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F-4 Phantom pilot James C Ronning and the USA Coverup of 1967 (Summary from the Cambodia papers, author unknown)
There was a young man named James Ronning who was in graduate school in 1966. He received his draft notice to be inducted into the army. The Vietnam conflict was raging and many young men with the wrong draft # were discovering that nothing could interfere with their being drafted. James went down to the take the airforce pilots tests to try and get in OTS, but the list was full of other young men who preferred the air to the ground war. He passed his test and was given instructions that he would get a notice as soon as an opening occured in the Officer's Training School. But he would get priority because of his extremely high ability to be a jet pilot and the Dept.of Defense was indication that there was a shortage of skilled pilots. But in the meantime he was still subject to his draft notice and if he got the official word to report to Ft. Polk for basic training before an openning then he had to comply with the draft notice. Another way out was to get in an Army Reserve Unit hopefully with low probability of a call up. He was lucky and had a friend who got him in to a Reserve unit. He reported for Active Duty and began basic in the Army Reserves. He left for active duty (Basic training + Specialized training.) This was to take 6 monts. Three months in each. While finishing up his AIT he received a note to report to the main headquarters where he was taking his AIT for Army Construction Engineering. He met with some Officers who mentioned a call from the Airforce about his having the highest performance on the pilot's training tests while still in graduate school. He and about 10 other recruits were given a battery of tests that lasted three days. He was put in booths using flight simulators much like the ones kids use on computers today. While this was happening to James Ronning and one other young man his unit he had arrived with was preparing to go home and back to civilian life, but he had scored so high that they wanted him to stay and consider training as a jet pilot. James had an IQ of close to 200, but was so scared and intimidated and bewildered that he found himself in a daze just signing papers. He did think it may be fun to get to fly a jet. It seemed exciting. Then he figured he would be switched to an Air Force Reserve unit back home and continue his graduate educatiion. But actually he had signed papers to take OTS along with flight training of an f-4 phantom in the Naval-Marine Corp. with a commiittment of at least 6 years or more if needed. He soon was flying the F-4 Phantom off the Constellation and bombing targets in The Gulf of Toiken and later Hanoi. His plane was shot down or had mechanical difficulty over Cambodia. He bailed out, but his wingman was unable to and was killed when the plane crashed. Now James C Ronning was hanging from a tree with the sounds of not so friendly people looking to capture or kill him. He managed to free himself and with a pistol he shot three incoming NORTH VIETNEMESE Regulars. He took their wheapons and managed to make contact with a group of Marines who were already in Cambodia. He spent three days traveling only by night and finally met up with his would be rescuers. They were surrounded by Viet Cong and Lation soldiers working both against the Marines and against each other. (I would like to mention that our President had just been on TV and swore to the American Public that NO AMERICAN forces were in Laos or Cambodia.) James noticed two marines that had been wounded, but still breathing on the perimiter of the ambush. He put one on each shoulder and held two wheapons of theirs in his hands and figured out how to make the NVR,VC, and Cambodian troops to assume other US Marines were coming in on their back sides. So they retreated. James Ronning met up with the rescue unit and found out that the pain in his back was from metal fragments that had blown a hole in him and he was soaked with blood. He was evacuated out of Cambodia and eventually reached a hospital in NORWAY. All other wounded troops were going to Germany. After a stay in Norway, he was eventually transferred back to a hospital in Maryland. After he got well enough he was immediately DISCHARGED and returned home. While going thru his medical treatment he kept hearing about his two silver stars and a purple heart. He had an audience with the King of Norway and was Knighted. He then went home and waited to hear from the Dept of Defense, or the Navy. Instead within a month he was sent a telegram that he was assigned to an Engineering Unit for the Army Reserve. All attempt by James and family were simply dismissed as not true. James Ronning had reached a point that he didn't want to stir any waters and end up finding himself aboard the Constellation again with just a special squadron of pilots who were restricted to separate missions together. Later in life James Ronning tried to figure out what had happened and why he was denied VA benefits. He finally found some papers that had claimed his reason for not returning home with his original Army Reseve Unit was that he had the MEASLES ! He had started a brilliant career as a professor and psychologist and eventually CEO of Psychometrics of North America. He made millions. He didn't need VA benefits and he DIDN'T BELIEVE ANYONE DESERVED MEDALS FOR JUST DOING WHAT THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO DO. I understand now that he was offered the Silver Stars and the Purple Heart when the Cambodian Papers were unsealed along with other documents. None of this could have happened you see....because no American troops were in Cambodia. We got this right from the President's mouth on Television.I want so much to get this story told. {This summary of the James C. Ronning story comes from the Cambodian papers and other secret documents that were not released for decades after the war} I choose to not use my name because these documents were still marked "highly classified} Only the media with special credentials were supposed to be able to have access to these stories. I urge someone to help get this on the internet as an article. I am not familiar with all the rules governing posting articles on the internet.
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