Iceal Hambleton
{{Short description|United States Air Force officer}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= Iceal Eugene Hambleton
|image= Iceal gene hambleton.jpg
|image_size=
|alt=
|caption= Hambleton around 1973
|nickname= Gene
|birth_date= {{birth date|1918|11|16}}
|birth_place= Rossville, Illinois, U.S.
|death_date= {{death date and age|2004|09|19|1918|11|16}}
|death_place= Tucson, Arizona, U.S.
|placeofburial= Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery, Elwood, Illinois
|allegiance= United States
|branch= United States Army Air Forces
United States Air Force
|serviceyears= 1943–1973
|rank= Lieutenant Colonel
|unit=
|commands= 571st Strategic Missile Squadron
|battles= World War II
Korean War
Vietnam War
|awards= Silver Star
Distinguished Flying Cross
Air Medal (4)
Purple Heart
Meritorious Service Medal
|relations=
|laterwork=
}}
Iceal Eugene "Gene" Hambleton (November 16, 1918 – September 19, 2004) was a career United States Air Force navigator who was shot down over South Vietnam during the 1972 Easter Offensive. He was aboard an EB-66 aircraft whose call sign was Bat 21.{{Cite book | url = https://archive.org/details/rescueofbat2100whit | url-access = registration | last1 = Whitcomb | first1 = Darrel D. | title = The rescue of Bat 21 | year = 1998 | publisher = Naval Institute Press | location = Annapolis, MD | isbn = 1-55750-946-8 | page = [https://archive.org/details/rescueofbat2100whit/page/196 196] }}{{rp|30}} As the ranking navigator/EWO on the aircraft, he was seated immediately behind the pilot, giving him the call sign "Bat 21 Bravo". He survived for eleven and one half days behind enemy lines until he was retrieved in a ground operation. His rescue was the longest and most costly search and rescue mission during the entire Vietnam War. He received the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal and a Purple Heart during his career.
Military career
Hambleton served in the United States Army Air Forces during the last years of World War II without seeing any combat. Released from active duty at the end of the war, he retained a reserve commission and was recalled back to active duty by the United States Air Force (USAF) during the 1950s. During the Korean War, he flew 43 sorties as navigator in a B-29 Superfortress.
He then worked during the 1960s on various USAF ballistic missile projects such as the PGM-19 Jupiter, Titan I ICBM and Titan II ICBM.{{rp|66}} From 1965 to 1971, he commanded the 571st Strategic Missile Squadron at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson, Arizona, and was also the deputy chief of operations for his squadron's parent unit, the Strategic Air Command's 390th Strategic Missile Wing at Davis-Monthan AFB.{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article488725.ece |title=Lieutenant-Colonel Iceal Hambleton |work=The Times|location=London |date=October 1, 2004 |access-date=April 1, 2011}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}{{cite book |url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA220660.pdf |title=Bat 21: A Case Study |first=Lt. Col. Stanley |last=Busboom |date=April 2, 1990 |publisher=U.S. Army War College |location=Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania |access-date=April 3, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120320123131/http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA220660 |archive-date=March 20, 2012 }}{{rp|66}}
=Vietnam War=
Hambleton switched from the Strategic Air Command to Seventh Air Force and was assigned to the 42nd Tactical Electronic Warfare Squadron (42 TEWS) in Korat, Thailand as a navigator. The 42 TEWS was equipped with EB-66C/E Destroyer aircraft that flew radar and communications jamming missions to disrupt enemy defenses and early warning capabilities.
