| "This is my last view of the site, the first time I saw it was from the "village" you see in the back ground, we walked (with Lao men leading) along the ridge that curves to the left and around to the center of the pad. There were 13 of us, most was from the CES Squadron at Udorn, one was a photo guy from the base, he took a lot of pictures and they were in black and white but I never seen any of them. We cleared the pad and most of the trees were cut down with a chain saw, axes and machete. Talk about being a lumber jack. We cleared a pad for the chopper and then an Army CH-46 brought in a little Cat (D-2, owned by Air America) and then the rest was cleared. I rember during the Flight check of the TACAN I heard some Jets far away, looking up I could see F-105 refueling from a KC-135 and forming up as they headed into harms way. That was a sight that I can still remember to this day." - Don Deidrich |
