America's Secret War in Laos Uncovered. From 1964 to 1972, far beyond the battlefields of Vietnam and the glare of media distortions, American Green Berets and their indigenous troops fought a deadly secret war in Laos, Cambodia and North Vietnam under the aegis of the top secret Military Assistance Command Vietnam — Studies and Observations Group, or simply SOG. Gerhard Joren/LightRocket/Getty Images Although they were hired and paid by the CIA, the soldiers who fought in the Secret War are not recognized as US veterans, and they receive no associated benefits. Though many Hmong and ethnic people fought in the Secret War, many veterans may not know the geographic layout of Laos and distribution of the Military resources of men and fighting. Some historians described it as a scar on the agency and on the US. A new book by Joshua Kurlantzick examines how the U.S. involvement in Laos in the 1960s and 1970s transformed the CIA from an intelligence-gathering organization into a war-fighting one. The CIA-organized group of Hmong tribesmen fighting in the Vietnam War is known as the "Secret Army", and their participation was called the Secret War, where the Secret War is meant to denote the Laotian Civil War (1960–1975) and the Laotian front of the Vietnam War. More bombs were dropped on Laos than over Germany and Japan in WWII combined. The secret war in Laos began with a few occasional hill tribe employees but by the late 1970's had turned into a multi-U.S.-intelligence agency supported 30,000+ member 'Secret Army' of irregulars who : secured villages, fought invaders, defended against civil war enemies, protected secret U.S. installations that 'officially' didn't exist, rescued downed American pilots from places they didn't 'officially' fly over, etc. Wheat, The Hmong & Americans Secret War in . It was also an interagency run war – State Department, Department of Defense, the intelligence community, USIS, USAID, and so on. The light turned green and we pulled out onto the main road. More often, it seems to satisfy our own thirst for righteousness, rather than bring about change. Was the Soviet James Bond Vladimir Putin's role model? Many of the disparaging critiques of the CIA in Laos were simpler for me to explain away - some decisions were profoundly out of the control of my father or Tom Norton. But in the case of child soldiers, it seemed like CIA officers like my father could have drawn a line in the sand. Tens of thousands died, both in the fight and in the escape. Meanwhile Laos … The Laotian Civil War (1959–1975) was a civil war in Laos which was waged between the Communist Pathet Lao (including many North Vietnamese of Lao ancestry) and the Royal Lao Government from 23 May 1959 to 2 December 1975. The Ravens. Scholars:-Keith Quincy author of . COL Clyde R. Russell; COL Donald R. Blackburn; COL John K. “Jack” Singlaub; COL Stephen E. Cavanaugh; COL John F. “Skip” Sadler When he didn't smirk and the silence became dense, it occurred to me that he was serious. The Hmong, with a long history of independence and scrappiness, fought with the Royal Lao government in the Laotian civil war from 1959 to 1975, against the Communist Pathet Lao. What did the United States promise if the Hmong fought for them? When all is said and done, the only admonishment I have for my father is that he never discussed his life with me. The war in Laos – known as the “Land of a Million Elephants” – had to be a secret one because the Geneva Agreements that guided the French departure from Indochina banned the use of foreign troops into the country. AUSA: Out of the many stories found in the book, is there one you would like to highlight? Vang Pao, Hmong Leader And General Who Led Secret War In Laos, Has Died : The Two-Way He was known to some of his countryman as the George Washington of the Hmong. Throughout production of the radio documentary, there was a muscular social pressure to admonish my father, Tom Norton, and the CIA. September 9, … A journalist looks for the truth of his father’s role in one of the largest clandestine missions in US history. By Arnold R. Isaacs. Col. Joseph Celeski, U.S. Army, Ret., who served 23 of his 30 years of service in the Special Forces, has used these documents and extensive interviews with veterans to finally tell the story in The Green Berets in the Land of a Million Elephants. "I think we had sort of an informal rule, " Tom said. He was 15 years old when he joined that force, which was aligned with the CIA in … 0. This program permits AUSA members to purchase these titles at a discounted rate. Peter Lang-Stanton set out to make a radio documentary about the truth of his father's role in one of the largest clandestine missions in US history, but he didn't