LTC Jackson would have felt more at home going into combat in a jet fighter than the lumbering C-123 transport identified as No. 542. Enlisting in the Army Air Corps just prior to World War II, his service in that war as a crewmember motivated him to become a pilot. In Korea he had flown 107 combat missions in an Air Force fighter, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross.� After that war, he become one of the first Air Force officers to pilot the U-2 reconnaissance planes. At the controls now of the lumbering, unarmed cargo plane, he was preparing to turn his 296th Vietnam sortie into the most unlikely of routine missions.� It was nearing five o'clock in the evening as he raced his twin-engine "mail-plane" over the hills that surrounded Kham Duc, flying at 9,000 feet. He had a pretty good idea what he would find in the valley below, having heard across his own radio reports of what had been happening that afternoon.� Eight American aircraft had already gone down, two Army Chinooks, two Marine Corps C-46s, two Air Force C-130s, an O-2 FAC aircraft and and one A-1. Wreckage of three of these, a C-130, the O-2 and one helicopter, was strewn across the badly damaged runway.� (The photo you see in the background of this page is an actual photograph taken from an orbiting aircraft while Joe Jackson landed No. 542.)
Twenty years of experience in the air had taught Jackson that sometimes one has to do the unexpected to accomplish the impossible. Reasoning that the enemy that now controlled the air strip could hear the roar of his engines and were undoubtedly setting up their forces in anticipation of a landing like LTC Jeanotte had made minutes before, Jackson prepared his own surprise. Banking his cargo plane to line up with the runway, the intrepid pilot cut power and dropped full flaps. The nose of Number 542 dropped and the C-123 was in the kind of dive reserved for fighter planes. Diving in at 4,000 feet per minute, eight times a normal cargo planes rate of descent, he was pushing his aircraft beyond its capabilities. Later he said, "I was afraid I'd reach the 'blow-up' speed, where the flaps in the full down position, would be blown back up to the neutral position. If that happened, we'd pick up additional speed and not be able to stop."
On the ground the three airmen could hear the whine of the C-123's dive as it broke through the fog.� Screaming earthward in an impossible maneuver, the men were filled with a mix of feelings... relief that a rescue craft was on the way...despair at the chances of success.� As they watched the cargo plane dropping towards them like a rock, Sergeant Lundie thought, "This guy's crazy.� He's not going to make it."
And then No. 542 was on the ground, touching down in the first 100 feet of runway amid a hail of enemy machinegun and mortar fire. Plummeting down the battered runway at speeds far to high for any safe landing, Jackson fought the controls. Afraid that if he reversed the propellers to slow the C-123 he would blow out the two auxiliary engines needed for escape, he shoved his feet down hard on the brakes to skid past the enemy. Dodging debris, his cargo plane finally came to rest near the drainage ditch.
"There they are," Major Campbell shouted as he spotted three ragged figures rise out of the ditch and break for the waiting rescue plane. Staff Sergeant Grubbs opened the cargo door as the men ran towards the waiting plane, enemy fire erupting all around them. Quickly the haggard men were pulled inside the cargo hold and Jackson was revving the engines and turning his C-123 to take off in the same direction from which they had approached.
As the big cargo plane turned to face down the runway and make its escape, Major Campbell shouted, "Look out". From the edge of the runway the enemy had fired a 122mm rocket to abort the dramatic rescue and destroy No. 542. Both pilot and co-pilot watched in horror as the missile sped towards then, then hit the pavement to bounce and skid within ten meters of their cockpit.� As it bounced one final time, the rocket broke in half....then lay there sizzling.� Miraculously, it had been a dud.
Sending power to the engines, Joe Jackson raced down the runway and through the gauntlet of enemy fire.� All within the cargo plane felt a sense of relief as the wheels lifted off the airstrip, and the C-123 was airborne...racing for home and safety. The plane gained altitude to head for Da Nang, landing shortly after 5:30 in the evening. A haggard Sergeant Jim Lundie walked over to the flight deck to look at Jackson quizzically for a moment, then said, "I wanted to see how you could sit in that little seat with balls as big as you've got." It was the ultimate compliment from a combat controller who for three days had demonstrated his own brand of valor. "We were dead," he later summed up the events of that day, "and all of a sudden we were alive."
Before returning to their billets, Major Campbell and LTC Jackson checked out their aircraft.� Amazingly, despite the withering fire from small arms, 51-caliber heavy machinguns, and the torrential rain of mortars they had braved on the airstrip at Kham Duc, they had not been hit a SINGLE TIME!
A weary Jackson then settled back in his billets to write home.� It was Mother's Day, a day of tragedy and terror that had robbed far too many mothers of their sons. Joe's actions that day had spared grief for three mothers. Picking up paper and pen, he began to write a letter to his wife Rose, mother of the couple's two children. "Dear Rosie," he wrote.��
I had an extremely exciting mission today.� I can't describe it to you in a letter but one of these days I'll tell you all about it."
