On April 1st 1968 We (crew 3 VP-19) flew out of Subic Bay Philippines through a hurricane into clear air and then into a deck of clouds that turned out of be smoke from our destination Vietnam. We dropped our four engine turbo prop P-3 Orion into Da Nang in steep dive to avoid ground fire pulling up just above the craters at the end of the runway. Our mission we were told was to deliver a dog to his master, a general who stepped forward and petted the pooch a few times and then ordered us to fly the dog on to U-Topau Thailand for further “training”.

We took off and flew across the the rest of Vietnam which seemed to be on fire everywhere two roads crossed. If I remember right the Tet offensive had not yet ground to a total halt. We flew a portion of Laos and landed at U-Topau which was packed with U.S. planes of all description. One plane was P-3 just like ours with the markings of VP-26.

We waved at the crew across the tarmac and delivered the dog. Looking back, I suspect it was no coincidence that we both took off within minutes of each other and both of us flew south along the coast of “neutral” Cambodia. I don’t know where the decision was made but we were assigned to fly at altitude above a cloud deck that blocked our view of your father’s plane below whose job it was to get down on the deck and seek out infiltration craft working their way south through Cambodia and into the Mekong Delta.

I suspect our job was to trace their route and confuse what ever radar the enemy had at hand. Both planes were designed for long range shipping surveillance and sub chasing. We had an endurance of 24 hours and we were essentially flying gas tanks, not an ideal platform with which to engage in close order combat at low altitude.

We soon got a radio message from the plane below us that they had taken fire and were going down aflame. There were no survivors and we were ordered to proceed to our destination.

Today I found your blog and shed a few tears from so long ago.