107-472: Xiangkhouang ( Lao : ຊຽງຂວາງ , meaning 'Horizontal City') is a province of Laos on the Xiangkhoang Plateau , in the nation's northeast. The province has the distinction of being the most heavily-bombed place on Earth. Historically, the province was formerly the independent principality of Muang Phuan . Its present capital is Phonsavan . The population of the province as of the 2015 census
214-631: A 29 March 1965 Southeast Asia Coordinating Committee meeting at Udon Thani, Thailand attended by Ambassador Sullivan, representatives from the 2nd Air Division, MACV, and Air America, responsibilities within the Barrel Roll operational area were ironed out. Command and control of the air program would remain in the ambassador's hands. Operational control of U.S. air assets devolved from the commander-in-chief, Pacific Forces ( CINCPAC ) in Honolulu through his air deputy at Pacific Air Forces or PACAF , to
321-608: A Declaration on the Neutrality of Laos was signed in Geneva, Switzerland on 23 July 1962. The agreement, an attempt to end a civil war between the Communist-dominated (and Hanoi -directed) Pathet Lao, neutralists, and American-backed rightists, included provisions that required the removal of all foreign military forces and precluded the use of Lao territory for interfering in the internal affairs of another country –
428-568: A blatant effort to shut down North Vietnam's growing logistical corridor through southeastern Laos that would become known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail . A coalition Government of National Union was installed in the capital of Vientiane , but it soon ran into difficulties. By the 2 October 1962 deadline for the removal of foreign troops, the North Vietnamese had pulled out only 40 personnel, leaving approximately 6,000 troops in
535-721: A communal house where men gather for political discussions, or work together on basket making and other crafts. Like many ethnic groups in Lao the Khmu practice their own form of animism . The Khmu are well known for their skill at making baskets, fish traps, and other objects from bamboo. Their material culture, their tools, utensils, baskets and netbags reflect their continued reliance on the forest. Growing rice, hunting, gathering forest products and producing handicrafts provide some cash income. They distill lao hai ("jar alcohol"). Hmong people migrated from China to Laos between 1800 and 1900. Having
642-400: A cult of ancestors and spirits, and a belief in three souls. Certain spirits protect the people within the village boundaries, while others maintain their influence over the plant and animal kingdom outside the village. Hmong women are renowned for their embroidery and weaving. Traditionally, clothes are made from hemp and cotton. Batik, used only by Green Hmong for their distinctive skirts, is
749-451: A dotted circle ◌ is used on this page to represent the consonant, in standard Lao orthography a small x symbol is used for this purpose. Traditionally this was a simple, stylized, sans-serif x and it was included in Lao fonts before Unicode became widespread. Unicode does not make it available as part of the Lao alphabet set, and a lower-case sans-serif x is often used instead. Some vowels change their forms depending on whether they appear in
856-651: A joint U.S./Thai command center for covert military and intelligence collection activities in Laos. By the end of 1963, the numbers of the Hmong army had grown to 10,000. To supply the Hmong and Royal Lao armies with more firepower, the Thai government covertly dispatched artillery units to northeastern Laos. Logistical airlift for the covert effort was provided by Air America , Bird and Son , and Continental Air Services , all of which were CIA proprietary airlines. The next stage of
963-601: A mission, escort aircraft were provided. Two days later American aircraft began flying low-level photo recon missions over the northern part of the country, serving as the beginning of the American aerial commitment to the covert war. For the Americans, Laos became almost exclusively an air war, a reversal of the role air power played in the conflict in neighboring South Vietnam. In Laos, the USAF applied conventional air power in
1070-467: A more curvilinear fashion than Thai. Lao is written from left to right. Vowels can be written above, below, in front of, or behind consonants, with some vowel combinations written before, over, and after. Spaces for separating words and punctuation were traditionally not used, but space is used and functions in place of a comma or period. The letters have no majuscule or minuscule (upper- and lowercase) differentiation. The Lao script ultimately derived from
1177-411: A number of endangered species including tiger , leopard , clouded leopard , Asian golden cat , marbled cat , civet , gaur , Sambar deer , white-cheeked gibbon , sun bear , black bear , Asian elephant , dhole , hornbill and three species of otter . The province is composed of eight districts which cover a total land area of 15,880 square kilometres (6,130 sq mi). Thathom District
