Thanks, Wilton. A fascinating window into a day in the life. I worked with a Colonel Mike LaBeau at the F-16 Program Office in 1989-1990 at Wright-Patt. He was the Director of Manufacturing and I worked in Engineering. This Mike had been a POW so it must have been the same Mike LaBeau. Back in those days we delivered over 20 jets a month, not much by WWII standards but way more than anything built today.
Sctt > -----Original Message----- > From: WILTON > Sent: Saturday, October 25, 2014 10:38 AM > > MORRIS' CREW > By Wilton Strickland > > Many BUFF crews at U-Tapao had been going to Hanoi almost every night > since the beginning of the Linebacker II campaign the night of Dec. 18, '72, > but because of the long distance involved, crews on Guam had been going > only about every other night. On 24 or 25 December, several crews were > transferred from Guam to U-Tapao, to increase sortie rate at U-Tapao and to > relieve some U-Tapao crews. A crew from my home base, Kincheloe AFB, MI, > led by Capt. Bob Morris, had been in theater only a few days and was one of > the crews to transfer. I knew all of the members of this crew well - they were > my friends. > Late the morning of 26 Dec, I went to the officers club for > breakfast/brunch. Morris and the other four officers on his crew (1Lt Bob > Hudson, co-pilot, Capt. Mike LaBeau, radar-navigator/bombardier (RN), 1Lt > Duane Vavroch, Nav, and Capt. Nutter Wimbrow, electronic warfare officer > (EW), were there. We had a great time reminiscing, I, catching up on news > from home and they, picking us "old-timers" for tips on flying over Hanoi, > dodging missiles, etc. While at the club, we got news from scheduling that > Morris' crew would be flying that night, but I would not. Also while at the > club, we read a Bangkok, Thailand, English language newspaper. In the > paper were pictures of BUFF crewmen who had been shot down a couple of > days before and were POW's in Hanoi. > As we were leaving the club, both Morris and Wimbrow said that they > were going to stop by the barbershop and get haircuts so they would "look > good on Hanoi TV and in the papers tomorrow." I bade them "so-long" and > "good luck" > and stopped by another table on the way out of the club to chat with > another friend for a few minutes. > This was a friend I had met on my second trip through B-52 Combat Crew > Training at Castle AFB, CA, the summer after I returned to active duty > (immediately after graduation at North Carolina State University in May '71). > This man, LtCol Don Joyner, had also been out of B-52's for several years and > was returning to the school for re-qualification training, as was I. Col Joyner > and I talked at length about our families - how we loved them dearly and > about how we were supposed to have gone home several days before, but > had been delayed by the Linebacker II campaign. We both wished each > other well and wished for each other to be at home with our families soon. > Late that afternoon, as the crew buses were loading and leaving the crew > quarters area, the co-pilot on Morris' crew, Lt Hudson, ran up to me and > asked to borrow my recorder cord (a cord that a radio technician had made > for me to facilitate connecting my personal recorder into the aircraft radio > system). I gave the cord to him and off they went to their pre-mission > briefings and to Hanoi. > Before dawn the next morning, there came a knock on my door. It was the > EW on my Kincheloe crew, coming to tell me that Morris' crew had been lost > over Hanoi and that Col Joyner's bomber had crashed in the jungle just off > the base. Both bombers had been hit by SAMs, Morris' going down > immediately and Col Joyner's making it back to base with 4 engines out on > one side, making it very hard to fly, especially at low speed. > According to the officer in charge of U-Tapao air traffic control that night, > LtCol Prentis Ollis, who witnessed the landing attempt by Col Joyner's > aircraft, they were having problems controlling the aircraft on descent. As > they tried to land, the aircraft continued to "float wobbly" about 200 feet > above the runway and crashed just beyond the departure end of the runway. > Only two of the crew survived. The co-pilot, 1Lt Bob Hymel, was pulled out > by another pilot, Capt. Brent Diefenbach, who had landed a short time > before, was on a crew bus nearby, saw the crash, commandeered a Thai > vehicle and drove to the crash. The gunner, wounded in flight, was also able > to scramble free of the wreckage. (LtCol (Ret) Bob Hymel was killed at his > desk in the Pentagon during the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001. He > was buried at Arlington as a B-52 passed overhead in tribute.) > About midmorning the next day, several of us were sitting outside at picnic > tables in the crew quarters area, discussing the tragedies of the night before, > when suddenly we were very glad to see the young gunner from Morris' crew > get off a bus nearby. For a few minutes we hoped that the bad news of the > previous night was untrue. Our hopes for the rest of his crew were quickly > dashed, however, when he told us that he had not gone on the mission; he > had gotten sick after engine start, and another gunner had taken his place. > In March '73, the POW's who had survived the B-52 losses were released, > and I talked at length to the three surviving members of Morris' crew, > Hudson, LaBeau and Vavroch, back home in Michigan. The first thing Lt > Hudson did when he saw me was to apologize profusely for losing my > recorder cord. (I tried to assure him that the cord had been the least of my > worries, of course.) He said that a SAM had scored a direct hit on them, > killing Capt. Morris, instantly and sending the aircraft out of control. He gave > the order to bailout and never knew what happened to Wimbrow. > The substitute gunner, T/Sgt James Cook from Seymour Johnson AFB, NC, > who had never met the rest of the crew, had also survived with both legs > broken, and was also repatriated in March '73. Years later, about 1980, at a > reception in his honor at our B-52 flight operations building at Seymour > Johnson., I met the sergeant and talked to him briefly about his experience > on that fateful mission. I think that for a while he held some animosity > against the young gunner who got sick just before takeoff, but I believe that > has been resolved, and he realizes it was just fate. > I talked to the young gunner from Morris' crew occasionally back at our > home base in Michigan until I left there in '75. I have also talked to him > briefly several times here in Goldsboro, NC, the last time about 10 years ago. > He seemed to have feelings of guilt for quite some time after the fateful > night, but I believe he too has realized that he had little control over the > events raging around all of us. He retired from the air force several years ago > and still lives near here. > I have with much pain and sadness several times viewed the names of my > friends, Donald Joyner, Robert Morris and Nutter Wimbrow, etched into the > black granite of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC, along > with those of too many others I knew well. > _______________________________________ http://www.okiebenz.com To search list archives http://www.okiebenz.com/archive/ To Unsubscribe or change delivery options go to: http://mail.okiebenz.com/mailman/listinfo/mercedes_okiebenz.com All posts are the result of individual contributors and as such, those individuals are responsible for the content of the post. The list owner has no control over the content of the messages of each contributor.
