RISNER, JAMES ROBINSON "ROBBIE"
Name: James Robinson "Robbie" Risner Rank/Branch: O5/US Air Force Unit: 67th TFS Date of Birth: (ca 1924) Home City of Record: Tulsa OK (resided Okalhoma City OK) Date of Loss: 16 September 1965 Country of Loss: North Vietnam Loss Coordinates: 195700N 1055300E (WG959949) Status (in 1973): Released POW Category: Acft/Vehicle/Ground: F105D Missions: 55 NOTE: Risner was a Korean War "Ace" flying the F-86 with 110 missions
Source: Compiled from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK in 2008.
Personnel In Incident: April 3 1965: Herschel S. Morgan; Raymond A. Vohden (released POWs); George C. Smith (missing). April 4, 1965: Walter F. Draeger; James A. Magnusson (missing); Carlyle S. Harris (released POW); September 16, 1965: J. Robinson Risner (released POW); May 31, 1966: Bobbie J. Alberton; William R. Edmondson; Emmett McDonald; Armon Shingledecker; Philip J. Stickney; (missing from the C-130E); Thomas Case; Harold J. Zook; Elroy Harworth (remains returned from the C130E). Dayton Ragland; Ned Herrold (missing on an F-4C)
REMARKS: 730212 RELSD BY DRV
SYNOPSIS: The Thanh Hoa Railroad and Highway Bridge, spanning the Song Ma River, is located three miles north of Thanh Hoa, the capital of Annam Province, North Vietnam. It is a replacement for the original French-built bridge destroyed by the Viet Minh in 1945 - they simply loaded two locomotives with explosives and ran them together in the middle of the bridge.
In 1957, the North Vietnamese rebuilt the bridge. The new bridge, completed in 1964, was 540 feet long, 56 feet wide, and about 50 feet above the river. The Vietnamese called it Ham Rong (the Dragon's Jaw), and Ho Chi Minh himself attended its dedication. The bridge had two steel thru-truss spans which rested in the center on a massive reinforced concrete pier 16 feet in diameter, and on concrete abutments at the other ends. Hills on both sides of the river provided solid bracing for the structure. Between 1965 and 1972, eight concrete piers were added near the approaches to give additional resistance to bomb damage. A one-meter guage single railway track ran down the 12 foot wide center and 22 foot wide concrete highways were cantilevered on each side. This giant would prove to be one of the single most challenging targets for American air power in Veitnam. 104 American pilots were shot down over a 75 square mile area around the Dragon during the war. (Only the accounts of those specifically known to be involved in major strikes against the bridge are given here. Some losses were aircraft involved in operations against other targets. Note also, that because aircraft came in on this target from a wide geographic area, some personnel lost outside the 75 mile range may have been inadvertently overlooked in this study.)
In March 1965 the decision to interdict the North Vietnamese rail system south of the 20th parallel led immediately to the April 3, 1965 strike against the Thanh Hoa Bridge. Lt.Col. Robinson Risner was designated overall mission coordinator for the attack. He assembled a force consisting of 79 aircraft - 46 F105's, 21 F100's, 2 RF101's and 10 KC135 tankers. The F100's came from bases in South Vietnam, while the rest of the aircraft were from squadrons TDY at various Thailand bases.
Sixteen of the 46 "Thuds" (F105) were loaded with pairs of Bullpup missiles, and each of the remaining 30 carried eight 750 lb. general purpose bombs. The aircraft that carried the missiles and half of the bombers were scheduled to strike the bridge; the remaining 15 would provide flak suppression. The plan called for individual flights of four F105's from Koran and Takhli which would be air refueled over the Mekong River before tracking across Laos to an initial point (IP) three minutes south of the bridge. After weapon release, the plan called for all aircraft to continue east until over the Gulf of Tonkin where rejoin would take place and a Navy destroyer would be available to recover anyone who had to eject due to battle damage or other causes. After rejoin, all aircraft would return to their bases, hopefully to the tune of "The Ham Rong Bridge if falling down."
Shortly after noon on April 3, aircraft of Rolling Thunder Mission 9-Alpha
climbed into Southeast Asia skies on their journey to the Thanh Hoa Bridge.
