Return to AP Alley

By Terry Yurick

Vietnam War veteran, Rick Travis, is back in AP Alley, haunted by his agonizing memories. Encouraged by his daughter, Naomi, Rick begins to reflect into his painful past. It is 1970 as Rick drowns his sorrows while mourning the loss of his wife, Masako. After he hears Masako’s encouraging voice in a dream and decides to turn his life around, Rick returns to the States, eventually reenlists, and is led back to Japan. When his tour ends, he is sent to the war zone in Ubon, Thailand, where he reunites with his old squadron and flies dangerous missions into Laos, even after the peace treaty is signed. But when Rick is involved in a mystery in Laos after the war is supposedly over, he has no idea it will be years before he must decide whether to talk about it or take the truth to his grave. In this novel based on true events, a Vietnam veteran travels back in time and reflects on a decades-old mystery with the hope of finding peace.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu Publishing Services
• Release date: Mar 19, 2018
• ISBN: 9781483480466

Book preview

YURICK

Copyright © 2018 Terry Yurick.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored, or transmitted by any means—whether auditory, graphic, mechanical, or electronic—without written permission of the author, except in the case of brief excerpts used in critical articles and reviews. Unauthorized reproduction of any part of this work is illegal and is punishable by law.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Scripture taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

ISBN: 978-1-4834-8047-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-8048-0 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4834-8046-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018901098

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Lulu Publishing Services rev. date:   02/28/2018

REVIEWS OF AP ALLEY

This book is the sequel to author’s original book titled AP Alley which was based on his real life experiences serving in the Air Force Security Service reporting into the NSA. That current book is available on online bookstores. It has been inducted into the NSA Cryptological Museum and the Misawa Japan Aviation and Science Museum. It has also received a five star rating online and here are three examples of reviews you can find there. The first review was written by a former serviceman who served in Misawa Japan during the 1950’s and worked as a civilian for NASA:

AP Alley is one of the best books I’ve read in that time of America’s buildup and conclusion of the war in Vietnam. What makes it real to me, I was stationed at Misawa Air Force Base for two years (1956-1958) and more than familiar with the Alley. I urge everyone who cares for America and the military of the United States to read Terry Yurick’s eye-opening book!

The second review was written by a West Point graduate who served on a fire base in Vietnam:

This book is a wonderful perspective on what military service was like during the Vietnam conflict. It reveals the loneliness, frustration, joys, and heartaches of separation from family and loved ones, and the day-to-day efforts to render exemplary service as well as to maintain mental balance. It also provides a look at the camaraderie so prevalent among military personnel juxtaposed against the questionable strategy and intentions of our military leaders in South Vietnam. The love story that unfolds in the book will also touch your heart.

The third review was written by Llloyd Smrkovski who served in Misawa and went on to dedicate his life to finding a cure for malaria through out the world.

ByLloyd Leo Smrkovskion August 11, 2017

One of the best written books on our USAF Security Service enlisted folks who served in Misawa, Japan. I know, I was there a few years prior to when the author was stationed there. Great read and impossible to tell when the author moves from fact to fiction in his story line. Read it, you’ll like it, especially if you were a former spy!

The Museum in Misawa Japan has already requested a copy of his new book Return to AP Alley once it is released.

To the crew of Baron 52 who left

Ubon Airfield on February 4, 1973,

only a few days after the signing of

the peace treaty ending America’s

involvement in the Vietnam war.

They never returned.

Capt George Spitz Pilot

1st Lt Servero Primm III Co-Pilot

1st Lt Robert Bernhardt Co-Pilot

Capt Arthur Bollinger Navigator

Ssgt Todd Melton Electronic Warfare Specialist

Sgt Dale Brandenburg Electronic Warfare Specialist

Sgt Peter Cressman Electronic Warfare Specialist

Sgt Joseph Matejov Electronic Warfare Specialist

This was the last Aircraft casualty of the war.

