OCR Text |
Show HILLTOP TIMES The first exhibit and story panels at the Hill Aerospace Museum as Phase One is put into place of an exhibition of pictures, stories and videos on the Vietnam War. MARY LOU GORNY Hilltop Times Hilltop TIMES Sept. 15, 2011 3 Wings and Wheels event returns to Hill Food for Life portion of the event. Patrons will also get the chance to participate in tasting various chili renditions at a chili chook-off sponsored by the Air Force Association Chapter 235. For $4 a person or $10 a family, patrons can taste at noon. Also, the 9/11 Memorial Hilltop Times Staff 0 Al11111111111110." VIETNAM From page 1 items from men who were drafted." Enlisted and civilians will not be forgotten; their stories and items will be included as well, he added. The interactive display already includes a basic overview of the conflict and will add subsequent stories as the project unfolds in Phases Two and Three. "Phase Two scripts are being finalized," said Myers who said that the areas before and after the POW cell would contain accounts of the POWs themselves, servicemen from Utah, other Airmen and eventually those at Hill Field who supplied the war effort. The display will also focus on the Medal of Honor winners, the Vietnam War Memorial, and will include improved placards for the aircraft flown during the war and their roles and influence. Jay Hess, who spent six years in Vietnam, five and a half as a prisoner of war, described his capture, "I was shot down in an F-105, on the 24th of August, 1967." The site was very close to the Chinese border, northeast of Hanoi where he was part of a mission of 24 F-105s sent to bomb a railroad line which delivered war supplies to Hanoi. "I went to Vietnam a fighter pilot and I came back a born-again American," Hess said. "Those guys in the POW camp risked their necks to make a replica of an American flag and just pledge allegiance to it," he said. "You'd take a beating if you got caught; you'd risk everything but that's just universally the way you felt." Hess described the jangling of the keys as the guard walked by your cell. "You hoped he kept on going and didn't stop and open your door." He compared the cell reconstruction at the museum to his own experience and said the exhibit is a bit too pristine in its depiction. "It was bad; it had its own special smells and sounds," he said. He described ejecting from his Thunderchief, "Coming off the target my plane was hit by AAA, caught on fire, then pitched down out of control. I struggled to raise the right armrest and reach the ejection trigger beneath it. The high speed and negative g forces knocked me out. I woke up several hours later on a hillside and before I could even get up I was captured." Hess found out later that the air rescue personnel, his flight commander especially, searched for him for three hours and finally came to the conclusion he was dead when he didn't make radio contact. Hess described his experiences while under capture with thought and great care, describing his release approximately 38 years ago with measured words. He acknowledged the antiwar sentiment and the appreciations he came back with. "You learn to quit taking everything for granted, to appreciate that the doorknob works and you can open the door," he said. "You appreciate your stomach doesn't hurt because it's hungry all the time. You appreciate hot water." His descriptions of other experiences are more cut and dried. "They (the captors) said that we were treated lenient and humane. Lenient and humane? Well, that depends on your perspective. There was a lot of torture 4 real torture, not running around with no clothes on 4 life and death torture." When asked about his perspective looking back on world events, especially in light of 9/11, Hess said, "What comes as a shock to me, and as a shock to me while I was in Vietnam, is that people can really hate Americans. How does it happen that someone develops a hatred enough that they think it's good to take an airplane loaded with men and women and fly it into a building? ... People's minds get out of whack if they are taught hate and never hear anything good about America." Hess recalled that those people who were his jailers only had pictures depicting the U.S. in black and white that showed such images as a polluted beach, homeless people, slums and a bum on a park bench 4 nothing in color and nothing positive about America. He also acknowledged coming to the realization that because they were there dropping bombs, it was the point of view of the North Vietnamese that they weren't there to help them, although the U.S. military had the goal of helping the South Vietnamese to be free. Hess recalled being impressed on the plane ride to freedom in the Philippines upon being shown a POW/MIA bracelet that others cared enough to wear the bracelets with the POWs names on them. He also acknowledged the long, drawn out toll their capture played on family members waiting at home and their role in organizing the National League of Families who sought the POWs humane treatment and eventual