THE WALL OF FACES

Operation Thayer I (September 13-22, 1966) was designed to eliminate North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong influence in Binh Dinh Province on the central coast of South Vietnam. On the first day of the operation, three battalions (1/8, 2/8, and 1/12) of the 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, began movement by helicopter assault into five landing zones (LZs) along the mountain ridge line that overlooked the Kim Son Valley from the south and east. Across the valley, the 2nd Brigade put two battalions (1/5 and 2/12) plus two batteries of the 1/77th Artillery into five more LZs that were perched at the top of the western ridge line. All LZs were heavily prepped by air strikes, aerial rocket artillery, tube artillery, and armed Chinook helicopters. Only light contact was developed with the enemy throughout the day, except for the 1/9th Cav. Conducting screening operations over the entire area of operations, they encountered heavy fire against their armed helicopters during the entire day. Particularly heavy ground fire was encountered by aircraft from the 2nd Brigade in the vicinity of LZ Bird, and air strikes were called in to suppress the area. A flight of U.S. Air Force North American F-100D Super Sabre fighter-bombers from the 615th Tactical Fighter Squadron was called in and began hitting the enemy with high explosives and napalm. The Number Two aircraft was making a napalm pass on an automatic weapons bunker when it failed to pull out of the dive and crashed, killing pilot 1LT John P. Skoro Jr. Due to the tactical situation on the ground, Skoro’s body could not be recovered. Four days later, small unit contacts continued as the division troops swept the slopes down toward the floor of the Kim Son Valley. The wreckage of the F-100D was located and the remains of the pilot extracted; however, in the process, one soldier, PFC John R. Cummins Jr. from C Company, 1/5 Cav, was killed when he detonated a booby trap planted by the enemy in the wreckage. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and “Operations Thayer/Irving 12 May 1967, Project CHECO Southeast Asia Report” at archive.org]

Dear Lt John Skoro, Thank you for your service as a Tactical Aircraft Pilot, and for graduating from the US Air Force Academy. Saying thank you isn't enough, but it is from the heart. Winter will end soon, and Lent has begun. Time moves quickly. Please watch over America, it stills needs your strength, courage, guidance and faithfulness, especially now. Rest in peace with the angels.

Lt. John P Skoro, Jr. was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his heroic and extraordinary achievement while engaged in flight while serving as a Pilot, Tactical Aircraft, 615th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 366th Tactical Fighter Wing, 7th Air Force.

See https://airforce.togetherweserved.com/usaf/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=Person&ID=81528

John was my room mate during gunnery school at Luke. He was a brilliant guy and a true joy to be around as well as an outstanding pilot.

John captained the 1962-63 USAF Academy Falcons fencing team to a 10-0 regular season record bringing the team to 39 victories in a row over 4 seasons. He was nicknamed Animal due to his cat-like reflexes and killer instinct with a blade. He earned All American honors in 1963 in Saber and was named Fencer of the Year at the NCAA Nationals.
John was well respected by his classmates and will be honored at the class's 50-year reunion in October 2013.