INTRODUCTION

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In 1955, when the U.S. sent the first covert advisors to Vientiane, Laos was a sovereign nation recognized by the United Nations. The 1954 Geneva Accords prevented Laos from entering into foreign military alliances, so those first advisors were retired or reserve military personnel working undercover and housed in the “Program Evaluation Office” at the civilian-led U.S. Operations Mission. 

 

With the Pathet Lao refusing to participate in national elections and several thousand North Vietnamese regulars inside Laos, the country was quickly caught up in the Cold War. By 1959, American Green Berets in civilian dress were based at the U.S. Embassy in Vientiane and by 1961, the CIA’s proprietary airline, Air America, was contracted to provide helicopter support to American forces in Laos. 

 

As the neighboring American war in Vietnam amplified, so, too, did clandestine military activities in Laos. By 1964, U.S. pilots, alongside American-trained Lao pilots, began flying secret bombing sorties over the historic Plain of Jars. On the ground, the CIA had spent the past five years recruiting, training, and arming indigenous guerilla units to support the Royal Lao Army and aerial reconnaissance missions by Lao and American pilots. In December 1964, the Air Force and Navy began Operation Barrel Roll, a nine-year bombing campaign to block North Vietnamese troops and weapons moving into South Vietnam along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, a network of roads, paths, and tunnels hidden in the mountains that separate Laos and Vietnam. Approved by Lao Prime Minister Souvanna Phouma, bombings on Lao soil were coordinated by the American Ambassador in Vientiane along with the CIA Station Chief, military attaché, and U.S. commanders in Thailand, Vietnam, and Hawaii.

 

The American bombings left Laos the most heavily bombed nation, per capita, in human history. When the last bombs fell on August 14th, 1973, American pilots had flown 580,000 bombing runs over Laos, the equivalent of a planeload of bombs every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, for almost a decade. An estimated 30% of the over 270 million cluster munitions dropped on Laos failed to detonate. Today, millions of these unexploded bombs remain in Lao soil, contaminating all 17 provinces and killing dozens of people each year–a majority of them children.

 

While the American public was kept largely in the dark about the bombings, in Laos, the nightly sorties were impossible to hide from American diplomats, USAID officials and staff, International Voluntary Service Volunteers, and U.S. armed forces. Lao farmers suffered the greatest impact, fleeing villages and fields to live for years in caves and struggling to earn a living in towns and cities. They were wounded and died in unknown numbers. Their experiences came to the attention of the world in 1971, when Fred Branfman, a young International Voluntary Service employee who had been expelled from Laos, exposed the bombing to the American public in his testimony before Congress. His interviews with Lao villagers and their drawings collected by his colleague, Bouangeun Luangpraseuth, were compiled into the 1972 book, “Voices from the Plain of Jars.” This timeline is dedicated to Fred, Bouangeun, and to the estimated one million civilians of Laos who were displaced, made homeless, wounded, and died during the American Secret War in Laos.

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LEGEND

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ANL Armee Nationale Laotienne or LNA Lao National Army

ARVN Army of the Republic of Vietnam

CAT Civil Air Transport (became Air America)

CDNI Committee for the Defense of National Interests

CIA Central Intelligence Agency

DRV Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam)

ICP Indochinese Communist Party

JCS Joint Chiefs of Staff

LPDR Lao People’s Democratic Republic

LPRP Lao People’s Revolutionary Party

MAAG Military Assistance and Advisory Group 

NLHS Neo Lao Hak Sat

OSS Office of Strategic Services

PARU Police Aerial Reinforcement Unit

PL Pathet Lao (Lao communist movement/army)

PAVN People’s Army of Vietnam

PEO Program Evaluation Office

PRC People’s Republic of China

RLA Royal Lao Army

RLAF Royal Lao Air Force

RLG Royal Lao Government

SGU Special Guerilla Unit

USAID United States Agency for International Development

USOM United States Operations Mission

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​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​84,000 BCE-1895

