“Okay. No rain tonight, so let’s do it. Can you get us refueled here?”
“Yea, I’ll handle that,” Hank answered. “Do your preflight and get in the air. I’ll file you as Casper. You have the numbers.”
Twenty minutes later Eddie and Ray were back in the air with the second U-10 Courier, heading back into southern Laos.
“I take it Captain Renwick is our only fire support if we get in trouble,” Eddie said.
“Not really. Hank can call in Jolly Greens from NKP. An HH-53 can get there pretty quick, and, with three mini-guns and rockets, it’s a bad motherfucker.”
“I know. I’ve seen them work. So, who’s the ‘she’ we’re going to meet?”
“Don’t worry about that.”
“Don’t worry? Listen, Metson. We’re in this together. If you –”
“You don’t need to know, Lieutenant. If someone asks, you won’t let it slip. And they can’t beat it out of you. If you don’t know, you can’t give up someone. You’ll just have to trust me.”
“I guess I don’t have a whole lot of choice, do I?”
The target area for the load of medical supplies was the main highway running north and south between Cambodia and northern Laos. It was about twenty miles from the village where they had landed earlier. Pilotage was difficult, but they located the highway in the half-moon light. Ray intercepted the highway five miles south of the target area and then slow-flighted north until he saw a signal light. Ray signaled back and fires were lit to mark the road.
Ray made a tight turn in the valley and quickly dropped the plane onto the road using the landing lights. As soon as he was down he shut the engine off, and they stepped out next to the light of a small fire.
Ray heard Eddie call out from his side of the plane, “Hey, we seem to have a problem here, pal.” Ray stepped around the plane and came face to face with a uniformed North Vietnamese officer.
“I don’t suppose you speak English?” Ray asked.
He received no reply, but several North Vietnamese soldiers armed with AK-47’s and M-16’s ran up. Behind them Dr. Li ran up chattering in Vietnamese. The soldiers ignored the pilots and began off-loading the medical supplies.
When Li stepped up to Ray, he asked, “Does he speak English?” He nodded to the officer who stood silently watching them.
“A little,” she answered and then said something in Thai that Eddie did not understand.
“Dee,” Ray answered. Good. That word Eddie understood.
“Is this ‘she’?” Eddie whispered to Ray.
“I am Dr. Li,” she said and bowed. “I am very happy that you could come deliver these medical supplies to us tonight. They are very much needed.”
She turned to Ray and said, “I need you to take a patient back with you.”
“At least we’ll be going back,” Eddie said, still scared at the sight of Communist soldiers.
“How bad?” Ray asked.
“She has a general infection and cannot be treated here. She has had problems since her baby was born.”
When the soldiers finished unloading the last of the medical supplies, the woman was brought to the plane and Li directed the soldiers in strapping her in.
Ray thanked Dr. Li politely in Thai, bowed slightly with the traditional wai and then bowed slightly to the officer. Eddie copied Ray, but the officer did not smile when he bowed in return.
Within minutes they were back in the air.
“Okay, just what was that all about back there?” Eddie demanded.
Ray took a few seconds to answer. “It was a load of medical supplies for Dr. Li.”
“They sent me over here to drop bombs on people who wear little red stars on their hats, not to deliver them medical supplies.”
“The medical supplies are from the U.N., delivered to Dr. Li, who is assigned to a U.N. medical team for the care of children. Air American is under U.N. contract to deliver those supplies. We’re operating under that contract.”
“Well, what about this commie soldier back here?”
“All I see is a new mother in need of immediate medical attention. Maternity care is part of the U.N. program.”
“How do you know this Dr. Li isn’t a Communist or isn’t treating the enemy?”
“You know, Lieutenant. For a lowly airplane driver you sure ask a lot of dumbass questions. Here, it’s your airplane. Let’s see if you can get us home.” Ray slid his seat back and left Eddie to fly the plane back to Ubon.
