FLYNN, ROBERT JAMES
Name: Robert James Flynn
Rank/Branch: O3/US Navy, pilot
Unit: Attack Squadron 196, USS CONSTELLATION
Date of Birth: 15 September 1937 (La Crosse WI)
Home City of Record: Houston MN
Date of Loss: 21 August 1967
Country of Loss: China
Loss Coordinates: 213300N 1073200E (YJ519957)
Status (in 1973): Released POW
Category:
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: A6A
Missions: 71
Other Personnel in Incident: Jimmy L. Buckley (ashes returned); from other A6s:
Forrest G. Trembley and Dain V. Scott (both missing); Leo T. Profilet and
William M. Hardman (both released POWs); on USAF F105s: Lynn K. Powell and
Merwin L. Morrill (both remains returned)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project with the assistance of Task Force
Omega from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency
sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
Date Compiled: 15 March 1990. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK.
REMARKS: 730315 RELEASED BY RED CHINA
SYNOPSIS: On August 21, 1967, four aircraft launched from the USS
CONSTELLATION with the assignment to strike the Duc Noi rail yard four miles
north of Hanoi. The aircraft flew from Attack Squadron 196, based on board
the carrier.
The route from the coast-in point was uneventful with the exception of some
large weather cells building up. Further along their route they received
indications of launched Surface-to-Air Missiles (SAMs) and observed bursting
85mm anti-aircraft fire.
Lieutenant Commander "J" Forrest G. Trembley, bombardier/navigator of one
Intruder, reported he had been hit and he was advised to reverse course and
return to the coast. He transmitted that he was experiencing no difficulty
and would proceed to the target rather than egress alone. Commander Jimmy L.
Buckley was the pilot of this aircraft. Several SAMs had been launched at
this time and a transmission was made "Heads up for the Air Force strike"
which was being conducted in the vicinity of the A-6 target. An aircraft was
hit which was thought to be an Air Force aircraft.
Two F105D aircraft, flown by Air Force Major Merwin L. Morrill and 1Lt. Lynn
K. Powell, were shot down at this approximate location on August 21, 1967.
It is believed that one of these is the aircraft referred to in Navy
information concerning this incident. The remains of both Air Force crewmen
were repatriated on June 3, 1983. While Morrill had been classified Missing
in Action, it was believed that he was dead. Powell was classified as Killed
in Action/Body Not Recovered.
The division leader was hit while in the target area and two good parachutes
were observed. The crew of this A6, Commander William M. Hardman and Capt.
Leo T. Profilet, were captured by the North Vietnamese. Both men were
released from captivity on March 15, 1973.
The other three aircraft began their egress from the target. Surface-to-air
missiles (SAMs) were in flight everywhere and the aircraft were maneuvering
violently. A large weather cell separated them from the coast which
precluded their egress further north than planned.
Another transmission was heard -- "Skipper get out" -- and the voice was
recognized as that of Lieutenant Commander Trembley. A SAM detonated between
two of the other aircraft, two parachutes and flying debris were observed.
Lieutenant Commander Trembley transmitted, "This is Milestone 2, Milestone 1
was hit, 2 good chutes, 2 good chutes." The multitude of SAMs along with
deteriorating weather may be the reason for the flight to ultimately stray
well north of their planned egress track. It was believed that Lieutenant
Commander Trembley's aircraft was shot down in the vicinity of the Chinese
boarder.
Trembley and his BN, Dain V. Scott, were placed in a Missing In Action
casualty status. Their case was discussed with the Chinese government by
then Congressmen Hale Boggs and Gerald Ford, with very little information
being obtained.
In their navigation around the weather, one of the remaining two A-6
aircraft observed MIGS in a run out of the overcast above Lieutenant
Commander Flynn's aircraft. Requests for assistance were radioed but went
unanswered. The tracking of the aircraft by airborne early warning aircraft
showed them crossing the Chinese border. The maximum penetration was about
eleven miles. A visual search could not be conducted due to poor weather in
the vicinity of the last known position.
Later that day Peking Radio reported "two U.S. A-6 aircraft were shot down
when they flagrantly intruded into China airspace and one crewman was
captured". Lieutenant Commander Flynn was held prisoner in China, his pilot,
Commander Jimmy L. Buckley, was reportedly killed in the shoot down.
On March 15, 1973 Lieutenant Commander Flynn was repatriated to U.S.
jurisdiction in Hong Kong and returned to the United States. The ashes of
Commander Jimmy L. Buckley were returned by the Chinese in December 1975.
Two Air Force bombers and three of the four Navy aircraft on the strike
mission on August 21, 1967 were shot down. Trembley and Scott, of the eight
Americans shot down on August 21, 1967, are the only two who remain Missing
in Action.
