On June 2, 1967 Steven Pless led a flight of Marine UH1E helicopter
gunships escorting 14 transport helicopters, Marine CH-46's
and Vietnamese Air Force H-34's, on a secret "Prairie Fire"
mission into Laos for MACVSOG. His mission was to insert
a Hatchet Force of about one hundred men into the heart of the main North
Vietnamese Command center for the Ho Chi Minh Trail, known to
American intelligence and special operations forces as “Target Oscar Eight.”
Objective:
General Giap
The troops and supporting air units were told that the objective of
this raid was to do a bomb damage assessment immediately following a
large bombing raid on the logistical and command center at Oscar
Eight. The true objective of this raid was later revealed to
be the capture or killing of General Vo Nguyen Giap
(Waugh). Giap was the commander of the North Vietnamese
Army and chief architect of their war strategy.
If Giap's death or
capture was the true objective, and if the mission
had succeeded it would rank historically with the America's assassination of
Japan's Admiral Yamamoto during World War II by a flight of P-38
fighters. General Giap, on the left in the picture above, was the
master mind of North Vietnams successful campaign against the French
and he played the same key role throughout the years of war with the
United States.
Target Oscar Eight
Regardless of whether or not General Giap was present, Target Oscar
Eight was an extremely important objective. Huge quantities of
military supplies were hidden in the area believed to be the largest
logistical center outside of North Vietnam. It was the forward
headquarters of North Vietnam's General Vo Bam's 559th
Transportation Group - the control center of the Ho Chi Mihn
Trail.
IOscar Eight was in a bowl shaped
mountain valley at the junction of Highway 92 and Highway 922 which
led eastward into Vietnam and the notorious Ashau Valley.
Oscar Eight was well defended against air attack with several belts
of heavy antiaircraft guns dug deeply into the surrounding hills
that formed this bowl. More aircraft were shot down over Oscar
Eight then anywhere else in Laos.
Dawn, June 2, 1967 - The Raid
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Triple Arc Light
To silence the antiaircraft defenses and demoralize the NVA infantry
a massive "Arc Light"
bombing attack by nine B-52 bombers hit "Oscar Eight at dawn.
Nearly a thousand 500- and 700-pound bombs blanketed the target area
setting off about fifty secondary explosions which were observed by
Master Sergeant Billy Waugh. Waugh was overhead in the back
seat of an O-1 "Covey" aircraft.
As soon as the bombs
quit falling Waugh observed NVA soldiers rushing out of their
bunkers to salvage burning supplies and decided the mission should
be cancelled. (Waugh) He broadcast the following message to
his commanding officer at Khe Sanh, "I've got people out here
scurrying around. That sonvabitch is loaded." But
it was impossible to stop the insertion for as the smoke
cleared the helicopters, nine VNAF H-34's and five Marine H-46's, swept in and landed the Hatchet Force company in the midst of the
bomb craters and shattered foliage.
Pinned Down in the LZ
The Hatchet
force of Nungs, led by American Special Forces members, quickly
fanned out in the landing zone, but they never had a chance to reach
their objectives. The enemy quickly reacted to their presence
sending hundreds of NVA soldiers toward the landing area. Soon
the SOG men were surrounded in the several large
bomb craters in which they had initially landed.
Fixed wing fighter
bombers were called in to attack the enemy positions around the SOG
force, but the extensive heavy antiaircraft defenses of Oscar
Eight recovered from the shock of the Arc
Light bombing and soon two A-1 Skyraiders crashed in flames.
The day ended in a stalemate with the Hatchet force pinned down in
the landing zone. They had enough firepower to hold of the NVA, but
they were too small a force to attack the NVA soldiers that were
massing around them.
On the second day two Marine UH1E gunships,
probably from the VMO-6 detachment led by Captain Stephen Pless, were shot down
while they were making low level attacks on enemy positions. One AFVN H-34
crashed in flames and an F-4 Phantom jet also crashed and
burned. Tragically, a Marine H-46 was shot down with a full load
of troops as it was lifting out of the zone. The H-46 crashed
near an NVA position and its crew and passengers who survived the
crash were either killed or captured by the NVA.
