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Naval Proceedings Magazine – November 2009 Vol. 135/11/1,281

By Peter Fretwell and Taylor Baldwin Kiland

The USS Stockdale (DDG-106) was commissioned in April 2009 in Santa Barbara, California. The man for whom the destroyer is named, Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale, left the U.S. Navy an inspiring legacy. During the Vietnam War, he was the senior ranking prisoner-of-war officer at the Hoa Lo Camp, Hanoi, better known as the Hanoi Hilton.

Vice Admiral James Stockdale’s principles can inspire any organization’s leaders. Continue reading →

(Note: This piece was originally published on the Project White Horse Forum for Veterans Day 2010.)

In high school, Joleta McNelis was never far away from a man she had never met. She carried Lt. John “Jack” Ensch in her heart — and on her wrist.  Aside from his name, the only thing McNelis knew about Ensch was the date his fighter jet was shot down over North Vietnam: 8-25-72. It was etched under his name on the metal bracelet she bought when she was 14.

Three months earlier, on the day Jack Ensch and Mugs McKeown became double “MIG killers” - the 23rd of May 1972 - I logged my 25th combat mission as one of the strike aircraft they, with flight school buddy wingman Rookie Rabb in their F-4 Phantoms, were protecting. Ensch’s squadron,VF-161, were readyroom next door neighbors to my A-7 squadron , VA-56 Champs.  Mugs would move on shortly to be commanding officer of TOPGUN and Jack would become a POW that August.

When Ensch arrived there (Hanoi Hilton) in August 1972, he brought news that he passed along to his fellow prisoners through tap codes between cells: People across America were wearing bracelets with their names on them. “They were dumbfounded,” Ensch said.

Continue reading →

By Commander Jack H. Fellowes, U. S. Navy, with Lisa Hillman

John Heaphy “Jack” Fellowes (November 22, 1932 – May 3, 2010)  was the the pilot of an A-6 Intruder from squadron VA-65 operating from the USS Constellation (CV-64), on his 55th bombing mission when he and his Bombardier–Navigator, Lieutenant, Junior Grade George Thomas Coker, were shot down over North Vietnam on August 27, 1966. He was known as “Happy Jack” because of his infectious sense of humor, which he maintained even while a POW. He was awarded the Silver Star for his “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity” while a POW, credited with “contributed significantly toward the eventual abandonment of harsh treatment by the North Vietnamese. He retired at the rank of Captain.

This article by Commander Fellowes was originally published in the December 1976 issue of Naval Proceedings. (Click to view the original article)

The emotional airport welcome for Commander Fellowes in March 1973 marked the end of six years of longing and waiting, both for him and for the members of his family. While he was in North Vietnamese prisons, he had changed, and so had they. Returning him to American soil was only the first step in a process that would attempt to strip away the effects of those six years and restore him to his roles as husband, father and naval officer.

On the morning of 7 March 1973, I was suddenly awakened by the quietness in my room. Everything seemed so still. I opened my eyes, stared at the ceiling, and blinked again. No mosquito net? Not here, you lucky dog. Light filtered in the window from the sun just rising over the Chesapeake Bay. The room was glowing warmly. My wife was asleep beside me.

It seemed so long ago that I had been flying my A-6 Intruder from the deck of the USS Constellation (CVA-64). Continue reading →

The American Prisoners of War in Viet Nam began their first flight from Hanoi to freedom 40 years ago 12 February 1973. The last flight was 29 March 1973.

I watched the students and their teacher’s faces closely as Jim began his talk on the Vietnam War to the Rio Mesa High School American History class.  I had been the set-up man, talking about the war and being a Naval Aviator. The class was polite, they knew my son as a classmate sitting towards the back, but they were afterall teenagers, and they had all seen TopGun. Jim quickly described getting shot down in his A-7. And then he started talking about the “ropes.” …

From Mike McGrath’s drawings in Prisoner of War: Six Years in Hanoi, available from the Naval Institute Press.

Eyes widdened, they sat up very straight, very quiet, very intent, even the teacher was caught somewhat off guard. Captain Jim Hickerson had been a Prisoner of War for over 5  years of hell. This was history in a way those kids had never come close to considering.  This was not Goose and Maverick, this was not Hollywood history, this was a whole different kind of thing… Continue reading →

Note this post includes two videos, the first discussing B-52 tactics and the second finishing with comments from our POWs during the days of the Christmas operations.

On the third night of LB II three B-52s were shot down on the first raid. Seventh Air Force Headquarters Headquarters in Saigon and SAC Headquarters in Omaha went into shock. As a result they recalled the six B-52Gs targeted for Hanoi on the second raid, with the result that the North Vietnamese had done something that the Germans, Japanese, Soviets, Chinese, and North Koreans had never been able to to achieve – they had made an American bombing raid abort for fear of losses (Michelle, The Eleven Days of Christmas).

On the third wave, two more G’s were lost with nine of twelve cremembers lost.  When Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Moorer was briefed on the third night losses of the B-52′s, he picked up the phone and called the SAC Command post - “they’re setting their God-damned watches by the timing of your bombing runs!” 

Brigadier General Glenn Sullivan at U-Tapao had had enough with the SAC/Omaha imposed “same  way, same time, single file bomber streams that were costing lives and aircraft. At 0930 the next morning, General Sullivan Sent a U-Tapao developed set of recommended new tactics directly (copy only to Eighth Air Force in Guam) to  General J.C. Meyer, Commander of SAC. Things changed, but Sullivan’s action came at the cost of his career- one more assignment, not promoted and retired.

The videoes above and below plus the website Triumph and Tragedy at 30,000 Feet are the products of General Sullivan’s son, G. Ray Sullivan, Jr. Well worth the time.

“It Was the Chance to Explore Further”

Editor’s note: About eight minutes into the video, the POWs begin discussing those nights of Christmas Continue reading →

by John ‘Shylock’ Koch

I still cherish the time I spent with the air wing.  As I look back on it we were warriors and comrades all rolled up together.  When one of us called for help, we all came, and we owe our lives to each other.  If I got a call from any one of you, even now, that we had a strike to hell, I know Snake and I would be there with our 28 Mk 82’s strapped to our ass ready to deliver the payload,  for we are Naval Aviators !

Warrior yes, Warlike no.  Scratch that dedicated exterior and you will find the biggest softy in the world.  He always has time to help.  His capacity for lending a hand to less fortunate is probably the only thing that exceeds his bent for a good time.  Check him closely and you’ll more than likely find a tear in his eye at his son’s Little League baseball game or when he is holding his daughter when she says “I love you Daddy”, or when his granddaughter calls “Papa, Papa”. 

No rocket will replace him.  No American can do without him.  You may not appreciate him but you can’t ignore him.  You can heap abuse upon him and call him names, but the next time you need him, he’ll be there.  And though he may not understand why, he will keep his dedication, his courage, and his desire to serve; after all, he is a Naval Aviator.

As the story has been told – as I noted previously- the end of the war in Vietnam is considered the result of the Christmas bombing operations of Linebacker II, and so the convention of telling this story. I’ll end the “Christmas Stories” series discussing what I choose to refer to as the gifts of Christmas 1972 – memories beyond price. Continue reading →