even dry elements of a heroic act that literally screams to be better understood. That was certainly the case
when DFCS National President Chuck Sweeney first asked me to write this story for the DFCS News Magazine. I
admittedly did not fully comprehend what a Forward Air Controller did during the Vietnam War, nor did I have any idea
how dangerous it was.
I needed to find out and the best source was the man himself, John Calamos. I called his office in
and of course, the details of the night he earned the DFC. I won’t deny it was a very revealing interview, even for
e talked about his life, career in the Air Force
someone who has been writing military aviation articles for over a decade. And I came away with a whole new opinion
on the Air Force’s Forward Air Controllers.
During the interview with John Calamos he recalled the details of one particular mission out of four hundred that
happened more than fifty years ago. He came across as easygoing, casual, and even humble. A rare trait for a pilot.
Special Forces Camp A-109, Thuong Duc, Vietnam, 1968
42 / DFCS News Magazine / SUMMER 2020