Frankly Speaking- LCDR Bart Wade

At some point during the week of December 15, 1972 the Commanding Officer of the U.S.S. Saratoga, Captain J.R. Sanderson, took time out of his daily SitRep (Situation Report) to commend LCDR Bart Wade for having flown 300 combat missions over North Vietnam.

On the evening of December 21 he launched with a fellow A-6 crewmember,LCDR Graustein, on what was Wade's 302nd combat mission.

Simply stated, they didn't make it back.

301 Successful combat missions
Less than 2 weeks from the end of our tour of duty in Vietnam
The Saratoga's last two casualties in Vietnam

Here are a couple of posts at the virtual wall:

LCDR Bart Wade was one of those unselfish A-6 aircrew heroes of the Vietnam war who couldn't stay away from the action until it was finished. Volunteering to come back to Vietnam and fly in combat again, he joined VA-75 in 1972 and was declared missing in action on the night of 21 December 1972, along with his pilot LCDR Bob Graustein, after a night low level bombing mission on Kien An Airfield, near Haiphong, North Vietnam.

From a friend and squadron mate,
Grady Jackson
radmjax@aol.com

26 Aug 2003
He shall grow no more old...
I knew Bart Wade throughout my entire time flying the A-6A Intruder. Bart and I were assigned to the same training class in VA-128 at NAS Whidbey Island in early 1968. I was a new Ensign, only 8 months since commissioning, and Bart was a lofty Lieutenant, having entered the Naval Flight Officer program after a tour as an aircraft maintenance officer. We both were assigned to VA-196 at the end of our Bombardier/Navigator training in early 1969, and deployed to Vietnam on board USS Ranger in October of that year. The squadron returned home in June of 1970 after a long, tough deployment that saw four of our aircraft shot down - the only combat losses for the entire Ranger air wing.

Our paths diverged when I went to another squadron and Bart stayed with VA-196 for a second deployment. After that, although he was entitled to a (safe) assignment on shore, Bart elected to join another deploying squadron and returned to the war.

Bart was a bachelor. I remember that he lived with two other single fliers in a waterfront house on Whidbey Island that had a sign out front - "The Bachelors". They shared ownership and care of a one-eyed collie named Jack. Their outdoor deck was always good for a Sunday afternoon party in the summertime. After he had a few beers, Bart could recite long passages from Rudyard Kipling's poetry. I don't remember him ever being sad or down.

Bart was a true hero in that he chose to do a dangerous job even when he could have honorably been elsewhere. He wanted to fly and wanted to make a difference in the service of his country, and died doing what he loved to do.

It remains for those of us who came through unscathed to remember him and his shipmates.

"They will grow no more old, as we that are left grow old.
Age will not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning,
We will remember them..."
- Inscription on the Tomb of the British Unknown soldier -
From a friend,
Pete Young

My first Bonsai

FRANKLY SPEAKING- Legacy

On August 14, 1945 he stood on the deck of the USS Missouri and witnessed as Emperor Hirohito signed the articles of surrender ending WWII.

On July 29, 1967 a U.S. Navy Lt. Commander sat in the cockpit of an A-4 Sky Hawk he was preparing to fly on a combat mission over North Vietnam. As he prepared himself and the aircraft for the mission he heard a loud swoosh and a low level detonation. He watched as the two aircraft in front of him burst into flame, spewing JP-5 (jet fuel) on the flight deck. He watched as one of the damaged aircraft dropped a bomb, watched as the bomb rolled across the flight deck and stopped in the middle of a burning pool of jet fuel.

In the conflagration that followed, 132 members of the ships crew would perish. Sixty-two others (including the Lt. Commander) would be injured and two would be listed as missing and presumed dead. It was the most devastating accident on any aircraft carrier since World War 2.

On October 26, 1967 the same Lt. Cdr (now recovered from the wounds suffered on the Forrestal) launched from the USS Kitty Hawk on his 23rd combat mission. The target was a power plant serving the city of Hanoi. At some point during that sortie a surface-to-air missile hit the A4E Sky hawk he was piloting. He ejected, was taken into custody and held as a prisoner-of-war for the next 5 1/2 years.

In 1972 I served aboard the USS Saratoga. The duty station was off the coast of North Vietnam. We were part of the U.S. Seventh fleet; He was in command of U.S. Naval forces in the pacific at that time.

All three of these men share much more than the service they have given the U.S. Navy and the nation. They are three generations of one family! They share their name with the other two.

One witnessed the surrender of the Japanese. His son rose to the level of Admiral and commanded the U.S. Navy in the Pacific while the Grandson was confined to a P.O.W. camp in Hanoi.

The grandson didn’t get the opportunity to, “over-achieve” like his father and grandfather did. POW camps tend to abbreviate careers not nurture them.

So he ran for the U.S. Senate and deviated from the legacy left by Admirals John McCain, Sr. and John McCain, Jr.

Which title would you prefer, Admiral or Senator?

Frankly Speaking, Jean and Morris

I guess I’ve been a bit lax in writing entries to the blogs lately. I can’t explain why but it just seems to be the case. No reason and no excuses.

I promised in the previous post to continue the Jean story. Here it is:

The growth we were experiencing was tremendous. Having THE hot box in the world of office automation and productivity was, and I assume still is exhilarating. I was responsible for the service activities in Kansas, western Missouri, southwestern Iowa, Nebraska and any other God forsaken environs the Regional Manager felt compelled to send me. Jerry was in St. Louis doing the same in a bit smaller geography. Our business was growing at a rate of 6% per month. Compound that for six years. It is impressive. We needed help! Enter Morris.

Morris was hired to work out of St. Louis and be an additional resource for both Jerry and myself. His very first service call was in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; where he diagnosed the problem, replaced the defective part, got on an airplane and went back to St. Louis. One problem- He didn’t diagnose the failure that was causing the failure he diagnosed. The next day the unit failed again. So my phone rang and the voice on the other end said, “Frank how fast can you get to the Kansas City airport, I need you in Cedar Rapids.” So off I went. It was a very straight forward, easy fix. But it did require an overnight stay in beautiful Cedar Rapids while I waited for a power supply (the original undiagnosed culprit) to be flown in.

Little did I know that while I was lounging in my hotel room Jean had called the Communication Center ranting and raving about the failure of her fax. Larry reacted to her tirade by dispatching Morris from St. Louis to Kansas City to resolve the difficulty. But before he left he got a warning from the girls in the Comm. Center, “Be careful, Jean is a real !@#$%.

Morris caught a flight to KC, rented a car, drove to the customer’s site, walked in to the administration area and calmly announced, “OK, which one of you is the !@#$% ?” Fortunately, Jean was not in the office at that moment. Unfortunately Morris was unable to resolve the problem. So Jean called the Comm. Center again.

I finished the service call in Cedar Rapids and caught a flight back to KC, The next morning I was informed of Jean’s problem and made aware of the fact that Morris had been in town to, “back me up” but that he was unsuccessful in doing so.

I got to Jean’s office, put my tail between my legs and began the process of fixing the machine. While I worked on the unit Jean decided to take a break. So I was left alone. A broken fax machine and I in an office with 4 attractive women seemed innocent. As if it were on cue they simultaneously began walking toward me. They didn’t stop till they completely surrounded me and the supervisor was standing directly in front of me, and I will admit she was way too close. She said, “OK, which one of us is the !@#$% ?”

The women in the office were all too aware of Jean’s reputation, and they thought I had warned Morris about Jean. So they decided to have a little fun with me.

Morris’ first paycheck was his last!