Written by SEAL Captain Michael Slattery

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Waiting all night in enemy waters for daylight, they then executed an emergency Helo extraction and returned to the command ship – the USS Long Beach, for debrief.

But Spence* knew he and his Team had to return to the submarine as soon as possible. They had information vital for a back-up team preparing to launch a second attempt, and Spence was determined to see that they got it.

That night the SEALs attempted a midnight link-up with the submarine somewhere off the coast of North Vietnam.*
They were riding a Helo that was trying to locate this submarine operating in the
Tonkin Gulf under strict radio silence… during limited visibility on a very dark night.

Their attempted rendezvous was further complicated by the highly classified nature of their mission, an operation so secret that the submarine* had to remain submerged and undetected even from the US Navy’s own Fleet sailing above on the water’s surface.
Its ships patrolled throughout the area and were completely unaware of any friendly submarines or swimmers operating in their midst. It was reported that a Navy destroyer had already fired on the submarine– the USS Grayback, earlier during snorkeling operations. Fortunately it had missed.

When the Helo pilot thought he had finally spotted the signal light from Grayback, Spence and his men prepared to conduct a night Helo cast * to link-up & lock-in to the sub. When told they were over their objective and it was time to “go”, Spence stepped out of the Helo and the rest of the SEALs rapidly followed…The Helo was too high and too fast for safe entry and the jumpers hit the water hard. Spence was killed and the others injured - two seriously.

There was no submarine – at least in the immediate vicinity for the Team to link up with. So the survivors treaded water until daylight when they were finally spotted and picked up. During the course of the night they found Spence’s body and held it for recovery.
We all knew that given similar circumstances every one of us would have jumped once told the sub had been located and it was time to “go.”

We learned several years later what the “really neat stuff” was that Spence had alluded to in his letter.

Many of the details were later described by Moki Martin* in his on scene account of Operation Thunderhead and published in Orr Kelly’s Book: Never Fight Fair.
Other participants in the operation also revealed additional details.



To sum them up:
Spence and his team had deployed in an attempt to rescue American POWs who were planning to escape from a North Vietnam prison. Spence had died during the course of that attempt. He* would be the last SEAL to die in Vietnam.

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The Navy and “another government agency” involved had decided that his death was “accidental.” It was not specifically caused by enemy fire, and according to the cover story, simply a training mishap.

Besides…, the highly classified nature of the operation at the time made disclosing the surrounding circumstances of his death particularly difficult …(if not politically awkward).

Not only would it potentially complicate any future rescue attempt, but could also create political problems for an Administration trying hard to convince a divided Nation that direct American involvement in Vietnam’s ground combat ops had all but ceased.
But the risk to Spence and to that of his fellow SEALs on that particularly dangerous operation was from more than just the threat of hostile fire. Several potentially treacherous operational hazards were also closely and inherently linked throughout the operation’s full mission profile.
And although certain aspects of his mission still remain classified, these risks most certainly included:
• the night underwater lock out and launch from Grayback,
• the long cold hours of submerged transit to the target area in a confined & unproven free flooding Mark VII SDV,
• the strong tidal current that made mission success all but impossible and forced the team to abort, and…
• the high risk of detection by aggressive enemy patrol boats probing throughout the several hours that the SEALs where forced to surface in the Tonkin Gulf and await emergency recovery by Helo.

To these mission components that “go with the territory” must be added the one that killed him. In a desperate attempt to brief the back-up SDV team about the strong tidal current prior to their launch from Grayback, Spence had leaped into the night from a Helo too high and fast in an attempt to link-up and lock-in to a submarine - that wasn’t there.

Throughout the entire POW rescue attempt his team needed to remain undetected - even by friendly forces.

But if the enemy did detect the SEALs and forced them to return fire, it would have been merely one more challenge to overcome...one of many in a long sequence of high risk mission profile events of one very difficult and ultimately tragic operation.

* * *
We didn’t know those details back then… All we knew was that a close friend and good teammate, an outstanding officer with tremendous potential, had been killed.

So on the night that we learned of his death four of us gathered once more at the
Chart House and asked for a table for five by the window.*

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It was a nice spot – one that Spence surely would have approved of – overlooking Glorietta Bay and the lights of the Coronado Bridge and San Diego’s beautiful skyline.*

We each retold stories about Spence and raised our glasses to the separate place that we had made the waiter set … with teriyaki shrimp.
* * *
 v So… as the saying goes, Freedom has a meaning

If you like this story, I encourage you to visit this website to re-read w/ pictures and maps:

http://www.campbell.edu/faculty/Slattery/mh_freedom.htm

[Frog]

Outstanding post.

[CPTAUSRET]

Trident:

Absolutely outstanding!

Thanks!

[Dark Helmet]

Excellent post.

[WildMustang]

A very moving post! Thanks for sharing!