To All
Good Monday Morning March 16, 2026. Nice clear day here and will get to 86 today and climbing into the low 90s for a few days. I hope you all have a great week. Busy here with classes and testing this week. My physical/therapist got me to 6 foot for a while this morning on the rack but the lower back is improving.
Warm Regards,
skip
HAGD
Thanks to Cowboy for catching it and apologies to Royce for messing up the URL.
Skip, your reference link to Royce was incomplete:
Royce Williams, 100, reflects on Medal of Honor journey at historic State of the Union presentation
Was this the one you intended?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEZcdhxtA8Y
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Thanks to Shadow
The Trip
Last week I finally made the Pilgrimage to San Diego to make a Walter Mitty Dream come true… I finally got to meet the man in person, who has brought so much joy and comfort to me and so many others. A man who has kept so many of us in touch with each other over the years. Of course I'm talking about Skip Leonard. What a guy! A man who has gotten up early for decades to put out "The List"… a daily account of past and current events… a man dedicated to our version of "Band of Brothers"! Bless you Skip!
We first met on Thursday and attended a luncheon at the Admiral Baker Golf course of "Unconcerned Senior Citizens" get together. There I got to meet others, whose names I was familiar with, but now I know what their faces look like. Once again I was comfortable in breaking bread with men I'd never met before, yet because of Skip I am always in touch with them as we've all shared a common experience. As I looked around the room I couldn't help but reflect in my mind, that even though we are collectively older now… I knew that each man in that room had lived incredible lives of adventure and exhilaration... and had experiences that less than one percent of the rest of the world could ever imagine.
When I was a teenager, I was a Jack London fan. And one day I found a quote by Jack London that I've always loved, it goes like this… "Tis the easiest thing in the world to lead a quiet and complacent life… but to do so, is to never have lived at all"! I couldn't help but reflect that the men in that room and on The List… lived life to the fullest. Not a complacent life at all. Old Jack would have been proud to know any of them. We've had our ups and downs… we've seen incredible things, done incredible things and experienced the loss of others living the same lives… other men we've never forgotten… and never will; until it's our turn. Like a lot of you, I've been glued to the TV these days and am in awe of the incredible advances in the technology our progeny are enjoying today… seems like every drop is a shack… CEP's we could only dream of! At the same time I also felt a sense of pride in that we also did it the hard way… sheer guts and tenacity. I sent a note to Bear Taylor the other day and remarked, "Bear… we're dinosaurs… probably the last generation that did things the hard way. Pure physical dexterity and coordination…. Not to mention guts"! As Bear has said… "We have looked the elephant in the eye and won".
Made the "Bubba Breakfast" on Friday and it was more of the same. Damn, it was comforting. Loved it and gave me a warm and fuzzy… to once again break bread with patriots and heroes. Thanks guys for making this old Jarhead feel at home. And a special thanks to the guy who made it all happen! Skip, you are incredible! Bless you for what you do for all of us… "You da Man"!
All the best, Shadow
P.S.
Don't want to leave on a bad note, but just learned that another great friend of ours is in need of our thoughts and prayers… "Puresome" is having health problems… say a little prayer to the "Big Guy" on his behalf.
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Monday Morning humor thanks to AL
St. Patrick - The Patron Saint of Ireland
Who was St. Patrick?
St. Patrick was a Christian missionary credited with the conversion of Ireland from paganism. He lived from the late 4th century A.D. to the mid-5th century A.D., so long ago that it's difficult to separate fact from legend.
St. Patrick was born in either Scotland or Wales, the son of Roman parents living in Britain. When he was about fifteen or sixteen, he was captured and enslaved by an Irish chieftain during a raiding party across the sea. He spent several years enslaved in Ireland, herding and tending sheep and swine. It was during his captivity that St. Patrick dedicated his life to God. Legend has it that St. Patrick escaped captivity and Ireland after a dream in which God instructed him to journey to the Irish coast where he found a ship that returned him to his family.
After years of religious study, he became a priest. In a document attributed to him known as "The Confession", St. Patrick heard the voice of the Irish in his dreams, "crying to thee, come hither and walk with us once more." Eventually, Pope Clemens commissioned St. Patrick as bishop to preach the gospel to the Celtic people. Arriving back in Ireland, he commenced an incredible mission, traveling across the country, preaching and baptizing, ordaining priests and bishops, erecting churches and establishing places of learning and worship, despite constant threats to his life. It has been said that he and his disciples were responsible for converting almost all the population of Ireland to Christianity.
Legend of the serpents
The most famous legend about St. Patrick is that he miraculously drove snakes and all venomous beasts from Ireland by banging a drum. Even to touch Irish soil was purported to be instant death for any such creature. However, this legend is probably a metaphor for his driving the pagans from Ireland, as snakes were often associated with pagan worship.
Why the shamrock?
Finding that the pagan Irish had great difficulty comprehending the doctrine of the Trinity, St. Patrick held up a shamrock (similar to a three-leaf clover) to show how the three leaves combined to make a single plant, just as the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost combined to make the holy Trinity. The Irish understood at once, and from that time the shamrock has been the symbol of the land. Irishmen wear it in their hats on the saint's day.
Why March 17th?
It is the death of Saint Patrick, and his recognition as the patron saint of Ireland, that led to the celebration of March 17th as Saint Patrick's Day. In Ireland, St. Patrick's Day is a holy, religious time with praying, singing and dance. Outside Ireland, St. Patrick's Day is primarily a secular celebration of all things Irish.
There are conflicting versions of the first North American celebration. One source says it was held in Boston in 1737 by the Irish Charitable Society, and later in Philadelphia and New York by the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick and the Ancient Order of Hibernians. Another source states that on March 17, 1762, a group of Irish-born soldiers, en route to the local tavern of renown to honor their patron saint, staged the first parade in colonial New York, complete with marching bands and colorful banners. Bystanders and passersby joined the promenade, singing Irish ballads and dancing down the cobblestones. The event was so popular it has been repeated annually since then.
What about wearing green?
Ireland's nickname is "The Emerald Isle" because the grass on the hills is so green. Everyone wears the color green on St. Patrick's Day to honor The Emerald Isle. If someone forgets to wear green on St. Patrick's Day, those who are wearing green are allowed to give the offender a pinch as a reminder. However, if you pinch someone who is wearing green, that person gets to pinch you back ten times! Some of the biggest St. Patrick's Day parades are in Chicago, Illinois, New York City, and Savannah, Georgia. The city of Chicago goes so far to celebrate that they dye their river green!
What does all this have to do with leprechauns?
Not much, really, except that the leprechaun has been described as Ireland's national fairy. Over the years, as St. Patrick's Day became a celebration of the Irish as well as a religious holiday celebrating the life of the saint, the leprechaun has evolved as another symbol, with all sorts of myth and legend attached.
The name leprechaun may have derived from the Irish word for shoemaker (leath bhrogan), or from the Irish word for pygmy (luacharma'n). Legend has it that these aged, diminutive men are frequently found in an intoxicated state. However they never become so drunk that the hand which holds the hammer becomes unsteady enough to affect their primary business of shoemaking.
