24 JANUARY 1964 TO 30 APRIL 1972 and the following assigned or attached units:
U.S. Army: Command and Control Detachment, 5th Special Forces Group, Danang, Republic of Vietnam, 1 January 1965 to 31 December 1968; Special Operations Augmentation, Command and Control North, 5th Special Forces Group, Danang, Republic of Vietnam, 1 January 1968 to 31 December 1971; Task Force One, Advisory Element, U.S. Army Vietnam, Danang, Republic of Vietnam, 1 January 1971 to 30 April 1972; Special Operations Augmentation, Command and Control Central, 5th Special Forces Group, Kontum, Republic of Vietnam, 1 January 1969 to 31 December 1971; Task Force Two, Advisory Element, U.S. Army Vietnam, Kontum, Republic of Vietnam, 1 January 1971 to 30 April 1972; Company E (Provisional), Detachment C-5, 5th Special Forces Group, Ho Ngoc Tao, Republic of Vietnam, 1 June 1967 to 31 October 1967; Project Omega, Detachment B-50, 5th Special Forces Group, Kontum, Republic of Vietnam, 1 June 1967 to 31 October 1967; Project Sigma, Detachment B-56, 5th Special Forces Group, Ho Ngoc Tao, Republic of Vietnam, 1 June 1967 to 31 October 1967; Special Operations Augmentation, Command and Control South, 5th Special Forces Group, Ban Me Thuot, Republic of Vietnam, 1 November 1967 to 1 November 1971; Task Force Three, Advisory Element, U.S. Army Vietnam, Ban Me Thuot, Republic of Vietnam, 2 November 1971 to 30 April 1972; Detachment B-53, 5th Special Forces Group, Camp Long Thanh, Republic of Vietnam, 24 January 1964 to 31 December 1971; Training Center Advisory Element, U.S. Army Vietnam, Camp Long Thanh, Republic of Vietnam, 1 January 1971 to 30 April 1972
U.S. Navy: Naval Advisory Detachment, Danang, Republic of Vietnam; One U.S. Navy EC-121 Aircraft and Crew based at Saigon, Republic of Vietnam.
U.S. Marine Corps: assigned individually to Studies and Observation Group staffs.
U.S. Air Force: 1st Flight Detachment, Nha Trang, Republic of Vietnam, 24 January 1964 to 31 December 1971; 15th Air Commando Squadron, Nha Trang, Republic of Vietnam, 1 January 1966 to 15 November 1968; 15th Special Operations Squadron, Nha Trang, Republic of Vietnam, 16 November 1968 to 15 November 1970; 90th Special Operations Squadron, (less non-Studies and Observation Group Pony Express detachment at Nakhon Phanom AFB, Thailand), Nha Trang, Republic of Vietnam, 1 June 1967 to 31 August 1968; 20th Special Operations Squadron, Nha Trang, Republic of Vietnam, 1 November 1968 to 31 March 1972.
Joint Service: Headquarters, Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observation Group, Saigon, Republic of Vietnam.