Our Government owes us an answer on

what really happened to the crew.

To every thing there is a season,

A time to get, and a time to lose

A time to love, and a time to hate

A time to kill, and a time to heal

A time to be born, and a time to die.

                            Ecclesiastes 3

I had brother at Khe Sanh

Fighting off the Vietcong

They’re still there, he’s all gone

                            Born in the USA

                            Bruce Springsteen

BASED

ON

ACTUAL

EVENTS

INTRODUCTION

On February 4, 1973 at 11:05PM an EC-47 rolled down the runway at Ubon Thailand heading for the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. Although a peace treaty between North Vietnam and the United States had been signed days earlier they were still monitoring the North Vietnamese army in neutral Laos. As I have described in my first book, AP Alley an EC-47 is a World War two cargo plane that had been converted into an electronic intercept aircraft. This concept of using this unarmed, slow moving plane to intercept radio transmissions and locate the enemy’s position was developed and controlled by the NSA. Operators who were trained to use this equipment had Top Secret Crypto clearances and were above average in intelligence as the selection process was well thought out and executed. The call sign for this aircraft was Baron52.

Also flying in Laos that night were six other airplanes. They were the Airborne Command and Control Center aircraft (Moonbeam ABCCC), Baron62, an AC-130 gunship (Spectre 20), and three F-4’s. At 0010 hours on February 5th Baron 52 let Spectre20 know it would fly in the southern part of Area 10G and Spectre 20 responded it would fly in the northern part. At 0039 hours the radar station in Thailand records its last contact with Baron 52.

At 0125 hours Baron 52 informed Moonbeam several rounds of anti-aircraft fire had been fired at them. At 0130 they report operations are back to normal. At 0140 Baron 52 again reports being fired at this time with radar controlled anti-aircraft fire about 60 miles northeast of Attapa over the Ho Chi Minh Trail. At 0200 Baron 52 is due to report in, but does not.

Moonbeam and two ground stations attempted to contact Baron52 but were unable to contact them. At 0210 search and rescue, and other aircraft were sent to search for Baron52, a half hour after Baron52 had reported being under attack. There was no distress call sent out from the aircraft even though there were two radios on board. The wreckage of Baron52 was located on February 7th, two days after the last known contact.

On February 9th Search and Rescue examined the wreckage of Baron52. Three rescue specialists and one radioman from the 6994th Squadron were sent to inspect the wreckage. Baron52 had landed upside down on the side of a mountain with portions of the wings and tail broken off. Two of the four personnel sent inspected the wreckage, but only stayed on the ground for 15 to 20 minutes. Three bodies, and possibly a fourth were seen in the cockpit, no one entered the fuselage and no other bodies were accounted for. It was reported that the fuselage had burned down to an 18 inch tube.

On February 22nd 1973 a priest and Air Force officer arrived at the home of the Cressmans and stated that there was no reasonable doubt that their son had survived the crash of Baron52. The Matejov family also received the same announcement during this time. For five years both families believed that their sons had died in Laos. Then in July 1978 an attorney notified the Cressmans that their son may had survived the crash. A whistle blower, who to this day remains unknown, had stated this possibility. Then an Air Force officer called them to let them know of a possibility that their son may have been captured. Both families, the Cressmans and the Matejovs, took it upon themselves to investigate what may have happened to the back end crew of Baron52. From that day forward their quest to find out what happened to their sons became a priority for both families.

It turned out that five and a half hours after Baron52 was shot down a radio message was intercepted with two possible versions of the intercept. The first one appeared to say presently Group 217 is holding four pilots captive and the group is requesting orders concerning what to do with them. North Vietnamese troops would often refer to captured crew men as pilots or pirates. The second version appeared to say presently Group 210 has four pirates: they are going….. from 44 to 93. An NSA analyst, Jerry Mooney, states that he believes they were being held by Group 210 or 210B (210B is phonetically similar to 217). From 44 to 93 could be kilometer markings which would equate to moving them about 30 miles. If they had been captured they could have been moved this distance by truck along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The day of the crash of Baron52 there were no other plane crashes in Laos. In fact this was the last American aircraft shot down after the end of the war.