The sun glinting through the haze was making the target somewhat difficult
to acquire, but Risner led the way "down the chute" and 250 pound missiles
were soon exploding on the target. Since only one Bullpup missile could be
fired at a time, each pilot had to make two firing passes.
On his second pass, LtCol. Risner's aircraft took a hit just as the Bullpup hit the bridge. Fighting a serious fuel leak and a smoke-filled cockpit in addition to anti-aircraft fire from the enemy, he nursed his crippled aircraft to Da Nang and to safety. The Dragon would not be so kind on another day.
The first two flights had already left the target when Capt. Bill Meyerholt, number three man in the third flight, rolled his Thunderchief into a dive and sqeezed off a Bullpup. The missile streaked toward the bridge, and as smoke cleared from the previous attacks, Capt. Meyerholt was shocked to see no visible damage to the bridge. The Bullpups were merely charring the heavy steel and concrete structure. The remaining missile attacks confirmed that firing Bullpups at the Dragon was about as effective as shooting BB pellets at a Sherman tank.
The bombers, undaunted, came in for their attack, only to see their payload drift to the far bank because of a very strong southwest wind. 1Lt. George C. Smith's F100D was shot down near the target point as he suppressed flak. The anti-aircraft resistance was much stronger than anticipated. No radio contact could be made with Smith, nor could other aircraft locate him. 1Lt. Smith was listed Missing In Action, and no further word has been heard of him.
The last flight of the day, led by Capt. Carlyle S. "Smitty" Harris, adjusted their aiming points and scored several good hits on the roadway and super structure. Smitty tried to assess bomb damage, but could not because of the smoke coming from the Dragon's Jaw. The smoke would prove to be an ominous warning of things to come.
LtCdr. Raymond A. Vohden was north of the Dragon when his A4C bomber was shot down. Ray was captured by the North Vietnamese and held in various POW camps in and near Hanoi until his release in February 1973. (It is not entirely clear that this U.S. Navy Lt.Cdr. had a direct role in the attack on the bridge, but was probably "knocked out" by the same anti-aircraft fire.)
Capt. Herschel S. Morgan's RF101 was hit and went down some 75 miles southwest of the target area, seriously injuring the pilot. Capt. Morgan was captured and held in and around Hanoi until his release in February 1973.
When the smoke cleared, observer aircraft found that the bridge still spanned the river. Thirty-two Bullpups and ten dozen 750 pound bombs had been aimed at the bridge and numerous hits had charred every part of the structure, yet it showed no sign of going down. A restrike was ordered for the next day.
The following day, flights with call signs "Steel", "Iron", "Copper", "Moon", "Carbon", "Zinc", "Argon", "Graphite", "Esso", "Mobil", "Shell", "Petrol", and the "Cadillac" BDA (bomb damage assessment) flight, assembled at IP to try once again to knock out the Dragon. On this day, Capt. Carlyle "Smitty" Harris was flying as call sign "Steel 3". Steel 3 took the lead and oriented himself for his run on a 300 degree heading. He reported that his bombs had impacted on the target on the eastern end of the bridge. Steel 3 was on fire as soon as he left the target. Radio contact was garbled, and Steel Lead, Steel 2 and Steel 4 watched helplessly as Smitty's aircraft, emitting flame for 20 feet behind, headed due west of the target. All flight members had him in sight until the fire died out, but observed no parachute, nor did they see the aircraft impact the ground. Smitty's aircraft had been hit by a MiG whose pilot later recounted the incident in "Vietnam Courier" on April 15, 1965. It was not until much later that it would be learned that Smitty had been captured by the North Vietnamese. Smitty was held prisoner for 8 years and released in 1973. Fellow POWs credit Smitty with introducing the "tap code" which enabled them to communicate with each other.
