One Day Too LongOne Day Too Long
Top Secret Site 85 and the Bombing of North Vietnam
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Book, 1999
Current format, Book, 1999, , No Longer Available.Book, 1999
Current format, Book, 1999, , No Longer Available. Offered in 0 more formatsOne of the Vietnam War's most closely guarded secrets—a highly classified U.S. radar base in the mountains of neutral Laos—led to the disappearance of a small group of elite military personnel, a loss never fully acknowledged by the American government. Now, thirty years later, one book recounts the harrowing story—and offers some measure of closure on this decades-old mystery.
Because of the covert nature of the mission at Lima Site 85—providing bombing instructions to U.S. Air Force tactical aircraft from the "safe harbor" of a nation that was supposedly neutral—the wives of the eleven servicemen were warned in no uncertain terms never to discuss the truth about their husbands. But one wife, Ann Holland, refused to remain silent. Timothy Castle draws on her personal records and recollections as well as upon a wealth of interviews with surviving servicemen and recently declassified information to tell the full story.
The result is a tale worthy of Tom Clancy but told by a scholar with meticulous attention to historical accuracy. More than just an account of government deception, One Day Too Long is the story of the courageous men who agreed to put their lives in danger to perform a critical mission in which they could not be officially acknowledged. Indeed the personnel at Site 85 agreed to be "sheep-dipped"—removed from their military status and technically placed in the employ of a civilian company.
Castle reveals how the program, code-named "Heavy Green," was conceived and approved at the highest levels of the U.S. government. In spine tingling detail, he describes the selection of the men and the construction and operation of the radar facility on a mile-high cliff in neutral Laos, even as the North Vietnamese Army began encircling the mountain. He chronicles the communist air attack on Site 85, the only such aerial bombing of the entire Vietnam War.
A saga of courage, cover-up, and intrigue One Day Too Long tells how, in a shocking betrayal of trust, for thirty years the U.S. government has sought to hide the facts and now seeks to acquiesce to perfidious Vietnamese explanations for the disappearance of eleven good men.
Investigates the disappearance of 11 American servicemen from a top-secret American radar installation in Laos during the Vietnam war. The author explores the decision to place the installation in a neutral country at the highest levels of the U.S. government and examines the shifting official explanations of what happened put forth by both combatants. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
Recounts the disappearance of eleven U.S. servicemen from a top secret radar base in Laos during the Vietnam War
Because of the covert nature of the mission at Lima Site 85—providing bombing instructions to U.S. Air Force tactical aircraft from the "safe harbor" of a nation that was supposedly neutral—the wives of the eleven servicemen were warned in no uncertain terms never to discuss the truth about their husbands. But one wife, Ann Holland, refused to remain silent. Timothy Castle draws on her personal records and recollections as well as upon a wealth of interviews with surviving servicemen and recently declassified information to tell the full story.
The result is a tale worthy of Tom Clancy but told by a scholar with meticulous attention to historical accuracy. More than just an account of government deception, One Day Too Long is the story of the courageous men who agreed to put their lives in danger to perform a critical mission in which they could not be officially acknowledged. Indeed the personnel at Site 85 agreed to be "sheep-dipped"—removed from their military status and technically placed in the employ of a civilian company.
Castle reveals how the program, code-named "Heavy Green," was conceived and approved at the highest levels of the U.S. government. In spine tingling detail, he describes the selection of the men and the construction and operation of the radar facility on a mile-high cliff in neutral Laos, even as the North Vietnamese Army began encircling the mountain. He chronicles the communist air attack on Site 85, the only such aerial bombing of the entire Vietnam War.
A saga of courage, cover-up, and intrigue One Day Too Long tells how, in a shocking betrayal of trust, for thirty years the U.S. government has sought to hide the facts and now seeks to acquiesce to perfidious Vietnamese explanations for the disappearance of eleven good men.
The incident at the heart of this book reveals in microcosm what went wrong in Vietnam, from the highest policy-making levels down the chain of command to what actually transpired on the field. On March 10, 1968, seven U.S. servicemen disappeared from a top secret radar base in Laos, their loss never fully explained by the American government. Castle recounts a harrowing story--of government coverups, military miscalculations, and crucial policy errors.
Investigates the disappearance of 11 American servicemen from a top-secret American radar installation in Laos during the Vietnam war. The author explores the decision to place the installation in a neutral country at the highest levels of the U.S. government and examines the shifting official explanations of what happened put forth by both combatants. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.
Recounts the disappearance of eleven U.S. servicemen from a top secret radar base in Laos during the Vietnam War
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- New York : Columbia University Press, 1999.
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