Sgt Matejov s father is a retired Lieutenant Colonel and he used his contacts to eventually learn about the above intercepts. He also learned that Baron52 was shot down right before the release of 591 POW’s. He came to believe that the American government did not want to risk the release of these POW’s by asking for four more. Matejov arranged a meeting with Roger Shields. Roger Shields was Secretary Kissinger’s POW-MIA man. Later Matejov would state that Mr. Shields told him there was no doubt that these four men were captured and that he dropped the ball and was sorry for that. Roger Shields has stated that he doesn’t remember saying that he dropped the ball. He said that what he said was: Isn’t it striking to hear the intercepts that pirates had been captured on the heels of the downing of our aircraft. There were significant questions in my mind that if it had been in making the determinations, I would not have labeled the men KIA (killed in action). I m sorry we didn’t get back in to investigate. After feeling that the government had let him down, Mr Matejov began to drink more heavily and died in an accident in 1984.

In 1991 Peter Cressman’s brothers got a tip that one of the search and rescue men who had examined the site had information for them. They contacted Chief Master Sergeant Ronald Schofield who had examined the wreckage of Baron52 on February 9th. Sgt Schofield stated to them that he had been waiting for them for 18 years. As he began to cry he stated that the parachute door was missing when he examined the plane. The parachute door would be ejected by holding a static line and kicking the releases on the door. It would only be ejected if the operators were ready to eject from the aircraft and had their parachutes on. He told the brothers he believed from that very day he examined the wreckage that those men got out alive. Sgt Schofield would later testify before the Senate Select Committee on POW-MIA Affairs in November 1992. He would state that the parachute door was missing and it had been nagging on his mind all these years. He also did not think the crew’s bodies burned up in the crash because he recognized the bodies in the cockpit because they were wearing Nomex (fire retardant flight suits) which all crew member would have been wearing. So if the other crew members were at the crash site they should have been recognizable. He testified that he believed the men kicked out the door and some of them got out. The parachute door should have been there and it wasn’t, he further stated in his deposition.

On October 16, 1991 the TV show Unsolved Mysteries ran a segment about Baron52 and the possibility that the crew members had been captured, not killed. The show told about the letter that Sgt Cressman had written to his Congressman about their illegal activities in Laos. He never mailed the letter. It was also discussed on the show that Terrell Minarcin, an NSA analyst, had received the communique of the captured pilots. Further Jerry Mooney testified before Congress that the crew were POW’s which Terrell agreed. Terrell believes the crew was taken to the Sokol area by air. He believes that knowledgeable prisoners were rounded up and sent to Russia at the end of the war. The show went on to discuss how both families, the Cressmans and the Matejovs, had tried for years to get information from the government, but were unsuccessful. Even documents they were allowed to review were redacted beyond being readable. It appears that this show led to the military returning to Laos to further investigate what had happened to Baron52.

A year after the show a team made up of Americans and Laotians reached the Baron52 crash site. This occurred on November 2, 1992. A two hour search was done and they claimed they found the dog tags of Sgt Matejov laying on the ground near the crash site. In 1993 excavations were done at the site and 20 bone fragments were found, along with 22 rings associated with parachutes, and half of a premolar tooth said to belong to Sgt Cressman. As far as the military was concerned this proved that the crew had been killed in the crash. The bones and tooth were brought back to the United States. The tooth and dog tags were tested and the results were inconclusive if they really belonged to Sgt Cressman and Sgt Matejov. On March 26, 1996 the bones were buried during a ceremony at Arlington Cemetery. Pat Cressman, the brother of Sgt Cressman attended and stated, it was a beautiful funeral. The only thing missing was the corpse.

