Tracking history

Jack Deaton knew the signals of a surface-to-air missile site from his training. Still, his first real encounter with one in the skies over Vietnam startled him.

"It scared the crap out of me," said Deaton, a radar reconnaissance airman for the Marine Corps. "It was my very first mission at night. Those things kill people.

"As soon as I read it, I flipped on the jammers and told the pilot. I was supposed to do a longer sweep to locate the site. I was just so scared.

"I'm not proud of that, but later on I got used to it and was more prepared for it."

Deaton, who retired in Havelock, and others involved in electronic and photographic reconnaissance at Cherry Point played crucial rules in defense of the country, especially during the 1960s.

Their work during the Cuban Missile Crisis and Vietnam was the foundation of today's tactical electronic warfare squadrons, known as VMAQ.

History

In war, knowing where the enemy is and what he is about to do has always been important to victory. During World War II, scout planes were sent out and spotted Japanese ships heading to Midway. The American victory there has been considered the turning point in the war in the Pacific.

With that as a backdrop, Marine Composite Squadron-1 (VMC-1) formed in 1952 in Korea, according to a history of VMAQ-1 on its Web site. That same year, VMC-2 formed at Cherry Point.

The pilots conducted early warning and electronic countermeasures operations in support of ground troops and fighter planes. The pilots were responsible for finding enemy positions and blocking enemy radar, so bombers could safely go in and destroy targets.

"The missiles were controlled by radar, and if the radar locked on you, it could fire," said Carolina Pines resident Charles Schwab, a member of the VMC-2 in its early years. "We went in to jam the radar, and if you jam the radar, the intelligence of the missile is gone and it doesn't have a target."

While protecting pilots by jamming missile radar, the pilots also collected intelligence by picking up enemy radar signals, signals that gave away enemy positions.

"We had to determine what the enemy had and where they had it located," Schwab said.

Later, the squadrons merged with photo reconnaissance and became VMCJ-1 and VMCJ-2, according to the Web site.

The squadrons carried the designation throughout the 1960s, their Cherry Point planes marked with CY on the tail. At one point, VMCJ-2 operated four types of planes simultaneously, before switching to the EA-6A and EA-6B.

After Vietnam in the 1970s, the squadrons were reorganized but continued their missions.

During the 1986 bombing of Libya, planes from Cherry Point participated in the effort to thwart enemy radar. The squadrons later played roles in the fight against Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait in 1990 and enforcement of Iraq's no-fly zones.

Cuba 

The United States grew concerned about the island nation 90 miles from Florida when Fidel Castro came to power in 1959. According to the Marine Corps History and Museums Division, electronic intelligence missions flown by Cherry Point pilots around Cuba began in the summer of 1960.

It was on one of these missions that the first hint of a crisis was found. According to the book "Top Secret" by J.T. O'Brien, Russian anti-aircraft gun equipment was found. Later, Cherry Point pilots detected the guidance radar of a surface-to-air missile site.

The discoveries led to closer scrutiny, and by the fall of 1960, Cherry Point pilots were flying 12 missions a month around Cuba, according to the museums division.

When U-2 reconnaissance flights revealed nuclear missile sites in Cuba in the fall of 1962, Cherry Point pilots teamed with a Navy photographic reconnaissance squadron to fly in for a closer look, according to O'Brien's book.

Jimmie Green, a member of VMCJ-2 and its commanding officer from 1969 to 1971, said the unit's proximity to Cuba and its role in helping to develop electronic reconnaissance and countermeasures may have been behind the reason it was chosen for a role in Cuba.

"The Marine Corps was on the cutting edge," said Green, who is retired and lives in Cape Carteret.

For 13 days, the United States and Soviet Union stood on the brink of war.

"We, as in the United States, had always focused on a Soviet Union invasion of western Europe," Green said. "Then all of a sudden Soviet missiles are in Cuba, and these missiles can strike the United States and some could be nuclear-tipped. It was huge. It could have possibly escalated to World War III.

"It was a very somber and scary time. It was very dangerous. You can see why the mission of VMCJ-2 was a significant one."

During the crisis, many of Cherry Point's wing Marines were deployed to Florida, so many that O'Brien described Cherry Point as a ghost town in his book.

On Oct. 28, 1962, the United States and Russia reached a deal on the removal of missiles, and the crisis ended.

The squadron received a Navy Unit Commendation Streamer, and the pilots were honored with Distinguished Flying Crosses for their roles in the crisis.

"For those in the squadron, it was an honor to be involved in something so important on a national level," Green said.

Vietnam 

Deaton said he became a member of VMCJ-2 in 1965, just as the squadron was transitioning to the new EA-6A Intruder. However, newer electronic equipment needed to be installed in the planes.

Deaton said that he had done similar work while working with a private company in Texas.

"Suddenly, Jack Deaton was an expert," he said. "They told me that they needed it done and they needed it done right. They were desperate to get them online and in the pipeline to Vietnam."

Deaton said revamping a perfectly good plane to accommodate the new equipment was not easy.

"I was cutting holes in their precious airplane," he said. "I was nervous about that, but I had done similar work before."

Deaton, an enlisted man at the time, had flown during the Korean War. He said he wanted to get back in the air and was told enlisted men don't become reconnaissance officers.

He said it just so happened that his written request to fly fell into the hands of a man he had flown with in Korea, and soon Deaton was in the air and going through reconnaissance training.

Deaton said the one benefit of the Cuban Missile Crisis was that VMCJ-2 continued to train around Cuba, learning the signals of Russian equipment that was later used in Vietnam.

He said missions in Vietnam were dangerous. They would fly tracks through certain areas to pick up various radio, radar or missile sites. He said pilots could even track the progress of enemy ground troops by their night fires, providing information that American troops could then use to intercept the enemy.

Deaton said he never thought much about how he protected fellow pilots by jamming enemy radar so missiles could not target them.

"It was an everyday job," he said. "You didn't do it for pats on the back. It was your job."

Today 

Today, Cherry Point's VMAQ squadrons continue to play important roles in the war on terror.

"They were very successful in Iraq," Schwab said. "If you notice, there were very few losses of fighter aircraft in combat."

Danny Walsh, a current Havelock commissioner, served for a short period in the squadron during the 1960s. He said he doesn't deserve any credit, but instead points to people like Deaton, Schwab and the late Tom Kelly and Gordon Lightbody, both former members who went on to serve the city of Havelock in various capacities.

"No one could make a bombing run without these guys," Walsh said. "They saved the lives of millions of other pilots. People don't realize how important they were."

Fellow Marines and pilots did, however.

General A.M. Gray, the 29th commandant of the Marine Corps from 1987 to 1991, sent a letter on occasion of a VMCJ reunion about 20 years ago.

"The photo reconnaissance and electronic missions accomplished by these combined units were seldom flashy or headline grabbing, but were of critical significance, both to the Marine on the battlefield and to our nation," Gray wrote. "The many sacrifices you have made in the defense of democracy will remain forever a part of the history of our Corps and country."