“When Clyde came in and strapped in, with his survival gear on – we had all of this stuff stored in the aircraft, so we could put it on right there and jump in – he released the rotor brake, which started the generators going. Lassen went into the combat information center, the CIC, to get a briefing while Cook got the UH-2A Seasprite ready to fly. Said co-pilot Cook: “It was after midnight June 18, 1968, when we got the call, and the F-4 crew had been on the ground about half an hour.” John “Zeke” Burns, parachuted into the darkness. Lassen, Cook, and crew were launched after a missile blasted an F-4 Phantom out of the night sky near Vinh. Leroy Cook put it, “Nobody had ever done a night inland rescue. But Lassen’s crew left the safety of the Gulf, crossed the coast, and flew 25 miles inland in sheer darkness. Lassen’s mission was supposed to be simple: Take off from a destroyer and fly in daylight to rescue the pilot of any battle-damaged aircraft that came out of North Vietnam and ditched in the Gulf of Tonkin. Clyde Lassen, who flew into a hail of gunfire to rescue a downed pilot, both recipients of the Medal of Honor. Stockdale, who resisted torture as a prisoner of war, and helicopter pilot Lt. None of this detracted from the incredible sacrifice of individual heroes – men like Rear Adm.

The result was a confusing command-and-control arrangement.

North of the 17th Parallel, those fierce rivals the Navy and Air Force parceled up North Vietnam, with each service claiming part of the geography for its targets. 7th Fleet carrier battle groups in the Gulf of Tonkin did not come under the U.S. Navy men fought courageously in Vietnam, but the brass was criticized for applying air and naval power unevenly. The Crusaders already on the catapults are from VF-191, “Satan’s Kittens.” The Crusader in the foreground is probably from VF-191’s sister squadron VF-194, “Red Lightnings.” U.S. F-8J Crusaders prepare to launch from USS Oriskany (CV 34) circa 1970.

Us navy involvement in vietnam war