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USS America... CVA-66...VA-82... A blog page devoted to news about VA-82's 1968 USS America WestPac cruise in the Gulf of Tonkin....  USS AMERICA... "COURAGE" VA-82 "Skipper", Cdr. Jack Jones First Row: L-R, Lt. Hall (VA-174), Ens. Brown, Lt. Refo. Lcdr. Hewitt, Lt. Fields Second Row: Lt. Eaton, unknown, Lt. Burd, unk, Lt. Van Eps, unk, Lt. Bryant VA-82: Lt. Kenny Wayne Fields (first row, far right), "Rocket 10"...call sign "Potato"... flew with the VA-82 "Marauders", and now he has authored a book about his experience on the first day of combat ever for USS America on 31 May 1968. The title is, "The Rescue of Streetcar 304"---A Navy Pilot's Forty Hours on the Run in Laos, and it provides his narrative of his catapult launch in an A-7A "Corsair" from the deck of America...the crew's excitement that day...his shoot-down by enemy gunfire in Laos...and his forty hour harrowing, spine tingling evasion on the ground before he was rescued by USAF Jolly Green helicopters on 2 June. If you want to know what it was like on USS America back then, buy the book or read more about Kenny and his story on this website.... menu page is in the upper left corner. Shipmates: The book was released in May '07, and, since then, Kenny has been doing book signing events around the country. Thus far, he has met (at the events) the following squadron and shipmates who served with him on the '68 cruise. From VA-82: Lieutenant's Walt Moser, Joel Eaton, John Van Eps...ATN2 Dave Westington...AO2 George Rebman From VA-86: Lt. Robert Smith From VF-33: Lt. Fred Lewis From CarDiv2 Staff: QM2 B. Crawford, Capt. Knott, Lt. Collman From USS America: Randy Clark (CIC)...Dave Seyse, ABH3...Jim, the son of Glen Skinner (CIC)...Anthony LaMorte, AO1(flight deck LPO) Shipmate Comments: Randy Clark listened in CIC on an open speaker to most of the relayed radio chatter between Streetcar 304 and the rescue forces and he relates that, to this day, the memory of those three days makes goose bumps on his skin when he tells others about the story. George Rebman, an AO2 on the bomb loading crew in VA-82, relates to Kenny: I was in the AO crew that loaded the bombs on your plane for the fateful first mission and for the second one after you returned to fly more missions. He vividly remembers the night that Kenny was shot down, and he doesn't know if Kenny ever realized how much the ground pounders worried and prayed for him while he spent those forty hours in the bush with 10,000 of his not so close friends. He also relates that he remembers when Kenny returned to the ship and how brave he was for not only the way he conducted himself on the ground while evading but also for climbing back into the cockpit to fly more sorties. Bill Crawford, the QM2 on the Admiral's Bridge, listened to all of the radio chatter also in order to keep Admiral Swanson up to date on the situation. Bill says that, to this day, it was such a motivating experience that he uses Kenny's experience as one of two that he relates to church members when he gives his annual Memorial Day church sermon. Lt. Fred Lewis, a pilot in VF-102, says that he was airborne on "fighter cap" when Kenny was shot down, and that, to this day, he can still recall the frantic radio chatter back and forth between Kenny and his rescuers. He knew right then---on day one--- that "he was at war". Lt. Collman, then "Flag Lieutenant" to Admiral Swanson, relates that he was in attendnance during the now infamous meeting between the Admiral, Kenny, and the CAG when Kenny was questioned about his "second bomb run". Lt. Collman relates that Admiral Swanson totally backed Kenny's decisions---without reservation. ABH3 Dave Seyse was a "grape" who fueled my plane, and he remembers my shoot-down incident very well. More comments as they come in....Submit yours to Kenny on the "contact page" of this site.  VA-82 Bomb Loading Crew  VA-82 "Marauders": Lt.'s Kenny Fields, Walt Moser, Joel Eaton  Lt. Robert Smith, (VA-86) & Lt. Kenny Fields, (VA-82) at a book signing in Charlotte Lt. Kenny Fields & Lt. Fred Lewis, (VF-33) at Notre Dame U. book signing. Fred was flying "Mig-Cap" when Kenny was shot down. |
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