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#17327719725441284-519: A profound effect on Laotian politics: First, it affirmed American support for Souvannah, only a few years after the U.S. had denounced him as a tool of the leftists; It also caused the neutralists to shift political allies from the left to the right; Finally, in May 1964, Souvannah announced the political union of the rightists and neutralists against the left. Heavy fighting broke out on the Plain of Jars as
1391-600: A software system of international standard that would enable the Phetsarath OT font to be like other font systems that local users could access. In March 2011, the Lao company XY Mobile presented the Phetsarath OT on mobile phones as well as tablet PCs using the mobile device operating system Android . iOS supports Lao script on iPhones and iPads . The consonant letters below are obsolete, due to spelling reforms. Characters for these obsolete letters are added in later versions of Unicode. For additional details, see
1498-593: A strong desire for independence, they rebelled against Chinese attempts to control and settle them and fled in successive waves southwards. During the Lao Civil war in the 1960s and 1970s, Hmong were recruited by the CIA's "Secret Army", commanded by Hmong General Vang Pao. Hmong villages were relocated in free-fire zones, and many died during these evacuations or due to fighting. When the communists came to power in 1975, tens of thousands of Hmong fled to Thailand or emigrated to
1605-401: A thatched roof. Hmong are known for their knowledge of the forest, herbal medicines, and expertise in raising animals. Their agricultural system is based on rain-fed slope cultivation with slash-and-burn techniques. They live on rice, corn and vegetable production, swine and poultry husbandry, gathering, hunting, embroidery, and basket work. Their religion is a form of shamanistic animism with
1712-516: A two phase program that would warn Hanoi of U.S. determination to support the Saigon government. The missions were to take place along North Vietnamese infiltration routes then developing in the Laotian panhandle. On 19 May 1964 low-level photo reconnaissance flights (codenamed Yankee Team ) over southern Laos were authorized and launched by RF-101 Voodoo aircraft. When they were fired upon during
1819-715: A variant of the Old Khmer script of Angkor , through the Sukhothai script . By the late 15th century, a form of the Sukhothai script had reached the Mekong River basin, after which the script developed differences between its Thai and Lao variants. In the 1960s, the Lao People's Revolutionary Party has simplified the spelling to be phonemic and omitted extra letters used to write words of Pali-Sanskrit origin. In
1926-414: A very long process. Before dying, the cloth the pattern is marked with wax. The wax is then removed to reveal the pattern. The wax is applied with a batik pen and the design is completed square by square. Many distinct geometric patterns exist, and they are passed on from mother to daughter. The material is pleated by running a sharp-edged stone along the pleat lines on alternate sides of the cloth, and sewing
2033-534: Is a National Biodiversity Conservation Area (NBCA) which covers an area of 5,959 km in Xiangkhouang, Houaphanh, and Luang Prabang provinces. The park consists mainly of mountains and hills, with elevations ranging between 336 and 2257 metres. The area is the source of many rivers. It is named after the Nam Et River and Phou Louey ("Forever") Mountain. The area has a high level of biodiversity , and
2140-468: Is also common. Hyphens (-) and the ellipsis (...) are also commonly found in modern writing. According to Article 89 of the 2003 Amended Constitution of the Lao People's Democratic Republic , the Lao alphabet, though originally used solely for transcribing the Lao language, is also used to write several minority languages. Some minority languages use other writing systems. For example, the Hmong adopted
2247-499: Is by looking at the women's dresses. Hmong live in forested mountains between 800 and 1,500 meters elevation, and in Laos they are categorized as Lao Soung ("highland people") although today there are more and more villages located in the lowlands. Hmong villages typically range in size from 15 to over 60 houses; they are not fenced and are organized by clan. The rectangular houses are on beaten soil and have one room without windows. The walls are made of vertical wood planks and bamboo and
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#17327719725442354-631: Is interlinked with the Tai Phuan . As an ancient civilization, its prehistory is linked to the enigmatic megalithic stone jars of the Plain of Jars (with prehistoric material dating back to 2,000 BCE, while the Iron Age period of 500 BCE and the more recent 500–80 CE period dominating archaeological finds) representing burial grounds. The Tai Phuan or Phuan people are a Buddhist Tai-Lao ethnic group that migrated to Laos from southern China. According to
