Newspapers / Daily Tar Heel (Chapel … / Jan. 19, 1989, edition 1 / Page 5
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H III, Retired NROTC leader joins student ranks The Daily Tar HeelThursday, January 19, 19895 , t. j;"'. V.'t r By DAVID ABERNATHY .Staff Writer n viewing the domesticity of Commander Bill Bailey's home, .JXcomplete with children's toys strewn across the floor, it is difficult to picture this man living in a dirty prison camp in North Vietnam. But Bailey, who was recenily honored for 25 years of service in the Navy, endured six years as a prisoner of war. , His life today is quite different. Bailey spent the last four-and-a-half years of his Navy career as the ?xec utive officer of the Naval ROTC program at UNC before officially retiring at the beginning of January. His duties included being a class advisor and teaching leadership Courses. His entire career has definitely not been as safe and comfortable as the past four years have been. Entering the Navy during his college years because he wanted to fly, Bailey spent almost two years in flight training before he was sent to Viet nam to fly an F-14 plane on bomb ing runs. In June of 1967, after 187 missions, his plane was shot down. "The plane went into a spin," Bailey said. "It scared the living day lights out of me. You have a numb feeling, but procedures are going through your head because we had practiced them hundreds of times." Bailey ejected and parachuted into Nam Dihn, a village near Hanoi. "I was captured imme diately," he said. "I didn't even have time to get my parachute off." After blindfolding the prisoner, the North Vietnamese took Bailey to Hanoi, where they interrogated him intensely for three days and two nights straight about the location of future bombing runs. "You reach a point where you are hurting so bad from the torture that you talk," Bailey said. "I had to tell them something. I ended up telling them the targets that I had been on in the last week." One method of torture used to make the PO Ws talk was known as the "rope trick." It involved tying the prisoner's hands behind his back and bending him forward. "People had dislocated shoulders from that," Bailey said. "The pain was excruciating. I lost the use of my lelt hand for about two months from the ropes." After lying his way through the Tickets questioning, Bailey was thrown into solitary confinement for six months. "It was a very traumatic expe rience," Bailey said. "I lost track of time. I was a walking zombie." The Vietnamese had a policy of restricting communication among the prisoners and to their families in America. The daily routine consisted of leaving the cell twice a day to pick up food and once a day to get a bucket for urination and defacation. "That made it downright boring," Bailey said. "We developed a tap code so that you could communicate with someone lying in a cell next to you. Unfortunately I didn't know the tap code." In January of 1973, almost six years after Bailey's plane was shot down, a peace treaty was signed, allowing the American PO Ws to go home. The Red Cross worked to get Bailey out as fast as possible because his father was sick from a heart attack. Bailey got home just in time his father died three days later. Bailey's attitude toward U.S. involvement in Vietnam did not change because he was a POW. "I supported it then," Bailey said. "In retrospect, people weren't con- from page 1 derstanding during the construction ! :of the Smith Center. Students were n originally promised about 1,900 lower-level seats, but construction r changed the final number. "The -' -number of available seats shrank in ihe process of development and J -design of the building of the arena i "1 itself," he said. V Hoolahan said the confusion resulted from the transition in CAA leadership since the early stages of the t j Smith Center. "There hasn't been ij:clear and accurate communication II'down the line as we've, changed ilo leadership roles." Jr.'- During a meeting Wednesday vi.between Geer, Hoolahan and Asso ciate Athletic Director Richard Baddour, Geer said the athletic department officials told her they could do nothing about the number of student seats. They said the number of student tickets is not flexible, because so many seats must be reserved for Rams Club members. Geer said she is waiting for student reaction to determine the next course of action. "I'd like to hear from other students to see if they'd like to do something about this situation," she said. "The people that care, I need to know they care." Geer said she will contact Student Body President Kevin Martin and Student Congress Speaker Neil Riemann about the situation. "This is no longer just a CAA issue," she said. "We don't have to sit here and say, 'There's nothing we can do.' " When the Tar Heels played in Carmichael Auditorium, students were allocated about 3,000 seats; now they receive about 7,000 total. But Geer said students were better off in Carmichael because all the seats there were roughly equivalent to lower level Smith Center seats. cerned about Vietnam in 1966. 