That Others May Live: USAF Air Rescue in Korea

Air & Space Power Journal, Winter, 2004 by Darrel Whitcomb

Fixing Intelligence: For a More Secure America by Forrest L. Marion. Air Force History and Museums Program (http://www.airforcehistory.hq. af.mil/publications.htm), 200 McChord Street, Box 94, Bolling AFB, Washington, DC 20332-1111, 2004, 57 pages, $5.25 (softcover).

In this tightly packaged treatise, Forrest Marion, a historian assigned to the Air Force Historical Research Agency at Maxwell AFB, Alabama, and an Air Force Reserve lieutenant colonel, presents us with a focused look at rescue operations in the Korean War. He proceeds chronologically through the activation and deployment of rescue units into the theater and then presents vignettes and anecdotal data that highlight the heroic efforts of our rescue crews to recover downed Airmen, perform countless medical evacuations, and support special operations.

This is rich history. Key to the story is the evolution of technology, particularly the helicopter, that allowed us to recover our isolated personnel. Introduced late in World War II, this aircraft saw employment as a recovery vehicle in Korea after we developed the necessary doctrine and techniques. Marion documents this process well, but he also does an excellent job of highlighting the innovative use of other aircraft such as the SA-16, SB-17, L-5, and SB-29 as we adapted them to this mission area as well. In fact, he notes several items that have become basic staples of rescue operations: (1) the need for, development of, and use of survival radios; (2) the need for centralized command and control; (3) the development of the task-force concept; (4) rescue as a coalition asset; (5) the need for support aircraft other than recovery vehicles; and (6) recognition that combat rescue is not just an add-on to air combat operations but a specialized mission that requires its own focus and family of experts.

Marion presents all of these issues as they occurred, using well-focused research and interviews with actual participants to show how they evolved and how we dealt with them creatively. One quotation is especially telling. After being recovered, one troop declared, "When I saw that helicopter land it looked like a mechanical angel coming--it was the answer to a man's prayer." About 51 years later, a Navy flyer expressed that sentiment almost exactly after a helicopter plucked him out of the desert of Iraq. The result, then and now, is the same. When we send our young men and women into combat, we do not expect them to die for their country. We want them to come home, and our propensity to develop and sustain a rescue capability clearly symbolizes that desire.

I do have one criticism. The study needs more maps. Marion explains many of the actions in geographical terms, but without detailed maps, a reader at times has difficulty following the narrative. Regardless, That Others May Live was a pleasure to read. Korea proved critical to the development of our rescue forces in their current form. Marion has captured a fundamental part of that heritage, and I highly recommend the fruit of his efforts to anyone looking for a more detailed knowledge of rescue operations or just good flying stories.

Col Darrel Whitcomb, USAF, Retired

Fairfax, Virginia