2461-480: Is one of the main occasions for finding a wife or a husband. The young men and women toss the makkono , a small fabric ball, as part of a courting ritual which can go on for hours. During the festivities, Hmong women wear their traditional dresses, adorned with intricate embroidery and silver jewelry. The tourism department of Laos has listed 63 notable landmarks in the province. 32 are natural sites, 18 are cultural sites, and 13 are historical sites. Of these, some of
2568-664: Is southeast of Phonsavan. At the Wat Phia Wat Temple, destroyed during the conflicts of the First Indochina War (1946–1954) and the Second Vietnam War (1955–1975), the ruins of a stone wall with brick archways, relics of French colonial rule of over this part of Laos and from the whole country, a large statue of Buddha, broken pillars and short sections of walls remain to this day and are still clearly visible as well as accessible. Once buried in
2675-480: The Barrel Roll area were rare. Until 1968, most U.S. jet fighter-bomber sorties only occurred when aircraft were returning to Thailand from Rolling Thunder missions carrying unexpended ordnance loads. They would then be directed to targets in northeastern Laos. Electronic tactical air navigation (TACAN) became an absolute necessity in Laos, where mountain peaks and unexpected inclement weather made flying extremely hazardous, especially for older aircraft. This problem
2782-892: The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA), as well as various romanization schemes, such as the French-based systems in use by both the US Board of Geographic Names and the British Permanent Committee on Geographical Names (BGN/PCGN), the English-based system in use by the US Library of Congress (LC), Royal Thai General System of Transcription (RTGS) used in Thailand, and finally its Unicode name. A slash indicates
2889-517: The Iron Age (500 BCE–500 CE). Nearest to Phonsavan is Jar Site 1, with an area of 25 hectares (ha). The largest jar found here is 2.5 m x 2.5 m, while the rest are half this size. One jar has decorations on it. The megalithic jar sites of Xiangkhouang were inscribed on UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites in July 2019. Muang Khoun was the capital of the ancient Phuan Kingdom of the 14th century. It
2996-709: The Lao language and other minority languages in Laos . Its earlier form, the Tai Noi script , was also used to write the Isan language , but was replaced by the Thai script . It has 27 consonants ( ພະຍັນຊະນະ [pʰā.ɲán.sā.nāʔ] ), 7 consonantal ligatures ( ພະຍັນຊະນະປະສົມ [pʰā.ɲán.sā.nāʔ pā.sǒm] ), 33 vowels ( ສະຫລະ / ສະຫຼະ [sā.láʔ] ), and 4 tone marks ( ວັນນະຍຸດ [wán.nā.ɲūt] ). The Lao abugida
3103-567: The Pongsawadan Meuang Puan ("Muang Puan Chronicles"), they were the first people who migrated in the 13th century from China to settle this province, forming the independent principality of Muang Phuan on the Plain of Jars, with Xieng Khouang (contemporary Muang Khoun ) as its capital. They established a prosperous overland trade in metals and forest products with India and China ; the Xieng Khouang Plateau
3210-606: The Romanized Popular Alphabet to spell the Hmong languages . Linux has been available in Lao since 2005. Windows did not officially support Lao until Windows Vista . User-generated fonts are freely available online. In December 2011, the Lao Ministry of Science and Technology, in cooperation with the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, officially authorized the use of Phetsarath OT as
3317-851: The Royal Lao Air Force ) in mounds of melted metal, lack, wood and ash. Such war debris and wreckage can be found scattered between the Lang Waterfall and Jar Site 3 of the Plain of Jars. A secret tunnel was constructed below the hills of the Phu Kheng Jar Quarry Site during the Second Indochina War. The tunnel is 70 metres (230 ft) in length and 1.6 metres (5 ft 3 in) in height. Reinforced-concrete bunkers with night-camps are visible nearby. Unexploded ordnance can be found in large quantities in this Laotian province, and these are all in
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3424-587: The Tai Phuan once founded the kingdom of the same name. Part of the Mon-Khmer branch of the Austro-Asiatic linguistic family, the Khmu are one of the largest ethnic groups in Laos. They settled in the area several thousand years ago. The Khmu rapidly acculturated and there is now little in their clothing that distinguishes them from the surrounding Lao, although they speak a completely different language. Khmu houses are built on stilts. Each village has
3531-465: The Tai language family, by far the most significant language in Laos, spoken by 60% of the national population. The Tai Dam migrated from northern Vietnam to Laos 80–300 years ago. They are not Buddhists. Instead, they practice a form of ancestor and spirit worship. Tai Dam are well known producers of fine quality silk and cotton textiles and some women export to overseae markets. Older Tai Dam women still wear
