1967 Vietnam: A Memorial Day Story

Normally, I would be witty, make a few strong points, and add graphics to enhance my writing. Today, being Memorial Day, 2021, I will tell you without my usual style the only story my dad has told me which included the death of US troops.

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When Hugh was in Vietnam, his assignment was not flying. Aviators must keep up their flight hours in order to keep their wings. So he did what many other aviators did; he hung around the bars that Air America used to recruit pilots. In the Vietnam era, Air America was the not so secret "company" that was really the CIA.

Hugh took an assignment with Air America to fly two guys to one of the US fire bases north of Saigon at night. 

Because our fire bases were in hostile territory, the landing strips were off the base and not secure. The proper protocol was to call in to the base when the plane was 10-15 minutes out, the troops would then leave the base, secure the airfield, and when the plane left, they would all go back to the base with the men who had been dropped off.

On this occasion when they were 10-15 minutes out from the base, the two men told him not to bother calling in. They would make their way to the base on their own. 

It was a fatal decision.

Even as he was landing the plane, they started to take enemy fire. He dropped the two off and immediately took off again. He continued to take fire and called the base to tell them that the two guys were already on the ground and taking fire. 

As he rose in the air, he got a good perspective on what was happening on the ground. Unfortunately, what he saw was muzzle flashes surrounding the area he had dropped the two men off. He is convinced to this day that those men did not survive, could not have survived their decision to land on their own.

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I looked online to see if CIA officers KIA were on the Vietnam wall. The CIA has their own memorial, so the answer is "no." Below is a picture of a page from the CIA memorial. You will notice that instead of names, there are stars for when the operative could not be identified, even in death. 

Remember, Memorial Day is to honor those who gave their lives for our freedom, the last full measure of devotion.

1953 - The Korean War, the Frozen Chosin, and HD

Following the end of World War II, the Korean Peninsula was divided at the 38th Parallel Latitude into two occupation zones, one administered by the Soviets and one administered by the US. By 1948, there were two distinct nations in Korea, both claiming sovereignty over the whole peninsula. In the North, Kim Il-sung (no relation) led the socialist regime. In the South, Syngman Rhee was in charge of the capitalist government.

The Korean War began on June 25, 1950 when the army of North Korea invaded South Korea. At that time, Hugh Sheffield had been in the US Navy, active duty for two years.

The North Korean army swept through South Korea and until the United Nations interceded (really it was the USA. 90% of the military was from the US), the war looked like it would end quickly and Kim Il-sung (no relation) would control the whole Korean Peninsula.

Even with US military intervention, we struggled in the small bit of land we controlled until Gen. Douglas MacArthur planned a successful campaign where he landed UN (90% US) forces at Inchon, far north of where the North Korean Army was fighting. That was a turning point of the war as the NK Army began withdrawing and the SK Army + the UN (US) began pursuing. 

By October, 1950, the SK Army, and the UN/US forces had reached the Chosin

Reservoir with little to no resistance from the NK Army. The Chosin Reservoir is just south of the Yalu River, the border with Communist China.

Seemingly out of nowhere in November of 1950 120,000 Chinese soldiers moved to surround the 30,000 UN forces. It was freezing cold (hence the nickname "Frozen Chosin), the Chinese were relentless in their attacks and it was determined that the UN forces needed to head to the coast for evacuation, which they did, through the Chinese army. 

What follows I learned in 2019, 69 years after the event. Granted, I was not alive at the time, but still, he waited 69 years to tell me?! Please! As Hugh told me about it, there was no drama, just a father telling his son a story. I was incredulous, having read the history of the Frozen Chosin, to find out that my dad had played a part in rescuing those men, the Marines, specifically.

It is at this point that Hugh Sheffield enters the picture. In Japan, where he happened to be in December of 1950, US Navy pilots were ordered onto 8 PBY amphibious aircraft to pick up as many US Marines as possible at a place called Hungnam. They ran missions back and forth from Japan and Hangnam until the Marines were all evacuated. Most were taken by ship, some went by PBY flown by Hugh and the other Navy pilots. They had to get the Marines out as quickly as they could because the Chinese Army was all around them. So Hugh Sheffield was a part of the fighting evacuation of the Marines from Chosin. Pretty cool.

Read up on the Chosin Reservoir and the fighting evacuation. Lots of books have been written about it. It's very famous and helped build the Marines mystique.