 

84,000 BCE

• Earliest modern humans inhabit what is now Laos

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500 BCE-800 AD

• Iron age megalithic culture thrives on the Plain of Jars, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Xieng Khouang Province

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450-500 AD

• The Hindu state Shreshtapura is founded at Wat Phou, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Champasak province

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600-1300 AD

• T’ai peoples migrate south from the Guangxi and Guangdong areas of China and establish principalities in Burma, Laos, Thailand, and North Vietnam; the first use of the words “Ngai Lao” and “Ai Lao” appear in Chinese and Vietnamese writings of this time

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1353

• Fa Ngum, the first recorded Lao king, unifies the T’ai principalities of Xieng Dong, Xieng Tong (Luang Prabang), Vieng Chan, Xieng Khouang, and Champasak into the Theravada Buddhist Kingdom of Lan Xang

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1641

• Father J.M.Leria, a Jesuit priest, and Gerrit Van Wusthof, a Dutch explorer and merchant, are the first Europeans to visit Lan Xang

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1663

• Father G.M. De Marini, an Italian Jesuit, publishes Leria’s account of Lan Xang. It describes a heavily forested kingdom with an abundance of timber, rice, and fish whose center is Vieng Chan, a flourishing Buddhist city fortified by walls and a moat

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1694

• Lan Xang is divided into the three kingdoms of Luang Prabang, Vieng Chan, and Champasak, initiating a two-century period of rivalry and wars with the Vietnamese and Siam

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1893

• Treaty ending the Franco-Siamese War establishes the French-named country of Laos as a protectorate within the Indochina Union

• The French encourage Vietnamese migration to Laos. Over time, Vietnamese government administrators, entrepreneurs, and planters become a majority in Vientiane, Thakhek, and Pakse

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1895-1940

• Lao Theung, Hmong, and Vietnamese groups in Laos launch successive, failed rebellions against French taxes and corvée labor

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1931-1949

 

1931

• May

  • The Vientiane Buddhist Institute under Prince Phetsarath Rattanavongsa promotes cultural nationalism, a root of the new movement for Lao independence and democracy

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1934

• October

  • The Indochinese Communist Party (ICP) founded by Ho Chi Minh meets for the first time and creates a committee for Laos

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1940

• June

  • Germany occupies Vichy France 

  • Japan, allied with Germany, attacks French Indochina

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1941

• April: 

  • The Flying Tigers, a mercenary American air command, secretly supports Chiang Kai Shek against Japan; many Tiger pilots and planes are later merged into Civil Air Transport (CAT), which becomes Air America in 1959

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• May 

  • ICP forms League for the Independence of Vietnam (Viet Minh), the only anti-French, anti-Japanese organization in Vietnam

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• July 

  • Pact between Vichy and Tokyo allows Japanese free movement in Indochina

  • Japan maintains French administration except in Luang Prabang, which continues as a monarchy

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1942

• June 

  • U.S. establishes Office of Strategic Services (OSS) for worldwide intelligence gathering and clandestine operations. The OSS had a significant presence in southern China and northern Indochina

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1945

• February 

  • At the Yalta conference, the Soviet Union promises free elections in Eastern Europe; these are never held and the region moves into the Soviet sphere of influence

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• March

  • Japan fully occupies French Indochina, arresting all French nationals as well as King Sisavang Vong

  • Lacking French operatives, the OSS trains Ho Chi Minh and a team of operatives to spy on Japanese movements in northern Vietnam and Laos 

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• August 

  • Japan surrenders to the Allies

  • Prince Phetsarath, in disagreement with French loyalist King Sisavang Vong, affirms Lao independence

  • U.S. President Harry Truman assures French President Charles de Gaulle of U.S. support for continued French colonial rule in Indochina

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• September

  • Ho Chi Minh, accompanied by his American OSS contacts, declares an independent Vietnamese Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV)

  • Viet Minh soldiers, at Ho’s direction, occupy the southern Mekong River towns in Laos to prevent the return of the French

  • An OSS team secretly parachutes near Vientiane; they meet with Phetsarath, implying American support for Lao independence

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• October

  • The Committee for Independent Laos (Khana Lao Issara), an anti-French nationalist movement, is formed and votes on a provisional constitution, assembly, and government under Phetsarath

  • King Sisavang Vong is deposed.

