From Airmen to Knights
From left, Sacred Heart parishioners Bob Butterfield, Chuck Herrmann, and Jim Wise look at the Herrmann family scrapbook, which contains articles from their time serving in the U.S. Air Force at Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base during the Vietnam War. (NTC/Bertha Salazar)
In 1968, four men served in the Air Force at Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base during the Vietnam War.
Twenty years later, their Catholic faith brought them together again. The four men were parishioners of Sacred Heart Parish in Wichita Falls and realized they served together at that base more than 8,000 miles away.
In Thailand, the men were acquaintances serving their country. Now, their friendship has been cemented by serving the Church.
“God has a sense of humor. He pulled us all together here, and we got to know each other. It’s a blessing to me,” said Jim Wise, a Sacred Heart parishioner who was a 28-year-old Air Force captain and services squadron commander in Thailand in 1968.
Bob Butterfield, who was a 23-year-old helicopter mechanic in Thailand, agreed.
Chuck Herrmann, then a 39-year-old CH3 “Jolly Green Giant” helicopter pilot and lieutenant colonel, said, “We were all Air Force. We all knew of each other but didn’t realize our lives would intersect 20 years later.”
A familiar reader
Herrmann, who with his family joined Sacred Heart in 1971, recalled how he reunited with fellow Vietnam veteran Wise one day after Mass.
“One Sunday morning, lo and behold, Jim [Wise] was a reader. I got up right behind Jim [as he exited the church] and whispered in his ear, ‘Naked Fanny,’” Herrmann remembered as he laughed. “His head spun.”
Herrmann explained that “Naked Fanny” was a humorous name many servicemen called the base at Nakhon Phanom.
“It’s a small world. I mean — literally halfway around the world,” Herrmann said. “Needless to say, Jim [Wise] was surprised, and I got a kick out of his reaction.”
Later, Herrmann realized that he and Wise were both recognized for awards in the same edition of the base newspaper in Thailand, the NKP News. Herrmann has a copy of this newspaper in his family scrapbook that his wife, Janie, put together.
Wise was awarded the Air Commendation Medal for work at Williams Air Force Base in Arizona before he was sent to Thailand, and Herrmann was awarded a Silver Star, the third highest military medal.
After 11 years of service, Wise left the Air Force and moved to New York. In October 1974, he took a job in civil service managing transient housing at Sheppard Air
Force Base in Wichita Falls, where he was joined by his wife, Lori, and their two children. After 28 years and three more children, he retired from civil service at Sheppard.
Herrmann retired after 20.5 years in the Air Force as a lieutenant colonel while he was stationed at Sheppard. He and his wife, Janie, raised four children in Wichita Falls.
Stationed at Sheppard
Butterfield, a staff sergeant, and Herrmann ran into each other when they first returned from Thailand because they were in the same squadron, stationed at Sheppard AFB. Herrmann quickly recognized Butterfield as one of the mechanics on his helicopter in Thailand.
“I tell people the reason I’m sitting here today is because [Butterfield] did his job,” Herrmann said. “He was one of our mechanics. They called it a maintenance flight when an aircraft needed repairs. They made the repairs, and then I had to certify that the repairs had been made on the aircraft. These guys like him were very dedicated, and they weren’t making big bucks by any means.”
“I don’t think anyone was,” said Butterfield, who serves on the Sacred Heart Parish pastoral council. Butterfield and Herrmann have also served on the Catherine Cooney Scholarship Committee at Sacred Heart for many years.
Upon Herrmann’s reunion with Wise, the two made quick work of reaching out to Butterfield to reminisce on their years of service.
“I’d known Bob, but we had just never gotten to talk about things we did in the Air Force,” Wise said.
Butterfield and his wife, Irene, were married at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in 1970. Butterfield converted to the Catholic faith after they married. He left the Air Force after seven years of service, and he and Irene raised two children in Wichita Falls together.
Four Knights
The late John “Jack” Miller, a retired chief master sergeant in the Air Force, had been stationed at Sheppard and Nakhon Phanom in Thailand. He had served in Thailand from 1968 to 1969, just like the other three men.
A parishioner at Sacred Heart, his widow Roberta “Bobby” Miller recalled how she and her husband of 57 years were stationed at Sheppard Air Force Base from 1970-1975.
They lived in nearby Iowa Park and attended Mass at the base chapel. The father of three sons served in the Air Force for 28 years before retiring and then worked for a contractor. The family returned to Wichita Falls in 2017 because they had kept in touch with several local families.
Before his death, Miller joined Butterfield, Herrmann, and Wise as active members of the Knights of Columbus at Sacred Heart. While their service in the Knights may not resemble their service in the Air Force, it does represent the same selfless generosity of time and effort for the benefit of others.
The four men and their wives would reminisce about their time in Thailand before Miller passed in 2020.
At a recent gathering, Butterfield, Herrmann, and Wise discussed the unforgettable experience of living through Thailand monsoons — remembering a record rain in one 24-hour period — never being able to stay dry, seeing giant rice bugs and giant locusts, and eating lots of rice.
“That seems like a lifetime ago,” Janie Herrmann said.
A lifetime of God’s providence, a lifetime of faith, a lifetime of service, and a lifetime of friendship.