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Reproduced here, with the permission of the author. 3 December, 2009 Hello, Having served on Saratoga for the entire course of Desert Shield/Storm, I've been a subscriber for several years now. Although I live in California, I look forward to touring her again someday in the future. Your latest newsletter was received with mixed feelings. I was both relieved and saddened to hear that the remains of Michael Scott Speicher had been recovered. While I did not know him personally, his loss has stayed with me over the years but I had never known the full story until now. I am glad to know he is now back where he belongs and that his family has the closure they deserve. I served as a plane captain and aviation electrician in VA-35. The loss of two of our planes early on quickly took priority for us. While most people realize that we had two POWs from our squadron (Lt. Zaun had been in charge of the line [plane captain] division), the other plane limped over the border to Al Jouf (Al Jawf), Saudi Arabia where the crew was recovered and the plane stripped of vital parts. A week later the same crew had an engine fire and returned to the same airbase. I was part of a four-man crew that ultimately performed an engine swap MacGyver style in the desert and got the plane back into service for the rest of the conflict. Saratoga was already enroute to the Mediterranean when Saddam decided to invade. As such, we were stationed in the Med and Red Sea during the entire conflict. I missed being on the ferry that sank in Haifa, killing 21 of our crew on 12/21/90, by less than 5 minutes. We transited the Suez six times. Our return was so close to the end of my enlistment that I was flown back, which allowed me to be at NAS Oceana for the return of our POWs.
Again, I look forward to seeing the fruits of your labors someday. 
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