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Posted on 02/19/2004 12:00:10 AM PST by SAMWolf
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 are acknowledged, affirmed and commemorated.
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| Our Mission: The FReeper Foxhole is dedicated to Veterans of our Nation's military forces and to others who are affected in their relationships with Veterans. In the FReeper Foxhole, Veterans or their family members should feel free to address their specific circumstances or whatever issues concern them in an atmosphere of peace, understanding, brotherhood and support. The FReeper Foxhole hopes to share with it's readers an open forum where we can learn about and discuss military history, military news and other topics of concern or interest to our readers be they Veteran's, Current Duty or anyone interested in what we have to offer. If the Foxhole makes someone appreciate, even a little, what others have sacrificed for us, then it has accomplished one of it's missions. We hope the Foxhole in some small way helps us to remember and honor those who came before us.
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Date: 24 November 1964; 0600 hours ZULU time  Operation DRAGON ROUGE, RED DRAGON in English, was one of the most dramatic military missions undertaken during the Cold War. It involved a flight of more than 4,000 miles by USAF C-130s carrying paratroopers of the crack Belgian 1st ParaCommando to rescue hostages who had been held for more than three months in the Congolese city of Stanleyville.  Africa was an unstable place in the 1960s, even more so than it is today. The former Belgian Colony of Congo, now known as Zaire, was granted independence in 1960, and almost immediately became the site of chaos. When the crisis ended in early 1964, a new one broke out as Congolese rebels calling themselves "Simba" rebelled against the government. The Congolese government turned to the United States for help. In response, the US Strike Command sent JTF LEO, a task force made up of a detachment of C-130s, communications personnel and and 82nd Airborne security team, to Leopoldville.  Paratroops preparing to load gear at Ascension Island By early August, 1964 the Congolese, with the help of the LEO force and a group of white mercenaries led by Major Mike Hoare, was making headway against the Simbas. In retaliation, the Simbas began taking hostages of the whites in areas under their control. They took them to Stanleyville and placed them under guard in the Victoria Hotel.  Belgian paras loading up for Stanleyville from Kamina airfield While the world watched anxiously, in Washington and Brussels the United States and Belgium were hard at work trying to come up with a rescue plan. Several ideas were considered and discarded, while attempts at negotiating with the Simbas failed - no one could be found to negotiate with!  The task force at Ascension Island In mid-November the C-130Es and crews of the Tactical Air Command rotational squadron from Pope AFB, NC were called back to their temporary duty base at Evreux-Fauville AB, France from missions throughout Europe. The crews were told simply to go to their barracks and get some rest, because something big was brewing. On Tuesday evening, November 17, the crews were told to report to the operations room on the Margarite where the airplanes were deployed. The crews were told to rig seats and take-off. Just before take-off, each navigator was given a Manila envelope and instructed not to open it until their airplane had reached 2,000 feet and there were no mechanical problems to make them turn back. When the crews opened the envelopes, they learned they were going to Klinebrogel, a Belgian military airfield outside Brussels. When they got to Klinebrogel, each airplane loaded with paratroopers wearing red berets, then took off again after being handed another envelope. This time it told them to head south for Moron AB, on the Spanish Mediterranean. At Moron the navigators went into Base Operations where they were given maps and instructions for the next leg of their flight, to Ascension Island in the South Atlantic, where they arrived 18 hours after leaving France.  Dragon Rouge, Phases I and II, 0600-0750 By this time everyone knew they were on their way to Africa, but first there was a time of "hurry up and wait" on secluded Ascension, where the rescue force was out of sight of the prying eyes of the world. While they waited, the American airmen and Belgian paras got to know each other, and began working out procedures to drop the Belgians.  Belgian Red Berets on the way to Stanleyville On Sunday before Thanksgiving the force left Ascension and flew across the Atlantic and much of Africa to Kamina, an airfield in the southern Congo. There the crews and paratroopers waited again. By this time all hopes of negotiation had vanished, and that evening the American and Belgian commanders were told to launch Operation DRAGON ROUGE.  