Yeoman's Work

“All hands -- our flag is going up on Mt. Suribachi,” announced the Beachmaster on Iwo Jima, February 23, 1945.  Yeoman 2^ND Class Delmas Bearden was just offshore, aboard the USS Stokes.  “It was noisy aboard ship, we didn’t hear the announcement at all, I just looked up at the right time!”

As a WW II history buff, and a friend of Bearden for many years, it was a surprise to hear about this at such a late date.

Nomenclature-wise, I asked for your behalf – A Navy Yeoman of Bearden’s era typed, filed and kept records.  Today, they compute and understand Excel.   

Bearden may set the modesty bar among WW II combat veterans, while his lack of modesty pertaining to Duke University is another issue.

As for the iconic flag-raising, Bearden issued a classic understatement, “Yeah, seeing that flag go up was pretty special”.

Bearden mentioned the Stokes was built in Wilmington, NC.  He did not mention her namesake was Stokes County, NC.  Nor did he mention Ken Brown, a Sandy Ridge researcher who has compiled an incredible base of information about the ship, including contact with seven crew members.  (Brown passed away in 2014) 

It would have made Brown’s day to learn the eighth is less than an hour away.

CROSSING THE EQUATOR ABOARD USS STOKES

“In the ninth grade, I talked my parents into giving their permission for me to join the Navy.”  Miscalculations of Bearden’s birth year are sizeable and beyond the scope of this writing. 

As for choosing the navy, “I didn’t want to fight on land!”

Bearden probably rethought that in June, 1944.  His ship, the USS Tide, struck a mine, exploding with such force that the 890-ton ship was lifted five feet out of the water.

Ironically, the Tide was a mine sweeper.  She cleared Normandy waters for two days before and during the invasion.  Unfortunately, the Germans laid new mines faster than the Tide could sweep.

“I came off the night shift, but decided to sleep in my office up on the bridge rather than go below deck to my bunk.”  Not without peril, but that was a wise decision. 

The Tide’s commanding officer was killed by the blast and the executive officer took command.  He reported, “The explosion broke the ship’s back, tore a tremendous hole in her bottom, and destroyed all bulkheads below the waterline.  I went up to the bridge and found that everyone there had been killed or wounded.”

Rejoining Bearden, “I don’t know how, but I wound up on a hospital ship, recuperating later in a hospital in Scotland.  With only a broken collar bone, I followed doctors around and made notes for them.  I returned home for convalescent leave on the Queen Mary.”

Not unexpectedly, other Tide shipmates remember their stay on Normandy hospital ships differently, “We remained in the area forty-eight hours while the invasion unfolded – we were bombed by airplanes, struck a mine, and took enemy fire from the beach!”

Both time and the golfer’s code prohibit explaining how Bearden won a purple heart during the D-Day Invasion at Normandy in June, 1944, and participated in D-Day at Iwo Jima in February, 1945 – at only eighteen.

There is more.  We shouldn’t overlook the bookends of Bearden’s navy career. 

His first year at sea was aboard a tanker, the USS Kennebec.  “We transported oil between Texas and New York.”  At war’s end, Bearden was on his fourth ship, a gunboat preparing for the invasion and occupation of Japan. 

After the war, Bearden finished high school, took Lois as his wife, and a Savannah, Georgia job in the building products industry as a livelihood.  Forty-nine years later he retired from Carolina Builders in Greensboro, North Carolina.  “No, it wasn’t that I really loved the building trade, but it helped with food for the family and college for our two sons.”

Lois died after fifty-nine years of marriage.  They were members of Greensboro’s First Baptist Church, where he served as a deacon.  They have four grandchildren.

As for Bearden’s demonstrative devotion to Duke, “One of our sons graduated from Duke – we’re Duke poor, but Duke proud.” 

Bearden’s extraordinary spectrum of naval service is as easy to recap as it is difficult to believe – enlisted at fifteen, seaborne at sixteen, Normandy invasion at seventeen, Iwo Jima landing at eighteen, and discharged at nineteen! 

There is no doubt -- his generation is the greatest. 

