Long Tieng
Encyclopedia
Long Tieng is a Laotian
military base located in Xiangkhouang Province. During the Laotian Civil War, it served as a town and airbase operated by the Central Intelligence Agency
of the United States
. During this time, it was also referred to as Lima Site 98 (LS 98) or Lima Site 20A (LS 20A).
At the height of its significance in the late 1960s, the "secret city" of Long Tieng maintained a population of 40,000 inhabitants, making it the second largest city in Laos at the time, although it never appeared on maps throughout this period.
in the Long Tieng valley, which at that time had almost no inhabitants. By 1964 a 1260m-long runway had been completed and by 1966 Long Cheng was one of the largest US installations on foreign soil, becoming one of the busiest airports in the world.
In 1971 a US Air Force F-4D Phantom mistakenly hit Long Tieng with cluster bombs, causing a fire that destroyed the CIA operations shack.
North Vietnam
ese forces began to threaten Long Tieng in late 1971, and came close enough to start shelling the area on December 31 at 15:30 local time. In early January, 19,000 North Vietnamese forces launched a four pronged attack on Long Tieng from all four cardinal directions, encircling the site, capturing several facilities and positions, and installing antiaircraft batteries. Despite subsequent claims of victory from communist forces, the 10,000 defenders of Long Tieng, a mixture of Hmong
, Thai
, and Lao, had not been overrun, and in mid-month reinforcements appeared in the form of CIA-led Thais and 1200 elite irregulars from southern Laos. After enduring a third to 50% casualties, these forces succeeded in taking back key positions by the end of the month.
outcrops several hundred feet high. In the shadow of the Karst outcrops was “Sky” the CIA headquarters in Long Tieng. Jerry Daniels, a CIA officer codenamed “Hog,” is said to have named Sky after his home state of Montana
, known as “Big Sky Country.” Long Tieng was protected on three sides by limestone mountains.
“What a place is Long Tieng,” said USAID
officer Jim Schill. “Tribal soldiers dressed in military garb standing next to traditionally dressed Hmong, with Thai mercenaries milling about. And the Americans here are mostly CIA operatives with goofy code names like Hog, Mr. Clean, and Junkyard. The town itself is not much. There’s one paved road running through it and tin shacks on either side with eating shops, food stalls, and living quarters.”
During the Secret War, Long Tieng became the largest Hmong settlement in the world. Anne Fadiman
, author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
, said that Long Tieng "became a desultory metropolis, an unpaved, sewerless city of 30,000 where Hmong ran noodle stands, cobbled shoes, tailored clothes, repaired radios, ran military-jeep taxi services, and interpreted for American pilots and relief workers."
, Thailand
. Aderholt located three additional American transport aircraft and pilots in Thailand. He had the planes “sheep dipped” to remove all markings identifying them as American-owned and sent them to Long Tieng. On May 10, 1975, the Vang Pao
reluctantly followed the CIA's counsel and decided that he could no longer maintain Long Tieng against the opposing forces. Between May 10 to May 14, 1975, US C-130s and C-46s airlifted people from the airbase to US bases in Thailand. Between 1,000 and 3,000 Hmong were evacuated. Crowds of civilians surrounded the flights on the runways, creating a chaotic atmosphere. Those evacuated were primarily Hmong
military leaders and CIA employees. The evacuation ended with the departure of Major General Vang Pao and Jerry Daniels. Vang Pao told the people still on the tarmac "Farewell, my brothers, I can do nothing more for you, I would only be a torment for you," as he boarded a helicopter. Tens of thousands of fighters and refugees were left behind. The over 10,000 Hmong on the airfield expected more aircraft to return, but they later learned that there were no more aircraft. The shelling of Long Tieng began on the afternoon of May 14. Many of the Hmong fighters and their families made their way overland to Thailand during the next several years, a dangerous journey that cost many of them their lives.
The American pilots, all civilians, participating in the evacuation were Les Strouse, Allen Rich, Matt Hoff, Jack Knotts, and Dave Kouba.
in 1994. This zone was dissolved on 13 January 2006, and it is now part of Xiangkhouang Province. The base is still maintained by the Laotian military.
The area's history was documented in the 2008 film The Most Secret Place on Earth
.
, home to many Hmong
immigrants, was named Long Tieng Academy.
