RIPPLE SALVO… #464… The story of Colonel Jerry Curtis from HH-34s, the Air Force Cross and DFCs through his 2,703 days of captivity as a POW and “what he learned about faith, hope and the indomitable power of the human spirit.”…but first…
Good Morning: Day FOUR HUNDRED SIXTY-FOUR of a remembrance of a war in the air gone-by. It was called Rolling Thunder and it was fought fifty years ago by the best, brightest and bravest of American air power…
12 June 2017… Today, at the Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Gainesville, Virginia, a Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 1:30p.m. for REAR ADMIRAL JAMES MICHAEL GLEASON SEELY, United States Navy, Retired, who passed away on 3 June 2017. Jim was a great friend and my heart pines at his death and in sympathy for his beloved family. He was a fearless leader for decades and during the air war in Vietnam he flew 447 missions in the A-4 and A-6 and was awarded four Distinguished Flying Crosses and 43 Air Medals… He led from in front–in the air and on the ground– and deeply cared for those following behind, right down to the most junior of his enlisted hard chargers…May God bless and keep this gentleman warrior and friend for six decades…
12 June 1967… HEAD LINES from The New York Times on an overheated Monday in the canyons of New York City…
THE SIX-DAY WAR… “Israel War Toll Put at 679 Dead, 2,563 Wounded”... “Israel reported tonight that 679 of her soldiers and 2,583 wounded in the three-front war they fought against the Arab countries. The war began Monday morning, and fighting did not end until the went silent in Syria yesterday. Israeli casualties were highest in the battles in the Gaza Strip and in the hills on the Syrian frontier (now called the Golan Heights)…Figures for Egyptian and Syrian casualties are not known but Jordan announced that she lost 15,000 dead in the war.”…Cairo Replaces Generals: Vows to Restore Borders”…Nasser:’ We will not rest until Israel evacuates the land she now occupies.'”...”Truce Obedience Demanded by United Nations”...
Page 16: “Arab Radio Stations Silent On Israel Declaration”... “The state-run radio station of the Arab nations which have not yet told their people of the extent of territory overrun by the Israelis are reacting only indirectly to the declaration of Israel that she will not return to the borders prior to the one week war…The Arab attitude remains one of defiant insistence on maintaining territorial integrity despite aggression. The Syrian broadcast stated: ‘Our forces are now concentrated on a second line of defense, standing firm, and ready to regain every part of the homeland despite Anglo-American-Israel machinations.’ “… Page 19: “Pope Asks Peace Based On Justice and Reason”… “After expressing thanks for the cease-fire in the Mideast the Pope called for peace based on justice and not force. ‘Peace is wounded. Who knows for how long. For a return of a true awareness of peace founded on justice and not on force, promoted by rights and not by calculated interests, we must pray, work and hope.”… Page 22: “Dyan Says Israelis Must Deal Directly With Arabs on Peace”... “Major General Moshe Dayan has declared that Israel must deal only with the Arabs on peace terms and should insist on retaining parts of territory she conquered. ‘I don’t think we should in any way give back the Gaza Strip or the western part of Jordan to King Hussein.”... Page 16: “Jordan Refugee Count Now 100,000”… “U.N. Relief Organization now believes some have been removed from West Bank forcibly.”… Page 11: “Crippled Liberty On Way to Repair” in drydock in Malta. Twenty-two bodies still trapped in flooded compartments will be taken off.”…
CIVIL AFFAIRS: Page 1: “Negroes in Tampa Fight the Police: Block Set Afire–In Alabama Guard is Called as Violence Flares After Arrest of Carmichael”... “Tampa police said early today that Negro rioters had set an entire city block afire and were exchanging shots with police… A 60-square block of Negro area was under siege by police. A red glow and white smoke were visible over the area where crackling gunfire was heard.”… Page 1: “U.S. Think-Tanks a $2-Billion Industry”…the new centers of research and thought and their growing impact on life…”… Page 1: “New York Teachers Reject $6,000 Minimum, Union Head Says”... Page 1: “Johnson Budget Faces Few Trims”... “Congress will not apparently make significant cuts in President Johnson’s budget of $126.9-Billion”…
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM…COLONEL THOMAS JERRY CURTIS, United States Air Force… The AIR FORCE CROSS… 20 SEPTEMBER 1965…
