To Hell and Back

By C D Wilson

To Hell and Back

By C D Wilson

Lieutenant Reg O’Brien is a third generation American warrior. His grandfather fought in the Philippines as Guerilla fighter against the Japanese invaders, his father fought in Korea and posthumously received the Medal of Honor. Lieutenant Reg O’Brien is a Phantom fighter pilot shot down over North Vietnam and has a harrowing escape through the jungle to the Gulf of Tonkin. At the same time saving his best friend Lieutenant Chuck Walker. Wounded in the escape Reg will never fly again.
Reg O’Brien is an American hero wounded in Vietnam. He returns to the US where he finds true love with Navy Captain Sadie Morgan, she is his doctor at Walter Reed Hospital.
His story follows homeland battles against organized crime and terrorists that attempts to corrupt US forces and private industry. His victories lead him to the US Senate and the inner circle of power with the Whitehouse as its hub.
After he returns home, he decides to attend the Naval War College when he recuperates from his wounds. He took standard courses in the first few semesters then specialized in Warfare Analysis and Research. Trained to develop strategic concepts to advise the Chief of Naval Operations, the advanced courses led him to a position in Naval Intelligence.
He fights corruption in the military and on the streets of America. His success leads him to an advisory position with the CIA and the FBI where he helps fight the flow of drugs into the United States. In so doing, he assists in the take down of Mafia kingpins and the Terrorist, who are using drug money to advance their cause.

• Language: English
• Publisher: C D Wilson
• Release date: Feb 23, 2010
• ISBN: 9781452381145

C D Wilson

I spent the last several winters in Florida and have become friends with many American Veterans of World War Two, Korea, and Vietnam. We spent relaxing afternoons, having drinks, discussing their stories, which have become the basis of my novels. The Pacific, World War 2 The Battle of Bloody Ridge, Vietnam, the Medal of Honor To Hell and Back The novels follow the O’Brien family from New York City through three generations from 1939 to the present. The O’Brien’s are a family that defends America.

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To Hell and Back

By Clark Wilson

Copyright 2013 Clark Wilson

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Cover made by Clark Wilson

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To Hell and Back

Return of Heroes

Chapter One

Lieutenant Reg Obrien and Lieutenant Chuck Walker US Navy aviators flew to Saigon from the Aircraft Carrier Intrepid aboard a Search and Rescue helicopter, call sign Dragonfly. The Dragonfly crew also planned to bring needed supplies back to the Intrepid on the return trip.

Accompanying them was Maurice a former member of the Viet Cong, a youth who had saved their lives. They hopped a military cargo plane to Hawaii. The following day they were scheduled to take a commercial flight to San Francisco and then finally to New York City.

The reception for the heroes in Hawaii was a quiet one, with several Military Officers there to greet them. They spent the night on base and while relaxing over a drink they flipped on the news looking for information about the air war over North Vietnam. The news was about the war, but not the news they expected. American protestors were marching in Washington and burning the American flag.

Daily battles in Vietnam, blasted across television stations, in the early 1970’s disillusioning America, as the war stretched on and on, year after year. Television anchors presented all of the blood and gore, the pain, and suffering in living color, while speaking in somber voices, as the American death count rose towards sixty thousand, with close to three hundred and fifty thousand causalities. Even die-hard John Wayne fans were becoming cynical of the governments aggressive hawk like war policies. It was a true reality check for both of the returning warriors as well as the politicians who had sent them into harm’s way. Winds of change swept across American.

Lieutenants Chuck Walker and Reg O’Brien were now returning home, but to what type of reception they wondered. They were United States Navy Phantom F-B4 flyers, from the aircraft carrier Intrepid. Their Phantom was shot down over North Vietnam air space. They survived the crash, plus a harrowing escape through the jungles, while being pursued by Viet Cong soldiers. Both heroic wounded flyers were returning stateside, for additional medical treatment. Returning with them was Maurice, ‘The Kid’, who had saved their lives, during their escape. Now, they were saving the life of T. K. His real name was Maurice; his father, a former French soldier had been killed by the Viet Cong. Later the VC had murdered Maurice’s Vietnamese mother and her parents.

On the afternoon flight from Hawaii, they tried to relax and have a drink. The bandaged aviators received either embarrassed glances or outright disgust from their fellow American passengers. Reg and Chuck decided to close their eyes and catch a little shuteye before they reached San Francisco.

Reg fidgeted in his seat as he gripped the armrest and his nightmare came rushing toward him like a MIG flying straight at him. The controls got very sluggish as the airframe started to shake. Reg resolved to let his Phantom slowly roll over to the left onto her back due to the wing damage from the missile hit. The blood rushed to his head as Reg continued to work upside down. He maintained his bearing as they closed in on the coast, but they also continued to lose altitude. Finally, the alarm horns screeched as they passed the two thousand foot mark.

