Captain Thomas E. Morris, flying as Gombey 25, directed an airstrike against Route 137, the North Vietnamese portion of the new road that FACs had found in March. After completing the strike, he and the high FAC, Captain Lee D. Harley (Gombey 19), started back down Route 137 to return to NKP.
A low overcast of the southwest monsoon forced the FACs below their normal altitudes. Captain Thomas led at about 700 feet above the ground. Captain Harley trailed a couple of miles behind at about 1,000 feet. Just inside the Laotian border, Captain Harley was giving the strike report to the ABCCC controller when the radio transmission broke off in mid-sentence.
Captain Morris made quick calls on UHF, VHF, and FM, but neither he nor the ABCCC controller could reestablish radio contact. He turned back to the northeast and saw white smoke rising from the jungle about 4 miles behind in the big meadow the covered most of the area between the Ban Laboy Ford and the North Vietnamese border. Captain Morris asked ABCCC to scramble rescue forces as he tried to get a closer look at the wreckage.
The white phosphorous rockets and remaining fuel were burning fiercely by the time Captain Morris came overhead. The gunners held their fire until he banked over the downed O-1 at 700 feet.
Captain Morris's O-1 was hit, but not seriously. He stayed long enough to turn over on-scene command to a pair of Navy F-4s who came in response to the report of the downed aircraft. Then, with barely enough fuel remaining to get back to NKP, Captain Morris turned for home, once again.
When the rescue forces arrived, the F-4 flight leader made a high-speed, low altitude pass to pinpoint the crash site for the rescue force commander. Intense antiaircraft disabled the F-4 and both crewmembers ejected. The rescue helicopter picked up the two Navy fliers.
In addition to Captain Harley, the O-1 carried Airman First Class Andre Guillot. [1] Airman Guillot was a Combat Control Team member assigned to NKP.
The big meadow, into which Captain Harley and Airman Guillot crashed, was already well on its way to becoming a major storage complex and transshipment center. From that cloudy day on, the valley also became known to the fliers at NKP as "Harley's Valley."