CSARs: Risky Missions

Or, why distort history?

The successful rescue of a second downed US airman from Iranian territory brought to a close a fraught moment in the US-initiated war. There was much at stake. First and foremost, the well-being of the pilot. Beyond that the reputation of the US military and the political standing of the US President, facing a war gamble that has spun out of all control. On the Iranian side, the capture of the pilot would have amounted to a propaganda triumph and created huge leverage in any negotiations to end the war.

Donald Trump announced the rescue on Truth Social on the morning of April 5. ^[1] Naturally, he celebrated “one of the most daring Search and Rescue Operations in U.S. history.” All CSARs (Combat search and rescue) operations are risky, and this one was clearly a close-run op. The details are still emerging, but media reports indicate that the US had to leave two damaged Hercules aircraft on the ground at an improvised airstrip inside Iran, and that the rescue helicopter that carried the first pilot to safety was hit by Iranian ground fire. ^[2]

According to Trump’s post, the location of the second downed airman was continuously monitored by intelligence and the US sent dozens of aircraft to his rescue. One of that armada, a ground attack aircraft known as an A-10 (or “Warthog”) was also downed by Iranian defences, though the pilot was able to eject safely.

But Trump couldn’t restrain himself in this moment of victory. He couldn’t resist the temptation to distort history. In the midst of his boasting about US military power, he claimed:

“This is the first time in military memory that two U.S. pilots have been rescued, separately, deep in enemy territory.”

Who knows what counts for military memory in the mind of Donald Trump or his acolytes. But this is just plain false. The memory of the Vietnam War, for one, remains powerful.

It was during the Vietnam War that the US began to perfect CSAR operations. One of its triumphs at the time was a rescue operation for two downed US airman in April 1972. The National Museum of the United States Air Force calls it “the largest rescue operation in USAF history.” ^[3]

The mission was known as “Bat 21,” for the call-sign of one of the downed US aircraft, an electronic warfare plane, a twin-engined jet (EB-66C), shot down by a surface to air missile. The electronic warfare specialist aboard that plane, Lt. Col. Gene Hambleton, parachuted to earth into the middle of a massive North Vietnamese offensive (known as the “Easter offensive”).

Costs in aircraft lost and rescue aircrew killed mounted as the CSAR mission proceeded. Those costs included another airman, Mark Clark, forced to eject from a OV-10 plane, a twin-engined turboprop used for air reconnaissance, who also ended up on the ground trying to evade capture.

Clark managed to float downriver to meet his rescuers, a Seal team mostly comprised of South Vietnamese commandos. A remaining detachment of a US Navy Seal and a volunteer South Vietnamese commando proceeded to attempt the rescue of Hambleton further upstream. With much luck and some timely air support they managed to commandeer a sampan and get Hambleton to the safety of a US armoured personnel carrier. Hambleton had successfully evaded capture for 11.5 days before his rescue by the two-man US Navy SEAL team.

It was an amazing story. ^[4] The Navy Seal, Lt. Tom Norris, who accomplished the rescue was awarded the Medal of Honour by President Ford on April 3, 1976. His South Vietnamese colleague and volunteer, Petty Officer Kiet, became the only Vietnamese of the entire war to be awarded the Navy Cross.

This is a piece of history not to be lost to a President’s convenient, politically self-serving, “military memory.”

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^[1] https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/116350133044957842

^[2] Daily Telegraph, “Hiding in the mountains, the injured US airman had only a pistol for protection,” April 5, 2026, https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2026/04/05/how-us-pulled-off-most-daring-operation-in-history/; BBC, “US airman injured, but safe after rescue from inside Iran, Trump says,” April 5, 2026, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cr41evk126go

^[3] National Museum of the United States Air Force, “Rescue of Bat 21,” https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196012/rescue-of-bat-21/

^[4] Defense Media Network, “The Rescue of Bat-21,” July 26, 2010, https://www.defensemedianetwork.com/stories/the-rescue-of-bat-21/; National Museum of the United States Air Force, “Rescue of Bat 21,” https://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/Visit/Museum-Exhibits/Fact-Sheets/Display/Article/196012/rescue-of-bat-21/