For four days the SOG
forces struggled day and night to extract the survivors of the raid.
Twenty-three Americans and about forty six Nungs were killed.
Six Americans were declared missing in action but only one, a Marine
door gunner, Lance Corporal Frank E. Cius, Jr. survived the POW
camps and was released in 1973.
Charles Wilklow - POW - Helicopter
Bait!
One of the captured Americans, green Beret Sergeant First Class
Charles Wiklow was severely injured in the H-46 crash. He
crawled away from the crash and passed out. He awoke to find
that he was a prisoner. He had been stripped of his weapons, a
red air panel had been laid out next to him to attract the attention
of rescue aircraft. He looked up and saw in the tree tops
around the clearing several platforms with 12.7 mm machine guns
arranged to cover the clearing with antiaircraft fire. He
realized they were going to use him as bait!
The NVA must have believed he was
too weak to survive or escape and left him in a clearing for several
days without water or medical attention. Wiklow grew weaker
and drifted in and out of consciousness. He watched as a
group of American prisoners was led past him and later he saw the
NVA mounting the heads of those same men on stakes. In another
moment of consciousness he saw two Caucasians in civilian clothing
watching him. He assumed that they were Russians.
On his last night of captivity Wilklow noticed that his guards were
no longer watching him so he crawled away into the darkness.
In the morning he heard the alarm sound and then the sounds of
groups of men searching the area. Overhead Billy Waugh was
continuing his search for survivors from the team and noticed
Wilklow lying in a small clearing.
When Wilklow came to, he was looking into the face of Staff Sergeant
Roy Pace, who had repelled down from a hovering helicopter to
rescue him. He quickly connected Wilklow's STABO rig the extraction string (a long rope secured to the floor of the
helicopter, and the pilot lifted them both out of the clearing
(MACVSOG/SOG Site).
VMO-6 SOG Detachment Commander
Captain Stephen Pless, USMC
As the commander
of VMO-6's SOG detachment, Pless played a key part in coordination
of the several UH1E gunships that he commanded as well as general
control over the transport aircraft that flew in and out of the LZ
under his protection. During the extraction of the trapped
troops Pless personally led missions into Oscar Eight on eight
separate occasions. On June 4 he led a flight of five UH1E gunships
that provided close covering fire for the successful extraction of
the main body of the trapped men. For his valor and leadership
during the 72 hour period that he participated in the raid on Oscar
Eight he was awarded the Silver Star. (Lynn)
Prairie Fire
The covert operations in Laos were part of top secret operations
code named "Shining Brass" and "Prairie Fire." Early in the
war these operations were so secret that often awards for valor were
not even considered, especially in Marine units that were attached
to SOG. These operations were declassified some years ago
and much has now been published about America's "Secret War" in
Laos, including stories about the raid on Oscar Eight. However
nothing has ever been published connecting Major Stephen Pless, USMC
with the raid on target Oscar Eight.
Several magazine
articles have described vaguely described Pless's actions on this
mission, but due to its top secret classification, the authors didn't
know that
it took place deep inside Laos. Instead the location was described as
"south of Khe Sanh" and many details of the operation, including the
extent of the American and Nung losses were not included.
History of Oscar Eight
Valor
Remembered is researching the history of Target Oscar Eight with a
particular concern for the events surrounding this June 2, 1967
raid. We have learned that over the years of the war
many Americans died in or near Oscar Eight. Numerous US Air
Force aircraft fell victim to the radar directed guns of Oscar
Eight. Many SOG teams had bad experiences there. For example, Staff
Sergeant John Stryker Meyer who led recon teams near Oscar Eight
said of the area, "the area was really hot, I mean, every team that
went in there got the shit shot out of it." (Plaster) .
In 2002 Meyer was our guest at the change of command of Marine Light
Attack Helicopter Squadron 367 at Camp Pendleton, California.
As an honored guest of the commanding officer he had an assigned
seat, but when he noticed it number he respectively declined to sit
in it - it was marked "Oscar-8".
