The Son Tay Raid

The Son Tay Raid PDF Author: John Gargus
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 160344212X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 369

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Book Description
In May 1970, aerial photographs revealed what U.S. military intelligence believed was a POW camp near the town of Son Tay, twenty-three miles west of North Vietnam’s capital city. When American officials decided the prisoners were attempting to send signals, they set in motion a daring plan to rescue the more than sixty airmen thought to be held captive. On November 20, a joint group of volunteers from U.S. Army Green Berets and U.S. Air Force Special Operations Forces perfectly executed the raid, only to find the prisoners' quarters empty; the POWs had been moved to a different location. Initially, the Son Tay raid was a devastating disappointment to the men who risked their lives to carry it out. Many vocal critics labeled it as a spectacular failure of our nation’s intelligence network. However, subsequent events proved that the audacity of the rescue attempt stunned the North Vietnamese, who implemented immediate changes in the treatment of their captives. The operation also restored the prisoners’ faith that their nation had not forgotten them. John Gargus not only participated in the planning phase of the Son Tay rescue, but also flew as a lead navigator for the strike force. This revised edition incorporates the most recent information from raid participants and also includes recent translations of North Vietnamese perspectives. No previous account of this top-secret action has given such a full account or such insight into both the execution and the aftermath of Son Tay.

The Son Tay Raid

The Son Tay Raid PDF Author: John Gargus
Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
ISBN: 160344212X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 369

Get Book Here

Book Description
In May 1970, aerial photographs revealed what U.S. military intelligence believed was a POW camp near the town of Son Tay, twenty-three miles west of North Vietnam’s capital city. When American officials decided the prisoners were attempting to send signals, they set in motion a daring plan to rescue the more than sixty airmen thought to be held captive. On November 20, a joint group of volunteers from U.S. Army Green Berets and U.S. Air Force Special Operations Forces perfectly executed the raid, only to find the prisoners' quarters empty; the POWs had been moved to a different location. Initially, the Son Tay raid was a devastating disappointment to the men who risked their lives to carry it out. Many vocal critics labeled it as a spectacular failure of our nation’s intelligence network. However, subsequent events proved that the audacity of the rescue attempt stunned the North Vietnamese, who implemented immediate changes in the treatment of their captives. The operation also restored the prisoners’ faith that their nation had not forgotten them. John Gargus not only participated in the planning phase of the Son Tay rescue, but also flew as a lead navigator for the strike force. This revised edition incorporates the most recent information from raid participants and also includes recent translations of North Vietnamese perspectives. No previous account of this top-secret action has given such a full account or such insight into both the execution and the aftermath of Son Tay.

Secret and Dangerous

Secret and Dangerous PDF Author: William A. Guenon
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Prisoners of war
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description


Who Will Go

Who Will Go PDF Author: Terry Buckler
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781649901507
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
THE SON TAY RAID RANKS AS ONE OF THE MOST DARING MISSIONS IN SPECIAL OPS HISTORY. Hear from the men of the Raid in their own words, moving and personal. The gripping (and often humorous) narrative follows the youngest Raider, Terry Buckler, through Special Forces training and the suspense-filled preparation for the Raid alongside some of the greatest legends in Special Operations history. The Son Tay Raid was a SUCCESS. This heart-lifting book will challenge historians to reconsider the mission taught in military schools around the world. And it will draw any reader in with personal stories of what was seen, heard, and felt by 40 of the Raiders, POWs, and participants supporting the Raid.

Warrior Elite

Warrior Elite PDF Author: Nigel Cawthorne
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1569759693
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 274

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Book Description
Heart-pounding accounts of the courageous men, elite methods, and deadly moments that make up daring special ops missions. They are the strongest, best-trained and most powerfully equipped soldiers in the world. The select few who overcome near-impossible odds. The special ops forces. Presenting real-life stories that read like fictional thrillers, Warrior Elite recounts over two dozen of modern warfare’s most riveting, dangerous, and infamous missions. From support amid the lethal chaos of major combat operations, like the rescue of Private Jessica Lynch in Iraq, to targeted military strikes against rogue enemies, like the Navy SEAL sniper shots that saved Captain Richard Phillips from Somali pirates, these are the missions that test the gut level of even the bravest soldier. Warrior Elite brings readers into the heart of the battle to experience the hectic horror of Black Hawk Down, the blind terror of Tora Bora cave warfare, and the triumphant success of MIA rescue missions deep in Laos.

The Raid

The Raid PDF Author: Benjamin F. Schemmer
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780345446961
Category : Sontay Raid, 1970
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
In November, 1970, more than 100 U.S. warplanes entered the skies over Hanoi in a top-secret mission to rescue 61 American POWs. But the prisoners had been moved from Son Tay four months prior to the operation, and the raising force landed at the wrong compound--a Vietnamese training school. The truth about this "failed" mission is revealed, penetrating years of CIA, Pentagon, and White House secrecy. (July)

I Flew With Heroes

I Flew With Heroes PDF Author: Thomas Waldron
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781469925479
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
During 1969-70, the author flew USAF Jolly Green rescue helicopters in Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos. Author was also a pilot on the Son Tay POW raid On 21Nov70 Col.Waldron flew on Apple3, the mission gunship.

