Traveling only at night, he reached the tenth day, exhausted and with nothing to eat or drink since bailout except several ears of corn and rainwater. Floating downstream, at the last "hole" he was met by a Navy SEAL (Sea-Air Landing) Lt. Thomas R. Norris and a Vietnamese Ranger who had stolen a boat. Despite several enemy ambushes, they delivered Hambleton to a waiting USAF helicopter which took off under enemy fire. Hambleton's experience was the basis for a book and a movie, but neither portrayed the complexity of the operation, the exotic technology or number of people involved in the rescue. 234 medals were awarded to individuals for this rescue and Lt. Norris received the Medal of Honor for his role in this and a related rescue.

A plaque was given to Lt. Col. Gene Hambleton by the commander, 42nd Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron in memory of the EB-66 crew members who died.

for Lt. Col. Iceal Hambleton's recovery
from enemy territory in northern South Vietnam

for details of Bat-21 Bravo's rescue
from Search and Rescue (SAR) participants

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Postscript by Jim Laub, March 2002

The other members of the crew were: Maj Wayne Bolte (pilot), Major Hank Serex (raven 1), 1st Lt Robin Gatwood (raven 2), Lt Col Tony Ginnangeli (raven 3) and Lt Col Charley Levis (raven 4). Don't hold me too tightly to the raven numbers--they're my best guess. The aircraft was an EB-66C (don't know the tail number). I had rotated out of the squadron the month prior to the shoot-down and had flown with all of them except Gatwood (that was his second mission, I believe). Bolte had been passed over to Lt Col prior to his arrival in the squadron. He was an excellent pilot. He remarked to me on a mission we flew together a couple of months before that the only way he'd get promoted is if he were an MIA when the next board met.

Levis was the chief EWO in the squadron and a Naval Academy graduate. He was fairly straight-laced, but he could take a joke. Ginnangeli (pronounced jin NAN je lee) was the squadron exec officer. He had eight children. I always remember his effervescent personality--he was fun to be around. Serex was an instructor of mine in EW school and was about 3 months behind me in rotation. He was a fairly quiet individual. I believe he was in Wing Training. Gatwood, I may have met once when he arrived, but I was so close to rotation, I wasn't making new friends. I always visit their names on the Vietnam Wall each time I'm there. I believe I'm the only B-66 crewdog who is still on active duty.

On April 2, 1972, I was the EWO scheduler when a "C Model" sortie was added. In fact, I was on my way to life support to fly in position 2 when Robin Gatwood visited the squadron. When he learned that the mission profile and EW load (qualified instructor onboard) fit the profile for an "upgrade" mission for him, he volunteered to go in my place which I accepted since I would still be responsible for putting the EW portion of the schedule for the next day together (this would mean that the schedule would be fairly late in getting posted).

The pilot was Wayne Bolte while the EWs were: Gatwood, Giangelli, Levis, and (the final name escapes me at the moment but I will post later today). And, of course, Hambleton was the Navigator.

Note: William Bruenner's postscript below appears to be fairly accurate. The crew composition had nothing to do with it being a "gravy" mission for Wing Staffers but, rather, was the product of scrambling to locate 4 EWO's for the added sortie on short notice. The squadron operated on the theory that any added sortie would most probably be for the EB-66E model which was, at least partly, a factor in having one-each Pilot, Navigator, and EW assigned scheduling duties.

A good friend Lt Col Anthony Gianangeli was one of the EWs on board. I had a relatively new book (approx. one year old), on this subject, but I loaned it out and will try to get it back. I don't even remember the name of the author and or title. I'll try to get the book back. Note: the book is The Rescue of Bat 21 by Darrel D. Whitcomb (click here to order the book & save 30%)

It is excellent reading and explains much more detail about the total effort that went into the rescue, as well as why the shoot down occured, a giant, but unknown drive by the north to cross the DMZ. The whole rescue team and the large number of people who died as a result of attempts, was I was never aware of. The reason Lt. Col. Iceal Hambleton got such a priority for rescue was because he had a highly classified Air Staff job, prior to going to SEA and the Air Staff believed it was worth the additional rescue efforts.

