AAR 1ST MARDIV IN SWA

File: 970725_dec96_decls34_0099.txt
Page: 0099
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


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           Airfield. Kurth now set out as a single ship along-a road going
           north from the airfield. Soon the smoke became 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
           E@attalion, 5th Marines, and then shortly, .3rd Tank Battalion and
           Ist Battalion, 7th Marines. He then returned to his informal
           landing zone, wheedled fuel out of sone nearby Marine tanker
           trucks, and then led his wincjman back through the obscuration
           where they delivered Hellfire 'missiles, rockets, and 20 z= rounds
           ag
             ainst tanks, armored vehicles, and bunkers. Task Force Ripper
           seized its objective.

                              The Luckiest Harrier Pilot

              Captain John S. "Vapor" Walsh, 28, is an AV-BB liarridr pilot
           with Marine Attack Squadron 542.',Kt dawn on the second day of the
           ground war, he launched as Major'Dan "Salt" Peters" wincjman from
           his base near Jubayl, Saudi Arabia on a ciose air support
           mission. They landed for refueling and rearming at Tannajib, an
           ARAMCO airfield and then also a for-ward 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 10 miles south of Ali
           al 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 nozzle.

              "It was a big bang. All my warning lights came on, and the
           airplane began burning pretty good", he recalled later. In more
           normal circumstances, the procedure 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 f3eld, his hydraulic
           controls froze, and the aircraft rolled over at 1,000 feet above
           the ground. He ejected upside down and was relieved to find his
           parachute "worked as advertised".

               He landed just to the wes-. of the airfield in an area that
           was not yet completely secured. He then hid in an Iraqi trench,
           which fortunately had just been abandoned. Shortly, a Humvee
           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-LN helicopter to
           take him south. He switched to a truck -at Tannajib and was back
 '7.       with his squadron by nightfall.

              In the meantime, his parent unit, Colonel John Bioty's 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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