AAR 1ST MARDIV IN SWA

File: 970725_dec96_decls34_0090.txt
Page: 0090
Total Pages: 130
Subject = AAR  1ST MARDIV IN SWA                                          

Parent Organization = MCCDC       

Unit = WDID        

Folder Title = AFTER ACTION REPORT 1ST MARINE DIVISION IN SOUTHWEST ASIA   WDID SWA 0073                       

Document Number =          1

Box ID = BX600145


                                  UNCLASSIFIED
           Airfield. Kurth now set ou@ as a single ship along a road going
           north from the airfield. Soon the smoke becalme so dense, he was
           forced to fly only a few feet off the ground in order to see,
           occasionally flying UNDER power lines, until he located ist
           Battalion, 5th Marines, and then shortly, 3rd Tank Battalion and
           :Cst Battalion, 7th Marines. He then returned to his informal
           landing zone, wheedled fuel out of some nearby Marine tanker
           trucks, and then -ted his wingman back through the obscuration
           where they delivered Hellfire missiles, rockets, and 20 mm rounds
           against tanks, armored vehicles, and bunkers. Task Force Ripper
           seized its objective.

                               The Luckiest Harrier Pilot

              Captain John S. "Vapor" Walsh, 28, is an AV-SB Rairl";r: Pilot
           with Marine Attack Squadron 542. At dawn on the second day of the
           cjround war, he launched as Majo- ban "Salt" Peters' wingman from
           his base near Jubayl, Saudi Arabia on a clc@se air support
           mission. They landed for refueling and rearming at Tannajib, an
           ARA.MCO airfield and then also a forward Marine airfield, about 35
           miles south of the Kuwait border.
              Taking off on their second mission@at 0905, the pair of
           Harriers was ordered to attack a column of T54/T55 tanks under
           the control of an FA-18D "fast FAC". The tanks were moving into
           contact with the 2nd Marine Division about io miles south of Ali
           a! Salem Airfield. There were thick clouds over the target, and
           Walsh became separated from his leader during the penetration.
           After breaking out underneath, he was rejoining his leader, when
           he was struck with a heat seeking surface to air missile in his
           right rear jet nozz'.e.

              "It was a big bana. All my warning lights came on, and the
           a4-rplane began burnina pre-l@Iv good", he recalled later. In more
           normal circumstances, the proc:@dure then would have been to eject
           immediately. Walsh stayed with his aircraft and headed it south
           with his engine temperature going "off the peg". He would try an
           emergency landing at al Jaber Airfield wh;ch had just been
           captured by Marines. As he got over the field, his hydraulic
           controls froze, and the aircraft rolled over at 1,000 feet above
           the ground. He ejected upside down and was -elZeved to find his
           parachute "worked as advertised".
               He landed just to the 'west of the airfield in an area that
           was hot yet completely secured. He then hid in an Iraqi trench,
           which fortunately had just been abandoned. Shortly, a Humve;B
           vehicle belonging to ist marine Division's Task Force Ripper,
           appeared through the smoke. This carried him to Major General
           Mike Myatt's command post who ordered his UH-IN helicopter to
           take him south. He switched to a truck at Tannajib and was back
           with his squadron by nightfall.
              in the meantime, his parent unit, Colonel John Biotyts     Marine
           Aircraft Group 13. (Forward), fell on the attacking tanks,    and
           helped clear the way north for the 2nd Marine Division.'Four


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