Joe Santee
Images by Major "Biggie" Mund, Vern Hammett, and Joe Santee
This is Joe Santee. I'll let him tell you his story.
"When I started college at Oklahoma State University in 1959, all male students who attended a state university had to take the first two years of ROTC. I could see the "handwriting on the wall" that as soon as I graduated I would be going to SE Asia. I didn't want to go as an enlisted man (too lazy) and I didn't want to go into the Army (too much of a coward-- somebody might shoot at me and there might be snakes). So, I decided to stay in ROTC and get my commission. I also decided to try for the flight program with the Air Force. I was accepted. As part of the advanced AFROTC program, those of us accepted for the flight program were allowed into the Flight Introductory Program.
We were given 35 hours of flight training in a Cessna 150 by civilian instructors. I began my training in the spring of '63. After the 35 hours I continued on my own for another 5 hours and got my private license.
Upon graduation from college in '64 I received my commission as a 2nd Lt."
"I reported to active duty in June 1965 at Laredo AFB, Laredo, TX for pilot training. I had 6 months of training in the T-37 & finished with 6 months of training in the T-33. My class was the last class at Laredo to fly the T-33. When we all finished flying we ferried the T-birds to various places around the country."
"My assignment from pilot training was to the back seat of the F-4 at Ubon, Thailand. I went to F-4 training at George AFB, CA."
"When I finished there I went to survival school training at Fairchild AFB, WA. That was in March and the snow was about 2 feet deep. When I finished that they immediately sent me to Clark AFB, Philippines for jungle survival school (also, so I could thaw out). From there I reported to Ubon AFB, Thailand. It was now April 1967. I was assigned to the 555th Fighter Squadron of the 8th Fighter Wing of the 7th AF in PACAF. I only stayed in the Triple Nickel a couple of days and they transferred me to the 497th Fighter Squadron. (I didn't realize I had been that much of a problem so fast. They said something about the Nickel being overmanned & the 497th needing pilots.) At first I didn't like the 497th because they were a totally night squadron. All of their missions were at night. You can't see anything at night, like karst peaks that stick almost straight up for hundreds of feet. However, after I got about 10 missions under my belt I realized this was really a good deal because most of the gunners shot at our sound (which was always behind us). The only gunner that ever came close was the "mad gunner of Dong Hoi". At some point he must have had a day shift because he shot ahead of the sound and on several occasions came close to shooting some of us down."
These photos are of Cam Ranh Bay in S. Vietnam. Note the revetments where the airplanes are parked. These revetments protected the aircraft from mortar attacks.
Joe's hooch (living quarters) at Ubon, Thailand. His room had the pink door. There were six 2-man rooms with the showers and bathroom in the middle.There is a calendar on the wall where he checked off the days until he went home. These quarters were air-conditioned, and they had a house boy who came every day to clean, make the beds, wash clothes, shine their shoes, and anything else they wanted. But it cost them-----$5.00 a month.
Compare that with a typical hooch at Cam Ranh Bay. The louvers in the walls were the air-conditioning.
These shots are from Operation Sky Spot: F4s being controlled by a GCI (Ground Controlled Intercept) site. Aircraft flew at about 17,000 feet and were told when to drop their bombs. They only did this a few times, although supposedly the BDA (Bomb Damage Assessment) average was very good. The crews didn't believe it.
"The worst part of the mission- filling out all of the paperwork during the debrief. We had to fill out the 781 (Maintenance log); if you fired a gun or dropped bombs you had to fill out a form telling where, what at, what the results were, etc. If you had a camera on board, there was a form; if you saw or encountered MiGs, if you got shot at, if you..."
Sometimes things don't go well... this F-4 ran off the end of the runway at Cam Ranh Bay......necessitating the services of a rescue team.
"I finished my tour and came back to the States to be a flight instructor in T-37's at Vance AFB, Enid, OK. I flew T-37's for about 3 years. I left the AF in April 1971 and worked at a non-flying job for about 18 months. I was hired by Delta Air Lines in Oct. 1972."
Joe retired from Delta Air Lines on June 27, 2001.