1 thought more about racial problems than I did Vietnam." And contrary to the lack of respect the G.I.s encountered when they returned home, the POWs received a hero's welcome. "Since those people (G.I.s) came home as individuals, they never had a wel come home," Bailey said. For his bravery and dedication during the war, Bailey received sev eral awards, including two Silver Stars, two Purple Hearts and two Distinguished Flying Crosses. He also got something else due to the war his wife. Several million bracelets were sold in the U.S. with the names of American POWs. Bai ley corresponded with the woman who had purchased a bracelet with his name on it, and soon after the war they were married. "I call myself a mail-order groom," Bailey said. "It's funny how chance works." Lady Luck was certainly smiling on Bailey. He and his wife have three children, and now that he has retired from the Navy, Bailey is working on a second career edu cation. He is a full-time student in the UNC doctoral program for edu cational administration and eventu ally wants to work as a high school principal when he graduates. Bailey said he wants to work in an educational system in the South. "The educational system in the South has not been that good for everybody," he said, "I enjoy the thought of better educating people." 5 w.v 1 Iat b y y Ni J . 4 f 3 si 1 DTH Staff Photo Bill Bailey poses with the framed medals given to him at retirement Campus Calendar .r "D ' ' Since 1980 Balloons & A Song Tuxedoed Messengers Cakes and Gift Baskets Portable Helium Tanks Party Supplies Gift Wrap & Shipping Nationwide Custom Imprinted Balloons Promotions, Launches Decorating Service Great new location with plenty of perking 208 W.MAIN ST. CARRBORO SAME DAY SERVICE Corner of Weaver & Main diagonal from Town Hall Serving Chapel Hill Area, Durham, RTP & Nationwide via Balloon-in-a-Box Open Mon.'Sat. We're only a phone call away I 967-3433 aann Samite Full & Self-serve Macintosh Fine Stationery & Envelopes High Quality Copies Minted Open 24 Hours. 114 W. Franklin St. 367-0790 The DTH Campus Calendar is a daily listing of University-related activities sponsored by academic departments, student services and student organizations officially recognized by the Division of Student Affairs. To appear in Campus Calendar, announcements must be submit ted on the Campus Calendar form by NOON one business day before the announcement is to run. Saturday and Sunday events are printed in Friday's calendar and must be submitted on the Wednesday before the announcement is to run. Forms and a drop box are located outside the DTH office, 104 Union. Items of Interest lists ongoing events from the same campus organizations and follows the same deadline schedule as Campus Calendar. Please use the same form. Thursday 3:30 p.m. University Career Planning and Placement Servi ces will have an inter viewing skills workshop for seniors and gradu ate students in 209 Hanes. 4 p.m. UCPPS will have an experiential learning workshop on intern ship basics and how to find one in 210 Hanes. 4:30 p.m. Women's Forum will meet in the Cam pus Y lounge. Eve ryone is welcome. 5 p.m. Association of International Stu dents will meet in 208 209 Union to discuss Chile. All are welcome. 5:45 p.m. Baptist Student Union will have a spaghetti dinner during the weekly worship program at the Battle House, across from Kenan Dorm. 6 p.m. Presbyterian Cam pus Ministry will have pizza night at the Student Center. All students are invited. 6:45 p.m. Intervarsity Chris tian Fellowship, North Chapter will have "Thursday Night Live" in 226 Union. John Featherston will speak about "Depend ence on God." All are invited. 7 p.m. Theta Chi Frater . nity will have an infor mal rush meeting in Gerrard Hall. All inter ested men are encour aged to attend. Circle K will have a new member meeting in 210 Union. UNC Outing Club will meet in the Union. 7:30 p.m. UCPPS will sponsor a presentation by Price Waterhouse at the Carolina Inn. Items of Interest Phi Eta Sigma National Honors Society will be awarding $35,000 in graduate and undergrad uate scholarships this year. Phi Eta Sigma members may pick up infor mation about the awards in 300 Steele. Local deadline for applica tions is February 20. GPSF is offering information on the in-state application process. See the bulletin board outside Suite D, Union. Institute for the Arts and Humanities has cancelled Friday afternoon open house until further notice. UNC Glee Clubs and The Carolina Choir will be having auditions for membership soon; sign up at 106 Peabody. North Carolina Memorial Hospital Volunteer Services will be holding volunteer registration weekdays until Jan. 27 from 9 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Call 966-4793 for more information. Delta Sigma Pi, the profes sional business fraternity, is having sign-up for Spring Rush Jan. 17 through Jan. 20 beside T-2 in New Carroll. .'m il, i, L s s s s v. s. V I? 6 fife womirs (f fide John Matthew McCabe Hawaiian Vacation Arnold J. Bullock 1 9" Color Television Wagner Dotto Seiko Wrist Watch Regina Sherard Portable Cassette Recorder Haskell Mills Portable Cassette Recorder Cedrick W. Ricks Portable Cassette Recorder Janet Reed Portable Cassette Recorder Jason F. Herman Portable RadioCassette La Verne D. Partlow Windjammer Cruise Julia A. Parks Windjammer Cruise J Tl j- fcj ' P n a' Ml the : --. j it , : j .Macmlffih St . wdual 372" 800K disk drives, includes basic keyboard mam (reg. 02,074.00) 1989 Apple Computer, Inc., Macintosh is a registered trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. 20 meg external hard drive NOW $529 (reg. 0579) 40 meg external hard drive NOW 0888 (reg. 0M9) 3T(S Prices good thru January 31, 1989 V I
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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Jan. 19, 1989, edition 1
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