Do The Right Thing Whatever The Cost!

Some principles are difficult to learn because the cost may be great. These principles, which need to become a part of a person’s life, are sometimes learned and applied more easily if taught though the modeling of a person with character. I had the opportunity to learn one of these principles as a young man and I hope this principle is one that has been demonstrated through my life. The principle was “Do The Right Thing Whatever The Cost!”
In April 9, 1951 one month after my eighteenth birthday I enlisted in the United State Air Force. I was sent from St. Louis to Basic Training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. Until that time my travels had been restricted to Southern Illinois, Eastern Missouri and the western tip of Kentucky. After eight weeks of Basic I was sent, for Technical Training, to Lowery Air Force Base in Denver, Colorado. Lowery was the Home of the Remote Control Turret Systems Mechanic (RCT) School which was a pre-requisite to the Aerial Gunnery School.
I arrived at Lowery on July 3 1951, entered into the RCT School and graduated on October 26th. I along with other graduates of the RCT School entered into the Aerial Gunnery School in early November and graduated on January 1, 1952. The next phase of our training was Combat Crew Training which was at Randolph Air Force Base in the San Antonio, Texas Area.
When I arrived at Randolph I was assigned to a combat crew and a position on that crew. The Bomb Team, which consisted of the Aircraft Commander, The Pilot, Bombardier, Navigator and Radar Operator, had already been assigned. The Left and Right Gunners (also designated as Scanners), the Flight Engineer and the Radio Operator were also a part of the crew. This group had been actively involved for several weeks in flying what was termed transition. This was primarily making take offs and landings. The two positions which had not been filled when I arrived on the scene were the Central Fire Control Gunner (CFC) and the Tail Gunner. Another gunner, Dick Stewart, who had been in Gunnery School with me was assigned at the CFC and I was put in the Tail Gunner position.
We finished Combat Crew Training in Mid March and were Assigned to a Fox Crew at Lake Charles Air Force Base at Lake Charles, Louisiana. While at Lake Charles we were assigned TDY (Temporary Duty) to Forbes Air Force Base and then bussed to Smokey Hill Air Force Base at Salina Kansas to an OQ gunnery range.
The OQ gunnery ranges, One at Lowery and one at Smoky Hill, were so named because the drone used was the Radio plane OQ-19D which weighed 350 pounds, was of Aluminium construction (with a wingspan of eight feet) and was powered by a McCullough O-100-1, two cycle, air cooled, four cylinder engine enabling speeds of 200 Knots at sea level. Following the OQ range experience we were flown to Colorado Spring Colorado to Camp Carson were we received our classroom training in winter survival before being taken into the Roosevelt National Forest for our field experience.
When we returned to Lake Charles we continued to fly missions in which we made practice bomb runs on targets all over the United States. This continued until the end of June when we were assigned to the 98th Bomb Wing and given orders to depart Travis Air Force Base on July 16, 1952 for Yakota Air Force Base in Japan.
When we arrived at Yakota we found that several of our crew members had been cut for some reason or other so we were assigned new members to replace them. We flew our first mission on July 28th with a crew consisting of: Captain Leonard L. Barber, Air Craft Commander (AC), Lt. Vernon E. Plass Pilot, Lt. Edgar Root Bombardier, Capt. James P. Keene Navigator, Lt. Robert F. Beckman, Radar Operator, M/Sgt. Roy A. Maltby, Flight Engineer, A/1C H. Philip Little, Radio Operator, A/1C Richard E. Stewart, CFC Gunner, A/1C John M. Goodloe, Left Gunner, A/1C James V. Hansen, Right Gunner, and me Ralph W. Hayes, Tail Gunner.
The first mission on July 28th was called a “Leaflet Paper Mission”. We made a number of bomb runs and dropped leaflet supposedly designed to have a psychological effect on the North Koreans. We had flown 8 missions when on Oct. 2nd Captain Barber’s TDY was terminated and we were assigned a new AC, Lt. William H. Roberts.
