Page 97 - Stand Down Vietnam

Later, the navigator told me the pilot banked the
aircraft and radioed: “No wrong way. Wrong-way turn!”
As he turned the aircraft, it was like a wide-open gut
shot; the SAM hit him right in the belly, where the
four EWOs (that’s what we called them), Electronic
Warfare Officers; that’s where they were onboard the
aircraft. It killed all of them.

The navigator was able to eject. He told us the last
thing he saw was the pilot with his hands on the eject

controls. As the plane went down, there were no other
parachutes seen. That account was verified by two
105s.

The navigator made it out of the aircraft and made it
to the ground. He landed in a rice paddy and buried
his chute. He had a .38 handgun with five rounds, he
could hear and see Viet Cong soldiers coming up a
trail. He could see them, but they couldn’t see him.
He counted seven of them.

He only had the five rounds; seven of them, five
rounds, he thought: “I’m not going to make it.” He
remained silent, the soldiers were standing around
smoking and doing nature’s thing. When he couldn’t
hear them anymore, he buried his gun deep in the mud.
So, he only had his survival knife. He said he was not
going to be tempted again, that’s why he buried his
weapon.