During the Easter Offensive in the Vietnam War, Lieutenant Colonel Iceal “Gene” Hambleton was
shot down by Vietnamese surface-to-air missiles while flying aboard an EB66.
He was the sole survivor of a six-man crew
and parachuted right into a battlefield with about 30,000 North Vietnamese soldiers.
Hambleton had top-secret access to Strategic Air Command and was an expert in nuclear weapons,
so the armed forces launched what would become the largest,
longest, and most complex rescue operation in the entire Vietnam War.
Several men lost their lives, many aircraft were shot down, and costly resources were spent during
the operation, which ultimately summoned one of the remaining Navy SEALs in Vietnam for support,
and led to a historic revaluation of how rescue operations would be conducted from then on.
The Easter Offensive
In 1969,
President Richard Nixon decided to slowly initiate the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam.
Unfortunately for the South Vietnamese allies,
the Viet Cong and the Communist North Vietnamese only turned more violent,
throwing everything they had at their disposal to cross the demilitarized zone and attack them.
On March 30, 1972, the North Vietnamese launched the Easter Offensive led by the People's Army
of Vietnam against the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and the United States military.
It was the largest offensive operation of the entire war.
The North Vietnamese took full advantage of monsoon season, using the low clouds,
limited visibility, and typical Asian rain to their advantage
and taking the American soldiers completely off-guard.
More than 30,000 heavily-armed NVA troops from the 304th and 308th Divisions then crossed the
demilitarized zone and started occupying South Vietnam's northernmost provinces. Supported by
two tank regiments of around 150 Soviet T54 and PT76 tanks, their advance was vigorous.
To further increase its firepower,
the NVA tactically placed more than 70 anti-aircraft vehicles in critical areas
to defend its units from upcoming American and South Vietnamese aircraft.
An invisible barrier of over 40 130-millimeter guns
and state-of-the-art SA2 surface-to-air-missiles, or SAMs, were scattered in an 8-kilometer area
that covered the NVA advance from Cam Lo Bridge to Dong Ha Bridge.
When the US military realized the scale of the invasion,
the Air Force quickly dispatched all the B52 Stratofortresses available in the region
to halt the enemy advance with carpet bombings. However, it was not enough.
The bombing runs were quickly suspended due to increasing enemy SAM activity that
risked jeopardizing the aircraft's effectiveness.
But to deal with their anti-aircraft defenses, the 42nd Tactical Electronic
Warfare Squadron was ordered to provide immediate assistance to escort the B52s.
As Nixon's policy had already removed enough men from all branches,
Lieutenant Colonel Iceal Hambleton, a senior navigator and World War II veteran,
assigned himself as a navigator of an old EB66 aircraft to jam SAM radar systems.
Hambleton was an expert in SAM countermeasures, had been part of
several secret nuclear missile projects, and was part of the USAF Strategic Air Command.
He was no ordinary man.
The Air Cavalry Fails
The Douglas EB-66C Destroyers were tasked with providing electronic support for the B52s.
Additionally, the EBs were to let SAMs lock into them and execute an
abrupt break or turn to throw off the hostile missile before it was too late.
SAMs were lethal in a 150-foot radius upon exploding, but their guidance systems failed
at about 2 Gs. On the other hand, EBs could reach 5 Gs when performing the maneuvers.
On April 2, 1972, two EB 66 aircraft were escorting a trio of B52s
whose objective was to bomb two routes near the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
While flying over Quang Tri Province, the American aircraft convoy was surprised by the enemy,
and anti-aircraft fire and SAMs lit up the sky.
The NVA fired a volley of missiles while
the anti-aircraft guns made their way through the clouds.
The EBs successfully lured the SAMs away from the bulky B52s and began to jam the enemy radars.
During the minutes that followed, the NVA figured out that they were being jammed and
decided to launch another volley of SAMs. However, they had a trick up their sleeves.
They fired them optically and only triggered the radar and guidance systems after launch.
The aircraft’s crews were puzzled, and when they attempted to break out,
it was too late. The SAMs were already too close, and they did not detect them coming.
Hambleton's pilot tried to evade one missile, but it struck the aircraft's belly. Red lights
indicated it was time to bail out. A millisecond after Hambleton ejected, he made eye contact with
the pilot before he disappeared in a cloud of fire. Another missile had hit the aircraft.
