Anne Zimbler is a former flight attendant of World Airways. She contacted me after reading an earlier post on my website about some of us not remembering our flight back to the World, and thought this note could help us remember.
This is her email message:
John, although not a day passes, that something I see or hear does not bring back memories of my time with World Airways and the Military Charters we flew, reading posts on your website gave me gifts I had not appreciated in some years.
I hope the information I provide below helps some of your readers with what they may have forgotten. I would like you to read it before publishing to see if you think my words will be helpful or not. If not, please do not feel any obligation to include it on your website.
Thank you for your help on this, and thank you for your service in Vietnam. There are not enough people who remember what happened during those years, nor were there enough people who showed or spoke their gratitude after our Vietnam Veterans returned home. I am sorry for that.
I have been reading some of the posts on the article “Freedom Bird:” Why Can’t I Remember the Ride Home?” I was surprised to learn that many Vietnam Vets have neither memories of their flights home, nor the routes they took to make it back to the “World.”
In my early to mid-twenties, I flew for World Airways to and from Vietnam, and on R&R Flights from Vietnam to Thailand, Japan, the Philippines, Australia, Hong Kong, and Hawaii.
For those of you who have lost track of the trajectory of your homeward-bound flights from Vietnam, the information below may be helpful. These routes were flown by World Airways, so if you flew on other airlines over and back, the routes might have varied a bit.
We would have picked you up for your first leg home in Saigon, Bien Hoa, or Cam Ranh Bay if you were Army or Air Force, or Da Nang if you were a Marine. Many of you boarded our planes in fatigues, as you had just landed on military transports that brought you to one of the major air bases mentioned above.
Your first leg with us took you to Yokota AFB, Japan (just outside Tokyo) for a fuel stop and crew change. Your next leg went “North Pac” to the West Coast of the United States. Most of these flights were non-stop; however, occasionally we could not catch the Jet Stream and had to stop in Anchorage, Alaska, making your trip to the West Coast a little longer.
If we were able to catch the Jet Stream, you would go non-stop to either Travis AFB, just outside San Francisco, Oakland International Airport, or McChord AFB, just outside Seattle. From Travis or Oakland International, you went to either Oakland Army Depot or San Francisco International Airport for your flight home. This, of course, depended on your military orders. Again, based on your military orders, from McChord, you went to either Fort Lewis or SEA TAC International Airport for your flight home to your loved ones.
Either way, your time with World Airways ended somewhere on the West Coast of the United States, and you flew on a commercial flight to your home and family.
What many of you may not know is how much your cabin crews cared about you. It would have been unprofessional for us to have shown you the tears we held until you deplaned in Vietnam. We worried about you and said silent prayers for your safe return. We cherished our time with you and tried to make you as comfortable as possible. Most flight attendants, from the many airlines that flew military charters during that era, would tell you we truly treasured our military passengers.
Here is a quote from Willow Carter, 74, taken from Conde Nast Traveller website:
On the military charters, practically all the men were on their way to Vietnam. For a while, I had terrible anxiety, thinking that I was taking these young men to die. Then I realized: if it wasn’t me, it would be someone else, so I was determined to make their trip as comfortable as possible.
In closing, and on behalf of the cabin crews who brought you home, we thank you for your bravery, dignity, and service. We will always remember your faces and the many conversations some of us had with you on those long trips over the Pacific. In our minds, you remain young men who served your country and graced our lives for a moment in time, many years ago, during a difficult period in our shared history.
You are still, and will always be, Our Heroes.
Anne,
World Airways Flight Attendant, 1970 to 1973
If you want to read more about the FREEDOM BIRD FLIGHTS, check out these additional posts on my website:
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CherriesWriter - Vietnam War website 
I am so glad that Anne sent you this information and her thoughts and that you took the opportunity to publish it for us. Anytime in the past 54 years in discussing my tour with other veterans the topic of how we got there and got home gets discussed. Like many others I’ve always said I don’t remember much about the flights themselves but that the flight over was Travis AFB to Anchorage to Bien Hoa and the stop in Alaska was in the middle of the night. The return flight was Bien Hoa to Yakota, to Travis with the stop in Japan being during daylight. And then the heated discussion starts. In all this time no one has ever agreed that we flew nonstop from Yakota to Travis. I explained that we stopped in Japan for fuel and new crew and while we were there they actually changed out an engine.
After we reached altitude leaving Japan the pilot came on the intercom and said we had a choice. We could fly the planned routed to Alaska and then to Travis OR we could get into the jet stream and fly direct to Travis. Needless to say we chose the direct route since it was shorter. This was during the time period when pilots routinely announced the outside air temp, altitude, speed, and any head or tail winds we encountered. I remember that our tailwind reached almost 350 mph. The flight was was bumpy most of the way and “Fasten Seat Belt sign was always on. We also consumed every bit of food aboard and were completely out of milk, coffee, pop, and water by the time we landed. No one complained because we were headed “home”.
I posted the same trip information the other day on a forum and was told my age was catching up and I was starting to get forgetful. Now I have the facts in black and white. Please let Anne know that I for one appreciated her taking the time to send her informative note and also Thank You for publishing it.