  • Prince Souphanouvong, Phetsarath’s half-brother and the new Defense Minister, creates a liberation army and allies with DRV, allowing Viet Minh troops to remain in Laos

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1946

• February

  • Issara hold first elections in Lao history

  • Ho Chi Minh sends last of eight messages requesting Washington’s aid in the Vietnamese fight for independence; his queries are ignored 

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• March 

  • The Vietminh sign the Ho-Sainteny Accord with France, a short-lived agreement establishing Vietnam as a Free State within the French Union; this resulted in Vietminh abandonment of the Lao Issara

  • The Battle of Thakhek between French and Vietnamese irregulars led by  Souphanouvong leaves Thakhek in ruins; 3,000 people are dead

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• April 

  • King Sisavang Vong is reinstated

  • France retakes control of Laos. Issara leadership takes exile in Bangkok 

  • U.S. acknowledges French control of Indochina

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• August 

  • French and Crown Prince Savang Vathana sign a modus vivendi recognizing Lao unity and a certain degree of autonomy

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• November

  • French bomb Haiphong, killing thousands

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• December

  • The Battle of Hanoi begins the eight-year French Indochina war between France and the Viêtminh

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1947

• March 

  • President Truman announces what became known as The Truman Doctrine, pledging an interventionist foreign policy to contain communism and assist democratic nations under threat from authoritarianism.

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• May 

  • Laos becomes a constitutional monarchy within the French Union, establishes the Royal Lao Government (RLG), and  promulgates a new constitution; France maintains control over finance, justice, foreign affairs, and defense

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• July 

  • France and the RLG offer amnesty to Lao Issara

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• August 

  • National elections for parliament establish a Lao government under prime minister Souvannarath

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• September

  • The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is founded as an independent agency; many CIA operatives are former OSS members

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1948

• January 

  • Laos formally joins the French Union

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1949

• January 

  • Kaysone Phoumivane, longtime ICP member, creates the first unit of the Pathet Lao (PL), the Lao People's Democratic Army, in the northeast along the Vietnamese border

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• July 

  • Laos is recognized by France as “an independent state” within the French Union

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• October 

  • The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is established under Mao Zedong.

  •  Lao Issara announces formal dissolution: Souvanna Phouma and 25 moderates return to Vientiane from Bangkok; Phetsarath stays in exile

  • Liberated zone created in southeastern Laos by Khamtay Siphandone, future Commander in Chief of the PL and President of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (LPDR)

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1950-1959

 

1950

• February 

  •  The United States, United Kingdom, and other Western nations officially recognize Laos

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• March 

  • The Royal Lao Army (RLA) is established

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• April 

  • The RLG holds an independence ceremony to celebrate France’s transfer of powers to Laos

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• June 

  • The Korean War begins 

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• July

  • U.S. establishes diplomatic relations with Laos; legation opens in August under a Charge d’Affaires

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• August 

  • The PL holds the first Resistance Congress in northeast Laos, establishes a government under Prime Minister Souphanouvong and Defense Minister Kaysone Phoumivane 

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1951

• February

  • The ICP, with Souphanouvong and Kaysone in attendance, is dissolved  

  • Separate Vietnamese, Lao, and Cambodian communist parties are created. They establish an alliance to “wipe out French colonists and defeat American interventionists”

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• November 

  • Souvanna Phouma becomes RLG prime minister; he holds this post on and off until 1962 and then continuously until 1975

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• December: 

  • France allows the U.S. to send the RLA weapons indirectly via France

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1952 

• The French military and Hmong leader, Touby Lyfoung, begins recruiting and training Hmong “guerillas” in Sam Neua and Phone Saly provinces in Laos.

