As the spring offensive unfolds to coincide with the Tet Offensive in Vietnam The Plain of Jars is under attack and President Johnson approves Operation Barrel Roll in support of the Royal Laotian Government. On June 9, 1964 U.S. Air Force F-100's took off from Thailand on their first missions attacking antiaircraft artillery units in The Plain of Jars. This attack initiates a nine year campaign in Laos under the most bizarre circumstances. To keep up the illusion of a hands off policy agreed to by the U.S. Government the nine year campaign was totally run by the U.S. Ambassador in Vientiane. Never before or since has a non-military or non-cabinet member of the U.S. government had such power.
There were three ambassadors to Vientiane during Operation Barrel Roll: Leonard Unger, William H. Sullivan, and G. McMurtrie Godley. These three ambassadors were responsible for directing all air operations in northern Laos. Without their permission no enemy targets could be bombed and they validated targets usually with Laotian government approval. Since many of the fighters were hired murcunaries attacks were carefully orchestrated on specific areas to avoid hitting allied forces. By 1969 the ambassadors air staff alone had grown to 125 personal. There were also air operation centers throughout the five military regions under their control. The ground forces, air pilots, and staff personnel duties were hazardous and unofficial since the U.S. and Laos maintained the illusion of neutrality as per the 1962 Geneva Accord.
A different set of rules applied to The Secret Wars. Just as the ambassador controlled the air campaign the CIA controlled the ground forces. Here the head of the CIA is with Royal Lao government soldiers.
Although The Secret Wars was a side show to the Vietnam War it took its toll on America both financially and emotionally. The two wars ran parallel to each other right up until the end. The Treaty of Ventiane signed on February 21, 1973 was a carbon copy of the Paris Peace Talks signed a month earlier, each to end their respective wars. Each mandated the withdrawal of foreign troops from their countries and new governments were to be implemented with security from joint forces. Each treaty failed shortly after it's inception and when Saigon fell in April of 1975 Vientiane fell the following November. Although the wars in Vietnam and Laos ended for the United States the conflict in Southeast Asia was far from over.
Vang, my guide and third generation post war, was a young married Lao man with two little girls. He graduated from the university but was unable to get a job in his field because he couldn't afford the position. Laos is a Communist country and to get a good job with benefits for his family he had to purchase the job from the government. To make ends meet he toured the region with tourists and spoke fluent English.
Vang took me to Mama's place my last night in Phonsavon where I ate authentic Lao food cooked by Moma's herself. I call her Mama out of respect for lack of a better name. Moma lived and worked in the same house accompanied by her daughter and grandchildren. She put out no less than 12 very large sauce pots filled with the most aromatic delights I could imagine. I ate bamboo soup, vegetable and potatoe stew, and bar-b-q catfish. The entire catfish was impaled on a stick and I ate it right off the bone. Accompanied by a few BeerLao's it was the perfect ending to my stay. It had to be an early night he explain because of the Communist government there is a curfew for foreigners. The government not only enforces a curfew but there are places he still, after 50 years, cannot take me to. In case of another war the government wants curtain areas to remain hidden. I guess the Secret Wars will remain somewhat of a secret.
I have a two day overland travel adventure ahead of me across the Annamese Cordillera, better known as the Cinese Annamite Mountains, to Vientien the capital of Laos. I will stop in Vangvieng for the night.
I left early in the morning in time to see the Sun burning off the haze in the high country of the Annamite Mountains following another ancient trail used the Vietminh rebel forces during the war. The villages I will pass through are the decedents of the underground mountain people that moved munitions and supplies by bicycle to supply bothe Leftist and Vietcong forces.
Early in the day the Sun begins to burn off the haze.
My lady friend is a Lao passenger going from one town to another.
We break for lunch at a roadside stand, a Lao family will cook up anything you want right on the spot.
My arduous cliffhanging journey lasted almost seven hours with several mini avalanches along the way. The half dirt half decade old broken concrete road was washed away by the heavy rains of the seasonal Monsoons. We stopped several times and waited for the road to be cleared just enough to squeeze our mini van through. Once that first vehicle can pass everything stops and life goes on. There is no attempt to buffer the remaining loose overhang just minutes away from the next landslide. I witnessed two crushed trucks pushed to the edge of disaster. The infrastructure of Laos is not twenty first and it obvious the wars have set them back fifty years.
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I can't believe people have to purchase a government job. How awful. I never knew that foreigners had a curfew. Interesting. Be careful in those mountains!
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