South Vietnamese Air Force: 219th Helicopter Squadron, Danang. , Republic of Vietnam
The Studies and Observation Group is cited for extraordinary heroism, great combat achievement and unwavering fidelity while executing unheralded top secret missions deep behind enemy lines across Southeast Asia. Incorporating volunteers from all branches of the Armed Forces, and especially, U.S. Army Special Forces, Special Operations Group’s ground, air and sea units fought officially denied actions which contributed immeasurably to the American war effort in Vietnam. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Special Operations Group reconnaissance teams composed of Special Forces soldiers and indigenous personnel penetrated the enemy’s most dangerous redoubts in the jungled Laotian wilderness and the sanctuaries of eastern Cambodia. Pursued by human trackers and even bloodhounds, these small teams out-maneuvered, out-fought and out-ran their numerically superior foe to uncover key enemy facilities, rescue downed pilots, plant wiretaps, mines and electronic sensors, capture valuable enemy prisoners, ambush convoys, discover and assess targets for B-52 strikes, and inflict casualties all out of proportion to their own losses. When enemy counter-measures became dangerously effective, Special Operations Group operators innovated their own counters, from high altitude parachuting and unusual explosive devices, to tactics as old as the French and Indian War. Fighting alongside their Montagnard, Chinese Nung, Cambodian and Vietnamese allies, Special Forces – led Hatchet Force companies and platoons staged daring raids against key enemy facilities in Laos and Cambodia, overran major munitions and supply stockpiles, and blocked enemy highways to choke off the flow of supplies to South Vietnam. Special Operations Group’s cross-border operations proved an effective economy-of-force, compelling the North Vietnamese Army to divert 50,000 soldiers to rear area security duties, far from the battlefields of South Vietnam. Supporting these hazardous missions were Special Operations Group’s own United States and South Vietnamese Air Force transport and helicopter squadrons, along with U.S. Air Force Forward Air Controllers and helicopter units of the U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps. These courageous aviators often flew through heavy fire to extract Special Operations Group operators from seemingly hopeless situations, saving lives by selflessly risking their own. Special Operations Group’s Vietnamese navel surface forces – instructed and advised by U.S. Navy SEALS – boldly raided North Vietnam’s coast and won surface victories against the North Vietnamese Navy, while indigenous agent teams penetrated the very heartland of North Vietnam. Despite casualties that sometimes became universal, Special Operations Group’s operators never wavered, but fought throughout the war with the same flair, fidelity and intrepidity that distinguished Special Operations Group from its beginning. The Studies and Observations Group’s combat prowess, martial skills and unacknowledged sacrifices saved many American lives, and provide a paragon for America’s future special operations forces.
[Signed By] Thomas E. White, Secretary of the Army [TAPC-PDO-PA]
PUC / PRESIDENTIAL UNIT CITATION AWARD
PUC COIN
Đoàn Hữu Định Nha Kỹ Thuật, Đại Tá Sadler MACV-SOG Commander, General Singlaub MACV-SOG Commander, Phạm Hòa Nha Kỹ Thuật ( PUC AWARD 2001 Fort Bragg, NC) PUC CITATION
Presidential Unit CitationMilitary Assistance Command-
Vietnam Studies and Observation Group
Thursday, April 5, 2001
Secret Vietnam Commandos Honored With Presidential Unit Citation By Henry Cuningham
Military editor,
(Courtesy of Fayetteville (NC) Observer)
Fayetteville Online
The Army acknowledged the accomplishments of the most secret commando unit of the Vietnam War on Wednesday.
Staff photo by Cindy Burnham
Retired Maj. John L. Plaster holds a coin minted for the SOG ceremony.
The Presidential Unit Citation went to the group 29 years after it went out of business and three years after CNN broadcast a bogus report saying it used nerve gas on defectors. The network later retracted its story.
The unit was called the Military Assistance Command-Vietnam Studies and Observation Group, or SOG.
After the ceremony, some of the veterans sarcastically thanked CNN for broadcasting the nerve gas report in 1998.
‘‘I think that (the award) is long overdue, and I think that we have to give some thanks to CNN because the fiasco that they produced caused an investigation by the Department of Defense and others that found that we were not only not war criminals but, in fact, we had a collection of heroes that was not equaled,’’ John K. Singlaub said after the ceremony.
Singlaub, who is 79 years old and a retired major general, lives in Arlington, Va. He was chief of SOG from 1966 to 1968.
The Presidential Unit Citation is given to units that display gallantry that set them apart from other units. The unit award is equal to the individual award of the Distinguished Service Cross, the U.S. military’s second-highest award for valor.
Hundreds of people attended the award ceremony in the plaza on Ardennes Street on Fort Bragg. A statue of SOG veteran Col. Bull Simons stands in the plaza.
Retired Maj. John L. Plaster was the first person to receive a special commemorative coin minted for the occasion. He wrote a book about SOG and worked for recognition of the unit.
‘‘It’s a day that I think most of us thought would never happen,’’ Plaster said after the ceremony. ‘‘Everything we were doing in the old days was denied. We accepted that. That’s part of the cost of doing classified, black operations. Even our existence was denied. There were a great many young men that came home that could never quite tell their families, their friends what they did.’’
Plaster is from Iron River, Wis. He is 52.
SOG members operated deep behind enemy lines in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. They conducted operations on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the North Vietnamese supply line through the countries that border South Vietnam.
The host for the ceremony was Lt. Gen. Doug Brown, commander of U.S. Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg.
