This Military Service Page was created/owned by
A3C Michael Bell (Unit Historian)
to remember
Bailey, Harland D. ("Bill"), MSgt.
If you knew or served with this Airman and have additional information or photos to support this Page, please leave a message for the Page Administrator(s) HERE.
The family of MSgt Harland "Bill" Bailey, USAF Ret has asked the PGR to stand hour flag line and honor Bill for his service to our country.
Bill passed away Sunday morning after a very long battle with cancer. He was at home with his family in Alamogordo. Bill was a member of The American Legion Post 108, the NM American Legion Riders Chapter 8, the VFW Post 7686, the Fraternal Order of Eagles, the Gold Wing Touring Association, and several other organizations. He was a great friend and comrade to many of us here in the Tularosa Basin.
Services:
Saturday September 18th
9:00 am
Hamilton O'Dell Funeral Home
1334 N. Scenic Dr.
Alamogordo, NM.
Interment will follow:
Monte Vista Cemetery
1st St., Alamogordo.
Staging:
Goodwill Store parking lot
1807 E. 10th St,
Alamogordo
7:45am
A reception for family and friends will be held following the services at the Fraternal Order of Eagles 4101, 471 24th St. Alamogordo. Military honors will be provided by the HAFB Steel Talons Honor Guard.
It was Bill's personal wish that Legionnaires from AL Post 108 be his pall bearers (which of course we will) and that the PGR be there for him and his family. Bill and I have been close and personal friends for more than 20 years.
Ed “Wishbone” Summerall is the R/C for this mission.
575-430-4322
Please thank MSgt Bailey for his service to our great nation and please post your condolences to his family.
Harland D. "Bill" Bailey, June 23, 1937 - Sept. 12, 2010, has died at his home in Alamogordo. He lost a 22-year battle with cancer. He was 73.
Harland was born June 23, 1937, in Paragould, Ark., to J.L. and Dona Bailey, who both preceded him in death, as did his brother J.G. Bailey and his grandson Brian Bailey Jr.
He enlisted in the United States Navy in December 1954 and married the love of his life, Faith Sharon Goodman, on Sept. 10, 1957, in New York. Harland began serving the United States Air Force in 1958 and has combined Navy and Air Force military service of over 22 years, serving our county in many foreign countries, including Taiwan, Thailand, the Philippines and the Azores, as well as many states domestically, including Alaska, South Carolina, Ohio and Texas, before "retiring" in Alamogordo as a master sergeant in 1977. Harland then went on to work for Lear Siegler at Holloman Air Force Base for 12 years.
Bill was an accomplished mechanic who worked on power plants and aircraft, and restored numerous antique and classic cars. He loved spending time with family, and led his two sons to become Eagle Scouts. He enjoyed traveling with his wife and their family cat Tips, and together they toured all 48 of the continental United States by camper, fifth wheel and RV. His greatest joy was working on motorcycles and riding through the mountains with his Gold Wing family with his wife at his side.
Survivors include his beloved wife of over 53 years, Faith S. Bailey; his sister Iva Sue Hope, of Paragould; his son Brian Bailey and wife, Nicola, of Roswell, New Mexico; his son Gerald Bailey and wife Patty of Round Rock, Texas; his daughter Debbie Briones and husband, Renee, of Hayward, Calif.; nine much loved grandchildren, Amber Bailey, Alisha Bailey, Brittany Bailey, David Bailey, Randi Bailey, Ethan Kramer, Aidan Bailey, Aislinn Bailey, and Noel Briones; and three great-grandchildren, Karen Woodrome, Trevor Trevano and Kristyl Rayne Shoufelt.
Harland was a member of numerous organizations, including Gold Wing Touring Association, American Legion, American Legion Riders, Air Force Sergeants Association, Disabled American Veterans, Veterans of Foreign Wars No. 7686, Fraternal Order of Eagles No. 1401, Loyal Order of Moose Lodge No. 2016 and others.
Visitation will be on Friday, Sept. 17, 2010, from 6 to 8 p.m. at Hamilton-O'Dell Funeral Home, 1334 N. Scenic Drive, Alamogordo. A memorial service celebrating Bill's life will be held on Saturday, Sept. 18, 2010, at 9 a.m. at Hamilton-O'Dell Funeral Home, immediately followed by graveside services with full military honors at Monte Vista Cemetery. First Baptist Church of Roswell's Senior Pastor Matt Brooks will officiate. The Fraternal Order of Eagles will host a reception following the services at the Eagles Lodge, located at 471 24th St.