DELMAS BEARDEN GETS HUGE WELCOME AFTER
RETURN FROM D-DAY MEMORIAL 06JUN2014

BEARDEN LIVES IN BURLINGTON, NC WITH HIS SON, BOB

MACHINE GUNNER IS MACHINE-GUNNED

Tommie Hinton joined J.P. Stevens’ Slater, SC plant in the early forties as a size mixer.  Forty-four years later, he retired in Greensboro, NC as Cost Director, Corporate Group, J.P. Stevens.

There was a short break in Hinton’s J.P. Stevens service – he was drafted into the Army in September, 1942 and served until October, 1945.

Assigned to the 95^TH Infantry Division, forming at Camp Swift, TX, he says, “I walked all over TX!”  Maneuvers and specialized training took the 95^TH to LA, CA and PA before reaching Boston for deployment overseas.  

In September, 1944, Hinton’s unit went ashore at Normandy.  In mid-October, as part of Patton’s 3^RD Army, the 95^TH laid seize to the German stronghold of Metz, France.

TOMMIE HINTON WW II & 2010

Acknowledging their bravado, a German general named the 95^TH Infantry Division, “The Iron Men of Metz.”

November 14, 1944, SGT Hinton and his four-man reconnaissance team were ambushed by German machine-gun nests outside Metz, France.

“My buddy was killed instantly.  I went down with three slugs in my right side.  They kicked my buddy and turned him over.  I flinched when they kicked me, and was taken to an enemy pill box.  Later, I was moved to a more elaborate pill box.”

Unbeknownst to SGT Hinton, he was in the famous Jeanne d’Arc, the most formidable fortification of the infamous Maginot Line.

INTERROGATOR’S PISTOL & HINTON’S POW CARD

Hinton was interrogated deep in the bowels of Jeanne d’Arc.  “In response to every question, I gave them my name, rank and serial number.  Finally, they loaded a pistol, stuck it in my ribs, and pulled the trigger.”

The pistol fired a loud blank, after which the exasperated interrogator threw it on a table and walked out.  “After regaining my composure, I slipped the pistol in my boot and still have it to this day,” says Hinton.  

Hinton was finally taken to a hospital in Metz, operated by Catholic nuns.  “A German doctor put a rag over a German soldier and cut his arm off.  Next, he put the same rag over my face, sprayed it with chloroform, and patched me up.”

“The nuns said the Americans would be there any minute, so the Germans evacuated POWs by boxcar.  It took four or five days to reach our destination, Stalag IV-B.”

Suffering from infection, pneumonia and high temperature, Hinton was treated by a French doctor, a POW himself since 1940, who spoke no English.  “One guy held my feet, another held my shoulder, and the doctor put a rubber drain tube in my hip without the use of an anesthetic.”

“An English doctor arrived later.  He experimented on me with a new drug.  A POW since 1940, he had never heard of the drug, did not know dosages, etc.  After learning it was penicillin, I told him to load up the syringe and I would tell him when to stop!  In just a few days, I could walk!”

“The Russians liberated us April 21, 1945, but they weren’t nearly as anxious as we were to get us back to U.S. lines.  Two buddies and I dug under the fence one night and escaped.  The Russians shot at us but no one was hit.”        

“We made the 75 miles to American lines in 10 days – by horse, wagon, bicycle and walking.  German families along the way helped and often put us up for the night.”

Hinton weighed 178 when captured -- 118 when he reached safe haven.

After WW II, Hinton married Billie Meetze, and in 1957, the Hintons moved to Greensboro.  Mrs. Hinton taught school for thirty years, including twenty-one at Page High School.

Hinton jokes, “I was captured twice – once at Metz and once by a Meetze!”

The Hintons were charter members at St. Paul Presbyterian Church, and currently attend Starmount Presbyterian Church. 

Their daughter, Dr. Deborah Hinton and her husband, Dr. Reid Rowlett, are graduates of Grimsley High School.  They have given the Hintons three grandchildren, of whom they are noticeably proud.

