Site 85 operation
also: The Rock
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Related entities (most co-mentioned)
Battle of Site 85event · 4U.S. Air Forceorganization · 4United Statescountry · 4North Vietnameseorganization · 3Vietnamcountry · 3CIAintelligence service · 3Volunteersorganization · 2Hmong peopleorganization · 1General Langleyperson · 1Hanoiplace · 1Army Green Beretsorganization · 1U.S. Armyorganization · 1Chief Etchbergerperson · 1Laoscountry · 1Thai Sergeantperson · 1U.S. Ambassador to Laosperson · 1Americansperson · 1Defendersperson · 1NCOsperson · 1Maintenance Squadronperson · 1Airmanperson · 1Junior NCOperson · 1
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Mentions (10)
▶ 0:26
Chapter 19, the name is They Could Give a Damn About Soldiers. It starts off with a scene that is on top of a mountain in northern Laos. This mountain is being used as a communication site. It was approximately 160 miles from downtown Hanoi…
▶ 0:56
From a military perspective, it was a very important communication site. It was known to the military and the CIA as Site 85 or The Rock. And when I was an airman and junior NCO, I told you guys the story about how my maintenance squadron…
▶ 2:55
And it still pisses me off. But one of the questions was the highest ranking Air Force person that had ever got the Medal of Honor. And in our PFE, it told the story of Chief Etchberger. He was at Site 85 and he was killed there. And the re…
▶ 3:54
And he is still to this day like an icon in Air Force history. He is the one that everyone holds up as the example of what it means to be a leader. So, of course, every time I talk about Site 85, I instantly remember this hero. So we're goi…
▶ 7:00
was accessible targets for American bombers. So as far as the North was concerned, it was a primary target. Site 85, as far as the outside world was concerned, didn't even exist. There was no official orders for those people to even be ther…
▶ 8:01
On a one-year contract, this reclassification conveniently sidestepped the Geneva Peace Accords in 1962 that said they weren't supposed to be in Laos. It did not, however, fool the North Vietnamese. On March 10th, 1968, North Vietnamese for…
▶ 11:04
Thousands of pounds of bombs rained down on the mountaintop, virtually destroying what remained of the site. As this was happening, the Hmong and Thai defenders had managed to break contact and had reached a rallying point where heads were …
▶ 11:27
However, one Thai sergeant reported that he had seen three of the Air Force technicians at the site being taken prisoner and led away. Though this report was given to U.S. intelligence almost immediately and no bodies were ever recovered, t…
▶ 12:25
while conducting research for a doctoral degree, managed to interview a former patient Lao general. The general claimed to have been involved in that attack and related the fact that three American technicians had indeed been captured and h…
▶ 12:55
The Air Force losses at Site 85 were only one example of American personnel that disappeared during covert and classified operations. Other black operations, such as covert border crossing activities of the U.S. Special Forces recon and pri…