John Hardesty Alpers Jr. (1939 - 2015)

Lieutenant Colonel John Alpers Jr. was A Prisoner of War for 175 days during the Vietnam War.

Biography

Lieutenant Colonel John Alpers Jr. served in the United States Air Force in the Vietnam War
Service started: 1963
Unit(s): 60th Bomb Squadron; 435th Tactical Fighter Squadron; 335th Tactical Fighter Squadron
Service ended: 1983

Birth

Lt. Col. John Hardesty Alpers Jr. was born on 7 September 1939 in Richmond, Virginia, United States to John Hardesty Alpers (1904-1975) and Laura Elizabeth Gaylor (1903-1990). ^[1]

Military Service

On 19 April 1961 he enlisted in the United States Coast Guard Reserve. From 2 May 1961 until 26 October he served on active duty. After receiving an honorable discharge from the Coast Guard on 21 June 1963, he was commissioned on 29 January 1964 as a 2nd Lieutenant through the United States Air Force Recruit Officer Training Corps while attending the University of Colorado.

2nd Lt. Alpers went on active duty on 28 February 1964. He served in the 451st Strategic Missile Wing at Lowry Air Force Base in Colorado as a Weapons System Security Officer until May 1965. He received his Navigator Wings in April 1966 at James Connally Air Force Base in Texas after attending Undergraduate Navigator Training. From there he attended Stratofortress Navigator Bombardier Training at Mather Air Force Base in California until March 1967.

In March 1967 he was assigned to the 60th Bomb Squadron at Ramey Air Force Base in Puerto Rico where he was a B-52 radar navigator until May 1970.

Captain Alpers was deployed in January 1971 to the Udon Royal Thai Air Force Base in Southeast Asia as an F-4 Weapon Systems Officer (WSO) with the 435th Tactical Fighter Squadron. He was there in April 1971, but was hospitalized at the Fitzsimons General Hospital in Denver, Colorado, USA from April until September 1971. He went from there to the 335th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina as an F-4 Weapons Security Officer until September 1971.

While on temporary duty with the 335th Tactical Fighter Squadron in Southeast Asia, he was forced to eject. ^[2]

Prisoner of War from 5 October 1972 to 29 March 1973. ^{[3] [4]}

The F-4D Phantom II # 66-8738, flown by Keith H. Lewis was shot down on his 87th mission over North Vietnam on 5 October 1972. They were part of the 335th Tactical Fighter Squadron (Unit) and on a bombing mission. Captain Alpers and Captain Lewis were captured immediately and taken to the Hanoi Hilton.

He spent his first 22 days at the prison in isolation. He was taken to the Zoo and that's where he spent the majority of his imprisonment. His wife was notified that he was on a list of POWs and living 3 days before she gave birth to their son. He had been listed as Missing in Action.

He was released as part of Operation Homecoming on 29 March 1973 and briefly hospitalized to recover from injuries at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland. From October 1973 to March 1974, he was assigned as an Air Operations Controller with the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina. In March 1974 he served at the University of Arizona as Assistant Professor of Aerospace Studies with the Air Force ROTC program until June 1978.

His final assignment was to the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Colonel Alpers was Deputy Commander of the Navigation Department until June 1979. Then he was with the Commandant's Training Shop until June 1980. He was with the Psychology Department until June 1981 and from there he went as Deputy Commander of the Plans and Policy Shop until June 1982. His final assignment at the Air Force Academy was as Commander of the Plans and Policy Shop until his retirement on 1 October 1983.

Military Honors

2nd Distinguished Flying Cross: Captain John H. Alpers Jr. distinguished himself by extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight as an F4D Weapon Systems Operator in Southeast Asia on 19 March 1971. On that date, Captain Alpers flew a critical mission in support of friendly forces. With complete disregard for his own personal safety, Captain Alpers made multiple ordnance deliveries at perilously low altitudes to destroy a heavy armored tank and its crew, thereby preventing great loss of life to allied personnel facing this hostile threat. The professional competence, aerial skill, and devotion to duty displayed by Captain Alpers reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.

1. Legion of Merit
2. Distinguished Flying Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster
3. Bronze Star Medal with V Device
4. Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster
5. Meritorious Service Medal
6. Air Medal with 1 Silver and 3 Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters ^[5]
7. Air Force Commendation Medal with 1 Oak Leaf Cluster

The full ribbon set is available here.

Retirement

After 33 years of service he retired on 1 October 1983. He went on to found Gateway Financial Strategies, LLC. That grew to become a thirty five million dollar financial planning and asset management company. The company is now run by his son John Hardesty Alpers, III.

For fun, he raced vintage Porsche race cars from 2003 until shortly before his death.

Marriage and Family

He married Sharon Kay Kurrie (1940-2015) before 1972. She died 13 days after his death from complications from an accident in 2003.

