Shepherd's pilot, downed plane finally found
By MICHAEL RACEY
Villager Staff Writer
More than four hours after getting shot down during an Air Force reconnaissance mission in Laos in 1968, Allen S. Shepherd III was rescued.
More than 36 years later, Shepherd learned the U.S. Department of Defense finally found the remains of his crew mate, Air Force Col. Gregg Hartness, as well as the wreckage of their downed plane.
On Aug. 19, the U.S. Department of Defense announced a 12-year search for military personnel missing in action also resulted in the discovery of the life-support equipment and personal effects belonging to Hartness.
Shepherd, who owns SportsOhio in Dublin, said he will be at Arlington National Cemetery as Hartness is buried with full honors on Sept. 14.
"The big issue in the whole thing was my country cared enough to keep looking for these guys and bring them back," Shepherd said. "I think that's so important for the guys fighting today to know that. I know that if something had happened to me, I would want to be buried in my own country."
The two were flying a top-secret reconnaissance mission called "Operation Steel Tiger" from DaNang Airbase in South Vietnam on Nov. 26, 1968. They flew a twin-seat Cessna O-2A "Skymaster" and were part of the 20th Tactical Air Support Squadron.
Hartness, of Dallas, was 43 and served as the mission pilot; Shepherd, who was 24 at the time, took reconnaissance photos of the Salavan Province in Laos -- over the infamous Ho Chi Minh Trail -- under the shroud of night.
"We felt this thud," Shepherd said. "Something big hit the tail section of the airplane. The airplane started spinning."
The only way in and out of the doomed, burning plane was the door on the right side of the aircraft, next to Shepherd's seat.
"(Hartness) gave the command to bail out," Shepherd said. "I never saw the plane (crash). I'm assuming we were in an inverted spin because of the pressure I could feel. What you have to remember is that it's night: The stars in the sky are the only lights you got."
Hartness was unable to get away from the aircraft, a fact Shepherd confirmed only after officials from the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command notified him of their discovery.
Free from the plane, Shepherd pulled the rip cord of his parachute -- he forgot to hang on to it -- thereby losing his chance to join something the military calls the "caterpillar club."
Shepherd landed in some trees and spent the rest of the night buried in some underbrush. He attempted to reach Hartness on his radio without success. "I spent all night praying to God," he said.
Four hours after his plane was hit, Shepherd was rescued by a "Jolly Green Giant" helicopter and its crew.
He was offered a hotel-bar-sized bottle of Johnnie Walker Black Label by one of the Jolly Green's crew members, but Shepherd doesn't drink, so he declined.
Shepherd's knee was banged up during the incident. He spent a rehabilitation stint in Japan and continued his first tour for another six months.
He eventually became a captain in the Air Force and flew B-52s during his second tour of duty in Thailand in 1972.
Flying is in the blood of the Shepherds, as Allen's father flew gliders and C-47s during World War II.
During the Vietnam War, Shepherd was the first pilot with an officer grade of 2nd Lt. to fly a solo mission in North Vietnam. He also was a member of the crew that flew the last armed reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam, 23 days before he and Hartness were shot down over Laos.
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