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1953

• January 

  • President Eisenhower, in a National Security Council meeting, announces, “If Laos is lost, we will likely lose the rest of Southeast Asia and Indonesia. The gateway to India, Burma and Thailand will be open (to the Communists)”

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• March-May 

  • Viet Minh and PL launch a major offensive in northern Laos. They reach within 20 km of Luang Prabang as top RLG officials are celebrating New Years; thousands are killed

  • Civil Air Transport (CAT) C-119 cargo aircraft, repainted in French colors and paid by the CIA, secretly support French operations to hold back a Viet Minh invasion of Laos

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• July

  • The Korean War ends with an armistice and a divided Korea

  • France grants Laos full independence and provides security guarantees but retains control of military affairs

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1954

• January

  • CAT planes, maintained by U.S. Air Force personnel, secretly fly over 700 missions to resupply French troops at Dien Bien Phu

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• May

  •  France loses the battle of Dien Bien Phu, ending the French War in Indochina 

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• July

  • The first Geneva Accords, which the U.S. refuses to sign, establish a ceasefire in Laos; it provides for: full sovereignty, departure of foreign troops, no military alliances, national elections within two years, and integration of PL soldiers into the RLA

  • 1,000 DRV military and political advisors remain in the Phongsaly and Hua Phan PL regroupement zones

  • Vietnam is divided into North and South at the 17th parallel 

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• October

  • U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) recommend no military aid to Laos; they are overruled by the State Department

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1955

• January

  • The U.S. Operations Mission (USOM) is established in Vientiane, housing a Program Evaluation Office (PEO) staffed by retired or reserve American military who secretly fund the RLA

  • CIA begins funding of Thai Police Aerial Reconnaissance Units (PARU) which later fight in Laos

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• March 

  • Lao People’s Revolutionary Party (LPRP) is created with DRV guidance

  • The PL seeks full control of Phongsaly and Sam Neua provinces, claiming these were ceded to it by the 1954 Geneva Accords

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• April  

  • Asia-African Bandung Conference attended by RLG, PRC, DRV,  launches non-aligned movement. DRV pledges non-interference in Laos 

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• June - September

  • RLG/RLA and PL fight in Sam Neua and Hua Phan while also conducting on and off negotiations  

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• August

  • U.S. elevates diplomatic mission in Vientiane to an embassy

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• December

  • Laos is admitted to the United Nations (UN)

  • PL boycott national elections despite repeated attempts by the RLG to include them; Phong Saly and Hua Phan provinces do not participate

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1956

• January 

  • Founding congress of Neo Lao Haksat (NLHS), the Lao Patriotic Front, political arm of the Pathet Lao

  • The PEO secretly provides four C-47s (military transport aircrafts) and military advisors to the Royal Lao Air Force (RLAF)

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• August 

  • New RLG-PL talks

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• December 

  • Joint statement by RLG and PL establishing NLHS participation in elections, dissolution of PL government, and reunification of Phong Saly and Hua Phan provinces into Laos 

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1957

• November

  •  RLG and PL sign Vientiane Accords agreeing to coalition government with two PL ministers and return of Phongsaly and Hua Phan

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1958

• May

  • NLHS wins the national vote in supplemental election conducted by secret ballot

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• June

  • In reaction to the NLHS electoral victory, the CIA backs formation of rightist Committee for the Defense of National Interest (CDNI), largely young civilian and military personnel

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• August

  • CDNI disregards election results and forms a new government that does not include two PL cabinet ministers 

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1959

• January  

  • RLG prime minister Phoui Sananikone accuses PL of insurrection, closes the National Assembly and is given emergency powers for a year