The family has entrusted their loved one to the care of Hamilton-O'Dell Funeral Home to direct the arrangements. To sign the online register book, please visit www.hamiltonodell.com.
He was a deeply loved, wonderful husband and father who will be missed tremendously by all who knew him.
Published in Alamogordo Daily News from September 14 to October 14, 2010
Vietnam War/Cease-Fire Campaign (1972-73)
From Month/Year
March / 1972
To Month/Year
January / 1973
Description
0n March 30, 1972, the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong opened a 3-pronged offensive, with the intention of defeating the Republic of Vietnam and reuniting Vietnam under a Communist regime, in a conventional attack supported with artillery and tarnks, the North Vietnamese crossed the DMZ into Quang Tri Province, occupying Quang Tri, the provincial capital, on May 1 and attacking Hue. In a second thrust, the Communists invaded the Central Highlands from Laos, isolating Kontum and cutting the highway between Pleiku and Qui Nhon. On April 5 North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces crossed the border from Cambodia in the third phase of the offensive, capturing Loc Ninh on April 6 and besieging An Loc. By May 8, however, the enemy offensive had stalled; on June 10 the Communists withdrew from Kontum and on the 26th from An Loc. Two days later the Nonh Vietnamese retreated from Quang Tri, and on June 30 the South Vietnamese reopened the road to Pleiku.
U.S. air power contributed significantly to the battle. Although the USAF had reduced its forces in Southeast Asia to half of those present in mid-1968, it moved quickly to augment them. U.S. Navy. Marine. and Army aviation elements joined the USAF to provide airlift. interdiction. tactical reconnaissance, and close air support for the South Vietnamese. A week after the Communist offensive began. on April 6. the United States resumed systematic, sustained bombing of military and industrial targets in North Vietnam as far north as the 20th parallel. The next day Gen. John W. Vogt. Jr., USAF, became the Seventh Air Force Commander. On May 4 South Vietnamese and U.S. leaders suspended peace negotiations in Paris, and 4 days later, the United States imposed a naval blockade of North Vietnam, mining harbors at Haiphong, Vinh, and elsewhere along the coast. The United States also initiated LINEBACKER on May 8 - 1 of the largest air campaigns of the war. Targets included the rebuilt Paul Dourner Bridge in Hanoi, the Thanh Hoa Bridge, rail lines, a petroleum pipeline from China to Hanoi. power plants. marshaling yards, and other strategic and tactical objectives throughout North Vietnam. During Linebacker, on June 28. Gen. Frederick C. Weyand. USA, became the Commander of MACV.
Peace negotiations, suspended for two weeks, resurned in Paris on July 13, Anticipating a successful conclusion to the renewed peace talks. the United States halted the bombing of North Vietnsn above the 20th parallel as of October 23. But when negotiations stalled, the United States conducted an intensive aerial offensive, LINEBACKER ll, from December 18 to 30, against North Vietnam. B-52s and USAF and Navy tactical aircraft bombed Hanoi and Haiphong and their environs around the clock, concentrating on such targets as railyards, power plants, communication facilities, air defense radars, SAM and antiaircraft gun sites, petroleum tank farms, shipping facilities, ammunition dumps, and
MiG bases. On December 30, after peace talks resumed, the United States again ceased bombing north of the 20th parallel.
On January 23, 1973, North Vietnam and the United States agreed to a cease-fire, effective within 5 days. Part of the agreement called for the
North Vietnamese to release prisoners of war while the United States withdrew completely from South Vietnam. From February 12 to March 29, following the Vietnam Ceasefire, North Vietnam released 565 American POWs. ln OPERATION HOMECOMING, the 9th Aeromedical
Evacuation Group flew the POWs from Hanoi to Clark Air Base in the Philippines.
After the Vietnam Ceasefire Campaign, the Royal Laotian government signed a cease-fire agreement with the Pathet Lao on February 21, 1973.
USAF B-52s. nevertheless, flew missions against Communist forces in Cambodia until August 15, 1973, when the U.S. Congress mandated an
end to U.S. bombing in Southeast Asia.
The fighting had ended for American forces, but the Communists, resupplied and reequipped, soon escalated the ground war throughout
Southeast Asia. Within 2 years, on April 17. 1975. the Khmer Rougeoccupied all of Cambodia. On April 30 North Vietnam conquered South
Vietnam and unified the country. And on December 3, 1975, the Pathet Lao seized power in Laos, marking an end to an era of U.S. influence
in Southeast Asia.