Pacific Stars and Stripes information
for 37 ARRS
For date 680707
37 ARRS was a US Air Force unit
Primary service involved, US Air Force
Quang Nam Province, I Corps, South Vietnam
Location, Da Nang
Description: n Rescue 'Nice and Smooth'
//Editor’s note: This was a three column article on the top of a page but half of the first column was not copied from microfilm. Thus the narrative begins in mid-story.//.enemy gunfire before he swooped in to pick up an F105 pilot 17 miles northwest of Dong Ha in North Vietnam. Now, three days later, he was flying an offshore pattern when his radio picked up the distress call. A Supersabre from Phu Cat AB had gone down in the Gulf while returning from a mission over North Vietnam. The two crewmen were separated by about 10 miles of water. While a Marine Chinook helicopter picked up the pilot, Capt. David W. Jennie, Columbia, S.C., Eagan and his crew rescued Col. Preston B. Hardy, Tallahassee, Fla., vice commander of the 37th Tactical Fighter Wing at Phu Cat. "That's the way I like them," said Eagan. "Nice and smooth with nobody shooting at us." Eagan is a Coast Guard pilot assigned to the Air Force Aerospace Rescue and Recover Sq. at Da Nang AB under and exchange program. He is one of only two Coast Guard aviators in Vietnam. "We set down on the water," he said, "It was a little nasty out there, but we didn't have any trouble." The flight engineer, S. Sgt. Gordon T. Greever, Sidney, Iowa, who was also in Tuesday's search effort, said, "This was my eighth rescue, and my first over water. That's the way to make them; it was real easy. The colonel got out of his raft and paddled toward us. He was very cool; he did everything right. I just reached out and he grabbed my wrist. Then Spears (S. Sgt. James F. Spears, Homestead, Fla., the pararescue man) grabbed him and we pulled him in."
Comments: *** Eagan; CG pilot with 37th ARRS; ;
SSG Greever, Gordon T.; flight engineer; ;
SSG Spears, James F.; pararescue; ;
CPT Jennie, David W.; rescued pilot; ;
COL Hardy, Preston B.; rescued pilot; ;
The source for this information was 6807PSS.AVN supplied by Les Hines
Additional information is available on CD-ROM.
Please send additions or corrections to: Gary Roush Email address: webmaster@vhpa.org
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Date posted on this site:
05/13/2023