  • CAT in Laos/Vietnam becomes Air America, a proprietary CIA airline; it is based at Udorn in Thailand and contracted by the PEO and later United States Agency for International Development (USAID)

  • Phoui’s government recognizes western-backed Taiwan, South Korea, and South Vietnam

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• May

  • PL units refuse integration with RLA 

  • NLHS leaders in Vientiane are placed under house arrest; they are imprisoned two months later

  • Hanoi begins construction of the  Ho Chi Minh Trail on a network first established during the first Indochina War

  • RLA battles PL, supported by Viet Minh specialists, in Plain of Jars, Sam Neua and Phong Saly

  • Operation Hotfoot - 12 United States Air Force Special Forces teams, removed from active duty and out of uniform, are posted to the PEO in Vientiane; they are deployed to RLA regional training centers

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• June

  • Viet Minh attack Laos along the border with DRV

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• July-August

  • RLG protests DRV invasion and request support by UN forces

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• September

  • U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff proposes crippling Lao “insurgents” by conventional or nuclear airstrikes against North Vietnam: Joint Chiefs of Staff refuse

  • Operation Erawan: U.S. Special Forces training RLA in unconventional and guerilla warfare

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• December

  • RLA officers, led by Phoumi Nosavan, launch a coup, place Phoui under house arrest, and force him to resign.

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1960-1963

 

1960

• January-February

  • Air America is given military helicopters by the U.S. government

  • U.S. Marine helicopter pilots “discharged” in Okinawa are assigned to Laos as trainers and pilots

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• April 

  • CIA-USAF airlift supplies to bolster right-wing electoral prospects; they also transport voters to polling stations

  • CIA buys votes for CDNI politicians in RLG elections; a new government is formed with Prince Somsanith as Prime Minister and Phoumi Nosovan as deputy PM 

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• May

  • NLHS leaders escape prison and flee to Hua Phan

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• August 

  • Kong Le, neutralist commander of elite RLA paratroopers, seizes Vientiane and brings down the government 

  • RLG Prime Minister Somsanith resigns and Souvanna Phouma is voted in as next prime minister 

  • RLA General Phoumi, with CIA backing, launches countercoup at Savannakhet

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• September

  • Cease-fire between the PL and Souvanna forces; PL re-occupy Sam Neua

  • Sino-Soviet split becomes permanent 

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• October

  • Souvanna’s government opens negotiations with PL to form a coalition government and establishes relations with the U.S.S.R.

  •  U.S. aid is temporarily suspended

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• November

  • Coalition government is formed between Souvanna and Souphanouvong; they request Soviet economic aid

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• December

  • First use of American airpower on reconnaissance missions

  • Phoumi’s RLA forces drive Kong Le’s neutralists and Pl from Vientiane; heavy fighting, including artillery barrages, kills hundreds

  • Kong Le, re-supplied by the Soviets, takes control of the Plain of Jars

  • Eisenhower, reiterating need for Laos to remain neutral, authorizes secret transfer of four unmarked CIA B-26 bombers from Taiwan to Takhli in Thailand

  • Souvanna Phouma takes exile in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

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1961

• January

  • Sihanouk of Cambodia proposes a 14-nation conference on Lao neutrality

  • 10-year CIA veteran Bill Lair, creator of the Thai Police Aerial Reconnaissance Units (PARU), meets with Vang Pao to establish Hmong Special Guerilla Units (SGU)

  • Dubbed Operation Momentum, the secret Hmong mercenary army is approved by President Eisenhower as one of his last acts in office; it is funded by the Department of Defense (DoD) with monies channeled via the CIA through the PEO in Vientiane

  • CIA hires firefighters from U.S. Forestry Service to work as “kickers” on Air America supply delivery flights

  • Souvanna returns to the Plain of Jars, allies with Kong Le and the PL to form a rival government; it is recognized by the communist bloc and supplied by the Soviets

