Tag Archives: The Son Tay Raid

Gen Manor and Bull brief the CIA and Joint Chiefs of Staff…

Air Force, Army, Marines, Navy, POW,

…exactly 50 years ago this past weekend.

Story by USAF 1st Lt Mickey Batsell, General’s Aide for Brig General Leroy Manor

As preparations for the Son Tay rescue mission began, the daily routine changed. It was important to continue as much as possible all appearances of “everything as usual.” Normal duty hours continued from 7:30am to 4:30pm. Head home for dinner as normal. But then it was back to the office around 8pm until the early hours of the morning.

Security was of utmost concern. We made several trips to Andrews AFB and the Pentagon. I was charged with carrying a briefcase containing a number of classified documents.

One night back at SOF HQ (USAF Special Operations Forces headquarters at Eglin AFB) around 2am, BGen Manor called me and asked me to round up Colonel Bull Simons to come to a meeting in his office. I promptly went to Colonel Simons quarters to extend the invitation.

When I arrived, one of Colonel Simons’ NCOs was sitting outside the front door. I explained to the NCO that BGen Manor would like Colonel Simons to come to a meeting. The sergeant told me that Colonel Simons was asleep. I asked the sergeant to wake him up. His reply: “With all due respect, lieutenant, you can wake him up.”

I was a bit stunned by that and started to take a step through the door. “You might want to think twice about that sir, because the Colonel sleeps with a loaded 45 under his pillow.”

I heeded the sergeant’s advice and paused to consider my options. After a few pensive moments, I said, “Sarge, when he wakes up, would you tell him that BGen Manor needs to see him?” The good sergeant replied, “Yes sir,” and I went on my way.

In the image from the Log, you see that Bull Simons (BGen Manor was there too) briefed the Director of the CIA, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the commander of Pacific Command (John McCain’s father).

The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff: Admiral Thomas Moorer.
The Commander of Pacific Command:
Admiral McCain (father of Senator John McCain, who was a POW at the time).
The Director of the CIA : Richard Helms

Read the rest of Mickey Batsell’s story in Who Will Go.

Click Here:  The book.

Blowing the doors off at Eglin AFB…

Army,

Friday September 25th, 1970

…exactly 50 years ago this week

Here’s some of the technique we used for clearing a building. As a two-man team with Capt Dan Turner, we would first toss a concussion grenade into the building. Why use a concussion grenade and not a frag grenade? The answer is very simple–the buildings we were clearing of bad guys were not made of concrete, but of a material that a piece of frag would fly through.

Capt Dan would be on one side of the doorway and I would be on the other side of the door. As soon as the concussion grenade exploded it would generally blow the door open or in some cases completely off.

(l-r) MSgt Joe Lupyak, Sgt John Lippert, Sgt 1st Class Billy Martin, and Sgt 1st Class Tyrone Adderly about October 20th, 1970. Billy Martin’s machine gun is an M-60.
Lupyak, Lippert and Adderly have CAR-15s. Adderly also has an M-79 grenade launcher.

Read the rest of their technique for clearing a room and Sgt Terry Buckler’s full story in Who Will Go.

Click Here:  The book.

Learning what the Chainsaw was for…

Air Force, Army,

Thursday Sept 24th, 1970
…exactly 50 years ago this week

During our early walkthroughs, we learned that a couple of our men from Redwine were going to have to bring down some power poles to make the LZ safer for when the helicopters return to pick us up.

<<Fast forward to the actual Raid.  Here’s how bringing down the poles turned out to be more complicated than we thought.>>

“0228 hours, November 21st, 1970
Son Tay, North Vietnam

One of Redwine’s roles was to clear the planned LZ by cutting down light poles. That task revealed one frustrating surprise.

We had brought a chainsaw to cut down certain wooden telephone poles, but Sgt 1st Class Charles Masten and Sgt 1st Class Ronnie Strahan were to blow up a tall, concrete light pole.
The moment that Masten and Strahan had finished placing the four one-pound packets of C-4 explosive, were ready to blow, and were confirming that they should activate the fuse, Apple 1 was arriving (it had been delayed)! They waited until Apple 1 had landed, offloaded Greenleaf, and departed.

Ensured of safety, they detonated the C-4. BAAMM!

As the pole rose into the air in a huge flash of light, Masten and Strahan could see that this was NOT a light pole—it had four large high-tension power lines! Dancing sparks were everywhere as the four huge power lines hit the rice paddies—the very rice paddies in which our soldiers and POWs would be marshalling to load the returning choppers!

Were we going to have to find a new location for the LZ?

Masten, Strahan, and Capt Jim McClam, as MACO (Marshalling Area Control Officer), immediately set about ensuring they understood the location of all the lines and whether they were hot. After assessing the situation and ensuring there were no other potential hazards, they began placing the “beanbag lights” in an area suitably distant from the power lines.

Life Lesson 7: Don’t be a Complainer. The world is moving on and needs people to solve problems. Evaluate your situation, make a decision, and execute any new plan without complaining and feeling sorry for yourself.”

See the “BLOWN POWER POLE” in the reconnaissance image, after the mission.

Read Sgt Terry Buckler’s full story in Who Will Go.

Click Here:  The book.

Walking through the mission’s RTO role…

Army,

Wednesday Sept 23rd, 1970
…exactly 50 years ago this week

Capt Dan Turner and I were a two-man team. As the RTO (Radiotelephone Operator) for Redwine Security Group, my job was (in Capt Dan’s words): “I want you an arm’s length from me.”

The primary job of our two-man team was to make our way to the Communications Building as fast as we could to neutralize the people inside the building before… they could radio for reinforcements.

We had two buildings to clear (Buildings 11 and 12 on the Diagram in Chapter 16 in the book Who Will Go) before we could get to the Communications Building (7A in the diagram in the book).

Read Sgt Terry Buckler’s full story in Who Will Go.

Click Here:  The book.

Overhearing the words “rescuing prisoners”…

Army,

Tuesday Sept 22nd, 1970
…exactly 50 years ago this week

Story by Capt Tom Jaeger, Blueboy

When we volunteered for the Son Tay mission, we were only told it was dangerous. We trained hard for three months without being told what the actual mission was.

However, one morning in the second week of training at Aux Field #3 (mid-September), Capt Dick Meadows, my roommate, asked me to assist him and LtCol Sydnor at the Mockup training site. While at the training site I overhead Dick accidentally say “prisoners” three separate times talking with LtCol Sydnor. That afternoon Dick asked me to not mention his “prisoner” slip-up to anyone. I told him I would not.

From that morning on, I tried to think about what mission would involve rescuing prisoners. American POWs in North Vietnam obviously came to mind, but I thought it was impossible to put a 56-man raiding force on the ground deep into the heart of North Vietnam and expect that we could get out with the POWs. I thought the more likely mission would be to rescue American POWs thought to be held in caves in the Laotian tri-border area, something my FOB-2 recon team had attempted several times but were shot out each time. I guessed wrong.

Read the rest of this and two more of Tom Jaeger’s memorable moments in Who Will Go.

Click Here:  The book.