MiG's had been seen on previous missions, but for the first time in the war, the Russian-made MiGs attacked American aircraft. Zinc 2, an F105D flown by Capt. James A. Magnusson, had its flight bounced by MiG 17's. As Zinc Lead was breaking to shake a MiG on his tail, Zinc 2 was hit and radioed that he was heading for the Gulf if he could maintain control of his aircraft. The other aircraft were busy evading the MiGs, and Magnusson radioed several times before Steel Lead responded and instructed him to tune his radio to rescue frequency. Magnusson's aircraft finally ditched over the Gulf of Tonkin near the island of Hon Me, and he was not seen or heard from again. He was listed Missing In Action.
Capt. Walter F. Draeger's A1H (probably an escort for rescue teams) was shot down over the Gulf of Tonkin just northeast of the Dragon that day. Draeger's aircraft was seen to crash in flames, but no parachute was observed. Draeger was listed Missing In Action.
The remaining aircraft returned to their bases, discouraged. Although over 300 bombs scored hits on this second strike, the bridge still stood.
From April to September 1965, 19 more pilots were shot down in the general vicinity of the Dragon, including many who were captured and released, including Howie Rutledge, Gerald Coffee, Paul Galanti, Jeremiah Denton, Bill Tschudy and James Stockdale. Then on September 16, 1965, Col. Robbie Risner's F105D was shot down a few miles north of the bridge he had tried to destroy the previous April. As he landed, Risner tore his knee painfully, a condition which contributed to his ultimate capture by the North Vietnamese. Risner was held in and around Hanoi until his release in 1973, but while a POW, he was held in solitary confinement for 4 1/2 years. Besides the normal malaise and illnesses common to POWs, Risner also suffered from kidney stones, which severely debilitated him in the spring and summer of 1967.
By September 1965, an innovative concept had taken shape - mass-focusing the energy of certain high explosive weapons. The Air Force quickly saw its application against the old Dragon and devised a plan to destroy the bridge using the new weapon. They would call the operation "Carolina Moon".
The plan necessitated two C130 aircraft dropping the weapon, a rather large pancake-shaped affair 8 feet in diameter and 2 1/2 feet thick and weighing 5,000 pounds. The C130's would fly below 500 feet to evade radar along a 43 mile route (which meant the C130 would be vulnerable to enemy attack for about 17 minutes), and drop the bombs, which would float down the Song Ma River where it would pass under the Dragon's Jaw, and detonate when sensors in the bomb detected the metal of the bridge structure.
Because the slow-moving C130's would need protection, F4 Phantoms would fly diversionary attack to the south, using flares and bombs on the highway just before the C130 was to drop its ordnance. The F4s were to enter their target area at 300', attack at 50' and pull off the target back to 300' for subsequent attacks. Additionally, an EB66 was tasked to jam the radar in the area during the attack period. Since Risner had been shot down in September, 15 more pilots had been downed in the bridge region. Everyone knew it was hot.
The first C130 was to be flown by Maj. Richard T. Remers and the second by Maj. Thomas F. Case, both of whom had been through extensive training for this mission at Elgin AFB, Florida and had been deployed to Vietnam only 2 weeks before. Ten mass-focus weapons were provided, allowing for a second mission should the first fail to accomplish the desired results.
Last minute changes to coincide with up-to-date intelligence included one that would be very significant in the next days. Maj. Remers felt that the aircraft was tough enough to survive moderate anti-aircraft artillery hits and gain enough altitude should bail-out be necessary. Maj. Case agreed that the aircraft could take the hits, but the low-level flight would preclude a controlled bail-out situation. With these conflicting philosophies, and the fact that either parachutes or flak vests could be worn - but not both - Maj. Remers decided that his crew would wear parachutes and stack their flak vests on the floor of the aircraft. Maj. Case decided that his crew would wear only flak vests and store the parachutes.
On the night of May 30, Maj. Remers and his crew, including navigators Capt. Norman G. Clanton and 1Lt. William "Rocky" Edmondson, departed Da Nang at 25 minutes past midnight and headed north under radio silence. Although the "Herky-bird" encountered no resistance at the beginning of its approach, heavy, (although luckily, inaccurate) ground fire was encountered after it was too late to turn back. The 5 weapons were dropped successfully in the river and Maj. Remers made for the safety of the Gulf of Tonkin. The operation had gone flawlessly, and the C130 was safe. Although the diversionary attack had drawn fire, both F-4's returned to Thailand unscathed.
