The Best Preparation I Could Have Had: A VMI Grad Discusses Flying, Leadership, And The Hanoi Hilton

Tom Kirk was born in Richmond, Virginia, in 1928, but grew up in Portsmouth. His mother was a housewife and later a secretary who played piano. His father was a machinist and toolmaker at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, where he worked for 38 years, and he was “a very good musician,” playing the saxophone and clarinet in dance bands. Tom took after his father and began playing the sax when he was five. He joined a band (and the musicians union) at 14, and was a “call guy,” frequently filling in for different bands. During the war, he played with both Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey and Jack Teagarden among others, and frequently at the Palomar Ballroom in Norfolk. Even though the Kirks lived in the country, Tom attended the “big high school in town.” He enjoyed high school, was the class secretary, tried football for a bit (“but it beat me up”), and focused primarily on playing music professionally. Tom was destined to be the first in his family to go to college, and his father recommended a military school for the discipline. Tom joined the VMI (Virginia Military Institute) Class of 1950B. Beginning with the Class of 1948A (which started in 1944), VMI graduated two classes each year from 1948A through 1950B as a wartime measure. In 1949, a “C” class graduated consisting entirely of returning WWII veterans who were finishing their degree. Even though there were two classes in 1950, ‘50B did not have much to do with the smaller ‘50A class, which was a full semester ahead. For those classes, the academic year consisted of three 16-week semesters with a monthlong break in between sessions. Tom matriculated VMI on the first Tuesday in September 1946 and calls it “the best thing to ever happen to me,” although he harbored a love-hate relationship with the Institute as a Cadet. He describes “Hell Week,” which lasted until Christmas, as “absolutely miserable” and “very confusing,” and he experienced a lot of hazing as a Rat (VMI freshman). At the end of May, the Rats “Break Out” and are recognized, but before that, they have to “Run the Rat Line,” which involves additional hazing and corporal punishment. He describes the first time he had the freedom to “go uptown” to Lexington, Virginia, and he celebrated with an ice cream bar. A Cadet Captain “braced him” (had him stand at attention and chewed him out) for walking and eating ice cream. He received 30 punishment tours of three miles each for the infraction. He later described VMI as good preparation for his POW experience, meaning that he learned to be very orderly, disciplined, structured, and used to privation. During the summers, he played music at the Virginia beaches. He was also in the 17-piece VMI Commander’s Band and the Glee Club, and he recalls marching in Ike’s inaugural parade. He did well academically and was in pre-med classes. Doc Carroll, the renowned head of the biology department, liked Tom (Tom suspects it is because of his highly detailed and accurate anatomical drawings), and upon graduation he had to decide whether he wanted to go to medical school or choose another branch. Tom realized that becoming a doctor was really his mother’s dream for him, and after a phone call home, he decided to branch Air Force and become a pilot. As a Distinguished Military Graduate, he received a Regular Commission, not a Reserve Commission. He showed up at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio with one uniform and began flight school. Flight School consisted of two weeks of ground school in an AT-6, six months of basic flight, and six months of advanced, flying either a T-33 or a B-25. After flight school, he was assigned to the B-25 and he loved it, although he wanted to fly the P-51. With the Korean War raging, B-29s were brought out of mothballs and WWII crews were reactivated. With an influx of pilots needing to be recertified, Tom flew training missions seated on a box between the pilot and copilot. Frustrated, he requested a transfer to fighter planes and deployed to the Korean War in November 1952 as a Mosquito pilot, a Forward Air Controller flying an AT-6. Initially, he spent three months at the front as a FAC with the 7th Infantry Division. He recounts reacting to a Chinese night attack and calling in air strikes against what he considered to be the entire Chinese Army. Flying the AT-6, he was responsible for a 10-mile by 5-mile stretch of the front, and he flew with an artillery observer in the back seat. After supporting the 7th Infantry Division, he was transferred to support the British Commonwealth Division. He was then assigned to Kimpo, where he transitioned to jets and learned to fly the F-86 with the 336th Fighter Squadron. With only seven hours in that aircraft, he flew his first of two missions along the Yalu River and the Chinese border. All told, he flew 50 missions during the Korean War, most of them in the AT-6. Returning to the United States, he joined the 389th Squadron in Alexandria, Louisiana, at England Air Force Base. By this time he was flying the F-86 and F-100, conducting routine training rotations to Europe in addition to flying air shows all over the United States. In September 1954, he was on the first tactical rotation to France, and they flew to Tripoli for gunnery practice. Frequently he was stationed with four aircraft in Munich on daylight alert. In early 1955, he qualified on nuclear bombs with targets in Russia. By 1956 he was flying the F-84F, which was capable of inflight refueling, and he conducted a six-month deployment to Belgium to train the Belgian Air Force on the F-84F. In 1960, he completed the Command and Staff College and was stationed in England flying the F-100. An assignment to Aviano, Italy, followed, where he was the Maintenance Officer, a duty he vehemently protested, but which later gave him a good background as a commander. By 1966 he was stationed at the Air Base in Misawa, Japan, but wanted to volunteer for service in Vietnam. He then took two weeks of leave from Japan and volunteered to fly missions in Vietnam. He completed 20 missions in Southeast Asia, flying up to three missions a day over that two-week period based out of Phan Rang with the 612th Tactical Fighter Squadron. He described that period as the “easiest flying I’ve ever done.” In January 1967, he received an official assignment to Southeast Asia and took command of the 357th Fighter Squadron in Thailand, flying the F-105 Thunderchief (the “Thud”) over North Vietnam. Tom describes the F-105, the biggest single engine bomber, as the workhorse of the Vietnam War. He was stationed at Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base, which