Operation Ivory Coast / Son Tay Raider Patch

Operation Ivory Coast / Son Tay Raider Patch

Patch designed by PJ Udo Fischer on November 23, 1970

On November 21, 1970, a force of 56 US commandos led by Col. Arthur 'Bull' Simons raided the Son Tay camp to rescue the estimated 70 to 80 prisoners, supported by 29 USAF aircraft and 92 flight crew on the direct raid and a total of 105 aircraft including supporting roles.

Prior to the raid, all 65 prisoners were moved to another camp about 15 miles away, apparently due to the proximity of the camp to a river thought likely to flood. US intelligence may have identified this the day before the raid, but the raid was sent anyway.

Three commando teams landed at the camp:

1. The first team intentionally crash landed a helicopter right in the middle of the camp to get into position as quickly as possible.
2. The second landed 400 meters away by accident, at what turned out to be the guards headquarters. The team attacked the headquarters and killed an estimated more than 100 guards.
3. The third team landed outside the main complex and assisted in securing the facility.

The raid succeeded completely at its technical objective of seizing control of the camp. There were no prisoners present to rescue, though. 26 minutes after the first helicopter intentionally crash landed, all US commandos were recovered and flying home. One US soldier was wounded in the leg and one broke his ankle in the intentional crash landing. An unknown number of North Vietnamese soldiers were killed in the raid.

The failed mission did bring an ironic success for Simons and his troops. The attempt to rescue prisoners brought the world's attention to the inhumane treatment of the American POWs. The raid on Son Tay altered how the North Vietnamese housed, treated, and interacted with the foreign prisoners.

CMSgt Wayne Fisk (Pararescue) was directly involved in the famed Son Tay POW camp raid and also the rescue of the crew of the SS Mayagüez. When the Mayagüez was hijacked by Cambodian Communist forces in May 1975, Fisk was a member of the assault force that successfully recovered the ship and the entrapped United States Marines. For his actions, he was presented with his second Silver Star. Concluding the Mayagüez mission, he was recognized as the last American serviceman to engage Communist forces in ground combat in Southeast Asia. In 1979, he was the first Air Force enlisted recipient of the US Jaycees Ten Outstanding Young Men of America. In 1986, he became the first director of the Air Force Enlisted Heritage Hall on Maxwell AFB-Gunter Annex.

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