During the Vietnam War the US military conducted a centralized effort to identify, locate, and rescue its POW/MIAs. Code-Name Bright Light. This program was designed to provide the identities and locations of American Prisoners of War and those Missing in Action. While the program succeeded in freeing hundreds of captive South Vietnamese soldiers, it resulted in the rescue of few Americans. The vast network of efforts, however, is a testament to the U.S. military’s unknown commitment to freeing its captive soldiers. The United States secretly went as far as any army could go in freeing its captives in this type of wartime situation. Our understanding of the war remains incomplete without this powerful history.
This is Part II of a fictional account of one such operation.
As a military intelligence officer, I was involved in one of these operations. Now please remember I was the Province Senior Intelligence Officer and as a result my job was to collect and analyze intelligence and pass it on to the proper agencies for them to operate effectively. I was often frustrated in the fact that I had gathered the information, but I was unable to go into the field to actually participate in the operation for security reasons.
Part II
After lunch Paul briefed Joel (The Province Phoenix Advisor), Gary (The Naval Intelligence Liaison Officer-NILO), and Jeff (The Province Senior Police Advisor) on his trip to Saigon and what was about to happen. He was still waiting for the operational details, but he figured that the PIOCC principals needed to be briefed. Once again this could be one of those moments that they could use to impress upon their counterparts the advantage of working together. Quận trưởng Cam and Thiếu tá Suan had cooperated and shared this information and as a result it was going to develop into a major operation, and he wanted them to somehow not only be a part of it but to share in any credit that was to be gained.
“‘Hardcharger,” [1LT Tlyer’s nickname/callsign] LTC Lovelace tells me that you really did an excellent job with your presentation to General Abrams. He told me that the General even remembered you from last week’s briefings. I just want you to know that that is both a good thing and a potentially negative thing. If he remembers that you do good things one slip up and you can find yourself TOAST! So, make sure that you watch yourself and are always prepared for your briefings. I had a friend that slipped up with Abrams and found himself in Tule, Greenland ‘counting walruses.’ The General’s got a memory like a steel trap so make sure that you are prepared at all times for his briefs!
Advisory Team 85 didn’t have to wait long for Saigon to come calling. Early the next morning a chopper arrived. A group of ‘operators’ got out and went in to see Colonel Hollingsworth. Paul was called into the meeting so that they could discuss how they were going to react to the ‘Bright Light’ report. One of the officers that was accompanying them was Captain Rick Donovan, his fellow advisor from Kien Louge District. Kien Louge sat just on the other side of the provincial boundary along the Kênh Mười Hai canal. The two of them had worked a couple of cross border operations before Paul left Ap Bing to move to province.
“Captain Donovan, good to see you again. I figured by now you’d be back in the states. You should really be getting short by now.”
“”Hardcharger,” how the hell are you doing? I thought that they sent you home!
I’ve got about three more weeks before my DEROS and they pull me out for another operation. Geeze I just wanted to hide in the bunker and play it safe for a while.”
Paul explained that he had extended and was now the Province S-2. The operation that they were contemplating involved some really heavy hitters. He’d let him see the big picture during the upcoming briefing. Tyler took him over to the Mess Hall while the brass was meeting in the Colonel’s office. Paul told Specialist Watkins that they’d be over getting a cup of coffee and to come and get them if and when the Colonel needed him.
As they were finishing up their second cup of coffee Watkins came running over to the mess hall and told Paul that the ‘ol’ man’ needed him right now.
Tyler presented the same briefing to the assembled Special Operations officers that he had given to the 525th MI Group Commander and General Abrams. The Lieutenant Colonel from the Ranger Regiment asked Paul a number of pointed questions regarding the various exfiltration routes. He asked how Paul could be so positive about which routes that he felt that they would follow. He questioned the validity of the sighting and indicated that the Warrant Officer that Paul said was being held captive had died when his chopper had been shot down.
Paul explained that even though he only had a single source of intelligence on this report that he and his counterparts felt that the Hồi Chan involved was credible and that they needed to react to the report and hope that it was correct. The Rangers didn’t want any help in this matter from the Vietnamese. They felt that they couldn’t be trusted with an operation that was this potentially sensitive. Paul tried to explain, unsuccessfully, that his men knew this territory and that his PRUs would be able to assist in tracking the NVA through even the densest tram tree undergrowth. His initial request for his men to participate was denied. This was to be a U.S. Army ONLY operation! Paul was dismissed and the operations team, using his maps, began to develop their operational plans, without any assistance from the Vietnamese forces in the province.
A plan was developed. The Rangers would surround a bunker complex that Paul had indicated lay along the ‘rat line’ into Cambodia. The bunkers were located northwest of the Base Area and below the Kênh Mười Hai canal. Their plan was to lie in wait until they had completed their evening meal, and they were preparing to make their nightly move towards the main canal. At that point they would initiate their actions and try to recapture this reported American Prisoner of War. LTC Lovelace had recommended that the U.S. Navy be contacted and send a couple of PBRs up the canal to support the operation. The Ranger commander felt that he didn’t need or want any additional support.