Leprechauns are also self-appointed guardians of ancient treasure, left by Danes as they marauded through Ireland, burying it in crocks or pots. Marauding Danes might be the reason leprechauns try to avoid contact with mortals, whom they regard as foolish, flighty, greedy creatures. The legend goes that if caught by a mortal, a leprechaun will promise great wealth if allowed to go free. Leprechauns supposedly carry two leather pouches. In one there is a silver shilling, a magical coin that returns to the purse each time it is given away. In the other he carries a gold coin which he uses to try and bribe his way out of difficult situations. The gold coin usually turns to leaves or ashes once the leprechaun has parted with it.
Remember, if you do catch a leprechaun, you must never take your eye off him. He will vanish in an instant!
An Irish Friendship Wish
May there always be work for your hands to do;
May your purse always hold a coin or two;
May the sun always shine on your window pane;
May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain;
May the hand of a friend always be near you;
May God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.!
And now for some humor…
McQuillan walked into a bar and ordered martini after martini, each time removing the olives and placing them in a jar. When the jar was filled with olives and all the drinks consumed, the Irishman started to leave.
"S'cuse me", said a customer, who was puzzled over what McQuillan had done, "what was that all about?"
"Nothin', said the Irishman, "my wife just sent me out for a jar of olives!"
Paddy was driving down the street in a sweat because he had an important meeting and couldn't find a parking place. Looking up to heaven he said, "Lord, take pity on me. If you find me a parking place I will go to church every Sunday for the rest of me life and give up me Irish Whiskey".
Miraculously, a parking place appeared. Paddy looked up again and said, "Never mind, I found one."
O'Toole worked in the lumber yard for twenty years and all that time he'd been stealing the wood and selling it. At last his conscience began to bother him and he went to confession to repent. "Father, it's 15 years since my last confession, and I've been stealing wood from the lumber yard all those years," he told the priest.
"I understand my son," says the priest. "Can you make a Novena?"
O'Toole said, "Father, if you have the plans, I've got the lumber."
Gallagher opened the morning newspaper and was dumbfounded to read in the obituary column that he had died. He quickly phoned his best friend Finney. "Did you see the paper?" asked Gallagher. "They say I died!!"
"Yes, I saw it!" replied Finney. "Where are ye callin' from?"
Two Irishmen were sitting in a pub having beer and watching the brothel across the street. They saw a Baptist minister walk into the brothel, and one of them said, "Aye, 'tis a shame to see a man of the cloth goin' bad."
Then they saw a Rabbi enter the brothel, and the other Irishman said, "Aye, 'tis a shame to see that the Jews are fallin' victim to temptation."
Then they saw a Catholic priest enter the brothel, and one of the Irishmen said, "What a terrible pity...one of the girls must be quite ill."
Two Irishmen, Patrick and Michael, were adrift in a lifeboat following a dramatic escape from a burning freighter. While rummaging through the boat's provisions, Patrick stumbled across an old lamp. Secretly hoping that a genie would appear, he rubbed the lamp vigorously.
To the amazement of Patrick, a genie came forth. This particular genie, however, stated that he could only deliver one wish, not the standard three. Without giving much thought to the matter, Patrick blurted out, "Make the entire ocean into Guinness Beer!"
The genie clapped his hands with a deafening crash, and immediately the entire sea turned into the finest brew ever sampled by mortals. Simultaneously, the genie vanished. Only the gentle lapping of Guinness on the hull broke the stillness as the two men considered their circumstances.
Michael looked disgustedly at Patrick whose wish had been granted. After a long, tension-filled moment, he spoke "Nice going Patrick! Now we're going to have to pee in the boat! "
His wife had been killed in an accident and the police were questioning Finnegan. "Did she say anything before she died?" asked the sergeant.
"She spoke without interruption for about forty years," said the Irishman.
An Irish bloke goes to the doctor, "Dactor, it's me ahrse. I'd loik ya ta teyhk a look, if ya woot".
So the doctor gets him to drop his pants and takes a look. "Incredible" he says, "there is a $20 note lodged up here." Tentatively he eases the twenty out of the man's bottom, and then a $10 note appears. "This is amazing" exclaims the doctor. "What do you want me to do?"
"Well fur gadness sake teyhk it out man," shrieks the patient.
The doctor pulls out the tenner and another twenty appears, and another and another etc...
Finally the last note comes out and no more appear.
"Ah Dactor, tank ya koindly, dat's moch batter, how moch is dare den?"
The doctor counts the pile of cash. "$1990 exactly."
"Ah, dat'd be roit amount. I knew I wasn't feeling two grand."
Pat and Mick landed themselves a job at a sawmill. Just before the morning break, Pat yelled "Mick, I've lost me finger!"
"Have you now," said Mick. "And how did you do it?" Pat replied
"I just touched this big, shiny spinning thing here like this... darn! There goes another one!"
Three Englishmen were in a bar and spotted an Irishman. So, one of the Englishmen walked over to the Irishman, tapped him on the shoulder, and said, "Hey, I hear your St. Patrick was a drunken loser."
"Oh really, hmm, didn't know that."
Puzzled, the Englishman walked back to his buddies. "I told him St. Patrick was a loser, and he didn't care."
The second Englishman remarked, "You just don't know how to set him off...watch and learn." So, the second Englishman walked over to the Irishman, tapped him on the shoulder and said, "Hey, I hear your St. Patrick was lying, cheating, idiotic, low-life scum!"
"Oh really, hmm, didn't know that."
Shocked beyond belief, the Englishman went back to his buddies. "You're right. He's unshakable!"
The third Englishman remarked, "Boys, I'll really tick him off... just watch." So the third Englishman walked over to the Irishman, tapped him on the shoulder and said, "I hear St. Patrick was an Englishman!"
"Yeah, that's what your buddies were trying to tell me."
Concerning bagpipes: The Irish invented them and gave them to the Scots as a joke, and the Scots haven't seen the joke yet.
An Irishman and an American were sitting in the bar at Shannon Airport.
"I've come to meet my brother," said the Irishman. "He's due to fly in from America in an hour's time. It's his first trip home in forty years".
"Will you be able to recognize him?" asked the American.
"I'm sure I won't," said the Irishman, "after all, he's been away for a long time".
"I wonder if he'll recognize you?" said the American.
"Of course he will," said the Irishman. "Sure, an' I haven't been away at all".
"Erin Go Braugh" on Tuesday and have a great week,
Al
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This day in Naval and Marine Corps History (thanks to NHHC)
Here is a link to the NHHC website: https://www.history.navy.mil/. Go here to see the director's corner for all 94 H-Grams.
.March 15
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Thanks to the Bear and Dan Heller. We will always have the url for you to search items in Rolling Thunder
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER …
. rollingthunderremembered.com .
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Thanks to Micro
From Vietnam Air Losses site for ..March 16 . .
March 16: https://www.vietnamairlosses.com/loss.php?id=485
Links to all content can now be found right on the homepage http://www.rollingthunderremembered.com. If you scroll down from the banner and featured content you will find "Today in Rolling Thunder Remembered History" which highlights events in the Vietnam war that occurred on the date the page is visited. Below that are links to browse or search all content. You may search by keyword(s), date, or date range.
