1964 MIA
In the spring of 1964, Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese forces launched attacks against Neutralist forces on the Plain of Jars in Xiangkhoang Province, Laos, prompting Neutralist General Kong Le to warn the Royal Lao Government that without air support the situation was hopeless, mostly because the troops of the Royal Lao Army had fled. (Neutralist, in the military sense, refers to the soldiers who followed Kong Le, who sought to remove foreign influence and foreigners from the country. Earlier circumstances had forced him into an alliance with the Communist Pathet Lao, but he broke with them when he came to understand they were serving their Vietnamese masters in the way the Royal Lao Army was serving the United States. Later his troops fought against the Communists, but to complicate matters, a splinter group of leftist Neutralists fought with the Communists.)
Air Force and Navy photoreconnaissance jets were authorized in May 1964 to begin gathering intelligence information supporting T-28 bombing raids against North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao troops in Laos. Navy participation began on May 21 with a flight of two RF8A Crusader photoreconnaissance planes from the decks of the USS KITTY HAWK (CVA 63). During one of these
early Navy missions, LT Charles F. Klusmann, from VFP 63 onboard the KITTY HAWK flew over Laos and was hit by ground fire. Although the aircraft burned for twenty minutes en route back to the carrier, Klusmann was able to bring his Crusader back safely.
The United States charged the Pathet Lao with “an outright attempt to destroy by violence what the whole structure of the Geneva Accords was intended to preserve (neutrality of Laos)”. There was ample evidence to support this claim. Navy and Air Force reconnaissance planes had come back
with photos showing the Plain of Jars bristling with newly installed anti-aircraft guns–sixteen sites in all, housing guns capable of firing 150 rounds a minutes, effective to a ceiling of 15,000 feet.
Ambassador Leonard Unger obtained approval from the Johnson Administration to release the fuses on previously delivered U.S. bombs, for use by the Royal Lao Air Force. Prince Souvanna Phouma also authorized the use of U.S. fighters to accompany the unarmed reconnaissance jets over Laotian territory, and these missions became code-named Yankee Team.
Once again, LT Klusmann launched in his RF8A as a Navy Yankee Team aircraft on June 7. Again his aircraft was hit by ground fire. This time, the damage was so severe that Klusmann had to eject near communist troops. The Pathet Lao forces immediately set out to capture him, firing on an Air America rescue chopper sent to pick him up. The helicopter was finally forced to abandon Klusmann who, to make matters worse, had twisted his ankle during his parachute landing. Another Air America helicopter was hit when it attempted to make a recovery three hours after the plane went down. The Pathet Lao had set up a flak trap (where the downed pilot was kept alive and allowed to call for help while enemy gunners lay in wait for the arrival of vulnerable helicopters).
The two Air America helicopters abandoned their rescue effort when two crew members were critically wounded in the heavy fire. LT Klusmann, was captured by the Pathet Lao. Happily, Charles F. Klusmann was able to escape captivity with several Lao prisoners in late August, 1964. After two days of hiding in the jungle from his captors, he was able to reach a government camp and was
eventually rescued. He is one of only a handful who ever escaped captivity in Southeast Asia.
The events on the Plain of Jars in June 1964 and in subsequent weeks were released by New China News Agency in Peking, and ultimately reached U.S. media sources. The situation raised a howl of outrage from the U.S. media. The lid was blown on the entire Yankee Team operation. From this point on, U.S. operations in Laos were fully classified and kept ultra-secret. The U.S. Government was not to acknowledge more than “armed reconnaissance” flights in northern Laos until March 1970. One of the proposed articles of impeachment against President Richard Nixon would deal with his treatment of the secret war in Laos.
(Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 15 May 1990 from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK 1998. )
