The JIB -- the Joint Information Bureau -- was the title for the
activity set up
to work with the national and international news media representatives
for
print, television and radio outlets who flocked to Clark to cover
the
event. The JIB was staffed by more than sixty public affairs
officers, NCOs and enlisted men and women from all the
services sent to Clark on temporary duty assignments.
The JIB was only one of many different activities
at Clark that helped make the return a success. It was,
of course, important to me because I was one of the Public
Affairs people selected to work there for the duration of the release.
To accommodate the large numbers of correspondents, Clark officials
selected the
largest facility on the base, the Silver Wings recreation center.
Many correspondents
arrived several weeks before releases started. In the beginning,
left, it was a
waiting game. The large shuffleboard game, right, was too big to
move out
with the pinball machines and other games, so it was a way to pass
the
time. Navy Lieutenant Commander Jay Coop, a Navy PAO pits his
skills against Air Force Captain John Turner, both were PAOs
stationed on Taiwan who came to Clark to assist
with Operation Homecoming.
I worked in the JIB press relations
sections with two U.S. Army two Navy
and one other Air Force PAO. Here
the duty was helping newly arrived
reporters get situated and providing
whatever was needed to make their
job easier: advice on off-base hotels,
restaurants, arranging transportation,
setting up shopping visits to base
facilities to purchase personal items
-- anything and everything to assist
with their health and welfare needs.
The early trickle of reporters showing up at
at Clark soon turned into a flood. At the peak,
there were more than 480 correspondents and
technicians from 30 worldwide news agencies.
Briefings were conducted daily or when
something important occurred. In addition
to the civilian media, the United States
military documented the event with
still photography, film, videotape
and audio recording.
Many of the reporters who came to Clark were household names
in newspapers and on
television in America. There was Peter Arnet, the Pulitzer Prize
winning reporter for
the Associated Press who had covered the Vietnam War from the very
early days.
Bernard Calb, the veteran TV news man for CBS. Also, Peter Jennings,
who at
that time was the Beirut Lebanon bureau chief for ABC. Eddie Adams,
the
photographer who won the Pulitzer Prize for his famous photo the
Saigon
police chief executing a captured Vietcong was one of many
photographers. Newsweek magazine was represented by
Frank DeFord one of their senior writers.
The Return
On Monday, February 12, Abraham Lincoln's birthday,
at 5:40 A.M., an advance team of military specialists left Clark
on a C-130. On board was ground equipment to support C-141 Starlifter
operations, and Air Force Colonel Al Lynn with interpreters and
a film crew.
Once there Lynn negotiated the protocol of the release ceremony
and establish camera
positions for the United States Air Force Audiovisual Service still
and motion picture teams.
At 1:38 in the afternoon the first of the sleek cargo jets lifted
off from Clark bound for
Hanoi's Gia Lam Airport. At 4:25 P.M. U.S. Air Force C-141, tail
number
60177, touched down on the Clark Air Base runway with the first
40
returnees. The front page of the next morning's Pacific
Stars&Stripes carried the banner headline:
HOMECOMING’ ON!
All day and into the early evening
darkness of February C-141s arrived
with their precious cargo of America's
heroes. Welcoming dignitaries and crowds
of news media correspondents were soon
dwarfed by even larger crowds of enthusiastic
Clark well-wishers who turned out to cheer
the returnees on both their arrival and a
few days later to speed them on the
way home to the United States.
The airplanes were met by buses that took the returnees
to the base hospital for evaluations and any treatment needed.
As soon as they finished an initial medical and intelligence debriefing,
the process of adjusting to life back in the world began. First,
they went
to the base barber and then on to clothing sales to get them back
in uniform.
Colonel Bill Truesdell, the base commander, said the people at Clark
got so
good at this that by the time the last of the returnees arrived,
“Twelve
hours after they stepped off the aircraft they were measured, fitted
and issued a complete uniform.” The base exchange was opened
in the evenings so returnees could shop. Truesdell arranged
for them to get paid right at the store so they could buy
whatever they desired, as well as gifts and presents
for loved ones, friends and relatives back home.
Each returnee, left, had a personal escort officer who met him when
he
arrived at Clark and stayed with him until he was back with his
family. The returnees looked much different when on their
departure than they had on their arrival. Crowds of
Clark families, right, were there to
give them a big send off
By some standards the
Homecoming airlift was small,
118 missions flown to return 591 POWs
to freedom. But it was one of those events that
lingers in the minds of everyone who had even a small part.