Local veterans pause to remember Pearl Harbor

When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared the surprise attack “a date which will live in infamy.” The Low Country Warbirds, made up of combat pilots, navigators and flight crew members, has helped memorialize that date for the last 48 years by gathering to share war experiences and memories.

Formed by World War II pilot John McCormac who died in 2004, the group embraces all former and present day military aviators.

Former RF4 Phantom pilot Pete Dubay said that while the group seeks out World War II, Korean, Vietnam, Gulf War and active duty military aviators to attend, every year the numbers diminish.

With the aging of World War and Korean War veterans, this year there were no more WWII members left to attend this year’s gathering Monday at Hog Heaven BBQ in Pawleys Island. However, the couple dozen members present represented the various military branches and had stories to share about their days in fight.

Opening with the Pledge of Allegiance, Dubay followed with a prayer where he noted “all of us have been touched by that (Dec. 7). We’ve all dodged a few bullets along the way.”

With 2,500 hours in an RF4 Phantom over Europe and Vietnam and the states, Dubay said, “one landing for every take off, that’s a feat every pilot aims for.”

The 78-year-old Dubay, who flew 170 missions, shared that he flew secret missions over North Vietnam and over Cambodia taking photos. “You knew when you were in Cambodia when you

ran out of bomb craters,” he said.

The Warbird meetings, he said, offer a “sanctuary” where the members can “sit and fly with their hands.”

While the all-male group kept the gathering light hearted, sharing tales and “lies” as one member jokingly put it, there were still a few misty eyes as thoughts trailed back to days of war and

sometimes incomprehensible and unutterable events.

Bob Mimms of Pawleys Island and Florence served as an Army helicopter pilot in Vietnam during a one-year tour of duty with the 128th Assault Helicopter Co. He has attended the Warbirds annual gathering for the last 25 years.

Mimms said his duties during the war included taking men into the war zone and bringing them out as well as carrying in supplies. For Mimms, talking about the war remains too difficult even today as he has felt the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

“I really don’t want to talk about it,” he said. “It brings back too many anxieties. PTSD is real.”

What he could share about his war days is one important thing. “It made me appreciate every day since,” he said.

A native of New Hampshire who settled in Murrells Inlet, Bruce Lake served five years in the U.S. Marine Corps, making captain during his time in the inactive reserve. Lake spent 13 months flying more than 840 missions in an H46 helicopter. With a crew of pilot, co-pilot, crew chief and gunner, the helicopter could carry 20 passengers in and out of the war zone. Lake said his crew performed many emergency medical evacuations.

“The hardest thing for me was flying emergency medevacs all day long and then stepping out of the aircraft and slipping on the blood,” Lake said. “I learned to just look straight ahead.”

Eighteen years after his experience in the war, Lake wrote a book about his it called “1500 feet over Vietnam: A Marine helicopter pilot’s diary.” The book went through three printings.

“I wrote it as a catharsis, just to get it out of my system,” said Lake, adding that he lost at least 60 friends from his squadron during the war that included nine pilots and others with whom

he had trained. A test pilot in Japan after the war, he was able to return to Japan in 2010 when he was invited to speak at the Marine Corps Ball in Okinawa on Nov. 10, which is recognized as the Marine Corps birthday.

U.S. Army veteran and Georgetown photography business owner Paige Sawyer does not have wings but he made a lot of flights during his 27 months in Vietnam. He serves as an unofficial

member of the Warbirds using his military communications background to help the group with publicity.

During his four years in the military, Sawyer was a communications security monitor, listening for security breaches during friendly conversations.

Sawyer said although he did not see live action, he heard it while monitoring the channels, and it was difficult hearing it and knowing he could do nothing to help.

“I could hear them firing on the enemy, rescuing our soldiers, people calling coordinates for air strikes, pilots and crew talking about receiving fire and how hot it was getting. To hear that and type it knowing these guys are catching hell and I’m sitting in a little hut and can’t do anything. That was hard,” he said.

Air Force navigator and radar navigator Lynn Siau, 76, is a Georgetown native who held the two different positions on a B52 and a C130. The commissioned Air Force 2nd Lieutenant spent 26 years in the military. He was flying cold war missions with nuclear weapons on board and he was airborne during the 13-day Cuban missile crisis between the U.S. and Russia.

Later assigned to a C130 that flew missions to provide food and ammunition to troops in Vietnam and reconnaissance missions over Laos, Siau said the things he remembers most are the

people he served with. “You never get any closer to people than you were then,” he said. “It was almost all male back then so you developed some very close relationships.”

Monday was the first time Larry Sabourin of Georgetown has attended the annual luncheon of the Low Country Warbirds. He knew several of the pilots there who are also members of the Order of Daedalians, a fraternity of American military pilots, and the River Rats, a group of aircrew members who have flown combat.

For Sabourin, flying during wartime was fun in the sense that there were fewer restrictions in combat and more freedom to exercise flying skills.

“We had missions where you dropped on the bad guys. It was obvious you killed people but you don’t see the results so there is separation and you do not seem directly involved,” he said.

“After the mission is over, you departmentalize it and you try not to dwell on it.”

Dubay said the annual luncheon provides a time for the Warbirds to reminisce and share their good experiences and their mistakes. Holding the Warbird gathering on Pearl Harbor Day each

year makes it easy to plan ahead, he said. Next Dec. 7, Mimms will host the group at his Litchfield Beach Fish House.

This story was originally published December 7, 2015 at 6:14 PM with the headline "Local veterans pause to remember Pearl Harbor."