This fact, combined with some complex political atitudes of the Air Force personnel in SEA at that time, they put an all out effort towards the rescue, at the expense of other missions. I will attempt to get the name of the book and author and will send you another e-mail.

From what I remember from the shoot down of Bat 21 debrief, the aircraft was flying parallel to and just south of the DMZ. The SA-2 was launched ballistically. First warning was when homing radar appeared on Lt Robin Gatwood's scope. Maj Wayne Bolte assumed the missile must have been launched from north of the DMZ, and started the appropriate missile-break maneuver. What they did not know was that the bad guys had dragged SA-2s along with the frontline troops when they started the offensive across the DMZ on 30 Mar 72. Thus, the missile was actually launched from their south and they broke into the missile. It was a tragic way for us to find out the new tactic of deploying SAMs with frontline troops. The Arabs did the same thing the following year in the Yom Kippur War!

Postscript by Robert Nichols

Also as seen on the History Channel Suicide Missions - Forward Air Controllers, the episode about BAT- 21 the rescue was about an EB-66 Navigator with the 42nd TEWS our sister Squadron at Takhli. There is more info on BAT-21 in the Wright-Patterson AFB History Museum. The movie BAT- 21 with Gene Hackman was about this rescue.

Along with the era of the B-66 Gunners, the saga of the 42nd TRS Flight Engineers needs to be told as an integral part of the unit history that never made it into the archives at Maxwell AFB. In the retrofit of the B-66B to the
EB-66B, Brown Cradle jammer configuration, without tail guns, A&E Mechanics [Flight Engineers] were assigned to the 42nd Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron and placed on flight status to fly in the gunner’s seat in lieu of an EWO since the jammers in the bomb bay were pre-set, with On-Off switches in the cockpit and no programmable control heads at the gunner’s seat.

A second justification for Flight Engineers was to provide supervision of aircraft turn-around servicing when away from home base, since most transient maintenance personnel were totally unfamiliar with the B-66. Flight Engineers stood Echo Alert, with the B-66B Brown Cradle Aircraft scheduled to be the first across the iron curtain in the event of war with the Russians, followed by USAFE Fighter-Bombers, and eventually the much touted Front Line of Defense – SAC.

The flight status of 42nd TRS Flight Engineers came into question when the 10th TRW converted to the RF-4C and the 42nd transferred from Toul-Rosieres AB to Chambley AB, France on 1 July 1965 when the 25th Tactical Reconnaissance Group was formed as the first-ever group whose sole charter was Tactical Electronic Warfare -- with just one operational squadron [42nd TRS]. The distinction as an Electronic Warfare Group didn’t last long, when the decision was made to transfer the 19th TRS [RB-66 Photo Reconnaissance] from Toul to Chambley at which time the group was redesignated as the 25th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing. I had gone from 42nd TRS Executive Officer to Wing EWO at Chambley AB – where C-2 status in the 42nd precluded assigning other officers from the squadron to the wing staff. In addition to my primary duty as Wing EWO, my additional duties included: Wing Training Officer, Wing Plans Officer, Assistant OIC, Current Operations, Wing Historian, Wing Manpower and Budget Officer.

I was tasked to prepare a formal manpower change request, which was presented to USAFE Manpower & Organization at Lindsey AS, Wiesbaden, Germany where the fiasco about Flight Engineers began. USAFE Manpower & Organization weren’t too organized themselves with Operations Manpower in a separate building from Maintenance Manpower – with little apparent coordination of requirements, which was humorously depicted the last day of the meeting to justify the UMD submission for the 25th TRW. As business drew to its conclusion, a USAFE Operations Manpower type commented to his USAFE Maintenance Manpower counterpart across the table: “You look familiar. How long have you been at Lindsey?” Answer: “Three years” -- followed by, “You look familiar too -- how long have you been at Lindsey?” Answer: “Three years” [in the same directorate and how many parties?]

