Name: Unit: TDY-Civilian/Lockheed, Lima Site 85-Phou Pha Thi, Laos

Date of Loss: 11 March 1968 Country of Loss:
Laos Loss Coordinates: 202600N 1034400E (UH680600)
Status (in 1973): Killed In Action/Body Not Recovered
Category: Acft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground Others In Incident:
Clarence Blanton; James Calfee; Henry Gish; Willis Hall;
Melvin Holland; Herbert Kirk; David Price; Patrick Shannon;
Donald Springsteadah; Don Worley  (all missing from Lima 85);
Donald Westbrook (missing from SAR 13 March)
U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with
POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
Copyright 1991 Homecoming II Project.

SYNOPSIS:

When James Davis volunteered for a sensitive assignment called Project
Heavy Green, his wife had to sign a secrecy agreement too. Davis, an Air
Force man, was to be temporarily relieved of duty to take a civilian job
with Lockheed Aircraft. He would be running Lima 85, a radar base
in Laos,  whose neutrality prohibited U.S. military presence.
No one was to know.

Lima 85 was on a peak in the Annam Highlands near the
village of Sam Neua on a 5860 ft. mountain called
Phou Pha Thi. The mountain was protected
by sheer cliffs on three sides, and guarded by 300 tribesmen
working for CIA. Unarmed US "civilians" operated the radar
which swept across the Tonkin Delta to Hanoi.

For three months in early 1968, a steady stream of intelligence
was received which indicated that communist troops were
about to launch a major attack on Lima 85.
Intelligence watched as enemy troops even built a road to
the area to facilitate moving heavy weapons, but the site
was so important that William H. Sullivan, U.S.
Ambassador to Laos, made the decision to leave the men
in place. When the attack came March 11, some were rescued
by helicopter, but eleven men were missing. The
President announced a halt in the bombing of North Vietnam.

Donald Westbrook was flying one of 4 A1E's orbiting on stand-by
to search for survivors of the attack at Phou Pha Thi when his plane
was shot down March 13. Westbrook was never found. Finding no
survivors, the Air Force destroyed Lima 85 to prevent the equipment
from falling into the hands of the enemy.

In mid March, Margaret Davis was notified that Lima Site 85
had been overrun by enemy forces, and that her husband and
the others who had not escaped had been killed. Many years
later, she learned that was not the whole truth.

Two separate reports indicate that all the men missing
at Phou Pha Thi did not die. One report suggests that at
least one of the 11 was captured, and another indicates
that 6 were captured. Information has been hard to get.
The fact that Lima Site 85 existed was only declassified
in 1983, and finally the wives could be believed when they
said their husbands were missing in Laos. Some of the men's
files were shown to their families for the first time in 1985.

Margaret Davis and the other wives have talked and
compared notes. They still feel there is a lot of
information to be had. They think someone survived the
attackon LimaSite 85 that day in March 1968. They wonder
if their country will bring those men home.

PLEASE SEE MY OTHER OTHER MIA PAGES.
THESE ARE FOR WOMEN WHO AS MISSIONAIRIES WENT TO HELP AND
MADE THE UNTIMATE SACRFICE FOR THEIR FELLOW MAN:
BEATRICE KOSIN FROM WY
BETTY AN OLSEN FROM NY
MILITARY TRIBUTE PAGE

Ron Fleischer
GUNNY, WITHOUT YOUR HELP WE WOULD
NOT BE ABLE TO DO THIS.
THANK YOU!!!
GOD BLESS AND KEEP YOU.

CLICK HERE TO FIND THE CREATOR OR THIS BEAUTIFUL AWARD

POWFORUM
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our REMEMBERANCE AWARD.
Steve Golding
Thank you and God Bless you, Steve

 Lorfious Majorus
Thank You my friend for this honor.
Keep the torch lit until they are home
on American Soil once more....
Walking or Firmly Planted!


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