b. Sep. 18, 1949 d. Apr. 6, 1972

Excerpted from an April 2010 News Article

Slain Vietnam airman finally coming home

Airman slain in Vietnam to be buried in Arcadia

By JAMES A. JONES JR. –

Thirty-eight years after he died during a high-priority rescue mission in the Vietnam War, the remains of Sgt. James Harold Alley are finally coming home.

Alley, who grew up near Fort Lauderdale and has relatives in Manatee County, will be interred in Oakridge Cemetery in Arcadia. The ceremony is tentatively scheduled for May 8, 2010

The 22-year-old was a combat photographer serving in the U.S. Air Force when he volunteered for a risky mission on a Sikorksy HH-53C helicopter, called a Jolly Green Giant. Rescue helicopters were trying to find Lt. Col. Gene Hambleton, who had ejected from an EB-66C jet after it was shot down near Quang Tri by a surface-to-air missile while escorting a flight of B-52 bombers.

During the rescue attempt on April 6, 1972, four days after Hambleton ejected, Alley’s Jolly Green Giant was shot down and the entire crew of six was lost. Alley had just two weeks left in his tour of duty at the time.

Other air crews in the area saw the Jolly Green Giant explode and crash. Witnesses said it would have been impossible for anyone to survive, said B.R. Alley, a Bradenton resident and Alley’s uncle.

Hambleton evaded capture for 11 days before being rescued.

Darrel Whitcomb, author of the 1998 book “The Rescue of Bat 21,” called the rescue effort one of the largest of the war. The book takes its name from Hambleton’s call sign “Bat 21B.”

“This was probably the single most intense rescue operation of the war and was one of the toughest,” Whitcomb said in a telephone interview. “Jim was on there because he was a combat photographer to capture the history of this event. I wish we could find his camera. It would have quite a story to tell.”

Some sources say the North Vietnamese had 30,000 troops in the area at the time. Ultimately five aircraft were shot down trying to rescue Hambleton.

John Evans, who was stationed with Alley in Ubon, Thailand, and now lives near Green Bay, Wis., said in a phone interview Monday that Alley was assigned to temporary duty near DaNang to help document the war.

“We worked together on a lot of projects. He was a quiet kid, a hard worker and a good photographer,” Evans said.

The crew of the Jolly Green Giant was interred with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery in 1997, but at that time, no part of the remains had been positively identified as belonging to Alley.

Later DNA testing in Hawaii confirmed a portion of the remains were Alley’s. The lab results by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command lab were confirmed in February, and agreed to by a member of the immediate family.

“We sent those troops out there so it’s our responsibility to bring them home,” said Tim Nicholson, mortuary officer at Dover Air Force Base.

Alley’s relatives now living in Arcadia wanted the remains to be buried near where other family members were interred at Oakridge Cemetery.

James Alley’s younger brother, Tim, is scheduled to accompany the remains on the flight from Hawaii to Fort Myers International Airport.

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SYNOPSIS: On the afternoon of April 2, 1972, two Thailand-based EB66 aircraft (Bat 21 and Bat 22), from the 30th Air Division, were flying pathfinder escort for a cell of B52s bombing near the DMZ. Bat 21 took a direct SAM hit and the plane went down. A single beeper signal was heard, that of navigator Col. Iceal Hambleton. At this time it was assumed the rest of the crew died in the crash.

The crew included Maj. Wayne L. Bolte, pilot; 1Lt. Robin F. Gatwood, LtCol. Anthony R. Giannangeli, LtCol. Charles A. Levis, and Maj. Henry M. Serex, all crew members. It should be noted that the lowest ranking man aboard this plane was Gatwood, a First Lieutenant. This was not an ordinary crew, and its members, particularly Hambleton, would be a prize capture for the enemy because of military knowledge they possessed.

It became critical, therefore, that the U.S. locate Hambleton, and any other surviving crew members before the Vietnamese did – and the Vietnamese were trying hard to find them first.