U.S. aircrews and Paracommandos at Kamina airfield prior to Stanleyville flight In the early hours of November 23, 1964 five C-130s took off from Kamina, each with 64 Belgian Red Berets in full combat gear seated on the red nylon troop seats in its cargo compartment. Behind the assault force came seven more Herks, with Chalk 12 configured as a hospital ship. The C-130s flew north at high altitude, then dropped down to treetop altitudes to follow the Congo River as they neared the city of Stanleyville.  Paracommandos on the edge of the Stanleyville airfield after parachuting As the sun was breaking over the horizon out of the African Veldt, a CIA A-26 INVADER flown by a Cuban mercenary pilot made a strafing pass over the Stanleyville Sabenas airport. Right behind the A-26 the first C-130 roared low over the runway. As the airplane came over the field, paratroopers led by Col Charles Laurent spilled from the doors on either side of the airplane. Within seconds, 310 paratroopers were in the air, then landing on the strip of grass alongside the runway. The five jump planes came around for another pass to drop the jumpmasters and bundles of equipment. As the airplanes came off the drop zone, they began taking fire from a .50-caliber machinegun. After dropping the troops, Chalks Two through Five left the area for Leopoldville, where they were to refuel and stand-by. Chalk One, carrying the C-130 mission commander, Colonel Burgess Gradwell, and flown by Captain Huey Long of the 777th TCS, orbited over the airfield until they were hit by several heavy shells that knocked out hydraulics. Long pointed the battle-damaged airplane toward Leopoldville.  After the jump an the Stanleyville airfield, rebels who formerly controlled the tower are held on the ground as prisoners Forty-five minutes after he jumped, Col. Laurent reported that the airfield was secure. Five other C-130s roared in for assault landings from their orbit point near Stanleyville. Each airplane discharged troops and vehicles to join the paratroopers on the ground, then took off again and headed to Stanleyville. Meanwhile, Chalk Six, flown by Captain Mack Secord's crew, approached Stanleyville. They had lost a life raft after takeoff from Kamina and had to return for the spare airplane. Secord was told to land, and wait with Chalk Twelve, the hospital plane, until the Belgians returned to the airport with the hostages.  An AS-21 tricycle moves troops into place around Stanleyville airport After leaving the airport, the Belgian rescue team made haste to reach the Victoria Hotel before the Simbas carried out their threats to kill the hostages if a rescue was attempted. Several blocks from the hotel a paratrooper rounded a corner just in time to prevent the Simbas from firing a second volley of shots into the assembled hostages, who had evidently been walking toward the airport. Some of the hostages later said they thought the Simba officers intended to turn them over to the Belgians unharmed, but some of the Simbas, who had been drinking and smoking Hemp all night the night before, decided to take matters in their own hands. They shot their own officers, then turned their guns on the hostages. They had fired one volley, picking women and children as their targets, and were preparing to fire another when the Red Berets showed up on the scene. At the sight of the Belgians, the Simbas lost their courage and ran!  Belgian paratrooper escorting a captured Simba, Stanleyville Airport After more than an hour on the ground at Stanleyville, Mack Secord's crew finally saw the first hostages coming toward them. As they were the most badly injured, they had been driven to the airport. Seeing the engines running and thinking the C-130 was about to take-off, the frightened whites rushed aboard the airplane through the open rear ramp. Secord's loadmasters, there were two aboard, tried to get them over to the other airplane where a doctor waited to tend their wounds. After finally getting the most seriously injured people to leave, Secord's crew closed up their airplane and began taxing for the runway. As they passed a clump of elephant grass, a pair of Simbas ran out. One ran alongside the airplane trying to get inside the door while the other sprayed the underside of the wing with a submachinegun. No one inside the airplane knew what had happened; the whole thing was witnessed by the crew of Chalk 12. Secord took off and headed for Leopoldville. When he got there, he had to be bodily lifted from the airplane and taken to the hospital where he was treated for a brain concussion he had received the night before when he bumped his head getting into the airplane.  The night march an Stanleyville For the rest of the day, C-130s and other transports shuttled between Stanleyville and Leopoldville. More than 2,000 people were airlifted out of the city. That night a Belgian mechanic working on a DC-4 was killed by sniper fire. Several times during the day the field was mortared, and every airplane was hit by ground fire during their landings and takeoffs. One was hit in a wing fuel tank. The airplane crew chief whittled a plug from a broom handle and wrapped it with a rag and used it to plug the leak.  