Hinton has served as both Baptist and Presbyterian deacon.  No, not simultaneously!  He is not bashful about sharing his Christian faith, “I was saved before the war and prayed to the good Lord night and day during the war!”

His hobby involves the stock market, so I asked for a trading tip.  “Don’t trade – buy a stock, hold on to it, and reinvest everything.” 

That sounded so uncool until he said, “I followed this theory with 100 shares of Duke Power purchased in the sixties – those 100 shares have grown to 7600!”

Tommie Hinton -- soft-spoken hero of the Greatest Generation.  Thanks for your service!

Ol'Harry

ANOTHER REASON 'HIS' WAS THE GREATEST GENERATION

Have you noticed the smile of a golfer tapping in a birdie over your bogey?  That’s the infectious smile of Bill Beavers. 

That smile made him a top salesman for Greensboro’s Cliff Weil Wholesale, from which Bill retired in October, 2008, with fifty-five years of service.  Actually he requested retirement in 1992 but was coaxed into a sixteen-year ‘soft retirement’.

I guess it is hard to break away when you’re winning trips for your entire family to Hawaii, Acapulco, Puerto Rico, Alaska and the Bahamas.  And don’t forget those sales meetings Bill was forced to attend -- at the Doral, Pinehurst, Homestead, Greenbrier, etc.

Backing up a bit, Beavers was raised in a Christian home, and made his profession of faith at Asheboro Street Baptist Church at the age of ten.  His family lived in Raleigh, NC during his middle school years, “I golfed about every day at Carolina Pines.” 

He worked as Assistant Golf Professional at Gillespie Golf Course after graduating from Greensboro High School.  In the throes of WW II, he worked briefly as a welder in Wilmington before joining the Army.

“I signed up for Combat Engineers to use my welding experience, but a guy with a bird on his shoulder said I was going to the Army Air Corps.”  Soon, Beavers was off to Keesler Field, Biloxi, MS for Basic Training.

“When the company commander learned I was a scratch golfer, he and I golfed while others were taking serious hikes!”  Is there any doubt, golf is in Bill’s DNA?

Next came B-17 Gunnery Training at Las Vegas and Overseas Training at Tampa, where Waist Gunner Beavers and his crew were issued their brand new B-17 Flying Fortress.

B-17 Call Sign "Dottie" In Action

For a break-in flight they flew to Foggia, Italy, where they joined Squadron 340, 97th Bomb Group, 15th Air Force, tasked with, “Destroy Germany’s ability to wage war.”

Bill Beavers In Italy - 1944

“Our first combat mission was quite a learning experience, we were attacked by five German fighter planes.”  Bill’s crew soon progressed to Lead Crew, making them first plane over targets.

“On about our 30th bombing mission -- Ploesti, Rumania -- we had an engine shot out, a second engine failed, and eventually the third lost power.  We flew hundreds of miles on one engine before crash-landing.”  “We were praying to make it over the Adriatic Sea to safer haven in Italy before ditching.”

Bill was wounded in the crash and awarded a Purple Heart.  Later, the Air Medal with several Oak Leaf Clusters was added to his military decorations, along with five bronze battle stars.

“The most dangerous place to be in WWII was in a bomber over Germany,” according to BOMBERS OF WWII, by Jeffrey L. Ethell.       

With a new pilot and different B-17, Bill and several of his original crewmen soon returned to action.  Beavers completed 56 combat missions, but the 57th did not go exactly as planned.

Let’s go back to the night before Mission #57.  “A strange guy none of us knew, came into our barracks talking about a time when his parachute failed to open.”  “He showed us how to unsnap the parachute, allowing it to open, should the ripcord happen to fail.”

Bill now insists, “That strange guy could have been an Angel of the Lord!”

The next day, while bombing railroad yards in Augsburg, Germany, anti-aircraft flak took out their #2 engine and wounded the bombardier.  “We’ll have to bail out,” ordered the new pilot, not feeling they could gain sufficient altitude to cross back over the Alps. 

Bill and his experienced buddies suggested they try for safe harbor in Switzerland, which was just minutes away. 

