USAFA Class Histories

CARL W. OLIVER (DECEASED)

Ollie came to the Academy from Bollis Preparatory School and immediately established himself as a class leader. Of course being from Denver originally gave him an edge. On his first Visitor Control Detail as a Basic Cadet, some high school buddies brought him a cold beer, which got him the first Class Three Punishment ever given a Basic, over 90 Demerits and six months restrictions With that start Ollie didn€™t have to strain to set the class record for tours and restrictions. To the best of my knowledge, Ollie only had a couple of months at the Academy when he wasn€™t on restrictions; and despite JFK€™s clemency proclamation, he stayed at the Academy until July marching off tours for going AWOL during June Week. The present Commandant, Brigadier General Steve Lorenz, swears they don€™t keep disciplinary records, so we€™ll never know if Ollie is the reigning €œTour Path King,€ but I never heard him ever complain about getting caught€"he paid his dues.

At Webb AFB and UPT, finally met his match and married Sue who couldn€™t tame him down entirely but truly loved his wild, free spirit. They lived across the street from JoAnn and I at Stead AFB, NV when we went through Undergraduate Helicopter-Pilot Training (UHT) and stayed on as IPs. One morning I looked across the street and saw a Porsche literally parked on his doorstep; Dick Lightner, dropped out in €˜60, had driven in the night before San Francisco. In 1966 we moved the helicopters from Stead to Sheppard AFB, Wichita Falls, TX. I can still see Ollie in a golf cart driving across the ramp at Sky Ranch Air Field, Phoenix, AZ to ten H-19s with the rotors turning ready to take-off; he was thirty minutes late to be the flight commander€™s co-pilot. That H-19 wobbled all over the sky for eight hours before we landed at El Paso, TX. Ollie said €œAll he got was scar tissue when he chewed my butt!€

As an H-19 IP, Ollie inspired guys who he were on their way to SEA to be Jolly Green Rescue Pilots in the H-3 and H-53. He volunteered and got his chance to go after his son, Eric, was born at Sheppard. Operating out of Udorn RTAFB, Thailand, and Lima Sites north of the Plain De Jars in Laos, the HH-53 €œSuper Jolly Greens€ penetrated North Vietnam to rescue downed aircrewmen. Ollie was one of the first H-53 Rescue Crew Commanders, was qualified in air-to-air refueling from HC-130P tankers, and completed a full tour before reporting to Eglin AFB, as an IP at the Replacement Training Unit (RTU). That unit supplied the bulk of the pilots HH for the Son Tay Prison Camp raid led by Bull Simon, including Jack Alison, the lead pilot who told me at Ollie€™s memorial service that Ollie was the bravest, craziest guy he had ever flown with.

Mick Roth wrote me that when he and Ollie were on base to meet President Johnson in Thailand, Mick€™s wife was expecting a baby in San Antonio. He and Ollie were in a trailer with some Secret Service guys when Ollie asked one of them if Mick could use the €œRed Phone€ to call his wife in the hospital. They patched him in through LBJ€™s Ranch and Mick had a memorable chat with his first born. Ollie never missed a trick.

When Sue called and said his last radio call to the Tanker was, €œWe€™ve got a little problem here!€ I knew he was dead; Ollie never had a problem he€™d admit. Captain Carl W. Oliver died on 8 October 1969 when his H-53 crashed in the Gulf of Mexico. He was survived by his wife, Sue, and son, Eric.

"More about Ollie:"

He certainly was one of a kind. Our class at Webb was the last allowed to live off base, provided you paid for a BOQ room on base. The mix of 4 in the house changed, but the bulk of the year was Paul Drucker, Jimmie Wilson, Carl Oliver and me. Ollie had wrecked his Corvette during the summer so showed up at Webb on a Honda motorcycle and no license, which Colorado had suspended. He got a motorcycle license from Texas, exactly how will probably never be known.

We got a call from him one Sunday night. He was in jail in some small town in southeast Colorado, where the sheriff had nailed him for DUI, speeding, driving without a license, etc. We collected enough money for bail€"Ollie was broke. I think Paul and someone else took off in the Saab, drove up there and bailed him out. Also paid the fine in a plea bargain for speeding. They all showed up back in Big Spring just in time to pull on flying suits and get out to the squadron to fly. I don't think Ollie even shaved.

There was an indescribable something about him that made one shake their head and chuckle. He could talk any woman out of her pants. Hell, he could probably walk in, crap on your dining room table and have you in gales of laughter about it. The gal he married was absolutely great€"probably the 5th roommate in the place. Rather than the petite, saucy little blonde one expected, Sue seemed raw-boned and just off the West Texas ranch, but she was a real treasure. She and Ollie were going at it one morning about three. The heating ducts in the house seemed like amplifiers, and we were awakened to bed springs squeaking, the broken headboard crashing against the walls and incredible moaning. I told Paul I couldn't take any more, so got up, thrust a flashbulb into my trusty Argus C-3, opened the door and flashed it. Ollie came out, grabbed the camera, yanked the back open and saw there was no film in it. We all collapsed in laughter on the floor€"except Sue who came out wrapped in a sheet and wondering what was going on. Since we had to get up soon anyway, we made her cook breakfast for us wrapped in the sheet. Crazy times, but I think Ollie loved that woman more than anything.

Anyhoo€"just some reminiscences about the guy. I'm sure he remained essentially unchanged throughout the remainder of his life. I think if I had tried to do the same things and get away with it, I probably wouldn't be eligible for parole yet.  Submitted 1998.