---------
This article appeared in an unknown newpaper March 1973
China releases U.S. fliers John T. Downey. a CIA agent shot down over China
in 1952, arrived in New Britain, Conn. March 12 after he had been released
by Chinese authorities that day.
Three days later, two U.S. airmen imprisoned in China after being shot down
during missions in the Indochina war were released. They were Lt. Cmdr.
Robert J. Flynn, 35, of Colorado Springs, Colo., shot down Aug. 21, 1967
aboard an A-6 in southern China and Major Philip E. Smith. 38, of Roodhouse,
Ill., shot down Sept. 20, 1965 over Hainan Island near the Gulf of Tonkin
when his F-104 veered off course. Flynn and Smith crossed the border into
Hong Kong and were flown to Clark Air Force.
Downey had been flown via Clark Air Force in the Philippines and Elmendorf
Air Force Base in Alaska in order to be with his mother, who was suffering
from a stroke in a New Britain hospital. His impending release had been
announced March 9 by Ronald L. Ziegler, White House press Secretary, who
said Premier Chou En-lai had agreed to free Downey earlier than planned
after being informed by the U.S. of his mothers illness. Ziegler also said
China would Flynn and Smith March 15.
At a March 13 news conference in New Britain, Downey said he looked on his
20-year imprisonment as "to a large extent wasted," adding: "I don't see
that it benefited anybody."
Downey noted that during his first eight or nine months in jail he was
questioned closely by his captors and that he "revealed about every bit of
information I had."
Asked about the Chinese people, be said be felt sympathy for them in some
respects" and they were "more behind their government than I dreamed would
be possible."
In 1997, Commander Flynn provided the P.O.W. NETWORK with detailed
information regarding his career -
Flynn attended the University of Minnesota from 1955-58 (pre-law).
6 July 58 - He entered Naval Service as a cadet.
20 June 60 - Designated NFO (TC-N-48) Number 48 (NAO-N)
24 Feb 61 - Designated PAC FLT Bomadier/Navigator number 025.
June 1963 - Married Mary Kathryn
Commander Flynn and his Pilot, LCDR. Jimmy L. Buckley were shot down on 21
Aug 67. Flynn says, "Neither I nor my aircraft were ever in Chinese airspace
or territory! I was removed to China after capture in North Vietnam and
incarcerated in RED CHINA - the Peoples Republic of China, in Peking."
Jimmy Buckley was killed in the shootdown. Commander Flynn suffered severe
spinal compression fractures and severe wrenching of all muscle and skeletal
joints during ejection.
After arriving in Peking, Flynn endured more than 2,030 days of consecutive
solitary confinement. The winter of '67/68 (his first in China) he had no
warm clothes. He endured 3 separate incidents of extened handcuff torture -
one lasting 7 days, one 30 days and one 60 days. No other serviceman in our
Nation's history has ever endured a longer period of solitary confinement.
Robert Flynn credits his survival to several teachers -
* Father Michael J. Quislie of St. Mary's of Houston, MN.
* Frederic Haver, football coach and history teacher, Houston High, Houston,
MN.
* Gunny Sergeant Gus Aiken, USMC, Drill Instructor for the Pre-flight class
28-58 Drill Team.
Flynn returned to U.S. control 15 March 1973. He says "Thank God" and his
special helpers - H. Ross Perot, Henry Kissinger and Richard Nixon.
Among his awards and decorations is the Legion of Merit with Combat
Distinguishing Device. He returned to school and studied International
Relations - China and the Far East, in 76-77. He medically retired as a
Naval Commander in 1985 after 27 years of service.
He is an avid waterfowl hunter, enjoys fishing, flyfishing, swimming and
snorkeling. When not on or in the water, he enjoys bicycling, reading and
gourmet cooking. He and his wife of 35 years, Kathy, reside in Florida,
where Flynn is involved in a small business venture - "building a unique 23'
classic custom open sea skiff with Caribiana Sea Skiffs, Inc."
They have a daughter, Elizabeth, married and living on the west coast, and a
son, Robert Jr., who also resides in Florida.
In May of 1998, the NETWORK had a long conversation with CDR Flynn. He
related, in great detail, time in captivity with civilian John T. Downey,
captured 11/29/52 and held until 03/12/73. He also spent time with civilian
Richard Fecteau, captured 11/29/52 and released from China 12/12/71. He said
Richard was a Yale Football player who spent his time in captivity jumping
rope. Flynn never understood where the energy came from! One day he said, he
noticed him eating the "meal of the day," rice gruel. "I had all I could do
to eat one bowl," and he was eating SIX! Fecteau went on, he says, to
Harvard, married, and became a lawyer. All three speak about once a year.
Flynn is still searching the Guinness Book of World Records for the jump
rope record Fecteau should have, he says. John Downey has a book relating
his story, on the market.
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