Two US Air Force C-130s flew in a loose
echelon formation, low over the windswept ocean. It was close to twilight on
October 23, 1983. The aircraft were late to their rendezvous with the USS
Clifton Sprague (FFG-16) in the southern Caribbean. The ship had turned into
the wind, and the C-130s flew along its length at an altitude of about
five-hundred feet. A second or two after the trailing aircraft cleared the ship’s
bow, a twenty-three foot long Boston Whaler was air-dropped into the ocean. A
team of SEALS followed the boat almost immediately. The same was repeated by the lead C-130, but the drop started about twenty seconds later. By that time the aircraft was well ahead of the ship, about a half a mile away. In the
quickly encroaching darkness this would prove to be critical. Some of the
commandos were recovered from the windswept sea by the Sprague's crew on its motor
whale boat. Others swam to boarding nets draped over the port bow of the
ship, and climbed twenty feet to the ship's deck, struggling with their heavy
loads and helped aboard by the ship's crew. The SEALS from the trail aircraft were all recovered and the motor whale
boat headed as fast as it could to the location where the men and the boat from the lead
plane had hit the water. By the time it got there, darkness had fallen. The
Sprague also approached the location, barely making headway, using its searchlights to assist in the search.
Expecting to jump in daylight, the SEALS only had a couple of chem-lights each
to illuminate them. As the evening went on, the wind picked up and the seas got
worse. At around midnight, the CO of the commandos advised the captain of the
Sprague that they needed to leave the area and head towards Grenada so that the
SEALS could complete their mission. The Sprague's captain protested, but was
overruled by higher authority after a radio call to the Task Force command. The
Sprague turned towards Grenada, and headed there at best speed, with one of the
SEALS' Boston Whalers tide alongside it. The second Boston Whaler was found the
next day, overturned, by the Sprague and an S-3 Viking aircraft searching for it and four men from the lead plane that had gone missing during the jump. The four men
were never found. It wasn't until 10 years later that I found out the men's
names: Machinist Mate 1st
Class Kenneth J. Butcher, Quartermaster 1st Class Kevin E. Lundberg, Hull
Technician 1st Class Stephen L. Morris, and Senior Chief Petty Officer Robert R. Schamberger.
