On Wednesday Sept 9th, about a week after we arrived as the Advance Team, the other 78 Green Berets arrived and we started our training
The TOC log entry for Thursday, Sept 10th states, “Day 01 of training.”
The first 30 days of training was intense. The training started with PT every morning followed by running the Meadows Mile. Dick Meadows loved to run and he led many of our runs. Now I like to run, but not like Captain Meadows. If you were not in shape, you would soon be.
Training at the Mockup.
Read Sgt Terry Buckler’s full story in Who Will Go.
The Green Berets are constructing the Mockup at Eglin AFB…
…exactly 50 years ago this week
Multiple books and historians perpetuate an inaccurate story that we took the Mockup down every day. The concern was that the Soviet reconnaissance satellites passing over Eglin AFB each day might be able to determine what we were planning.
But I can clear up the misconception—we never took it down.
It is true that we were concerned, but those concerns were satisfied by a simple experiment (simple if you have an SR-71 Blackbird at your disposal.) An Air Force reconnaissance aircraft took some high-resolution photos for us while the Mockup was installed. Those photos proved that the Mockup could not be seen clearly enough by even the best high-res imagery.
I can tell you as one who constructed it and who used it for months: From the time that we arrived (Wednesday September 2nd) on through at least the end of our time at Aux Field #3 (November 16th), we did not take down the Mockup.
(Also see Sgt Robert Hobdy’s and Sgt Pat St. Clair’s explanations of this in Appendix 4 of Who Will Go.)
This photo was taken by a USAF reconnaissance jet to help in the determination that we WOULD NOT need to take down the Mockup. The photo was taken from an aircraft northwest of C-2 looking to the southeast. (Photo provided by John Gargus.)
Read Sgt Terry Buckler’s full story in Who Will Go.
I and about 25 other Green Berets comprised the Advance Party and one of our tasks was to build this large Mockup of buildings using target canvas as the walls with doors and with cut-outs for windows.
We began constructing it on Monday Sept 7th and it took us several days to complete. We didn’t know why we were having to build it. It wasn’t until we did our first walk-through during our initial training that I realized how it would be used.
We built it on what is known as Range C-2, formerly a strafing range used by the Air Force. Below is its never-before-revealed, secret location.
We had no idea it was a dimensionally perfect replica of all the buildings and walls of the POW camp in Son Tay, North Vietnam.
Auxiliary Field #3 (today it’s called Duke Field) is on the left. The green circle shows the location of Range C-2, where we were building the Mockup exactly 50 years ago today.
Read Sgt Terry Buckler’s full story in Who Will Go.
Sunday September 6th, 1970 …exactly 50 years ago today.
Story by USAF Major Ryland “Roy” Dreibelbis, Apple 4
I was stationed at the 37th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron at Da Nang Air Base, Republic of Vietnam, when Major Royal Brown and I were ordered to come back from Vietnam to Eglin AFB for some special training. We did not know the real purpose, only that we were going to Eglin to receive some additional operations training that could be implemented in Vietnam.
We arrived at Eglin on Labor Day weekend and were told to attend a meeting on base. As soon as I walked in the room, I realized that this was not going to be a normal training program. Several of the attendees were HH-53 instructors stationed at Eglin who had checked us out in the HH-53. It made sense that they would be at the meeting, as I assumed they would probably be our flight instructors.
But then, one of the officers on the stage told us that this was going to be a classified program and that a classified mission may (or may not) be flown at the end of a preparation effort. The officer added that the mission may involve considerable risk and if there is anyone in the room that does not want to participate, please leave the room immediately. No one left the room.
Those of us who came from outside the local area were told to obtain off base accommodations and to limit coming to the base except for meetings and scheduled preparation flights.
Our operational training began immediately. We started with familiarization flights that included flight line familiarization and a look at the local flying area where most of our future flights would take place. The flights were with instructor pilots that were part of the training staff at Eglin. We soon realized that some of them were actually going to participate in the mission in-country with us.
The aircrews are arriving at Eglin AFB this weekend…
…exactly 50 years ago.
Tomorrow’s post will be USAF Major Roy Dreibelbis’ story of his helicopter crew arriving at Eglin AFB this holiday weekend.
Have you told the next generation about what you did in the military?
Think of one child, or a niece or nephew that you could write your military story for. AND also… choose at least one grandchild or grandnephew for whom you could write your story. You need to capture those stories. Good stories. Bad stories.
Fifty years from today, your future generations will wish you had.
We can help. We’ve captured over 40 veterans’ stories and we’re just getting started at www.TheSonTayRaid.com
(You don’t have to be involved with the Son Tay Raid—but it’s great example of how to start capturing your story.)
Terry Buckler explains in his book Who Will Go that his father earned a Bronze Star in the Pacific in WW2. But Terry will never know how that Bronze Star was earned. The military records were all lost to fire. It’s a very sad story of the saddest day of his life.
These gentlemen were in the Son Tay Raid (I’ll list their names in the next post.) The children and grandchildren of each of these men need to have this great photo.
Today is the day to write down a story, back it up on a computer for posterity, and share it (we can offer to capture it here on our website so that you can easily share it with the younger generations.)
Contact us to help capture your veteran’s story by clicking here: Contact us.
