THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, January 16, 1996 TAG: 9601160274
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
SERIES: THE GULF WAR: FIVE YEARS LATER
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
Tonight, either in person or at least by telephone, eight A-6 Intruder crewmen from Attack Squadron 35 who led the first air strikes into Iraq will get together for a reunion.
They've tried to do it every year since they've returned from the Persian Gulf War.
Navy Cmdr. John W. Snedeker at least hopes he can get his former pilot off the lakes of Minnesota for a telephone chat.
Last year, retired Capt. Dave ``Hoser'' Park was ice fishing and couldn't come to the phone, said Snedeker, who served as an A-6 bombardier/navigator.
``It started off when I promised him that on this anniversary, every year, I will call you, or visit you, even when you're an old retired guy in a home
About half of the original crew members are retired now, along with most of the A-6 squadrons. But the reunions serve as a celebration for what the four, two-man air crews accomplished that day.
Snedeker, now a radar intercept officer in the F-14 Tomcat, is the executive officer of Fighter Squadron 14 at Oceana Naval Air Station. The switch in aircraft came about because the A-6 is being phased out.
Back in the wee hours of Jan. 17, 1991, Baghdad time, the four A-6s took off for the outskirts of the capital from nearly 700 miles away on their Red Sea-based carrier.
Armed with 2,000-pound laser-guided bombs, and guided by night vision goggles that turned the pitch black night into a greenish sea of white dots, the A-6 crews screamed into the outskirts of Iraq's capital above a bed of anti-aircraft fire.
``It looked like the Fourth of July presentation at Mount Trashmore, magnified 10 times,'' said Snedeker.
Despite the anti-aircraft fire and surface-to-air missiles, none of the four A-6s was hit on that mission.
``There was a feeling of elation, that we had accomplished our mission on that first night,'' said Snedeker. ``But we also knew it was not going to be over in one night.''
What can't be forgotten, said Snedeker, are the friendships the war formed among not just the eight of them, but also the entire squadron and their ship - the carrier Saratoga.
``I remember most the camaraderie and just the tremendous support from the home front,'' he said.
``I remember the teams coming together, the air wing teams, the ship teams. I was walking on the flight deck at night and although it was dimly lit, I could see each airplane being loaded. There were dozens of maintenance guys crawling all over them, even those who usually worked the days stuck around for the night.
``You realized that Saddam didn't have this kind of support - the 18- and 19-year-old sailors putting their whole heart into it.'' ILLUSTRATION: BILL TIERNAN
The Virginian-Pilot
Navy Cmdr. John W. Snedeker, now the executive officer of Fighter
Squadron 14 at Oceana Naval Air Station, remembers the feeling of
elation over the success of the first night's mission.
KEYWORDS: GULF WAR ANNIVERSARY by CNB