Unfortunately, the excitement of the crew was shortlived, because recon photos taken at dawn showed that there was no noticeable damage to the bridge, nor was any trace of the bombs found. A second mission was planned for the night of May 31. The plan for Maj. Case's crew was basically the same with the exception of a minor time change and slight modification to the flight route. A crew change was made when Maj. Case asked 1Lt. Edmondson, the navigator from the previous night's mission, to go along on this one because of his experience from the night before. The rest of the crew included Capt. Emmett R. McDonald, 1Lt. Armon D. Shingledecker, 1Lt. Harold J. Zook, SSgt. Bobby J. Alberton, AM1 Elroy E. Harworth and AM1 Philip J. Stickney. The C130 departed DaNang at 1:10 a.m.
The crew aboard one of the F4's to fly diversionary included Col. Dayton Ragland. Ragland was no stranger to conflict when he went to Vietnam. He had been shot down over Korea in November 1951 and had served two years as a prisoner of war. Having flown 97 combat missions on his tour in Vietnam, Ragland was packed and ready to go home. He would fly as "backseater" to 1Lt. Ned R. Herrold on the mission to give the younger man more combat flight time while he operated the sophisticated technical navigational and bombing equipment. The F4's left Thailand and headed for the area south of the Dragon.
At about two minutes prior to the scheduled C130 drop time, the F4's were making their diversionary attack when crew members saw anti-aircraft fire and a large ground flash in the bridge vicinity. Maj. Case and his crew were never seen or heard from again. During the F4 attack, Herrold and Ragland's aircraft was hit. On its final pass, the aircraft did not pull up, but went out to sea, and reported that the aircraft had taken heavy weapons fire. A ball of fire was seen as the plane went into the sea.
Reconnaissance crews and search and rescue scoured the target area and the Gulf of Tonkin the next morning, finding no sign at all of the C130 or its crew. Rescue planes spotted a dinghy in the area in which Herrold and Ragland's aircraft had gone down, but saw no signs of life. The dinghy was sunk to prevent it falling into enemy hands. The bridge still stood.
In March 1967, the U.S. Navy attacked the Thanh Hoa Bridge using the new "Walleye" missiles, but failed to knock out the bridge. Before the war ended, 54 more Americans fell in the Dragon's Jaw area.
In late 1986 the remains of Harworth, Zook and Case were returned and buried with the honor befitting an American fighting man who has died for his country. Ragland, Herrold, Alberton, McDonald, Edmondson, Shingledecker, Stickney, Smith, Draeger and Magnussen are still Missing in Action.
SOURCE: WE CAME HOME copyright 1977 Captain and Mrs. Frederic A Wyatt (USNR Ret), Barbara Powers Wyatt, Editor P.O.W. Publications, 10250 Moorpark St., Toluca Lake, CA 91602 Text is reproduced as found in the original publication (including date and spelling errors).
ROBINSON RISNER Colonel - United States Air Force Shot Down: September 16, 1965 Released: February 12, 1973
I am 48 years old, married, and have five boys-the oldest is 25 and the youngest 12. My oldest son delayed his wedding for two years until I could be his best man. He was married on Armed Forces Day 1973.
I entered the Air Force in 1943 as an Aviation Cadet and flew fighters during World War II, but saw no combat. I was very active in the Oklahoma Air National Guard from the time I left active duty in 1946 until I was recalled in 1951 for the Korean crisis. In Korea I flew F-86's against the communist MIGS-bagging eight of them.
I was shot down twice over North Vietnam. The second time I was captured and interned from 16 September 1965 until 12 February 1973.
During my imprisonment the things that sustained me to the greatest extent were my faith in God, the American people, my Commander-in-Chief, my fellow POW's, and my wonderful wife. I never lost hope, and never did I despair of coming back alive. I believe, as do all of the other men who were imprisoned in North Vietnam, that we came back stronger, better men. I think we consider ourselves better in that we are now more perceptive. We have a greater degree of compassion and understanding, and hopefully, we are kinder and more thoughtful in our daily encounters with our fellowmen.
