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Home : News
NEWS | Oct. 3, 2019

NY Air Guard members recall Vietnam battles at reunion

By Tech. Sgt. Ryan Campbell New York National Guard

NIAGARA FALLS AIR RESERVE STATION, N.Y. — More than 40 New York Air National Guardsmen who fought in the Vietnam War as members of the 107th Tactical Fighter Group held their first reunion Sept. 14-15.

The group – now the New York Air National Guard's 107th Attack Wing – deployed its 136th Tactical Fighter Squadron to Tuy Hoa Air Base, South Vietnam, in 1968 and 1969 to fly close air support, reconnaissance, patrols and other missions.

Fifty years after their deployment, the Airmen gathered to share their experiences of the war.

"What you got to do, you got to do. We just went," said Paul Sorci, a sergeant assigned to the armaments shop. "Though I was married and had a 7-month-old son."

The squadron left for Vietnam in June 1968, reinforcing the 31st Tactical Fighter Wing. It participated in some of the largest campaigns of the war, including the Tet Offensive and the siege of Khe Sanh.

"It was a long trip," Sorci recalled, about the journey to Vietnam.

"We left here about midnight, flew all night to California as the sun was coming up," said James Goetz, who was a sergeant assigned to the armaments shop. "The sun didn't go down again until we landed in Vietnam."

Crossing the international dateline and not knowing what day it was, the first impression of Vietnam was a stark comparison to life in Niagara Falls, the men said.

It was hot, Goetz and Sorci said, and the first order of business was finding a place to sleep.

"One year is what they said," said Sorci, describing how long they would be in country.

"There were always rumors they were going to send us home in three months," said Goetz.

On the ground in Vietnam, members of the 136th got straight to work and began flying missions.

Ed Jackson, a Lockport Army veteran who fought in the war at the same time the 136th was there, was invited to the reunion to share a point of view the Airmen haven't often heard. He had seen the 136th in action from the ground.

Jackson was drafted into the Army in 1968 and found himself in Vietnam the month before the 136th arrived. "I landed in Vietnam six months to the day I was inducted," he said.

He was a Specialist 5 assigned to the 1st Infantry Division's 2nd Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, the day the Guard pilots of the 136th Fighter Squadron helped his unit out.

"It was kind of just a normal day for us," Jackson recalled.

"We were out on a patrol and all of a sudden we got ambushed," he said. "We were pinned down pretty bad and we called for artillery support, which was the normal first thing you called for but it wasn't helping much at all."

Jackson said the next thing to do was to call for air support.

"They came in and dropped their ordnance and they were no more than 10 yards away from me when they dropped their cluster bombs," said Jackson. "When they dropped we were down on the ground and leaves were shaking and everything else."

That air support made the difference, as most of the firefights in the area subsided and Jackson's unit was able to sweep the area. He recalled that his unit ended the day with three killed in action and six wounded, which could have been worse had it not been for the fighters he would see again later that night.

"Back at our night defensive position, they flew in at treetop level and they did kind of a victory roll," said Jackson. "When they came back around they came in inverted and I remember seeing on tail, the 107th."

As it happened Jackson explained, the 136th went into action that day early enough into their deployment that their F-100 Super Sabres had not yet been painted with camouflage colors and new tail markings and therefore still had the 107th identifiers on their tails.

Later on, the aircraft would simply say "SG," one of many identifiers used in Vietnam to denote what base an aircraft was stationed at in country.

Jackson remembered the activation and deployment of the 107th made news. He said he never would have imagined running into members of the unit in Vietnam. When he heard about the reunion, he wanted to say thank you for that day five decades ago.

"That was a long year," Sorci said about the time in Vietnam.

"We had to turn around airplanes and we only had so much time to do it," said Goetz. "There was always somebody yelling 'faster, faster,' but we fell into a routine."

Each fighter squadron in Vietnam had to keep planes on alert, the veterans said. This meant that at all times aircraft had to be ready to fly.

"We worked all night," said Goetz. "Every squadron had to take a chance and have two alert birds ready 24 hours; if we got the call we knew someone was in trouble."

Sorci and Goetz said leaving behind families was the toughest part of the deployment, despite continuous threats, like a mortar attack on their base.

One night, that abstract danger got real, they remembered. A massive mortar attack destroyed C-130s and F-100s and injured Airmen.

"That was kind of a bad night," Sorci said.

"Yeah, we didn't have any fun that night. We thought it was something else," Goetz added. "They called Tuy Hoa the safest base in Vietnam. Not anymore."

The year in Vietnam would earn the Guard members numerous awards: three Purple Hearts, one Distinguished Flying Cross and 43 Air Medals, along with one posthumous New York State Medal of Valor, the highest award in the New York National Guard, to Capt. Joseph L'Hullier.

L'Hullier was killed in action July 25, 1968, when his F-100 took damage while dive-bombing in the area of Chu Lai. He was found within 30 minutes, but died before he could be hospitalized.

L'Hullier became the first New York National Guardsman killed in action since World War II, and the first for the 107th.

"It's like losing one of the family," said Goetz. "Everybody's a brother."

With 30 days left in country, Sorci said they started counting down the days.

"In this case, they got us out of there on time," said Sorci.

At the end of May 1969, the squadron started making its way back to Niagara Falls. On June 11, it was released from federal active duty and returned to New York State control.

"We landed and the town of Niagara Falls had a band there for us," said Goetz. "All of our family was there. They played songs for us. We got more than probably a lot of other people got."

"We came home on a C-141 Starliner, which was an adventure in itself," added Sorci. "Just the feeling of being home though and seeing your family. It's not like today where you have cellphones and can call home."

"My kids didn't know who I was," said Goetz. "My wife didn't know who I was," he joked.

Goetz, who was in the New York Air National Guard from 1964 to 1970, and Sorci, who was in from 1964 to 1969, were glad they did their part in the war.

"Afterward, yeah, very glad," said Sorci.

Goetz re-enlisted in 1986 and served until 2003.

"I loaded three generations of airplanes," said Goetz. "F-100s, F-4s and F-16s."

Despite the passing of time, they still have a soft spot for the F-100s that served them so well in Vietnam and saw service from 1954 to 1979.

"Loved it!" said Sorci. "I'd probably still say it's the greatest plane we ever had. Durable, fast, pilots loved it and it carried quite a payload."

Fifty years later, the 107th now flies the MQ-9, a remotely piloted aircraft the unit started flying in 2015.

At the reunion, it is seeing familiar faces for the first time in decades that is the highlight of the night.

"It sure is different," said Sorci. "We were basically kids back then, 20 or 21 years old."

"If I'm with anybody, I'm glad it's with him," Goetz said of Sorci.

"I hope we have more of these," said Sorci.