Colonel Leland Thornton "Lee" Kennedy (January 1, 1934 – December 28, 2003) was a career officer and pilot in the United States Air Force, and a highly decorated veteran of the Vietnam War. Kennedy flew the EC-121 Warning Star during the Cuban Missile Crisis, and later served two tours of duty in Vietnam.
In his second Vietnam tour, he distinguished himself as a combat search and rescue helicopter pilot, twice awarded the Air Force Cross in 1966 for actions occurring 15 days apart in which his crew, while under intense fire, rescued seven airmen who had been shot down in enemy territory.Frisbee, "Valor: A Tale of Two Crosses" Kennedy is one of only four airmen to receive multiple awards of the Air Force Cross.
Kennedy also received the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with five oak leaf clusters, and numerous other medals and campaign ribbons during his career.
After 30 years of service, Kennedy retired at Langley AFB, Hampton, Virginia, in 1985.
Education and family From Kennedy's obituary:(Newport News, Virginia) Daily Press, December 30, 2003.
Air Force career
Kennedy was commissioned through the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program at the University of Kentucky on 30 May 1955, and went on active duty beginning 31 August 1955. After completing Undergraduate Pilot Training at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma, Kennedy entered helicopter training and completed it in March 1957. His first assignment was at Oxnard Air Force Base, California, from March 1957 to March 1959, flying Sikorsky SH-19B search and rescue helicopters, after which he completed Weapons Controller training and was assigned to the 4640th Support Squadron at Norton Air Force Base, California, from December 1960 to August 1962.
He was next assigned to the 963rd Airborne Early Warning and Control Squadron, 552nd AEWC Wing at McClellan Air Force Base, California, as a pilot flying EC-121 Warning Stars. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, he was assigned to its 966th AEWC Squadron based at McCoy Air Force Base, Florida, flying specially-modified EC-121Qs on Gold Digger missions (tracking Lockheed U-2 surveillance flights) and monitoring Cuban airspace.
In April 1965, still part of the airborne early warning force, Kennedy, now a captain and aircraft commander, was one of several crews of the 552nd AEWCW to be sent to Tan Son Nhut Air Base near Saigon, South Vietnam, as part of the Big Eye Task Force.
Upon completion of his temporary duty in Vietnam, Kennedy completed upgrade training to the HH-3E rescue helicopter at Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, and became a pilot with the Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service (ARRS).
Second Southeast Asia tour
Kennedy was stationed at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, with Detachment 5 of the 38th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron, a Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR) unit of six HH-3E "Jolly Green" helicopters. Standard operating procedures dispatched an airborne controller aircraft (a Lockheed HC-130H Hercules using the call sign Crown), two helicopters, and two to four A-1H Sandys tasked as rescue escort (initially "RESCORT" but later "RESCAP") on recovery missions. The force was divided into two tactical elements, with the initial recovery helicopter designated as Jolly Low and the backup as Jolly High.Jolly High had as its primary role the recovery of Jolly Green aircrew and passengers, with a secondary mission of replacing Jolly Low in pickup attempts if necessary. The ResCAP flight was likewise divided as Sandy Low and Sandy High, with Sandy Low Lead designated as the on-scene commander.Davis (1999), pp. 24–25
5 October 1966 On his eighth mission, and operating from a forward location at Nakhon Phanom RTAFB (NKP), Kennedy was aircraft commander ("RCC") of Jolly Green 04Some sources, notably LaPointe, list this aircraft as "Jolly Green 02". However jollygreen.org, a website maintained by former SEA rescue crew members and researchers at the National Museum of the United States Air Force, identifies it as "Jolly Green 04" and 66-13290. 66-13290 was placed in storage in 1991 at AMARC on behalf of the National Air and Space Museum, but since August 2007 has been restored and displayed at the Francis S. Gabreski Airport on Long Island. on a CSAR for the crew of Tempest 03, an F-4C Phantom of the 433rd Tactical Fighter Squadron. His crew consisted of copilot ("RCCP") 1st Lt. Donald R. Harris, flight engineer ("HM") SSgt. Donald Joe Hall,Per POW Network entry, SSgt. Hall went missing in action on 6 February 1967, when his HH-3E was shot down in North Vietnam. and pararescueman ("PJ") A2C Robert B. Williamson.LaPointe (2000), p. 234
The rescue location was 300 miles distant inside North Vietnam, in a box canyon 20 miles northeast of Nà Sản. The F-4 had been an escort fighter for a pair of EB-66 electronic countermeasures (ECM) aircraft, and had been shot down by a MiG-21. Kennedy had not yet performed a combat rescue and so received assignment as Jolly High, while Jolly Green 36, piloted by Capt. Oliver Edward O'Mara Jr, was tasked to make the recovery.
In the rescue area two A-1 Sandys, after several strafing runs to drive off approaching troops, drew no fire on a final low pass over the area. O'Mara crested a ridgeline into the canyon and lowered his hoist to pick up the F-4's aircraft commander, Tempest 03A, with whom he was in radio communication. His helicopter was immediately hit from above by small arms fire, forcing O'Mara to pull out. Tempest 03A on his last transmission radioed that he had been hit in the chest.Per POW Network entry Tempest 03A, the aircraft commander Capt. William Richard Andrews of the 433rd TFS, was killed in action. O'Mara made two further rescue attempts in the badly damaged HH-3E before his hoist was knocked out, forcing him to return to base. O'Mara was awarded the Air Force Cross in 1969 for his efforts.