Some of the hostages after the terrible shooting by the rebels The airlift continued the next day. Late in the day the Belgians were pulled out of the city and flown to Leopoldville. Early the next morning a smaller scale mission designated as DRAGON NOIR/BLACK DRAGON, freed hostages held at Paulis, a town 225 miles northwest of Stanleyville. The hostages at Paulis had also been harmed by the Simbas. An American missionary had been beaten to death during torture.  Refugees moving toward the Stanleyville airfield After DRAGON NOIR, the rescue force retired to Kamina to await further orders. While they were waiting, an African thunderstorm prompted one C-130 crewmember, none of whom had had a bath in days, to grab soap and go out into the rain for an impromptu shower. The rest of the force followed his lead as the airmen and paratroopers ran around naked in the rain! A few days later, in response to political pressure from the Third World, President Lyndon Johnson ordered the force ouf of Africa.  Dragon Rouge Phase III, search and evacuation, 0750-1400 For their role in DRAGON ROUGE, the C-130 crewmembers recieved the 1964 MacKay Trophy for the most meritorious flight of the year by USAF aircraft. All of the crewmembers were decorated with the Air Medal, while Captain Mack Secord received the Distinguished Flying Cross. Date: 26 November 1964; 0602 hours ZULU time Unit: USAF C-130E squadron, Belgian Paratrooper Regiment Operation: Dragon Noir Troopers: 246 Belgians Country: Belgian Congo Drop zone: Paulis Airport Aircraft: 4 x C-130E Hercules turboprop aircraft, 2 x B-26 Invader aircraft Equipment/supplies air-delivered: Armored gun jeeps, AS-24 tricycle ATVs, crew-served machine guns Type Air delivery: Day Mass low-level tactical personnel static-line jump  Dragon Noir assault plan On 25 November the task force received word that the assault on Paulis would take place at 0400 hours on 26 November. The troops and equipment for the operation were picked up by the airlift commander at Stanleyville during the early morning hours. The arrival of the aircraft and their loading at Stanleyville proceeded without incident, and the task force arrived at its objective on schedule. However, a low-hanging fog covered the area, so that it was necessary to make two passes to establish the location of the drop zone, finally seen through the haze as a red glow in the first morning light. Once again the rebel fire was directed at the aircraft; one paratrooper was wounded as he exited from the Number 1 plane. The airfield was secured within 30 minutes of the drop, but landings were delayed for an additional 15 minutes while the sources of fire from the east end of the runway were eliminated.  The 11th Company had assembled and proceeded directly into Paulis. Captain Pierlink's company Split up by platoons for its missions inside the city: the 1st Platoon moved off for the mission; the 2d Platoon moved out to block off the military camp; and the 3d Platoon moved south through the residential quarter to the center of Paulis.  Paracommandos at the airfield, Paulis The 1st Platoon ran through the town encountering scattered resistance. On the way to the mission, they picked up several refugees, and the paras had them move with the formation, screening them from hostile fire. Witteman's platoon reached the mission at 0700 and rescued around fifty missionaries who had been held as hostages.  Lieutenant Peirelinck, commanding 11th Company, reports to Colonel Laurent Again the Belgian forces were lucky in discovering quickly where the hostages were held. The first person whom they met was a Dutch consul, who was subsequently wounded while leading Belgian patrols in their search for hostages. In 3 days motorized patrols liberated 355 hostages at scattered locations in the Paulis area. One Belgian paratrooper was killed in action and several others were wounded.  C-130 Hercules landing at Paulis airstrip to remove hostages and withdrawing paratroops For many of the hostages, however, the Belgians were about forty-eight hours too late. The intelligence reports had been correct; the rebel leadership in Paulis had been particularly brutal. The Simbas had gathered thirty-five to forty American and European hostages several weeks earlier. They had already massacred several thousand Congolese in the city; now, after Dragon Rouge, they were eager to kill their foreign hostages. When Stanleyville fell, the rebels gathered in another thirty to forty hostages at the mission. On the night of 24 November, they began killing them, taking the first group out for execution. As their initial victim, they selected Reverend Joseph Tucker, an American missionary. For the next forty-five minutes, the Simbas tortured Tucker, finally killing him by driving a stake through his skull. The rebels butchered the others and returned for more victims the next evening. By the time Witteman's platoon arrived, the Simbas had executed some twenty of the hostages.  Withdrawal of Paracommandos to the airfield, Paulis The spare aircraft designated to participate in this operation was used to evacuate liberated hostages. Thus a total of eight aircraft was employed. 