Children of the Alpers-Kurrie Marriage

1. Vicki Kay Alpers (m. Burroughs)
2. Kristi Ray Alpers (m. Jay Schwisow)
3. John Hardesty Alpers III (m. Robin Unknown)

A Quote from Col. Alpers

All my life I have felt a tremendous sense of pride and excitement when I recited the Pledge of Allegiance, or heard the National Anthem and saw our flag. But during the last few years there have been times when the actions of small but vocal dissident groups have caused me great anxiety. It seemed that our country was being pulled apart. Patriotism, love of country, religious conviction-all were suspect and somehow out of style.

Testimony in a letter to John Kerry on 7 November 1991

I and my pilot were captured immediately and taken toward Hanoi. Sometime in the middle of that first night we disembarked the truck we had been riding in and were handcuffed to a tree. I was then taken alone into a structure and made to sit on a stool. My blindfold was removed and I found myself in front of a table behind which were sitting four oriental men in civilian clothes. The one who conducted interrogation was tall, slim and used impeccable English. A prolonged effort was made to get me to discuss certain elements of my mission, aircraft, base and combat leadership chain-of-command. I also remember numerous questions directed at my own general level of military knowledge, as well as other questions which tired to elicit comment from me about specific technical knowledge of equipment and tactics which I might possess….

I have for the past 18 years thought that this interrogation was intended by the enemy to accomplish two things: First, to ascertain my general level of physical well-being (people with major and/or disfiguring wounds almost never turned up in the Hanoi prison system), and; second, whether I might have certain military information that could be of immediate use to the Hanoi war effort.

I and my pilot managed to get through that “screening” process and were subsequently taken on to the Hanoi Hilton. I now believe that other captives either “failed the physical” and were disposed of, or were diverted from Hanoi and taken north through Red China to Russia so that the communists could try to exploit certain “special talents.” By the way, I felt then and still do now that my chief interrogator that night was Chinese, not North Vietnamese. Also that this relatively important person was not in a dilapidated building out in the boonies of North Vietnam in the middle of the night just my accident. This interrogation seemed to be an on-going process. My inquisitors were there when we arrived. They were waiting for us, not us being made to wait for them.

Death and Burial

Lieutenant Colonel Alpers died on 6 August 2015 in Colorado, United States from prostate cancer at the age of 75. He was buried on 8 January 2016 in the Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Arlington, Virginia. Plot: Section 62, Grave 724. Find A Grave: Memorial #156983980 ^{[6] [7]}

John and Sharon were interred on the same day.^[8][9]

Sources

• Virginia, Births, 1864–2014. Virginia Department of Health, Richmond, Virginia.
• 1940 US Federal Census in April 1940. Page 62A, lines 36-38. ^[10]
• 1993 US Public Records Index, Vol. 1, 1950-1993. Residence of John H. Alpers Jr. was 189 Overlook Lane, Boulder, Colorado.
• 1995 US Phone and Address Directories, 1993-2002. Residence for Lt. Col. John H. Alpers was 189 Overlook Lane, Boulder, Colorado.
• 1996-1997 US Phone and Address Directories. Residence for Lt. Col. John H. Hardesty, USAF, retired was 189 Overlook Lane, Boulder, Colorado.
• 2001-2002 US Phone and Address Directories. Residence for John and Sharon Alpers was 90 Baker Lane, Erie, Boulder, Colorado.
• US Air Force Magazine , February 1998, pages 18-27. The list of 351 Air Force POWs is available here.
• Combat Area Casualties Returned Alive File, 5/1/1962-3/22/1979 [Archival Database]; Records on Military Personnel Who Died, Were Missing in Action or Prisoners of War as a Result of the Vietnam Conflict, 1/20/1967-12/1998; Records of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Record Group 330; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD.
• Veteran Tributes [1]
• POW Network
• Find A Grave Index.
• John Alpers Financial Group for son [2]
• Coloradan Yearbook for University of Colorado 1958.
• Coloradan Yearbook for University of Colorado 1959.
• Coloradan Yearbook for University of Colorado 1960.
• The obituary for Sharon is available here.

Footnotes

1. ↑ VA Births
2. ↑ Vet Trib
3. ↑ Combat Casualties
4. ↑ NAM POW
5. ↑ The Silver Oak Leaf Cluster equals 5 Bronze Leaf Clusters.
6. ↑ FAG
7. ↑ NAM POW
8. ↑ NAM POW
9. ↑ FAG
10. ↑ 1940: Alpers, John A. 36, b. IL, 4, yrs high school, lived in Richmond, VA in 1935, safety engineer textile industry, head; Elizabeth 36, b. NC, 4 yrs high school, wife; John A. Jr. 8 months, son.

Acknowledgements