FATHER TODD: True strength is the ability to stand up for your values
May 9, 2012
Day in park means more than fun and games
May 9, 2012
Do not expect a series of glamorized war stories when retired Brig. Gen. Edward Daniel “Dan” Cherry speaks at the South Central Industrial Association banquet.
Neither should one expect dry tactical measurements translated for business application from this author of “My Enemy, My Friend.”
Cherry’s presentation is personal and applies to anyone who has ever had to overcome the past by focusing on future opportunities.
“The message that I will bring to Houma is a message of reconsolidation, forgiveness, closure, and moving on from the past,” Cherry said.
Basic Background
Cherry, a native and current resident of Bowling Green, Ky., was the son of an aeronautical engineer and is currently vice president of the Aviation Heritage Park. He admits of his youth that distractions and poor grades prompted his parents to present him with an ultimatum – begin taking life seriously, or else.
“I’m not proud of this and would not recommend it to any young person, but it worked out great for me,” Cherry said during a telephone interview.
Not performing well his second year in college left Cherry subject to the draft. With an interest in flying he decided to enroll in the U.S. Air Force Aviation Cadet program. As a second lieutenant he then entered pilot training to earn military wings in 1964.
Cherry graduated first in his class just as the Vietnam War was intensifying. Given an opportunity to decide between taking either a non-combat or a combat assignment, the young officer selected combat.
Decisive Directions
In its early years of being an American-involved conflict, Vietnam was an unknown location for most U.S. citizens and in the mid-1960s had not yet generated the level of public resistance it would by the end of that decade.
Cherry completed one tour, returned stateside as a flight instructor, then volunteered for a second tour in June 1971, just as many people wondered if the fight would ever end and if U.S. involvement had been worth the cost.
For then Maj. Cherry, the value of his experiences began during the most significant mission of his career, on April 16, 1972.
Among a flight of four F-4D Phantoms, in combat against four Soviet-made MiG-21s, the stage was set to change Cherry’s life as well as that of opposing North Vietnamese MiG-21 pilot Nguyen Hong My.
Geographically near Hanoi, and at an altitude of approximately 15,000 feet, Cherry and Nguyen became locked in battle.
With a split-second opportunity, Cherry fired a Sparrow missile at the MiG-21 from his F-4D 550 Phantom, taking off the aircraft’s wing. He spotted the pilot ejecting, only to nearly hit the man with his own aircraft.
“I had to maneuver my plane to keep from flying through his parachute,” Cherry said. “I saw him very clearly. Later I couldn’t help but think, ‘Who was that guy?’ I wondered if he survived, did he have a name, if he had a family, those personal questions.”
The following day was another mission. Then came another day, a month, a year, and over the next thirty-six years the incident was put in the back of Cherry’s thoughts, while he advanced in and retired from his military career.
Familiar Find
It was during a trip with friends to the U.S. Air Force National Museum at Wright Patterson Air Base near Dayton, Ohio that the former fighter pilot came across an unexpected find that rekindled wonderment about a former opponent.
“The thing that triggered my interest was happening to find the very airplane I was flying that day. It had the same numbers and everything,” Cherry said of the aircraft in front of a VFW club in Enon, Ohio.
“It was in bad shape, grass was growing up around it and the tires were flat,” Cherry said. “So, we decided to get the F-4D 550 [Phantom] and use that as a beginning to establish the [Aviation Heritage Park].”
Using his own aircraft became the cornerstone to building an educational facility in Bowling Green, Ky., of which he is now vice president.
Building the Aviation Heritage Park became a new career for Cherry and his partners, but as a non-profit organization the backers of this venture needed ways to raise money.
Encountering Ideas
“We were brain-storming one day and somebody brought up the idea of finding that MiG pilot and getting national publicity,” Cherry said. “Everybody got a laugh out of that.” It was a laugh that soon turned serious.
The idea would not rest, so Cherry and his partners began making contacts in Vietnam in an effort to identify and find Nguyen.
In 2008, Cherry received an email from a television producer in Ho Chi Minh City (Siagon). The government-owned television network had a program similar to the old American program “This is Your Life” in which people with a common past were reunited. They wanted Cherry and Nguyen to meet face-to-face on live national television.
“I was worried about it,” Cherry said. “I thought it was too good to be true [then] thought it was some kind of a set-up that they were trying to maybe embarrass me or my country.”
In April 2008, Cherry appeared on Vietnamese television, was interviewed then dramatically introduced to a muscular man with a shaved head who appeared to be about the same age as Cherry.
“He looked very imposing. He looked just like you would expect a tough Vietnamese fighter pilot to look,” Cherry said. “He had a very firm handshake. He didn’t smile, but he had a pleasant look and said, ‘Welcome to my country. I am glad to see you are in good health. I hope we can be friends.’”
Measuring Messages
Since that time the two men have become close friends. They have visited one another’s homes and become examples of living beyond past experiences.
“I don’t want to have anyone think I am trying to compare my wartime experience to that of an infantry soldier, because for a fighter pilot war is not near as personal,” Cherry said. “You are up there trying your best to defeat the enemy, but you are thinking of it more that you are against the machine. You are not against the person.”
Cherry, along with SCIA Executive Director Jane Arnette confirmed that often in business, as in war, it becomes difficult to separate overall objectives from individuals and not hold unhealthy grudges.
“We, as a region, state and nation have experienced difficult times over the past few years,” Arnette said. “Hurricanes, oil spills and politics have damaged our earth and confined our industry. We are beginning to recuperate from these trying times.”
“The goal here is to give people a sense of knowing the value of reconciliation and closure,” Cherry said. “The reason I admire [Nguyen] Hong My is because he had a farther way to go than I did, but he has been able to do it.”
Cherry said he hopes his story will help others deal with their own pasts to better their futures.
The SCIA banquet is scheduled for June 21, with a reception beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the Cypress Columns Banquet Center. For details call the SCIA at (985) 851-2201.
Dan Cherry and Nguyen Hong My stand together today.