Staff photo by Cindy Burnham
Lt. Gen. Doug Brown, commanding general, U.S. Army Special Operation Command, stands with South Vietnamese veterans after Wednesday's ceremony.
SOG members had ‘‘the guile and the audacity to take the war where the enemy lives, to get at his sanctuary, to make him react, to take away his safe and secure environment, give him those chills as he is walking down that long jungle trail at night, not knowing if around the corner members of SOG are waiting,’’ Brown said. ‘‘It doesn’t take many. It doesn’t take often, but it takes men of steel, willing to take risks, willing to make the trip.’’
The missions included sabotage, calling in B-52 bomber strikes, search and rescue of downed pilots in the jungle and destruction and recovery of sensitive equipment.
The operations tied down thousands of members of the North Vietnamese Army searching for SOG, Brown said.
At its peak, SOG had about 2,000 members. An estimated 7,800 men served in SOG over its eight-year existence. Some SOG veterans, such as Dick Meadows, Eldon Bargewell and Walt Shumate, became founders and leaders of Delta Force, the Army’s counterterrorism and hostage- rescue unit founded in 1977.
SOG members received more than 2,000 individual awards for heroism, including 10 Medals of Honor, twice as many as the 82nd Airborne Division received in both world wars.
Medal of Honor recipients were Robert L. Howard, James P. Fleming, Roy P. Benavidez, Jon R. Cavaiani, Franklin Miller, Fred Zabitosky, Thomas R. Norris, Loren D. Hagen, John J. Kedenburg and George K. Sisler.
The unit’s members also received 23 Distinguished Service Crosses, the military’s second highest award for valor.
SOG had high casualty rates. In 1968, the unit had more people killed and injured than it had positions.
Ten teams were lost. Fourteen teams were overrun or destroyed. Fifty members of SOG are still considered MIAs.
The highest-ranking SOG veteran on active duty is Lt. Gen. William P. Tangney, deputy commander in chief of U.S. Special Operations Command at Tampa, Fla.
Tangney hailed the members of the Army, Navy and Marines who flew the airplanes and helicopters on the infiltration missions and the fighter airplanes that helped rescue teams.
Retired Maj. John W. Grove, 59, of Fort Walton Beach, Fla., represented Air Force participants.
‘‘Most of our missions were classified for so long that nobody got much recognition,’’ Grove said.
Among veterans at the ceremony were 10 South Vietnamese commandos who were sent on missions to North Vietnam, where they spent 20 years in prison. The Vietnamese, who wore green berets to the ceremony, live in Georgia.
‘‘We are the men who fought the communists,’’ said Son Van Ha, 53.
Active-duty soldiers who received awards during the ceremony were Tangney, Bargewell, Cols. Thomas A. Deluca, Warner Farr, Fredrick D. Jones, Steven J. Yevich, Richard O. Sutton and Dale Brown, Lt. Cols. David Bortnem and Jack L. Kaplan Jr., Chief Warrant Officers 5 Edward G. Klein and Frank Kormorowski and Sgt. John Bartlett.
Soldiers still on active duty but unable to attend were Maj. Gen. Kenneth R. Bowra, Air Force Col. Alva Greenup, Cols. Richard M. Johnson and Doug McCready and Chief Warrant Officers Bob Coder, Gary Ryan, James A. Bates and Hurley J. Gilpin.
Staff photo by Cindy Burnham
Active-duty members of the Military Assistance Command-Vietnam Studies and Observation Group stand at attention Wednesday. From left to right, Lt. Gen. William P. Tangney, Brig. Gen. Eldon A. Bargewell, Col. Thomas A. Deluca, Col. Warner Farr, Col. Fredrick D. Jones, Col. Steven J. Yevich, Col. Richard O. Sutton, Col. Dale Brown and Lt. Col. David Bortnem.
Military editor Henry Cuningham
Vietnam Studies and Observation Group
Thursday, April 5, 2001
Secret Vietnam Commandos Honored With Presidential Unit Citation By Henry Cuningham
Military editor,
(Courtesy of Fayetteville (NC) Observer)
Fayetteville Online
The Army acknowledged the accomplishments of the most secret commando unit of the Vietnam War on Wednesday.
Staff photo by Cindy Burnham
Retired Maj. John L. Plaster holds a coin minted for the SOG ceremony.
