Return to Southeast Asia

submitted by: Alva Leon Matheson


Late in 1973 I was among several former Ravens asked to return to Southeast Asia. I left Selma, Alabama, in a heartbeat. Ten of us convened in Udorn where we picked up the mission of training Khmer FACs – the proud Chmabas. We took some interesting trips – aircraft deliveries to Cambodia – but generally trained at Udorn.
One afternoon in 1974, we graduated a class of Khmers. Our boss in Bangkok, Brigadier General Heinie Aderholt, came to Udorn for the ceremony. He said he was headed to Nakhon Phanom (NKP) for Howie Pierson’s Sawadee. End of an era.
We followed. Using our cross-country callsign, “Lizard”, J. Fred Guffin led a four-ship of O-1s down the Air America ramp to the approach end of the runway. I think the other guilty bastards were Al Galante, Chad Swedberg, John Davidson, Dave Elliot, and Dave Drier. Apologies if I left someone out or included someone who later cleaned up his act. I flew as IP in number four, with a Colonel (a good guy) in my front seat whose claim to fame was that he had flown the Birddog in Korea.
Weather was heavy rain, and the Udorn F-4s were being recalled. When a Phantom blew a tire and took the departure end cable, J. Fred asked for take-off clearance. He said we only needed about 300 feet of runway.
Tower said, “Cleared.” Big mistake. When leader got airborne, he turned directly for the control tower. We followed. I passed near enough to see people inside diving for cover.
We drove to the third traffic circle and turned left for NKP. I’ll leave out en route shenanigans for the good of the Air Force. Approaching destination, J. Fred called, “Naked Fanny Tower, Lizard, flight of four, request a low initial, full stop.”
“How low?” was answered with, “About ten feet.” Two diverted Udorn F-4s taking the runway for departure turned back to the arming area saying, “We want to see this.”
Somehow we survived, using different flap settings to achieve spacing on the runway. The party lasted all night.

Yes. We were young, bulletproof, and not stupid but cynical. We all had a ton of flight hours, mostly in tail-draggers in combat. I look back on those days as feeling disconnected from an Air Force that was abandoning our allies but very close to my FAC pals. Most of us learned to communicate in the Khmer language. Chad spearheaded translation of an AGOS into “Piasah Khmen”. Some of us took assignments in Cambodia and got a close look at the fall of that country.