Sensors showed extreme heat on the right wing. He knew, at one thousand feet, they would be at a point of no return. They may not have time for emergency ejection, allowing the chutes to open fully, for a safe landing. Reg’s Radar Intercept Officer and best friend, Lieutenant Chuck Walker, was calling out a Mayday, giving the latitude and longitude coordinates as Reg fought for control. They heard the USS Intrepid (CVS-11) crew, who acknowledged their Mayday; they communicated, that the rescue choppers were air borne.

Reg smiled, despite the dire predicament, at the way Chuck was giving out the Mayday, at the same time telling the Intrepid, they would have feet wet, in minutes. ‘Christ’, he thought, ‘Chuck has been reading too many of those positive thinking books.’ Without closing his eyes, he prayed, ‘Please God, only a little bit longer, then we will be over open water. Another fifty miles, then they can find us when we eject, once we clear the coast.

Then, Chuck cried out a warning as flames flashed like a disco strobe light on the damaged wing. Suddenly, a section from the right wing fell. It went catapulting into the night sky leaving a trail of sparks. The vibrations increased drastically.

Then, the whole jet frame shuddered violently, as though she was tearing herself apart. The Phantom had severe damage to the hydraulic systems. Reg was barely able to control it. The once sleek aerodynamic design, now altered by the SAM explosive force, threw the Phantom into 360-degree flat spins. Eject or die!

He rolled upright, reduced airspeed to two hundred and fifty knots. The USS Intrepid crew heard the excited adrenalin pump in the pilots voice, as he shouted the order to eject.

In real time, their Phantom, Saber Tooth, continued her downward plummet, like an uncontrollable asteroid smashing into earth. A blinding explosion of light, followed by a hollow blast in the distance, as Saber Tooth plunged to her death in the jungle. Three million American dollars vanished in a flash of power, with a lingering column of black smoke.

Reg let his training take over; he immediately checked that his chute had opened fully. He lifted his right hand in a salute, a final farewell to Saber Tooth, his Phantom F-4B, she had held together way beyond the laws of physics. Once the Surface-to-Air Missile (SAM) had hit her, he knew that only one chance in a million would keep her together. Mother earth, the laws of gravity, plus the SAM, wrote her obituary. In his mind, he sent Kudos to the engineers, who had designed it, as well as the people who had built her.

Something gripped his shoulder and his eyes flew open only to see Chuck who had a concerned look on his face and at the same time telling him to relax old friend it was just a bad dream. Reg looked at Chuck and then over at TK and then he smiled.

Sorry about that, I guess the feeling of flying brought to my mind the last time I flew Saber Tooth. I’ll try to relax and get a few more winks. Just before he drifted off, he saw TK place a blanket over him while he looked into Reg’s eyes with deep concern. He heard Chuck whisper to TK in a mixture of broken French and English not to worry it was a bad dream.

Reg was floating again in a dream that seemed real as he drifted off to sleep again. He was back on Viet Cong patrol boat engaged in the bloody fight for survival that made him feel that he was going to vomit.

He prayed in silence, ‘Please God, let them all be busy looking the other way.’ As he looked over the rail, he saw a Viet Cong officer shouting orders at two black clad soldiers. He was about three feet away from the ladder; Reg reached over the rail, he fired two shots into the officers back. Kill or be killed!

The second Viet Cong had been in the process of climbing back on to the patrol boat from the small fishing junk that Reg had stolen for escape earlier just as Reg shot the VC officer. The VC lunged forward grabbing a rifle leaning against a rail. He had the jump on Reg.

Reg felt he was going to die as he looked into the barrel of the rifle, seeing the abyss of death, just as a blurred image caught his peripheral vision, hitting the soldier from behind, knocking him off balance, as his finger pulled the trigger. The bullet creased Reg’s forehead, causing him to drop his weapon and fall backward onto the deck. Reg then saw a young, black pajama clad adolescent, who was on all fours beside him. He heard the soldier cursing the kid. It had been the youngster who had rushed the soldier a moment before.

Reg had blood all over his face and could hardly see, but he heard the sick crunch as the soldier smashed down his rifle barrel on the back of the kids head. The kid went down hard.

The soldier turned his gun toward Reg, just as Chuck screamed from between the two boats. The VC soldier looked down for a split second, giving Reg the opportunity to reach for his Colt. The soldier saw Reg move and pointed the rifle at him. Reg’s reaction was a split second faster as he shot the Vietcong soldier pointblank in the face. Part of the face disappeared in a gruesome spray of bloody grey matter that flew from the top of the soldier’s head.

In his death grip, the dying Viet Cong had a muscle spasm, which caused his finger to pull the trigger. From Reg’s perspective, he saw a huge opening at the end of the rifle barrel staring him in the face. He knocked the barrel away in an automatic attempt at self-defense.

Reg felt the bullet hit him in his left shoulder, at the same time he heard the roar of the Russian made AK Kalashnikov