The Presidential Unit Citation went to the group 29 years after it went out of business and three years after CNN broadcast a bogus report saying it used nerve gas on defectors. The network later retracted its story.
The unit was called the Military Assistance Command-Vietnam Studies and Observation Group, or SOG.
After the ceremony, some of the veterans sarcastically thanked CNN for broadcasting the nerve gas report in 1998.
‘‘I think that (the award) is long overdue, and I think that we have to give some thanks to CNN because the fiasco that they produced caused an investigation by the Department of Defense and others that found that we were not only not war criminals but, in fact, we had a collection of heroes that was not equaled,’’ John K. Singlaub said after the ceremony.
Singlaub, who is 79 years old and a retired major general, lives in Arlington, Va. He was chief of SOG from 1966 to 1968.
The Presidential Unit Citation is given to units that display gallantry that set them apart from other units. The unit award is equal to the individual award of the Distinguished Service Cross, the U.S. military’s second-highest award for valor.
Hundreds of people attended the award ceremony in the plaza on Ardennes Street on Fort Bragg. A statue of SOG veteran Col. Bull Simons stands in the plaza.
Retired Maj. John L. Plaster was the first person to receive a special commemorative coin minted for the occasion. He wrote a book about SOG and worked for recognition of the unit.
‘‘It’s a day that I think most of us thought would never happen,’’ Plaster said after the ceremony. ‘‘Everything we were doing in the old days was denied. We accepted that. That’s part of the cost of doing classified, black operations. Even our existence was denied. There were a great many young men that came home that could never quite tell their families, their friends what they did.’’
Plaster is from Iron River, Wis. He is 52.
SOG members operated deep behind enemy lines in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos. They conducted operations on the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the North Vietnamese supply line through the countries that border South Vietnam.
The host for the ceremony was Lt. Gen. Doug Brown, commander of U.S. Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg.
Staff photo by Cindy Burnham
Lt. Gen. Doug Brown, commanding general, U.S. Army Special Operation Command, stands with South Vietnamese veterans after Wednesday's ceremony.
SOG members had ‘‘the guile and the audacity to take the war where the enemy lives, to get at his sanctuary, to make him react, to take away his safe and secure environment, give him those chills as he is walking down that long jungle trail at night, not knowing if around the corner members of SOG are waiting,’’ Brown said. ‘‘It doesn’t take many. It doesn’t take often, but it takes men of steel, willing to take risks, willing to make the trip.’’
The missions included sabotage, calling in B-52 bomber strikes, search and rescue of downed pilots in the jungle and destruction and recovery of sensitive equipment.
The operations tied down thousands of members of the North Vietnamese Army searching for SOG, Brown said.
At its peak, SOG had about 2,000 members. An estimated 7,800 men served in SOG over its eight-year existence. Some SOG veterans, such as Dick Meadows, Eldon Bargewell and Walt Shumate, became founders and leaders of Delta Force, the Army’s counterterrorism and hostage- rescue unit founded in 1977.
SOG members received more than 2,000 individual awards for heroism, including 10 Medals of Honor, twice as many as the 82nd Airborne Division received in both world wars.
Medal of Honor recipients were Robert L. Howard, James P. Fleming, Roy P. Benavidez, Jon R. Cavaiani, Franklin Miller, Fred Zabitosky, Thomas R. Norris, Loren D. Hagen, John J. Kedenburg and George K. Sisler.
The unit’s members also received 23 Distinguished Service Crosses, the military’s second highest award for valor.
SOG had high casualty rates. In 1968, the unit had more people killed and injured than it had positions.
Ten teams were lost. Fourteen teams were overrun or destroyed. Fifty members of SOG are still considered MIAs.
The highest-ranking SOG veteran on active duty is Lt. Gen. William P. Tangney, deputy commander in chief of U.S. Special Operations Command at Tampa, Fla.
Tangney hailed the members of the Army, Navy and Marines who flew the airplanes and helicopters on the infiltration missions and the fighter airplanes that helped rescue teams.
Retired Maj. John W. Grove, 59, of Fort Walton Beach, Fla., represented Air Force participants.
‘‘Most of our missions were classified for so long that nobody got much recognition,’’ Grove said.
