Irony, in War and Peace
- Christina DeSantis
- Dec 30, 2025
- 3 min read
Updated: Jan 2
The Thin Line of Fate
In the world of military service, we often speak of "luck" or "fate," but rarely do the threads of two lives cross so distinctly across decades and continents. In this moving account, General Dick Carr (Class of 1959) traces a connection that began at an Air Force Academy social in the 1960s and ended with a tragic assassination in the Philippines in 1989—leaving him to wonder at the sheer irony of survival.
Irony, in War and Peace
By General Dick Carr, USAF (Ret.)
After my first tour in Vietnam in 1963–64, I was recruited to teach Mathematics at the United States Air Force Academy. At a social one evening, I was chatting about Vietnam with the wife of the Math Department’s Operations Officer.
She told me about a high school classmate of hers named James Nicholas “Nikki” Rowe, a 1960 West Point graduate. He had been assigned to Vietnam in 1963, the same time as I was. Nikki was with the Special Forces in the Delta, working with a Civilian Defense Unit.
On October 29, 1963, his group was following a Viet Cong (VC) unit when they were ambushed. He was captured, along with a captain and a sergeant. For 62 months, he suffered torture and the usual mistreatment of a prisoner of war, being moved regularly to evade rescue. He was foiled in five escape attempts, but his sixth was successful. In 1971, he wrote a book about his ordeal, Five Years to Freedom. I remembered our conversation and bought the book; it is quite a read.
The Architect of Survival
In 1974, Nikki left active duty, but he was recalled in 1981 to Fort Bragg. There, he designed the “Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape” (SERE) program now used by all the services.
His life remained high-risk. I later learned that while on assignment in Greece, Delta Force had to move him due to intelligence that he was on a terrorist “hit list.” By 1987, he was assigned to the Philippines as Deputy Chief of JUSMAG (Joint US Military Assistance Group). He gained valuable intelligence and earned the deep respect of the Philippine government.
In February 1989, he sent a warning to Washington: communist guerrillas in the Philippines were planning a high-level assassination. He believed he was number two or three on their list.
A Meeting in Manila
Why am I writing about Nikki? Fast forward to my assignment in Korea as Chief of Staff of the United Nations Command (UNC). Our main activity was the monthly meeting at the DMZ with the North Korean delegation.
Because of the strict rules regarding country representation in the UNC, we faced a diplomatic crisis when the Philippine government wanted to pull their representative out of Korea. The Commander sent me to Manila to negotiate.
I arrived in Manila on April 3, 1989. A driver picked me up in an armored car. A few minutes into the drive, I asked the driver if the armor had been added locally. When he said yes, I asked why there appeared to be about a four-inch gap between the body and the roof that didn’t look armored.
The driver confirmed my observation and mentioned that the car belonged to Colonel Nick Rowe, the Deputy Chief, who was currently away on Temporary Duty (TDY).
I completed my business with the government and flew back to Korea on April 7, 1989.
The Rain of Bullets
Colonel Rowe returned from TDY shortly after. On April 21, 1989, he was in that same car, returning to the JUSMAG compound, when he was ambushed by communist terrorists. He was killed in a rain of bullets—at least one of which entered the car through the exact portion that wasn’t armored.
It was two weeks to the day since I had spent four days in that very same car.
We sometimes don’t know how close we have come to being terminated.
About the Author
Major General Richard "Dick" Carr (USAFA '59) served as the Chief of Staff for the United Nations Command and the South Korea/United States Combined Forces Command from 1988 to 1990. His career, which spanned from teaching mathematics at the Academy to overseeing strategic international negotiations, gave him a unique perspective on the strange, often tragic, coincidences of military life.
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