I am very sad to report that today I received a phone call from Marian "Pab" Blakelock, N4PJF, his aunt, telling me that Retired Department of State Communications Technician John C. "Chester" Lunsford, W4EVG/XV5AC/HS1AIV, died Friday April 5, 2002 in his hometown of Sasser, GA at the age of 66. He had cancer. He is survived by his XYL Giselle, N4PBO.
Chester was a familiar presence on the air in Southeast Asia in the 1970's with his calls XV5AC and HS1AIV. He was the person principally responsible for getting Viet Nam back on the air in 1971 after a long absence from the amateur bands, thanks to arranging high-level intervention on his behalf by U. S. Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker, who found that Amateur Radio was the only way he, stationed in Viet Nam, could communicate by voice with his wife, Carol Laise, who was the U. S. Ambassador to Nepal at the time. There was no telephone service between Viet Nam and Nepal in those days. Working quietly, Lunsford managed to equip the legendary Father Marshall Moran, 9N1MM, with a VHF link from Father Moran's shack to the American Embassy in Kathmandu. Utilizing a MARS station at Ton Son Nhut Air Base in Saigon on the amateur bands as XV5AC, Chester linked Ambassador Bunker with his XYL by phone patch with Kathmandu through Father Moran on 14.320 Mhz, the Southeast Asia Net (SEANET) frequency. When Ambassador Bunker said: "John, that was great. When can we do it again?" Chester answered that there was one problem -- he had no Vietnamese ham radio license. Ambassador Bunker called the Embassy's Administrative Counselor into his office and in short order Chester had his license and Ambassador Bunker had his weekly chit-chat with his wife.
There was still one problem -- Viet Nam remained on the ITU banned list so US hams were not legally able to work XV5AC. On a brief official trip back to Washington, Chester visited then-FCC Chief Engineer Ray Spence, W4QAW, and explained the situation. The problem was soon resolved.
Chester participated in one of the first DXpeditions to the Spratly Islands, 1S1A, in February of 1973, along with Pete Pedersen, HS4AGN (now N5TP), the late, great Don Riebhoff, K7ZZ/K7CBZ, Scotty Gantt, WB4VBY and Frank Ostrich, WB4UZP.
This hits pretty close to home for me, as I was one of the ops who had the privilege of manning the mike and key of XV5AC thanks to Chester's initiatives. Thanks to Lunsford's recommendations I also hired WB4UZP to be my finance officer during the time I was Chief of the Wire Room for the U.S. Information Agency.
RIP Chester; your old
friends will really miss you.
73, Fred Laun, K3ZO
For the full, very interesting story, please read on:
The Southeast Asia Story by John Chester Lunsford XV5AC / W4EVG
Page 1
| Page 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | NEXT >
Document to achieve free an open amateur radio operation from Vietnam
Also read Southeast Asia Memories by K8MFO / K3ZO
Southeast Asia Story courtesy of
K8MFO
Info courtesy of K8MFO, K3ZO, KX4R
This site is
copyright © by K8CX of Paradox Design Group (PDG).
All Rights Reserved. All art, photos, and html is property of
PDG.