GOING DOWNTOWN
It’s my Substack, so I can tout myself.
“Going Downtown: The U.S. Air Force over Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia 1961-75” (They gave it that title so it would turn up on lots of searches)
It’s out in hardback and available this week.
This and my previous book “The Tonkin Gulf Yacht Club: Naval Aviation in the Vietnam War” are the only two books on the air war that put both sides in the same air space at the same time, with named individuals in the cockpits and the actual results of the events. I am the first writer on the subject to have had access to “Historic Combats In The Skies of Vietnam,” the official history of the Vietnam People’s Air Force, which US participants who have read it say is more accurate than the US official record.
It’s available at Amazon if you go here
A MOST MEMORABLE MISSION
The most memorable mission I flew in the CH-46, or in any aircraft for that matter, took place when the Prisoners of War were released from North Vietnam. These men were flown from Hanoi to Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines. From there the were flown to bases near their homes in the United States. I was the a 1st Lt aircraft commander waiting late at night at Andrews Air Force base for the return of a Navy Commander Ray Alcorn who had spent seven years in the Hanoi Hilton. After the briefest welcome as he stepped off the Air Force C-141 jet, he boarded our Marine CH-46, MX-19. He shook our hands and we welcomed him home. I recall that he was cold, having not an ounce of natural insulation left on his body, so I lent him my flight jacket. With tears in my eyes I lifted off of the tarmac at Andrews and headed toward DC. I called Washington Tower and requested clearance for the helicopter route to Bethesda Naval Hospital. I told them that Commander Alcorn was on board, returning from 7 years in the Hanoi Hilton. The response was: "Nighthawk-19 you are cleared anywhere you want over Washington. Welcome the Commander home from all of us in Washington Tower." This was unprecedented in an area of numerous restricted areas and busy commercial traffic. We gave our hero a beautiful flight right across Washington, an unbelievable sight at night from a slow moving helo flying at 1000 feet. If I was not choked up enough I was really in tears after we landed on the Bethesda Helo Pad. He thanked us again, returned my jacket and stepped off the bird into the arms of his wife and two young children - Home at last -after seven years in Hell!....
I since have read about Ray and in the write up he said:
After 3 Days in the Philippines we were flown back to the states. I was returning to Bethesda Naval Hospital in Washington DC so I flew into Andrews AFB. and a Marine Helicopter flew me around downtown Washington. I was met by my family. What a perfect way to come home.
"Let's kick the tires and light the fires”
Here's to “Going Downtown: The U.S. Air Force over Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia 1961-75” going up, up & up in sales and readers' likes, Thomas McKelvey Cleaver.