ARVIN R. CHAUNCEY
Commander - United States Navy
Shot Down: May 31,1967
Released: March 4, 1973

On 31 May 1967 I was leading the second division of A4-E aircraft on a
strike against Kep Airfield north of Hanoi. Just short of the target we
encountered a heavy barrage of AAA fire, and I was hit. That fateful
encounter with a piece of lifeless metal drastically changed my life. I
became another of the growing number of POWs in Hanoi. I, and many others, refer to that day as "the day that I died." The weeks, months, and years were hard in their ways, but rewarding in others. I learned about life. I dreamed of a new life someday. I realized all that I had lost, all that I had so easily taken for granted...

... My fellow Americans were always there in time of sickness, despair, happiness or joy. We learned comradeship, loyalty and faith in each other. You can't beat down or stop Americans when they attain what we did together. We did it! We had to do it! If it can be done under those trying circumstances, its a piece of cake to attain it here in America. Just try!

I may have died on 31 May 1967, but I was given a new life on 4 March 1973. I can not express the feeling I had when I became a free American. I was indeed reborn to a land of wonderful, sincere, caring people. Our welcome home by all you wonderful people is beyond description. I never dreamed that the POWs were thought of outside our immediate families and government personnel directly involved with the issue. To all of you I sincerely express my deep gratitude for all you have done on my and my fellow POWs behalf...

I intend to continue my career in the US Navy. I want to fly again, go to
school for a master's degree, and then someday, after retirement, teach
school. My outlook on life is a bright and happy future. Life is full of
experiences. Hanoi imprisonment was but one of them. I profited by it,
because I now know what America means to me.

MID-MAY 1967 MARKED THE HEIGHT of the first phase of the air war over North Vietnam. As the last of the 16 Douglas A-4 Skyhawks from VA-212 ("The Rampant Raiders" of the USS Enterprise Alpha Strike) unhooked from his KA-3B, Lt. Cmdr. Don Alberg (of the VAH-4 "Fourunners") took up a new racecourse heading. He and three other A-3 Skywarrior pilots were to stay on this course for 30 minutes until their charges went "feet wet" and fuel-thirsty as they egressed from an attack on Hanoi.

After about 10 minutes, one of the Skyhawks took a hit, and its pilot, Lt. Cmdr. Arvin Chauncey, ejected only 50 miles outside the capital of North Vietnam. Four F-8 Crusaders from VF-24-"The Red Checkertails"-took up ResCap for him. "My flight leader, John Wunsch, notified Hollygreen 898 and 899-numbers three and four of our flight-that they would assume responsibility for tanking the strike on egress and that he and I [Hollygreen 896 and 897, respectively] would stay to cover the ResCap. Everything was standard procedure. All we needed now was for the rescue helicopter from the Task Force 77 destroyer screen to arrive and pick up Lt. Cmdr. Chauncey."

No matter how routine any military mission may be, the vagaries of the weather and the mechanical reliability of the equipment can always change the routine into the memorable.

"About the time the strike group went 'feet wet,' on their way out, we heard from the task force that our chopper had a mechanical abort and that they were launching a backup." Soon, Alberg's and Wunsch's were the only U.S. airplanes in the vicinity. "We kept calling the task force about the chopper but didn't get a solid answer. The ResCap leader detached two F-8s to tank with us. At last, the third helicopter they launched was reported inbound."

The helicopter was coming from the Enterprise itself, rather than from an escort ship, so it was coming from more than 100 miles off the coast-a good hour at best speed. In any rescue, time is of the essence, and this one was beginning to look very iffy. Alberg's two tankers again provided fuel for the thirsty F-8s and maintained position. As the last two F-8s went "feet dry" inbound to the site of the rescue attempt, Alberg was watching his own fuel status with increasing anxiety. "We were close to 'bingo' for our internal fuel," he recalls, "but the helo was nowhere in sight, and the F-8s weren't going to make it back to the carrier without another hookup."

Eventually, after what seemed like much longer than an hour, the helo hove Into view and headed inland. Alberg was at 10 minutes of fuel, and Wunsch was at six. The tankers needed tanking fast! "I called on all the tanker frequencies, and a KC-135 reported he was nearby. I asked his altitude, and he was at 28,000 feet. We were at 1,500 feet, so no way would we have enough gas to climb up to him. He said he'd come down."

When the big Boeing arrived, Wunsch made the first hookup to take on 30 minutes of fuel, and Alberg followed him. "He got his fuel and I moved in. I had trouble hooking up because the Air Force system with the basket is different from that of the Navy; with the Navy, if you hit the basket and put the tip in with a push, you'll screw up the hose and it won't feed. With the Air Force, it's just the opposite. I probed three times for maybe five minutes and was really sweating a flameout and a crash because I couldn't get a hookup, and then they got around to telling me this." Connection at last made, Alberg breathed more easily as his fuel-gauge indicators moved upwards.

Meanwhile, the rescue mission had failed in the most heartbreaking manner: the North Vietnamese captured Lt. Cmdr. Chauncey while the helicopter was still five minutes away.