Jerry Hipp
10/1/69 – 12/7/71
HHC IIFFV Artillery
HHC 23rd Artillery Group
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Great
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Hello, well going to Vietnam from Hawaii 25th Infantry Division we went by ship to Okinawa and then LST’s to Vietnam. Was a much different story coming home. We left Cu Chi, Vietnam by truck in a convoy and went to an Army place in Saigon where we were given Army summer uniforms, then fed, and then assigned to a flight going home. I can remember standing in line waiting to board, and other soldier’s had to go home because of a death in family or some other serious reason, so at the end of the line soldier’s were getting bumped off. I was the 5th to the last before it stopped and then we were all abord, not a word was spoken by any of us, until those planes moved past the Vietnam and over the South China Sea, and then we all cheered. They quiet again, our next stop up Japan where they stopped to refuel like you said. Saw Mt. Fugi as we were coming in, they never took us off the plane while refueling. Then off again and next stop was Oakland CA. again just like you said. When we got to Oakland and plane stopped and we got off your planes, everyone of us got down on the ground and kissed the Good Old USA. I don’t know or remember if we thanked the flight attendants back then, but as of today when I fly I always do. Sure hope I did it back then, but just don’t remember. Thanks for how you flight attendants did what you did for us. Many of us coming home never say a “Round Eye” till we boarded your planes. God Bless each and everyone of you for what you did back then. Me 1966. Roger McGill 25th Infantry Division Cu Chi, Vietnam – 3/4 Cavalry Scout 11D10. Just simply THANK YOU.
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I served in the USAF at Korat RTAF 1966-67. Loading munitions on F105s. At 81 today, I too do not remember my flight from Bangkok Thailand to San Francisco. I needed this. Thanks.
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This evokes feelings in me that don’t have words. I was on a Freedom Bird in 1971. I do remember the flight (Tan on Nut to Yakota to Travis), but honestly I don’t remember which airline flew it. I was the most tired I’d ever been in my life. Except for six or seven nights on R&R in Sydney I hadn’t had a full, uninterrupted night’s sleep during my entire tour. But I do remember the kindness of the air crew and their infinite patience, especially with a few of us who weren’t quite right at the time, if you know what I mean. That kindness was continued by the commercial crews who staffed my next two flights across the country. Thank you Ms. Zimbler and thanks to all of your fellow crew members.
Jamie Thompson, C Co, 5/7, 1st Cav (1970-71)
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The only thing I can remember of my flight home was boarding in Saigon and getting iff at Travis AFB. For the life of me nothing in between comes to mind.
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Ann, I flew in with stewardesses who seemed distant, and then I saw how animated they were when they greeted the soldiers who were boarding their plane to return to the world.
I thought it was a testament to their humanity that they felt sadness for what lay ahead of us and joy for those that had endured it and were returning home.
Thank you for caring. Ed Mann
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I’d be remiss if I’d didn’t add this to my earlier comment. I remember the boisterous cheer and applause that sounded through the jet when the wheels left the runway. Mostly I was enamored (hypnotized maybe) by the “round eyed stewardess’s. It had been too long away from them and other creature comforts. Otherwise I dozed and felt so relaxed that I had made it out. Gale Fechik 1st ANGLICO
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John,
Have you ever connected with BJ Prior, a flight attendant who has kept in contact with veterans. She wrote Behind My Wings. I see her often at veteran events in the DFW area. Her website is at:
https://behindmywings.com/
Bob Decker
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This yet another one of the stories that gets lost over time. This person said a great deal in just a few words. The men who flew with her were graced with true concern and genuine affection from her and her fellow flight attendants.
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Hi John: Ironically, in about 5 hours I am the guest speaker here in Kearney, Nebraska for a state-wide Vietnam War Veterans Reunion. It is the 40th and last and will be attended by hundreds of Vietnam War Veterans and their family members. I am going to read a portion of Anne’s email to our veterans in attendance. Thank you and to Anne. John Stewart
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Good luck!
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Arrived alone in MACV from Ca Mau and had to spend couple of days turning in gear (wanted to misappropriate my K-Bar but didn’t want to risk spending more time in country if I got into trouble for such a deed) and getting lectured about no drugs going home. (Remember the “last chance, no questions asked” drop box.) The thoughts running through my head was, number one, what is going to “greet me” upon return. I’d lived many months without news about the states. No “Stars and Stripes” or “Good Morning Vietnam” news reports in my area of duty, only word of mouth about abuse guys received upon return. Of course the local skuttlebutt and rumor mill ran rampant and being alone left one skeptical of stories. I gladly boarded jet at Tan Son Nhut with other soldiers (no combat Marines in country, only 1st ANGLICO) and flew in to Treasure Island. Departing the jet in the early cool morning air and stepping down the ramp stairs to a surprisingly empty tarmac (phew, I thought, no protesters yet must be indoors) I knelt down and kissed the concrete and made the sign of the cross. Went to the gate thinking heck not even a “Donut Dolly” to greet us and actually dumbfounded no one there to give instructions as what to do next. Exited the facility and noticed a line of cabs so I grabbed the first one and the driver instinctively knew I wanted a lift to San Fran’s main airport. Only thing of memory was the cabbie pointing out “and there is Candlestick Park”. All the while my brain is thinking “I’m really home, alive” and “I need to get to Detroit.”
Only later did I wonder why no one was there to point guys in the right direction upon their return from “Hell”. Honestly a letdown.
Gale Fechik 1st ANGLICO 7/71-12/71
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