Among veterans at the ceremony were 10 South Vietnamese commandos who were sent on missions to North Vietnam, where they spent 20 years in prison. The Vietnamese, who wore green berets to the ceremony, live in Georgia.
‘‘We are the men who fought the communists,’’ said Son Van Ha, 53.
Active-duty soldiers who received awards during the ceremony were Tangney, Bargewell, Cols. Thomas A. Deluca, Warner Farr, Fredrick D. Jones, Steven J. Yevich, Richard O. Sutton and Dale Brown, Lt. Cols. David Bortnem and Jack L. Kaplan Jr., Chief Warrant Officers 5 Edward G. Klein and Frank Kormorowski and Sgt. John Bartlett.
Soldiers still on active duty but unable to attend were Maj. Gen. Kenneth R. Bowra, Air Force Col. Alva Greenup, Cols. Richard M. Johnson and Doug McCready and Chief Warrant Officers Bob Coder, Gary Ryan, James A. Bates and Hurley J. Gilpin.
Staff photo by Cindy Burnham
Active-duty members of the Military Assistance Command-Vietnam Studies and Observation Group stand at attention Wednesday. From left to right, Lt. Gen. William P. Tangney, Brig. Gen. Eldon A. Bargewell, Col. Thomas A. Deluca, Col. Warner Farr, Col. Fredrick D. Jones, Col. Steven J. Yevich, Col. Richard O. Sutton, Col. Dale Brown and Lt. Col. David Bortnem.
Military editor Henry Cuningham
Once-secret Special Operations Unit receives Presidential CitationBy ESTES THOMPSON, Associated Press
FORT BRAGG, N.C. (April 4, 2001 9:19 p.m. EDT http://www.nandotimes.com) - Twenty-nine years after it disbanded, a once-secret Special Operations unit credited with diverting the enemy and rescuing pilots during the Vietnam War received official recognition with a presidential citation Wednesday.
Veterans of the Studies and Observation Group, including some active duty soldiers, were given ribbons and special coins at a ceremony here. A small group of beret-clad Vietnamese stood alongside veterans wearing special black jackets and green berets.
"It's a day that most of us thought would never happen," said John Plaster of Iron River, Wis., a retired Army major. "That's part of the price of doing clandestine operations. Our existence was officially denied."
The unit, made up of Army, Navy and Marine personnel, operated from 1964 until 1972. It had 2,000 U.S. personnel and 8,000 indigenous mercenaries assigned to it at its peak.
Its mission was to divert North Vietnam's army, send back intelligence information, assess bombing sites and results for U.S. planes, and rescue downed U.S. pilots.
Eighteen SOG teams - usually eight men each - disappeared without a trace or were killed in battle. None was returned after the war as prisoners.
About the time that unit files were declassified, it was accused in a 1998 joint CNN-Time story of using sarin gas in Laos during Operation Tailwind, a mission to find defectors. Two U.S. defectors were supposedly killed in the attack, the report said.
The story was retracted when the allegations could not be substantiated. Time and CNN, both owned by Time Warner, apologized for the story.
Plaster said the presidential citation was "the ultimate vindication."
Toán Công Tác Nha Kỹ Thuật trên đồi Đoàn 72 núi Sơn Trà Đà Nẵng Huỳnh Mai Hoa:
Vinh Danh Các Chiến Sĩ
Biệt Kích Việt Nam Cộng Hòa
Hơn một phần tư thế kỷ, cuộc chiến Việt Nam tưởng chừng như đã đi dần vào quên lãng. Nhưng gần đây, sau khi Ngũ Giác Ðài bạch hóa một số hồ sơ và nhiều trang tài liệu từ các kho dữ kiện của văn khố quốc phòng Hoa Kỳ, người ta mới chú ý tới sự hiện hữu của S.O.G. , một tổ chức đã từng huấn luyện và hỗ trợ phần lớn những toán biệt kích thuộc quân lực Việt Nam Cộng Hòa trong nhiệm vụ xâm nhập vùng đất phía Bắc để thi h0nh những công tác tình báo cũng như phản tình báo cho nhu cầu chiến lược và chiến thuật.