An Army search and rescue team was nearby and dispatched two UH1H “slicks” and two UH1B “Cobras”. When they approached Hambleton’s position just before dark, at about 50 feet off the ground, with one of the AH1G Cobra gunships flying at 300 feet for cover, two of the helicopters were shot down. One, the Cobra (Blue Ghost 28) reached safety and the crew was picked up, without having seen the other downed helicopter. The other, a UH1H from F Troop, 8th Cavalry, 196th Brigade, had just flown over some huts into a clearing when they encountered ground fire, and the helicopter exploded. Jose Astorga, the gunner, was injured in the chest and knee by the gunfire. Astorga became unconscious, and when he recovered, the helicopter was on the ground. He found the pilot, 1Lt. Byron K. Kulland, lying outside the helicopter. WO John W. Frink, the co-pilot, was strapped in his seat and conscious. The crew chief, SP5 Ronald P. Paschall, was pinned by his leg in the helicopter, but alive. WO Franks urged Astorga to leave them, and Astorga was captured. He soon observed the aircraft to be hit by automatic weapons fire, and to explode with the rest of the crew inside. He never saw the rest of the crew again. Astorga was relesed by the North Vietnamese in 1973.

The following day, Nail 38, an OV10A equipped with electronic rescue gear enabling its crew to get a rapid “fix” on its rescue target entered Hambleton’s area and was shot down. The crew, William J. Henderson and Mark Clark, both parachuted out safely. Henderson was captured and released in 1973. Clark evaded for 12 days and was subsequently rescued.

On April 3, the day Nail 38 was shot down, a UH1H “slick” went down in the same area carrying a crew of four. They had no direct connection to the rescue of Bat 21, but were very probably shot down by the same SAM installations that downed Bat 21. The helicopter, from H/HQ, 37th Signal Battalion, 1st Signal Brigade, had left Marble Mountain Airfield, Da Nang, on a standard resupply mission to signal units in and around Quang Tri City. The crew, consisting of WO Douglas L. O’Neil, pilot; CW2 Larry A. Zich, co-pilot; SP5 Allen D. Christensen, crew chief; and SP4 Edward W. Williams, gunner; remain missing in action.

On April 6, an attempt was made to pick up Clark and Hambleton which resulted in an HH53C helicopter being shot down. The chopper was badly hit. The helicopter landed on its side and continued to burn, consuming the entire craft, and presumably, all 6 men aboard. The crew of this aircraft consisted of James H. Alley, a photographer; Allen J. Avery, John H. Call III, Peter H. Chapman, William R. Pearson, and Roy D. Prater. Search and rescue noted no signs of survivors, but it is felt that the Vientamese probably know the fate of this crew because of the close proximity of the downed aircraft to enemy locations.

On April 7 another Air Force OV10A went down in the area with Larry Potts and Bruce Walker aboard. Walker, the Air Force pilot of the aircraft, evaded capture 11 days, while it is reported that Potts was captured and died in Quang Binh prison. Potts, the observer, was a Marine Corps officer. Walker’s last radio transmission to search and rescue was for SAR not to make an attempt to rescue, the enemy was closing in. Both men remain unaccounted for. Hambleton and Clark were rescued after 12 incredible days. Hambleton continually changed positions and reported on enemy activity as he went, even to the extent of calling in close air strikes near his position. He was tracked by a code he devised relating to the length and lie direction of various golf holes he knew well. Another 20 or so Americans were not so fortunate.

In July 1986, the daughter of Henry Serex learned that, one week after all search and rescue had been “called off” for Bat 21, another mission was mounted to recover “another downed crewmember” from Bat 21. She doesn’t know whether or not it is her father or another man on the EB66 aircraft. No additional information has been released. When the movie “Bat 21” was released, she was horrified to learn that virtually no mention of the rest of the crew, including her father, was made.