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Re: Bringing the Boys Home

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: December 12, 2003

"Vietnam Veteran Recalls Bringing POWs Home
By JON SOLES Of The Record Staff

With hundreds of thousands of American troops dispatched to the Middle East, and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, many people are reflecting on servicemen and women who are away from home.

Harold Jernigan has been thinking about those troops while recalling the days when he helped bring prisoners of war home from Vietnam.

After talking about his Vietnam experiences at a recent Coats Kiwanis Club meeting, Mr. Jernigan said he was reminded again of the hard times soldiers and airmen faced during the Vietnam War in the 1960s and ’70s.

Mr. Jernigan, age 72, retired from the Air Force as a chief master sergeant in 1985 after 30 years of service. Today, he and his wife, Helen, age 68, live on Helen Lane near Coats. After years of living all over the world, they moved back to Mr. Jernigan’s native Harnett County for retirement.

Mr. Jernigan was as a loadmaster, responsible for helping load cargo planes that would carry men and supplies. He was a member of the 53rd Airlift Squadron known as the Blackjack Unit, the only unit in the Air Force to have a gambling symbol on its insignia. Mr. Jernigan spent six years as a loadmaster, 15 years as a line loadmaster and seven years as a superintendent.

During the Vietnam War, Mr. Jernigan flew out of Okinawa, Japan, helping haul supplies to troops on the ground. His duty required him to spend two-week missions in Saigon.

The city was very secure at the time, he said.  “At times it seemed pretty dangerous and at other times, it would seem pretty calm,” Mr. Jernigan said.   Mr. Jernigan said he was thrust into a culture in Vietnam that was totally different than his own.

“The difference in culture and people was quite different,” he said.  On one mission, enemy gunfire erupted from the ground, aiming for Mr. Jernigan’s plane. Those were stressful times for his wife. Mrs. Jernigan said she was not able to communicate with her husband when he was on mission in Vietnam.

“It was hard when he was in Vietnam. He would go two weeks and I wouldn’t be able to hear from him. I wouldn’t know if he had been captured or if he was coming back,” Mrs. Jernigan said. “When the plane took off, you never knew if you would see him again.”

Bringing Prisoners Home
In 1973, Mr. Jernigan flew with a crew out of Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines with a special mission to accomplish—the removal of American prisoners from Hanoi. Though the war was basically over by 1973, Hanoi had been the capital of North Vietnam during the war.

“At that time, fighting was over. We had evacuated Saigon,” Mr. Jernigan said.  As the plane headed for the airport in Hanoi, Mr. Jernigan did not know what to expect. He said some of the men had been in enemy hands for years. When the plane landed, the rear cargo bay ramp was opened and the men were brought onto the plane.

“They were thin and pale and you could tell they had been through some pretty hard times,” Mr. Jernigan said. “The clothes they wore had gray and it added to their appearance.”

The airmen had to positively identify each of the approximately 50 prisoners before leaving. The men were quiet and did not appear emotional about leaving, Mr. Jernigan said. He said there were explanations for their demeanor and behavior.

“Many of them had been incarcerated for years and were not permitted to talk to each other,” Mr. Jernigan said. “They looked apprehensive like they were thinking ‘Are we really leaving?’”

It wasn’t until the plane actually lifted off the ground that the men seemed to realize they were finally leaving Vietnam, Mr. Jernigan said.   “As soon as the plane lifted off the runway, they came alive. Hats went up,” he said. “They were apprehensive until the wheel hit the wheelwell.”

Mr. Jernigan said he will never forget the sight of American servicemen thrilled to be leaving Vietnam after being imprisoned.

“It was exciting to know that we were part of their recovery from enemy hands,” Mr. Jernigan said. “To see their excitement and joy to be removed from that situation, some of them had been in there for years.”

“I had compassion for what they had gone through and wanted to help them and show them that we were really concerned about them,” he said.  Among the prisoners transported was an Army colonel the Jernigans had known while they were stationed in France.

It was not the last time Mr. Jernigan helped bring prisoners home from Vietnam. Later, when he was stationed in California, he received orders to pick up a load of prisoners from Clark Air Force Base and transport them to Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii.

On that flight, Mr. Jernigan said he transported the longest-held POW at the time, a soldier who had been in captivity for nine years.
Mr. Jernigan said when he spoke at the Kiwanis Club meeting, he was filled with memories about the important missions he participated in while he was in the Air Force.

“When they asked me to speak at the Kiwanis Club, I started thinking about all these things I hadn’t thought about in 30 or 40 years,” Mr. Jernigan said.
Mr. Jernigan said he had initially planned to retire to San Bernadino, Calif., but came back to North Carolina in 1988 after deciding that the quality of life was better in his native state.  Today, Mr. Jernigan thanks his family for standing by him while he served his country in difficult and dangerous circumstances.

“Family has been a vital part of my career. My wife, a lot of the time, had to be there when I wasn’t,” he said.  The Jernigans have four children, Steve, Deborah, Terri and Kim.   They have seven grandchildren, including Christopher Shrieves, who is in Afghanistan right now.  

© 2003 Record Publishing Co."