3638-503: The raison d'être for the covert war in the northeast. According to U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk , after 1964 and the increasing U.S. commitment to South Vietnam, "Laos was only the wart on the hog." Originally, the American arrangement in Laos was based on the premise that the situation in South Vietnam would be controlled within a year or two. A holding action in Laos was all that was thought necessary. No one expected that
3745-557: The "Field Marshal." Few of his detractors, however, considered the difficulties of the ambassador's position. He had to balance the competing interests of the CIA, the Seventh Air Force , MACV and the Thais, and this had to be done without alienating Souvanna Phouma, an ally in all but name who acquiesced to almost every U.S. action within his country, short of outright invasion. The most senior military officer in-country
3852-636: The 1930s, Maha Sila Viravong , a Buddhist scholar, backed by the Buddhist Institute in Vientiane and the Buddhist Academic Council, added an additional set of Lao characters to support Pali and Sanskrit, thereby filling the missing gaps in the existing script. While the Buddhist Institute published books that utilised these extended Indic characters, they did not see widespread usage, and fell out of usage by 1975. In 2019,
3959-633: The 2nd Air Division (after 1 April 1966, the Seventh Air Force). Targets could be requested by the Royal Lao government, the CIA or by MACV. Northern Laos, however, was not going to be a priority for the Americans. It was decided at the Honolulu Executive Conference of April 1965 that U.S. aircraft could be used for interdiction in Laos only after close air support needs were met in South Vietnam. General Westmoreland
4066-429: The 7th/13th constantly harped about the use of its air assets in northern Laos. There was constant criticism over the use of air power "serving targets" or utilizing modern fighter-bombers as "long-range artillery." It was very difficult for the USAF to grasp that a guerrilla force did not fight like a conventional army. The aerial rules of engagement applied in Laos (which prescribed the offensive action of pilots and
4173-682: The Combat Control Teams to Laos to work with the CIA. Combat Control Teams consisted of personnel who parachuted into a forward zone and provided air control for the aerial delivery of another unit (usually paratroops). The Air Commando sergeants, James J. Stanford and Charles Larimore Jones discovered the problem, obtained manuals on forward air control and went to work to resolve the issue. In short order, they arranged rides in Air America and Continental Air Services aircraft and began marking ground targets. The expedient worked and
4280-409: The Lao alphabet. It was dropped as part of a language reform because most speakers pronounced it as "l", and had an ambiguous status for several decades. A 1999 dictionary does not include it when listing the full alphabet but does use it to spell many country names. A comprehensive dictionary published by a high-ranking official in the Ministry of Information and Culture did not include it. However, as
4387-422: The Lao language. Each letter has an acrophonical name that either begins with or features the letter prominently, and is used to teach the letter and serves to distinguish them from other, homophonous consonants. The letter ອ is a special null consonant used as a mandatory anchor for vowels, which cannot stand alone, and also to serve as a vowel in its own right. The letter ຣ (r) is a relatively new re-addition to
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4494-507: The Lao vocabulary began to incorporate more foreign names (such as Europe, Australia, and America) it filled a need and is now taught in schools. The letter ຣ can also be found in Unit 14 (ບົດທີ 14 ຮ ຫ ຣ) of a textbook published by the government. It is generally used as the first consonant of a syllable, or to follow a leading consonant, rarely as a final consonant. The table below shows the Lao consonant, its name, its pronunciation according to
4601-525: The Phuan population into regions under firm Siamese control. In subsequent years, Haw invaders and fleeing ex- Taiping Rebellion revolutionaries from China repeatedly looted both Xiangkhouang province and neighboring Luang Prabang . In the 1890s, the province came under French colonial rule following the 1893 Franco-Siamese crisis . During the Second Indochina War of the 1960s and 1970s,
4708-488: The Royal Laotian Air Force would consist of five wings of ten aircraft each. Water Pump could never produce enough pilots, however, since graduation rates barely exceeded the death rate of graduates, who simply flew until they died. The American "civilian pilots" program was phased out in 1966 and Detachment 6 (which continued its training program) was absorbed by the 606th Air Commando Squadron in