On his 63rd mission, on April 2, 1972, Hambleton was a navigator aboard an EB-66C gathering signals intelligence, including identifying enemy anti-aircraft radar installations, to enable jamming. The aircraft was helping escort a cell of three B-52 bombers tasked with attacking entrance passes to the Ho Chi Minh trail.{{cite web|url=http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/star/images/024/0240207002.pdf|title=Interdiction of Communist Infiltration Routes in Vietnam|date=24 June 1965|publisher=CIA|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171116174612/https://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/star/images/024/0240207002.pdf|archive-date=16 November 2017}} While just south of the DMZ and immediately north of Quang Tri at about {{convert|30000|ft}}, the aircraft was destroyed by a Soviet-built SA-2 Guideline surface-to-air missile.{{cite web| url=http://www.b66.info/B-66production-attrition.htm| title=E/R/W/B-66 Production, Attrition and History| access-date=March 24, 2011| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110904204904/http://www.b66.info/B-66production-attrition.htm| archive-date=September 4, 2011}}
Hambleton was the only one of the three-man crew able to eject from the crashing aircraft.{{cite web |url=http://www.pownetwork.org/bios/w/w104.htm |title=Bio, Walker, Bruce C. |access-date=March 24, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110605024053/http://www.pownetwork.org/bios/w/w104.htm |archive-date=June 5, 2011 }} He parachuted into the middle of the North Vietnamese Easter Offensive and landed in the midst of tens of thousands of North Vietnamese soldiers. His eventual rescue from behind enemy lines was the "largest, longest, and most complex search-and-rescue" operation during the entire Vietnam War.{{Cite book | last1 = Zimmerman | first1 = Dwight Jon | last2 = Gresham | first2 = John | title = Beyond Hell and Back: How America's Special Operations Forces Became the World's Greatest Fighting Unit | year=2008| publisher = St. Martin's Griffin | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=YcVDeau_E88C&q=hambleton | isbn = 978-0-312-38467-8 | page = 320 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171116174602/https://books.google.com/books?id=YcVDeau_E88C&printsec=frontcover&dq=.+Beyond+Hell+and+Back:+How+America%27s&hl=en&ei=7aiRTYXtBYSesQOD7_mvDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=hambleton&f=false | archive-date = 2017-11-16 }}
Hambleton had received water survival training at Homestead Air Force Base, Florida, and escape and evasion training and survival basics at the Pacific Air Command Jungle Survival School in the Philippines.{{rp|6}} During the rescue operation, five aircraft were shot down, eleven airmen were killed in action, and two were captured. Nine additional aircraft and helicopters were badly damaged during the ongoing rescue attempts.{{Cite book | last1 = Stoffey | first1 = Col. Robert E. | last2 = Holloway III |first2 = Admiral James L. | title = Fighting to Leave: The Final Years of America's War in Vietnam, 1972–1973 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hb0QJlF3oMcC | year= 2008 | publisher = Zenith Press | isbn = 978-0-7603-3310-5 | page = 336|access-date=March 29, 2011}}{{rp|53}}
General Creighton Abrams ordered that no further air rescue operations should be attempted, but ordered a ground rescue operation.{{cite web |url=http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/the-rescue-of-bat-21/ |title=The Rescue of BAT-21 |first=Amy P. |last=Mack |date=July 26, 2010 |access-date=March 27, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723124337/http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/the-rescue-of-bat-21/ |archive-date=July 23, 2011 }} Hambleton was a USAF ballistic missile expert with a Top Secret/SCI clearance and his capture by the North Vietnamese Army would have been of tremendous benefit to them and the Soviet Union.{{rp|83}} Hambleton said after the war that he felt sure if he were captured that he would never have been taken to Hanoi.{{rp|84}}
Hambleton was rescued after eleven and one half days by Navy SEAL Lieutenant Thomas R. Norris{{cite web|last=Zimmerman|first=Dwight Jon|title=A Story of the Brotherhood of Arms|url=http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/a-story-of-the-brotherhood-of-arms-lt-tommy-norris-and-po-mike-thronton/|access-date=31 October 2011|date=August 27, 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110723124316/http://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/a-story-of-the-brotherhood-of-arms-lt-tommy-norris-and-po-mike-thronton/|archive-date=23 July 2011}}{{cite journal |journal=Vietnam |date=December 2008 |publisher=HistoryNet.com |first=John B. |last=Haseman |url=http://www.stolenvalor.com/documents/bat21.pdf |title=The Unsung Hero in the Amazing Rescue of Bat 21 Bravo |pages=45–51 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120310113327/http://www.stolenvalor.com/documents/bat21.pdf |archive-date=2012-03-10 }} and VNN commando Nguyen Van Kiet in a covert, night-time infiltration {{convert|3|km}} behind enemy lines. Norris was awarded the Medal of Honor and Nguyen the Navy Cross. Nguyen was the only South Vietnamese sailor given that award during the war.{{Cite book | last1 = Murphy | first1 = Edward F. | title = Vietnam Medal of Honor Heroes | year = 2005 | publisher = Ballantine Books | location = New York | isbn = 978-0-345-47618-0 | page = 352 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=njMbo3UVkCcC&pg=PT277 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171116174602/https://books.google.com/books?id=njMbo3UVkCcC&pg=PT277 | archive-date = 2017-11-16 }}{{rp|277}} Norris would go on to become a founding member of the FBI Hostage Rescue Team.