Just before 6:00 the following morning, Eddie unlocked the door to the police administration office and the combination lock on the office filing cabinet. He took the Projects Office keys, went into the office, and opened both of the locked combination filing cabinets.
After twenty minutes of digging through the paperwork in the file cabinets, he found the thin file on Dr. Li. The paperwork showed she was not a CIA asset. Ray Metson had recruited Dr. Li before she graduated from medical school. Missing was any reference to her family history and the required background check by Thai Internal Security.
Eddie copied down the required information from her file and then locked up the offices and went to breakfast at the Thai Restaurant.
After breakfast Eddie returned to the police station with the other security policemen. He and Ray wrote up their report and Ray typed it on the required message form. It was nearly 10:00 when Eddie took the message to the Comm Center.
Eddie caught a ride to the Thai area of the base and walked into the Thai base headquarters building. The secretary greeted Eddie with a warm smile. A sergeant stood next to the base commander’s office door with an M-12 riot gun cradled in his arms.
“Is Colonel Suwit in, please?”
“Yes,” the secretary answered and picked up the phone to announce that there was someone waiting to see him.
The sergeant opened the office door for Eddie and then closed it again behind him.
Colonel Suwit was a short, stocky man in his mid-forties. He earned his master’s degree in an American university, spoke nearly perfect English, and was known to be a friendly, outgoing man. He came around his desk and stuck out his hand. “Hi, I’m Colonel Suwit.”
“Good morning, sir. I’m Eddie Donevant. I’m working out of the Projects Office.”
“Sure. Used to be the CIA office. DIA has taken it over. Have a seat and tell me how I can help you.”
Eddie sat down and pulled out the information on Dr. Li. “I was wondering, sir, if you could request a background check on this young woman?”
The colonel glanced at the information and said, “Sure, I can do that. But Mack Klevenger could have done this for you. He has the papers and is authorized to make the request.”
“Yes, sir. I know that. But that info would then get reported back to Sergeant Metson. I wanted it to come directly back to me.”
The colonel nodded and looked over the information again. He looked up at the ceiling thinking and then picked up the phone. “I believe one has already been completed,” he said as he dialed a number. He spoke for a few minutes in Thai to someone and hung up.
“Yes. One has been completed on her within the last few months. Come back after lunch, say about 1:30, and I will have it here to go over with you.”
“All right, sir,” Eddie said as he stood. “That will be great. You are a man who definitely gets things done fast.”
The colonel laughed. “I hope so, Mr. Donevant. I would like to think that I’m a man who earns his pay.”
They shook hands again, and Eddie returned to the Projects Office.
At 1:30 Eddie returned to Colonel Suwit’s office and was immediately led in to see the colonel.
Colonel Suwit sat reading through the report, lifted his head long enough to point to a chair in front of the desk, and then went back to reading.
After several minutes
the colonel looked up and asked, “Just what is your interest in Dr. Li Chow Chang? Personal or professional, Lieutenant?”
“Professional,” Eddie answered, noting that Colonel Suwit had taken the time to check him out first. “She requested a load of medical supplies be delivered to a location in Laos last night. It was supposed to be for children, but when we landed she met us with several NVA soldiers. They took the supplies.”
The colonel nodded. “Dr. Li was born in 1952, the third of thirteen children. Her parents moved to Thailand from northern Laos, near the North Vietnamese border, a few months before she was born. They are farmers. She has an older brother who graduated from University and is a banker in Bangkok. An older sister is a schoolteacher married to a Ministry of Education official in Bangkok. She has two younger brothers attending University at this time. Dr. Li owes the Thai government four years of medical service to pay back her medical education. She is presently assigned to the U.N. on behalf of the Thai government.”
Eddie sat listening silently until the colonel looked up from the folder. “So, why was she with the NVA in the middle of Laos?”
“Accepting medical supplies for sick children?” the colonel asked with a shrug.
“That’s what Ray Metson said, but he would not address her possible ties to the Communists.”
“You want to know if she’s a Communist?”
“Yes.”
