USAF SOS (Special Operations Squadron) / Son Tay Raid / Paper Back Patch
KITDFOHS has been seen written on helmets of grunts who don't have clearance to know everything they need to know. Often times they end up dead or wounded for lack of info.
KITDFOHS has been seen written on helmets of grunts who don't have clearance to know everything they need to know. Often times they end up dead or wounded for lack of info.
Extremely rare original vintage patch (Theater-made) of the USAF SOS, Son Tay Raid mission during Vietnam War. With the words ¨KITD/FOHS¨ (Kept In The Dark / Fed Only Horse Shit), this is a terrific piece, one the second time I have come across one. This patch, United States Air Force, Special Operations Squadron Patch of units invovled in the Son Tay Prison Rescue raid of 1970. Patch was made after the raid as the mission gained prominence around the world. The patch was a mark of frustration of the individual of the Special Ops. Squadrons involved in the mission who felt they were limited and rip fed information throughout all areas of the preparation and conduct of the raid by MACV-SOG and the CIA.
Tran Ba Thanh
At the time of the raid it was widely believed that intelligence relating to prisoners held at Son Tay was incorrect. It was only after the war that it came to light that, an ARVN Officer, Tran Ba Thanh, on the staff of the Prime Minister of South Vietnam was in fact a General of People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN / Viet Cong). Ba Thanh, and the intelligence provided in relation to the proposed raid led to the American Prisioners held at Son Tay to be moved.
At the end of the war, Ba Thanh was awarded Vietnam highest honour, The Gold Star Order. Ba Thanh had been Hanoi's greatest Spy throughout the entire war only leaving the South Vietnam Government Offices hours before the fall of Saigon.
US Special Intelligence were again and again denied access to questioning Ba Thanh, both before and after the raid by the South Vietnam Government.
All US Military personnel who took part in the mission, returned, alive. For the days and weeks after the attack the World Focused on the plight of US POW's in Vietnam and prisoner exchanges commenced soon after.
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