Rescue Ops 3 - Operation Ivory Coast - The Son Tay Raid and the POW Rescue Mission During the Vietnam War

The Son Tay Raid and the POW rescue mission during the Vietnam war is one of modern POW special operations. The mission had codenames Operation Ivory Coast and Operation Kingpin. This book takes readers inside the planning rooms, the mock compound at Eglin, the cockpits over Laos, and the prison courtyard at Son Tay to show how a raid that rescued no prisoners still changed the way America fights and cares for its own. Built on official Army and Air Force histories, declassified planning documents, CIA analytical material, and participant memoirs, this volume follows the story from the first escalation of air operations over North Vietnam and the growing POW crisis, through General Blackburn's feasibility study and President Nixon's decision to approve a joint rescue force, to Brigadier General LeRoy Manor and Colonel Arthur "Bull" Simons assembling an ad hoc task force that trained in total secrecy. Readers see how intelligence analysts identified Son Tay, how MACV-SOG and CIA photography teams struggled against cloud cover, and how the Joint Contingency Task Group became an early model for joint special operations. Inside the raid, the book takes you through the night training at Eglin, the three-element ground organization of Blueboy, Greenleaf, and Redwine, and the air package of Combat Talon C‑130s, HH‑3 and HH‑53 Jolly Green Giants, A‑1 Skyraiders, F‑105 Wild Weasels, and Navy diversionary air wings from USS Oriskany and USS Ranger. It explains why Banana 1 was chosen to crash inside the compound, how Apple 3's miniguns shredded the guard towers in seconds, and how a navigation error put Simons's Greenleaf element into the wrong compound and an unexpected firefight without costing a single raider's life. Unlike summary treatments, this book separates confirmed…