“The cockpit was quiet until someone yelled that the pilot and co-pilot had already jumped!”  “We were all scared to death to jump.  Our Tail Gunner was a big guy from Texas, he had always insisted we not worry, he would personally kick our butts out, one by one.” 

“When his time came, the Texan froze and we had to boot his butt out,” jokes Bill.

Airmen are well-trained on ‘bailing out’, Bill followed all the instructions, but his parachute failed to open.  Then he remembered the strange guy from the night before and followed his instructions.  Whether by coincidence or providence, he landed safely. 

The bad news, Bill was welcomed to Fussen, Germany by the Nazi Wehrmacht.  Via boxcar and foot, he was taken to a POW Camp at Nuremburg.  Each day on their journey Allied Forces bombed or strafed the POW convoy.  “We figured to be killed, we just didn’t know by whom!”

From Nuremburg, Aviation POWs were marched to Frankfort’s Dulag Luft, a Luftwaffe Interrogation Camp. 

After a ten-day march, the POWs found themselves in Moosburg’s Stalag 7.  “The German guards didn’t have much to eat themselves, so we had less.  We pilfered and lifted what we could along the roadside and villages.  I can tell you, raw radishes will set your mouth on fire!”

The MIA Telegram Sent to Bill Beaver's Parents

Stalag 7, about twenty miles northeast of Munich, was built in 1939 to house 10,000 prisoners.  When liberated in April, 1945, one report said it housed 7948 officers and 6944 enlisted POWs, from every Allied country.  Up north a ways, Adolph Hitler committed suicide on April 30.

“I will never forget those tanks rolling in and the guards rolling out -- it was thrilling.”  General Patton spent May 1 visiting with the liberated POWs.

Staff Sergeant Beavers, who had lost fifty pounds, was flown to Camp Lucky Strike, near La Havre, France, for medical attention, then by Liberty Ship to New York.  He volunteered for KP Duty aboard ship and was made Mess Sergeant, “That way, I could eat all day, I was perpetually hungry!”

After the War, Bill returned to Gillespie Golf Course in Greensboro as Assistant Pro for several years, before joining Cliff Weil Wholesale in 1953.

He undoubtedly invoked that infectious smile again to win and woo the hand of Mary Martin, whom he married on June 26, 1955.  The Beavers had two children, Randy, who died as a young adult, and Melody, who lives in Matthews, NC.  Ashleigh is the only grandchild.

Beside Bill’s POW conundrum -- there was one other -- he once made a par four hole-in-one.  The problem -- Mary was in the hospital expecting their first child, so who could he tell?

Interestingly, General Jimmy Doolittle was the first Commanding Officer of Bill Beavers’ 15th Air Force, and the Enola Gay’s Paul Tibbetts once commanded Beavers’ Squadron 340.

Bill Beavers and his Wife Mary 

Even though Beavers and his crew left their B-17, it continued on to Switzerland, just as the crew had suggested – the rest of that story will be continued by a Swiss researcher, THE DAY THE BOMBER CAME.

China Marines

September 30, 1945, found many World War II servicemen and women lining up for their honorable discharges.  For Marines comprising the 3^rd Marine Amphibious Corps, it was another day at the office.  They were among 30,000 battle-hardened Marines and a few young replacements  who landed along the coast of China, tasked to force the surrender of 326,000 armed and undefeated Japanese troops.

Given that World War II had ended in the minds of most, these “China Marines” still had work to do.  While the Normandy Invasion, Battle of the Bulge, and Guadalcanal operations have been widely acclaimed, the surrender and occupation of Japanese forces in China is often over-looked – but not in the memories of Don Sexton and his “China Marines.” 

DON SEXTON -- 2015

High Point native and Greensboro resident, Don Sexton quit school.  With his father’s signature, he joined the Marine Corps in January, 1946.  In less than six months, Sexton was in China as a member of Love Company, 3^rd Battalion, 4^th Marines, 1^st Marine Division.