During the day, the Rangers slowly moved into a position around the old bunker complex and waited for dusk. They were prepared to strike once they noticed that the NVA were breaking their camp and preparing to move towards the Nhon Nhin Three village. The NVA were using the same route that Paul had exploited a few months earlier and broke up a major money laundering operation.
The operation seemed to go flawlessly. They made their attack into the NVA encampment just as they were finishing their dinner and preparing to move out. However, they found out later that William’s guard had taken him away from the camp a hundred yards or so, so that he could use the bathroom. While interrogating a prisoner they found out that a guard had pushed Williams down into an old bunker and put the muzzle of his AK-47[1] next to his temple and ordered him to remain silent.
A search of the area did not result in finding WO[2] Williams. They did, however, capture his medical records that detailed the care that he had been given in the Base Area hospital complex. They knew that WO Thomas Williams was alive and hadn’t been killed in the crash as originally reported. Saigon would now change his status from presumed KIA[3] to Missing in Action and being held as a POW [4]. This information would be turned over to the International Red Cross and WO Williams’ wife and parents would be notified of the change in his status. There was at least some hope for his eventual return.
Along with his medical records they found his interrogation reports. In the interrogation account he described his shootdown and capture. Warrant Officer Thomas’s bird had been shot down by a 51-caliber machine gun that had been hidden in the reeds. The rounds had hit the engine and caused an electrical circuit to spark igniting ruptured fuel tanks. He had been thrown from his burning and exploding Huey and landed about 50 feet from the burning hulk. He landed on his left side instantly breaking his left leg in numerous places. He knew that something was seriously wrong, every time he moved everything hurt. He tried to camouflage himself in the reeds, but his pain was excruciating, and he was quickly discovered by a band of Việt Cộng guerrillas who found him semi-conscious and laying along the canal.
According to a VC POW who was captured and interrogated during the first unsuccessful attempt at William’s release, at first there was a discussion by the Việt Cộng commander that they should kill this severely injured pilot and put him out of his misery. However, the local political officer decided that he should be transferred to the hospital in Base Area 41/470. He might be a significant asset to interrogate regarding the tactical deployment of helicopters. The VC commander’s men placed WO Williams on a litter and began the slow and arduous journey to the hospital complex located in the Base Area.
Six days later the delirious officer was admitted to the hospital in critical condition. His left leg, foot, arm, and shoulder were broken, and he was suffering from serious internal injuries; an infection had set in. He was given the best medical care that was available, and he rested in the hospital for the next two- and one-half months slowly recovering from his wounds. The longer that he remained in the hospital the less optimistic he became that he would ever be recaptured and returned to his family.
Initially the U.S. Army listed WO Williams as killed in action. His remains were never recovered but the intensity of the burning chopper and the explosions of the unused ordnance would have consumed his remains had he been in the helicopter. He was thought to have died in the crash.
That evening Paul, the Team-85 operations staff and the Ranger Commander got together. Paul recommended that they contact Trung tá Tua at Ap Bing and have him organize a large-scale operation along one of the ‘rat lines’ that ran from the Base Area east towards Ap Bing and the Vam Cỏ Đông. He also suggested that they contact Colonel Hackworth at the 44th STZ and have him organize a blocking force along the provincial border. This might pin them into a smaller area along the infiltration route that ran along the border between the provinces all the way to Cambodia. There was another prominent series of old bunkers that they would probably try to hide out in if they could get across the main canal. Paul once again recommended placing Navy assets along the Kênh Mười Hai canal to try to block them from crossing this major body of water. Paul estimated that they had at least two more possible places to interdict the NVA before they could get Williams into Cambodia. Paul also figured that at this point Williams would realize that they were tracking him and hopefully he could assist in his own escape.
Once again Paul offered the PRU’s and their air boats to assist and once again the Vietnamese PRUs and the Navy were told to stand down. The Rangers would handle the situation themselves.
On the second attempt they once again hit the NVA encampment at dinner. They found rice cooking in their pots, and they engaged in a major firefight. But once again no Warrant Officer Williams. They captured additional documents that when translated indicated that the Warrant Officer was indeed with them, and they had orders to move him into Cambodia and then transfer him along the Hồ Chí Minh trail up to Hanoi. From what they could determine, after the first raid, they were moving in two separate groups, and the Rangers had hit the advanced party. Williams was probably a few miles behind the main body and was, by now, hidden deep in one of the tram groves. They had split their forces in fear that in another attempt that WO Williams might manage to escape in the ongoing confusion of battle.
