BAT-21 (28 page)

BOOK: BAT-21

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There was another difficulty as well. Although it
had nothing to do with the facts, it was to me, as a writer,
particularly worrisome. It was that, taken all in all, the actual
rescue effort made on

Hambleton's behalf was so complex, involved so
many people, made use of such complex logistics and (in some cases)
such exotic technology, that there was a very real danger that the
central narrative of Hambleton's ordeal might be swamped in
peripheral detail. In view of this I began to wonder if truth might
not be better served if some of this detail could be both simplified
and introduced in such a way that the reader would not be
overwhelmed by it.

After some soul-searching, I finally decided to
employ a narrative device that would solve a great many of the
complications worrying me. This was to interpolate into the story a
fictional character who would perform the roles actually played by a
rather populous cast of real people operating at different times and
from separate geographical locations. That character is Captain
Dennis Clark, the dedicated FAC pilot whose (also fictitious) call
sign is Birddog. Originally I wanted him to stand for several teams
of FAC pilots operating out of both Da Nang Air Base in South Vietnam
and Nakhon Phanom Air Base in Thailand during the period of the
Bat-21 rescue operation; but in time I began to see him as
representative of all the heroic, unsung FAC pilots who— throughout
the long, bitter struggle in Vietnam—daily risked their lives for
their service and their country.

Once Dennis Clark stepped onto the scene, certain
other changes had to be made. Since several real people had now been
omitted from the story, the sequence of a few events had to be
altered to account for their subtraction from the narrative. Thus,
while the central story of Hambleton's experience remained intact,
the chain of events relating to the rescue effort could no longer be
exact.

Gene Hambleton has been kind enough to agree that
the liberties I have taken in the telling of his story were
acceptable and realistic. I hope you will too, for at no point have I
knowingly violated the overall sequence and structure of the facts in
this case, departed from the daily realities of Air Force operations
at this period in the Vietnam conflict, or resorted to any
anachronisms or technical impossibilities. My sole objective
throughout has been to make this extraordinary story as coherent,
immediate and accessible for the reader as possible.

It is only fair to try and give you a summary of
some of the salient events in the sequence in which they actually
occurred, along with the names of some of the more prominent members
of the real cast of characters who were involved. This brief recap
hardly does justice to what was, in fact, the largest mission to
rescue a downed airman in U.S. Air Force history. I hope, however, it
is sufficient to convey some idea of the sequence and complexity of
the actual events.

When Hambleton ejected from his stricken EB-66,
the orbiting FAC pilot he contacted while still descending in his
parachute was Captain Jimmie D. Kempton, piloting an OV-IO out of Da
Nang AB. After the A-IEs had sanitized the area surrounding
Hambleton, Kempton tried to call in a rescue force of two UH-IB Cobra
helicopter gunships and two UH-IH passenger-carrying Slick
helicopters. While approaching the area where Hambleton was located,
enemy antiaircraft fire destroyed one UH-IH and so damaged a Cobra
that the force was obliged to retire.

Throughout the night Da Nang FACs (call signs
Covey or Bilk) and Nakhon Phantom FACs (call sign Nail) maintained
constant patrol over Hambleton. In the morning, two Nail FACs, one
crewed by Captains Rock O. Smith and Richard M. Atchison, took up
station over the downed navigator, calling in more protective
air strikes during the day.

The following day another FAC, Nail 38, crewed by
Captains William Henderson and Mark Clark, relieved Smith and
Atchison. Almost immediately upon arrival this aircraft was hit and
destroyed by a SAM-2. Both crewmen succeeded in bailing out.
Henderson was taken prisoner, but Clark evaded capture and—like
Hambleton—hid in the jungle, awaiting rescue.

Other Da Nang and Nakhon Phantom FACs immediately
replaced Nail-38, keeping station over Hambleton and Clark and
calling in successive air strikes during the next several days. It
was, in fact, a Covey FAC who acted as controller for the B-52 raid.

As described in the text, on April 6 an HH-53
helicopter, Jolly-62, escorted by two A-IEs, attempted to rescue both
downed airmen, but was shot down by antiaircraft fire in the attempt.

Although Hambleton, the FAC, and the Sandys all
had tried to warn Jolly-62 not to make a right turn over a village
known to contain antiaircraft emplacements, the helicopter pilot
never responded. It has been surmised that he was holding down
his radio's transmit button at the time, thus preventing his
receiving the warning messages.

Thereafter, while senior Air Force officers and
Pentagon officials debated what to do next, successive teams of FACs,
controlling many more protective air-to-ground strikes, continued to
watch over the downed airmen.

Hambleton's eventual rescue occurred essentially
as described in the text. Clark, being nearer to the Mieu Giang
River, swam and floated downstream to meet the Marine/ARVN rescue
team first. It took Hambleton, who had a longer distance to go and
much more dangerous terrain to cross, four days to reach the
rendezvous point. This he finally did on April 14.

Colonel Hambleton's rescue did not end his
misfortunes. In addition to being blasted out of bed by a Communist
rocket attack on the hospital in Da Nang, he was to suffer yet
another trial. Airlifted to Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines,
he arrived there the night one of the severest recorded earthquakes
rocked the Islands and nearly destroyed the base hospital. Again, he
emerged unscathed.

For his heroic efforts, ignoring personal safety
in guiding fighters and bombers to key targets from his grandstand
seat in the combat zone, Hambleton was awarded the Silver Star,
Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, and the Purple Heart. He
has been released from the Air Force on a disability discharge,
because of residual injuries suffered when he ejected from his
aircraft.

He now lives with his wife, Gwen, in Tucson,
Arizona.

Not far from a golf course.

- William C. Anderson
California,
1980

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