Mike Bush
Editor
575magazine.com
Two Vietnam War helicopter pilots presented a video of a rescue mission during that war and the New Mexico Military Institute vocal ensemble performed in the hospital lobby as Roswell Regional Hospital continued its celebration of Veterans Week Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning.
At a reception in the lobby Tuesday night, Jack Swickard and Tom Baca showed a video documentary of rescue missions they flew in which they rescued 126 South Vietnamese soldiers and an American advisor from an ambush set by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong troops in South Vietnam near the Cambodian border.
Baca said when the rescue happened, in May 1967, Operation Junction City, the largest operation of the Vietnam War, had been under way for about 60 days.
For Baca, it was supposed to be an easy day. He had about 12 days left before his tour ended, he said, “and I was pretty nervous about getting into too much action because I had already seen a lot. We always had this thought as helicopter pilots that you got killed right after you got to Vietnam or right before you wee supposed to leave.”
It was Sunday, and Baca was flying a Special Forces chaplain around on what was supposed to be a “milk run” when he heard about some South Vietnamese troops who were trapped near the Cau Song Be Special Forces Camp about 15 miles from the Cambodian border. The purpose of Operation Junction City was to push the North Vietnamese into Cambodia, and a unit of 500-600 North Vietnamese soldiers and 100 or more Viet Cong troops was performing a blocking operation so North Vietnamese could escape into Cambodia.
The Communist soldiers trapped a unit of South Vietnamese soldiers and U.S. Special Forces advisors that had been raiding supply lines along the Ho Chi Min Trail.
Meanwhile, Swickard was flying the Special Forces paymaster around to camps. On board his helicopter was Lt. Al Croteau, a communications officer with Swickard’s assault helicopter company, who had volunteered to fly as a gunner so he could see more of the country.
After making a medical evacuation run to bring out 6 wounded soldiers, Baca was preparing to go back to the combat area to help evacuate the surrounded troops. He called for help and Swickard answered. They met briefly on the ground to formulate a plan of action and took off, flying in five times to get the troops out.
During the evacuation, Croteau and Baca’s copilot, Capt. Larry Liss, played crucial roles in the rescue. Both got out of the helicopters, under fire, and helped the South Vietnamese soldiers board the aircraft.
Baca said when he and Swickard spoke to NMMI cadets a couple of weeks ago, they said the lesson was, What do you do when you are faced with an order not to do something but you know you need to do it because it’s right?
“That’s leadership under stress,” he said.
Baca said his wife, a nurse, works in an operating room in an Albuquerque hospital, so he knows hospital personnel face similar decisions every day.
“You just have to go in and you have to do what you think is best at that point in time,” he said.
Swickard said part of his motivation was that he didn’t want to wake up in the middle of the night 30 years later asking himself, “Why didn’t I go get those guys?”
“It would have been easier probably to be killed than have that pop up in 30 years,” he said.
Rod Schumacher Roswell Regional chief executive officer, thanked the pair for their service.
“We have the ability to be here because you were there, and we certainly are grateful for that,” he said.
“The heritage of this country is deeply rooted in our military traditions and the accomplishments of our service people,” he added. “We’re proud to be part of that tradition.”
At 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, another crowd gathered in the hospital lobby to hear the NMMI Vocal Ensemble perform. The group, under the direction of NMMI Lt. Col. Steve Thorp, performed a “service medley” including “The Army Goes Rolling Along,” “The Marine Hymn,” the Navy’s “Anchors Aweigh,” the Coast Guard’s “Semper Paratus” and “The U.S. Air Force”; “The Star-Spangled Banner”; and a vocal version of “Taps.”
The ensemble include Cadet Lt. Col. Sarah Sanford; Cadet Staff Sgts. Jose Campos, Jacob Trevino, James Hernandez and Erica Ratliff; and Cadet Recruit Sara Brown.