realise the emotional minefield of investigating a loved one's past, still shrouded in secrecy. The Laotian Civil War was fought from 1961-1975, in the midst of the Vietnam War. : Christopher Robbins. I think he was both effective and an impressive leader for his two years serving in the Land of a Million Elephants, starting in August of 1960. For eight years, far beyond the battlefields of Vietnam and the glare of media distortions, American Green Berets fought a deadly secret war in Laos and Cambodia under the aegis of the top secret Military Assistance Command Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group, or SOG. It was run almost solely by about 11 Special Forces teams. My father had a deadpan sense of humour, but if this was another dad joke, I thought, it seemed very elaborate and not very funny. The Ravens also flew armed reconnaissance, seeking out North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao forces along the Ho Chi Minh trail to attack. When: 10 a.m. Saturday. Men with codenames like Mule and Igor emailed me. But, here is a little introduction and map that will help sort out some of the main players and their machinations. 5 Reviews. He also said he would take a cheque. It is associated with the Cambodian Civil War and the Vietnam War, with both sides receiving heavy external support in a proxy war between the global Cold War superpowers. Yang worked for the Central Intelligence Agency during America’s covert war in Laos, flying surveillance missions over Viet Cong supply lines. Joshua Kurlantzick, A Great Place to Have a War: America in Laos and the Birth of a Military CIA (Simon & Schuster, 2017) If you work at it, you can make a case that Americans fought on the right side in Vietnam. Laos, “U.S. Colonel Celeski answered a few questions to give some insight into his new addition to the AUSA Book Program: AUSA: When did you decide to write this book? The Ravens: The Men Who Flew in America’s Secret War in Laos. The U.S. dropped more than 2 million tons of bombs on the impoverished country during its “secret war” between 1964 and 1973 — about a ton of ordnance for each Laotian man, woman and child. From the early 1960s through 1973, the U.S. was engaged in a secret way in Laos. The photo of the child soldier completely changed the path of the documentary. "Secret War" Veterans Granted National Cemetery Burials. As we drove through our town, a suburban huddle of strip malls and telephone poles, he told me he had worked undercover for the CIA for almost 40 years. The Ravens: Covert War in Laos - The CIA's Secret War during Vietnam and the Men Who Fought It. "Yes. NAKHON PHANOM, Thailand (UPI)- The U.S. Air Force is waging a secret and unconventional phase of the air war in Southeast Asia from this base across the Mekong River from Laos. They are frozen in amber and each time we conjure them, we distort them. I decided to focus on the gaps in our history which have not been covered more widely in the military history literature. Their strategic mission was to prevent the country from toppling over to the communist side (or at least keep it neutral) while U.S. conventional forces fought next door in South Vietnam. The tale of a young Green Beret medic, Vietnam combat veteran with the top secret Studies and Observations Group (SOG) who was recruited by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).Schofield worked 5½ years providing medical support for the Hmong and other Hill Tribes who fought the CIA’s secret war in Northern Laos, and was among the last Americans to leave SE Asia in … 4 views. This is the story of Thai civilians who volunteered to fight in Laos as Forward Air Guides (FAGs) in support of Thai, Lao and U.S. forces in the Laotian Civil War (1953-75), a key battleground of the Second Indochina War. We looked through hundreds of pictures, many of my father in Long Tieng, the CIA's secret base for the shadow war in Laos. Click on the link to see the article. You're still the same people," Tom said. I gave Xing the opportunity to admonish the CIA and the US - a man with as much right as anyone to be upset - but he decidedly did not take it. Celeski: Probably in late 2013, and certainly by January of 2014 after my goal of working at least 10 years after retirement in September 2004 before finding a new hobby. Share this: Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window) Heirs of the ‘Secret War’ in Laos. U.S. aid had been flowing into Laos since 1954, the year French forces fell at Dien Bien Phu. He was a strong supporter of the use of U.S. Army Special Forces to achieve his diplomatic objectives. And then there were all types of other allegations - drug-trafficking, carpet-bombing and even the use of Hmong children