They would blow through our formation, fire off all their missiles and then run for the deck. Roberts was in DaNang for 11 months. Eleven months was enough to make him a veteran and to give him reason to reflect on Veterans' Day, which is today. It is a very powerful, emotional day for me. I lost a lot of friends, so those memories come back.
Every human being has a tendency to remember the good and overlook the bad times.
Rube' went down and made an inverted pass over the airstrip. While he did not experience the visual death of fellow soldiers, Roberts had an encounter with a pilot's death as he listened to his radio from the ground. The pilot had been shot down in Laos. He ejected from the aircraft and was hiding in the bank area of a river. I was listening to him on my radio.