  • A new RLG government led by Prince Boun Oum Na Champasak is recognized by the West

  • First RLAF T-6 strikes within Laos; Lao pilots augmented by Thai recruits 

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• March 

  • Souvanna Phouma meets General Phoumi in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

  • President Kennedy approves “plausibly deniable” military actions in Laos including CIA recruiting SGUs and use of USAF c-130s for delivering military supplies

  • U.S. Marines deploy from Okinawa to Udorn (Thailand) to provide maintenance for Air America; their directive when approached by news media is “your only comment is no comment” 

  • U.S. Embassy (Air America) C-47 is shot down by PL; seven Americans die

  • Five of the Lao T-6 bomber squad downed 

  • Kennedy offers support for Lao neutrality

  • Kennedy and Kruschev announce support for Lao neutrality 

  • 14-nation Geneva Conference on Lao neutrality begins

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• April

  • Operation Millpond: First direct commitment of U.S. forces in Laos. “Sheep-dipped” (out of uniform) USAF and Air America pilots based in Thailand prepare to bomb Kong Le and PL forces; their payload includes napalm. The mission is called off after the Bay of Pigs invasion is aborted

  • The PEO becomes a MAAG (Military Advisory Assistance Group); MAAG signs “special agreement” with Air America 

  • The first two Green Berets are killed in Laos. Two others are taken as prisoners of war by the PL

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• May

  • The first two American Air America helicopter pilots die in Laos 

  • Reacting to CIA’s  failure to consult Embassy or DoD regarding actions in Laos, Kennedy signs a memo to U.S. Ambassadors worldwide affirming that they alone have authority over all U.S. agencies in country

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• October

  • Kennedy’s newly-created U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) replaces USOM in Laos

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• October-December

  • Operation Pincushion: CIA agrees to recruit hill tribe irregulars on the Bolovens Plateau; they are trained as SGU by USSF teams from the PEO and Thai PARU under guidance of local CIA operatives

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1962

• Jan.-May

  • Fighting continues between RLA, neutralists, and PL

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• February

  • Operation Hardnose: as traffic increases on Ho Chi Minh trail in the Lao panhandle, CIA recruits local “road-watchers” from local PARU and SGU

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• June

  • Second coalition government is formed with an equal number of neutralist, rightist, and leftist cabinet ministers; Souvanna is given key portfolios of defense and prime minister

  • U.S. recognizes Souvanna’s government and resumes aid

  • PRC establishes diplomatic relations with Laos

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• July 

  • Second Geneva Accords on Neutrality of Laos are signed by the U.S. and 12 other countries which provide that Laos will be free of all foreign military

  • DRV denies presence of Viet Minh troops in Laos 

  • MAAG in Vientiane becomes a “Requirements Office.”

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• September

  • RLG opens diplomatic relations with nine socialist countries; Taiwan and South Vietnam remove their ambassadors

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• October 

  • U.S. completes its military withdrawal from Laos without pressing DRV over its remaining troops

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• November

  • U.S. supplies Kong Le by air on the Plain of Jars as tensions rise with PL who create a “Patriotic Neutralist Force” to divide and weaken his troops  

  • U.S. C-123 resupply plane is shot down on the Plain of Jars by the PL and their allies

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1963

• January 

  • Air America helicopter pilots stationed in Udon begin to provide support to Hmong fighters

  • U.S. resupply plane is forced to land by the Pathet Lao

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• February - April

  • Assassinations and fights destabilize Kong Le’s neutralists and create fear among PL in government

  • PL leaders in Vientiane flee to areas under Pathet Lao control; this effectively ends the second coalition government

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• August

  • Operation Water Pump: U.S. begins deliveries of T-28s to RLAF 

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• October

  • General Ouane Rattikoun, Chief of Staff, Royal Lao Army, takes charge of Lao government monopoly on opium trade; with CIA knowledge, he builds heroin refineries and secures transport to Saigon on Air America and Royal Air Lao; this continues until 1971

