just another vet

Life Part 1

I feel the need to write about a couple of events that have transpired in my life.

I served in the Army from 1993 to 1997 in field artillery. Luckily I never saw combat. But that didn't shield me from seeing people die. In May of 1995, while on training maneuvers in Fort Bliss, El Paso, a plane crashed right in front of me. Literally. Its been ten years since the incident.

We had just finished an ammo upload and were taking a break, waiting for our next fire mission. I was sitting next to my vehicle, reading a book and enjoying a smoke. The sun was shining brightly, the air was still and we only had a few days of the month long training exercise left.

It's like a dream now. I hear someone yell something and look up. To my amazement, I see an A-10 Warthog right in front of me. And when I say right in front, I mean I could read the painting on the bottom of the plane. Then it hit the ground not more than 100 yards away.

The aircraft had experienced a malfunction, and the pilot has trying to bring it down somewhere flat. That is my guess. All I know for sure is that it came screeching 20 feet over one of the artillery pieces and my vehicle. Then its tail dropped into a sand dune. The aircraft flipped, hit the ground and exploded.

I remember it so vividly. A fire ball shot into the air, and the engines could be seen spinning off into the desert. The medic was at our vehicle, and as soon as the plane hit, he grabbed his gear, threw me a fire extinguisher and ran toward the burning wreck.

I jumped up, still not believing what I had witnessed, and followed him. Several other soldiers were running toward the wreck. It was insane. The smoke was black and thick. It burned my lungs. Then I heard the shells from the A-10's massive gun start burning off. I dove to the ground, terrified of being ripped in half by one of the tank killer bullets. Some of the bombs the aircraft was carrying exploded. I got up and continued. The medic had fearlessly ran into the mess and had disappeared in the smoke. Voices could be heard, people trying to figure out if anyone from our unit was hurt. We searched for the pilot, and found his remains to the left of the wreck, crammed under a cactus.

I am haunted by that image to this day. His burned and mangled corpse wrapped in the cactus.

Eventually order was restored. We spread out and spent several hours trying to put out the fire. Helicopters from the base came racing to the site. My unit was eventually ordered to move several miles down the road. After we parked, a chaplain from the post came and spoke with us. Many soldiers were praying, some were crying. I sat on top of my vehicle and chain smoked a pack of cigs.

I have long wondered who that pilot was. Had he not pulled up when he did, my unit would have been whipped out. We were fully uploaded with ammo. He sacrificed himself for us. Well, thanks to the internet, I believe I have found him.

BATTLE CREEK ANGB, Michigan (Air Force News Service) -- A pilot assigned to this base was killed in the crash of an A-10 jet fighter in New Mexico, north of Fort Bliss, Texas, May 19, 1995.

The pilot, Major Clarence T. Marsh III, 41, of Park City, Utah, was an Air National Guard member of the 172nd Fighter Squadron, the base's flying unit.

Marsh, a 1977 graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, was a command pilot assigned as an assistant flight commander for the squadron. He was employed full-time by Delta Airlines.

He is survived by his wife and three children at home, and parents in Hampton, Virginia.

The accident is under investigation by a board of Air Force officers.

Major Marsh was buried with full military honors in Arlington National Cemetery on 25 May 1995 after having been provided with a waiver for such burial.

The waiver was supported and proposed by Rep. Randy Cunningham (R-Calif.) and Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Dan Coats (R-Ind.) and Robert Bennett (R-Utah): Deceased was Clarence Marsh, active duty 1978-87, killed while training with Air National Guard. Major Clarence T. Marsh, U.S. Air National Guard, was flying as part of an Army exercise over White Sands Missile Range when his plane crashed. According to reports of the incident, he remained with the plane as it crashed to prevent it from crashing into the approximately 100 soldiers on the ground, thus saving their lives at the expense of his own.
NOTE: His father, Clarence T. Marsh, Jr., Colonel, United States Army, died in May 2001 and was also laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery.

My heart goes out to his family. He death saved my unit.