My Gomer

He came to the 19th Air Refueling Squadron in 1964, probably the last brand new copilot out of the KC-97 pipeline. Dave was a young faced bachelor lieutenant whose full name was Gomer David Reece III. His home town was Scarsdale, N.Y., and I always wondered what his mother had against him to name him Gomer. To us he was known simply as Dave. We were the last active duty KC-97 Squadron although the National Guard operated the grand old lady well into the early 1970s. We all parted ways in 1965 and I lost track of him.

The next time I saw mention of Dave was in the book "The Ravens" by Christopher Robbins. I keep a treasured copy of that book in my personal library. Robbins writes that Captain Dave was lost on his very first, checkout, mission as a Raven. Flying with a Captain James E. Cross, a veteran Raven about to rotate back home to the States they were ambushed by an enemy 37 mm anti-aircraft gun in the Ban Ban valley. The date was April 24, 1970. Their aircraft a UC-17B was hit with three 37 mm rounds, subsequently crashed and exploded on impact with trees. The crash site was in "Indian Country" and though the wreckage was sighted by another pilot in a T-28 fighter, no movement, no beeper signals and no radio transmissions so no further effort was made for rescue. Both pilots were listed as "killed body not recovered".

Incidentally the UC-17B, known as the Helio Courier, was a wonderful short field takeoff and landing aircraft manufactured in Massachusetts. It was some larger than the primary FAC aircraft of the time the O-1 (The Army called it the L-19) "Bird Dog" built by Cessna. To the best of my knowledge the Air Force did not buy UC-17's but it was a favorite of CIA operators' world wide. It is my understanding that the CIA also owned the factory that produced it.

Then last month in an on-line Air Force newsletter I read that the remains of Captain Gomer D. Reece III of Scarsdale, New York and his partner, Capt. James E. Cross, of Warren, Ohio, had been recovered from Xiangkhoang Province, Laos. Positive identification has been verified and Dave's remains will be interred in Arlington National Cemetery next spring. Hopefully his grave will be placed near my former copilot Ken Kelly's resting place and for sure I will go visit the old friends at least one more time.

I too flew missions over Laos in during the summers of 1967, 1968, and 1969. My sorties were made in a KC-135 and were flown mostly above 20,000 feet. We were well above the capabilities of any antiaircraft guns possessed by the North Vietnamese Army or their Communist allies the Pathet Lao at the time. Intelligence informed us of the locations of possible Surface to Air Missile (SAM) sites and we simply skirted around those.

The Ravens, though, flew low and slow over the plains and mountains of that verdant green countryside. Technically the United States had no armed forces in Laos as it was declared a neutral country in Geneva accords signed by our government so the Ravens flew and lived in civilian clothes. The Ravens were extremely dedicated to the freedom-loving people of Laos and put their very lives on the line for them. They believed in America and job it was trying to do in Southeast Asia.

The Vietnam War was a Democrat President's war, our involvement initiated by President Kennedy and greatly enlarged and captained by President Lyndon B. Johnson. Although I feel that the president knew full well that we were fighting a shadow war in Laos, that presence was kept secret from the American public. At the time my compatriots and I were also dimly aware of what was happening in Laos but we had no official need to know and left it at that.

"Raven" was the radio call sign of what was officially called the "Steve Canyon Program." Those recruited were Air Force pilots with at least six months experience in Vietnam. They tended to be the very best of the pilots, but by definition, this meant that they were also mavericks and considered a bit wild by the mainstream military establishment. In addition they had to volunteer for the special duty.

In Vietnam, the rules of engagement were complex, sometimes unwieldy and many times downright dysfunctional! Those chosen to be Raven FAC's had to have demonstrated an ability to be, shall we say, "innovative" in accomplishing their mission of supporting friendly troops on the ground. In practice the FAC was a "Little Napoleon" in his assigned area, he knew the area intimately, knew where the friendly's were operating and did the best he could to thwart the intentions of the enemy forces. The job carried awesome responsibility for a young lieutenant or captain and only the best were selected to be Raven's. Sadly Dave's tour with the brave men who proudly called themselves Raven was tragically short, although he experienced the honor of being chosen.

I wrote recently about another young pilot from my old tanker squadron, a contemporary and friend of Dave Reese. Hal Zook was also killed in the Vietnam War. To the best of my knowledge these two officers were the only Vietnam casualties from that unit. I find it a bit ironic that both were carried as missing for so many years and only recently were identified and now brought home to rest in peace.

Now if only the remains of Navy Lt. j.g. Michael Confer and Air Force Capt. Michael Klingner could be found and brought home to rest I too would feel a better sense of completion. Both Klinger and Confer were McCook High School graduates. Both came up missing in Vietnam and both are presumed killed in action. I was lucky enough to make it back home unscathed and my heroes are these four and more that I called friend which now have their names honorably engraved on the Vietnam Wall.

That is the way I see it.

Sources: Personal memory; www.arlingtoncemetery.net/gdreese3.htm; goodsoldiers.blogspot.com/2008/09/fallen-heroes-james-e-cross-gomer-d.html; and http://www.powernetwork.org/bios/r/r356.htm