The Song of a Young Soldier’s Mother

On May 2, 1972 a group of helicopters departed Camp Evans, Vietnam. Their mission was to extract two downed FAC (Forward Air Controller) pilots and an advisor in Quang-Tri Province along Highway 1 in enemy territory.

The group consisted of four helicopters: two slicks (UH-1H Huey) and two snakes (AH-1G Cobra). Piloting one of the slicks was CWO William Clifton Jesse, 22 years old, whose Home of Record was listed as Lawton, Oklahoma, where in 1967 he had graduated from Lawton High School.

The helicopters came under fire as soon as they arrived at the Pickup Zone. A Russian-made, shoulder-fired SA-7 surface-to-air missile was launched at Jesse's Huey. This was a heat-seeking missile and it shot towards Jesse's helicopter, detonated, and destroyed the aircraft in flight. All five American servicemen aboard perished.

The place where the crash occurred was then under the control of the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) and an initial attempt to reach the site was abandoned because of intense enemy fire.

Back home in Lawton, William Jesse's family received word that he had been listed as Missing In Action (MIA). The remains of the five servicemen were not recovered until July 1972. The Army officially declared Jesse KIA on July 20, 1972. His remains were not positively identified until almost a year after the incident, in mid-1973.

Sometime before July 20, 1972, knowing only that her son was Missing In Action, his mother asked to sing a song during Sunday night services at the small church they attended in Lawton. Jefferson Baptist Church was located in a working-class neighborhood, meeting in a converted WW2 Army barracks building the church had purchased from nearby Fort Sill as surplus housing after the Korean War ended.

Days of awful uncertainly had taken their toll on both the family and the church. Praying for the best, yet fearing the worst, a paralyzing mixture of hope and dread engulfed them.

Yet on this Sunday night, with only a few, faithful believers present, surrounded by circumstances totally beyond her control, this young soldier's mother bravely began to sing.

I don't know about tomorrow,
I just live from day-to-day.
I don't borrow from its sunshine,
For its skies may turn to gray.

I don't worry 'ore the future,
For I know what Jesus said.
And today I'll walk beside Him,
For He knows what is ahead.

Many things about tomorrow
I don't seem to understand
But I know Who holds tomorrow
And I know, He holds my hand.

I think often of Bill Jesse and his mother - and those in his family and church back then who prayed earnestly for good news, who endured many days of uncertainty, and who ultimately received such heart-breaking news.

58,220 American soldiers perished in the Vietnam War. Many more returned from that war to curses and taunts or silent indifference. Yet, all these soldiers had done was endeavor to honorably serve their country in wartime.

May we never forget the courage of these servicemen and women and their families. May we remember all that they sacrificed (and all their family's continue to sacrifice) for our country.

~~~

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

This story was related by Mr. Omar Kipe, a member of the Jefferson Baptist Church, during a prayer breakfast there in the late 1980's. Mr. Kipe, after hearing the song performed almost 20 years after the fact, during the course of the prayer breakfast, was again moved to tears and shared this account with those gathered there, including me.

An article appeared in the Mexico City Missouri Ledger on 10 May, 1972 with the headline Billy Jesse, Helicopter Pilot, is Missing in Vietnam.

The article indicates Jesse was on his second tour of Vietnam, having enlisted three years earlier. During his first tour he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his efforts in "rescuing two downed helicopter pilots in a small jungle clearing, while [enemy] Viet Cong forces raced towards them." "It was kinda hairy," he said. "While I was in school, I skied, cycle-raced--in fact did anything to do with racing," Jesse is quoted as saying, "but flying is it. It is always what I wanted to do." The article lists his parents as "Maj. Martin C. Jesse and the former Miss Viola Roe, who now live in San Juan, Puerto Rico."

Billy was in Lawton because his father had been stationed at Fort Sill sometime prior to 1967, when Billy graduated from Lawton High School. Billy's dad was active duty Army at the time of Billy's death and later was stationed at Fort Madison, Puerto Rico. Billy's next of kin was listed as Mrs. Linda L. Jesse (wife) whose address was a trailer court in Daleville, Alabama.

The Coffelt database of Vietnam Casualties has additional information about CWO Jesse ( http://www.coffeltdatabase.org/ ). Notably, as some members of Billy's family have maintained, his entire body was never recovered, only some few remains. Though declared dead by Army board action in July 1972, the remains recovered in July 1972 were not identified until 15 August, 1973. By then American troops had already been withdrawn from Vietnam.

During the three-month NVA enemy offensive in May of 1972, one source indicates 25 helicopters were shot down in Quang-Tri Province.

The song, I Know Who Holds Tomorrow, was written by Ira F. Stanphill

author: Jerry Dan Deutschendorf