When it was time for his attack run, Smith aimed his plane at one of the barracks buildings. The raid included other attack aircraft and fighter escorts. His cockpit held a small TV monitor to guide the weapon onto its target. The squadron flew the A-4 Skyhawk, a light attack jet able to carry nearly 10,000 pounds of ordnance-more than a B-17. The age of precision weapons was dawning.Ĭommander Homer Smith led VA-212, an attack squadron based on the aircraft carrier Bon Homme Richard (CV-31), a World War II-era, Essex-class ship modernized for the continuing struggle of the Cold War. The nose of the Walleye contained a small TV camera that allowed the pilot to monitor its descent to the target. The Walleye glide bomb was a free-fall, 1,000-pound munition equipped with an innovation that promised to change warfare. On March 11, 1967, the Americans came for Sam Son armed with a new weapon. The base was near the coast, placing it within easy reach of the United States Navy. The sizable crowd Thursday morning saw a ceremony had all the hallmarks of a traditional service, patriotic music, a presentation of flags, the pledge of allegiance, and the Star Spangled Banner, beautifully sung by Alexis Gomez.The North Vietnamese Army barracks at Sam Son was less than 100 miles south of the capital city of Hanoi. Some people had relatives in the war, some people that just remember the divided country that we had. “I think there will be a big crowd that will come here until Sunday when it closes,” Bevis expressed. The Veteran works with the Centerville-Washington Foundation - which helped finance the year-long effort to bring the traveling exhibit here. There were tears this morning,” he said.īevis shares in the emotion that many attending the memorial are feeling. “We lost quite a few pilots we probably lost the plane once a week so this was - I thought it was gonna be easy but it was tough. Michael Bevis joined four other men representing five branches of U.S.
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