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The 464th designation came into being when the 464th Bomb Group (H) was constituted at Wendover Field, Utah on 19 May, 1943. Equipped with the B-24 Liberator, the group moved to the Mediterranean and joined the Fifteenth Air Force in the air war over Europe where it earned the Distinguished Unit Citation. When World war II ended, the 464th designation was inactivated. It came back into the Air Force when the 464th Troop Carrier Wing was activated at Fort Benning, Georgia with C-119s.
In the late 1950's the 464th traded in its Dollar Nineteens for Fairchild C-123 Providers, twin-engine transports with excellent short-field landing characteristics. That Pope was home to a C-123 wing was appropriate, since the Provider was a powered version of the CG-20 glider Chase Aircraft had developed for the Army Air Forces during World War II. But the C-123 was destined for a short association with the Air Force as the newer and considerably faster C-130 was taking Tactical Air Command by storm. By 1960 the 464th at Pope was the only wing in the Air Force still flying the C-123, and the Providers were already set up to go to the reserves.
From December, 1961 until the spring of 1963 the 464th rotated aircraft and crews from Pope to Tan Son Nhut and Da Nang for airlift duties in South Vietnam. Popularly referred to as MULE TRAIN, after the military codeword for the first squadron to be deployed, the Pope C-123 mission was the first conventional US Air Force unit to see action in Vietnam. MULE TRAIN crews functioned like bush pilots in a rugged land where few runways were paved and where every Viet Cong with a rifle took potshots at every airplane they saw.
In the spring of 1964 Pope crews flew their first operational C-130 mission as they airlifted relief supplies to earthquake victims in Alaska. A few weeks later the 464th began rotating aircraft and crews to Evreux-Fauville AB, France where TAC had established two rotational squadrons to replace the 317th Troop Carrier Wing, which had transferred back to the United States and to TAC. In the summer of 1964 the 464th was tasked to provide a contingent of C-130Es to JTF LEO, a United States Strike Command mission in the Republic of the Congo, where a Marxist-led rebellion was underway against the goverment. LEO crews flew airlift missions in support of government forces, including white mercenaries led by Major Mike Hoare, a Rhodesian soldier of fortune who had fought with the British Chindits in Burma during World War II.
In April, 1965 Pope was the launching point for an airlift of the 82nd Airborne Division Ready Force to San Isidro Airfield at Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic as the United States intervened when rebels overthrew the government. A force of 140 TAC and MATS C-130s took off from Pope to drop the 82nd on the airfield, but the mission was changed to airland when word reached Washington that the airfield was in friendly hands.
In December, 1965 the 776th TCS transferred to PACAF along with several TAC C-130 squadrons. Pope became an RTU for C-130 crewmembers on their way to overseas assignments at Clark and CCK air bases. The 779th returned from Mactan after being replaced by the 463rd TCW from Langely, and began converting into the new C-130 special operations mission which eventually came to be known as Combat Talon . Pope became a testing ground for new airlift techniques.
