Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Joseph VonNida | A Colorado Air National Guard F-100 Super Sabre is serviced on the ramp in South...... read more read more
By Army Capt. Adam Morgan
Colorado National Guard Historian
After being the first Air National Guard Unit to be federally recognized in 1947, and the local Minute Men becoming the first and only Air National Guard precision aerial demonstration team, the Colorado National Guard was selected once again for yet another first: The 120th Tactical Fighter Squadron was the first Air National Guard unit to deploy to Vietnam as a whole.
The situation in Southeast Asia had been heating up for some time, and then Jan. 23, 1968, an international incident occurred when the USS Pueblo was captured by North Korea. One crewmember was killed during the capture, and the other 82 survived 335 days of captivity in North Korea before being freed toward the end of 1968.
Outraged, President Lyndon Johnson called more than 148,000 National Guardsmen into active duty in response to this illogical move by the North Koreans; among them the elite and already storied 120th Tactical Fighter Squadron of the Colorado National Guard. The 120th arrived at Phan Rang Air Base in Vietnam May 3, 1968.
One story that is a favorite of the Airmen there took place as the unit was just settling in at Phan Rang. The Army Chief of Staff at the time, Gen. William Westmoreland, paid a visit to the 120th and met with Commander Lt. Col. Robert "Bob" Cherry and others. Among other exchanges, Westmoreland asked Cherry when the unit would be combat ready. Cherry looked out the window and pointed to one of the F-100s that had just landed and said, "That's mission number 172 taxiing in, Sir."
While in Southeast Asia, the 120th performed missions ranging from support of troops in contact on the ground to strategic bombing initiatives.
"I crossed paths with an Army Vietnam veteran a while back, and after talking for a while, discovered that he was one of the troops in [the] contact units we supported and [he] recognized our unit," recalled retired Col. Don Neary, a former 120th fighter pilot. "It's an unbelievable feeling to meet someone who benefitted greatly from the work we did."
While members of the 120th excelled, their tour did not end without tragedy. On March 28, 1969, Maj. Clyde Seiler flew a routine mission with Neary. After delivering the assigned ordinance, Seiler decided to make a secondary loop and observe its effects. While executing the maneuver, he received enemy fire that damaged his aircraft. His aircraft was forced into the jungle before he could eject. Maj. John France, former operations officer for the 120th, remembers informing Cherry.
"He was devastated," said France. "Bob Cherry was a very strong man, but that was a scene."
Tragedy struck again just days later when Capt. Perry Jefferson, an intelligence officer, failed to return from an observation flight April 3, 1969. Jefferson was initially listed as missing in action, but recently his remains were located and returned to the U.S. Jefferson is interred in Arlington National Cemetery.
Both Seiler and Jefferson's names are listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall in Washington, D.C.
| Date Taken: | 03.09.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 03.09.2010 12:26 |
| Story ID: | 46392 |
| Location: | CENTENNIAL, COLORADO, US |
| Web Views: | 489 |
| Downloads: | 206 |
This work, Colorado first once again — this time in Southeast Asia, by MAJ Adam Morgan, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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