Heritage speakers bring powerful moments to life

  • Published
  • By Chuck Paone
  • 66th Air Base Wing Public Affairs
HANSCOM AIR FORCE BASE, Mass. --  Almost every reunion carries an emotional impact for the parties involved, but when a once-downed pilot reunited with the man who led his rescue effort yesterday, hundreds of others could feel the power of the moment too.

Introducing Col. Phil 'Goldie' Haun during the Heritage of Freedom event at the Minuteman Club April 15, retired Lt. Col. Dale Zelko said: "The first time I hugged Goldie was the morning of March 28, 1999, at Aviano Air Base in Italy; the next time I hugged Goldie was about 30 minutes ago." 

Colonel Haun, one of three featured speakers at the quarterly Hanscom event, then recounted details of the daring search and rescue mission that brought Colonel Zelko home after his F-117 Nighthawk had been shot down over Serbia. The career A-10 and 'Sandy' pilot described the comprehensive coordination required and noted some of the frustrations encountered.

He said that combat search and rescue wasn't always given high priority in strike planning and that at least one U.S. commander had denied its necessity. "We're not planning to lose anybody on these strikes," Colonel Haun had been told months before the incident, when he pleaded the case for incorporating CSAR into strike preparation.

"The lesson I got out of that was that very few of the assets [relied on for Colonel Zelko's rescue] were part of the CSAR task force. Combat search and rescue is everybody's job," Colonel Haun said. He added that "communication is everything," during search and rescue and said even the best technology won't get the job done without sharp people using it to make smart, quick decisions.

"Technology is great, but it doesn't replace the man or the woman in the loop. It still takes decision makers, and it still takes skill and judgment," he said.

Colonel Haun was followed by one of the most decorated Air Force enlisted members from the Vietnam era, retired Chief Master Sgt. Wayne Fisk. He chronicled the U.S. reaction to Khmer Rouge naval forces seizing the American container ship USS Mayagüez in international sea lanes well off the coast of Cambodia in May 1975.

Chief Fisk gave an overview of all U.S. response actions, including early, and ultimately futile, diplomacy. He focused most heavily on the U.S. raid of the heavily fortified Koh Tang, an island approximately 50 miles off the southern coast of Cambodia, where intelligence reports indicated the Mayagüez crew had been taken.

The retired chief, who participated in the evacuation of the Marines who'd been waging battle on Koh Tang, described the intense firefight and the various Naval and Air Force support efforts. He praised, in particular, the capabilities of the AC-130 Spectre gunships that pounded Khmer Rouge forces from the air.

He also drew parallels to the recent incident off the African coast in which U.S. Naval forces carried out orders from the Commander in Chief to rescue MV Maersk Alabama Capt. Richard Phillips, who was being held by Somali pirates.

"The bottom line [of the Mayagüez and Maersk Alabama incidents] came out to be that if you in the international community think that the U.S. doesn't have the might, the resolve and the willpower to go in and do what's necessary for its American people, then think again, because we're going to do it," he said.

The first speaker was Capt. Kate Stowe of the 751st Electronic Systems Group, who described her group's efforts to rapidly provide an urgent war fighting need by adding beyond-line-of-sight communication capability to Joint STARS. She spoke about the accelerated acquisition process and enumerated a long list of benefits provided by the upgrade, including the ability to chat, e-mail and browse the Defense Department's secure Secret Internet Protocol Router Network from any location.

All of this provides real operational advantages that result in increased effectiveness and dramatic time reductions, she said, illustrating the point with several actual vignettes and realistic scenarios.

Commander of the 66th Air Base Wing Col. Dave 'Iron' Orr, who developed the Heritage of Freedom series at Hanscom, kicked off and wrapped up the event. He thanked the speakers and Airmen, civilians and community partners who had packed the ballroom.

"I hope you all recognized the moment," he said at the end, noting the "humble heroism" of Chief Fisk and the professional ethos of all the speakers.