Hide Article Text (OCR)
U.S. advisers keepingtfheicHAIRandlt;irk.Laos from collapsingHubert Kaylur, a paratroop vcltrun. has cow red both the Vietnam war and the secret wad' in I.no,s. In the following dispatch he examines in detail the. role aj lie I .S. advisers in I.nos.under contract lo the U.S. government.His official job is training Laotians to fly their own helicopters. But when the tricky votvement is not openly ad- job of evacuating artilleryThese airmen support the U.S. air war in Laos, manning radar stations which pick out targets and run sur veillance on North Vietnam and providing liaison betweenH/PickexcitrteUUendnpnokoils,01 aroutWOAComR-.lGrJ3sr'secliW0h:s;e■ee*n-FillId!5..0-ii-ined«r-By ROBERT KAYLORVIENTIANE, Lacs tl/PlJ— mitted. pieces from a Laotian base in the Lao and U.S. air support,it was early morning. A sandy- Of a total ut about 830 per- danger of being overrun by “Jolty Green Giant” heli-h2i:ed ytfjng man in faded snns that the U.S. mission ac- the Communists came along, ccpters ancj their big broth-blue jeans and a sports shirt knowledges as employed by it was the warrant officer and er* the HU53B “Buffs” oper-sat on a bench in the Air the U.S. government in Laos, an American crewman who ale' 0n rescue and suoportAmerica terminal, waiting for about 80 or so are military did the flying rather than one missions in northern Laos andhis flight. personnel, working for the or Air America’s pilots. have harboring siles thereHe looked almost like the U.S. Army and Air Force at- A c c o r d i n § to military military sources -ayguy next door back in the tache offices at the American sources, mml of the ground AIRLINESUnited States. The only give- embassy here. advisarv functions are run outaway were his short haircut But military sources in the of Long Cheng, with onlyand his green and black T h a i 1 a n d-Laos region say scattered groups of advisersjungle bools like the ones »; h e. r e is an American working with volunteer units\v:rn by U.S. combat troops adv's-ory, training and sup- in the southern part of thelostFOUNrrvalFOWPV.HaFourcar:Frein Vietnam. p3rt system going far beyondHe said he was headed for these numbers. It cuts acrossthe airfield at Long Cheng, fne border between Thailandforward headquarters of the and Laos. Some of its mem-“Ciandcsbne Army” of Maj. bers have civilian status andcountry.It has never been disclosed how many such advisersGen. Vang Pao. and from there back to his job in the hills of norlh Laos.The Ameriian declined to say jusl what that job was. When his plane was ready totemporary duty in Laos.there are. An estimate ofabout 300 was once pub- woUnde“d‘outlrom batlisned. Lao military .unZu-In addition, there arc the officially acknowledged civilian contract airlines, Air America Inc., and Continental Air Services, which support Lao military forces. Air America flies unmarked H34 helicopters which haul trocps and ammunition andFOWOwfLOSTViewa:L051I lt;RaIn Laos, the hub of the sys- sources described this figuretem is at Long Cheng, where as exaggerated.Vang Pao's army of Lao and By way of comparison,Thai mountain tribesmen is when the U.S. Special Forcesknown to be administered and moved into South Vietnam in1051arkPellefields.Air America has about 210 American employes working in Laos arid more based at Udorn. from where the hcli-LOVIVicRtan mt est ink 1 a ind re-tes mg italmi-leave he said goisdhy, picked supervised by Hie Central In- 19R1 In take over a somewhat ccPje.re n; I1 has Americansup a military B4 suitcase, and telligence Agency (CIA), anorganization with a passion That encoonter too* place for secrecy, some months back, before the In Thailand, the systemcurrent Communist offensive works out of several centers,in Laos. Lao military sources Among ihern are the U.S. air-say that nothing has changed base at Udorn, about 58 milesLOS'wiLeLCSPIFrbivWisimilar program from the ■or“nK at fnrwa,rd c“CIA. they did it with about lcatlons fes “ 1L.aosJ ai,d,15m men known to have Thai pilots fly-Military sources say that ,ng ch°PPers-some of the men who work Continental Air Service, with the clandestine army newer and smaller, acknowl-h a v e Green Beret back- edSes about 70 U.S. employesLOSVi«dkLOSdcRnstisivceve,’er-Uietoonebeis\ oniverrialre-pro-in the intervening months, from Vientiane; an airbase at grounds and others have sim- in Laos. Many of the contractand that there are other Nakorn Phanom just across ilar military histories. They have military back-Americans like the or.e at the the Mekong River from Laos, are under instructions to grounds, terminal. and a military complex north avoid getting Into actual com- There are other former ser-rlicy are part of a cum- 0f Bangkok at Lopburi, head- bat themselves. vicemen with jobs in a civil-plicated infrastructure that quarters for U.S. Green Bcr- But casualties do occur. An ian status. At one point Airhas been built to prop up a ets in Thailand. American officer was trapped America’s air drop operationsLaotian defense establishment Military sources say the at Moung Soii northwest of were being supervised by aInat Lao and American offi- U S. advisers are in a support the Plain of Jars last year chut rigger,cials agree would long ago and training role that meets when it was overrun by North Another former specialhave collapsed without their the Nixon administration's Vietnamese soldiers and was forces man, a medic with pri-'ie*P- guideline of no ground troops killed, according to reliablefart of the infrastructure is in Laos, but that, sometimes it sources.can come close to combat In addition to the groundconditions. advisory efforts, militaryFor example, n U.S. Army sources say there is also awarrant officer flies an H34 sizeable U.S. Air Force con- Long Cheng. His paycheckmilitary helicopter based at tingcnt operating in norlhern was coining from the U.S.try that is technically neulral Udorn and belonging lo Air Laos on temporary duly slat- Public Health Service. Adv.and where U.S. military in- America, a civilian company us from Thailand. for PMS Wed. March 4LOS*74lurcPeiAlyAHa)■visib’c un the surface in the capital of Vientiane. Part of it. like the American in blue jeans and jungle boots, normally is not visible in a coun-or experience in both Viet nam and Laos, was working at a U.S.sponscred mililary hospital for military casu-allies at San Thong, nearDOI.GlUWj
Newspaper Details
Argus
Fremont, California, US
Thu, Mar 26, 1970
Page 11
Full Page
Clipped by
Tim G.
USA 21 May 2019
Other Publications Near Fremont, California
Argus
Fremont Argus
