![]() ![]() ![]() Alan Cranston of California warned during Senate debate. “We should not now rewrite history by deeming their service, valiant though it was, as military service, which it was not,” Democratic Sen. Lawmakers said groups “similarly situated” to the WASPs could apply for benefits, though some cautioned against the precedent. “Air American employees were truly veterans of a foreign war, and conducting work for America.”Ĭongress opened the door for such requests in 1977 when it recognized the World War II-era Women's Air Forces Services Pilots. “Medical evacuations under fire, refugee movements under siege and rescues of downed military flight crews were conducted voluntarily and came from the heart,” says Cates, a Louisiana resident and past president of the Air America Association. These could include disability payments, increased retirement pay and an Arlington burial for those wounded in combat. In a newly filed application with the Civilian/Military Service Review Board, Cates is seeking veterans-style benefits for all Air America alumni. ![]() “Some want to be (considered) civil service employees and some want to have veteran status.” Seeking benefitsĬates is now pinning his own hopes on a little-known review panel. “There is a dispute among (us) as to who we were,” said Allen Cates, a former Marine Corps and Air America pilot. This dual identity - a military veteran who died in wartime civilian service - captured a core dichotomy within the Air America community. ![]() Herrick merited the Arlington burial by virtue of his prior Air Force service. They also met a new CIA casualty assistance officer who, the Holts say, seems willing to delve into the benefits question. Last week, all of the family members had the somber satisfaction of seeing Charles Herrick's remains buried in Arlington National Cemetery. The Holt's oldest son, William Jr., is a 36-year-old Army drill sergeant. The Holts run an import business in Modesto along with son Charles, a 32-year-old Beyer High School graduate. “All we ever get out of the CIA is, ‘We don't have any records about it,'” said William Holt, Gayle's husband and himself a Vietnam veteran. She's subsequently heard suggestions that other Air America families received something more substantial, but details are scarce and stone walls abundant. A civilian when he died about 30 miles from the border of Laos and North Vietnam, Herrick is not listed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.įollowing her father's death, Holt recalls her mother receiving “a little stipend” from the federal Harbor and Longshoreman's Fund. Holt's father was shot down while co-piloting a C-46 cargo plane filled with supplies for troops. Approximately 100 Americans died in the Vietnam War while serving with the company. In Laos, Air America crews carried supplies, rescued downed pilots and undertook some very sporty missions indeed. Like its predecessor firm called Civil Air Transport, Air America served U.S. “Yeah, they weren't in uniform,” Holt said, “but they were still in service to their country.”Īir America was what the CIA termed a proprietary company - in other words, a front. While Holt tracks down what the government may owe her family, other Air America survivors are making a group bid to secure what they believe is due. In the case of Air America, struggles are under way at both the group and individual level. “It's a recognition, which is primarily what we wanted all along.” “The primary effect is just the honor, because you've been in harm's way,” said Rufus Hernandez, a 76-year-old retired Fresno businessman and former World War II merchant sailor. This week, for instance, Mariposa Republican George Radanovich introduced legislation extending veterans benefits to merchant seamen for all past and future wars. When do wartime civilians deserve military-style benefits? Sometimes, Congress will simply dictate an answer. Indeed, amid the patriotic wash of Independence Day celebrations, Holt and others like her showcase more fundamental questions about the meaning of service, the obligations of country and the significance of uniform. Nor is Holt the only one struggling to resolve disputes over service and benefits. “I can't get anybody to explain it, because I can't find anyone who will acknowledge having any records,” Holt said. They are questions still frustrating his daughter, Modesto resident Gayle Herrick Holt. Certainly, his 1963 combat death while flying a CIA-owned airplane came in service to his country.īut because he died a civilian, having earlier resigned his Air Force commission to join an unusual outfit called Air America, Herrick also left behind some ambiguities about benefits. In the shadowy dawn of the Vietnam War, Herrick seemed simply another American pilot a suitable target for enemy soldiers on the ground in Laos. July 5, 2003Charles Herrick died in his civvies, not that it mattered to the men who shot him down. ![]()
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