“The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the AIR FORCE CROSS to Captain THOMAS JERRY CURTIS, United States Air Force, for EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM in military operations against an opposing armed force as Senior Pilot of an HH-43B helicopter of Detachment 3, 38th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron, Tan Son Nhut Air Base, in action 40 miles south of Vinh, North Vietnam, on 20 September 1965. On that date, Captain CURTIS participated in an extremely hazardous attempted recovery of a downed pilot. This mission required a flight of over 80 miles, mostly over hostile controlled territory. Evaluation of the environment in which the downed pilot was located indicated that maximum performance would be demanded from each of the crewmen if successful recovery was to be effected. Though exposed to intensive hostile ground fire, Captain CURTIS, with complete disregard for his own safety, performed with courage and professional precision in a supreme effort to rescue a fallen comrade, Captain CURTIS’ courageous action and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of the American fighting man under attack by an opposing armed force. Through his EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM, superb airmanship and aggressiveness in the face of the enemy, Captain CURTIS reflected the highest credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.”…
Colonel THOMAS JERRY CURTIS’ other combat awards include: the SILVER STAR, awarded “for gallantry and intrepidity in action in connection with military operations against an opposing armed force during the period October 1966 to November 1966, while a Prisoner of War in North Vietnam. Ignoring international agreements on treatment of prisoners of war, the enemy resorted to mental and physical cruelties to obtain information, confessions, and propaganda materials. Lieutenant Colonel CURTIS resisted their demands by calling upon his deepest inner strengths in a manner that reflected his devotion to duty and great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.”; the LEGION OF MERIT while serving as a Prisoner of War; and three awards of the DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS for successful recovery of downed airman in extremely dangerous and hostile conditions; and the PRISONER OF WAR MEDAL for honorable service as a POW from 20 September 1965 until his release on February 12, 1973… oohrah …
Continued below in RIPPLE SALVO…
12 JUNE 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…New York Times (13 June reporting 12 June ops)…Page 1: “In the continuing air offensive against North Vietnam, a review of reconnaissance photography has shown that 10 MIG jets were destroyed or heavily damaged on the ground at Kep airbase in raids on Saturday and Sunday. By unofficial count the destruction of 115 enemy planes in the air war and on the ground has now been reported by American fliers. The figure is roughly equal to the strength the North Vietnamese combat air fleet had when American planes began attacking across the border more than two years ago. American intelligence sources state however that deliveries of MIG fighters including in recent months the advanced MIG-21 have kept the North Vietnamese air force at a steady strength of 100 planes of more. (Humble Host notes: in a war of attrition, planes are replaceable, front line pilots are not)…
“In all, United States pilots flew 87 missions over the North yesterday, including the previously announced raids against the Uongbi power planet northwest of Haiphong in which direct hits were said to have been scored on the boilers and generators. In raids today from the carrier Bon Homme Richard struck at the generating plant at Thanh Hoa, 10 miles inland from the Gulf of Tonkin on the Ma River. Like the Uongbi plant, Thanh Hoa was substantially destroyed by air attacks more than a year ago and has since been rebuilt. The city it serves is the rail and road center for the southern section of the country. Oil fires set in the generating plant fuel supplies presented off-target damage assessment…(bear#98/99bombsRPIII)
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There were three fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 12 June 1967…
(1) MAJOR V.D. FULGRAM and CAPTAIN W.K. HARDING were flying an F-4C of the 555th TFS and 8th TFW out of Ubon on an armed reconnaissance mission in Route Package I and were hit by ground fire 12 miles northeast of Donghoi. They chose to head for Danang with their battle damaged Phantom. Unfortunately, they came up short by a few miles and had to eject with the field in sight. They were rescued by Marine helicopter.