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1964-1974

 

1964

• April

  • Second congress of the NLHS

  • Souvanna and Souphanouvong meet to revive the second coalition government; their talks fail

  • Attempted RLA coup against Souvanna fails 

  • Operation Water Pump: U.S. Join Chiefs of Staff order USAF commandos to Udon train Lao, Thai and Air America pilots in counterinsurgency and aircraft maintenance 

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• May 

  • PL-Viet Minh forces sweep neutralists from the Plain of Jars

  • Memos from the U.S. Embassy in Vientiane to the State Department document Souvanna’s authorization of the first secret U.S. bombing of Plain of Jars and U.S. approval.  

  • Operation Water Pump: American pilots in T-28s with RLAF markings fly T-28 sorties over Plain of Jars from Wattay Airport in Vientiane; they also fly combat missions to support Hmong SGU and RLA 

  • Operation Yankee Team: 4 USAF jets leaving from South Vietnam fly reconnaissance over northern Laos; Carrier based U.S. Navy planes also fly reconnaissance over the Plain of Jars

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• June 

  • Yankee Team F-100s, based at Saigon airport, launch against targets in Xieng Khouang Province; the first U.S. fighter is lost over Laos

  • Ambassador Unger asks Souvanna for permission to supply napalm to RLAF, writing State that “napalm is the best anti personnel weapon available.” State was opposed and was not supplied at the time

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• July:

  • Operation Triangle: U.S. provides artillery specialists, forward observers, and airborne controllers to support RLAF pilots T-28 sorties; they run 1,700 sorties to clear Route 13, the Luang Prabang-Vientiane road

  • Souphanouvong publicly blames Souvanna for the U.S. bombing of Laos and asks him to stop

  • Yankee Team pilots, running reconnaissance from Da Nang Air Force Base, are allowed retaliatory fire or anti-aircraft attacks

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• August

  • U.S. ships in Gulf of Tonkin attacked

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• October

  • First Lao T-28 strikes against the Ho Chi Minh Trail

  • 2 U.S. reconnaissance planes shot down

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• November

  • U.S. base at Bien Hoa in South Vietnam is attacked

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• December

  • President Johnson approves limited U.S. strikes out of Da Nang against Ho Chi Minh Trail; Souvanna agrees

  • Operation Barrel Roll: First U.S. strikes on Ho Chi Minh trail; approved at 10 strikes per day

  • First U.S. fighter dumping of unused ordnance on Lao soil

  • William Sullivan becomes U.S. Ambassador, takes control over bombing target decisions

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1965

• April

  • Bombing campaign is divided into three operations: Barrel Roll in northern Laos, Steel Tiger in the panhandle, and later Tiger Hound in the very south

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• July

  • RLG revives democracy by amending its constitution to permit new limited elections in July against Pathet Lao protests

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• October 

  • Pathet Lao forces are renamed the Lao People’s Liberation Army

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1966

• October

  • U.S. forward air controllers deployed in Laos. More U.S. aircraft participate in the bombing campaign as the RLAF loses effectiveness. Villages in Pathet Lao liberated zone now being bombed

  • Ravens (Project 404): USAF pilots, in civilian dress and assigned as air attaches in Vientiane, begin flying forward air control missions to support Lao ground troops; 12% perished 

  • The U.S. State Dept, in a telegram signed by Dean Rusk, recommends use of napalm by USAF and RLAF if approved by Souvanna Phouma. Souvanna approves

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1967

• October

  • U.S. completes installation of radar station at Phou Pathi, ridgetop on Lao/North Vietnamese border

  • Souvanna Phouma denounces PAVN invasion of Laos at the UN

  • Large PL offensive against RLG begins

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• December

  • By year’s end, U.S. had run 52,120 bombing sorties over Laos

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1968

• January

  • DRV launches Tet offensive across South Vietnam

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• March 

  • Phou Pathi is taken by Viet Minh and PL

  • Partial U.S. bombing halt of the DRV results in increased bombing sorties in Laos