The colonel flipped a page of the report and said, “Her father and mother have ties to the Chinese Communist Party and both are suspected members. Her older brother is being paid by the Soviet KGB to track certain money accounts. Her older sister sometimes works for her older brother from time to time.
“Dr. Li, on the other hand, has shown no discernable interest in politics. She is a dedicated medical doctor who is willing to go anywhere to help anyone in need.”
“And her brothers at the University?”
“They both write for leftist student papers.”
“Well, it seems to me that if you swim with ducks, you’re covered with duck feathers, and you quack, I would probably suspect you of being a duck.”
“Remember, Lieutenant,” the colonel said, as he closed the folder on his desk. “Nothing is as it appears. The logic of the West is not always the logic of the East.”
“What are you trying to tell me?”
“Just that things may not be the way they appear to you. Some things may be hidden from your view or understanding for reasons not apparent to you. Just be careful.”
Eddie sat thinking for several seconds and then stood, thanked Colonel Suwit, and returned to his office.
Colonel Suwit jotted down Ray Metson’s name and made a phone call. He, too, wanted to know more about Dr. Li, but he also was curious about Ray Metson’s involvement with Dr. Li.
For the rest of the week Eddie sifted through all the incoming raw intelligence data, compared it to the raw data in the files, and plotted the information on the wall maps.
Ray walked into the Projects Office on Saturday morning and set a warm mug of tea on the desk in front of Eddie. “What’s it looking like?”
Eddie sipped his tea and then nodded toward the wall map. “North is clogging the Ho Chi Minh trail, moving lots of stuff south. They’re rolling over top of the South Vietnamese Army at a steady, predictable rate.”
“How much time will it take ‘em to reach Saigon?”
Eddie shrugged. “Three or four months, maybe.”
Ray nodded. “Sounds about right.”
“Intel says the Communists are moving brick opium down the trail.”
“I’m hearing that, too.”
“It’s hard to believe that the capitalist practice of drug trafficking is advancing into South Viet Nam right along with Brother Ho’s hoards of Commies.”
Ray laughed. “Hell, son. That shit is made in China and shipped out through the Golden Triangle. It’s how the Communists attack the West while making us pay for their bullets. They may be fanatics and crazy, but they aren’t stupid.”
UDORN RTAFB
At 12:30, Saturday afternoon Eddie met Big Jake at Udorn Flight Operations.
“Hi, Jake,” Eddie said. “Thought I’d take you up on your flying offer.”
Jake was dressed in a green flight suit and stood reviewing a weather report.
“Right on time, Donevant. Weather looks good until 9:00 tonight.”
Eddie glanced over the weather and asked, “Where’re we going?”
“You’re the fuck’en intelligence weeny. You tell me where all the good shit’s happening.”
“We going to look or can we get into something?”
“Chief Blackwell has some extra Mark-82’s he’ll let me have, but they’re down at Ubon.”
Eddie smiled as he scanned the map. “Let’s put on some long-range tanks. We can fuel up down at Ubon.”
“Where the hell are we gonna go? Saigon?”
Eddie poked the map. “There’s a column of T-62 tanks guarding some brick opium that’s moving south on Highway One, about twenty miles south of Hué. And they sure won’t be expecting us.”
Jake stared at Eddie. “Lieutenant, have you ever been to an old fashioned ass-fry? ‘Cause if we get caught over Viet Nam they’ll sure as hell fry our asses.”
Eddie shrugged. “Unaccounted for bombs. Unaccounted for fuel. And I don’t plan on a career anyway.”
“We’ll be unaccounted for if we go down. Jolly Greens can’t reach us in Nam.”
“If you’re afraid of a fight, Jake, we can…”
Jake’s muscles tightened. “Afraid, hell,” he shouted. He knew that Donevant was baiting him. This mission was contrary to orders from the White House, but the targets were tempting. A large load of pure dope and a chance to slam the Communists once more.
“You have reccy photos?” Jake asked.