Black Ops, Vietnam

Black Ops, Vietnam PDF Author: Robert M Gillespie
Publisher: Naval Institute Press
ISBN: 1612510647
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 322

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Book Description
During the Vietnam War, the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies and Observations Group (MACVSOG) was a highly-classified, U.S. joint-service organization that consisted of personnel from Army Special Forces, the Air Force, Navy SEALs, Marine Corps Force Reconnaissance units, and the CIA. This secret organization was committed to action in Southeast Asia even before the major build-up of U.S. forces in 1965 and also fielded a division-sized element of South Vietnamese military personnel, indigenous Montagnards, ethnic Chinese Nungs, and Taiwanese pilots in its varied reconnaissance, naval, air, and agent operations. MACVSOG was without doubt the most unique U.S. unit to participate in the Vietnam War, since its operational mandate authorized its missions to take place “over the fence” in North Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, where most other American units were forbidden to go. During its nine-year existence it managed to participate in most of the significant operations and incidents of the conflict. MACVSOG was there during the Gulf of Tonkin incidents, during air operations over North Vietnam, the Tet Offensive, the secret bombing of and ground incursion into Cambodia, Operation Lam Son 719, the Green Beret murder case, the Easter Invasion, the Phoenix Program, and the Son Tay POW Raid. The story of this extraordinary unit has never before been told in full and comes as a timely blueprint for combined-arms, multi-national unconventional warfare in the post-9/11 age.Unlike previous works on the subject, Black Ops, Vietnam is a complete chronological history of the unit drawn from declassified documents, memoirs, and previous works on the subject, which tended to focus only on particular aspects of the unit’s operations.

Spec Ops

Spec Ops PDF Author: William H. McRaven
Publisher: Presidio Press
ISBN: 030754723X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Book Description
Vice Adm. William H. McRaven helped to devise the strategy for how to bring down Osama bin Laden, and commanded the courageous U.S. military unit that carried it out on May 1, 2011, ending one of the greatest manhunts in history. In Spec Ops, a well-organized and deeply researched study, McRaven analyzes eight classic special operations. Six are from WWII: the German commando raid on the Belgian fort Eben Emael (1940); the Italian torpedo attack on the Alexandria harbor (1941); the British commando raid on Nazaire, France (1942); the German glider rescue of Benito Mussolini (1943); the British midget-submarine attack on the Tirpitz (1943); and the U.S. Ranger rescue mission at the Cabanatuan POW camp in the Philippines (1945). The two post-WWII examples are the U.S. Army raid on the Son Tay POW camp in North Vietnam (1970) and the Israeli rescue of the skyjacked hostages in Entebbe, Uganda (1976). McRaven—who commands a U.S. Navy SEAL team—pinpoints six essential principles of “spec ops” success: simplicity, security, repetition, surprise, speed and purpose. For each of the case studies, he provides political and military context, a meticulous reconstruction of the mission itself and an analysis of the operation in relation to his six principles. McRaven deems the Son Tay raid “the best modern example of a successful spec op [which] should be considered textbook material for future missions.” His own book is an instructive textbook that will be closely studied by students of the military arts. Maps, photos.

The Praetorian STARShip : the untold story of the Combat Talon

The Praetorian STARShip : the untold story of the Combat Talon PDF Author:
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1428990437
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 507

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Book Description
Jerry Thigpen's study on the history of the Combat Talon is the first effort to tell the story of this wonderfully capable machine. This weapons system has performed virtually every imaginable tactical event in the spectrum of conflict and by any measure is the most versatile C-130 derivative ever produced. First modified and sent to Southeast Asia (SEA) in 1966 to replace theater unconventional warfare (UW) assets that were limited in both lift capability and speed the Talon I quickly adapted to theater UW tasking including infiltration and resupply and psychological warfare operations into North Vietnam. After spending four years in SEA and maturing into a highly respected UW weapons system the Joint Chief of Staff (JCS) chose the Combat Talon to lead the night low-level raid on the North Vietnamese prison camp at Son Tay. Despite the outcome of the operation the Talon I cemented its reputation as the weapons system of choice for long-range clandestine operations. In the period following the Vietnam War United States Air Force (USAF) special operations gradually lost its political and financial support which was graphically demonstrated in the failed Desert One mission into Iran. Thanks to congressional supporters like Earl Hutto of Florida and Dan Daniel of Virginia funds for aircraft upgrades and military construction projects materialized to meet the ever-increasing threat to our nation. Under the leadership of such committed hard-driven officers as Brenci Uttaro Ferkes Meller and Thigpen the crew force became the most disciplined in our Air Force. It was capable of penetrating hostile airspace at night in a low-level mountainous environment covertly to execute any number of unconventional warfare missions.

Operation Thunderhead

Operation Thunderhead PDF Author: Kevin Dockery
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 9780425223734
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 316

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Book Description
Sheds new light on Operation Thunderbolt, the 1972, classified mission on the part of U.S. Navy SEALs and Underwater Demolition Teams to rescue American POWs held captive in North Vietnam, offering full details on the mission and the men who took part.