An item of importance is the recent incorporation of Task Force Omega (TFO) MIA summaries. There is a link on the homepage and you can also visit directly via https://www.rollingthunderremembered.com/task-force-omega/. There are 60 summaries posted thus far, with about 940 to go (not a typo—TFO has over 1,000 individual case files).
If you have any questions or comments about RTR/TFO, or have a question on my book, you may e-mail me directly at acrossthewing@protonmail.com. Thank you Dan
Vietnam Air Losses
Access Chris Hobson and Dave Lovelady's work at: https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com.
This is a list of all Helicopter Pilots Who Died in the Vietnam War . Listed by last name and has other info https://www.vhpa.org/KIA/KIAINDEX.HTM
MOAA - Wall of Faces Now Includes Photos of All Service members Killed in the Vietnam War
The site works, find anyone you knew in "search" feature. https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/ )
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This Day in U S Military History
March 16
1944
PBY-5A (VP 63) seaplanes, employing magnetic anomaly detector (MAD) gear, detect German submarine U 392 while attempting to transit the Straits of Gibraltar. The sub is attacked and sunk by nearby allied ships.
1945
During the Iwo Jima Campaign, Pharmacists Mate 1st Class Francis J. Pierce provides aid to a wounded Marine while disregarding his own injuries and directs treatment of the injured man and fires on the enemy to provide cover for his fellow troops. For his "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life," he was awarded the Medal of Honor.
1945 - "Fighting on Iwo Jima Ends" The west Pacific volcanic island of Iwo Jima was declared secured by the U.S. military after weeks of fiercely fighting its Japanese defenders.
1952
During the Korean War, USS Wisconsin (BB 64) and USS Duncan (DDR 874) engage in counter-battery fire at Dojo-ri, Korea, making two direct hits on enemy guns.
1963
The Iwo Jima-class amphibious assault ship USS Guadalcanal (LPH 7) is launched at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.
1966
Gemini 8 launches. Former naval aviator Neil Armstrong and Air Force Maj. David R. Scott are on this mission that completes seven orbits in 10 hours and 41 minutes at an altitude of 161.3 nautical miles.
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Today in World History: March 16
0037 On a trip to the Italian mainland from his home on Capreae, the emperor Tiberius dies on the Bay of Naples.
1190 The Crusades begin the massacre of Jews in York, England.
1527 The Emperor Babur defeats the Rajputs at the Battle of Khanwa, removing the main Hindu rivals in Northern India.
1621 The first Indian appears to colonists in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
1833 Susan Hayhurst becomes the first woman to graduate from a pharmacy college.
1850 Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter is published.
1865 Union troops push past Confederate blockers at the Battle of Averasborough, N.C.
1907 The British cruiser Invincible, the world's largest, is completed at Glasgow shipyards.
1913 The 15,000-ton battleship Pennsylvania is launched at Newport News, Va.
1917 Russian Czar Nicholas II abdicates his throne.
1926 Physicist Robert H. Goddard launches the first liquid-fuel rocket.
1928 The United States plans to send 1,000 more Marines to Nicaragua.
1935 Adolf Hitler orders a German rearmament and violates the Versailles Treaty.
1939 Germany occupies the rest of Czechoslovakia.
1945 Iwo Jima is declared secure by U.S. forces although small pockets of Japanese resistance still exist.
Not so fast……From Skip See more on this below
1954 CBS introduces The Morning Show hosted by Walter Cronkite to compete with NBC's Today Show.
1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson submits a $1 billion war on poverty program to Congress.
1968 U.S. troops in Vietnam destroy a village consisting mostly of women and children, the action is remembered as the My-Lai massacre.
1984 Mozambique and South Africa sign a pact banning support for one another's internal foes.
1985 Associated Press newsman, Terry Anderson is taken hostage in Beirut.
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. Thanks to Interesting Facts
7 Unsinkable Facts About "Titanic
It's been over a quarter century since the historic epic Titanic, directed by James Cameron, hit the big screen on December 19, 1997, and became one of the highest-grossing films of all time. A technical and artistic marvel, Titanic forever changed the cinematic landscape with its groundbreaking set design and special effects, won over audiences with its romantic plotline, and catapulted the careers of now A-listers Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio.
The film portrays the tragic sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic during its maiden voyage across the Atlantic on April 4, 1912, from the perspective of two young passengers of different social classes — Rose DeWitt Bukater (played by Winslet) and Jack Dawson (played by DiCaprio) — who fall in love onboard and are forced to navigate the deadly disaster unfolding in the background. Even 25 years later, the film holds multiple records and is etched in pop culture memory. But how much do you know about what went into making Titanic? From the massive, custom-designed set to Kate Winslet's famous improvised scene and the film's controversial ending, discover seven facts about Titanic in celebration of the film's 25th anniversary.
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No Film Has Won More Academy Awards Than "Titanic"
Titanic swept the 1998 Academy Awards, winning 11 of the 14 awards for which the film was nominated, including Best Picture and Best Director. That matched a previous record set in 1960 by the religious epic Ben-Hur, starring Charlton Heston. Only one other film since then has equaled Titanic's awards haul — The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King in 2004 — but as of 2022, none has exceeded it. In addition, no film to date has secured more than Titanic's 14 nominations, a record the film shares with the 1950 comedy All About Eve and 2017's La La Land.
Titanic was not only an awards success but also a box-office juggernaut. It held the worldwide record for highest lifetime gross for more than 20 years. The current record-holder is 2009's Avatar, also directed by James Cameron, but Titanic still holds the No. 3 spot, just behind Avengers: Endgame. Of course, it doesn't hurt that Titanic kept playing in theaters for nearly 10 months after it was released.
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The Watery Set of "Titanic" Held Nearly 17 Million Gallons of Water
The film's epic story required an elaborate custom-designed set that cost an estimated $20 million to build. The set's primary feature was a horizon tank, a specialized tank that allows filmmakers to film an ocean scene with a view of the horizon without plunging actors into the middle of an actual ocean. There are only a handful of these tanks in existence worldwide.
According to the technical journal JOM, the tank built for the film at Fox Baja Studios near Rosarito, Mexico (where the majority of the shots were filmed), was the largest shooting tank in the world at the time, containing nearly 17 million gallons of salt water. This allowed for a 774-foot-long set of the ship itself, although not everything was filmed in the giant tank. The dining room and the staircase, for example, were constructed on a hydraulic platform at the bottom of an interior tank, and were designed to be flooded with water piped in from the ocean.
After shooting wrapped on Titanic, Fox continued to use the giant tank for other sea epics, including Pearl Harbor (2001) and Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2003), until they sold the studio in 2007 to a group of local investors. Since then, recent projects filmed there include the second season of Fear the Walking Dead and the Netflix project Selena: The Series.