release. On another front, former OV-10 Forward Air Controller (FAC) and now a museum volunteer, Lt. Col. (Ret.) Randy "Nail 38" Roberts said, "I wouldn't trade being a FAC for the world but I wouldn't wish another war on anybody." As a FAC in Vietnam he spent a great deal of his second tour there calling in air strikes on the opposition and remembers being young and "bulletproof." "There were very few missions in country that were not under the control of a forward air controller," he said. "I flew more than 200 combat missions." His first tour he spent as an intelligence officer. "As a FAC, we would fly around in different places and you'd be just looking for the bad guys 4 their trucks or whatever 4 and then you'd (call it in)." In the unit he was in at one point they had a loss rate for personnel of over 40 percent. "A lot of troops didn't come back," he said. "I hate to say the war was a good time, and it wasn't a good time when one of your buddies didn't come back, but we were all young and full of (spit) and vinegar." He remembers and wants leaders to always remember "the ones that are truly serving this country 4 the ones slogging through the mud and getting the heck shot out of them." Maj. (Ret.) Pat Gilmore, Utah Heritage Board member, recalls serving as an Air Force pilot flying C-141s in and out of Vietnam. "The war changed our entire history," he said about its significance and why it's important to study it. Gilmore flew in supplies, munitions and personnel. As a member of strategic airlift, he delivered bodies home as well. "Beginning in 1973 and 1974, we were basically hauling things out," he said. Gilmore took out more than 200 refugees on April 25, 1975, during the fall of Saigon, and approximately 308, two days later. Gilmore said he joined the service because of the antiwar demonstrations even though he had a war deferment as "sole surviving son" 4 his father was killed in the Korean War. "The catalyst that made me want to join the Air Force, was that the country was out of control and these people who were demonstrating didn't get it," he said. Gilmore had a neighbor, a refugee from a communist country, who couldn't serve and who was concerned about the communist tendencies he found at the demonstration meetings. When he heard about it and that the neighbor wished he could serve and was ineligible, Gilmore enlisted. The official ribbon cutting is anticipated in the coming months. In the meantime, storyboards and videos are up and running as part of the collections at the museum in the Lindquist Fighter Gallery as interest heightens in the official opening of Phase Two and an established viewing area into the POW cell. nce again the Hill Aerospace Museum is hosting its annual Wings and Wheels Car Show and Open Aircraft Day, Sept. 17, beginning at 9 am. 'We will have up to 20 aircraft open and some of the air carriers you'll be able to walk through," explained Nathan Myers, museum curator. "Some of the cockpits of the fighter jets you'll be able to look into," he said. Some of the helicopters will be open as well. Museum volunteers will be on hand with plenty of knowledge and experience to answer questions and talk about the planes and their own experiences. 'We encourage everybody who attends to bring a canned good, nonperishable food item, which we will collect," said Myers. Items will go to local community food pantries who support Hill and retired military members as part of the ¥ Motorcycle ride will finish at the museum, organized by the AFA Chapter 237. Demonstrations by security forces military working dogs and a fire department engine static display are scheduled, and the Ogden Concert Band will be playing at noon in the special events area Digital Printing www.accucolor.biz 801.779.2420 11LIMPIE FALL SPECIAL America's Sub Shop FREE 6" REGULAR SUB With any combo purchase of equal or lesser value. Offer expires 10 - 12 - 11 Blimpie of Roy '• FREE ': With COOKIE purchase of any size sub or wrap. Offer expires 10 - 12 - 11 Blimpie of Harrisville 5605 S. 1900 W. Roy, UT 84067 518 N. 325 E. Harrisville, UT 84404 801-779-2000 801-737-9302 www.Blimpie.com Limit one coupon per visit. M-SAFETY CONCERN ff 0 HAfilifINDSON Helmets Expires 9-08-2011 HARLEV-DAViDSO Golden Spike (801) 394-4464 Harley-Davidson 892 W. ve ¥ dale goldenspikeharley.com Exchange Concessionaire Buy One, Get One 1/2 O FF on All Eyeglasses for You, a Friend or Family Member Visit us in the Base Exchange Building 412 801-776-3368 Eye Exams Available by Dr. Michael Larsen Independent Doctor of Optometry • TRICARE accepted. • Appointments are available. • Walk-ins are welcome. BUY CONTACT LENSES ONLINE AT www.MILITARYCONTACTS.net '50% off 2nd pair must be of equal or lesser value as the first pair purchased. Purchase of two complete pairs of eyeglasses required. Second pair must be purchased with the first per and at the same date and time Cannot be combined with any other discount. coupon or insurance plan. All eyeglasses require a current, valid prescription. Offer expires 10/29/11- K2011 National Vision, Inc. |