4815-456: The Thai script page's sections for the alphabetic table and usage for Sanskrit and Pali . The Unicode block for the Lao script is U+0E80–U+0EFF, added in Unicode version 1.0. The first ten characters of the row U+0EDx are the Lao numerals 0 through 9. Throughout the chart, grey (unassigned) code points are shown because the assigned Lao characters intentionally match the relative positions of
4922-433: The U.S. military was under civilian control, since according to the neutralization agreement, there could never be a senior U.S. military commander within the country. The covert war was, therefore, going to be planned and directed by a civilian within the walls of the embassy. The American official most associated with the conflict in Laos was Ambassador William H. Sullivan , who served from December 1964 until June 1969. He
5029-634: The US. Today, remittances from the diaspora are a major economic factor in the province, fueling significant construction activity. The Hmong accounts for 6-10% of the total population of Laos, and remain most numerous and concentrated in eastern Xiangkhouang. In the province the White Hmong, the Striped Hmong, and the Green Hmong can be distinguished. The easiest way to differentiate these groups
5136-655: The United States, and geographic fate. Fighting soon erupted between elements of the Pathet Lao and the Royal Lao Army. Although tentative negotiations resumed between the factions, matters took a turn for the worse when neutralist Prime Minister Prince Souvanna Phouma was arrested during a right-wing coup attempt. U.S. Ambassador Leonard S. Unger then notified the generals that the U.S. government would continue to support Souvanna. This turn of events had
5243-529: The accords, both had more to gain by keeping their own roles quiet. Regardless, by the end of the conflict in 1975, Laos emerged from nine years of war just as devastated as any of the other Asian participants in the Vietnam War. After a series of political and military machinations conducted by the U.S., the Pathet Lao, and the North Vietnamese in Laos that are described in the History of Laos since 1945 ,
5350-448: The communists back to their starting places. Continuous U.S. air support for Barrel Roll operations was provided by the aircraft of the 602nd and 606th Special Operations Squadrons, elements of the 56th Air Commando Wing (as of 8 April 1967 the 56th Special Operations Wing), based at Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base , Thailand. On 25 October 1967, they were joined by the 22nd Special Operations Squadron . Pre-planned airstrikes in
5457-506: The conflict would last ten years. Air Force historian Colonel Perry F. Lamy described Washington's view of the situation succinctly: Since the fate of Laos did not depend on a military solution in the air or on the ground in Laos and could only be decided by the outcome in Vietnam, winning the war against the DRV in northern Laos was not the objective. Instead, maintaining access to the country
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#17327719725445564-523: The corresponding Thai characters. This has created the anomaly that the Lao letter ສ is not in alphabetical order, since it occupies the same code-point as the Thai letter ส . Operation Barrel Roll American intervention 1965 1966 1967 Tet Offensive and aftermath Vietnamization 1969–1971 1972 Post- Paris Peace Accords (1973–1974) Spring 1975 Air operations Naval operations Lists of allied operations Air operations Operation Barrel Roll
5671-523: The crowded skies over Laos. The majority of the close air support missions flown in the northeast were conducted by Douglas A-1 Skyraiders and AT-28 Trojans. These propeller-driven Korean War -era aircraft came into their own in Southeast Asia, where their heavy ordnance loads, long loiter times, and high maneuverability at low altitudes made them more effective than the "fast movers" of the more modern jet Air Force. Before neutralization, one of
5778-681: The cyclical pattern of the monsoon weather would dictate the timing and pace of military operations in the northeast. From November through May (the dry season), North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao forces advanced out of Sam Neua Province along Route 6 and out of the Barthelemy Pass through Ban Ban toward the Plain of Jars. The lack of roads and the primitive state of those that did exist forced the communists to stretch their lines of communication taut, inviting counterattack. This Vang Pao's forces did from June through October (the wet season), utilizing air power, air mobility, and guerrilla tactics to push
5885-400: The eastern half of the country. Meanwhile, rightist elements (in control of the army) opposed the new government. The U.S. played its part by increasing its assistance to the right by covertly supplying the army through Thailand. Despite another international accord, Laos remained ensnared by the political and territorial ambitions of communist neighbors, the security concerns of Thailand and
