| Date: 6 November 1965 |
| Aircraft type: A-1E Skyraider |
| Serial Number: 52-132469 |
| Military Unit: 602 ACS, 6251 TFW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Bien Hoa detached to Udorn |
| Name(s): |
| Capt Richard Eugene Bolstad (POW) |
| Aircraft type: A-1E Skyraider |
| Serial Number: 52-132439 |
| Military Unit: 602 ACS, 6251 TFW |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Bien Hoa detached to Udorn |
| Name(s): |
| Capt George Grigsby McKnight (POW) |
| Aircraft type: CH-3C |
| Serial Number: 63-9685 |
| Military Unit: Detachment 5, 38 ARS |
| Service: USAF |
| Home Base: Udorn |
| Name(s): |
| Capt Warren Robert Lilly (POW) |
| Lt J Singleton (POW) |
| Sgt Berkley E Naugle (Survived) |
| Sgt Arthur Cormier (POW) |
| When a SAM had shot down Lt Col McCleary on the 5th it was thought that he might have ejected safely so a large-scale SAR effort was mounted to try to rescue him. The search was to be led by the Skyraiders of the 602nd ACS detachment at Udorn. Bad weather and approaching darkness postponed any rescue attempt until the following day and at dawn two A-1Es, with the call signs Sandy 11 and Sandy 12, took off from Udorn and headed to McCleary’s last known position. The Sandy call sign would soon become a familiar part of the air war over North Vietnam and the word became synonymous with the A-1s assigned to the RESCAP mission. The Sandys began searching the area for signs of wreckage and in the hope that Lt Col McCleary would contact them on his survival radio. About 35 miles west of Nam Dinh (and 20 miles northwest of where McCleary was actually lost) Sandy 12 flown, by Capt Richard Bolstad, was shot down by a barrage of AAA. Bolstad bailed out and was quickly spotted by Capt McKnight flying Sandy 11. At the news of this incident two more A-1Es took off from Udorn to join the SAR task force and a CH-3C of Detachment 5 of the 38th ARS, which was already on its way to the scene, was diverted to Capt Bolstad’s position. As the helicopter, using the call sign Jolly Green 85, approached Capt Bolstad it was hit by small arms fire. The helicopter pilot, Capt Warren R Lilly, managed to gain enough height for his crew to bail out and after engaging the autopilot he quickly followed suit. Sgt Naugle was hung up briefly by his safety harness but eventually freed himself and landed in dense jungle some distance from the rest of his crew which turned out to be fortunate for him as the rest of the crew landed in a populated area and was soon captured. Although SAR helicopters normally flew combat missions in pairs, it just happened that on this day the second helicopter had to turn back with an engine malfunction. Jolly Green 85 was operating from a forward location known as Lima Site 36 deep in the Barrel Roll area of northern Laos and close to the border with North Vietnam.
A Navy SH-3 Sea King SAR helicopter (call sign Nimble 62) flown by Lt(jg) T Campbell and Lt(jg) M Howell of HS-2 from USS Independence radioed that it was inbound from the sea and would attempt a rescue. The two Skyraiders from Udorn, Sandy 13 and Sandy 14, rendezvoused with the Sea King and escorted it over the coast just north of Thanh Hoa. About seven miles northwest of the infamous Dragon’s Jaw Bridge, Capt McKnight, the pilot of Sandy 14 radioed that he was receiving ground fire and then disappeared into cloud. Capt McKnight could not be raised on the radio so Nimble 62 and Sandy 13 searched the area for as long as their fuel would allow but to no avail. After refuelling on board the Independence, Nimble 62 flew back to Thanh Hoa to search for Capt McKnight, this time escorted by two Navy Skyraiders. After an hour of fruitless searching, Nimble 62 flew on to the crash site of Jolly Green 85, some 40 miles to the northwest. Just as the SAR task force was about to give up and return to the carrier due to approaching darkness, a SAR beeper was heard and the evader signalled with the light from his cigarette lighter. The Sea King dropped a jungle penetrator on a long cable and Sgt Naugle, the flight engineer from Jolly Green 85, was hauled up to safety. The helicopter had to refuel from a destroyer at sea in order to reach the Independence safely. Sgt Naugle wrote an excellent account of his rescue that was published on the Internet under the Jolly Green Association’s website. The following morning Nimble 62 took off again to continue the search for survivors but it was badly damaged by ground fire and had to make an emergency landing and the crew had to be rescued themselves. On the 8th yet another SAR mission was mounted to try to reach any survivors from Jolly Green 85. Skyraiders from both the Air Force and the Navy converged on the area where Jolly Green 85 had been shot down. A beeper was heard but two Air Force A-1Es were hit by ground fire and damaged and had to return to Udorn. Other Skyraiders strafed the anti-aircraft guns and enemy troops but by this time the rescue commanders realised that they would only lose more aircraft if they continued the SAR mission and reluctantly recalled the task force. The Jolly Green 85 crew (minus Sgt Naugle) had in fact been captured very soon after their helicopter had been shot down and they joined the two Sandy pilots in a North Vietnamese prison camp. All three helicopter crewmen remained incarcerated until their release on 12 February 1973. Capt Lilly had flown H-19s at SAC missile sites earlier in his career and had taken part in the testing programme to introduce the CH-3 into USAF service before deploying to Vietnam. Lt Singleton became an Air Force Chaplain in 1978 and retired in 1985. The events of the 6-8 November had little tangible results for the loss of two helicopters and two Skyraiders and damage to four others, together with the loss (although fortunately all eventually survived) of five airmen. The incident shows the remarkable lengths to which the US forces were willing to go to attempt a rescue. However, this was not the end of the story as in October 1967 George McKnight together with Navy Lt George Coker escaped from a prison camp in North Vietnam. Unfortunately, they were recaptured the next day after travelling 15 miles and were severely tortured for the attempt. They are among a very small number of Americans who escaped, albeit briefly, from captivity in North Vietnam. Capt Bolstad and Capt McKnight were both released from captivity on 12 February 1973. |
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