ALVAREZ, EVERETT JR.
Name: Everett Alvarez Jr.
Rank/Branch: O3/US Navy
Unit: Attack Squadron 144, USS CONSTELLATION
Date of Birth:
Home City of Record: Santa Clara CA
Date of Loss: 05 August 1964
Country of Loss: North Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 105600N 1070800E (YJ218160)
Status (in 1973): Released POW
Category:
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: A4C
Refno: 0035
Other Personnel in Incident: Richard C. Sather (remains returned)
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 May 1990 from one or more of the
following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with
POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W.
NETWORK 2000.
REMARKS: 730212 RELSD BY DRV
SYNOPSIS: By midsummer 1964 events were taking place in the Gulf of Tonkin
that would lead to the first clash between U.S. and North Vietnamese forces.
In late July the destroyer USS MADDOX, on patrol in the gulf gathering
intelligence, had become the object of communist attention. For two
consecutive days, 31 July-1 August, the MADDOX cruised unencumbered along a
predesignated route off the North Vietnamese coast. In the early morning
hours of 2 August, however, it was learned from intelligence sources of a
possible attack against the destroyer.
The attack by three North Veitnamese P-4 torpedo boats (PT boats)
materialized just after 4:00 p.m. on August 2. The MADDOX fired off three
warning volleys, then opened fire. Four F-8 Crusaders from the aircraft
carrier USS TICONDEROGA, also took part in the skirmish. The result of the
twenty-minute affair saw one gunboat sunk and another crippled. The MADDOX,
ordered out of the gulf after the incident concluded, was hit by one 14.5 mm
shell.
A day later the MADDOX, accompanied by the destroyer USS C. TURNER JOY,
received instructions to reenter the gulf and resume patrol. The USS
CONSTELLATION, on a Hong Kong port visit was ordered to join the TICONDEROGA
stationed at the mouth of the gulf in the South China Sea. The two
destroyers cruised without incident on August 3 an din the daylight hours of
August 4 moved to the middle of the gulf. Parallel to the movements of the
C. TURNER JOY and MADDOX, South Vietnamese gunboats launched attacks on
several North Veitnamese radar installation. The North Vietnamese believed
the U.S. destroyers were connected to these strikes.
At 8:41 p.m. on August 4 both destroyers reportedly picked up
fast-approaching contacts on their radars. Navy documents show the ships
changed course to avoid the unknown vessels, but the contacts continued
intermittently. At 10:39 p.m. when the MADDOX and C. TURNER JOY radars
indicated one enemy vessel had closed to within seven thousand yards, the C.
TURNER JOY was ordered to open fire and the MADDOX soon followed. For the
next several hours, the destroyers, covered by the TICONDEROGA's and the
CONSTELLATION's aircraft, reportedly evaded torpedoes and fired on their
attackers.
Historians have debated, and will continue to do so, whether the destroyers
were actually ever attacked. Most of the pilots flying that night spotted
nothing. Stockdale, who would later earn the Medal of Honor, stated that a
gunboat attack did not occur. The skipper of the TICONDEROGA's Attack
Squadron 56, Commander Wesley L. McDonald, said he "didn't see anything that
night except the MADDOX and the TURNER JOY."
President Lyndon B. Johnson reacted at once to the supposed attacks on the
MADDOX, ordering retialiatory strikes on strategic points in North Vietnam.
Even as the President spoke to the nation, aircraft from the CONSTELLATION
and TICONDEROGA were airborne and heading for four major PT-boat bases along
the North Vietnamese coast. The area of coverage ranged from a small base at
Quang Khe 50 miles north of the demarcation line between North and South
Vietnam, to the large base at Hon Gai in the north.
At 1:30 p.m. on August 5, 1964, a flight of sixteen aircraft from the
TICONDEROGA on the Vinh hit petroleum storage complex in response to the
presidential directive to destroy gunboats and supporting facilities in
North Vietnam which the President indicated were used in the attack on the
MADDOX. The results saw 90 percent of the storage facility at Vinh go up in
flames.
Meanwhile, other coordinated attacks were made by aircraft from the
CONSTELLATION on nearby Ben Thuy Naval Base, Quang Khe, Hon Me Island and
Hon Gai's inner harbor. Skyraiders, Skyhawks and F8s bombed and rocketed the
four areas, destroying or damaging an estimated twenty-five PT-boats, more
than half of the North Vietnamese force.
