Iceal Hambleton

Common card · No. 397361

Iceal Eugene "Gene" Hambleton ISS-ee-əl (November 16, 1918 – September 19, 2004) was a career United States Air Force navigator who was shot down over South Vietnam during the 1972 Easter Offensive. He was aboard an EB-66 aircraft whose call sign was Bat 21. As the ranking navigator/EWO on the aircraft, he was seated immediately behind the pilot, giving him the call sign "Bat 21 Bravo". He survived for more than eleven days behind enemy lines until he was retrieved in a ground operation. His rescue was the longest and most costly search and rescue mission during the entire Vietnam War. He received the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal and a Purple Heart during his career.

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