Upon receipt of the approved 25th TRW UMD, we found that the Flight Engineers had been deleted from the manning authorization for the 42nd TRS, with a cover letter directing their removal from flight status and reassignment to Flight Line Maintenance due to a shortage of A&E Mechanics. As a humorous side-note, USAFE inadvertently authorized 20 more spaces than we required in the Wing Intelligence Section – and when so informed, were too red-faced to delete them from the UMD, and Captain Fritz Mahrholz gloried in the excess manpower he had available to him. We immediately advised USAFE Manpower to re-read our UMD Change Request Justification that outlined the requirement for Flight Engineers on the B-66B in lieu of EWOs, but they refused to reinstate the Flight Engineers and directed that they be reassigned to Flight Line Maintenance.

The unresolved battle continued up to the time the 42nd TRS was sent PCS to Southeast Asia -- with flagrant disregard of the USAFE decree -- as the Flight Engineers were deployed with the B-66Bs to fly combat missions over North Vietnam. It was more than difficult to explain to the Flight Engineers why their flight pay and combat pay were not forthcoming -- while, at the same time, they were being submitted for Air Medals and DFCs for exposing themselves to the dangers up north. Eventually, the situation resolved itself when all of the B-66 airframes [except the RB-66C] were converted to the EB-66E Jammer with programmable control heads at the Gunner’s Station where the seat was now manned by an EWO. And who should arrive at Takhli as a B-66 pilot but Lt Col Jesse Spring – one of the Maintenance Manpower Guys from USAFE who had directed that the 42nd TRS Flight Engineers be reassigned to Flight Line Maintenance.

Good Natured Jesse Spring stood up well to the ribbing I gave him at the bar in the Takhli Officer Club, and he also recalled the exchange between the Operations Manpower and Maintenance Manpower officers who had both been at Lindsey 3 years in the same directorate, but had never met.

America's two-word marching order in the fight against terrorism will be displayed on various aircraft throughout the Air Force as a way of recognizing the heroes and victims of the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. The words were made famous by Todd Beamer, a passenger on Flight 93. Beamer, a 32-year-old businessman, Sunday school teacher, husband, father and hero, led other passengers in fighting terrorists for control of Flight 93 before it crashed into a field in western Pennsylvania. He was overheard on a cellular phone reciting the Lord's Prayer and saying "Let's roll!" as passengers charged the terrorists.

"Let's roll!" has served as a rallying cry for this nation as we go forward in our war on terrorism," said Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John P. Jumper. "We are proud to display this new nose art on our aircraft." The passengers of Flight 93 won one of the first victories in the fight against terrorism. There has been much speculation about the terrorists' intentions for Flight 93, but it is widely believed that either the White House or the U.S. Capitol building was the intended target.

The nose art design depicts an eagle soaring in front of the U.S. flag, with the words "Spirit of 9-11" on the top and "Let's roll!" on the bottom. The design was created by Senior Airman Duane White, a journeyman from Air Combat Command's multimedia center at Langley Air Force Base, Va. The Thunderbirds and other Air Force demonstration teams will apply this nose art on all aircraft, while major commands and wings will be authorized to apply the nose art to one aircraft of their choice.

For thousands of years, warriors, such as the Vikings, Zulus, Native Americans, samurai and many others, have followed a tradition of decorating their instruments of war. These instruments could include the warriors or their weapons. The Air Force has used nose art throughout much of its history, and for a variety of reasons.

The "Let's Roll!" nose art is being used in remembrance of the events of Sept. 11, to spur on the nation's current patriotic spirit, and to pay tribute to the heroes and victims in the war against terrorism. The nose art started to appear on Air Force aircraft around Jan 15, 2002.