“What I will never forget as a “China Marine” was the day we sailed away from the docks of Tsingtao.  All of us in Love Company felt terrible.  Reneging on a promise gave us a feeling almost as bad as leaving a wounded Marine or a prisoner of war behind,” recalls Sexton.

The centerpiece of this chagrin was Tsui Chi Hsii.  He wasn’t wounded.  Although this statement is sure to bring blowback from Love Company, he wasn’t a real Marine.  (In 2000, the Commandant of the Marine Corps made Hsii an Honorary Marine – one of only 18 at the time.) 

Nor was Hsii a prisoner of war.  (Later, he would be imprisoned for seven years by the Communist Government as a spy, based upon his affiliation with Love Company Marines.) 

  

Tsui Chi Hsii wasn’t the name Marines of Love Company used.  They called him – then, now and forever -- Charlie Two Shoes.  It probably wasn’t lost on the Marines that Charlie had been born on Pearl Harbor Day, 1934.

 

But the broken promise lingered, “We promised Charlie we would take him to America when we left – and we didn’t do it,” laments Sexton, who owned and operated Sexton Auto Service for over 50 years.

Books have been written about Charlie.  His story was reported by all major news media.  A condensed version -- with the consent of his father, nine-year old Charlie had been adopted by Love Company Marines.  “He lived with us, slept with us, ate with us, spit-shined his shoes, stood inspections, and went on liberty with us,” per Sexton.

During Sexton’s 17 months in China, Charlie went to school and learned to speak English.  He also accepted Christ as his Savior, “That was, and still is, the greatest decision I ever made – God has been so good to answer my prayers,” maintains Charlie.

Charlie fell on hard times after the Marines pulled out. For a while, his parents hid him in a hole in their backyard when authorities came searching.  Eventually, he was captured and imprisoned.

 

HSII FAMILY ARRIVES IN GREENSBORO

Communications efforts between Charlie and his Marine friends were unsuccessful for many years.  Finally, Charlie remembered a Marine who lived in Autryville, NC.  Contact was made in 1980 and in 1983 the promise to bring Charlie to America was fulfilled.

Love Company Marines from across the country raised funds for Charlie, bought him a used car, and arranged living and work arrangements – first, in Ohio, and later in Greensboro.  It isn’t surprising that he worked for Monnett Carpet Company in Greensboro.  First Lieutenant Charles Monnett, now deceased, was a China Marine.  He has been written about in these pages.

CHARLIE & DON SEXTON VISITED TSINGTAO

Charlie Two Shoes built a successful business career, culminating with Charlie’s Chinese Restaurant in in Chapel Hill.  Among the toughest battles the China Marines fought may have been with the Immigration and Naturalization Service.  Eventually, Charlie’s family was allowed to join him, and in 2000, the Hsii family became American citizens.

A Google search will provide volumes of information, including the book, “Charlie Two Shoes and the Marines of Love Company.”  Written in 1998 by Michael Peterson and David Perlmutt, the book is the basis for an upcoming documentary movie.

(Speaking of Google and exclusive of the Charlie Two Shoes story, true crime enthusiasts will find challenge in researching the life of Michael Peterson.)

LOVE COMPANY MARINES GAVE COLUMNIST
MUCH AUTOGRAPHED COPY

The civil war between Chinese Nationalists and Communists escalated to the point that the U.S. government ordered all Marines and American civilians out of harm’s way.  Most were afloat by February 1, 1949.  

From the small world perspective, my brother, now deceased, was a “China Marine” and R4D crew chief attached to VMR-153.  Flight records indicate he flew from Tsingtao on January 31, 1949.   (For the record – Tsingtao has been changed to Quingdao.)  

Ol'Harry

The Few, The Proud

Recently, a Marine Corps recruiter drove Jodi Carson, Gordon McWilliams, Kevin Walton and me from Greensboro to Raleigh where we joined 31 others whom the Marine Corps refer to as “Influencers.”  

Teacher, Guidance Counselor, Deputy Sherrif and Media guy turn
themselves over to Marine Corps for one week.

In recruiter speak, we would leave “stupid early” the next morning for an Educator Workshop aboard  Marine Corps Recruit Training Depot, Parris Island, SC.