LTJG Richard C. Sather was an A1 Skyraider pilot assigned to Attack Squadron
145 onboard the USS CONSTELLATION. During the retaliatory strikes, his
"Spad" was hit by enemy fire just offshore from the city of Thanh Hoa, some
25 miles north of the island of Hon Me. No parachute was seen, and no
emergency radio beepers were heard. It was generally agreed that Sather had
died in the crash of his aircraft. He was declared Killed in Action, and his
body was not recovered.
Among the pilots participating in the Hon Gai attack was LTJG Everett
Alvarez Jr., an A4C Skyhawk pilot assigned to Attack Squadron 144 onboard
the USS CONSTELLATION. His flight was given an ocean target right on the
border with China, a port facility where the Chinese border meets North
Vietnam. None of the pilots had ever flown this area. The CONSTELLATION
pilots were briefed on a problem that would evidence itself several times
later in the war -- it was paramount that they not come anywhere close to
dropping bombs on Chinese soil when launching attacks on the Hon Gai area.
Yet, looking at the map, pilots realized that "if you sneezed or did
something wrong, the bomb could end up in China with no trouble at all."
Just before launch, the target was changed to Hon Gai. There was little time
to study the new target, and then they were off in a mass "gaggle." The
flight leader briefed them to expect PT boats tied up at the southeast pier.
When the aircraft reached the bay, however, Alvarez noted that the PT boats
were out in the bay rather than at the pier. The flight rolled into two
layers of smog--actually one layer of smog and one of anti-aircraft smoke.
The pilots realized they were being fired on and noted that Alvarez had been
hit.
Alvarez's call sign was Four-Eleven, and he came up on the air saying, "411,
I'm hit," followed by "I can't control it. I'm ejecting." Accompanying
aircraft heard his emergency beeper, made three or four orbits, and then
were forced to leave the area because of low fuel states. Alvarez was
captured about 4:00 pm Hanoi time at Ha Long Bay near the Hon Gai target. He
was kept in a local jail cell in Hon Gai with two Vietnamese prisoners for
two days, then moved to a nearby farm until August 12th. On the 12th, he was
taken to Hanoi, arriving at Hoa Lo prison (later called the Hanoi Hilton)
around 4:00 pm. He was put in room 24, where he lived until March of 1965
when other American prisoners started to arrive.
The Navy had lost two aviators, LTJG Everett Alvarez from VA 144 and LTJG
Richard C. Sather from VA 145, an A-1 squadron. Alvarez earned the dubious
distinction of being the first naval aviator captured by the North
Vietnamese and spent eight-and-one-half years in captivity.
Richard Sather, in a sense, was less fortunate, becoming the Navy's first
pilot killed during the conflict. It was twenty-one years, August 14, 1985,
before the Vietnamese "discovered" his remains and returned them to U.S.
control.
Finally, on February 12, 1973, Everett Alvarez was released from prisoner of
war camps and sent home. Alvarez had been a prisoner of war for eight and
one-half years. In all, 591 Americans were released. The remains of Richard
Sather were not returned until 1985.
Since the war ended, nearly 10,000 reports relating to Americans missing,
prisoner or unaccounted for in Southeast Asia have been received by the U.S.
Government. Many authorities who have examined this largely classified
information are convinced that hundreds of Americans are still held captive
today. These reports are the source of serious distress to many returned
American prisoners. They had a code that no one could honorably return
unless all of the prisoners returned. Not only that code of honor, but the
honor of our country is at stake as long as even one man remains unjustly
held. It's time we brought our men home.
SOURCE: WE CAME HOME copyright 1977
Captain and Mrs. Frederic A Wyatt (USNR Ret), Barbara Powers Wyatt, Editor
P.O.W. Publications, 10250 Moorpark St., Toluca Lake, CA 91602
Text is reproduced as found in the original publication (including date and
spelling errors).
EVERETT ALVAREZ, JR.
Lieutenant Commander - United States Navy
Shot Down: August 5, 1964
Released: February 12, 1973
Born: On 12/23137 in Salinas, California.
Education: B. S. in Electrical Engineering from Santa Clara university in 1960.
Entered: Navy in June 1960--Aviation Officer Candidate Program. He received
his Commission in October 1960.
Flight Training--Pensacola, Florida; Kingsville, Texas.
Designated Naval Aviator in November 1961.
First Assignment--Attack Squadron 144 at NAS Lemoore and the USS
Constellation.
Lt. Cdr. Alvarez was shot down and captured August 5, 1964 on the first raid
in North Vietnam in retaliation for the North Vietnamese torpedo attack on the
USS Destroyer Maddox and USS Turner Joy. This was called the Tonkin Gulf
Incident of 4 August 1964. Lt. Cdr. Alvarez was the longest held POW in North
Vietnam. He was a prisoner for 8 1/2 years. As for the future, Lt. Cdr.
