Acknowledgments

The source for the greater part of this book has been the Ravens themselves. Their agreement to cooperate - on the understanding that the author should have complete freedom to write what he wanted as long as the Ravens were allowed to review the manuscript for factual errors - resulted in hundreds of hours of interviews. None of the Ravens received payment, although the author has agreed to contribute a tithe of the book’s earnings toward the Edgar Allan Poe Literary Society’s refugee fund.

It has been necessary to be brutally selective in telling the story, which could have run into several volumes if each individual Raven had been given his due. The author decided it could best be told by following the experiences of those Ravens posted to work with Gen. Vang Pao in Military Region II.

Space and continuity forbid a description of the Ravens’ activities in the other theaters of war that ran concurrently in Laos. The author recognizes that this is grossly unfair to those men who served in other military regions during different periods of the war, and the resulting lacunae have meant that some Ravens, who might have warranted a book to themselves in other circumstances, have received short shrift or not been mentioned at all: Frank Birk, for example, who was stationed at Luang Prabang, and whose heroic rescue of a CIA team cut off to the north of the Chinese Road and given up as lost deserved the Air Force Cross (he was hit forty-three times by ground fire during his tour as a Raven, and in one case took more than twenty hits when the glass and radios were shot up in his O-1, the fire extinguisher blew up in the Backseater’s face, and one gas tank exploded, ripping the wing three inches out of the fuselage - but he flew the plane back to base); or Al Dairies, the teetotal Mormon also posted to Luang Prabang, who impressed the Air Commando site commander as the bravest pilot he had ever known.

And while the panhandle of Laos was known as a country-club posting during the early years of the war, there were periods of intense battle and Ravens were killed there throughout. Early Ravens, like Bill Sweeney and Huey P. O’Neal, who served in the panhandle, certainly saw their share of action and might justifiably wonder where the ‘country club’ was - while later in the war the panhandle became the worst area of all. In Laos everything is relative and needs to be qualified.

The account here is not about the bravest or the best Ravens, but about the sort of men they were and the type of war they fought. A definitive history would have to include many more names than is possible in this book. For example, John Swanson is cited by his peers as the most competent FAC of his period; or the quiet and self-effacing Ed Chun, who is mentioned only briefly, is unreservedly acknowledged to be a pilot of exceptional skill, quite apart from his three thousand hours of combat flying. ‘I’ve got to admit it,’ one Raven said grudgingly, ‘he’s even better than me.’

Research has been an exercise in piecing together a large, faded jigsaw, of which many of the pieces have been lost forever. Recounting recent history is always a treacherous exercise, and even participants and eyewitnesses are subject to the inevitable distortions of time and memory. And then there is the transmutation from reality to war story, as anecdotes are polished and retold. Great pains have been taken to avoid the excesses and exaggerations to which a book based on first-person accounts is vulnerable. Details of events have been cross-checked with as many people taking part as possible, as well as with whatever declassified documents are available. Many of the Ravens spent a large amount of their time alone in the cockpits of their planes over remote jungle, but smuggled their small, green notebooks recording strike information, bomb damage assessment, hours logged each day, and so on, out of Laos with them. These have proved invaluable aide-memoires and kept people honest.

The author - who is not a pilot, has been unable to visit the areas of Laos described in this book, and has never been to war-was obliged to go back to basics in his research. Ravens who spent hours answering his endless questions

about flying and the art of being a forward air controller include Craig Morrison, who as president of the Edgar Allan Poe Literary Society helped locate Ravens scattered around the world; Fred Platt, who drove the author all over Texas to interview colleagues; Michael Cavanaugh, who gave the author valuable pointers at the Alfred F. Simpson Historical Research Center, Maxwell Air Force Base, Montgomery, Alabama, the staff of which extended patient and courteous assistance throughout; and Karl Polifka, who gave the author help at the Historical Research Branch, Center of Military History, the Pentagon, Washington, D.C.

Ravens other than those mentioned above who reviewed the manuscript for accuracy include Michael Byers, Craig Duehring, Al Galante, Carl Goembel, Jim Hix, Tom Richards, Jim Roper, Larry Sanborn, and Bill Williams.

Other Ravens interviewed by the author include Jim Baker, Victor Bonfiglio, Art Cornelius, Mark Diebolt, Jack Drummond, Robert Foster, Gerald Greven, Lew Hatch, Melville Hart, Charles Jones, Frank Kricker, John Mansur, Harold Mesaris, Douglas Mitchell, H. Ownby, John Wisniewski, Ron Rinehart, Don Service, Jack Shaw, Tom Shera, Michael Stearns, Chad Swedberg, Richard Welch, Darrel Whitcomb, Greg Wilson, and Tom Young.

Others who kindly granted an interview include ambassadors William Sullivan and G. McMurtrie Godley HI; air attaché Col. (ret.) Paul ‘Pappy’ Pettigrew and assistant air attaché Col. (ret.) William Keeler; Air Commandos Brig. Gen. Harry ‘Heinle’ Aderholt, Lt. Col. (ret.) Wayne Landen, Lt. Col. (ret.) Howard Hartley, and Lt. Col. (ret.) Robert Zimmerman; former Air America personnel Jack ‘90’ Knotts, David Kouba, and Stanley Wilson; and CM. Sgt. Patrick Mahoney.

Valuable background information was provided by T. D. Alhnan; Asa Baber; Douglas Blaufarb; Jane Merritt Brown; Dr. Yang Dao; Alan Dawson; Ed Dearborn, Continental Air Services; Arthur Dommen; Jinny St. Goar; Col. Martin Kaufman, USAF; the late C.A.S. Helseth, Commander China Post 1; Douglas Hulcher, Institute of Foreign Policy Analysis, and, American Refugee Committee; Col. (ret.) Tom Henry, Green Berets; A. R. Isaacs; Dr. Gene Kirkley, USAF medic at Long Tieng; Leon LaShomb, secretary of the Air America Club; Prince Mangkhra Phouma; Paul and Helen McClosicey; Thomas Powers; H. Ross Perot; Lt. Col. (ret.) John Clark Pratt, USAF Project CHECO; Sir Robert Thompson; Don Schanche; Col. Jack Schlight, Office of Air Force History, the Pentagon; the late Robert Six, Continental Air Services; Calvin Trillin; the late Col. Roger Trinquier; and Monsieur et Madame Max Varner.

I would also like to thank my literary agent in New York, Jane Cushman, for her support throughout; my editor at Crown, James O’Shea Wade, for his work on the manuscript; and my in-house critic and confidante, Mary Agnes Donoghue, without whom this book would not have been possible.