Laos
Laos Lao: ສາທາລະນະລັດ ປະຊາທິປະໄຕ ປະຊາຊົນລາວ Sathalanalat Paxathipatai Paxaxon Lao, officially the Lao People's Democratic Republic, is a landlocked country in Southeast Asia, bordered by Burma and China to the northwest, Vietnam to the east, Cambodia to the south and Thailand to the west...
military base located in Xiangkhouang Province. During the Laotian Civil War, it served as a town and airbase operated by the Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. During this time, it was also referred to as Lima Site 98 (LS 98) or Lima Site 20A (LS 20A).
At the height of its significance in the late 1960s, the "secret city" of Long Tieng maintained a population of 40,000 inhabitants, making it the second largest city in Laos at the time, although it never appeared on maps throughout this period.
History
In 1962 the CIA first set up a headquarters for Major General Vang PaoVang Pao
Vang Pao was a Lieutenant General in the Royal Lao Army. He was an ethnic Hmong and a leader of the Hmong American community in the United States.-Early life:...
in the Long Tieng valley, which at that time had almost no inhabitants. By 1964 a 1260m-long runway had been completed and by 1966 Long Cheng was one of the largest US installations on foreign soil, becoming one of the busiest airports in the world.
In 1971 a US Air Force F-4D Phantom mistakenly hit Long Tieng with cluster bombs, causing a fire that destroyed the CIA operations shack.
North Vietnam
North Vietnam
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...
ese forces began to threaten Long Tieng in late 1971, and came close enough to start shelling the area on December 31 at 15:30 local time. In early January, 19,000 North Vietnamese forces launched a four pronged attack on Long Tieng from all four cardinal directions, encircling the site, capturing several facilities and positions, and installing antiaircraft batteries. Despite subsequent claims of victory from communist forces, the 10,000 defenders of Long Tieng, a mixture of Hmong
Hmong people
The Hmong , are an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Hmong are also one of the sub-groups of the Miao ethnicity in southern China...
, Thai
Thai people
The Thai people, or Siamese, are the main ethnic group of Thailand and are part of the larger Tai ethnolinguistic peoples found in Thailand and adjacent countries in Southeast Asia as well as southern China. Their language is the Thai language, which is classified as part of the Kradai family of...
, and Lao, had not been overrun, and in mid-month reinforcements appeared in the form of CIA-led Thais and 1200 elite irregulars from southern Laos. After enduring a third to 50% casualties, these forces succeeded in taking back key positions by the end of the month.
Description
Long Tieng was often described as “The Most Secret Place on Earth. It was located in a valley at 3,100 feet elevation, high enough to have chilly nights and cold fogs. It was surrounded by mountains and on the northwest side of the runway were karstKARST
Kilometer-square Area Radio Synthesis Telescope is a Chinese telescope project to which FAST is a forerunner. KARST is a set of large spherical reflectors on karst landforms, which are bowlshaped limestone sinkholes named after the Kras region in Slovenia and Northern Italy. It will consist of...
outcrops several hundred feet high. In the shadow of the Karst outcrops was “Sky” the CIA headquarters in Long Tieng. Jerry Daniels, a CIA officer codenamed “Hog,” is said to have named Sky after his home state of Montana
Montana
Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
, known as “Big Sky Country.” Long Tieng was protected on three sides by limestone mountains.
“What a place is Long Tieng,” said USAID
United States Agency for International Development
The United States Agency for International Development is the United States federal government agency primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid. President John F. Kennedy created USAID in 1961 by executive order to implement development assistance programs in the areas...
officer Jim Schill. “Tribal soldiers dressed in military garb standing next to traditionally dressed Hmong, with Thai mercenaries milling about. And the Americans here are mostly CIA operatives with goofy code names like Hog, Mr. Clean, and Junkyard. The town itself is not much. There’s one paved road running through it and tin shacks on either side with eating shops, food stalls, and living quarters.”
During the Secret War, Long Tieng became the largest Hmong settlement in the world. Anne Fadiman
Anne Fadiman
Anne Fadiman is an American author, editor and teacher.She is the daughter of the renowned literary, radio and television personality Clifton Fadiman and World War II correspondent and author Annalee Jacoby Fadiman...
, author of The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures is a 1997 book by Anne Fadiman that chronicles the struggles of a Hmong refugee family from Sainyabuli Province, Laos, the Lees, and their interactions with the health care system in...
, said that Long Tieng "became a desultory metropolis, an unpaved, sewerless city of 30,000 where Hmong ran noodle stands, cobbled shoes, tailored clothes, repaired radios, ran military-jeep taxi services, and interpreted for American pilots and relief workers."
