'Everyday Extraordinary': Vietnam flier receives Flying Cross medal 42 years later
Contributed ––– Before flying their missions in Linebacker II offensive of the Vietnam War in 1972, the crew of Ret. Col. Jim Gabriel of Spicewood (left) and Ret. Mj. Alan Kirby, formerly of Granite Shoals, line up in front of their B52 bomber. They are: (from left) Gabriel, pilot; Walt Wegesser, co-pilot; Kirby, radar-navigator; Bob Gee, electronic warfare officer, and Ray Culver, gunner.
By Glynis Crawford Smith/The Highlander
It is easy to forget that everyday people actually may be extraordinary. In fact, students stepping onto their campus for a decade in Marble Falls could not have guessed their bus driver had been the bombardier in one of the most significant sorties of the Vietnam War.
Ret. Mj. Alan Kirby, formerly of Granite Shoals, was awarded the U.S. Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross last year, some 42 years after earning it for “heroism or extraordinary achievement in aerial flight,” through a series of coincidences.
Kirby had flown as the radar navigator (Air Force speak for bombardier) in the Linebacker II offensive in December 1972. Out of Anderson Air Force Base in Guam, bombers flew 729 sorties in 11 days, raining fire on the capital city of Hanoi for the first time during the war.
“The raids were pretty terrible,” said Ret. Col. Jim Gabriel of Spicewood, then captain of the B52 bomber on which Kirby served. “There were a lot of surface-to-air missiles and we lost a lot of planes (17 of them B52s).”
As with many military units, the crew spread out to new lives.
“The whole crew lost touch,” said Kirby. “I retired from the Air Force after 21 years and when we moved to this area, Jim and I discovered by coincidence we were working for the same employer in Round Mountain.”
It was a brief meeting and Kirby moved on to a job as a bus driver, sharing the same holiday time as his wife, Helen, who was a substitute teacher.
But, when another crew member contacted Gabriel about a possible reunion, he already knew where to find Kirby.
For the rest of this Veterans Day feature, see the print edition of The Highlander. Or, if you are a subscriber, call to get information on accessing the full e-edition.