One of our biggest morale boosters while imprisoned was word that the American people had demanded that the North Vietnamese treat us as human beings. I believe that it is a definite fact that the beneficial change in our treatment, which started in October of 1969 and steadily improved until our release, was due to the efforts of the American people.
We will never know how much VIVA did for us and our families. We can only say in all humility, sincerity, and with thanksgiving, "God bless you - the Ross Perots, the Bob Hopes, and all of the others who hung tough and put their shoulder to the wheel for us when the chips were down."
Editor's Note: A book entitled "The Passing of the Night" describing Colonel Risner's experiences, has been published by Random House. ========================
Robinson Risner retired from the United States Air Force as a Brig. General. He and his wife Dot reside in Texas.
============ AFA Magazine May 1998, Vol. 81, No. 5
By John L. Frisbee, Contributing Editor
When Push Came to Shove
Deep over North Korea, Robbie Risner's wingman was hit by flak that disabled his F-86. Getting him to safety called for heroic measures. Brig. Gen. Robinson Risner's heroism during seven and a half years of imprisonment and torture in North Vietnam is legendary. Less known is the fact that he was a jet ace in Korea with eight confirmed victories. Few are aware, at least in detail, of an incredible feat of flying performed over North Korea by Robbie Risner in an attempt to save the life of another= pilot. That courageous act is dismissed with a couple of sentences in Risner's book The Passing of the Night.
Risner's career as a fighter pilot began in Panama, where he whiled away the World War II years. When peace came, he joined the Oklahoma Air Guard. His squadron was called to active duty during Korea and began transitioning from P-51s to F-80s but with no immediate prospects of getting into the war. With the bare required minimum of 100 hours of jet time, Risner volunteered for combat duty as a photorecce pilot, arriving in Korea on May 10, 1952. Three weeks later, he wangled his way into the famous 4th Fighter Wing at Kimpo and into F-86s, the world's best fighter at that time. On Sept. 21, the fast-learning Captain Risner became our 20th jet ace.
A few weeks later while escorting fighter-bombers in an attack on a chemical plant along the Yalu River, Risner tangled with what he describes as the finest fighter pilot he ever encountered. From 30,000 feet to the deck they went, with Risner scoring several solid hits, then across the Yalu into forbidden territory and down the runway of a Chinese airfield where the damaged MiG-15 crashed. All the while, Robbie's wingman, Lt. Joe Logan, stayed with the fight, protecting his leader.
As they climbed back across the Yalu near Antung, Logan's F-86 took a burst of flak. Fuel and hydraulic fluid poured out the belly of his aircraft. With only five minutes' fuel left, he would, it seemed, have to bail out in enemy territory. But Robbie Risner was not about to lose a fine wingman who was also a close friend.
"A typical fighter pilot," says General Risner, "thinks less about risk than about his objective," and Risner's objective was to keep Joe Logan out of enemy hands. Jet ace Risner immediately embarked on an undeniably high-risk venture to achieve that objective. The Air Force had a rescue detachment at Cho Do Island, about 60 miles to the south-and with plenty of flak en route. Risner decided to try something that, to his knowledge, had never been done successfully before. He would push the damaged F-86 to Cho Do, where Logan could bail out safely.
Risner told Logan to shut down his engine, now almost out of fuel. Then he gently inserted the upper lip of his air intake into the tailpipe of Logan's F-86. "It stayed sort of locked there as long as we both maintained stable flight, but the turbulence created by Joe's aircraft made stable flight for me very difficult. There was a point at which I was between the updraft and the downdraft. A change of a few inches ejected me either up or down," Risner, now retired and living in Austin, Texas, recalls.
Each time Risner re-established contact between the battered nose of his F-86 and Logan's aircraft was a potential disaster that was made even more likely by the film of hydraulic fluid and jet fuel that covered his windscreen and obscured his vision. It was, one imagines, something like pushing a car at 80 miles an hour down a corduroy road in a heavy fog.
Miraculously, Risner nudged Joe Logan's F-86 all the way to Cho Do, maintaining an airspeed of 190 knots and enough altitude to stay out of range of automatic weapons. Near the island, Logan bailed out, landing in the water near shore. Ironically, Risner's heroic effort ended in tragedy. Although Logan was a strong swimmer, he became tangled in his chute lines and drowned before rescuers could reach him. But the measure of a heroic act lies not in success. It lies in the doing.