In 1971 the 464th was inactivated (on paper) and replaced by the designation of the 317th Tactical Airlift Wing, the unit that had been at Lockbourne and was inactivated as its older C-130As transferred to the reserves. Pope crews returned to Southeast Asia in the spring of 1972 for AWADS airdrop missions. After the Vietnam War, the tactical airlift mission transferred from TAC to MAC, and Pope became a MAC base. Since that time the base has continued to play a large role in United States policy.
www.globalsecurity.org
worldatwar.net/chandelle/v2/v2n3
www.geocities.com/Pentagon/7963
www.army.mil
www-cgsc.army.mi
msgduty.info
www.nasm.si.edu
www.carolinaflyer.com
simulationsworkshop.tripod.com
 Dragon Rouge was one of the most difficult hostage rescues on record. The distance involved, the austere support, the use of combined forces, the number of hostages, and the lack of intelligence increased its difficulty. That Dragon Rouge took place in hostile territory in the middle of a civil war, and that it was as much an evacuation operation as a hostage rescue, further compounded the difficulties associated with it. Still, the operation was remarkably successful in its primary purpose of saving the hostages. Dragon Rouge rescued 1,600 hostages and refugees at a cost of 33 dead hostages (61, if those on the Rive Gauche are included). In addition, there were two dead and three wounded Belgian Paracommandos, as well as minimal rebel casualties from hostilities. The Third World reaction, while violent and unexpectedly vocal, did not have a lasting impact on the United States or Belgium. So while the results of Dragon Rouge were not ideal, they were better than might have been expected against such difficult odds.  Colonel Laurent accepting flowers from an appreciative Belgian during a march before the Belgians However, if one applies the definition of success that was operative at the time of Dragon Rouge, an assessment of the operations' results will be less charitable. Looking back at that definition, as stated in the U.S. State Department's research memo, "DRAGON ROUGE: African Reactions and Other Estimates," illuminates the issue: A. A Successful Drop 'Success' should be measured in terms of the swiftness with which the troops go in and out, and the completeness of the salvage operation. B. An Unsuccessful Drop The problems created for the West would obviously be exaggerated if, 1) DRAGON ROUGE precedes Vandewalle to Stanleyville by some days, thus (notwithstanding the nonmilitary objectives of the operation) unilaterally ending the rebellion and leaving Belgian paratroopers in charge of an 'occupied' city, and/or 2) a number of hostages were killed despite the paradrop.  Paracommandos march before the Belgian people, 1 December 1964 By this definition of 18 November 1964, Dragon Rouge was neither a success nor a failure. While Laurent's troops were in Stanleyville only fortyeight hours, the salvage operation in the Congo was hardly a complete one. The operation did not end the rebellion, and hostages were killed. The CWG's serious reluctance to consider the need for greater forces to affect an outright intervention led to these inconclusive results, since it limited the options of those faced with ordering and executing the operations. Like the longstanding effort to reconcile and to stabilize the turbulent Congo, the Dragon operations yielded a brilliant success that was tarnished by other related failures. |
Boeing Super Guppy
My thoughts;
The former Belgian Colony of Congo, now known as Zaire, was granted independence in 1960, and almost immediately became the site of chaos.
What were folks still doing there in 1964. I wonder how many were warned (if it wasn't obvious) that they should leave.
A few days later, in response to political pressure from the Third World, President Lyndon Johnson ordered the force ouf of Africa.
Go figure. Knowing Johnson's failures in the execution of the war in Vietnam it doesn't surprise me that he was worried about third world reaction, what a worthless POS.
World reaction was predictable. Demonstrations were held in Moscow, Prague, Nairobi, and Cairo, denouncing "American imperialism." The mob in Cairo managed to burn the JFK Library (all 270,000 volumes) to the ground in a brilliant display of self indulgence.
Why is/was there a JFK library in Cairo? Jeez. And why do we continue to give a hoot about what these countries think about us. Arrrghh.
Of course the soldiers did what they were commanded to do and did so honorably, but the politics of the whole mess just seems so predicitable and idiotic.
/rant
LOL. They are in training for by BicycleSpankenTruppen fellas.
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