Beege Welborn

The rescue itself was quite a bit more dramatic than the understated recital by the crews.

And Captain O'Grady had been absolutely magnificent in his determination to evade the enemy and to survive until he could safely get a signal out.

What an American he is.

The entire story is just a thrilling, inspiring read.

THE RESCUE OF CAPT. SCOTT O'GRADY ``THIS IS ONE TOUGH HOMBRE'' PILOT SURVIVED 6 DAYS ON BUGS, RAIN WATER

Starved, burned and unshaven, Basher 52 stood in the trees at dawn Thursday, clutching a pistol and awaiting his gigantic deliverers.

For six harrowing days he had eluded his enemies in the rainy wilds of northwestern Bosnia. They had found part of his wrecked plane. But not him.

Early Thursday, he had made his first radio contact with U.S. forces: ``This is Basher 52. I'm alive and I need help.''

Now, his yellow smoke flare marked his position for everyone to see - and he was most vulnerable.

Minutes ticked by, and the sky grew brighter. Then, at 6:49 a.m.: salvation.

It roared from the sky in two gray, 32-ton helicopters that pounded to earth amid rotor wash and bulky Marines spewing out the back doors.

Wringing wet, filthy and hungry, Basher 52 exploded in a run, waving his pistol. Someone hauled him aboard. Seconds later, word flashed across a continent: Basher 52 was heading home.

His first words to his rescuers: ``I'm good but I'm ready to get the hell out of here.''

Thus, in a two-minute hurricane of tension, noise and power, ended the six-day ordeal of Air Force Capt. Scott Francis O'Grady - call sign Basher 52 - whose F-16C fighter was shot down over Bosnia a week ago today.

It was an ordeal in which many top government officials, despite receiving cryptic electronic signals, had given O'Grady up for dead, but in which he applied his survival skills so well - eating bugs and drinking rain water - that the shiniest brass in the Pentagon expressed amazement.

This 47-minute documentary has all the players in it and includes the actual cockpit recording when O'Grady's squadron mate, running short on fuel during the frantic search days later, but wants to give it one more shot, calls for him.

And a faint answer from the Bosnian darkness beneath him crackles back over the radio.

It's just thrilling.