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I heard about 15 minutes of the tape of when you were hit that day. All of the Red Dog flight were yelling for you to get out. I wondered just how long you did hang on. It did seem like an eternity on the tape. Since you were just 12 miles from their airfield when you were picked up, how did you avoid them for almost two hours. Did they not spot you going down, or were our aircraft keeping them away? Or was it something else. I know some of the fighters did circle the area for a while.
Dick Evans...
Captain Sparks replies:
I (Marlin Lead) was one of 7 parachutes in the air at once on 5 Nov '67. Red Dog 4 (Weasel flight) was Dick Dutton and Earl Cobiel. They were the first shot down and the early calls to bail out were for them. They ejected over a rail road junction about 15 mile NW of Phuc Yen Air Field. I was hit North of Phuc Yen Air Field and flew about 65 miles WNW and ejected over the Red River about 12 miles down stream from Yen Bai, a town on the Red river.There are several calls to me, right before I pulled the handles Ron Venturini was calling for me to bail out. Prior to that there were 2 calls about a SAM heading up the ridge. You can hear my wingmen say "Thats no SAM that's Sparky". I was trailing lots of fire at the time. The only good news about that was that I had ZERO radios and didn't hear anything.
There were also 2 F-4D birds from Ubon shot down about 5 minutes after me. They both ejected near Thud Ridge. Dutton and Cobiel were captured and taken to the Hanoi Hilton. Dick was repatriated with the other POWs; But Cobiel died of the results of torture by the Cuban. 3 of the 4 F-4D troops made it to jail and 2 lived through captivity.
I was the only guy picked up of the 7 that day. In fact, I was the first guy from Tahkli to be shot down in North Vietnam and be picked up and returned to Tahkli in 9 months. I managed to slip my 'chute down the river and land in what I thought was Elephant grass only to really land in 75' tall bamboo. Not too swift a place to land; but, I was in a good place to hide for about 1+45 or so. When Harry Walker came to a hover over my position, 4 Mig 17s showed up nearby. The low Sandy was calling Harry to get out of the area and Harry's answer was " F.... You, Keep them off my butt, I got a job to do". He stayed in a hover with all but 3' of cable out and hauled my worthless butt out from under a very tall tree. I had 17 birds in my cap at the time and they chased the MIGs off.
Hell of a rescue and a Hell of a way to get my last counter. I don't care what the rules were, I think that should have been my 146th mission. Take off through the trees and land at NKP in a chopper should be a mission.
Sparky
Flying the Jolly Green, HH-3E, in south East Asia can best be described as hours upon hours of boredom setting on alert waiting for some poor Fighter Jock to get his ride blown out from under him. This occurs with the occasional adrenaline rushes mixed in during the SAR (Search and Rescue). Most days were boredom without the adrenaline rush. Nov 5, 1967 started out as one of those boredom days. Jolly 56 (1st Lt. James M. Platt, RCC; Maj. Richard A. Wagner, RCCP; Ssgt. Hairl D. Thacker, FE; Sgt. Joseph M. Duffy, PJ) and Jolly 37 (Capt. Harry W. Walker, RCC; LTC. Gerald B. Lowe, RCCP; Sgt. Russel L. O'Neal, FE; Tsgt. Charley D. Smith, PJ; Msgt. Clarance R. Boles, PJ) had been on strip alert at Lima Site 36 in northern Laos for two days. Msgt. Boles had just arrived in country and was on his familiarization flight. It was late afternoon and I was setting on Jolly 37's aft ramp day dreaming about my Freedom Bird ride home, only 32 days away, when all hell broke lose. Crown 2 called at 15:31 to alerted us that, Red Dog Lead, an F105F Wild Weasel (Maj. Richard Dutton, Pilot and Capt. Earl G. Cobeil, Nav) and Marlin Lead an F105D (Capt. Bill Sparks) were in trouble over NVN.Captain Sparks again:
At 15:32 Crown 2 informed us both crews had punched out, location unknown. At 15:40 we were launched and directed to a holding point on the NVN boarder, Jolly 56 was the low bird and Jolly 37 high. The low bird is the primary for the pickup, the high bird backup. With less than 2 hours 15 minutes to sunset and three guys on the ground, the old adrenaline was flowing fast. Shortly after takeoff Crown 2 called and gave us the locations for Red Dog, 2120N/10514E, and Marlin Lead, 2123N/10446E. Crown 2 directed us to proceed to Marlin Lead's location.
About 35 minutes after takeoff Compass (Rescue Command and Control, Saigon) directed Jolly 37 to be the low bird. Rational was Jolly 37 was modified for air refueling (AR) and Jolly 56 wasn't. The HH3E's were undergoing AR modification during the last 5 months of 67. The crews were given quick and dirty AR training in September when the first modified HH3E arrived at Udorn. I was recovering from a Hernia operation and missed the training.
The trip in at 7,500 feet near a scattered cloud layer to avoid ground fire and offer protective cover from bad guy aircraft was uneventful. It could have been called textbook, but we were still writing the book in back in '67. We arrived at Marlin Lead's location at 1650 and Sandy Lead immediately directed us in for the pickup. Sandy Lead told Marlin Lead to pop his smoke. We spotted smoke about halfway down a steep ridge 2 clicks at one thirty off our nose. We jettisoned our drop tanks and headed for the smoke. We entered a hover over the smoke and I started the hoist down.
