Snow White
Or, the Raid on Luang Namtha
Since I haven't been chronological in this blog, there is no reason to begin now. The Raid on Luang Namtha was not a raid on that particular hamlet, but very near to it. It was midway in my time in Laos and fortunately for me, not my first operation in country or this would have probably freaked me out. I have not to this day been real sure of who was involved. I knew most of the CIA personnel in Laos. James Bradley was the person I reported to when in Vientiane. Tony Poe was the operator in Long Trieng and worked with Gen.Vang Pao, but I think Jerry Daniels was the station chief there.. Richard Holm was, I think , at Ba Na west of Long Trieng and I heard that he ended up at Savannakhet. I don't know who the CIA honcho was at Savannakhet if it wasn't him. Bradley was in charge of this particular mission. Now I knew him as Colonel Bradley, but I don't think he was a colonel. I don't think he was military although he could have been one in the past. He rarely acted like he was in the military and I never saw him in uniform but twice and it didn't fit him very well in either case. The actual cast of characters who were involved is still a mystery to me. I know that some PARU were involved because they were with me. There certainly were some CIA operators. I believe that the B-26's used in this operation were out of Tahkli and Udorn, but since they carried no markings, I have no way of knowing for sure. The T-28's could have been out of Vientiane or Long Trieng, but I don't think so because I didn't recognize the voices of the flight leader. Where the C-123 came from that carried us up north, I can only guess. The helicopters used were of unknown origin as well. They would be Bell 204's. They had no markings of any government or Air America. I suspect that they used the Bells because they were faster and could lift heavier loads at higher altitudes than the H-34's that were also available. I can only suppose they belonged to the CIA. I have no idea as to where they came from or where they went after the mission was completed. The mission was called "Snow White".
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Bell 204B Helicopter from Air America's Fleet |
I originally was told this was an operation to capture gun runners out of China and/or Burma bringing arms to the Pathet Lao troops on the Plain of Jars. I was just naive enough to believe that information at the outset of the operation. It should have been obvious to me that they didn't need to bring weapons into Laos that way as they had a funnel right down the border of North Vietnam and Laos called the Ho Chi Minh Trail. However, after the operation got underway, it became obvious that it was not weapons they were after, it was the white powder, opium, that they had their sights on.
This operation was to take place south of Luang Namtha, about 25 miles from the China border. This site was chosen because it would be the least expected place for an ambush being it was that close to China. There was to be pack train of up to 50 mules, guarded by some 20 to 30 armed men. We wouldn't know exactly how many until the operation was underway. As with other missions I was to handle the air ops in and out of the ambush site. I was to be sent in with two four man PARU units. One group would jump with me and they would carry the radios to the operational site. The second PARU team would jump 10 miles from the site and carry a portable TACAN unit in with them. This was to be used by the aircraft to find the ambush site. After the air assets crossed the TACAN, then I would take over operational control from that time onward. The one thing that really bothered me about the TACAN was that it was on one of several known frequencies.....known not only by the friendlies, but also by the enemy. It was anyone's guess how long it would take Chinese, North Vietnamese, or Russian advisers to pinpoint its location and then try to knock it out. The plan was to turn it on about one hour before the strike. The TACAN team would jump first followed a minute or two later by my team and the ambush unit. We were told to prepare for a three day trip although it probably wouldn't take but two days.
At the pre-ops briefing we were told that we would have two flights, one of two B-26's and one of four T-28's for the operation. The B-26's would be used in the initial attack and the T-28's for air cover during extraction. The second flight could also be used to finish up what the first flight may have failed to accomplish. The first flight was to use the call sign Tango with the flight leader Tango One. The second flight would use the call sign Echo with it's flight leader Echo One. The extraction helicopters would go by the call sign Zulu with Zulu One being the lead helicopter. The missions call sign was "Snow White" and it was the call sign I would use during the mission. It was one of the many code names for opium. I had heard it called China White before, but in this instance it was "Snow White." We would ingress via a low level parachute jump out of a C-123, I would jump with my PARU team and jumping with us would be 15 para-military types who would carry out the actual operation. When they boarded the aircraft, they were a mixture of Thai mercs and American personnel.
I have no idea as to who the Caucasians were....maybe SOG guys, maybe CIA. They were in military uniforms but not American uniforms. They were heavily armed with AK-47's, sub-machine guns, side arms, grenades, and one BAR. They looked like they were carrying 60 to 70 pounds of gear each. There were no patches, rank, or anything else that would identify who they were. From the moment they boarded the aircraft they talked to each other in hushed tones and never said a word to me the whole flight north. I did figure out they were speaking French which the Thais understood as a second language.
I was told that we would fly the same route that some weapons smugglers used in flying contraband weapons south, and probably no one would pay much attention to our C-123 flying that route at night. I was sure hoping that was the case. It actuality, it was the same route the drug smugglers flew, not gun runners. But it did make sense to me at the time. Making a night jump in Laos, even from 1000 feet AGL (above ground level) was a sticky wicket. You had to depend on the pilots to put you on the DZ. Miss by a few hundred yards or by a mile and you ended up in the forest canopy. Not a great option I can certify by personal experience ( I once hung in a tree for three hours because it was dark and I had no idea how far off the ground I was. It turned out I was about 50 feet off the ground. A good thing I didn't hit the quick release during the night. It was also a good thing that there were no Pathet Lao in the area as well.).
(To Be Continued in Next Post.)
At the pre-ops briefing we were told that we would have two flights, one of two B-26's and one of four T-28's for the operation. The B-26's would be used in the initial attack and the T-28's for air cover during extraction. The second flight could also be used to finish up what the first flight may have failed to accomplish. The first flight was to use the call sign Tango with the flight leader Tango One. The second flight would use the call sign Echo with it's flight leader Echo One. The extraction helicopters would go by the call sign Zulu with Zulu One being the lead helicopter. The missions call sign was "Snow White" and it was the call sign I would use during the mission. It was one of the many code names for opium. I had heard it called China White before, but in this instance it was "Snow White." We would ingress via a low level parachute jump out of a C-123, I would jump with my PARU team and jumping with us would be 15 para-military types who would carry out the actual operation. When they boarded the aircraft, they were a mixture of Thai mercs and American personnel.
I have no idea as to who the Caucasians were....maybe SOG guys, maybe CIA. They were in military uniforms but not American uniforms. They were heavily armed with AK-47's, sub-machine guns, side arms, grenades, and one BAR. They looked like they were carrying 60 to 70 pounds of gear each. There were no patches, rank, or anything else that would identify who they were. From the moment they boarded the aircraft they talked to each other in hushed tones and never said a word to me the whole flight north. I did figure out they were speaking French which the Thais understood as a second language.
I was told that we would fly the same route that some weapons smugglers used in flying contraband weapons south, and probably no one would pay much attention to our C-123 flying that route at night. I was sure hoping that was the case. It actuality, it was the same route the drug smugglers flew, not gun runners. But it did make sense to me at the time. Making a night jump in Laos, even from 1000 feet AGL (above ground level) was a sticky wicket. You had to depend on the pilots to put you on the DZ. Miss by a few hundred yards or by a mile and you ended up in the forest canopy. Not a great option I can certify by personal experience ( I once hung in a tree for three hours because it was dark and I had no idea how far off the ground I was. It turned out I was about 50 feet off the ground. A good thing I didn't hit the quick release during the night. It was also a good thing that there were no Pathet Lao in the area as well.).
(To Be Continued in Next Post.)
