One Day Too Long: Top Secret Site 85 and the Bombing of North Vietnam

by Timothy N. Castle

Book Overview

One of the Vietnam War's most closely guarded secrets--a highly classified U.S. radar base in the mountains of neutral Laos--led to the disappearance of a small group of elite military personnel, a loss never fully acknowledged by the American government. Now, thirty years later, one book recounts the harrowing story--and offers some measure of closure on this decades-old mystery. Because of the covert nature of the mission at Lima Site 85--providing...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231103166
• ISBN13: 9780231103169
• Release Date: March 1999
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.59 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.3" x 9.2"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

An American tragedy in Laos.

Congratulations to Dr. Castle for this fine book. A meticulously researched historical work of the finest order that reads like a Tom Clancy action novel. A bombshell that exposes one of the most egregious and hitherto publicly undisclosed tragedies of the Vietnam War. In March 1968 an NVA sapper team avoided detection and attacked a top-secret radar bombing facility (code name Jolly Green) which was manned by sixteen "civilianized" Air Force technicians. The site, LS 85, was located on a mountain top in Laos less than twenty-five miles from the North Vietnam border. The attack caught the technicians off guard and resulted in the loss of the site to the communist forces. Two of those dedicated volunteers manning the site were confirmed killed, five were rescued alive (one died on the evacuation flight) and the remaining nine have never been accounted for and their status remains unknown. This incident holds the distinction of being the largest single loss of Air Force ground personnel during the entire Vietnam War. Why did the Air Force continue to operate this site in the face of considerable evidence the site would soon fall under bombardment and attack by large NVA forces gathering in the area? Was it incompetence or was the site considered so essential to the North Vietnam bombing effort that the loss of the men was an acceptable risk? Dr. Castle looks at these questions in detail. One Day Too Long chronicles the history of Site 85 from its initial concept of operations through the tragic consequence of this miscalculation. But the story does not stop there. It also relates the stoic efforts by one widow to find answers to questions about her husbands death at this site the government was unwilling to provide. This book should be mandatory reading for all future military leaders.

An exposure of a shameful episode in US history.

I have a very personal reaction to "One Day Too Long" in that Mel and Ann Holland were our military sponsors when my family and I were first assigned to an AC & W squadron in southern Spain in early 1961, and I worked with Mel until he rotated to the States. It is embarrassing and shameful to learn how both the military and civilian authorities were willing to sacrifice those men in order to cover up their own mistakes, but I suppose if ALL the truth were known about SE Asia operations, we would not be able to stand it. Dr. Castle has perfomed an invaluable service for democracy. EVERYBODY should read this book! (Ann, we'd love to hear from you!)

More than 5 stars

This is a extraordinarily powerful, interesting and well written book. It covers the entire history (1965-date) of an obscure (to some) chapter in America's war in Southeast Asia -- the loss of Lima Site 85 in Laos to communist attack. The whole history is fascinating -- from the decision to set up this site, to what it (briefly) did, the decisions from the squad level all the way up to the US Embassy in Vientiane and the President in Washington about its mission, operation and defense, to the current efforts to get the truth out of the Lao and Vietnamese governments about MIAs. The author has the background to write this fascinating history and writes compellingly. He's not afraid, where appropriate, to use blunt language like "shameful toadying" and "fraud". I've been a sceptic in the past of some of the distrust of the US government shown by POW/MIA families and partisans, but this book opened my eyes. Phou Pha Thi should have been better defended or abandoned earlier. A great account of (mostly) good intentions and (too often) flawed execution. The author writes convincingly of 1960's combat and 1990's political maneuvering. The treatment of COL Clayton, the commander of the site when it was overrun, by the current "investigators" was particularly revealing and chilling. I was a US Army Signal Corps officer during the Vietnam war and know all too well what it's like to have to be visible on a mountaintop to perform your mission and the need for good defense. I've spent the last 4 years as a civilian in Cambodia. So I have some parallels with the authors' experiences. A great book no matter what your view on the war.

Gripping and insightful, Hard to put down

Being one of the excavation team in late 94, I found this book to be especially interesting. Dr. Castle brought to full light a story I only new bits and pieces of. The book is wronderfully written and keeps the readers interest. Dr. Castle has gone to great length to make this book as factual, if not more, than any official report ever written. This event should not be allowed to fade into the past lest we forget our fallen who shall never return.

The classic research book on Vietnam Era POW/MIA's

Meticulously researched and profusely documented, Dr. Castle has set the standard for all other books on this subject. His skill as a renowned researcher, academic, and archivist has produced the best Vietnam era book written on the subject of POW/MIA's. If you want to know why we have never recovered a living MIA from SE Asia, and never will, read Chapter 14 and the conclusion chapter to understand why. This book exposes the myth of "The Highest National Priority", and shows how the US Government has mismanaged the issue for years. This book took a lot of courage for someone of Dr. Castle's stature and position to write, because it is going to upset a lot of important people with the truth.