5992-567: The embassy in Vientiane. Richard Secord , then an Air Force captain serving as liaison between the CIA and the Seventh Air Force, complained that: We were always trying to pry assets out of the Air Force at times and places they didn't want to go. You had to push'em, cajole'em, at times threaten them... My people were always trying to corrupt the process because the process itself simply was not structured for our kind of war... It
6099-458: The extended Indic characters were added to Unicode 12. The twenty-seven consonants of the Lao alphabet are divided into three tone classes—high (ສູງ [sǔːŋ] ), middle (ກາງ [kàːŋ] ), and low (ຕ່ຳ [tām] )—which determine the tonal pronunciation of the word in conjunction with the four tone marks and distinctions between short and long vowels. Aside from tone, there are twenty-one distinct consonant sounds that occur in
6206-454: The final or medial position. As in the neighboring Thai script , ◌ະ is used to represent a glottal stop after a vowel. Lao is traditionally not written with spaces between words. Spaces are reserved for ends of clauses or sentences. Periods are not used, and questions can be determined by question words in a sentence. Traditional punctuation marks include ◌໌, an obsolete mark indicating silenced consonants; ໆ, used to indicate repetition of
6313-500: The first American activities in support of the Hmong had been the establishment of Lima Sites , rough air strips across the country; during the early 1960s their number had grown to 200. The strategic Plain of Jars, was contested between the Hmong forces, PAVN, and the Pathet Lao, was a plateau north and northeast of Vientiane 40 miles (64 km) wide, covered with grass and small hills spread over an area of approximately 500 square miles (1,300 km ). It quickly became evident that
6420-471: The full 5 tones of Thai. For instance, tone modifier ห can turn low consonants into high ones. This also explains why the Lao script reserved consonants with the same sounds (e.g. ຂ and ຄ /kʰ/, ສ and ຊ /s/). Both high and low consonants are needed to produce full five (or six) tones of Lao. Such design also exists in Lao. Sonorants ງ, ຍ, ນ, ມ, ລ, ວ are originally low consonants, but when they're preceded by ຫ, they become high consonants. The older versions of
6527-667: The full repertoire of diphthongs and triphthongs used in the language. Vowels cannot stand alone or begin a syllable, so the silent consonant, ອ, which can function as a vowel in its own right, is used as a base when spelling a word that begins with a vowel sound. The names of the vowels are just as easy as saying sala (ສະຫຼະ, [sā.lāʔ] ) before the vowel sign. Some vowels have unique names, and these are ໃ◌ (ໄມ້ມ້ວນ, /mâj mûan/ , rolled stem ), ໄ◌ (ໄມ້ມາຍ, /mâj máːj/ , unwound stem ), ◌ົ (ໄມ້ກົງ, . /mâj kòŋ/ , straight stem ), ◌ັ (ໄມ້ກັນ, . /mâj kàn/ , ear stem ), ◌ຽ (ວິລາມ, /wīʔ láːm/ ), and ◌ໍ (ນິກຄະຫິດ, /nīk kʰāʔ hǐt/ ). Although
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#17327719725446634-405: The important sites are the following: The province's most distinctive landmark is the Plain of Jars . The "jars" are 2,100 tubular-shaped megalithic stone jars used for funerary purposes. The jars range from 1–3 metres (3 ft 3 in – 9 ft 10 in) in height. They are found throughout the province in clusters containing from one to several hundred jars each. The jars date from
6741-633: The insurgency then taking place in the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam). This action was taken within Laos due to the location of North Vietnam's expanding logistical corridor known as the Ho Chi Minh Trail (the Truong Son Road to the North Vietnamese), which ran from southwestern North Vietnam, through southeastern Laos, and into South Vietnam. The campaign then centered on the interdiction of that logistical system. Beginning during
6848-459: The key problems for the early phase of the U.S. air program in Laos was the lack of forward air control (FAC) that would have pinpointed ground targets in the rugged, jungle-covered terrain for strike aircraft. The USAF had no such aircraft in Laos, or anywhere else, having phased out its own programs after the Korean War. In 1963 the Air Force dispatched four "sheep-dipped" Air Commandos of
6955-461: The locations and circumstances under which offensive actions could be taken) were created to protect the civilian population of the country. To the American pilots that conducted the missions, however, they became complex to the point of incomprehensibility. The rules were constantly altered and elaborated upon by the political decision makers in Washington and Vientiane and bore little relation to
7062-462: The members of each political grouping chose sides. Souvanna called upon the U.S. for support and was answered in the affirmative by President Lyndon B. Johnson , who was eager to support a rightist/neutralist alliance in Laos. In November 1963 General Maxwell D. Taylor , chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff had proposed that U.S. armed reconnaissance missions be conducted over Laos as part of
