Snooks
John Flanagan is a lot of things. He has been a volunteer with USA Cares from the first. He has served as a member of the Virtual Committee that reviews each case and recommends approval or disapproval. Considering that we have processed over 15,000 cases over the last six plus years, which is quite a feat, considering he has a full time job and is a full time husband, dad and grandpa.
John Flanagan is also a hero in my book. In his book, “Born In Brooklyn and Raised in the Cav” he gave us a glimpse of the path of one young man growing up in a big city, finding himself standing in line at the draft center where they counted off the first twelve who became Marines and John was on his way to the Army. It was at the ramp up to the Vietnam War and his book recounts boot camp, flight school introduction and the life of an Army Aviator. Then we wove our way through a tour with the 9th Cavalry in Vietnam and we learned about “guns” and “slicks” and “Blues”. I would recommend the book; you can order it at http://www2.xlibris.com/BOOKSTORE/bookdisplay.asp?bookid=13825.
I am working on my own book, called “A Broken Water Pipe”, which John is helping me with, and at one point I had talked to another Vietnam Veteran I will introduce next, Bob Manning who had been shot in Vietnam and saved by a helicopter who took him out of the firefight. John sent me a very telling email that made me realize just how courageous these young men were, who were shielded by Plexiglas from enemy fire, but who willingly always responded to the need to airlift out wounded guys, regardless of the situation. Rather than me retell it, I am posting it here.
In an email to me and Bob, John talks about his memories, I’ve cleaned it up a bit so that John won’t have too. His “guns” are the guys flying armed birds, the X-Ray is the co-pilot, POL is refueling point (fuel and petroleum products), the LZ is the landing zone (often a open space in the jungle, a rice paddy or less) a click is one kilometer or 600 yards and the story is John’s:
You’re in the air and the call comes up from Ops that the guns are working over a ground unit that has casualties that need to be gotten out before they die. Medevac can’t go in because the LZ is still hot. Ops [Troop Operations] asks if you would go help. You and your X-ray nod “yup”, “Roger” the request and roll the nose over and head for the LZ. In bound you call the guns who give you a sitrep [situation report], especially where the main fire is coming from. You set up a straight-in low level approach, tell the gun to have the grunts pop smoke, your ID the color, they confirm the color and you scream into the LZ. You remain light on the skids and stay in the LZ just long enough to load the wounded, - you see the faces of the grunts, the emotion, the grit, the determination, the relief when they back away from the bird - then you call coming out to the gun, and pop the tree line and scream out of the area. A click or two out you climb to 1000 feet and call the tower for the medivac pad. You drop them off, go grab some POL and check the bird for damage, clean out the back end of the blood and stuff, wishing you could get rid of the smell you will have with you for days, and then return to the original mission, never really knowing who they were, or how they made out, or what happened. You remember in quiet times, and then have another drink to soothe the pain.
Yes very real, Bob.
John
John’s world includes a special lady, Anne, who he has always affectionately called “Snooks”, and if my memory serves me right, was the name of two of his helicopters in Vietnam one of which he put down under fire and himself and his co-pilot were rescued. Anne is the Army wife we all hear about, loyal, true and tough.
Two weeks ago, I sat in a banquet hall in Louisville with 250 other guests who are all members of the Ohio River LZ Chapter of the Vietnam Helicopter Pilot Associations and listened to Joe Galloway, author of “We Were Soldiers” and others, who is famous for his story about the fight at LZ X-RAY, in Ia Drang Valley with then Colonel Hal Moore and the first major battle in the war in Vietnam with American soldiers, portrayed by Mel Gibson in the movie of the same name. Joe talked a lot about his 44 years of hanging out with men and women at war, and the courage and dedication that he saw in big things and little things. He talked about the over 4,000 Army Aviators who were either killed in action, or missing in action and as I looked around the room at the grey headed men who still talked in a code of pilots and “stick buddies” and “boat guys” I realized that in fact we were surrounded by men who didn’t avoid the draft, who didn’t find ways not to serve, but instead, not only served, but then took on the task that was arguably the most dangerous job in Vietnam.
The fact that many of them as they introduced themselves, and noted that they had served multiple tours in Vietnam, as John did, is a testimony to their courage and to their faith in their country. Not one of them sounded bitter or sorry, what they sounded like was truly a “Band of Brothers”.
So here was John and “Snooks” sitting in a table on the outer edge of the banquet room, watching and smiling as he looked across the room, and to help you understand why that was kind of cool, was that he was the outgoing Chapter President, and clearly had every right to be sitting at or near the head table in a place of honor, but that isn’t John. John has never been about John, he is always about how he can help make a difference, either in his community where he serves on city boards, in groups like USA Cares, and the Helicopter Pilot Association and a company that he is the CEO of and has made into a profitable organization for only the second year in its eleven year history. In full disclosure I started the company and just as I recruited John to serve on the Virtual Committee in 2003, I also recruited him to be the CEO of our company.
John is a special man, and would be the last to admit it.