Eddie laid them out on the table. “Those U-2 guys didn’t see the border, either.”
Jake studied the photos. “They make us coming in, we won’t get out without some holes in our tail.”
“We can come in low and drop with drag on the 82’s. But that’ll take smoke from a FAC.”
“No. Just us. Two birds and no more.”
“We need a Forward Air Controller.”
“Word’ll get out all over the base, and, besides, we couldn’t get anyone if we wanted.”
“I’ve got one.”
“Shit!”
“Straight up, Jake. Captain Renwick has an 0-2 at Ubon, and he works for Metson. Comes and goes as he pleases with no paperwork and no questions asked.”
Jake smiled.
“I’m telling you, everyone down there is a little crazy, and they’re off doing all kinds of illegal stuff.”
“Hot damn,” Jake exclaimed and jumped into the air with a big grin on his face. “Let’s do it.”
UBON RTAFB
Just after 4:00 in the afternoon the temperature on the flight line at Ubon was still ninety-two degrees. Eddie Donevant and his wizzo, Second Lieutenant Ralph Purdy, walked around their F-4 Phantom checking bomb racks and drop tanks loaded with fuel. They wore flight gloves, as they shook each of the ten Mark-82 iron bombs hanging under the wings. Heat waves could be seen rolling off the plane’s OD green painted skin.
“It’s going to be a long takeoff roll today,” Eddie said as he wiped the sweat from his face with his sleeve.
“Yea. Wish we had some missiles and an ECM pod.”
“This is a training sortie. We’re lucky we’ve got this much. Jake ready?”
“Yea. They’re strapping in now.”
“Okay. Let’s get moving.”
SOUTH OF HUÉ
SOUTH VIET NAM
Clouds were building along the mountains just to the west, but Highway One was still under clear skies. Their 200-mile fli
ght was made low over the mountains to avoid radar, which pushed their fuel consumption way up.
At 4:52 Big Jake keyed his mic and radioed, “Bearcat to Eagle.”
Captain Renwick quickly replied, “Eagle, Bearcat.”
“Two minutes out. Have a look.”
“Rog.”
Captain Renwick’s 0-2 was circling in a valley on the west side of a ridgeline, which ran parallel to Highway One. He pulled up over the ridge and pushed the nose down. The little Cessna quickly built airspeed. He flipped the arming switches and banked left over the dirt highway, flying north at just over 500 feet. In less than a minute the front of the column, led by two tanks, came into view.
Hank tapped his control yoke and the 2.75-inch rocket on his right wing pod blasted off in a trail of white smoke. In an instant, he saw red smoke rising from around the lead tank. Men began running as the little Cessna buzzed over at nearly 200 knots. A second later he launched another rocket as he continued watching the column passing under his nose.
Tracers flashed past his plane and he could feel his muscles tighten. Still he kept the nose centered on the convoy and continued launching the smoke rockets.
Twelve tanks and nearly fifty trucks and buses were on the highway in broad daylight. Hank launched his last rocket and keyed the mic. Banking hard to the left, he let his altitude continue to drop. “North-south run. There’s no sun.” Let’s get my ass out of Viet Nam and back to Thailand where it belongs, Hank thought as he climbed low over the western ridge. The F-4’s would be above him, but he wanted to give them plenty of room.
As they had agreed earlier, Eddie swung north and Jake swung south. Jake started his run in from 1,000 feet, flying south to north. Ten seconds later Eddie started his run in from 1,200 feet, flying north to south. Jake planned to stay 200 feet lower than Eddie and turn out ten seconds ahead of Eddie. Ten seconds and 200 feet separation would be close, but should get them off the target quickly and without a mid-air collision.
They broke out of low clouds at 2,000 feet. Below was a mat of green jungle broken by rice fields. The highway was a dirt brown ribbon running northwest to southeast through the coastal plain. It looked so peaceful below. Ahead of them on the dirt road they could see red smoke rising from the column of vehicles.
The Wrong Side of Honor Page 4