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A Utah Video Store Once Charged $5 To Make "Titanic" More Family-Friendly
Titanic earned its PG-13 rating in particular with two famously sexy scenes between Rose and Jack — one in which Rose poses nude so Jack can draw her portrait, and another where the pair steam up the backseat of an automobile in the cargo hold. Even though all we see in the latter scene is a hand against a steamy window, it was too much for some viewers — so the owner of a small video store in Utah came up with a creative solution. Sunrise Family Video in American Fork, about 25 miles northwest of Provo, began charging customers $5 to edit one or both of the racy scenes out of their home VHS copies. For an extra $3, employees would cut out any other scene customers wanted removed. The service was apparently popular, even after Paramount Pictures threatened legal action — by September 1998, the wait time for the service was five weeks.
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James Cameron Drew the Iconic Nude Portrait of Kate Winslet's Character
In the film's famous portrait scene, Rose instructs Jack to "draw me like one of your French girls." But it wasn't actor Leonardo DiCaprio who sketched the portrait of Rose reclining in her suite wearing only the "Heart of the Ocean" diamond — it was, surprisingly, James Cameron.
The director, also a talented sketch artist with a background in life drawing, used reference photos of Winslet to make the finished product, which he wanted to get exactly right. "I figured it was time to put all that time I spent doing life drawing to work," he reflected in his book Tech Noir: The Art of James Cameron. In the film, the sketch eventually ends up in Cal's safe, but in real life, it ended up in the hands of the highest bidder, going for a reported $16,000 at auction in 2011.
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A Mysterious Poisoning Incident Plagued the Crew During Filming
While filming in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, in August 1996, more than 50 people working on Titanic — including star Bill Paxton, producer Jon Landau, and director James Cameron — were sent to the hospital after eating a late-night meal and beginning to feel confusion, nausea, and other strange bodily effects. (Kate Winslet and Leo DiCaprio weren't filming in Nova Scotia at the time.) It certainly didn't help that the dish apparently responsible for the incident — a chowder that crew members alternately described as lobster, clam, or mussel — was apparently quite delicious.
It was later determined that the cause of the incident wasn't food poisoning, but rather someone who spiked it with PCP, a hallucinogenic also known as angel dust. Paxton, Cameron, and set painter Marilyn McAvoy have all recalled the ensuing chaos in the press over the years. Cameron got lost on a set that he'd built himself and later got stabbed with a pen by another crew member feeling the effects. At one point, there was even a conga line. The person responsible has never been found, even though local police apparently investigated the incident for more than two years. Cameron suspected a disgruntled crew member who had been fired the day before for starting trouble with the caterers.
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Spitting On Cal Was Kate Winslet's Idea
In a memorable scene from the film, Rose's fiancé Cal (played by Billy Zane) grabs her arm as she attempts to run away from him, so she spits on him. The original script called for Rose to stick Cal with a hat pin — but Kate Winslet decided to spit in his face instead. Cameron called the move "genius," a callback to the scene in which Jack taught her to "spit like a man." Winslet reportedly swished K-Y Jelly around in her mouth beforehand for maximum effect.
Zane, however, wasn't as thrilled about the change, especially after filming multiple takes. "There are few things you remember as well as being spat upon, let [alone] 17 times," Zane told Entertainment Tonight in 1997. Still, he "felt being on the receiving end of that juice was better than preparing it in one's mouth prior to launch."
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James Cameron Insists That Jack's Death Was Necessary
One of the most controversial scenes in Titanic is Jack's watery death at the end. Many contend that there was plenty of room for him to survive on the wooden board that Rose was floating on in the icy waters after the ship sank. The TV series Mythbusters even aired an episode on the topic in 2012. The show ran multiple simulations to determine whether Jack's survival was possible, but in most scenarios, they found that Jack's death was inevitable, as the weight of their two bodies would have sunk the board too low in the water.
To James Cameron, however, the question misses the point entirely. "The script says Jack died. He has to die," he said in response to the Mythbusters episode in 2012. "So maybe we screwed up and the board should have been a little tiny bit smaller, but the dude's goin' down." Cameron doubled down on his stance in a 2017 interview with the Daily Beast: "Look, it's very, very simple: You read page 147 of the script and it says, 'Jack gets off the board and gives his place to her so that she can survive.' It's that simple."
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This Day in U S Military History
16 March
1802 – The United States Military Academy–the first military school in the United States–is founded by Congress for the purpose of educating and training young men in the theory and practice of military science. Located at West Point, New York, the U.S. Military Academy is often simply known as West Point. Located on the high west bank of New York's Hudson River, West Point was the site of a Revolutionary-era fort built to protect the Hudson River Valley from British attack. In 1780, Patriot General Benedict Arnold, the commander of the fort, agreed to surrender West Point to the British in exchange for 6,000 pounds. However, the plot was uncovered before it fell into British hands, and Arnold fled to the British for protection. Ten years after the establishment of the U.S. Military Academy in 1802, the growing threat of another war with Great Britain resulted in congressional action to expand the academy's facilities and increase the West Point corps. Beginning in 1817, the U.S. Military Academy was reorganized by superintendent Sylvanus Thayer–later known as the "father of West Point"–and the school became one of the nation's finest sources of civil engineers. During the Mexican-American War, West Point graduates filled the leading ranks of the victorious U.S. forces, and with the outbreak of the Civil War former West Point classmates regretfully lined up against one another in the defense of their native states. In 1870, the first African-American cadet was admitted into the U.S. Military Academy, and in 1976, the first female cadets. The academy is now under the general direction and supervision of the department of the U.S. Army and has an enrollment of more than 4,000 students.
1926 – The first man to give hope to dreams of space travel is American Robert H. Goddard, who successfully launches the world's first liquid-fueled rocket at Auburn, Massachusetts. The rocket traveled for 2.5 seconds at a speed of about 60 mph, reaching an altitude of 41 feet and landing 184 feet away. The rocket was 10 feet tall, constructed out of thin pipes, and was fueled by liquid oxygen and gasoline. The Chinese developed the first military rockets in the early 13th century using gunpowder and probably built firework rockets at an earlier date. Gunpowder-propelled military rockets appeared in Europe sometime in the 13th century, and in the 19th century British engineers made several important advances in early rocket science. In 1903, an obscure Russian inventor named Konstantin E. Tsiolkovsky published a treatise on the theoretical problems of using rocket engines in space, but it was not until Robert Goddard's work in the 1920s that anyone began to build the modern, liquid-fueled type of rocket that by the early 1960s would be launching humans into space. Goddard, born in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1882, became fascinated with the idea of space travel after reading the H.G. Wells' science fiction novel War of the Worlds in 1898. He began building gunpowder rockets in 1907 while a student at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute and continued his rocket experiments as a physics doctoral student and then physics professor at Clark University. He was the first to prove that rockets can propel in an airless vacuum like space and was also the first to explore mathematically the energy and thrust potential of various fuels, including liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. He received U.S. patents for his concepts of a multistage rocket and a liquid-fueled rocket, and secured grants from the Smithsonian Institute to continue his research. In 1919, his classic treatise A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes was published by the Smithsonian. The work outlined his mathematical theories of rocket propulsion and proposed the future launching of an unmanned rocket to the moon. The press picked up on Goddard's moon-rocket proposal and for the most part ridiculed the scientist's innovative ideas. In January 1920, The New York Times printed an editorial declaring that Dr. Goddard "seems to lack the knowledge ladled out daily in high schools" because he thought that rocket thrust would be effective beyond the earth's atmosphere. (Three days before the first Apollo lunar-landing mission in July 1969, the Times printed a correction to this editorial.) In December 1925, Goddard tested a liquid-fueled rocket in the physics building at Clark University. He wrote that the rocket, which was secured in a static rack, "operated satisfactorily and lifted its own weight." On March 16, 1926, Goddard accomplished the world's first launching of a liquid-fueled rocket from his Aunt Effie's farm in Auburn. Goddard continued his innovative rocket work until his death in 1945. His work was recognized by the aviator Charles A. Lindbergh, who helped secure him a grant from the Guggenheim Fund for the Promotion of Aeronautics. Using these funds, Goddard set up a testing ground in Roswell, New Mexico, which operated from 1930 until 1942. During his tenure there, he made 31 successful flights, including one of a rocket that reached 1.7 miles off the ground in 22.3 seconds. Meanwhile, while Goddard conducted his limited tests without official U.S. support, Germany took the initiative in rocket development and by September 1944 was launching its V-2 guided missiles against Britain to devastating effect. During the war, Goddard worked in developing a jet-thrust booster for a U.S. Navy seaplane. He would not live to see the major advances in rocketry in the 1950s and '60s that would make his dreams of space travel a reality. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is named in his honor.