Alvarez plans to remain in the Navy.
This is his personal message: "For years and years, during our long
incarceration, we dreamed of the day when we would return home to our families
and friends. We never gave up hope that this day might come soon, because we
had faith--faith in God, in our country, and in ourselves. It was this faith
that maintained our hope that someday our dreams would come true. And now they
have come true.
Now we have returned to the greatest country in the world. Now we have seen
the other side, and we know what it is like. Now we are able to fully
appreciate our way of life and what we have. We have so much to be thankful
for. No one can be prouder than I am for having had the association of some of
the bravest men this country has ever seen--my fellow prisoners who were held
in North Vietnam jails."
On one occasion, before a group of well-wishers, he said, "You're beautiful. I
love you. But let's never forget the thousands of men who will never return."
=====================
The Honorable Everert Alvarez Jr. retired from the United States Navy as a
Commander. He and his wife Tammy live in Maryland. He has continued to serve
his country in various capacities - he is the former Deputy Director of the
Peace Corps and former Deputy Administrator of the Veterans Administration.
--------------------------------------------------------
Washington Times
May 31, 2000
All 8 Lawmakers Want To Name Post Office For Former POW
By Will Toussaint, The Washington Times
Everett Alvarez Jr. became the first American prisoner of war in Vietnam
in 1964 and endured 8 and 1/2 years of beatings and torture before
returning home. Now, Maryland legislators want to honor the Navy pilot by
naming a Montgomery County post office after him.
Introduced by Rep. Constance A. Morella, a Republican, on May 17, the
legislation is co-sponsored by the other seven Maryland lawmakers and is
expected to be enacted, said Lisa Boepple, Mrs. Morella's chief of staff.
Mr. Alvarez said that despite the time that's gone by, his experience will
always be with him.
"Vietnam is in the past, but it's attached to me whether I like it or not.
It's like my shadow," Mr. Alvarez said in an interview recently.
His ordeal began Aug. 5, 1964, when Lt. Alvarez's A-4 Skyhawk was the
first plane shot down over Hon Gai Bay in the Gulf of Tonkin.
The North Vietnamese fished him out of the water, and after a brief
interrogation in the North Vietnamese countryside sent him to Hoa Lo
prison - the infamous "Hanoi Hilton" - in Hanoi six days later.
Lt. Alvarez spent 8 and 1/2 years as a POW in the dirty, rat-infested
prison, the first year and a half in solitary confinement. He was fed rice
with cockroaches and dead birds.
In February 1973, he was among 462 U.S. servicemen released following
negotiations. "Those are important days of my life, and they're a reminder
of just how short life is," he said.
Mr. Alvarez's military career began almost by accident. He was the first
in his family to go to college, getting a degree in electrical engineering
from the University of Santa Clara in California in 1960. When he flew to
a job interview in New Jersey, he found himself more impressed with the
plane ride than the job. He applied for Navy pilot training and received
his commission in October 1960.
By 1964, Lt. Alvarez was flying A-4 Skyhawk attack jets off the carrier
USS Constellation. He was on his first mission - responding to attacks on
U.S.destroyers - when he was shot down.
After being released from the camp, Mr. Alvarez came back to the United
States to take on new challenges. He married and had two sons. He served
as deputy administrator for the Veterans Administration and as deputy
director of the Peace Corps. He wrote two books recounting his experiences
during captivity in North Vietnam and thereafter.
In 1987, he became founder and president of Conwal Inc., a management
consulting firm in McLean, Va., which he still runs.
Last fall, he campaigned for and worked closely with Sen. John
McCain,Arizona Republican and presidential candidate who also was a
prisoner of war.
"Most of us POWs are too busy to sit down and look back at Vietnam," he
said.
On Sunday, Mr. Alvarez attended 26-year-old son Marc's graduation from
George Washington University Law School.
"My proudest achievement is raising a family," he said.
Mr. Alvarez said he feels both surprised and humbled by efforts to name
the post office after him. But it would not be the first building to be
christened in his honor: A high school in Salinas, Calif. -where Mr.
Alvarez was born in 1937 - bears his name.
Sitting in his office recently, surrounded by pieces of his rich history a
painting of the A-4 Skyhawk he was shot down in and a picture of the
carrier plane that flew him home - Mr. Alvarez reflected on his wartime
experience.
"It's my shadow - it's not something you continually look at . . . it's
something you have to accept."
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