WASHINGTON D.C. -- Six Air Force Reserve aviators sailed over the nation’s capital in a military propeller-driven aircraft as gray as the slightly overcast sky surrounding them, and nearly as wide as the eight-lane beltway below them. They flew with intensity for what was about to unfold, May 29, 2019.
Due to the efforts of the 39th Rescue Squadron crew, flying in what’s known as the country’s busiest air space in the nation, was halted so they could honor a war hero on National Vietnam War Veteran’s Day. With precision and planning, they swept over the funeral of Air Force Colonel Rick A. Kibbey, a fellow rescue aviator who was brought home from Vietnam after being missing in action for more than 50 years, allowing his family to lay him to rest.
After maneuvering the aircraft from a holding pattern, the Airmen opened the aircraft’s ramp filling the cargo bay with light revealing the loadmaster gripping a cotton 5 X 9-foot American Flag. As they flew over the Potomac River, the Pentagon, and finally Arlington National Cemetery, the loadmaster wrapped the corners of the flag around his hands unfurling it to wave out of the back of the aircraft for those gathered below at the colonel’s long-overdue burial.
Colonel Kibbey’s three grown sons and daughter took in the sights and sounds of full military honors that were rendered on the ground and in the sky for their father’s heroism. Their mother died in 1979 from what they say was a broken heart after losing her husband. They were children when their father left for Vietnam, now they were surrounded by fifty family members, from grandkids to second cousins.
Rick, the eldest son, was 12 years old when Air Force officials came to the door and delivered the tragic news of his father’s fate. “I didn’t really understand. My mom would be crying when I walked by her door. I didn’t really understand that. The Kibbeys share a special bond with the aviators. Rick, now a retired Air Force colonel himself, and his wife Liz, both work at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, where the 39th Airmen serve within the 920th Rescue Wing, a combat-rescue-unit that shares the same mission that their father was a part of.
“You truly can’t define ‘these things we do, that others may live’ (their motto) without understanding the gravity of what the family endured. Colonel Kibbey gave all to his country,” said Lt. Col. Casey Sreenan, HC-130N aircraft commander, 39th Rescue Squadron, saying it was a career highlight to be able to perform a flyover for him at Arlington.
Colonel Kibbey was a captain and member of Detachment 5, 35th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron. He was the copilot of an HH-3E Jolly Green Giant helicopter, call sign Jolly Green 05, that was on a mission over North Vietnam during the war in 1967. After rescuing a downed pilot, Col. Kibbey’s helicopter was hit by enemy ground fire resulting in an internal explosion and crash. He was killed in the crash and his remains could not be recovered due to a hostile presence in the area. All other crew members perished as well, except for one, Duane Hackney, a pararescueman who went on to become the most decorated enlisted man in U.S. Air Force history and a member of the squadron Colonel Kibbey's son Rick commanded years later just before Hackney retired.
While Col. Kibbey and his crew were originally reported missing in action, later their status was amended to deceased. He was posthumously promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel then Colonel and awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart.
“My mom’s family was there. My dad’s family was there. It was quite amazing!” said Rick. “My youngest uncle was a Marine and he told us that he wasn’t going to cry, but I saw him tearing up a couple times.”
“It was an honor to have your folks (39th RQS Airmen) be part of the ceremony,” said Rick in an email to 920th leadership thanking them. “I wish I could shake all of their hands. I couldn’t think of a better organization to do it. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!” he said.
The 39th RQS crew that piloted the HC-130N King aircraft over Col. Kibbey’s burial service is as follows: Aircraft Commander, Lt Col Casey Sreenan; Copilot, Capt Elizabeth Holloway; Navigator, Capt Mark Creager; Flight Engineer, SMSgt Michael Decker; Radio Operator, SMSgt Kevin Zimmerman, and Loadmaster, MSgt Dean Scalise.
On April 9, Rick and his wife Liz, went to visit the Rescue Airmen and shook the hands of the crew and were presented with two flags, one they flew out the back during the Arlington flyover and another that rested near the flight controls of the aircraft during flight.