1945 – Iwo Jima is declared secured by the U.S. military after months of fiercely fighting its Japanese defenders. The Americans began applying pressure to the Japanese defense of Iwo Jima in February 1944, when B-24 and B-25 bombers raided the island for 74 days straight. It was the longest pre-invasion bombardment of the war, necessary because of the extent to which the Japanese–21,000 strong–fortified the island, above and below ground, including a network of caves. Underwater demolition teams ("frogmen") were dispatched by the Americans just before the actual invasion to clear the shores of mines and any other obstacles that could obstruct an invading force. In fact, the Japanese mistook the frogmen for an invasion force and killed 170 of them. The amphibious landings of Marines began the morning of February 19, 1945, as the secretary of the Navy, James Forrestal, accompanied by journalists, surveyed the scene from a command ship offshore. The Marines made their way onto the island–and seven Japanese battalions opened fire, obliterating them. By that evening, more than 550 Marines were dead and more than 1,800 were wounded. In the face of such fierce counterattack, the Americans reconciled themselves to the fact that Iwo Jima could be taken only one yard at a time. A key position on the island was Mt. Suribachi, the center of the Japanese defense. The 28th Marine Regiment closed in and around the base of the volcanic mountain at the rate of 400 yards per day, employing flamethrowers, grenades, and demolition charges against the Japanese that were hidden in caves and pillboxes (low concrete emplacements for machine-gun nests). Approximately 40 Marines finally began a climb up the volcanic ash mountain, which was smoking from the constant bombardment, and at 10 a.m. on February 23, a half-dozen Marines raised an American flag at its peak, using a pipe as a flag post. Two photographers caught a restaging of the flag raising for posterity, creating one of the most reproduced images of the war. With Mt. Suribachi claimed, one-third of Iwo Jima was under American control. On March 16, with a U.S. Navy military government established, Iwo Jima was declared secured and the fighting over. When all was done, more than 6,000 Marines died fighting for the island, along with almost all the 21,000 Japanese soldiers trying to defend it.
--------Not so fast note from Skip
General Schmidt received the good news that the 5th Marine Division had snuffed out the final enemy cave in The Gorge on the evening of D+34. But even as the corps commander prepared his announcement declaring the end of organized resistance on Iwo Jima, a very well organized enemy force emerged from northern caves and infiltrated down the length of the island. This final spasm of Japanese opposition still reflected the influence of Kuribayashi's tactical discipline. The300-man force took all night to move into position around the island's now vulnerable rear base area, the tents occupied by freshly arrived Army pilots of VII Fighter Command, adjacent to Airfield No. 1. The counterattacking force achieved total surprise, falling on the sleeping pilots out of the darkness with swords,
grenades, and automatic weapons. The fighting was as vicious and bloody as any that occurred in Iwo Jima's many arenas.
The surviving pilots and members of the 5th Pioneer Battalion improvised a skirmish line and launched a counterattack of their own. Seabees and elements of the redeploying 28th Marines joined the fray. There were few suicides among the Japanese; most died in place, grateful to strike one final blow for the Emperor. Sunrise revealed the awful carnage: 300 dead Japanese; more than 100 slain pilots, Seabees, and pioneers; and another 200 American wounded. It was a grotesque closing chapter to five continuous weeks of savagery.
1975 – The withdrawal from Pleiku and Kontum begins, as thousands of civilians join the soldiers streaming down Route 7B toward the sea. In late January 1975, just two years after the cease-fire established by the Paris Peace Accords, the North Vietnamese launched Campaign 275. The objective of this campaign was to capture the city of Ban Me Thuot in the Central Highlands. The battle began on March 4 and the North Vietnamese quickly encircled the city with five main force divisions, cutting it off from outside support. The South Vietnamese 23rd Division, which had been sent to defend the city, was vastly outnumbered and quickly succumbed to the communists. As it became clear that the city–and probably the entire Darlac province-would fall to the communists, South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu decided to withdraw his forces in order to protect the more critical populous areas to the south. Accordingly, he ordered his forces in the Central Highlands to pull back from their positions. Abandoning Pleiku and Kontum, the South Vietnamese forces began to move toward the sea. By March 17, civilians and soldiers came under heavy communist attack; the withdrawal, scheduled to take three days, was still underway on April 1. Only 20,000 of 60,000 soldiers ever reached the coast; of 400,000 refugees, only 100,000 arrived. The survivors of what one South Vietnamese general described as the "greatest disaster in the history of the ARVN [Army of the Republic of Vietnam]" escaped down the coastal highway toward Saigon. The North Vietnamese overran the South Vietnamese forces in both the Central Highlands and further north at Quang Tri, Hue, and Da Nang. The South Vietnamese collapsed as a cogent fighting force and the North Vietnamese continued the attack all the way to Saigon. South Vietnam surrendered unconditionally to North Vietnam on April 30 and the war was over.
2000 – Thomas Wilson Ferebee, the Enola Gay bombardier who dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima, died in Windermere, Fla., at age 81.
Medal of Honor Citations for Actions Taken This Day
March 16
TRAYNOR, ANDREW
Rank and organization: Corporal, Company D, 1st Michigan Cavalry. Place and date: At Mason's Hill, Va., 16 March 1864. Entered service at: Rome, N.Y. Birth: Newark, N.J. Date of issue: 28 September 1897. Citation: Having been surprised and captured by a detachment of guerrillas, this soldier, with other prisoners, seized the arms of the guard over them, killed 2 of the guerrillas, and enabled all the prisoners to escape.
TAYLOR, RICHARD H.
Rank and organization: Quartermaster, U.S. Navy. Born: 1871, Virginia. Accredited to: Virginia. G.O. No.: 157, 20 April 1904. Citation: Serving on board the U.S.S. Nipsic, Taylor displayed gallantry during the hurricane at Apia, Samoa, 16 March 1889.
