Not of your era gentlemen, but I did have the unique opportunity to sail under the command of CAPT Rod Knutson, while he was COMPHIBRON One aboard the USS Peleliu (LHA 5) during our '88 WestPac. As a Marine CH-53E driver with the composite squadron embarked, we were in the early days of training to the Tactical Recovery of Aircraft and Personnel (TRAP) mission. During a pre-cruise briefing at NAB Coronado from some former Son Tay raid veterans, he piped up from his seat "we heard you guys going in there, but we knew there weren't any prisoners in that compound." Needless to say that caught a majority of us 'younger' bucks by surprise. He later gave the squadron a very detailed recollection of his experiences in a 5 hour session in the ready room. Shot down in Oct of '65 as a jg RIO with VF-84 off the Indy, released in Feb '73 as a Lt Cdr. Returned to flight training and qualified as an F-4 pilot in '77. A truly remarkable and dedicated man, I'll always consider it an honor to have sailed with and met him.