SOG là tên gọi từ MACV-SOG, chữ viết tắt của The Military Assistance Command-Vietnam Studies and Observation Group, được thành lập vào tháng 01 năm 1964 do ngân sách Mỹ đài thọ, đã hoạt động song song với các bộ chỉ huy hỗn hợp Việt-Mỹ trong thời gian mà chiến tranh Việt Nam bước vào giai đoạn khốc liệt nhất. Vì phải thực hiện những công tác bí mật nên các biệt kích quân cãm tử Ðồng minh nói chung và biệt kích quân Việt Nam Cộng Hòa nói riêng, rất ít được người ta biết đến.
"Các chiến sĩ xung kích Việt-Mỹ hiện diện trong buổi lễ ngày hôm nay là những người đã từng đem sự can trường và lòng anh dũng cùng những mưu mẹo đặc thù sẵn có của mình để thi hành rất nhiều công tác trên khắp chiến trường Ðông Nam Á như phá hoại hậu cần địch, gọi các phi vụ trải thảm B-52, tìm kiếm và cấp cứu các phi công bị địch bắn rơi trong rừng sâu, bảo toàn và duy trì các dụng cụ truyền tin điện tử v.v... Họ là những người rất đáng ghi công và ân thưởng ...."
Trên đây là lời mở đầu của Trung Tướng Doug Brown, Chỉ huy trưởng Bộ Tư lệnh Hành Quân Ðaàu7841?c Biệt Lục Quân Hoa Kỳ trong buổi lễ trao huy chương và đồng tiền mề đai kỷ niệm đến các chiến sĩ Việt- Mỹ đã từng hoạt động trong tổ chức SOG vào lúc 10 giờ sáng ngày 04 tháng 04 năm 2001 tại Fort Bragg, nơi được coi như là căn cứ xuất phát các Liên Ðoàn Lực Lượng Ðặc Biệt Hoa Kỳ, thuộc tiểu bang North Carolina. Hàng trăm người đã hiện diện tại địa điểm hành lễ nói trên. Cũng có nhiều người đã từng hoạt động trong tổ chức SOG và hiện vẫn còn đang phục vụ trong quân đội Hoa Kỳ như Trung tướng William P. Tangney đồn trú tại Tampa tiểu bang Florida.
Về phía quân lực Việt Nam Cộng Hòa thì có tất cả 18 người đại diện được mời đến để nhận lãnh sự tuyên dương gồm 10 người thuộc Sở Bắc hiện định cư tại tiểu bang Georgia do ông Hà Văn Sơn hướng dẫn và 8 người khác thuộc Nha Kỹ Thuật/Sở Liên Lạc đến từ nhiều tiểu bang trên nước Mỹ như : ông Nguyễn Văn Kiệt (WA) , ông Lữ Triều Khanh (NC) , ông Nguyễn Phan Tựu (CO) , ông Hồ Tịnh (CT) , ông Phạm Hòa (CA), ông Trần Nhung Nguyên (VA) , ông Lê Văn Hạnh (VA) và ông Ðoàn Hửu Ðịnh (VA). Ðặc biệt, ông Nguyễn Văn Kiệt (WA) cũng là người Việt Nam đã từng được ân thưởng huy chương Navy Cross, một trong những huy chương cao quý của quân đội Mỹ về thành tích cứu sống một phi công Hoa Kỳ lâm nạn trong chiến tranh tại Việt Nam. Ðây là niềm hãnh diện cho tập thể người Việt hải ngoại nói riêng và cho quân lực Việt Nam Cộng Hòa nói chung. Ðược biết, trước kia ông Nguyễn Văn Kiệt là một nhân viên Hải Kích xuất sắc của Liên Ðoàn Người Nhái thuộc quân chủng Hải Quân/VNCH.
Theo Thiếu Tá hồi hưu John L. Plaster, người đã từng viết một cuốn sách tài liệu dài về tổ chức SOG, thì trong khoảng thời gian hoạt động trên chiến trường Ðông Nam Á gồm Việt Nam, Cambodia và Lào từ 1964 đến khi giải tán vào năm 1972, quân số của SOG lên đến 7,800 người. Rất nhiều người đã hy sinh. Thiệt hại nặng nhất là vào năm Mậu Thân 1968. Hiện có vào khoảng 50 người thuộc tổ chức SOG trong tổng số hơn 1500 chi n binh Hoa Kỳ được coi như mất tích (M.I.A.) trong cuộc chiến vừa qua.
