For
sure, Lance was an all American type kid; a good friend to
those he grew up with, student, footballer, class president
and popular with the ladies. His tenacity, dedication, faith
and patriotism would later prove him to be much, much more
than just a good all around American kid. Lance would become
an inspiration to all who might come to know his story.
Lance
won an appointment to the Air Force Academy and went on to
pilot training after graduating. Then, and like many of his
1965 Academy graduating class, he soon found himself in South
Viet Nam.
The
F-104s which had been operating out of Da Nang throughout
1965 were pulled out in Operation Cross Switch on November
21 of that year. One of the squadrons moved in near that time
was the 366th Tac Fighter Wing’s 480th squadron, commanded
by Lt. Col. John Armstrong and flying the venerable F-4. Lance
would be one of his pilots.
On the night of November 9, 1967, Lt.
Col. John Armstrong was flying a bombing mission near the Ban
Loboy ford on the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos. In the backseat
was 25-year-old Capt. Lance Sijan, flying his 53rd combat mission.
It is suspected that a fuse on one of the bombs malfunctioned
and detonated the bomb as it came off the wing. Whatever happened,
the aircraft was destroyed, Col. Armstrong was killed and Lance
grievously wounded. Lance survived the landing with a fractured
skull (a piece of the skull was actually loose), a compound
fracture of his left leg and a right hand so badly mangled
it was rendered useless. With the bone of his leg protruding
through the skin, and working only with his left hand, Lance
was somehow able to reset the bone sufficiently to allow him
to crawl away from the area of his landing, as he realized
the North Viet Namese troops would be searching for the downed
pilots.
Without his survival kit, with only the water available to
him in the jungle, suffering not only his numerous grievous
wounds but also several frustrating rescue attempts, he would
never-the-less evade enemy forces an incredible 46 days.
When
we flew road reccy over North Viet Nam, so extensive was the
surveillance it was commonly understood that anything on the
roads in daylight must be considered friendly. Fully aware
of this, Lance knew he must somehow evade capture and
find a main road on which to expose himself to the marauding
fighters in daylight.
After
excruciating days, literally dragging himself through the jungle, he did make
it to a main road and awaited daylight. At the first rays, he crawled out on
to the road and lay waiting, confident that at last, the fighters would find
him.
One of the great ironies of war was to play itself out that day, and Lance
would be it's victim. The President had called a Christmas bombing halt
and North Viet Nam was well aware of it. Understanding they would be safe from
the attack of fighters even in daylight, the Ho Chi Minh trail was alive with
North Viet Nam vehicles. The first to discover Sijan’s near lifeless
body were North Viet Nam regulars. They simply threw him in the back of a truck
and delivered him to a holding compound in Vinh, North Viet Nam. There, emaciated
and with his wounds untreated, he still managed to overpower his guard and
escape, only to be recaptured soon there after.
Sijan would eventually be transfer to the Hoa Lo Prison (The
Hanoi Hilton) where in his weakened state, he would contract
pneumonia and die on January 22, 1968.
But
the story of Sijan’s heroic struggle to survive and escape his captors
must never be related in part. His epic journey through pain and suffering,
urged on by raw courage and the determination to free himself from his captors,
is so inspirational that even today all new cadets at the Air Force Academy
are required to learn it. The Lance P. Sijan Award, recognizing individuals
who have demonstrated the highest qualities of leadership in their jobs and
in their lives, has become one of the U.S. Air Force’s most prestigious
awards.
Sijan Hall at the Air Force Academy now honors it’s first graduate
to receive the Medal Of Honor awarded posthumously by President Gerald Ford
in March 1976 and presented to his parents, Jane and Sylvester Sijan.
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