Evacuation
On February 22, 1975, the final defensive outpost for Long Tieng was defeated, leading US Brigadier General Heinie Aderholt to begin planning an evacuation. By May 1975, there were almost 50,000 guerillas and refugees living in and around the city. However, by then, the U.S. had withdrawn all its civilian and military personnel from Indochina, except for a few Embassy personnel in Laos and Jerry Daniels in Long Tieng. There were few resources for an evacuation. Daniels had only a single transport aircraft and Hmong pilot in Long Tieng to take evacuees to Udon ThaniUdon Thani
Udon Thani is a city in Isan, north-east Thailand, and the capital of Udon Thani Province.-Location:The province of Udon Thani has a population of 1,467.200, the city alone 500.000. Geographical location and is approximately 560 km from Bangkok...
, Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
. Aderholt located three additional American transport aircraft and pilots in Thailand. He had the planes “sheep dipped” to remove all markings identifying them as American-owned and sent them to Long Tieng. On May 10, 1975, the Vang Pao
Vang Pao
Vang Pao was a Lieutenant General in the Royal Lao Army. He was an ethnic Hmong and a leader of the Hmong American community in the United States.-Early life:...
reluctantly followed the CIA's counsel and decided that he could no longer maintain Long Tieng against the opposing forces. Between May 10 to May 14, 1975, US C-130s and C-46s airlifted people from the airbase to US bases in Thailand. Between 1,000 and 3,000 Hmong were evacuated. Crowds of civilians surrounded the flights on the runways, creating a chaotic atmosphere. Those evacuated were primarily Hmong
Hmong people
The Hmong , are an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Hmong are also one of the sub-groups of the Miao ethnicity in southern China...
military leaders and CIA employees. The evacuation ended with the departure of Major General Vang Pao and Jerry Daniels. Vang Pao told the people still on the tarmac "Farewell, my brothers, I can do nothing more for you, I would only be a torment for you," as he boarded a helicopter. Tens of thousands of fighters and refugees were left behind. The over 10,000 Hmong on the airfield expected more aircraft to return, but they later learned that there were no more aircraft. The shelling of Long Tieng began on the afternoon of May 14. Many of the Hmong fighters and their families made their way overland to Thailand during the next several years, a dangerous journey that cost many of them their lives.
The American pilots, all civilians, participating in the evacuation were Les Strouse, Allen Rich, Matt Hoff, Jack Knotts, and Dave Kouba.
Accidents and incidents
- On 23 July 1970,Douglas C-47B XW-TDC of Xiengkhouang Air was damaged beyond repair in a landing accident during inclement weather.
After 1975
Long Tieng was incorporated into the restricted Xaisomboun Special ZoneXaisomboun
Xaisomboun was a special zone of Laos, located in the north of the country, near the capital Vientiane. The special zone was created 1994 with area split off from the provinces Vientiane, and Xiangkhoang...
in 1994. This zone was dissolved on 13 January 2006, and it is now part of Xiangkhouang Province. The base is still maintained by the Laotian military.
The area's history was documented in the 2008 film The Most Secret Place on Earth
The Most Secret Place on Earth
The Most Secret Place on Earth is a 2008 film by German director Marc Eberle, dealing with the secret operation waged by the CIA throughout the sixties and early seventies against communist guerrillas in Laos, particularly in the city of Long Chen....
.
Namesake
A charter school in Saint Paul, MinnesotaSaint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul is the capital and second-most populous city of the U.S. state of Minnesota. The city lies mostly on the east bank of the Mississippi River in the area surrounding its point of confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Minneapolis, the state's largest city...
, home to many Hmong
Hmong people
The Hmong , are an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Hmong are also one of the sub-groups of the Miao ethnicity in southern China...
immigrants, was named Long Tieng Academy.
See also
- CIA activities in LaosCIA activities in Laos-Politics of Laos and the CIA:A 1962 Time Magazine article about Laos makes some points that help understand the context of the overt and covert actions of all sides in Laos before the Vietnam War....
- Lao People's Army
- Laotian Civil War
- Raven FACsRaven FACsThe Raven Forward Air Controllers, also known as The Ravens, were fighter pilots used in a covert operation in conjunction with the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States in Laos during America's Vietnam War...
- The Most Secret Place on EarthThe Most Secret Place on EarthThe Most Secret Place on Earth is a 2008 film by German director Marc Eberle, dealing with the secret operation waged by the CIA throughout the sixties and early seventies against communist guerrillas in Laos, particularly in the city of Long Chen....
documentary