That evening Paul once again met with Colonel Hollingsworth and the Ranger commander. He explained that they really only had one more possible attempt to free Williams and that would be close to the Cambodian border to the west of Long Thieu. If they got beyond that point, they wouldn’t be able to stop them from getting into Cambodia. On the maps Paul showed them a major bunker complex within a few miles of the border. He estimated that they would stop there for the day and cross into Cambodia at night. He suggested that Đại úy Chieu, the commander at Long Thieu be sent with his RF and PF forces to patrol the border and try to pin the NVA inside South Vietnam and not allow them to escape. He suggested that the Rangers hit the encampment early in the morning rather than at night. The NVA would typically travel until about 0400 hrs. and then hunker down for the day and resume their travel at night. If they could catch them going into their camp, even if they engaged them at that point, it would give them the entire day to flush them out of their holes and hopefully recapture this Warrant Officer that they were trying to recover.
Paul’s recommendations were heard and once again dismissed. That evening they once again hit the NVA unit that was transporting Warrant Officer Williams and once again they missed releasing him from captivity. The wary NVA commander had sent him ahead and Williams and a small guard detail had crossed into Cambodia earlier in the day. The Rangers had killed or wounded a large number of the NVA unit in charge of his movement, but they had failed to release Warrant Officer Williams.
Tyler felt terrible. He had a long talk with Colonel Hollingsworth in the Colonel’s hooch over some stiff drinks. Paul wondered aloud if they had followed any of his suggestions if they might have had positive results.
“Well Paul you have to remember as an intelligence officer all you can do is your best to identify the target and make persuasive recommendations. Just because you make those recommendations doesn’t mean that the operators will follow them. I think, personally, that there was merit to each of your suggestions. You had a better feel for the ground and for your own Vietnamese assets than the Ranger commander did, and I think you had a better handle on what to do than they did. But you weren’t in charge! Remember you aren’t the operator; you are a staff officer and my intelligence advisor.”
“”Hardcharger””, asked Colonel Hollingsworth, “Did you do your best?”
“Sir?”
“Did you do your best to present the intelligence to the operators? Was your information accurate, timely, and actionable?”
“Yes Sir! I did my best, but was it good enough, I mean in the long run we failed to meet the objective!”
“Paul, all I can ever ask of you is YOUR best!”
“Yeah, I know Sir, but we were so close! This poor guy is going to get marched all the way to Hanoi, if he makes it that far and either they or we don’t end up killing him first!”
“Well, Paul, I want you to write up a detailed after-action-report for me. I want you and your team to list the recommendations that you made to the Ranger commander and explain why those proposals were made and which of them was actually adopted. It was evident to me that whoever sent them down here on this mission had given them specific direction that they weren’t to involve the Vietnamese in any way.”
“Yes Sir, it seems like that. The sad thing is that my Vietnamese counterparts developed the information and shared it with each other. We’ve been trying to get them to do that for a long time, and for once and when they did share the intelligence, we weren’t able to exploit it; we should’ve been able to do so. I’m still convinced that my PRUs could have tracked these guys and run this poor Warrant Officer’s guards into the ground and got him home.”
“Well Paul, you have to explain to them that they did their best and that it wasn’t their fault that this operation failed. Ask yourself and also ask them if they would have given the operators any additional information that might have resulted in a successful operation. When you ask them that, I think you’ll get the same answer that you just gave me. WE DID OUR BEST! And LT Tyler, I can’t ask for more than that.”
If you’re enjoying these blogs, please drop me a comment or if you have any questions that I might answer, submit a comment on the comment pages. I’m always glad to hear from you.
Again, please look at all my books that I have listed. They can be reviewed and/or purchased from Amazon.com with the click of a button directly from my website: http://www.ptaylorvietnamadvisor.com, at Authors Published Works.
The Advisor Series:
- “The Senior Army Instructor; The Paul Tyler Saga Begins” (https://www.amazon.com/dp/BOGSXJ2ZHC)
- “The Advisor, Kien Bing, South Vietnam, 1969-1970. A Novel” (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09L4X5NQ3)
- “The Province Senior Intelligence Advisor, Kien Song Province 1970-1971; A Novel” (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BHL2XCX5)
- “The Hardchargers,” Vietnam 1972-1973; A Novel” (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C7SPR1JY)
- “The Tuscarora Trail” (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D3QY2GM6)
Civil War History/Fiction:
- “A Civil War History of Harrison County West Virginia 1861-1865” (https://www.amazon.com/dp/ B0B1CLL28Q
- “The Most Hated Man in Clarksburg” (https://www.amazon.com/dp/ B0C6429M1X
Science Fiction: (Chuck Neighbors author, Taylor *editor/**co-author)
- *“Destiny” https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0B6WGWHLS
- *“HomeFall” https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJN1JLWF
- **“The Planet’s Revenge; The Katy Sterling Saga Continues” https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CYQBHC6C
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