7169-457: The military evolution took place during mid-March 1964, when the USAF began Project Waterpump , a program to train Laotian, Thai, Hmong, and Air America aircrews in flight and maintenance of U.S.-supplied AT-28 Trojan ground-attack aircraft. This training was conducted by Detachment 6, 1st Air Commando Wing personnel at Udon Royal Thai Air Force Base , Thailand. The first mission in support of Vang Pao's forces took place on 25 May. Eventually,
7276-655: The nature of the American agreement with the Thai government (most U.S. strike aircraft flew from bases in Thailand), the aircraft had to first fly to South Vietnam, land, and then take off again for Laos. By 24 December, six armed reconnaissance missions were being conducted per day, but the hoped for reaction from Hanoi did not materialize. The aircraft utilized to support the covert war were an odd assortment of vintage propeller-driven attack aircraft , high performance jet fighter-bombers , and World War II -era cargo airplanes . This hodgepodge of an air force with its peculiar mix of aircraft and aircrews flew for eight years in
7383-421: The need to keep the Vientiane government weak, and to give free rein to the Hmong army, flew in the face of fostering the type of national government that could defeat the Pathet Lao. During 1961, the first weapons were delivered to the Hmong and their training was begun. Nine CIA specialists, nine U.S. Army Special Forces personnel, and 99 Thai members of the Police Aerial Reconnaissance Unit (PARU) participated in
7490-577: The northwest, Houaphanh province to the northeast, Vietnam to the east, Bolikhamsai province to the southeast, and Vientiane province to the southwest. The capital is Phonsavan. Xiangkhouang and Vientiane provinces are part of the Nam Ngum River watershed. Apart from floodplains, the largest expanse of level land in the country is on the province's Xiangkhoang Plateau. This area is characterized by rolling hills and grassland whose elevation averages 1,300 metres (4,300 ft). The country's highest peak, Phou Bia (2,820 metres (9,250 ft)), rises at
7597-412: The operational end of covert activities in Laos. Eventually, five air operations centers were created in Laos – at Vientiane, Pakse, Savannakhet, Long Tieng , and Luang Prabang. These centers supported the ambassador with intelligence, administrative services, and communications as well as the actual air operations under a program called Palace Dog . After the initiation of Operation Rolling Thunder ,
7704-448: The original capital of the province, was virtually razed to the ground, resulting in the capital being moved to Phonsavan . During the wars, most of the 16th–19th century temples were completely destroyed, with only Wat Phia Wat temple having partially survived. Xiangkhouang province covers an area of 15,880 square kilometres (6,130 sq mi) and has a largely mountainous topography. The province borders Luang Prabang province to
7811-480: The poles into place at the waistband. These skirts and many other items of Hmong clothing are also embroidered. Embroidery and applique is a social activity, a time for women to sit together and exchange views and news. Hmong New Year celebrations in December, starting from the 15th day of the ascending moon, are accompanied by numerous activities including top-spinning competitions, dances, songs, and bull fights. It
7918-411: The preceding word; ຯ, the Lao ellipsis that is also used to indicate omission of words; ฯ, a more or less obsolete symbol indicating shortened form of a phrase (such as royal names); and ฯລฯ, used to indicate et cetera . In more contemporary writing, punctuation marks are borrowed from French, such as exclamation point !, question mark ?, parentheses (), and «» for quotation marks, although ""
8025-583: The process of being cleared and removed under the aegis of the United Kingdom -based Mines Advisory Group (MAG). The Visitor Information Centre established by the MAG in Phonsavan provides information on the history of the aerial bombardment campaigns in this part of Laos. Lao alphabet Lao script or Akson Lao (Lao: ອັກສອນລາວ [ʔák.sɔ̌ːn láːw] ) is the primary script used to write
8132-425: The pronunciation at the beginning juxtaposed with its pronunciation at the end of a syllable. Lao also uses digraphs based on combinations of the silent (unpronounced) ຫ ຫ່ານ with certain other consonants, some of which also have special ligature forms that are optionally used. In the Thai script, certain consonants are preceded by tone modifiers . This is because high consonants or low consonants cannot produce
8239-592: The province was a major battleground in the Laotian Civil War , fought between royalist forces and the communist Pathet Lao until 1975, when the Pathet Lao emerged victorious and seized power over all of Laos. Xiangkhouang was the Lao province most bombed by the United States Air Force in support of royalist forces led by Hmong general Vang Pao , who was born in the province. As a result of this extensive air campaign , Muong Khoun ,