Cũng theo tài liệu từ một nhân viên Sở Bắc thì trước khi kế hoạch OPLAN-34 được thi hành vào năm 1964 nhằm đổ các toán biệt kích xâm nhập Miền Bắc, cũng đã có rất nhiều hoạt đông bí mật về tình báo chiến lược do Hoa Kỳ thực hiện trên chiến trường Việt Nam.
Trước khi Cộng Sản thiết lập chính sách cai trị tại miền Bắc vào năm 1954 thì đã có rất nhiều thanh niên Việt Nam yêu nước đã tình nguyện đi20dự các khóa tình báo do Hoa Kỳ huấn luyện tại các căn cứ Mỹ trong vùng Ðông Nam Á như Saipan, Okinawa v.v.... rồi trà trộn theo đoàn người tập kết ra Bắc để ngầm hoạt động. Nếu những người nầy còn sống thì hiện nay tối thiểu họ cũng lên đến hàng Tỉnh Ủy hoặc cán bộ cao cấp của Ðảng Cộng Sản Việt Nam. Ðây là cái vỏ bọc chắc chắn cho các nhân viên tình báo chiến lược nhằm phá vỡ thượng tầng kiến trúc hàng ngũ lãnh đạo của nhà cầm quyền Cộng Sản một khi có cuộc cách mạng xảy ra.
Vào những thập niên 1950, 1960, giới quân sự Miền Nam Việt Nam không xa lạ gì hoạt động của các tổ chức nhC6 Liên Ðội Quan Sát Số 1, Sở Nghiên Cứu Chính Trị, Liên Ðoàn 77, Sở Khai Thác Ðịa Hình, Phi Ðoàn Thần Phong, Nha Kỹ Thuật, Sở Bắc, Sở Liên Lạc, Sở Công Tác, Sở Phòng Vệ Duyên Hải, Liên Ðội Người Nhái v.v...và các Ðài Phát thanh như Ðài Mẹ Việt Nam, Ðài Gươm Thiêng Ái Quốc v.v.... Có những công tác tưởng chừng như huyền thoại chỉ xảy ra trong xi nê nhưng đó lại là việc thật, người thật.. Họ ra đi chiến đấu âm thầm, bị bắt cầm tù âm thầm và chết cũng âm thầm nơi vùng đất hoang vu phía Bắc.
Việc quyết định ân thưởng huy chương cùng tuyên dương công trạng các cựu chiến binh SOG của chính phủ Hoa Kỳ một lần nữa đã chứng tỏ rằng chính phủ Hoa Kỳ đã biết nhìn nhận trách nhiệm của mình đối với các kế hoạch quân sự, tình báo bí mật chống CSBV trong thời gian chiến tranh Việt Nam. Ðiển hình nhất là gần đây, quốc hội Hoa Kỳ đã biểu quyết dự luật chấp thuận trả trợ cấp 40,000 đô la cho mỗi biệt kích quân VNCH bị CSBV cầm tù. Cách đây 3 năm, hệ thống truyền hình CNN đã thực hiện một chương trình nhằm bêu xấu SOG, họ cho rằng các biệt kích quân của SOG đã xử dụng hơi độc có tác hại đến mạng sống con người cũng như cố gắng theo đuổi để giết các binh sĩ Mỹ chạy sang hàng ngũ địch ở vùng biên giới. Chương trình nói trên của đài CNN đã bị các cựu chiến binh Hoa Kỳ phản đối dữ dội và cuối cùng thì CNN phải=2 0lên tiếng xin lỗi đồng thời chấm dứt loạt phóng sự kể trên.
Buổi lễ vinh danh và ân thưởng các cựu biệt kích quân Việt-Mỹ thuộc tổ chức SOG đã chấm dứt vào lúc 11 giờ 30 cùng ngày.
Huỳnh Mai Hoa
(Tóm lược theo báo Fayetteville, NC )
Buổi sáng trước khi tham dư Lể Gắn Huy Chương
Vũ Khí Biệt Kích Hoa Kỳ xử dụng trong Chiến Tranh Đặc Biệt
Quân Nhân Hoa Kỳ tại ngủ tham chiến trong Chiến Tranh Việt Nam
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