[Prologue]

My Grandfather loved to fly, or so my mother always told me. He spent his career in the Air Force, eventually retiring as a Lt. Colonel at the age of 51. During Vietnam, she worried about him, like countless other families did about their loved ones. He'd always tell her that he didn't want to die, but, if it happened when he was flying, it would be what he wanted. "He always said that if he had to go, he'd either wanted it to either be in his plane, or in his garden." A few months after he retired, a heart attack granted him the latter.

My mom was 19 when he died, and I wouldn't be born for at least another decade. She always told me I would've liked him, and I have no reason to doubt it. I've always wanted to know more about him, but the information he gave to his family was sparse.
His tendency to keep things to himself was underlined decades later. My grandmother had just passed away, and in the process of clearing out her house, my mother and aunt found an old newspaper clipping on my grandfather - in which he was described as a veteran of World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. They were floored. They had only ever known about Vietnam, but Korea? World War II? Their mother (my grandmother) was his second marriage, and wasn't with him during those deployments; she had no idea either.

So, somewhat obviously, none of my family have a lot of information to go on. And that leads me here. I figured I'd tell you fine folks what I know and if you have any insight, well, it would mean a lot.

[What I know]

Not much. My mother and aunt always asked, but never got many answers. He said it was classified, but it could just as well have been that he didn't want to talk about it. The biggest piece of information that I have is that he flew photo reconnaissance. He was dispatched to Vietnam at the age of 40 or 41, and was stationed at Nha Trang AFB. He flew a plane, not a helicopter. He was the pilot, and led whatever crew was with him. He mentioned that if he were shot down, he had his pistol and a knife, but I can't imagine that equipment was uncommon for any pilot.

Prior to the war, he was stationed in Oklahoma (my mother was born in Enid, Oklahoma, so I believe it was Vance AFB) and Alaska. After the war, he was stationed in Weisbaden, Germany; apparently as a part of the Inspector General's team.

[Questions]

Obviously, I don't expect anyone to know the answers to any of these questions for certain; an educated guess as to what was likely would be more than enough. With that said, and based on the information above, what do you think was likely in terms of:

(1) the aircraft he flew?

(2) the logistics of the missions he was on? (where, how high or low, etc.)

(3) the aim of those missions? (Reconnaissance, S&R, bombing, etc.), or

(4) anything I may be missing.

Wikipedia lists only one garrison at Nha Trang during Vietnam - the 14th Special Operations Wing; but I have no idea if this is accurate.

In any case, I know it's a shot in the dark, but I figure it's worth the time to ask. Thanks for taking the time to read this. If you have any ideas or information, good or bad, I'd greatly appreciate it. I think he would too.