More detail on this person: Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Earl Aman, a San Antonian involved in the
famed "Pardo's push" over the flak-strewn sky of North Vietnam 31 years ago, died here Thursday. He
was 60.
Aman, who had been confined to his bed and wheelchair the past four years as he slowly succumbed to
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, fell into a coma Sunday after suffering a stroke or heart attack.
The illness, known as Lou Gehrig's disease, left Aman able to move only his right thumb during the
last nine months of his life.
Services are scheduled Monday at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo.
A memorial will be conducted later at Randolph AFB.
"He could still smile and move his eyes, and even though he couldn't speak (he) still had
personality and a sense of humor," said retired Air Force Lt. Col. Charlie Brame of San Antonio, an
airline pilot.
"It never ceased to amaze me that a guy in his position could have a personality and a sense of
humor, but he kept it up until the end," Brame said.
Aman was sending jokes to friends via computer voice synthesizer from his bed at a nursing home only
hours before suffering the seizure, his wife, Lucy, said.
But he talked little of the desperate, daredevil flying feat that fellow F-4 "Phantom" crewman Bob
Houghton said now is a legend.
Houghton vividly recalled a fateful decision by retired Lt. Col. Bob Pardo to save him and Aman
after their F-4 was hit by enemy flak over a Hanoi-area steel mill March 10, 1967.
Pardo and weapons control officer Steve Wayne nudged their flak- ravaged F-4 under the tailhook of
Aman and Houghton's powerless plane, then "pushed" the crippled craft 58 miles into Laos.
Tailhooks were common on F-4s, which were used by the Air Force and Navy.
Aman and Houghton bailed out over an enemy-infested village, eluded capture and later were rescued,
as were Pardo and Wayne.
The pilots were accused of "mismanaging" fuel by superiors, but eventually received Silver Stars for
their aerial exploits.
The "push" of a plane had been done only once before, during the Korean War, Houghton said.
Brame called Aman "a genuine American hero," while Lucy Aman said "he answered the call" to fight
an unpopular war, leaving his family behind in order to do his duty.
San Antonio Express-News (TX) - Friday, October 16, 1998
This information was last updated 05/18/2016
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