The jungle foliage was thick and I couldn't see the ground or the survivor. All I could see was what looked like the night end of a MK13 survival flare waving deep in the foliage. Radio chatter was like nothing I had ever heard before. It seemed like everyone was screaming at once, with their squelch buttons set at max. This is when our confusion and pucker meters pegged out. Radio communication between Jolly 37 and the Sandy's went Tango Uniform (Tits UP). Sandy Lead was trying to tell us we were at the wrong smoke. We couldn't talk to Sandy and his transmissions to us were broken. Finally Jolly 56 orbiting high over a nearby karst formation relayed Sandy Lead's calls to us and we pulled the hoist in and headed over the ridge to where the Sandy Lead was orbiting near a second smoke.
We flew toward the smoke and over the survivor, which we didn't see because of the heavy foliage. The pen gun flare he fired ignited after we passed over his position, so we didn't see it. We got turned around and immediately seen two pen gun flares shot up through the trees. About this time I briefly spotted the survivor about three quarters of the way up a steep slope in a small 4x4 foot clearing, then he disappeared under the foliage. I talked Capt. Walker into a hover over the clearing even though I could no longer see the survivor. Due to the angle of the slope we were in a very high hover with the door facing up the slope. About this time MIGCAP yells "Bandits Bandits".
I 'm thinking this is a trap, why the hell isn't he in the clearing? I start running the hoist down, it keeps going and going. I'm thinking damn, this thing is taking forever. Next thing I know the orange painted end of the cable is in site. (The last 10 feet of the 250 foot cable is painted orange or red. This is to alert the hoist operator so he doesn't run the cable off the drum. The only thing holding the cable on is a ¼'' set screw. It is recommended to always keep at least two wraps of cable around the drum to prevent the cable from slipping off). I stopped the hoist at what looked to be about twelve feet above the ground. I still don't see the survivor. I ask Capt. Walker to lower the hover about ten feet so the cable can reach the ground and tell him "the tail is clear, right side clear." He says "HELL NO TAKE A LOOK OUT FRONT", I look and see the refueling probe buried up to the cockpit in the foliage of a huge tree and the rotor tips beating the top of said tree into submission. So I slowly start lowering the hoist until the cable has only ¾ of a wrap left around the drum.
The damn penetrator is still about four feet off the ground and I still don't see the survivor. Now I'm wondering, is the survivor is even down there? I decide to try one last move before telling Capt. Walker to get us the hell out of Dodge. I swing the cable to get the penetrator to swing up the slope toward where I seen the survivor disappear under the foliage. The penetrator doesn't swing back out. After about 30 seconds I feel four tugs on the cable. I gently start winding the cable in, not knowing if the set screw will hold until I get a couple wraps back on the drum or who or what is on the other end. What a relief when I see this big handle bar mustache with an even bigger grin under it hugging the penetrator like his first date swing out from under the foliage. When the survivor was about 50 feet below the door I spotted some locals coming over the ridge and told Capt. Walker "lets get the hell out of here." He rolled left and away from the ridge, the survivor was immediately dangling 300 feet over the valley on the end of a 3/8'' steel cable going about 75 Knots.
What a ride that must have been. I finally got a shaken but happy survivor inside Jolly 37. He just laid on the floor looking up at us grinning from ear to ear. Sandy 5, John Carlsen and 6, Ed Leonard proceeded to escort us out of the area. Sandy 6 who was escorting Jolly 56 reported he was being fired upon by Migs, which he safely evaded. By now the sun is setting and Jolly 37 is running on fumes. Both fuel low level lights were on when we joined up with Crown 2 to take on fuel just north of the Laotian boarder.
My first ever AR. Jolly 56 landed at Udorn at 19:57. Jolly 37 returned to NKP with the survivor at 19:40. Due to the approaching darkness no effort was made to recover Red Dog Lead on 5 Nov. Night SAR capability in NVN was not yet developed in 67. Two good beepers were reported but no voice contact made. A SAR for Red Dog Lead was launched and in the area at first light on 6 Nov 67. No beeper or voice contact was made. Compass ordered all SAR forces to RTB. The crew was captured and Maj. Dutton was returned at Home coming. Capt. Cobeil died in captivity on 5 Nov 1970 and his remains were returned in April 1974. Note: If anyone knows who Sandy Lead and the other Sandys were (there was always four of you with us) please let us know.
Russ O'Neal
Until you get shot down and then picked up, it is impossible to understand just how much really goes on during a rescue. There were more people involved in pulling my worthless butt out of the jungle than you could count. My 3 wingmen did an incredible job. Frank Billingsley, Marlin 3, had only been a element lead for a short time and performed as well as possible. I remember telling him, over the emergency radio, to get the hell out of the area since there was NO way a rescue could occur at that place. He told me to screw myself, that HE was in charge of the flight, and that HE could see better than I could.
I really didn't think I had a chance until the Sandys, Skyraiders, showed up. Everyone did a hell of a job and all deserve my gratitude for the rest of my life; but, Harry Walker and the guys on the Jolly Green all had Cajones so big that they clanged together and played Stormy Weather. Believe me, A ride through the trees is thrilling and will stay with you for ever. To hang on a cable below a Jolly going balls out is quite an experience. Thank you is inadequate for the job. Only the best were in the Rescue Business and I am forever grateful.
Sparky