WILLIAMS, LOUIS (First Award)
Rank and organization: Captain of the Hold, U.S. Navy. Born: 1845 Norway. Accredited to: California. G.O. No.: 326, 18 October 1884 Second award. Citation: For jumping overboard from the U.S.S Lackawanna, 16 March 1883, at Honolulu, T.H., and rescuing from drowning Thomas Moran, landsman.
PIERCE, FRANCIS JUNIOR
Rank and organization: Pharmacist's Mate First Class, U.S. Navy serving with 2d Battalion, 24th Marines, 4th Marine Division. Place and date: Iwo Jima, 15 and 16 March 1945. Entered service at lowa Born: 7 December 1924, Earlville, lowa. Citation: For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty while attached to the 2d Battalion, 24th Marines, 4th Marine Division, during the Iwo Jima campaign, 15 and 16 March 1945. Almost continuously under fire while carrying out the most dangerous volunteer assignments, Pierce gained valuable knowledge of the terrain and disposition of troops. Caught in heavy enemy rifle and machinegun fire which wounded a corpsman and 2 of the 8 stretcher bearers who were carrying 2 wounded marines to a forward aid station on 15 March, Pierce quickly took charge of the party, carried the newly wounded men to a sheltered position, and rendered first aid. After directing the evacuation of 3 of the casualties, he stood in the open to draw the enemy's fire and, with his weapon blasting, enabled the litter bearers to reach cover. Turning his attention to the other 2 casualties he was attempting to stop the profuse bleeding of 1 man when a Japanese fired from a cave less than 20 yards away and wounded his patient again. Risking his own life to save his patient, Pierce deliberately exposed himself to draw the attacker from the cave and destroyed him with the last of his ammunition Then lifting the wounded man to his back, he advanced unarmed through deadly rifle fire across 200 feet of open terrain. Despite exhaustion and in the face of warnings against such a suicidal mission, he again traversed the same fire-swept path to rescue the remaining marine. On the following morning, he led a combat patrol to the sniper nest and, while aiding a stricken marine, was seriously wounded. Refusing aid for himself, he directed treatment for the casualty, at the same time maintaining protective fire for his comrades. Completely fearless, completely devoted to the care of his patients, Pierce inspired the entire battalion. His valor in the face of extreme peril sustains and enhances the finest traditions of the U.S. Naval Service.
RASCON, ALFRED V.
Rank and organization: Specialist Fourth Class, U.S. Army, Reconnaissance Platoon, Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion (Airborne), 503rd Infantry,173d Airborne Brigade (Separate) Place and date: Republic of Vietnam, 16 March 1966 Born: 1945, Chihuahua, Mexico Citation: Specialist Four Alfred Rascon, distinguished himself by a series of extraordinarily courageous acts on 16 March 1966, while assigned as a medic to the Reconnaissance Platoon, Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion (Airborne), 503rd Infantry, 173d Airborne Brigade (Separate). While moving to reinforce its sister battalion under intense enemy attack, the Reconnaissance Platoon came under heavy fire from a numerically superior enemy force. The intense enemy fire from crew-served weapons and grenades severely wounded several point squad soldiers. Specialist Rascon, ignoring directions to stay behind shelter until covering fire could be provided, made his way forward. He repeatedly tried to reach the severely wounded point machine-gunner laying on an open enemy trail, but was driven back each time by the withering fire. Disregarding his personal safety, he jumped to his feet, ignoring flying bullets and exploding grenades to reach his comrade. To protect him from further wounds, he intentionally placed his body between the soldier and enemy machine guns, sustaining numerous shrapnel injuries and a serious wound to the hip. Disregarding his serious wounds he dragged the larger soldier from the fire-raked trail. Hearing the second machine-gunner yell that he was running out of ammunition, Specialist Rascon, under heavy enemy fire crawled back to the wounded machine-gunner stripping him of his bandoleers of ammunition, giving them to the machine-gunner who continued his suppressive fire. Specialist Rascon fearing the abandoned machine gun, its ammunition and spare barrel could fall into enemy hands made his way to retrieve them. On the way, he was wounded in the face and torso by grenade fragments, but disregarded these wounds to recover the abandoned machine gun, ammunition and spare barrel items, enabling another soldier to provide added suppressive fire to the pinned-down squad. In searching for the wounded, he saw the point grenadier being wounded by small arms fire and grenades being thrown at him. Disregarding his own life and his numerous wounds, Specialist Rascon reached and covered him with his body absorbing the blasts from the exploding grenades, and saving the soldier's life, but sustaining additional wounds to his body. While making his way to the wounded point squad leader, grenades were hurled at the sergeant. Again, in complete disregard for his own life, he reached and covered the sergeant with his body, absorbing the full force of the grenade explosions. Once more Specialist Rascon was critically wounded by shrapnel, but disregarded his own wounds to continue to search and aid the wounded. Severely wounded, he remained on the battlefield, inspiring his fellow soldiers to continue the battle. After the enemy broke contact, he disregarded aid for himself, instead treating the wounded and directing their evacuation. Only after being placed on the evacuation helicopter did he allow aid to be given to him. Specialist Rascon's extraordinary valor in the face of deadly enemy fire, his heroism in rescuing the wounded, and his gallantry by repeatedly risking his own life for his fellow soldiers are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.