(2) CAPTAIN EDWARD ARTHUR LAPIERRE and 1LT LAWRENCE JAY SILVER were flying an F-4C of the 558th TFS and 12th TFW out of Cam Ranh Bay on an a strike on a Vietcong storage area. After several runs and out of ordnance except 20-mm they made a strafing attack and flew into the ground. It is thought that the small arms fire in the area caused the loss. Death in combat allows for no time or opportunity for goodbyes… Gone but not forgotten…
(3) MAJOR M.G. SLAPIKAS and LT T.E. BOUGARD were flying an F-4C of the 555th TFS and 8th TFW out of Ubon and suffered a hydraulic failure requiring the crew eject to be rescued to fly and fight again… Up and at them…
RIPPLE SALVO… #464… “UNDER THE COVER OF LIGHT,” BY CAROLE ENGLE AVRIETT… “The extraordinay story of USAF COL Thomas ‘Jerry’ Curtis’s 7 1/2-year of captivity in North Vietnam.”… 2017…
The USNPGS Dudley Knox Library in Monterey posts a “Vietnam Prisoners of War (POW): A Select Bibliography” that includes 52 books, 24 Journals and articles and 12 research reports and theses, all written by warriors in the greatest lineup of American heroes in history. My personal favorite is “Honor Bound: American Prisoners of War in Southeast Asia, 1961-1973,” by Stuart I. Rochester and Frederick Kiley, Naval Institute Press, 1998. This 700- page volume is the most exhaustive and readable account of a very grim page of history. However, for quiet reading and contemplation of the subject, the scores of personal stories written in first person — or in cahoots with a professional wordsmith– are better for both understanding and feeling the experience of our hundreds of downed aviators as they sought to survive the living hell that was the prison system of North Vietnam.
Over the past week I have had that contemplative experience of sharing the life of Jerry Curtis as told in “Under the Cover of Light.” Author Carole Avriett has captured the presence of God in the telling of Colonel Curtis’ prisoner experience. Jerry had a running conversation with his God, our God, that is a feast for the soul. He endured as a believer who was blessed by God’s light and “realized he had been a conduit for God’s glory to an unknown and unseen prisoner, and an eternal truth surfaced in his mind: the deeper the darkness, the more brilliant the light.”
I wasn’t the only Ogden, Utah curmudgeon to read this inspiring biography this week. Fred Bergold, who flew his share of HH-43 rescue missions in Southeast Asia made it required reading for a squad of reprobates who muster for a monthly luncheon. Fred, who is a fan of Jerry Curtis, passed out copies of “Under the Cover of Light” for each of us to be prepared to discuss at the next round-table with beef, beer and bread. Our little group on the Wasatch includes a PhD fighter-pilot–Dick “Brownbear” Schaffert– and he responded with the following review of “Light.” Here is what our resident professor and man of letters had to say about the book…I quote…
“If it had been possible to publish this heartbreaking and terrifying factual eyewitnessed account (by over 600 POWs) of North Vietnamese barbaric and inhuman violations of the Geneva Convention against our POW’s, within a few months after they came home, we would be living in a better world today. Perhaps the failure to do that was the evilest of all the horrible acts of omission and distortion committed by America’s ”slime’ Media of that era, to ‘look the other way.’
” If ‘Joe and Jane America’ had been immediately informed of those war crimes, our political nincompoops would have been forced to, at last, face the truth. The North Vietnamese should definitely been brought before international war crimes commissions.
“The story has finally been told; eloquently, forcefully, and truthfully. Now it must be heard. This book should be part of a course of study at every military scholarly institution, from Boy Scouts to National Defense University and, as soon as we flush the snowflakes down the drain, it must become a permanent pillar within all High School required American History studies…
“Thanks, Fred, for providing me with this early copy. I must admit I’ve had trouble sleeping since I read it a week ago. I intend to make it available to Hill AFB Chaplains before I ‘tag it’ and forward it to my former High School roommate and former Navy Chaplain, who’s still an active Lutheran Minister at 83.
“Air Force officer, combat rescue helo pilot hero, POW, and Christian, Thomas ‘Jerry’ Curtis: A man of God among more than 600 other men of God; sacrificing for each other beyond all limits of human endurance, good triumphing over extreme evil, and known only to God… Until this book.”….
“Under the Cover of Light” will be the focus of our next lunch muster and I look forward to reminding Brownbear that the Vietnam POW story has been on the shelves since the 1970s (Jim Rowe, 1971; Red McDaniel, 1975; Robbie Risner, 1974; John McGrath–complete with his drawings of a POW in a variety of torture positions, 1975; Charlie Plumb, 1973; and Scott Blakey’s great book that tells the Dick Stratton story, 1978, and many more). Carole Avriett and Jerry Curtis are keeping this important American history lesson fresh, alive and hopefully on the minds of Americans who should never forget the great sacrifices of the men and their families who endured the North Vietnam torture and inhumane treatment for the years of or our Vietnam War…
To Jerry Curtis, thanks for sharing the light.
Lest we forget…. Bear