Decorated pilot
returns home after 28 years
On
Dec. 5, 1967, Col. Donald Russell, from the 33rd Tactical
Fighter Squadron, Eglin
AFB, Fla., was shot down and killed while leading a
strike mission in hostile territory over Laos in his F-105
Thunderchief. After more than 28 years, Colonel Russell's
remains were returned home to Albuquerque July 25. He is
pictured here in 1967, in front of his F-105 Thunderchief,
at Takhli Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand.
by 1st Lt. Dave DuBois
377th ABW Public Affairs
KIRTLAND
AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (AFNS FEATURE) -- On Dec. 5, 1967,
Col. Donald Russell, 33rd Tactical Fighter Squadron, Eglin
AFB, Fla., was shot down and killed while leading a
strike mission in hostile territory over Laos. After more
than 28 years, Russell's remains were returned to
Albuquerque, N.M., July 25, bringing a sense of closure for
family members and an end to unanswered questions.
"I always believed that he had been
killed because of the report the Air Force had given
me," said Mrs. Sue Russell. After a slight pause, she
added, "But you always wonder."
She had good cause to wonder because,
until May 1994, her husband's remains had never been found.
After only four months in Vietnam, Russell
was on his 59th strike mission in the F-105 Thunderchief on
that fateful day in December. Leading three other F-105s, he
rolled into the enemy target at an unusually steep altitude.
Because of the thick cloud cover, the other aircraft lost
sight of Russell when he passed 10,000 feet and only a
forward air controller saw what happened next.
The FAC reported that Russell's aircraft
appeared to roll inverted and then enter a 70 to 80 degree
nose-low spin. There was no visible attempt made to recover
from the spin. No parachute was ever seen. No distress
beeper was ever heard. The F-105, carrying full ordnance,
had gone down.
Hours later, an Air Force officer knocked
on the door of Mrs. Russell's Albuquerque home.
On Nov. 14, 1973, Russell's status was
changed to KIA, killed in action.
A memorial service was held at Kirtland
AFB, where he'd served during the early 1950s. Mrs. Russell
was presented with her husband's awards: the Silver Star,
the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, the Air Force
Commendation Medal and the Purple Heart.
Unknown to Mrs. Russell, 21 years later, a
U.S.-Laotian joint team was in Laos investigating crash
sites. In the small village of Ban Nasala, an old man
remembered the crash, saying he had visited the site two
days after it finally stopped burning. He said that when he
arrived, a Vietnamese construction crew was at the scene.
The only personal items he saw were a revolver and a wrist
watch. The Vietnamese crew took the revolver, he remembered.
Of the wrist watch, he could not recall.
In 1994 he took the Americans to the site.
From May 7-16, 1994, a second joint team
excavated the crash site and recovered human remains,
aircraft wreckage, pilot-related materials, life-support
equipment, an identification tag for "RUSSELL DONALD
M," and a fragment of an identification tag for
"RUSSELL DONA . . ." The recovered remains and
personal effects were sent to the U.S. Army Central
Identification Laboratory, Hickam AFB, Hawaii, where they
were further identified as belonging to Russell.
Earlier this spring Mrs. Russell again
spoke with an Air Force officer. This time she was told that
her husband's remains were coming home.
It would be easy for Mrs. Russell to be
bitter against the country and the Air Force that sent her
husband off to a war in Southeast Asia -- a war that he
never came back from. But she's not. Somewhere along the
years, she's found an inner peace that has made her an
incredibly strong person and allowed her to raise a happy
family.
"I didn't allow myself low
moments," she said. "Being happy and taking care
of my family were too important."
The record can now be stated clearly about
Russell.
The Air Force says he was a good officer
and a good pilot. He was one of the few who went from being
an aircraft mechanic to aircraft commander in less than 10
years.
His wife says that he was a good husband
and a good father. He'd be a grandfather now -- his two sons
have families of their own. But perhaps his brother, William
Russell, said it best while delivering the eulogy at the
memorial service.
He said his brother loved his family and
loved the Air Force. He loved the different planes he got to
fly. He had a sharp sense of humor and could always make
people laugh. When people came to him to talk, he always
seemed to be able to say the right thing.
"When I look back," he said,
"I realize that my kid brother was a pretty good
guy."
Russell was buried at Santa Fe National
Cemetery, among a community of other American heroes who
testify to two facts: life is too short and war can be
brutally final. And from these heroes comes the knowledge
that freedom isn't free at all; it comes at a very high
price. The price that these heroes were willing to pay.
Twenty-eight long years have passed.
Welcome home, colonel.
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