The five crewmen were gone, and only Hambleton survived. While praying to avoid being hit by
the anti-aircraft guns, Hambleton saw the rest of the convoy fight its way to its objective.
As the low clouds turned into a war-torn ambiance, the lone survivor kept falling down
until he landed on a battlefield full of North Vietnamese soldiers.
Hambleton, whose call sign was Bat 21 Bravo, would need to fight for survival.
To the Rescue
Hambleton landed in a rice paddy, and because of the dense fog, the enemy did not spot him.
Upon release from his parachute, he realized that he had shrapnel wounds,
vertebra damage, and a ripped finger.
The navigator immediately got to work.
He ventured into the jungle to hide and activated his URC64 rescue radio. Above him, a Cessna
O2 relayed Hambleton's coordinates to an AC130 Search and Rescue unit located near Quang Tri.
From that moment on, all the branches of the American military began to work together to
exfiltrate Hambleton. It became pivotal that he could not fall into the hands of the Soviets,
as the national security of the United States would be compromised.
While Hambleton called in for precise airstrikes on the advancing NVA,
two Huey helicopters and two AH-1 Cobra gunships made their way to rescue him.
But the American firepower was not enough to save him. One Huey was shot down,
and the rest of the aircraft were heavily damaged by the Vietnamese.
Hambleton knew that he would have to survive the night in the jungle.
The following day, April 3, there was another rescue attempt.
Several F4 Phantoms, A1H Sandys, and Jolly Green Giant helicopters dropped
cluster bombs around Hambleton's position while one HH53 approached to pick him up.
However, the rescue helicopter was almost shot down by enemy fire,
and a Bronco that was circling overhead exploded after being hit by an RPG.
During a third rescue attempt on April 4, A1H Sandys tried to clear the zone first,
but the enemy poured into the area and almost took them down.
Hambleton had to constantly move from one position to another to evade capture,
and on April 6, there was a fourth rescue attempt.
This time the Air Force brought a pair of B52 bombers to eliminate the enemy resistance. But
the efforts proved futile as the NVA launched over 80 missiles. A Jolly Green Giant was shot down,
and all its crew perished. Hambleton’s rescue was postponed once again.
The NVA suspected that the Americans were attempting to recover something
and started searching the area for missing pilots.
Then, on April 7, another OV10 Bronco was shot down during the fifth rescue attempt.
Overall, five aircraft had been torn to pieces, while a dozen more were heavily damaged.
More importantly, twelve men were listed as missing in action or killed.
A Heroic Navy SEAL
While trying to figure out how to recover Hambleton from the area,
US Marine Corps Colonel Al Gray suggested a covert land rescue operation.
After being cleared by the Commander of the Joint Personnel Recovery Center,
Lieutenant Thomas R. Norris was chosen to lead the mission. He was one of the
few remaining Navy SEALs in Vietnam, and was joined by five Vietnamese commandos.
Norris was immediately dispatched to Cam Lo Bridge.
When making radio contact with Hambleton, Norris gave him directions with an unusual code.
As he was an experienced golfer, they guided him through the area by referencing golf holes.
On April 9, Hambleton's eighth day stranded in the area, he needed to reach the Song
Mieu Giang river, where Norris would pick him up. But Norris's commandos mutinied and left
him with Petty Officer Third Class Nguyen Van Kiet. However, that was all he needed.
Both men disguised themselves as fishermen and made their way to
the river aboard a humble sampan, where they stored their weapons and supplies.
On the night of April 12, Norris and Kiet found a battered and skinny Hambleton near
the river's shores. They hid him in the sampan and quickly paddled back to friendly lines.
The NVA attempted to stop them twice, forcing Norris to call in airstrikes.
Finally, after three intense days of operating behind enemy lines,
Norris brought back Bat 21 to American control on April 13, 1972.
He would eventually receive the Medal of Honor for his actions during the operation,
and Van Kiet was awarded the Navy Cross,
the only time it was awarded to a South Vietnamese sailor during the war.
A reporter then inquired Norris: (QUOTE) "It must have been tough out there.
I bet you wouldn't do that again." To which Norris replied: (QUOTE)
"An American was down in enemy territory. Of course I’d do it again."
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