he considered wonderful with its air-conditioned trailers. He loved flying the big, stable F-105, and describes its one drawback as the inability to turn fast because of its size. It was very good at destroying targets, however, and it was frequently used to attack bridges and industry. During this period, North Vietnam was the most heavily air-defended place in the history of air warfare, with over 19,000 air defense assets within 30 miles of Hanoi. On October 28, 1967, on his 67th mission, Tom was leading an attack of 48 bombers, plus supporting aircraft, in the largest air attack on Hanoi during the Vietnam War. The attack consisted of 48 F-105s, 24 F-4 Phantoms, and 12 anti-missile airplanes (Wild Weasels). Their target was the Paul Doumer Bridge (now called Long Bien Bridge). At 14,000 feet, Tom called “roll in” and began his dive. About halfway down, he felt an explosion under his aircraft and his fire warning light came on. He was able to release two 3,000 lbs. bombs, dropping the span, but his Thud was heavily damaged and losing hydraulics. Tom knew if he could make it to the jungle 40 miles south of Hanoi, Air Force Search and Rescue helicopters could get to him, but he was only able to make it about 27 miles before he had to eject. Ejecting at over 600 knots per hour caused him to lose consciousness and his helmet. When he came to, he realized he had been blinded by the wind blast, and he had a massive cut on his head. He intended to commit suicide, but when he pulled his pistol out, he lost consciousness again. When he again regained consciousness, he discovered he had landed, and Vietnamese villagers were beating him, but fortunately North Vietnamese Soldiers rescued him from the villagers. He had regained his sight, but the soldiers bound, gagged, and blindfolded him and transported him to Hỏa Lò Prison, the Hanoi Hilton. For the first few days, he was kept bound and blindfolded in a small room with only water and no food. A French-trained doctor nicknamed “the Cat” examined him and said, “You are badly injured and will probably die.” Tom’s lower body was black and blue from the ejection, and he couldn’t walk for two months. He was then interrogated by two North Vietnamese Officers. One told him, “You are not a prisoner of war. You are a war criminal and will most probably be tried and shot.” When Tom tried to resist, he was told, “You are very stupid, and it will be difficult for you here.” For three days he was tortured by an expert torturer, with his arms tied behind his back so tightly that his elbows touched, and he was bound with a rope around his neck tied to his ankles. He adhered to the Code of Conduct as long as he could, but he finally broke and confessed to whatever the North Vietnamese wanted. He felt like he had failed his country and he wanted to die. He was hungry and hurting from being “beaten a lot.” He again contemplated suicide, but he prayed to God for help and after that he was at peace and discovered the strength to handle whatever was thrown at him. He remembers the toughest time was the first few days when he realized “I’m out of the war,” and he faced so many unknowns. Things improved when he finally had someone to talk to, moving to a cell with three others (Verlyne Daniels, Billy Lawerence, and Chuck Gillespie). For the next 14 months, the four of them lived in a cell 6 ½ feet by 7 feet. When a guard hit him with a heavy set of keys, Tom punched him, and he was tortured for 10 days and placed in solitary confinement for two years. He survived by developing a routine, exercising, and getting “into yourself” and exploring his mind. Prisoners were able to communicate with each other through a “tap code” and they exchanged valuable information. Tom learned of the first flight of a Boeing 747, the Moon landing, and the incident at Kent State all through the tap code. While in the Hanoi Hilton, their food consisted of some dried fish (which Tom refused to eat) and squash and cabbage soup, with bread (full of beetles) and as much boiled water as they could drink. On Christmas night, 1970, the prisoners were finally moved into larger cells containing 47 POWs when additional prisoners were brought in from outlying camps. Tom describes it as “like a big festival.” The prisoners kept themselves occupied and shared their expertise by teaching classes to each other by memory. Tom taught French. Later their captors gave them books. Tom reflects on some of his fellow prisoners including John McCain. On January 23, 1973, the POWs were told that the war was over, and Tom was released on March 14, 1973, ending 1,964 days of captivity. He recalls that earlier, when they were given bananas, they thought that the peace talks must be going well. He describes it as “unreal” when they were given clothes to travel home in. He describes the quiet and stoicism when they were being transported to the aircraft to leave, and the explosion of emotions when they took off. In the Philippines, Tom was given a new uniform, complete with all his ribbons, and he was able to make unlimited phone calls home. His first desire was to eat a quart of ice cream. Remembering his time in the Hanoi Hilton, he recalls being given a bowl of sugar from time to time to dip his bread in. He also remembers how cold it was in the cell all winter and how all the prisoners developed callouses on their knees, heels, and elbows from sleeping on concrete bunks. Returning to the United States, he took command of the 29th Flying Training Wing in Selma, Alabama, and thoroughly loved that experience. His final assignment in the Air Force was in Stuttgart, Germany, where he served as the Vice Commander of NATO Special Operations. Tom retired from the Air Force in 1978 after a 28-year career and remained in Europe until 1992. He became a financial planner in Italy before opening pizza restaurants and a sailboat charter business in Spain. When he returned to the United States, he continued to work as a financial planner, became a ski instructor, and built homes in Vail, Colorado. His love for music and performance continued throughout his life. Reflecting on his service in the Air Force, he states that being a Wing Commander in Selma was his favorite assignment, and the F-86 and F-100 were his favorite planes to fly. He concludes the interview declaring that VMI was “the finest place I could have gone” for an education and a career. Tom Kirk is the most decorated living VMI graduate and the most decorated VMI graduate of the Vietnam War, having been awarded the Air Force Cross, four Silver Stars, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, two Legions of Merit, two Bronze Stars (one for valor), seven Air Medals, and a Purple Heart.