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AMERICAN AEROSPACE EVENTS for March 16, FIRSTS, LASTS, AND SIGNIFICANT ACCOMPLISHMENTS. THANKS TO HAROLD "PHIL" MYERS CHIEF HISTORIAN AIR FORCE INTELLIGENCE, SURVEILLANCE, AND RECONNAISSANCE AGENCY
16 March
1907: Cortlandt F. Bishop, Aero Club of America President, contacted President Theodore Roosevelt about the Wright Brothers project for an Army airplane. His effort led to a contract between the Army and the Wright Brothers. (12)
1916: Capt Townsend F. Dodd, pilot, and Capt Benjamin D. Foulois, observer, flew a Curtiss plane made the first American military reconnaissance flight over foreign territory. They flew from Columbus, N. Mex., over Mexican territory for Pershing's Punitive Expedition. (24)
1926: Dr. Robert H. Goddard test flew the world's first liquid-fueled rocket at Auburn, Mass. It flew 184 feet in 2.5 seconds at about 70 MPH. (4) (24)
1944: Seventh Air Force sent 11 B-24s from Kwajalein to make the first land-based attack on Truk, Caroline Islands. (24) The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) recommended the development of a jet-propelled transonic research aircraft. This suggestion led to the Bell X-1. (8)
1949: Fairchild Aviation Corporation delivered the first track-type landing gear to the USAF and the 314 TCW for installation on the C-82 aircraft. (24)
1953: Republic delivered its 4,000th F-84 Thunderjet to the USAF. (8)
1954: Representative W. Sterling Cole, Joint Atomic Energy Committee Chairman, reported America's capability to deliver a hydrogen weapon to any target in the world by airplane. (16) (26)
1961: Construction on the first Minuteman I (Model A) operational facilities began at Malmstrom AFB. (6)
1962: From Cape Canaveral the USAF launched its first Titan II down the Atlantic Missile Range to a target 5,000 miles away. (6)
1965: The nation observed the first "Robert H. Goddard Day," to honor the late Dr. Goddard's first liquid-fueled sounding rocket flight in 1926 at Auburn, Mass. (5)
1966: The National Space Club presented the 1966 Robert H. Goddard Memorial Trophy to President Lyndon B. Johnson for his legislative and executive leadership in the space program. (5) GEMINI VIII. An USAF Gemini launch vehicle (Titan II) took Neil Armstrong and David Scott into orbit for this mission. The astronauts accomplished the first docking maneuver in space by meeting up with an Agena Target Vehicle, developed by Space Systems Division, and launched on an Atlas booster. Air Force pararescuemen attached flotation gear to the Gemini VIII space capsule within 20 minutes of splash down 500 miles east of Okinawa. This was the first time pararescue forces participated in the recovery of a Gemini capsule. (16) (21)
1971: The Holloman High Speed Test Track recorded the fastest run on record (8,215 feet per second) made during a fuzing test for the AF Weapons Laboratory. (5)
1974: Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellite F-31 launched from Vandenberg AFB aboard an Atlas F with Burner IIA upper stage. (5)
1979: The Arnold Engineering Development Center test fired the large rocket motor for the space shuttle's Inertial Upper Stage for the first time. In the successful 145-second test, the motor generated more than 50,000 pounds of thrust. (5)
1983: After 25 years, the USAF ended the German Air Force pilot training program at Luke AFB. (16)
1988: At Long Beach, McDonnell Douglas/British Aerospace unveiled the T-45A Goshawk, the Navy's new training aircraft. (8)
1995: An HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter from the 56 RS at Keflavik AB saved three Icelandic skiers caught in a blizzard. (26)
2006: While deployed to the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing (AEW), a C-17 Globemaster III from McChord AFB dropped 32,400 pounds of humanitarian goods (food, blankets, winter survival gear, and school supplies) within 40 minutes to four places in central and eastern Afghanistan. The mission set a record by airdropping the most cargo to multiple drop zones in the shortest amount of time in the history of US airdrop operations. (22)
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A tale from Shadow part 1
THE BARRY SEAL OPERATION
Before I begin, I need to lay some ground work. Seal was a dirt bag as far as Iʼm
concerned and always will be. He was no hero, he took no greater risk working for the
Government than he did in his chosen profession... Narcotics smuggling.
Seal was facing multiple indictments in Ft. Lauderdale and in Louisiana. The Ft.
Lauderdale case involved pills, but the Louisiana case involved multiple charges of
cocaine smuggling... that carried a possible RICO charge that could mean life in prison.
Now Seal was not stupid, he tried to cut a deal with both U.S. Attorneyʼs and both had
turned him down. One day he read about the new Vice Presidential Task Force under
Bush I. Seal thought about it... and with all the chutzpah of a street hustler, he got in his
Lear Jet and flew to Washington, D.C. He walked in cold off the street and with guile
and hyperbole... convinced these bureaucrats he was the biggest smuggler in the world
and he bragged he could give them the Ochoaʼs, Escobar, Gacha, Norriaga and any
other Latin smuggler they wanted. He would do anything they asked if they would cut
him a deal on sentencing... and then either by accident or intent... he mentioned he was
also aware of the Sandinistaʼs cooperating with the Medellin Cartel. THAT GOT
EVERYONEʼS ATTENTION!
Most of this stuff is public knowledge... Barry made a trial run that was supposed to be
confiscated if successful, unfortunately he crashed on takeoff and a few million dollars
of cocaine went up in flames with the airplane. The cartel folks witnessed the whole
thing, so they did not suspect Barry was already double dealing and let him come home
to try again at a later date.. this was about the time they became aware of my airplane
being available and the deal started working.
My first clue something was going on was when I received a call from an Agent asking
me all about my plane, what it would carry, range, etc. I asked what was up and was
told, "Something Big"... but we canʼt talk about it right now. The very next day, I received
another call from a totally different Agency, asking the same questions. This time I knew
something was afoot.
As anyone who has ever dealt with the Government will know... it moves at almost a
glacial pace. Their idea of doing something fast is measured in years as opposed to
days in the business world. I was asked to not sell the airplane until they had time to put
everything together... but finances and circumstances intervened and I sold the airplane
to Harry for money and future compensation and the agreed to caveats on behalf of the
Government. I had at least bought them some breathing room, while I took care of
myself.
I should also mention that initially, there was no intention to use Harryʼs facilities to
operate out of. It was only after they became aware of how big Harryʼs facilities were
and how off the beaten path, that they decided to have me approach him and
encourage him to cooperate. Harry was non-committal at first... but once Seal showed
up and started throwing money around like it was water, Harry agreed to cooperate fully.
Money was Harryʼs great weakness. I should also note that one of the cartelʼs "Big
Fish"... made a clandestine visit to look at the C-123 before Barry showed up. He flew
in, in a private helicopter, was on the ground less than an hour and left to destinations
unknown. This kind of shocked everyone when Harry told me about it! Seal showed up
about two weeks later.
The controlling authority for the Seal Operation was the Vice Presidential Task Force...
but... that does not mean everyone else was on board. By that I mean various Agencies
with disparate concerns. You have to remember, this was at a time where each Agency
was run as an independent entity. One Agency who handled only international issues,
might not be happy with a known doper operating under the aegis of a U.S. Government
sanction. They still had a bad taste in their mouth from Indo-China.
Another Agency that had worked Seal for years and had finally gotten an indictment
might be suspicious that Seal was just using these naive Washington types to beat the
rap and get off scott free, thereby mitigating years of hard work and expenditures. There
were a lot of "Turf Wars" going on behind the scenes. I really think that by placing me
and Harry in the mix was one way to allow others to know what was really going, not
just what the Task Force was telling. Such was the paranoia among the various
agencies during that time frame.
I will say this... the one Agency that no one trusted was the DEA. Too many "cowboys"...
too many times they gave up informants... and honestly too many times they screwed
things up and there was a feeling a feeling that they could not be trusted with any
sensitive information. I might add... they seemed to have a larger number of Agents who
allowed themselves to be compromised. Iʼm not saying all this is "Godʼs Truth"... but it
certainly was the attitude amongst other Agencies in those days. No one I knew
"wanted" to tell DEA a damn thing. As such, Harry and I became the "conduit" for them
to know what was going on.
I met Seal when he flew in with the Merlin IIIB for inspection. He was fat, swarthy and
was sweating like a stuck pig. He was not what I would call a likable personality.
Reminded me of a caricature of a "Boss Hog" politician... only thing missing was a big
fat cigar. Barry did not use his real name in the beginning... but that only lasted a day or
so. From then on we knew who Barry was and what he was.
After the Merlin passed muster we did the paper work and things started happening in a
hurry. Two days later Barry was back with some of his crew to work on the 123 while I
was looking for a pilot to check him out. His crew was nothing if not proficient and
capable. No doper who got away with things as long as Barry could do it without having
a professional support cast... all well paid and loyal. As I recall... it only took a few days
for them to rig and install a surface search radar in the nose of the C-123 and install
new radios and a state of the art navigation system... this was before Barry even flew it.
