RAINELLE, WV. (PRESS RELEASE) - On Thursday, August 30, the Town of Rainelle will officially re-name Main Street the "Major Jackie W. Sanford Street." This is the portion of U. S. 60 that was "Main Street" in East Rainelle before East Rainelle and Rainelle were merged.
Main Street is U. S. Route 60 from Town's eastern border to Sewell Creek near Town Hall.
"Rainelle has remembered Jackie Sanford several times," Mayor Andrea J. Pendleton said. The V. F. W. and the Library have memorials to him, and this is another way to honor one of our own who gave his life in defense of our freedom."
Jackie Willard Sanford was born March 4, 1932, and died in Viet Nam June 16, 1965.
World War II probably gripped East Rainelle youngster Jackie Sanford, as it gripped the world's attention until it concluded in 1945, but he was just He was a mere child, not old enough to join millions of Americans of "the greatest generation" who beat back the Axis powers of Germany, Italy and Japan. But soon after World War II concluded, Jackie Sanford misled a recruiter about his age and joined the U. S. Marine Corps. He was mustered out of the Marines and sent back to East Rainelle.
But Jackie Sanford still had a strong urge to serve in his nations military. He was home was home only a couple of months before, still too young at only 17, he joined the U. S. Army. The Army made him an infantry platoon sergeant in Korea, where he earned two Purple Hearts and the Combat Infantryman's Badge.
(The Purple Heart was established by Continental Army commander-in-chief General George Washington on August 7, 1782. The medal was revived on February 22, 1932, in honor of the 200th anniversary of General Washington's birth, with a design commissioned by General Douglas MacArthur. The Purple Heart is awarded for wounds received in action against the enemies of the United States of America.)
Jackie Sanford was thirty-two years old when he reported for duty in Vinh Long, Viet Nam in September 1964. He already had eighteen years of military service. He had earned his high School GED and a college degree on his own time during those eighteen years. He had also earned the Master parachutist badge, and the Senior Army Aviator badge. He had received his Infantry officer's commission through OCS, and also a Regular Army Commission. He held a Black Belt in Karate.
The 62d Assault Helicopter Company was a quickly assembled highly-skilled team of officers, warrant officers, NCO's and enlisted specialties, hand-picked from the best assets that in the 11th Air Assault Division in Fort Benning, Georgia. Twenty-four hours after the company was activated for combat duty Captain Jack Sanford not only volunteered to go to Vietnam with the company but also insisted that he be given command of the "gun" platoon, one of the most high risk positions in the unit.
Once in Viet Nam, Jack Sanford developed new and innovative tactics for helicopter gunship support. Many of the tactics and procedures he designed were adopted throughout Vietnam and are still valid in today's aviation training.
In early April 1965 Jack Sanford was flying escort into a hot LZ (Landing Zone) in support of a combat airlift of ARVN troops when a VC small arms round crashed through the plexiglass windscreen of his aircraft and passed through the heavy muscle on the right side of Jack's neck. Making a quick analysis of his injury he determined that medical treatment could wait until he finished his firing runs. When the last slick lifted off the LZ, Sanford's copilot flew the aircraft directly to the medical treatment clinic. After being hospitalized f platoon. His third Purple Heart was awarded while he was recovering. Less than 10 days after being wounded, he was again flying on combat missions.
On June 16, 1965 Jack Sanford's crew was alerted that an American advisor captain and his ARVN counterpart had been captured in an ambush. Jack Sanford immediately led a heavy fire team (three gunships) into the air and headed toward to area to search for the missing officers. Sanford observed a sampan with a rice-straw mat covering something and when he circled back for a closer look, his aircraft received heavy ground fire. He pulled his team off while USAF and USN aircraft poured bombs and napalm into the area where the fire had originated. Moving back in for another look, Sanford's aircraft again took fire, Sanford was mortally wounded and his aircraft, being at only 50 feet, pulled nose-up, lost rotor rpm and exploded into the dry rice paddy less than 100 yards from the VC gunners.
Jack Sanford died enroute to the hospital.
Captain John Schumann, the object of the search mission on which Jack Sanford perished, was captured by the Viet Cong and was reportedly moved to North Vietnam where he died while serving as a POW.
Captain Sanford's wife, Jeannette, had come to the Far East to work for a construction company so that she could be in the vicinity of her husband. On June 16th, she was employed by Pacific Architects and Engineers Corporation and was working in Saigon.
Jack Sanford died without knowing he had already been selected for promotion to Major and was weeks away from being promoted. His promotion was made posthumously. During his illustrious career, Jack Sanford was awarded the Silver Star, two Distinguished Flying Crosses, the Bronze Star with "V" device, four Purple Hearts and more than a score of other decorations from both his own country and the host nations in which he served.
The US Army Vietnam (USARV) command honored his memory by naming the newly constructed Long Binh Army Airfield as Sanford Army Airfield. A monument was placed in front of the Operations building which read:
"Sanford Army Airfield, in memory of Major Jack W. Sanford, Senior Army Aviator, Co. A, 502d Aviation Battalion, killed by hostile action on 16 June 1965".
An even more lasting tribute to Jack Sanford's memory stands in Fort Rucker, Alabama's Sanford Hall, one of its most prominent classroom buildings. Sanford Hall houses instructional classes for hundreds of US Army Aviators attending training courses at the U.S. Army Aviation School.
Atlanta Constitution editor, Eugene Patterson, wrote 11 articles about Jack Sanford's unit after spending March 1964 with them in Viet Nam. Patterson wrote a poignant column in the Atlanta Constitution and concluded his story with the following:
"He was such a vital, self-sufficient man, so upright and unafraid, that I had somehow expected he would make it through. He spent 11 of his 33 years studying for that college degree, took three wounds for his country before the final one. He cashed all of it in on one fearless firing run for some friends whose language he couldn't even speak".
Jackie Willard Sanford is permanently memorialized on Panel 2E Row 11 on the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC.
"Rainelle has given many of its best to our country's military service," Mayor Pendleton said. "Honoring Major Jackie W. Sanford by naming the Main Street of his hometown is a special way to honor his service."
The yellowing newspaper clipping in Town Hall from an earlier memorial for Major Jackie Willard Sanford says that he was the son of Mrs. Virginia Sanford tignor of East Rainelle. His widow was Mrs. Jeannette French Sanford, and sisters were Mrs. Wilma Jones of Dayton, Ohio and Miss Sylvia Sanford of East Rainelle, brother and sister-in-law Mr. and Mrs. Carl Sanford and son of East Rainelle.
Pendleton invites everyone to come to Town Hall on Thursday, August 30, for the 11 a.m. program changing Main Street to Major Jackie W. Sanford Street.
The program will recognize other improvements in the Town of Rainelle and will include light refreshments.
For further information contact Mayor Andrea J. Pendleton, 304/438-7191 or 304/667-9233 or andypen241@msn.com
Major Jackie W. Sanford
