Leaving Nobody Behind
by Mike von Berg
Operation “Hardihood” under command of the 173rd Airborne Brigade was 5RARs first operation in Vietnam. Our brother battalion, 1RAR was also engaged on the operation to clear the areas around Nui Dat which was selected to be the Australian Task Force location in Phuoc Tuy Province. Being our first operation the news that B Company 1st/503rd had been badly mauled by the Viet Cong north of Nui Dat at Hill 72, caught in a “box ambush” losing eight KIA and 23 WIA is a heavy casualty list for an infantry company. This news had every member in my platoon patrolling on high alert with eyes like “mad cats”. Sadly we lost the first National Serviceman Pte Erol Noack of B Coy on the 24th of May 66 which was felt throughout the battalion.
The operation ceased on the 4th of June 66 and our next task was to establish a defensive position at Nui Dat. It was during this time where advice came down from BHQ that a US Airforce Cessna O-1 Bird Dog supporting us on Operation “Hardihood” was missing, and that there would be a requirement of a Company from 5RAR to be on standby to assist in the security and extraction of the crew if the location where the aircraft went down was found. Thankfully at that time it was not found which was very fortuitous, which I will refer to later.
Many months later on Operation Wollongong 10-16 Jan 1967, the Battalion was employed on a “search and destroy” mission in the Binh Ba area which included the feature of Nui Nghe to the NNW of Nui Dat. An area of almost impenetrable jungle with very thick jungle canopy. Almost impossible to see anything from an arial position. The Reconnaissance Platoon (Recon) was initially tasked to patrol areas independently in the area of operations reporting actions or findings direct to BHQ. On the 13th of Jan 67 Recon married-up with A Coy at GR 405732 and came under command for the next two days. On the 14th of Jan 67, A Coy patrolling on a search and destroy mission got a strange message from the forward platoon, which stated “rocket”. Not the normal sort of message passed back by a forward scout and command went forward and sure enough there was a rocket. The type that is carried by FAC Bird Dog aircraft. The forward elements were ordered to move on and next minute the word came back with “wheel”.
Moving forward to see what the message was about I was led to the “wheel” and sure enough it was a wheel which appeared to be a part of a light aircraft. Moving forward very slowly we came across a piece of a wing and then through the very thick vegetation there appeared to be what was confirmed as the fuselage of a light aircraft. The wings and the undercarriage had been shorn off as it crashed through the canopy, and there appeared to be remains in and near the wreckage. Information was passed back to OC A Coy where A Coy established an all-round defensive harbor so that we could concentrate on the wreckage and its contents.
The pilot had been killed on impact and still strapped intact in the front pilot position and the co-pilot/observer who was seated behind the pilot had crawled out of the aircraft with a compound fractured left femur and looking at the signs around the body he put up a heroic last stand. Hundreds of M16 casings where dispersed around his body where the enemy of 274 Regiment who had shot down the aircraft had come to finish the job but not without some considerable resistance, where Franco put up a hell of a fight before being surrounded and shot in the back of the head. Franco was so determined before running out of ammunition that he pulled out his service pistol hiding it behind his back, when we removed the dead Franco – his hand still clutching the pistol – from the mud.
“Dogs” Kearney in his book Crossfire wrote a wonderful quote; “Think about it – the terrible loneliness, the inevitability of the predicament, the decision to fight and die, and not surrender. And all the time aware of your dead mate just metres away, a silent companion in your last final minutes on Earth.”
The aircraft number was 54736 and Engine No T117362 and when that information was passed back, the aircraft was identified as being the missing FAC aircraft from Operation “Hardihood”, some six months before.
US Airforce Cessna O-1 Bird Dog Reported Missing 9th June 1966
(Not the actual aircraft)
Task Force HQ were briefed by OC A Coy, and a small team came out to recover the remains. There were no landing zones in the area where we were located so WO2 Mick Wright SSM and Sergeant “Joe” Urquhart, 3 Sqn SASR winched down through the canopy from a RAAF Huey to an area we had secured. Mick was in possession of a couple of body bags. We painstakingly removed the remains from inside and outside the aircraft and secured them in respective identified body bags. This was the only way that the remains could be recovered. Mick and Joe was escorted back to the extraction zone and the remains handed over to the US back at Nui Dat.
