Listening to every transmission from 35,000 feet
Episode 20 (the final episode).
APPRECIATION by the author(s) of the 20 episodes:
Sergeant Robert J. “Bob” Ruseckas
USAF, March 1967 – March 1971
Linguist in the North Vietnamese dialect
6990th Security Squadron
RC-135M
I truly did not know this much detail about the Son Tay Raid until decades later. I have read as many books and accounts as possible about the Raid and, together with Cliff Westbrook, we’ve pieced together my experiences with the timeline of events from USAF and Army documents, including Colonel Frisbie’s and General Manor’s reports to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Cliff has interviewed many of the participants in the Raid.
We rely heavily upon the world-class research done by John Gargus, Colonel, USAF (retired), and highly recommend you purchase his book The Son Tay Raid: American POWs in Vietnam Were Not Forgotten.
We also appreciate the help of the following:
Robert “Bruce” McClelland, Jr. (6-Op aboard the RC-135M on the Son Tay Raid)
Kirk Carpenter (7-Op aboard the RC-135M on the Son Tay Raid)
Stepen Konstenius (aboard the Navy EP-3 on the Son Tay Raid), host of Veterans Talk Radio on KKXX,
George F. Schreader, author of Hognose Silent Warrior, and
Jim Cavanaugh, RC-135M crewmember, later Deputy Director of Policy at the NSA.
We also appreciate so many of the Son Tay Raid Association members for sharing their recollections.
I would love to listen to those old reel-to-reel tapes again…
Written with the help of Cliff Westbrook, Co-author (with Terry Buckler) of Who will Go: Into the Son Tay POW Camp and Son of Clyde “Neal” Westbrook, Aircraft Commander of Lime 2 on the Son Tay Raid
Photo provided by Robert Ruseckas.
Photo provided by Robert Ruseckas.
Bibliography for the 20 Episodes.
Gargus, John, Col USAF, ret. The Son Tay Raid: American POWs in Vietnam Were Not Forgotten. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2010
Schreader, George F. Hognose Silent Warrior:The USAF’s Airborne Intelligence War in the Final Air Campaigns of Vietnam. Outskirts Press, 2017
Buckler, Terry, and Westbrook, Cliff. Who Will Go: Into the Son Tay POW Camp. Palmetto Publishing, 2020
Image Sources for the 20 Episodes.
Image 1.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/P12.jpg
Image 2.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0e/Spoon_rest_B.jpg
Image 3.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/North_vietnamese_S-75_SAM_site.JPG
Image 4.
Image 5.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Antloppk.jpg
Image 6.
https://vietnamtheartofwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Fig-15-Nguyen-Duc-Tho-e1585925759930.jpg
Image 7.
http://www.ausairpower.net/APA-Sov-SAM-Simulator.html
Image 8.
Image 9.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d4/S-75_Dvina.jpg/800px-S-75_Dvina.jpg
Image 10.
http://www.ausairpower.net/APA-Sov-SAM-Simulator.html
Image 11.
http://www.ausairpower.net/APA-Sov-SAM-Simulator.html
Image 12.
https://witnesscollection.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/A03.12.9-768×524.jpg
Image 13.
https://nuke.fas.org/guide/russia/airdef/hq-2_7.jpg
Image 14.
Image 15.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGM-45_Shrike#/media/File:AGM-45_Shrike_detonation.gif
Image 16.
Image 17.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/92/F-105_hit_by_SA-2_over_Vietnam.jpg
Image 18.
Image 19.
Photo provided by Robert Ruseckas.
Image 20.
Photo provided by Robert Ruseckas.
See more photos and stories on this website and in Who Will Go, which is just as much to honor the wives and family as the men themselves.
Click Here: The audiobook is now available.