SACRAMENTO REGION, CA (MPG) - It was an unusual pairing during the Vietnam War. Future Navy pilot Richard C. (Dick) Perry and the Gambling Grandmother of Reno, Jessie Beck, met in 1953, while she worked part time at Harold’s Casino. Jessie, a University of Nevada in Reno student, and her husband Fred were running the Keno concession where Perry worked.

The compelling story of their developing friendship tells of the events in their lives, which together with Perry’s death, impacted thousands of our country’s fighting men in Vietnam from 1966 to 1975. Their story was recently turned into a short film, “Lady Jessie - A Vietnam Story” which can be seen on KVIE 6 Sacramento the weekend prior to Veteran’s Day.

On October 30, a free viewing of the 28-minute film, parts of which were filmed in Roseville, was shown at the Crest Theatre in Sacramento. Following the film Beth Ruyak, host of Insight, Capital Public Radio, shared the stage with five surviving members of Perry’s fighter squadron VA-164 as they spoke of their experiences and feelings 50 years later.

The friendship between Perry and Beck grew as she took him under her wing, and continued when he entered the Navy. Perry quickly became a well-respected leader and pilot, and was assigned to an A-4 Skyhawk with Navy Attack Squadron VA-164, known as the Ghostriders in 1966.

While Perry was flying bombing missions over Vietnam his squadron VA-164 and sister squadron VA-163, both stationed on the USS Oriskany, would receive huge packages packed by Beck and her helpers. These gifts ultimately made their way to sailors on other Navy ships.

In honor of her tireless work for his men, Perry gained the blessing of VA-164 commander Paul Engle to paint “Lady Jessie” on his plane, the only plane with a name in the Navy at the time.

Sadly, the Lady Jessie would fly its final mission on August 31, 1967. To the shock and disbelief of all, Perry was shot down several weeks after his 35^th birthday by a North Vietnamese surface to air missile (SAM). His body was found but it was too dangerous to recover at the time. The squadron then moved the name of “Lady Jessie” to the lead aircraft, a tradition that continued until 1975.

Jessie stepped up her work for combatants. Ultimately, Jessie ended up sending packages to military units across all of the armed services - the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, and getting many other people involved, including her own family, employees and the people of Reno. In 1968 she received the Award of Merit, the highest award the Defense Department can give a civilian.  It is estimated that tens of thousands of boxes were delivered from 1966-1975.

Beck died in 1987 at the age of 83, after a long career in Reno Gaming. But not before Perry’s body was recovered at the Bay of Tonkin 20 years after his death, and laid to rest in Arlington Cemetery.

Dates for “Lady Jessie” on KVIE 6: November 8, 2019 at 4 p.m.; November 9, 2019 at 7:30 p.m.; and November 10 at 6:30 p.m. plus multiple airings on KVIE 2.

Sources:

Suzanne Eckes-Wahl, Bloody Sixteen, Peter Fey,

The Rise of the Biggest Little City: An Encyclopedic History of Reno Gaming, John Brown (Jessie’s grandson)