as soldiers in the secret army. The AUSA Book Program offers quality books about Army heritage, military theory and policy, and security in the modern world. Watts (aka Tom Norton) was one of my father's best friends in the CIA. What: A memorial statue will honor the Hmong-Lao veterans who fought during the Secret War in Laos. Before the war, between 300,000 and 400,000 Hmong lived in Laos. It's hard to determine whether the CIA were empowering the Hmong, or hiring them. Most Americans first began to hear about Laos in 1961, at a time when that country's neighbor to the east, Vietnam, was equally unknown. Was he upset with the Americans for what happened? The war, like most during that time, was fought against the threat of communism. It was the height of the Cold War, and the CIA sent my father and a … Celeski: There are a few worth mentioning, and I do not want to take away anything from all of the Army veterans who served and fought in Laos in many engagements between the Pathet Lao and the North Vietnamese Army. It is associated with the Cambodian Civil War and the Vietnam War, with both sides receiving heavy external support in a proxy war between the global Cold War superpowers. Or perhaps I simply wanted them to be. Read about our approach to external linking. After nine years of war, seven billion dollars, three and a half million tons of bombs, a half-million dead, and 750,000 homeless, the US had failed to achieve any of the objectives it had aimed for. To order a copy of The Green Berets in the Land of a Million Elephants, visit www.ausa.org/books. Laotian officials give the same figures. When the Americans withdrew from Laos in 1973, hundreds of thousands of refugees fled the country, and many of them ultimately resettled in the United States. Accompany your advised unit into the field and fight with them in combat – that’s key and essential to have credibility as an advisor. © 2021 Association of the United States Army, AUSA Now – 2020 Annual Meeting & Exposition. I asked Tom Norton at his home in South Carolina. But for the subject of the book, the guerrilla warfare program on the Bolovens Plateau region is one of the most successful uses of unconventional warfare. This was my father's first mission in the Central Intelligence Agency. "No-one is righteous," Xing Yang told us before we left. FAGs were U.S. By Bob Woodruff and Karson Yiu. On that chaotic morning, the Secret War … He was taken to a military base, given a gun, and trained to clean, load, and shoot it. “The United States acknowledges that the Hmong people fought for them,” says The Secret War in Laos can only find closure if the story of the conflict is in the public domain. The Laos–Hmong memorial commemorates the veterans of the "Secret War" in Laos who fought against invading Soviet Union-backed North Vietnam Army forces of the People's Army of Vietnam and communist Pathet Lao guerrillas. Will the Army make the goal. (Family Photo) More than 35,000 Hmong and Lao soldiers died as surrogates as the US armed forces. The US fought a secret war in Laos from 1960 to 1973! The wounds of war are not only felt in Laos. I remember these men from childhood. The Secret Is Out: U.S. Base Isnt Secret Any More. The more I read, the less I understood why this was my father's proudest achievement. In the 1960s, as the Vietnam War impacted all of southeast Asia, the CIA recruited, armed, and trained thousands of Hmong men and boys to create military units assigned to block the Ho Chi Minh Trail – the North’s supply line to their insurgent Viet Cong allies in the South – and to otherwise assist U.S. forces. This was part of a proxy war, a hot war in the cold war, waged to the east of the Mekong River. An estimated 30,000 people, more than 10 percent of the Hmong population in Laos, were killed in the war and about 100,000 Hmong became refugees inside Laos… He welcomed us with a soft, warm handshake into his home in Fresno. Laos, 1983. We spent the better part of a week talking, drinking scotch, digging through mountains of old papers, tapes, slides, and video footage. He saw his first firefight when he was 12 years old. No, my brothers and I never suspected anything. I set out to learn what my father did in Laos, but the answers I found were unsatisfying, still shrouded in secrecy. April 27, 2020 by Barry J. Klazura No Comments. Vieng Xai War Caves, Laos It was in the Vieng Xai caves, near Sam Neua and the border with Vietnam, that a secret war was fought. Joshua Kurlantzick, A Great Place to Have a War: America in Laos and the Birth of a Military CIA (Simon & Schuster, 2017) If you work at it, you can make a case that Americans fought on the right side in Vietnam. 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