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Rescue of Capt. Marvin Mayfield, USAF |
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July 27, 1966 |
After the rescue, I was surprised to learn, via a letter from Capt. Mayfield, through official channels, that the Air Force was not flying their helicopters at night at this time. The Jolly Green that showed up as we cleared the beach was evidently up at first light. One really good thing came out of this rescue. It became clear that Capt. Mayfield did not know the Navy was providing SAR services! The Air Force did not brief their pilots of our whereabouts, and the Navy was not providing our pilots with information about other SAR groups. Cdr. Lockwood made sure two senior HS-6 officers went to Da Nang that afternoon, and by nightfall, each service was aware of all SAR options. — Ron Clarke — via Email on 12/29/06
| Ron Clarke's account of the rescue | |
| Ron Clarke's Logbook - July 1966 | |
| Jimmy Conrad's account of the rescue | |
| SH-3 - Buno 149735 used during rescue | |
| Lori Mayfield remembers her father |
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| Capt. Marvin Mayfield with a RF-4C like the plane he was flying when shot down on 27 July, 1966 | Stock photo of RF-4C from Mayfield's squadron getting airborne | Capt. Mayfield and his ground transport on-base in South Viet Nam |
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| Capt. Mayfield's intended flight route the night he was shot down | Map of area where Capt. Mayfield was rescued | |
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Newspaper articles about the rescue of Captain Mayfield |
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Official USAF press release on Captain Mayfield's rescue
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Picture of Lori Mayfield on her 4th birthday sent to the Captain in Viet Nam by Lori's mother - picture is mentioned by Lori in her story above |
Lori and her 2 ½ year old son, Ames Somerset Mayfield - Spring 2009 |
| Lori Mayfield visited the site of her father's shoot-down and rescue in 2003 | ||
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Me (in the gold jacket) trying to recreate some kind of helicopter experience there--closest I got was this Russian heli-jet in Hanoi--it was first flight of the New Year so they greeted us with flowers. (My dad never mentioned anything about being greeted with flowers when he landed there)
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This
man (in blue sweater) was allegedly there the night my dad was shot
down/rescued--this guy is 80 yrs old--he was a rice farmer by day and at
night it was his job to identify planes above, and when they were shot
down, try and rally villagers to capture the downed pilots. I shot some
video of this interview I had with him (via translators)--would love to get
that transcribed by someone from a Berlitz language place. Who knows for
sure
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Rescue site and one of the water buffalo (or likely its descendent) that my father was mistaken for by Ron and Jerry. |
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Updated:03/23/09