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• October

  • Full U.S. bombing halt of DRV accelerates bombing of Ho Chi Minh trail and adjacent areas in Laos  

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• December

  • Operation Barrel Roll is running 300 sorties per day over Laos; U.S. government continues to deny the air war

  • Laos has half a million internal refugees

  • Hmong infantry number 40,000

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1969

• January 

  •  U.S.S.R. condemns U.S. bombing of Laos

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• March 

  • Pathet Lao offer 5 point peace proposal

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• May:

  • U.S.S.R. and DRV offer peace talks if U.S. stops bombing of Laos

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• June

  • Jacques Decornoy, reporter for Le Monde, writes first reports of U.S. bombing in northern Laos; his stories are ignored by American media

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• August

  •  Vang Pao’s forces recapture the Plain of Jars for first time since May 1964

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• September 

  • Ho Chi Minh dies

  • Official U.S. position continues to be that we had not dropped a single bomb on Laos 

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• October

  • Senator Stuart Symington holds closed door hearings on Laos; Sullivan testifies “It was not the policy to attack populated areas”; Air Attache affirms “villages, even in a free drop zone, would be restricted from bombing”

  • Senator William Fulbright reveals CIA paramilitary operations in Laos going back to Kennedy administration

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• December

  • U.S. Congress prohibits funds for U.S. ground troops in Laos

  • 148,069 bombing sorties are flown in 1969–triple the number flown in 1967

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1970

• February

  • Pathet Lao-PAVN forces retake Plain of Jars

  • First U.S. B-52 bombing runs over Laos

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• March 6

  • President Nixon acknowledges U.S. air combat missions over Laos 

  • U.S. Senator J. William Fulbright confirms that USAID is acting as a cover for the CIA in Laos

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 1971

• February

  • Fred Branfman, former International Voluntary Service worker, and his Laotian colleague, Bouangeun Luangpraseuth, interview more than 2,000 Lao bombing refugees. Fred is expelled from Vientiane by Lao police at the directive of the CIA

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• April

  • Branfman’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Refugees directly contradicts Sullivan’s statement that the U.S. had never bombed villages

  • CIA report to Senate Foreign Relations Committee documents FY ‘71 expenses of $70 million to support 30,000 SGUs troops in Laos of whom only 38% are under Hmong General Vang Pao

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• October 

  • The U.S. Senate limits aid to Laos to $350 million for fiscal year 1972

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• November

  • Soviet MiGs operating over Laos

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1972

• January 2

  • RLG holds last free elections in Laos

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• May

  • Pathet Lao and RLG resume negotiations to end the war and create a third coalition government

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1973

• February

  • Paris Treaty ends the American War in Indochina; all U.S. forces withdraw, but PAVN forces do not

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• August 

  • Last recorded U.S. bombing mission over Laos

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1974

• April 

  • Third coalition government formed with neutralist, Pathet Lao, and rightist ministers. Every RLG ministry has Pathet Lao officials posted to it. The Joint National Political Council, in which Pathet Lao members hold sway, has veto power over RLG decisions

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS​

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We would like to thank Legacies Board Member Emeritus and Legacies Library Committee Member, Priscilla Mendenhall, for leading this historic effort. Because of her dedication, this shared history will be accessible and preserved for generations. We are forever grateful.

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A special thank you to the following individuals who generously researched, reviewed, and contributed to this project:

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Jessica Pearce Rotondi

Ryan Wolfson-Ford

Dr. Davorn Sisavath

Phimmasone Mike Rattanasengchanh, Ph.D.

Titus Peachey

Dr. Ma Vang

Legacies Library Committee

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Made possible by the funding of Legacies of War’s donors and The Henry Luce Foundation