Common procedure was that the secondary helicopter escorted a heavily damaged primary helicopter back to base, but Kennedy was asked to return to continue the pickup attempts of the F-4 backseater, Tempest 03B, Kennedy's first actual attempt at combat rescue. On the first try, his aircraft was hit and both enlisted men slightly wounded.LaPointe (2000), p. 238. The HH-3E was driven off by fire four times, taking more battle damage on each pass. Despite deteriorating weather conditions, a rupture in their forward fuel tank, and smoke in the aircraft, Kennedy's three crewmen joined him in wanting to try again. In the poor weather, Williamson noted that better reference points were on the left side of the aircraft and urged that Lt. Harris conduct the hover.
On the fifth attempt, hearing gunfire but not struck, the crew dropped the hoist and reeled in Tempest 03B, 1st Lt. Edward W. Garland,LaPointe (2000), p. 236. whose parachute filled with rotor wash and nearly entangled the rotors. Kennedy exfiltrated the area at low level, with the ridgetops above them concealed by lowering clouds. Below minimum fuel levels needed to return to Udorn, he flew Jolly Green 04 to Lima Site 36, a forward operating location at Na Khang, Laos. Kennedy was recommended for the Air Force Cross and his crew members each received the Silver Star for the rescue .LaPointe (2000), p. 239.
20 October 1966
Fifteen days later, on the morning of 20 October, Kennedy launched as Jolly Green 36 (high) on a CSAR with Jolly Green 02 (low), flown by Major Adrian D. Youngblood, to recover another 433rd TFS F-4C crew, that of Avenger 03, shot down in Laos southwest of Đồng Hới, North Vietnam. His crew this missionThis helicopter to date has not been documented by serial number. An 8TFW web source lists it as 65-12785, which was the helicopter deliberately crash-landed into Sơn Tây prison on November 20, 1970. consisted of RCCP 1st Lt. Elmer C. Lavender, HM SSgt. Raymond Godsey, and PJ A1C Robert J. Ward.LaPointe (2000), p. 242.
Both F-4 crewmen had landed in trees. Their wingmen had remained in the area, making repeated low level passes without a gun or ordnance to try to slow down the hostile forces trying to kill or capture the airmen.Major Breckenridge reported that his wingman, out of ordnance, dropped wing fuel tanks and lit his afterburner in treetop attempts to simulate an attack on the enemy. Jolly Green 02 lowered its hoist to the Phantom's rear seat pilot, 1st Lt. Joseph C. Merrick, who was suspended 150 feet in the air and had lashed himself to a tree. During the eight minutes of hover needed for Merrick to transfer from his parachute harness to the jungle penetrator and be brought up, Jolly Green 02 was hit numerous times from directly ahead and Merrick was twice wounded. Youngblood rotated its tail towards the gunfire to keep the pilots from being hit. As soon as Youngblood applied power to climb, the helicopter's transmission oil pressure failed, warning of imminent seizure of both engines. Youngblood broadcast a "Mayday" and searched for a field to make an emergency landing, flying six miles before spotting one.
Orbiting overhead, Kennedy had been unable to see the action because of thickening clouds. He descended, and after observing a village next to the clearing Youngblood had spotted, directed Jolly Green 02 to a field a half mile away. Aboard Jolly Green 36, Lt. Lavender jettisoned its external fuel tanks and dumped fuel to compensate for the added weight of Youngblood's crew and the F-4 pilot. On the ground about 25 yards from the other helicopter, Kennedy continued dumping fuel with his engines running and rotor turning, despite the risk of explosive vapors.
The crew of Jolly Green 02 and the wounded F-4 pilot ran to board Kennedy's aircraft under fire, during which both enlisted crewmen of JG 02 were also wounded. Carrying nine men, Kennedy performed a "maximum performance" liftoff. The A-1s covering the rescue then strafed the abandoned helicopter, during which Sandy 08 was shot down on its second pass and its pilot, Capt. David Raymond Wagener, killed.LaPointe (2000), P. 243. As Kennedy's HH-3E reached an altitude of 2,000 feet, he requested the location of the second crewman, which the Sandys provided. A forward air controller (FAC) in an O-1E Bird Dog spotted the F-4's aircraft commander, Major Lacy W. Breckenridge, still in a tree and used his wingtip to point to the location. Kennedy made a high speed descent to hover, but Communist soldiers emerged from the trees, firing at the helicopter with small arms. Airman Ward returned fire with an M-16. The rescue was effected although under attack the entire time. On the return flight Sandy 05, another escort, reported that it was losing power, and Kennedy escorted it to NKP, where both landed safely.
16 February 1967 Kennedy's unit was redesignated as Detachment 1, 37th ARRS on 16 January 1967This was the former designation of the HC-130s of the 37th ARRS, which had become the separate 39th ARRS at Udorn in a realignment of units by aircraft type. Thereafter the 37th ARRS consisted of only HH-3E Jolly Greens, the 38th ARRS controlled only HH-43 "Pedro" detachments, and the new 39th ARRS operated the rescue variant of the Hercules. and relocated to NKP.Tilford (1980), p. 81 On 6 February Jolly Green 05 (low) from NKP, on a CSAR to rescue a downed Forward Air Controller, was shot down with three of its four crew members killed in action, including Donald Joe Hall, the flight engineer on Kennedy's first Air Force Cross mission.The only survivor was the PJ, A2C Duane Hackney. Capt. O'Mara in JG 36, the high bird, rescued Hackney.Correll, "A Habit of Heroism"