Carson and McWilliams are employees of Asheboro High School – she is a guidance counselor, he is a teacher.  Walton is a Randolph County Deputy Sheriff.  I was a media guy.  

Conversations during the drive to Raleigh indicated the four travelers had watched sufficient Educator Workshop U-Tube videos to know what we were getting into.  

In fact, even Jodi Carson’s principal knew what we were getting into, “He tried sounding like a drill instructor for the past couple days to break me in,” she explained.

Jodi Carson, Guidance Counselor @ Asheboro High School gets her
Parris Island recruit ID card photo made.

Carson and I were drawn together quickly.  Perhaps it was because she played soccer and basketball at Eastern Guilford High School.  Or maybe it was because she taught English and coached JV softball and soccer at Southern Guilford High School prior to her work in Asheboro.  (She is a University of North Carolina Greensboro graduate with a master’s degree from Appalachian State University.)  

Perhaps it was because I told her I was a Marine and had been through recruit training at Parris Island exactly 60 years ago.

Whatever the bond, it was sealed by her discreet, “I’ll never tell” thumbs-up to me when the Recruiter/Driver casually announced, “Former Marines are not typically invited to these events.”  

Fair disclosure: I returned home on Wednesday evening of the Workshop.

According to our invite from Commanding General Terry V. Williams, “Your visit to Parris Island will allow you to get a small glimpse into what it takes to become a U.S. Marine.  We will introduce you to Marine Corps history, occupational and educational opportunities, weapons safety and marksmanship, physical and basic warrior training – you will walk away with a better understanding of the process we call transformation and your Marine Corps.”

General Terry Williams, Parris Island Commanding Officer tells
Influencers,"this is your Marine Corps -- pull back the curtain and
see how we make Mariens."

If “walk away,” was General Williams’ attempt at irony, it worked well.  

Thanks to highly motivational drill instructors assigned to watch over us, most of the week was at “double time.”  

Parris Island Senior Drill Instructor and two Junior Drill
Instructors stand ready to take over their new charges.

Whereas the general’s comments were clear and forthright, his drill instructors were demonstrably clear and forthright.  As in, “GET OFF MY BUS – FAST – NOW – MOVE IT – WHY ARE YOU LOOKING AT ME?”

The drill instructors seemed collectively hard of hearing.  We kept yelling, “Aye Aye, Sir,” and they kept responding, “I can’t hear you!”

SGT MAJ Jim Lanham welcomes Harry Thetford to Parris Island.
Sixty years makes a powerful difference in the welcome!

The week was a blur of firing the M-16, squad bay tour, water survival brief, martial arts demo, gas chamber, pugil sticks and rappelling.  

While some meals were at the officers’ club, more were with recruits.  According to Carson, “It was great to converse and have meals with recruits in their first weeks of boot camp, and with others just days away from graduation.  It was as if the transformation of recruits to Marines was happening right before our eyes.” 

The work-shoppers peeped in on the 54-hour training exercise known as the crucible, which ends with a nine-mile hike, and the four-mile motivational run the day before graduation.  

Other stops included the Parris Island Museum, Marine Corps Exchange and Marine Corps Air Station-Beaufort Flight Line.

The Workshop culminated with graduation exercises on Friday morning.  Several platoons of recruits had completed 13 weeks of blood, sweat and tears.  

They had finally received their eagle, globe and anchor – their personal Marine Corps emblem -- no longer recruits, they were now Marines.

Three months prior, each family had received a scripted telephone call from their recruit -- there would be no further contact between them other than postal, until graduation.  

“Graduation had the most impact on all of us,” recalls Carson.  “Even though not one of us personally knew a Marine who was graduating, it was hard to find a dry eye in our group!”

As for her week at Parris Island, Carson readily admits, “Words cannot describe the feelings one has after experiencing something of this nature.  While the Marine Corps isn’t for everyone, I understand now why those who have the mettle to become Marines are known as the few, the proud!”   

Ol'Harry

 

     

  

Unfortunate Hitch-Hiker

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 25^th 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