T-Tail-Tall-Tail:
Burn Victim
Frank Huskin , Lt Col(Retired)
Montgomery, Al
huskinf1@charter.net
In 1967 I was a C-141 aircraft commander flying out
of Travis AFB. We were
staging out of Clark AFB when I got a call late one
night to report with my
crew at the earliest time for an emergency air
evacuation mission. I was told I
would be augmented with extra crewmembers as it
would be a long mission. When
we reported I was advised we were to proceed to
Saigon and to expect
instructions when we landed.
We arrived at Saigon about three hours later and were
met by an ambulance
and a staff car. I was told I would have one
passenger who was to be
accompanied by a doctor and two nurses. A young man
on a stretcher was
onloaded, but I didn't get a good look at him at the
time. I was given my
flight plan which took me to Japan for fuel and then
nonstop to the Brooks burn
center in San Antonio, Texas. I was glad that they
had augmented us with
additional crewmembers as this was going to be the
longest flight of my career.
Before takeoff I didn't have time to get into the
rationale for the urgency of
the mission with the command post, or why only one
passenger(with attendants).
I would have to get more information later.
After takeoff, I gave the airplane to my copilot and
went back to the
patient. The doctor told me that the soldier had
been hit by a phosphorus shell
but had not been killed. He was, however, horribly
burned. They had him heavily
sedated and were giving him full time, and very
attentive, care as he was
delirious. It was very heartrending as I could see
that he was in very bad
shape.
We landed in Japan for fuel and then took off again
for Texas and landed
some 12 hours later. The young man was still alive
when we landed. We were met
by a team of people that immediately drove him off
to the hospital.
To this day I do not know is this fine soldier lived.
Thirty-eight years
later I still think of him and wonder, and hope,
that he survived. I also think
about what a wonderful country we live in that would
spend tens of thousands of
dollars in an effort to save the life of one
soldier.
I hope that someone might know the outcome of the
story. I pray we succeeded
and feel that it was one of the most important
missions of my career. God bless
him wherever he is.