We later learned that the pilot was Captain John Charles JACOBS, USAF, 30 years old, married, Caucasian, born 10/7/35 in Milhousen, Indiana, length of service 10 years. The co-pilot was Captain Charles Stephen FRANCO, USAF, 25 years old, single, Caucasian, born 12/6/40, of New York City, New York, length of service 4 years. Both a remembered on “The Wall” in Washington with Jacobs at Panel 08E, Line 17 and Franco Panel 08E, Line16.
After the remains had been recovered, we discovered numerous fighting pits and what had been fire lanes around the downed aircraft in what was obviously a Battalion sized installation set up as a deliberate ambush of any allied troops that came out to secure and recover the downed pilots. I can’t recall which company from 5RAR was on standby, but had the aircraft been discovered the Company ordered out to secure the area to recover the remains or assist in case any of the pilots were still alive, that company from 5RAR would have been totally decimated. The sheer numbers of troops, hidden fighting pits, bunkers and known weaponry would have completely overpowered the 5RAR company. It would have been far more catastrophic that the Battle of Long Tan, which followed in August of that year. Sometimes you really need to accept that “luck” can also be a principal of war and in this case “luck” was certainly on the side of 5RAR, but sadly not the downed pilots. The other consideration, probably not considered at the time, the 5RAR company would have been exhausted in just having completed Operation “Hardihood” and fighting its way through the impenetrable jungle and they would have been very weary and perhaps an easy target.
I had always wondered about these aviators and their families and considering I was travelling to the US on a regular basis I contacted Daryl Henry, the Canadian War Correspondent who was permitted to accompany the Recon Platoon on Operation Renmark to the top of the Long Hais in February 1967. Daryl and I had stayed in touch after we found him retired from galivanting around the world chasing wars, in a more sedate role of script writing in Hollywood. I asked if he could help in tracing the NOK of John Jacobs and Charles Franco. With the excellent contacts that he had I was somewhat hopeful. Sadly, there was no luck with Charles Franco, but Daryl found the son of John Jacobs who was living in Texas and also in the USAF. In the interests of privacy, I will not be mentioning the names of the NOK who are both still serving. Denise my partner and I caught up with the son and wife and two little children in Dallas Texas in 2013 on one of my trips to the US. We had lunch at our hotel and obviously all had numerous questions and all that I could assure the family is that Captain Jacobs did not suffer and was killed instantly.
The anguish and the fears of the family where Captain Jacobs was MIA; not knowing if he was alive or dead, a POW, or worse haunted the family for six months. The family thanked the Aussies for finding their father, as it changed the life of the widow who would not have been able to get on with her life without knowing the fate of her husband. Some years later the widow remarried, the USAF Officer who was the flying instructor on Captain Jacobs flying course. The same flying instructor achieved two-star rank and was one of the senior USAF officers operating in Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Upon retiring from the USAF the stepfather and mother were based at the Incirlik Air Base in Turkey in charge of the Base Exchange (BX), known by many of us as the PX.
It was wonderful to learn that the family had all moved on, and both the son and his wife were determined to make the Air Force their career. Parting was emotional where the gratitude from the son and a man hug was a bit of closure for all of us.
What blew me away some months later was to receive Captain Jacobs full medal set, copies of official telegrams from Washington, and the photo of Captain Jacobs shown above. I immediately made contact and stated that I could not accept the medals as that is something that they should retain, but it was explained that in the US, there are two sets of medals that are presented to the next of kin. One to the widow in this case and another to the parents of the deceased pilot, and that was both grandparents who had passed and away and the family wanted me to have them.
I had the medals mounted and boxed as per the photo above. You will notice that Jacobs was posthumously promoted to Major, awarded a Distinguished Flying Coss and a Purple Heart. Jacobs had previously been awarded a Bronze Star. This wonderful set of medals and the history associated with them has no place in my bottom drawer. It’s a very important and significant part of 5RARs first tour of Vietnam and as such should be held in trust for those that follow.
To pay my private respects we went and visited “The Wall” in Washington on 28th June 2013, where we saw both Jacobs and Franco remembered on what must be one of the most powerful and emotional war memorials in existence. Just like my late great mate Jim Bourke and many others who worked so hard to bring our missing fallen home from Vietnam, this is our contribution to our allies and the Jacob family where 5RAR and the Royal Australian Regiment leaves nobody behind.
“Lest We Forget”