Other Comments:
-------- From AFHRA: LT. COL. JOE M. JACKSON�
In May 1968, Lt. Col. Joe M. Jackson landed his C-123 under extremely dangerous conditions to save a three-man combat control team trapped at the Special Forces camp at Kham Duc. For his act of courage above and beyond the call of duty, he was awarded the Medal of Honor. On May 12, 1968, Jackson and his crew, Maj. Jesse Campbell, TSgt. Edward Trejo, and SSgt. Manson Grubbs, were ordered to help evacuate personnel from the Special Forces camp at Kham Duc. When Jackson's C-123 arrived overhead, the situation had become dire--the camp was on fire and being overrun, the weather was deteriorating, ammunition was exploding and nine aircraft sat on the field destroyed, including one helicopter in the middle of the runway. Three USAF combat controllers who were coordinating the evacuation had been accidentally left behind, and worse still, they had no radio contact. Enemy gunfire, mortars, and anti-tank weapons raked the airstrip. Another C-123 landed, but intense fire forced the crew to continue rolling and go back into the air. The airborne command post asked Lt. Col. Jackson if it was possible to make a last ditch effort to recover the team. In spite the great danger and slim chance for success, Jackson acted without hesitation to save the stranded combat controllers. He put the C-123 into steep dive to lessen the chance of being hit. Jackson leveled off at the last second, landed on the end of the runway, stopping the C-123 just short of the destroyed helicopter. As he turned the aircraft around, the three controllers broke cover and ran into the open cargo door. At the same time, Jackson watched a 122mm rocket narrowly miss him and land on the runway in front of the aircraft, miraculously failing to explode. Jackson applied full power, taxied around the 122mm warhead from the rocket, and began rolling down the runway. He could see tracers flying in front of him, and several mortar shells dropped behind where his aircraft had been. In spite of the seemingly impossible situation, he got the C-123 into the air and safely back to base. Without his actions, the combat controllers would almost certainly have been killed or captured. For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty, Lt. Col. Joe Jackson was awarded our nation's highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor.
------- From Roadrunners Assoc: Roadrunners Internationale remembers Lt. Col. Joe M. Jackson as one of the first Air Force pilots to train in the U-2 at Groom Lake in 1955. Joe was assigned to 4080th at Laughlin Tex. Joe also worked for Col Holbury, Chief of the Reconnaissance Branch at SAC Command Post, under the director of operations. Joe was responsible for coordination and briefing of all Idealist (CIA) overflights to SAC key personnel, ie Col Holbury, Gen Wiseman (Chief SAC Command Post) Gen Blanchard, Director of Operations and when necessary Gen Powers. He also planned and monitored all AF U-2 photo and air sampling operations as directed by AF Hqs. -
-------- From McChord AFB: Gen. Duncan McNabb, Air Mobility Command commander and former 62 AW Commander congratulates Medal of Honor recipient, retired Col. Joe Jackson, during the naming of C-17 Globemaster III S/N -0184 as "The Spirit of Col. Joe M. Jackson". AMC COMMANDER VISITS MCCHORD?S AIRMEN, DEDICATES AIRCRAFT By Tyler Hemstreet - 62nd Airlift Wing Public Affairs 9/7/2006 - MCCHORD AIR FORCE BASE, WA. -- The commander of Air Mobility Command visited McChord Aug. 31 to speak with Airmen and dedicate a C-17 Globemaster III to a local Medal of Honor recipient. Team McChord welcomed Gen. Duncan McNabb, a former 62nd Airlift Wing commander, with a standing ovation in Hangar 4 during a Wing All Call. During the All Call, General McNabb took time to thank Airmen and express his gratitude to their families for enabling them to accomplish all that they do. "There's no question about this great base and how you go about your mission," General McNabb said. "[McChord] is such a great place to bring the C-17 into and search for new ways to make things better. I can't even put into words how proud I am of you every day." Based on visits earlier in the day to McChord's Wheel and Tire and One-Stop shops, the general praised McChord's efforts in implementing Air Force Smart Operations 21 measures. "The most important resource the Air Force has is your time," he said. "Nobody can [cut the waste] better than McChord." General McNabb also took time to talk about McChord and AMC's role in the Global War on Terror and how Team McChord continues to positively represent the in humanitarian missions. "It's not just representing ," he said gesturing toward the American flag painted on the tail of the C-17 parked adjacent to the stage. "It is . It's carrying our message of hope -- and you all make that happen." Later in the day, General McNabb honored Medal of Honor recipient retired Col. Joe Jackson by dedicating one of McChord's C-17s as the Spirit of Col. Joe M. Jackson. Colonel Jackson expressed his thanks and appreciation for his family sitting in the front row and everyone who made the ceremony possible. He then elaborated on his legacy involved with transport aircraft. "I flew fighters for 17 years and nobody ever called me a fighter pilot," he said. "I flew reconnaissance airplanes for 3 years and nobody ever called me a reconnaissance pilot. I flew C-123s for one year and I'll forever be known as a transport pilot." While he likes to make light of his time in the C-123, Colonel Jackson flew nearly 300 combat missions in the aircraft during the Vietnam War. It was during this time that he received the nation's highest award for military valor for a dangerous, impromptu, rescue operation of three American military personnel. "Joe is a living legend, a hero, a great patriot and when [C-17] 0184 is out there as the Spirit of Joe Jackson, everybody will know what this means," General McNabb said. "It's going to be awesome for all the folks flying on this airplane thinking of this great legacy you trusted them with."
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