What did happen to the back end crew of Baron52. There are arguments for both positions. The first argument is that no one survived the crash of Baron52. That argument is based on the fact that there were no distress calls from the two radios on the aircraft or the individual radios the crew carried with them. The argument also goes that the crew burned up in the crash so no bodies were found during the initial search of the wreckage. Also they state that bones, a dog tag, rings for parachutes, and a tooth found years later at the crash site prove that the crew died in the crash. These are the key reasons some believe all of the crew died in the crash of Baron52.

The families of Sgt Cressman and Sgt Matejov and many others do not believe the back end crew died in the crash. The intercept of the radio message stating four pilots or pirates were captured that day is strong evidence they got out as no other aircraft crashed that day. The dog tag and tooth were tested and the results were inconclusive that they belong to the two crew members. It was well known that the Vietnamese would salt crash sites with phony items to fool investigators. As far as is known no DNA testing was done on the bones. The parachute rings may have been extra ones on board as they always carried extra rings on board. The door missing from the back of the plane indicates it was ejected by the crew and if so they would have been ready to bail out. The lack of a may day message from the aircraft can be explained and also if the crew was captured immediately they would not have had time to send a message on their individual radios.

The North Vietnamese were all along the Ho Chi Minh Trail which is where Baron52 was hit by anti-aircraft fire. So which version is true? Did the crew die in the crash or did the crew members in the back of the aircraft escape only to be captured? I have a personal interest in this mystery as the 6994th Security Squadron was my old squadron I flew with in Pleiku Vietnam. While I was flying out of Pleiku we lost an aircraft also in Laos and all aboard died in the crash, including my room mate from survival school James Dorsey. It also crashed on February 5th but in the year 1969 which I wrote about in my first book AP Alley. By the end of the war the squadron had moved to Ubon Thailand and Baron52 was their aircraft. I want to know the truth as much as anyone, as I see how the government has lied to us time and time again. The following is my story on what might have happened. In it you will see other lies we were told about the war. Although it is a work of fiction there are many facts in the story that are true. We all need to start holding our Leaders accountable or the Tonkin Gulf incident, Benghazi, and Baron52 will be repeated over and over again and again.

CHAPTER 1

Southern Japan Present day

It was still dark out on this spring morning in March. Rick Travis sat on the porch of his farm in Southern Japan thinking about the Cherry Blossom festival which would be occurring in Hirosaki in a week. Remembering a time long ago brought tears to his eyes which he wiped away. Sitting next to him was a turn table and amplifier he had purchased so long ago. He picked up his album which contained a vinyl record that he had played over and over again and again and put it on the turn table. It was Little Anthony and the Imperials and the first song started to play. Well I think I m going out of my head, yes I think I m going out of my head over you, over you. He was back in AP Alley sitting across from Miyoko, the beautiful Miyoko. The tears welled up in his eyes again. He looked out over his rice fields while wiping his eyes. As he looked over the fields his head kept wanting to look up, look up to that hill he did not want to look at. The next song started and it allowed him to again look down at the rice fields. So long ago he thought, yet it seems just like yesterday. Would the pain ever stop will the wounds in his heart ever heal? They should have, but he still had his memories of those times and what had happened.

Then the fourth song on the album started, I know you don’t know what I’m going through standing here looking at you, but let me tell you that it hurts so bad. It makes me feel so sad. The sun was rising up behind the hill which drew Rick’s eyes to the hill where the memorial was, where he did not want to look because it did hurt so bad. The rising sun, a symbol of Japan burned into his eyes and the anger welled up inside of him.

Some one touched him on his shoulder and he almost jumped out of his chair. It was Naomi his and Masako’s daughter. Masako had picked the name from a song that was popular when Naomi was born, the Chinese characters for Naomi meant honest beauty and she was that. You okay Papa-san? Rick shook his head yes and took the cup of coffee she was handing to him. Looking at his daughter he felt so much love for her. Even though she had many suitors she would not leave him, having almost lost him a couple of times for different reasons. He smiled at her and she sat down next to him.

