We were told to pack our gear—that we were leaving Eglin AFB for our new undisclosed location the next day.
We didn’t have a chaplain in our group, but we did have Master Sgt Galen “Pappy” Kittleson. Pappy announced that he would be holding a prayer service in the barracks.
Pappy was respected by all the raiders and officers from the Bull down the chain of command. In World War II, Pappy had been an Alamo Scout (precursor to the Green Berets), just like Bull Simons. They both were on the raid that freed 500 POWs (survivors of the Bataan Death March) from the Cabanatuan POW camp in the Philippines. There’s a 2005 major motion picture about it called The Great Raid. Pappy was pretty famous in the Army, particularly in Special Forces.
When I walked into the barracks where Pappy was holding the prayer service, it really struck me, how many of these seasoned soldiers were there to pray on their knees to our Father in heaven.
Blueboy, at Eglin AFB’s Aux Field #3 exactly 50 years ago today.Greenleaf, at Eglin AFB’s Aux Field #3 exactly 50 years ago today.Redwine, at Eglin AFB’s Aux Field #3 exactly 50 years ago today.
Read the Raiders’ stories, in their own words, in Who Will Go.
[This is the fifth in a series. It will be a weekly challenge to historians: The Son Tay Raid was a SUCCESS. No qualifier is appropriate. Over these next few Fridays, I’ll show you why.]
Challenge 5: There is a word that is too often used in conversations about the Son Tay Raid. That word should be banished from any analysis of the Raid. You could say it’s an ‘F-word.’ We will challenge your thinking. It may take some humility to accept the truth.
Below are hundreds of reasons for the Raid.
The following is a listing of the US POWs who were in prison on the night of the Raid. However, it’s important to notice that the locations listed reflect those of each POW on November 23rd, 1970, two days after the Raid. Notice that no POWs remain in Camp Faith on November 23rd as the North Vietnamese Army immediately rushed to consolidate all POWs into two camps deep in Hanoi. In fact no POWs remain at any of the outlying camps.
You see, the Son Tay Raid succeeded. It sent the message to the North Vietnamese Government (and the POWs) that America will not let stand the abuse of our countrymen in POW camps.
The list below was made possible only by the solemn commitment made by the POWs to memorize the names of all the other POWs. POWs recited these names upon their return, to ensure an accounting for their brothers, both the surviving and the dead. Some of these men are reading this post today. We rise to honor you today.
“HH” is the Hanoi Hilton. To understand the other POW camps, there are two maps below. The first map shows the outlying POW camps that were used until the Son Tay Raid. The second map shows the POW camps that all the POWs were consolidated into after the Son Tay Raid.
This data was provided by the NAM-POW organization and Mike McGrath, Captain, US Navy (retired). You’ll find his name on this list.
These POW camps were used until the Son Tay Raid. (Source: Honor Bound, Naval Press Institute.)
Immediately after the Son Tay Raid, all POWs were consolidated into these POW camps, which are within Hanoi. In the list above, when applicable, the particular sections of these POW camps are specified. (Source: Honor Bound, Naval Press Institute.)
Read stories of many of these POWs, told in their own words, in Who Will Go.
Blueboy Assault Group’s priority was to gain control of the POWs as quickly as possible. They had to eliminate any chance that the guards might try to shoot the POWs. Captain Meadows was to announce on a bull horn,
“We’re Americans! Keep your head down! We’re Americans! This is a rescue! We’re here to get you out! Keep your head down! Get on the floor! We’ll be in your cells in a minute!”
In the photo below, Capt Dick Meadows has a CAR-15 with an ArmaLite Singlepoint Sight, The Bullhorn, Amber Goggles, The Miners’ Light, PRC-90 Survival Radio, and a knife strapped to his leg.
Read the stories of the Raiders, told in their own words, in Who Will Go.
[This is the fourth in a series. It will be a weekly challenge to historians: The Son Tay Raid was a SUCCESS. No qualifier is appropriate. Over these next few Fridays, I’ll show you why.]
Challenge 4: There is a word that is too often used in conversations about the Son Tay Raid. That word should be banished from any analysis of the Raid. You could say it’s an ‘F-word.’ We will challenge your thinking. It may take some humility to accept the truth. For far too long, the humility requirement has only been one-way. The truth is only revealed when you can take on a more mature mindset.