Death
Hambleton died on September 19, 2004, in Tucson, Arizona, at age 85. The cause of death was pneumonia related to lung cancer, according to a family member.{{cite news |work=Los Angeles Times |date=September 27, 2004 |first=Dennis |last=McLellan |title='Gene' Hambleton, 85; His Rescue Depicted in 'Bat-21' Books, Film |access-date=May 21, 2018 |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-sep-27-me-hambleton27-story.html}} He was interred in Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery, Elwood, Illinois.[https://www.cem.va.gov/CEM/cems/nchp/abrahamlincoln.asp Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery]
Awards and decorations
Hambleton was awarded the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal and a Purple Heart during his career.
| style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;" |
| colspan="4"|200px |
| colspan="4"|{{Ribbon devices|number=|type=oak|ribbon=Silver Star ribbon.svg|width=110}} {{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Distinguished Flying Cross ribbon.svg|width=110}} |
| {{ribbon devices|number=|type=oak|ribbon=Purple Heart ribbon.svg|width=110}}
|{{Ribbon devices|number=|type=oak|ribbon=Meritorious Service Medal ribbon.svg|width=110}} |{{Ribbon devices|number=3|type=oak|other_device=|ribbon=Air Medal ribbon.svg|width=110}} |
| {{Ribbon devices|number=|type=|ribbon=Air Force Commendation ribbon.svg|width=110}}
|{{Ribbon devices|number=1|type=|ribbon=AF Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon.png|width=110}} |{{Ribbon devices|number=1|type=oak|other_device=|ribbon=Outstanding Unit ribbon.svg|width=110}} |
| {{Ribbon devices|number=|type=oak|ribbon=Combat Readiness Medal ribbon.svg|width=110}}
|{{ribbon devices|number=|type=oak|other_device=|ribbon=Army_Good_Conduct_Medal_ribbon.svg|width=110}} |{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=service-star|ribbon=American Campaign Medal ribbon.svg|width=110}} |
| {{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|name=World War II Victory Medal ribbon|width=110}}
|{{Ribbon devices|number=1|type=service-star|ribbon=National Defense Service Medal ribbon.svg|width=110}} |{{ribbon devices|number=2|type=service-star|name=KSMRib|width=110}} |
| {{ribbon devices|number=3|type=service-star|ribbon=Vietnam Service Medal ribbon.svg|width=110}}
|{{Ribbon devices|number=5|type=oak|ribbon=Air Force Longevity Service ribbon.svg|width=110}} |{{Ribbon devices|number=|type=oak|ribbon=Armed_Forces_Reserve_Medal_ribbon.svg|width=110}} |
| {{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=|ribbon=USAF Marksmanship ribbon.svg |width=110}}
|{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=service-star|name=Presidential Unit Citation (Korea)|width=110}} |{{Ribbon devices|number=0|type=award-star|ribbon=Vietnam_gallantry_cross_unit_award-3d.svg|width=110}} |
| {{ribbon devices|number=0|type=service-star|ribbon=United Nations Service Medal Korea ribbon.svg|width=110}}
|{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Vietnam Campaign Medal ribbon with 60- clasp.svg|width=110}} |{{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Republic_of_Korea_War_Service_Medal_ribbon.svg|width=110}} |
In popular media
The story of Hambleton's evasion and rescue was told in the 1980 book, Bat 21, written by Air Force Colonel William Charles Anderson.Anderson, William C. (1980). BAT-21 Prentice-Hall. {{ISBN|0-13-069500-9}} This was followed by the dramatic 1988 film, Bat*21, starring Gene Hackman as Hambleton and Danny Glover as a forward air controller. A second book, The Rescue of Bat 21, based on a large amount of declassified information, was written by Col. Darrel D. Whitcomb and published in 1998. Whitcomb was a decorated pilot, and from 1972 to 1974 a forward air controller based in Southeast Asia.{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-sep-27-me-hambleton27-story.html |title=Bat 21 Rescue – Gene Hambleton, 85, His Rescue Depicted in 'Bat-21' Books, Film |work=Los Angeles Times |date=27 September 2004 |first=Dennis |last=McLellan |access-date=March 24, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120112211705/http://articles.latimes.com/2004/sep/27/local/me-hambleton27 |archive-date=January 12, 2012 }}
Mysteries of the Unknown - Season 3, Episode 129, Aired on May 13, 2024, did a segment recounting Hambleton's amazing escape and rescue, detailing how the US used coded messages to direct Hambleton to a safe rescue point.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.rc135.com/0023/INDEX019.HTM King Hawes – A Tale of Two Airplanes]
- {{Find a Grave|9513540|LTC Iceal “Gene” Hambleton}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hambleton, Iceal}}
Category:Recipients of the Silver Star
Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)
Category:Military personnel from Vermilion County, Illinois
Category:United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II
Category:United States Air Force personnel of the Vietnam War
Category:United States Air Force personnel of the Korean War
Category:United States Army Air Forces officers
Category:United States Air Force officers
Category:Recipients of the Air Medal
Category:Recipients of the Meritorious Service Medal (United States)