The record had finished. Naomi looked up into Rick s eyes and saw him staring out toward the rice fields. She got up and put the arm of the turn table back into its holder and then she saw the record he had been playing. She squatted down in front of him and cupped his face in her hands, what is wrong Papa? He looked into her eyes, and just said, I’ll be okay.

No Papa it is more that. Now I see the anger inside of you Papa.

He tried to look away but she held his face firmly, let it go Papa. It has been so long ago. Hiroshi is coming today and you can tell him everything and he will let the world know what happened.

There is more than that. Things I have never told you. She took her hands off the side of his face and saw him look directly up at the hill.

What else Papa?

You were so young you do not remember and I have never told you.

Naomi stood up then sat down next to him and looked up at the hill, I am not too young now.

No you are not and you should be married with a family, not here watching over me.

I cannot go until you are at peace. Isn’t it time to tell the whole story? You know I love you Papa, nothing you tell me will ever change that.

Rick started to cry. Naomi put her arms around his shoulder and just let him get it out. He kept saying so much death, always so much death.

Papa we are still alive. It is time for healing. Rick wiped the tears from his face and looked at her. She had grown into a beautiful young woman and a strong woman like her Mother. Maybe it was time to tell her everything.

Hiroshi was a newspaper man who had met Rick when he was in the Air Force stationed in Japan, so he knew things that Naomi did not know. She was right she should know everything, she had stayed with him and helped him to get over some of the hurt he had endured for so many years. Maybe he did need to confide in her. Maybe it was time to do that. He took another look up at the hill and then turned back to look into her eyes. Yes I should tell you everything. Everything that happened from the moment you were born. Naomi smiled, Hai I want to know Papa. I love you and I want you to be at peace.

He put his arm around her, I know you do. I do not know if I will ever have peace, but I will try.

So tell me Papa what is inside of you that has been tearing you apart all these years. I can always tell when you play that record that it means a lot to you.

Yes it brings back many memories. Some good, but many very sad of what could have been.

Naomi said let me get you a fresh cup of coffee then tell me everything. Okay.

When she returned with coffee for both of them he turned her chair so he could look directly at her and said the best place to start is right after you were born. George found me and ……

CHAPTER 2

Southern Japan March 1970

George Dunham walked through the rice fields that cold March morning looking for Rick. George had been Rick’s room mate when they were stationed at Pleiku Vietnam and they had become good friends. Having married into a wealthy Japanese family, George and his wife owned the land Rick was growing rice on. After Rick had been discharged from the Air Force George offered him a plot of land with a house on it for him and Masako to live and work on. Rick had accepted the offer and came back to Japan to live with Masako.

The sun was just coming up over the hill when George spotted Rick. He was laying in the rice field with his head on the mound that surrounds the rice. Lucky for Rick his head had not landed where the rice was as it was full of water and he could have drowned. George walked up to him and looked down. He was drunk again. George tried to shake him, but Rick did not move. George rolled Rick’s body into the rice so that his head would hit the water. That woke him up. What the fuck! Who the hell!

Rick sat up but the sun blinded him from seeing who it was that had pushed him into the water. Rick shook his head trying to get the cob webs out from a long night of drinking Suntory whiskey and Sapporo beer. George knelt down so Rick could see his face. Why are you doing this Rick? This won’t bring her back!

Rick wiped the water from his face, No it won t bring anyone back. It just numbs the pain.

You appear to be in pain now. Are you numb now? No. Masako is gone Rick. Naomi is here. She needs you!

I can’t…. I just can’t.

George stood up and grabbed Rick’s hand to help him up. Rick turned as he got up and looked up at the hill. She is there. I should be with her.

You keep drinking like that and you will be. Then Naomi will have no parents to take care of her.

"She has Masako’s