On this eve of our 2020 election, our nation may feel more divided than ever before.
But it’s not true: 50 years ago, we were as divided as we are today (arguably more).
1968-1970 had seen racial riots in our major cities. Police were being called “pigs.” Socialists and Communists played prominently in the 1968 Presidential election. In 1970 “Global COOLING” was the alarm. The Oil & Gas industry was portrayed as a villain. Celebrities held fundraisers for Black Panther Party who were ambushing police officers with guns and bombs. But in those years, there was much more: Assassinations of MLK and RFK, the Vietnam War, the anti-war movement, Kent State, and Hanoi Jane.
Into this came a heart-warming story of noble men: The Son Tay Raid. No matter your party affiliation, we can choose to acknowledge that President Nixon nobly championed the Raiders. We can all give thanks for Nixon’s honorable commitment to the men of the Raid both before and after.
But this is not about President Nixon—it’s about America…because the American people spoke with unified praise of the Son Tay Raid. After all the finger pointing in Senate hearings, the following resolutions from the sovereign body speaking on behalf of the people of the United States proclaimed the beauty of the Son Tay Raid.
Excerpts from the resolutions of the House and Senate.
Read the stories of the Raiders, told in their own words, in Who Will Go.
With 5 decades of research and fact-finding we can put awaysome of the untruths that abound.
Myth #1: “The North Vietnamese knew we were thinking about rescuing POWs at Son Tay.”
This post is going to be somewhat striking. How often do you get to hear the actual, heartfelt words of a loyal, atheist, Communist General? (His photo is below.)
General Phung The Tai, was the North Vietnamese Deputy Chief of the General Staff at the time of the Raid. He wrote the following comments at age 88 in 2008. He felt compelled to clear the air concerning boastful, untrue stories told by other military members of the North Vietnamese Army. The General’s story was provided by John Gargus as translated by Merle Pribbenow:
“In just two years I will be 90 years old and will have been a Party member for 70 years. I will not be long before I leave this earth to follow Uncle Ho. That is the reason that I wanted to tell people about all of the things that previous books have not been able to discuss about my seventy years of following Uncle Ho and the Party while serving in many different positions and participating in matters that were so secret we were supposed to keep them secret until our deaths.”
“There was an article about the Son Tay Raid by a certain author that claimed that our intelligence obtained advance information about this raid and that this was why we transferred around 100 prisoners of war to another location, and that was why the raid failed to rescue any prisoners. That is bull–it is not true. This raid took us completely by surprise. If we had received advance warning we would have captured several of their helicopters and all of the enemy commandos.”
“When the raid took place, I was away on a working trip to Military Region 4 with Van Tien Dung. Vo Nguyen Giap sent me an urgent message instructing me to return to Hanoi right away and summoning me to come in to brief him on the raid. All I could do when I got there was to hang my head in shame and accept responsibility. I strove to defend myself by saying that we had received not a single report from Department 2 (the Military Intelligence Department) to alert us that this raid was coming.”
“This may have been the most painful, most humiliating incident of my entire military career. For several days after the raid I could neither eat nor sleep. Sometimes I just sat in my office thinking about how almost one hundred American commandos had arrogantly swept through the prison camp…and then had climbed back onto their helicopters and got away scot free – it almost drove me crazy.”
“I gnashed my teeth and pounded my fist on my desk as I told myself, ‘If we had just had some advance warning, we would have gotten all six of their helicopters and captured this entire team of their most elite commandos!”
“However, I told myself that at least it was fortunate that I had transferred the prisoners to another location. If I had not done this, then a thousand years would not have been enough time for me to get over my anger and my shame about this incident.”
General Phung The Tai is no longer with us because he followed his Uncle Ho out of our midst in March of 2015. He was a very devout Communist who followed his Party’s guidelines for constructive self-criticism. His story is convincing. The North Vietnamese had no idea that a POW raid was being contemplated.
North Vietnamese Army Colonel General Phung The Tai retired in 1987. https://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ph%C3%B9ng_Th%E1%BA%BF_T%C3%A0i
Thank you to the incomparable John Gargus, Colonel USAF (ret), for his research provided for this article.