As things progressed I was called in for a meeting. It was proposed that I fly co-pilot for
Barry during the operation. It was an outgrowth of a "Trust" deficiency amongst the
Agencies involved. I knew why... but for the first time since Iʼd started working with these
folks... I balked. I explained I didnʼt sign on to deal with dopers and get that deeply
involved... I didnʼt mind being eyes and ears... and I actually enjoyed the international
things I was doing... but riding herd on a big time doper was not what I was about. One
Agency fully supported my position... I was doing good work for them and they felt it
was too great a risk. Seal was an unknown quantity to them and was just as apt to go
rogue as he was to complete the operation. In retrospect, I think it may have saved my
life.
Once the plane was ready, I made arraignments for Miguel Aguilar, a Salvadorian Major
going to the War College in Alabama, to come down and give Barry a checkout in the
C-123... the Task Force also sent down an Air Force Reserve pilot to assist. Over three
days, the check out was completed. After I dropped Miguel and his daughter off on
Sunday evening, I drove home to Jacksonville. Iʼd been staying at Harryʼs house while
all this was going on. Seal had flown back to Louisiana that afternoon in a different
airplane.
On Wednesday the following week, Harry called me in somewhat of a panic that Seal
had flown in and picked up the C-123 and he had no idea where heʼd gone! Harry didnʼt
get up until about 11 oʼclock each day and Seal had come in early and left before Harry
got up. I passed it on and was told not to worry, the airplane was undergoing a more
extensive maintenance check.
Where it went was Richenbacker AFB, in Ohio. In just two weeks it came back with all
new control surfaces, new engines and a completely new paint job... plus a lot of other
"new" stuff. The "N" numbers were stick on black electrical tape... N4410F. Harry and I
walked through the airplane and were amazed at what had been done in such a short
period of time. Harry made a comment to me that what ever reservations he may have
had in the past... he now knew I had been telling the truth. This was a Government
Operation... not even the richest of dopers could pull off something like that in so short a
time period... only the Government could martial such resources on such a short term
basis. As Harry and I walked down the rear ramp... I looked up and saw something. It
was a camera that was up above the upper ramp door and had a panoramic view of the
whole cabin. I stopped and walked back in the cabin and looked around and found
another camera that looked toward the back of the aircraft cabin. It was readily apparent
to me that things were moving rapidly to critical mass.
Within two days I was told theyʼd like me to go back to Nicaragua to nurture a contact Iʼd
made. Now the dopers were not the only smart folks involved... based on my appraisal
of how far things had come, I raised the issue that it wouldnʼt be smart to have me in the
country the same time as the operation going down. My suggestion was accepted as a
valid concern and they made contact with the Task Force folks to inquire about a time
schedule... in that I was going down and they didnʼt want me and the plane there at the
same time.
I was given a ten day "window" that was considered "safe" and I left two days later for
Managua. Three days after that I was to get the most the most shocking examples of
why not to trust anyone... especially someone in the Government.
Now my "cover" was I was looking for old airplane parts and I had a Sandinista escort
wherever I went. The trip before Iʼd visited a crop dusterʼs operation run by an American
expatriate by the name of Harold Parkhurst. Iʼd bought some TBM bombay doors and
some other small items and shipped them back to the states. Old Harold had actually
died the week before I got there, but the family had kept it a secret from the Sandinistas
since they were afraid all his equipment would be confiscated y the state. His operation
was at Los Brasilias airport outside of Managua.
This time I told my escort I wanted to visit the other side of the field to look for parts.
Now I knew and had been briefed that the Cubans had a barracks adjacent to Los
Brasillas... and I was to look out for any aviation activities on the part of the Cubans. As
my escort pulled up to the sentry guarding the entrance to Los Brasillas... I got out of
the car to stretch while he took my passport and papers to show the sentry. Just as I
stand up... a small caravan of military vehicles pulls up behind us. They were Russian
built utility trucks, sorta like the American Six-by. I looked up at the cab of the lead truck
and saw the driver, he was dressed in a uniform of the military. In the passenger seat
was a civilian. Designer sun glasses and well dressed... he looked familiar but I didnʼt
connect at first. I turned my back and looked toward the sentry and I heard it about a
nano second before I saw it... bigger than life... here comes my C-123 downhill over the
near-by mountains!
Iʼd like to tell you I was cool and calm... but to be honest, my heart went right to my
knees. I was in deep doo doo and I knew it! I had to think fast and knew if I made a
mistake, I might not get out of there at all. The only thing I could think of was to feign
illness. I grabbed my stomach and as my escort came back I told him I wasnʼt feeling
well and thought I should get back to the hotel before I threw up. He looked at me and
said that it was OK... they really didnʼt want us in anyway... Iʼll take you back to the
hotel. As we turned around, we went by the trucks on the passenger side. As we passed
the lead truck, I looked up, right into the eyes of Pablo Escobar his own self... not six
feet away!
At once I recognized him and as we passed, he nodded in my direction. I nodded back.
The second truck was covered, but I had a good idea of what was under the canvass
top. The third truck had troops in the back and another civilian in the passenger side of
the cab. I didnʼt recognize him and had no idea who he was (I know now). As we got
back on the main road, the C-123 passed in front of us on final to Los Brasillas.
It took about 40 minutes to get back to the hotel. As soon as I hit the elevator, I punched
in the floor that CBS had their offices on, not where my room was. Iʼd given it some
thought on the way to the hotel and realized the only safe thing for me to do was to get
out of the country as soon as possible. I also knew that flights were crowded and that
Cookie Hood had connections and could get me out if there was a flight leaving. She
was my only hope of a fast exit. I had no idea how things were going at Los Brasillas... if
everything had gone OK or if the deal had gone bad. All I knew was my butt was hung
out to dry until I got out of there!
I walked in the office and Cookie was sitting at her desk, she looked up and smiled. I
said, "Cookie... Iʼm not feeling well, I really need to get out of here. Can you get me on
the first plane out of here thatʼs not going to Cuba, the Middle East or Russia". The first
words out of Cookies mouth were; "What have you done"? I replied, "Nothing... Iʼm just
sick and I want to get somewhere that has medicine". Cookie gave me a jaundiced look
and then got on her computer... she looked up and said, "Thereʼs a COPA flight to San
Salvador leaving in an hour, but you surely donʼt want to go to that hell hole". I said,
"Cookie, Iʼll take it... I can at least get some medicines in the hotel there or at the
embassy". She says, "You better hurry, you havenʼt got much time" and then she
handed me a yellow plastic covered pass, it said, "CBS Priority". "Thatʼll get you on the
airplane if you make it in time".
I ran to my room, threw my stuff in a bag, got downstairs and saw Raul and asked if he
could take me to the airport as I had to get there quick in order to make the flight. We
made it with five minutes to spare. Not until we were airborne did I even begin to relax!
Once we cleared Nicaraguan airspace I finally stared to wind down. It was a horrible
flight, very turbulent and my fear was rapidly being replaced with outrage! I had been
betrayed, placed unnecessarily put in harmʼs way, even after I sought assurances I
would not be. In the vernacular of the street... I was pissed!
.
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