For a couple of weeks the Bomb Team had to fly training missions to develop as a team. We began flying combat with Lt. Roberts on Nov. 1st. He was good and it was evident. Bomb runs were made using Shoran Radar. A Times Magazine article dated 3/12/51 explained it: “A bomber equipped to use Shoran carries a radio transmitter that sends out short pulses of ultra high frequency (above 300 megacycles) waves. Two ground stations at well-separated points behind friendly lines pick up the airplane's pulses and echo them back greatly amplified. Apparatus on the plane measures the time it took for the pulses to make round trips to each of the stations. This gives a continuous picture of the airplane's distance from the two stations—and therefore its position on the map. The system is accurate enough to show the position of the plane within 50 feet.”
At a distance from the target area the Radar Operator would communicate with the A/C that we were coming up on “the Arc” the communication would go something like this: “A/C we are 50 miles from the target area and we are fifteen hundred feet outside the Arc. We are now40 miles from the target area five hundred feet outside the arc and closing nicely. We’re closing quickly slow it down. We’re 30 feet inside the arc, bring it back. We’re on the arc. We’re 15 miles from the target area and we are on the arc.” The bomb bay doors would open and the wind drag would send a vibration throughout the plane. The ideal was to cross the bomb release point while on the arc.
On a particular night about which I still remember after all these years the flack was very heavy. For some reason or other the bomb run did not go well and we were not on the arc as we approached the point of bomb release. It was obvious from the tone of the A/C’s voice that he was upset. Just before we reached the target area he said, “Bombardier hold the bombs were going around! Now let’s get it right! We are not going to fly deep into North Korea and drop bombs that are not on the target.”
As a nineteen year old Tail Gunner seeing all the bright flashes of flack around me was upsetting to say the least. I remember saying to myself “Oh come on we made the run, get this thing out of here while we’re all in one piece.”
We went around and somewhere out there, at perhaps 50 miles from the target area we picked up the arc again. This time we did it right and dropped the bombs on the target area. The flack was still intense as we made the second bomb run. After bomb release the Bombay doors were closed and the CFC would jump down from his seat and look into the aft Bombay to be sure no bombs were hung up, the Radio Operator would check the forward Bombay. The Radio Operator could at this point also look up through the Astrodome. He later reported that on this particular night he could see the flack below us through the Bombay and the flack above us thought the astrodome. Because of the windows on three sides of the Tail Gunners compartment I could see the flack on both sides of us and behind us.
After bomb release we had to continue on a strait path until the bombs had fallen the five or six miles to the target. One of the bombs was a Photoflash bomb that lighted the whole sky to permit the camera on our plane “THE LONESOME POLECAT II” to get pictures showing our bomb effectiveness. After the pictures were taken the A/C would drop the nose and bank the plane as he began evasive action to try to get us home.
I have thought of this mission many times through these fifty-seven years and I know I learned a valuable lesson that night. Lt. Roberts was a man of character and he modeled for me and the rest of the crew what was the right thing to do. I came home that night with a determination to try to always do the right thing whatever the cost.
I have tried to locate Lt. Roberts through the years. He like me came out of Southern Illinois, an area known as Little Egypt. He told us on our first meeting that his home was Harrisburg, Illinois. I would love to find him if he is still alive to tell him the impact he had on a young man when he modeled “Do The Right Thing Whatever The Cost!”

Sincerely, Ralph W. Hayes

Thank you all for your service to our great Country,

Sgt. James Keilman (Ret) U.S Army

Sorry I missed your call.
I'll try to call this week.
I do need to tell you that dad passed away Memorial Day weekend 2010.

Jim McKinney

I was a S /.Sgt. radio operator. I have never been able to contact anyone. probably too late. All I have is our group pic.

If there is any chance to meet anyone from Yakota, pls use my e-mail