Martinez Man Reveals His Top Secret Work With The Government

When meeting Raymond Gentry, Alhambra class of ’64 in Starbucks on Wednesday morning, we were there to discuss something that he had kept secret for most of his life – something he could not discuss with anyone at all, without facing charges of treason. Until September, that is, when the work he did from 1968 to 1971 was finally declassified.

Gentry was in the Air Force, stationed in Hawaii. His job was to be part of the flight crew that retrieved spy satellites falling back to earth after taking videos and photographs of the Soviet Union, China, and other potential U.S. adversaries back during the Cold War.

The entire program, called Hexagon, was a miracle of technology, determination, and unbelievable flying skill. The crew flew a C130 and used a grapping hook to snag a falling capsule from the sky. Gentry stood facing down at 30,000 feet, helping guide the plane to its target.

“Mt. Everest is 29,000 feet,” Gentry said. “The temperature up there was minus 17 degrees.”

The capsule held photographs and sound recordings taken by the satellite from space. This was the early 1970s, recall.

“Imagine what they can do now,” Gentry said.

He came to the project after serving a rotation in Viet Nam as a ground mechanic from 1964 to 1967.

“That September, they were hurting for aircraft mechanics and any kind of flight crew. People were getting out because of opposition to the war,” he said.

He re-enlisted for a chance at a college education at the University of Hawaii, and wound up working on the then-top secret program.

“At that time, the Air Force was hiding everything in plain site,” Gentry said. “We just couldn’t talk about it. We would retrieve the capsule, land at the airport, and drive the capsule to a destroyer on Pearl Harbor, just me and an Air Force security officer.”

It was thanks to the spy satellite program that the nation learned of Russian missiles being installed in Cuba, leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

“They would launch the satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base. It would fly over Russia, or China, or even Viet Nam,” he said. “Then the capsule would come down on a parachute. We would go up to retrieve it. I would be standing in the back of the plane on the right, and told the pilot what was going on. The door was open and I was staring down at the ocean from 30,000 feet in the air. It was exhilarating.”

Today, Gentry can be seen most mornings in the Main Street Starbucks, moderating the very popular Facebook group Remembering Martinez. But he has fond memories of his time in the classified project.

“We felt we were doing something important,” he said. “Plus, it was a lot of fun.”