After Korea, Robbie Risner's Air Force career continued to be marked by acts of physical and moral courage, culminating in his leadership of American POWs during those long years in Hanoi's prisons.
The standards of valor, loyalty, and dedication he set for himself, and met superbly throughout his years in uniform, have established a goal to be sought by generations of airmen yet to come.
There have been many requests over the years to rerun some of author Frisbee's earliest "Valor" pieces. This one was published in December 1983. Published May 1998. For presentation on this web site, some Valor articles have been amended for accuracy.
================================= Sunday, November 18, 2001
Former POW honored at Air Force Academy
By COLLEEN SLEVIN The Associated Press
The senior ranking U.S. officer held at the notorious North Vietnamese POW camp known as the "Hanoi Hilton" is honored at the Air Force Academy. A retired general who united and inspired fellow prisoners of war in Vietnam's "Hanoi Hilton" for more than seven years was honored with a statue Friday on the Air Force Academy's grounds in Colorado.
Air Force Brig. Gen. Robinson Risner, 76, of San Antonio was shot down over Vietnam in September 1965. He was the senior ranking officer at the notorious POW camp and set down rules governing who would be released first to prevent the Vietnamese from turning prisoners against one another.
"Integrity and loyalty was an imperative. It's what got us through on a daily basis," Risner said at a ceremony attended by cadets and 32 former POWs.
The statue was commissioned by Texas billionaire Ross Perot in 1999 to honor Risner and all POWs.
Perot attended the dedication. "I wanted to motivate the cadets of the Air Force Academy and remind them what an officer is supposed to be," he said afterward.
Risner is best known for organizing a forbidden church service at the camp.
While he was led off to be punished by guards, the other 46 prisoners rose and sang The Star-Spangled Banner.
At Friday's ceremony, some of those men took the stage to sing the national anthem again for Risner, who in turn had cadets sing a version of Wind Beneath My Wings.
The statue of Risner is 9 feet tall because he has said that when he heard the prisoners singing while he was led away after the church service, "I felt like I was 9 feet tall and could go bear-hunting with a switch."
The striding figure of Risner stands in the academy's Air Garden, facing a reflecting pool and two rows of bare trees tied with yellow ribbon.
President Bush and Air Force Gen. Richard Meyers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, sent letters congratulating Risner. Both called him a role model.
"Now more than ever, we need to draw on the strength from those who have gone before," Meyers wrote.
Risner said he is glad to see a rebirth of patriotism and religion after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. He said Osama bin Laden, suspected of orchestrating the attacks, underestimated the U.S reaction.
"What he didn't fathom was the benevolent fallout was enormous," Risner said.
======================================
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AFPN) -- A war hero, flying ace and survivor of seven and-a-half years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam was recognized with a permanent statue in his honor here Nov. 16.
Retired Brig. Gen. Robinson Risner, who flew in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam conflict, said the special attention leaves him awe-struck.
"I'm a bit embarrassed to have been chosen for the statue here that represents all POWs," he said. "It still leaves me in awe."
H. Ross Perot donated the 9-foot statue, which is on display in the Air Garden here.
"All men who served with him in Vietnam in the prison camps, when they came home and talked to me, would point to him (Risner) and say, 'He's the only reason I survived,'" Perot said.
As the former POWs told stories about Risner, one story kept coming up, Perot said.
In violation of Vietnamese POW rules, Risner, who was the senior officer within the camp, set up church services complete with hymns prisoners wrote on toilet tissue. In the middle of a hymn, the Vietnamese came in and grabbed Risner to take him back to solitary confinement. As he was led away, fellow POWs stood and sang a "strictly forbidden song," Perot said. "That song was the 'Star Spangled Banner.'"
Risner told Perot years later that, at that moment, pride in his men made him "feel nine feet tall and as though he could have gone bear hunting with a switch."
Placement of the statue here will remind cadets what an Air Force officer is supposed to be, Perot said.
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