Ninety-one year old Bob Bailey was raised by his Waycross,
Georgia, maternal grandparents. “They
saw to it that I was well cared for,” says Bailey. “They even put up with my love for all things
aviation, building model airplanes, taking flying lessons, etc.”
Ironically, Bailey soloed for the first time on December 7,
1941.
He enlisted in the Army in December, 1942 and was later
accepted as an aviation cadet. During
flight training at Brookley Field, Alabama he met Betty Rose Waybright, from
nearby Irvington. They were married on
May 15, 1943.
Bailey became a B-29 pilot and was sent to Tinian Island in
the Pacific theater.
“These were the last stages of the war. From Tinian we were bombing the Japanese
homeland relentlessly, hoping they would surrender. My most graphic memory of World War II was a
night bombing raid over Tokyo – the whole earth looked like it was on
fire. Someone suggested the lid had been
taken off hell,” recalls Bailey.
Bailey had returned state-side when the atomic bombs were
dropped, signaling the end of the war.
He
left active duty with the USAAF but joined the U. S. Army Reserve.
He was recalled to active duty during the Korean War, this
time as an Army aviator. As an airborne
artillery observer, Bailey flew combat missions with the 25th
Division Artillery.
In 1961, with almost 20 years of service and two wars under
his belt, Bailey, now a major, became the Assistant Military Attaché at the
American Embassy in Laos. “I was excited
about this assignment. I could retain my
flight status, use the military expertise I had gained, see new parts of the
world – and bad guys wouldn’t be shooting at me.”
He became even more excited about the job as he piloted the
American ambassador and embassy personnel over Laos and surrounds, including
exotic destinations such as Bangkok and Saigon.
An engine change required Bailey’s Beechcraft L-23 to remain
in Saigon for several days. Returning
from Laos to Saigon to pick up his L-23 with new engine, he hitched a ride with
an Air Force C-47. He wasn’t deterred
when informed the unarmed C-47 would be flying a secret reconnaissance mission
over Communist-held territory.
Per Bailey, “There were six crew members plus one other hitch-hiker
and me. The pilot ordered everyone to
don parachutes. I will always believe
the Good Lord told me to choose a back-pack parachute versus the
chest-type. There was only one back-pack
parachute (which you leave on at all times) on the aircraft. Most aviators prefer the chest-type parachute
(which you can easily remove in flight).”
Soon the “not getting shot at” part of Bailey’s new
assignment literally went up in smoke.
“Our secret recon mission was fired upon by secret enemy anti-aircraft
guns. We were hit, the plane caught on
fire. The pilot ordered everyone to
jump. I was the only one with a
parachute already on so I immediately jumped through the side door which had
been removed for photographing.”
Bailey was struck by part of the C-47 fuselage as he exited
but recovered in time to watch the doomed aircraft’s death spiral
downward. He hoped to see seven
parachutes. There were none.
Given his shoulder and leg injuries, Bailey pondered his
safety. The area into which he was
jumping was locked in a three-way civil war – two of the aggressors were less
than friendly towards covert American intervention.
The good news of the jump -- he landed safely, rescuers came
to his aid, and a modicum of medical attention was given his wounds by his
captors.
The bad news – at that moment, Bailey realized he was a
prisoner of war.
As the first American prisoner of war in Southeast Asia,
Bailey spent the next 17 months in solitary confinement in a small, dismal, unlit
cell. He went from a robust 185 pounds
to an emaciated 135 pounds.
It could have been worse – of the more than 600 Americans
captured or unaccounted for in Laos, only 15 escaped or were released.
Fortunate to be one of the 15, Bailey was finally freed and
returned home to his wife and three children.
President John F. Kennedy presented him with a bronze star. He doesn’t remember who presented him his purple
heart, but recalls, “There were generals all over the place.” Colonel Bob Bailey retired in 1970 with 28
years of service.
Of Bailey’s book, SOLITARY SURVIVOR, fellow Georgian, Newt
Gingrich writes, “This is a story about uncommon valor, unparalleled courage
and untiring personal strength.”
Bob and Betty Bailey reside in Carolina Estates. They moved to Greensboro to be near their
youngest daughter, Elaine, a retired Episcopal priest. They have two other children, seven
grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
There is more to the remarkable story of Betty and Bob
Bailey than most people know. After 23
years of marriage, three children, two wars, the POW notoriety, and a
continuing barrage of duty assignments requiring family separations, the Baileys
divorced by mutual agreement.
Bob Bailey met and married Mary Jean Jordan, a former high
school sweetheart from Waycross, Georgia.
Jordan’s fighter pilot husband had been killed during World War II. After many years of marriage, Jean passed away
in 2000.
Betty and Bob had remained in friendly contact since their
divorce. In 2007, they were remarried --
on May 15, the same date of their first marriage in 1943.
Ol'Harry
No comments:
Post a Comment