Page 152 - Anthology

I will admit that there was animosity towards them, considering how many of our men they had killed in
WWII, but the people we came in contact with were decent people. Of course, you’d come in contact with
some that weren’t nice. The biggest majority of people on the island were fishermen. You didn’t go to
town by yourself. If you went to town by yourself, they would work your head over pretty good. There
was always about ten of them together. Every once in a while, there’d be a big fight in town, and
somebody would run into the barracks and say there is a fight in town. We’d get together and go rescue
our buddies. The town would be put “off-limits” for a few days.

I never had a fight with one of them, but we had to go to town to get a haircut. One time I went into town
with a friend and a group of the townsmen joined hands to block our passage. The only place to go was
into the gutters. I was not going to be forced into the gutters – they were nasty. So, I told my friend that I
was going to the middle of the road and that they were not going to force me into the ditch/gutter. I
figured they were not going to block us if we showed a little force. When we got close, they broke hands
and let us through.

Three F-86s flying in formation over Korea in 1954

While serving on the rock, I got a May-Day squawk, so I called the pilot by radio. I think he was a young
F86 pilot flying at 35,000 feet. He stated he was out of fuel and was going to bail out. I started talking to
him and telling him to not bailout. He was concerned, but I knew he could glide for several miles from
that altitude.

He was in rough territory, so my goal was to get him closer and in a better place to be found if he did bail-
out. He continued to tell me he wanted to parachute out. I continued to tell him no, don’t do that. After a
few minutes, I asked him his altitude; he remained at 35,000 feet. I knew that if he had not lost altitude,
he was not out of fuel.

I continued to talk with him until I had him within fifty miles, so I called him back to let him know. I asked
him if he wanted me to hand him over to the base, he said no and that he had discovered he had a gauge
problem and was not out of fuel. If he had bailed-out, he most likely would have died, and we would have
lost a several million-dollar aircraft. When I think back, I know I was meant to be on duty, and that night, I
made a difference. Perhaps I was God’s angel that day, and a young life was saved.

I also had another time when I got a radio call from a plane flying over Yuma, Arizona. They were
requesting to be followed while in my airspace. It didn’t take long for him to identify himself as Air Force
One. But it did not mean anything to me at the time. I did not know that the plane was only called Air
Force One when the President is on board. I would learn that President Eisenhower was aboard. So, I
guess I can take credit for being the radar escort for the president for a few hundred miles.