The ultimate sacrifice

Two days before Christmas, Dec. 23, 1957, a crew from Airborne Early Warning squadron VW-14, attached to Barbers Point Naval Air Station, was on a night training mission with 23 men aboard a Lockheed Super Constellation WV-2 and was flying between the islands of Molokai and Oahu. The AWACS aircraft developed engine trouble and plummeted into the Pacific. Despite heroic effort, 19 men were lost—just four survivors.

I was a naval officer attached to VW-12, a sister squadron with an identical mission. I have continued to think about those 19 lost men ever since.

Tragically, earlier that same year, July 23, 1957, I was the duty officer at a shack very close by the southern end of the Barbers Point runway which terminated at the Pacific. Suddenly I became aware of sirens and vehicles rushing toward the end of the runway. I stepped out of the windowless building to see what was happening. I could see three helicopters circling a mile offshore where a Lockheed P2V-5F patrol plane, while attempting a landing with 10 on board, had plunged into the Pacific just a mile from the end of the runway; sadly, almost home. The image of the helicopters circling immediately brought to mind a mother bird circling when finding her young fledglings on the ground where they don’t belong. Ten men were lost that day—no survivors.

Ever since that fateful year I continue to think about, honor and preserve the memory of those 10 men who gave their lives, and of the 19 which tragically would follow later in December. All deservedly honorable men who paid the ultimate sacrifice, and by doing so, merit our honor and respect—and not only, not just, on Veterans Day.

JAMES BARRÉ

Little Rock