![]() ![]() The eventual plan was for an Army assault team to ride in one Air Force HH-3E Jolly Green Giant and five HH-53 helicopters to Son Tay, accompanied by two Air Force MC-130 Combat Talons that would navigate for them and two HC-130s to refuel the helicopters. “Bull” Simons, a strong, outspoken proponent of unorthodox operations who would lead the actual assault on the compound. Manor, commander of the USAF Special Operations Group at Eglin AFB, Fla. Moorer, the new Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, entrusted the mission to Air Force Brig. Weather figured strongly in planning.Īdm. It would be a strenuous mission over mountainous jungles at low altitudes. The flight from Udorn to Son Tay and back was a circuitous 687-mile route. To hit with total surprise, the raid would be staged from Takhli RTAFB in central Thailand and launched at night from Udorn, south of the Laotian border. A skilled pilot could land a small helicopter there, but it would probably be sacrificed if it struck the trees on descent. There was a small cleared area inside the compound, the size of a volleyball court, surrounded by trees more than forty feet high. One was a walled compound where prisoners were located, and the other was an administrative section. ![]() ![]() The POW camp was not very large and was built in two sections. High-altitude photos of the prison were taken frequently by SR-71 “Blackbirds” and low-altitude pictures by Buffalo Hunter reconnaissance drones. There were also air defense missile batteries and another compound nearby, labeled “secondary school” by intelligence specialists. US intelligence estimated that 12,000 North Vietnamese troops were stationed within a few miles of the POW camp. It would be a joint endeavor eventually involving twenty-six planners and a task force of 148 men to support and carry out the mission. It was code-named “Polar Circle.” Although such a bold idea did not “sell” immediately, it was eventually approved by the Joint Chiefs of Staff in July 1970 and given top-secret status. The General, working with the CIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the National Security Agency, developed a conceptual plan to extract the POWs. General Blackburn was given permission to conduct a feasibility study to determine if a rescue was possible. Blackburn, special assistant for Counterinsurgency and Special Activities under the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. (It was later established that fifty-seven POWs were held there at that time.) Analysts in Washington focused attention on the possibility that the American prisoners might be “extracted” from the camp by a specially trained force of Army and Air Force rescue experts. It was believed that at least fifty and possibly as many as 100 prisoners were located in this isolated camp. Son Tay, on the Song Con River about twenty-three miles west of Hanoi, was one of the prisons under surveillance. Within the Pentagon, a special, dedicated group was at work, locating and keeping an eye on all POW compounds through frequent aerial reconnaissance. Torture was a daily expectation maintaining their sanity on a meager diet and in solitary confinement was a challenge. While Washington had very little information about the POWs’ individual physical conditions, it was known that all were being held under the most primitive and inhumane conditions imaginable. ![]() More than half of them had been in prison more than 2,000 days. At the time, more than 450 Americans were held captive in the undeclared war in southeast Asia, eighty percent of them in North Vietnam. The story of the Son Tay raid can be said to begin in the spring of 1970 when it was reported that an increasing number of American prisoners of the North Vietnamese had died in prison from beatings, torture, and starvation by their captors. Unfortunately, the rescue effort itself turned out to be futile, though it produced unintended benefits. The President made the final go/no go decision. Moreover, it was the first major military operation to be conducted under the direct control of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The mission statement might have been expressed simply: “Rescue approximately fifty American POWs from Son Tay prison near Hanoi, North Vietnam.” However, the Air Force’s planning for this mission was as comprehensive and meticulous as any in the history of the service. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |