Newark Vietnam veteran celebrates turning 90 with first flight in 50 years

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated Maj. Ray Bower's birthday. It is on Oct. 20.

Under the rain-filled clouds of Fairfield County Airport on Oct. 20, retired Maj. Ray Bower prepared himself to step back into the cockpit for the first time in almost 50 years.

Bower, who turned 90 on Oct. 20, had not been behind the controls of a plane since 1975, when he finished a 20-year tour of duty as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force. Though the pilot has 488 combat missions under his belt, Bower expressed excitement as he prepared for his final flight.

"I know I won’t be as good as I want," Bower said with a chuckle a few days ahead of his flight. "My motor control and depth perception aren’t what they used to be."

As Bower swapped his hearing aids out for the headphones of a pilot and climbed into the Cessna-172, he seemed at home. He smiled in the company of his son, David Bower, and the flight instructor who rode along to ensure safe travel.

The Cessna propeller sputtered to a start and Bower strolled down the runway to prepare for takeoff.

Bower, who has called Newark home since 1975, worked at the local Air Force base until his retirement. Having called the area home for longer than anywhere else, Bower said he loves living in Newark.

After he left the service, he worked as a chemical dependency counselor at Shepherd Hill, a rehabilitation center in Newark, for another 20 years before retiring in 1996. Since then, he has spent his days painting and volunteering at the local library, which he still enjoys to this day.

On Oct. 21, friends and family gathered in Bower’s living room to celebrate his birthday. Amid the children playing in his home, Bower sat contently in a chair as he talked to loved ones about shared memories.

A family member suggested Bower fly again for his 100th birthday. He brushed the comment off, but could not keep a smile from his face.

Growing up in Norton, Kansas, in the midst of World War II, Bower and his family struggled financially. He and his brother found their own ways to afford college: his brother enlisted in the U.S. Army, and Bower earned a full scholarship to Kansas University to play center and tackle for the football team.

Bower signed up for the ROTC while at KU and committed to two years of service after he graduated from college. Joining ROTC allowed him to become a second lieutenant upon graduating from KU.

He trained for the Air Force in Arizona, Texas and Florida before being assigned to a base in Germany. Upon returning to the U.S., Bower learned to fly Fairfield C-123 Provider military transport planes at Hamilton Air Force Base in California and earned a Master of Business Administration.

"Who else was going to give a kid from Norton, Kansas, a million-dollar plane and say, 'Go on'?" Bower said, recalling his first solo flight. "I was flying a T-34, and I heard the flight instructor the whole time in my ear."

Bower deployed to Vietnam in 1966 after a stint in Florida, where he learned to fly smaller, lighter, single-propeller U-10 Super Courier planes designed to fly at lower altitudes for light cargo and supply drops, psychological warfare, insertion and extraction and reconnaissance.

"I didn’t want to go, but that was my job. I had to," Bower said. "I’m not a proponent of war. War is terrible. We should keep a military so we don’t get attacked, but too many of our young boys have died."

In Vietnam, Bower was assigned to the 5th Air Commandos and worked in psychological warfare.

"We were referred to as BS bombers, which you probably know what that stands for," Bower said. "We would drop leaflets on the enemy. Typically safe conduct packets," encouraging Viet Cong soldiers to defect.

Bower’s planes had speakers attached to them, playing audio versions of the safe conduct packets. He flew missions for the U.S., Korea and Australia, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross while on a mission with a battalion of Australian soldiers.

That day, while flying low and slow over a group of Viet Cong soldiers, artillery began raining down near his plane.

"The concussions from the blast were so strong that they blew the doors open on my plane," Bower recalled. "I got six men to surrender with their weapons."

Throughout his service, he received an additional 12 military decorations and awards.

Bower’s time back home after serving in Vietnam was brief, and he quickly returned to service in Panama, where he was a member of the 605th Air Commandos and trained Paraguayan troops in counterinsurgency tactics.

He also served in the 1969 Soccer War, a brief military conflict fought between El Salvador and Honduras also known as the 100-Hour War, and the Cuban missile crisis.

"Dad would fly over our house when he was out working," Bower’s son, David, recalled. "He’d come by real slow and tip his wings at us, waving hello."

David followed in his father’s footsteps, spending 20 years in the U.S. Air Force before retiring in 2011. He always wished to be a pilot, but never got the chance to get behind the controls of a plane after an old football injury stole the chance from him.

Bower’s plane slipped behind the cover of buildings at Fairfield County Airport. Unseen, one could only hear the churning of the propeller as family and friends waited patiently to watch their loved one takeoff.

The white-and-green-striped Cessna reappeared with its wheels lifting off the ground. Smiles broke out on the faces of the Bower and Franklin families. After flying around the airport for a few minutes, Bower brought his craft back to the runway, executing a flawless landing.

Trading out his son for more family members, Bower took to the skies for a second time. The plane veered through the wind, rain and clouds, flying low and slow while Bower’s family and friends huddled together inside the airport’s main building.

Seth Franklin, Bower’s grandson, recently graduated from a program in aviation management at the University of Anchorage. Franklin got the chance to ride with and fly his grandfather for the first time that Friday.

The families were excited for Franklin to get behind the controls, and he climbed in next to Bower before they took flight together.

"I couldn’t be more excited to show him my skills," Franklin said. "He’s been a huge inspiration to me."

Upon landing, Bower climbed out of the Cessna and exclaimed with a smile on his face, "Well sports fans, we did it … and I enjoyed it!"

Bower called the flight with his grandson "one of the proudest moments" of his life.

"Since he was a kid he has been asking me questions about flying and planes," Bower said. "To get the chance to fly with him was very special."

Next, Bower joined the rest of his family to watch Franklin go up with his sister, Gillian, and cousin, Tori Bower. Gillian was very apprehensive to go up with her brother as she had never flown with him before. However, Bower had already told Franklin not to try and scare her up there.

Franklin brought it off the ground, and Bower watched his grandchildren closely as they passed through the air. While they were in front of Bower, Franklin rocked the plane from side to side, tipping the wings at Bower and saying hello.

As the next generation of his family slipped out of view, Bower smiled once more and said, "He’s a good pilot."

Andrew Theophilus writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s journalism program, which is sponsored in part by the Mellon Foundation.

thereportingproject@denison.edu

This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Newark Vietnam vet celebrates turning 90 with first flight in 50 years