8346-812: The reality on the ground. There were different rules for every type of activity, for each different branch of service, and in each military region. Examples from the early days of aerial operations stipulated that there would be no use of napalm in Laos, that no PAVN trucks could be struck more than 200 meters from a road, and that no enemy forces could be bombed within 1,000 meters of a pagoda. Although these restrictions were later altered, there were always others to take their place. There were "no bomb zones" that granted sanctuaries to PAVN and Pathet Lao forces. Pagodas and suspected PAVN hospitals (which were unmarked) were simply turned into ammunition dumps, supply caches, and anti-aircraft sites by an enemy that intently studied American actions and adjusted to them. One of
8453-411: The rest of vowel diacritics still apply. However, many Lao outside of Laos, and some inside Laos, continue to write according to former spelling standards. For example, the old spelling of ສເຫຼີມ 'to hold a ceremony, celebrate' contrasts with the new ສະເຫລີມ/ສະເຫຼີມ. Vowels are constructed from only a handful of basic symbols, but they can be combined with other vowel forms and semi-vowels to represent
8560-424: The same box have identical pronunciation). Lao characters in final position. In the old documents, the letter ຽ could be found in place of ຍ. In its earlier form, Lao would be considered a full abugida , in which the inherent vowel is embedded in the consonant letters. The spelling reforms by the communist Lao People's Revolutionary Party shallows the orthography, the main vowels are now written explicitly, but
8667-452: The same time frame (and expanding throughout the conflict) the operation became increasingly involved in providing close air support missions for Royal Lao Armed Forces , CIA -backed tribal mercenaries, and Thai Volunteer Defense Corps in a covert ground war in northern and northeastern Laos. Barrel Roll and the "Secret Army" attempted to stem an increasing tide of People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and Pathet Lao offensives. Barrel Roll
8774-408: The same year. In 1967 the 606th was integrated into the 56th Special Operations Wing . The air program did, however, create the world's only guerrilla army with air superiority. According to President Kennedy's "Country Team" directive of 29 May 1961, all U.S. government agencies operating in a foreign nation were to be placed under the direct supervision of the ambassador. Within Laos that meant
8881-460: The script also included special forms for combinations of ພ (pʰ) + ຍ (ɲ), ສ (s) + ນ (n), and ມ (m) + ລ (l). In addition, consonant clusters that had the second component of ຣ (r) or ລ (l) were written with a special form ◌ຼ underneath the consonant. Since these were not pronounced in Lao, they were removed during various spelling reforms, and this symbol only appears in the ligature ຫຼ. Lao characters in initial position (several letters appearing in
8988-473: The sergeants, using radio call sign Butterfly , succeeded brilliantly. The program continued for three years (until 1966) without any questions being raised by higher headquarters. It was not until a visit by General William Momyer , commander of the Seventh Air Force, that the unconventional nature of the program became a problem. Discovering that the Butterflies were neither officers nor pilots, Momyer
9095-407: The south side of the plateau. Nam Et-Phou Louey is a National Biodiversity Conservation Area (NBCA) in the province, covering an area of 5,959 km, and overlaps into Houaphanh and Luang Prabang provinces. The province's Plain of Jars was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019. While the origin of the Plain of Jars ' people is unknown, the recorded history of Xiangkhouang
9202-420: The southern side of the plateau, while the Plain of Jars is at the plateau's centre. The province is 400 km northeast of Vientiane . Phou Bia , at 2,700 m elevation, is the highest peak in the province, and the highest in Laos. The capital city is at an elevation of about 1,000 m above mean sea level (AMSL), with Kham District in a low-laying basin at an elevation of about 600 m AMSL. Nam Et-Phou Louey
9309-449: The standard national font. The Phetsarath OT font was already adopted by the government in 2009; however, Lao users were unable to use it, as international software manufacturers did not include the font in their software systems. Mobile devices were not able to use or show Lao language. Instead, mobile phone users had to rely on Thai or English as language. The Laos Ministry of Post and Telecommunications asked local technicians to develop
9416-518: The support of an unconventional ground war. The mission of the USAF was to seal off the southern Mekong River Valley, thus providing a buffer for Thailand; insulating the Vientiane government from direct communist threat; draining PAVN manpower and resources; and interdiction of the approaches to the Ho Chi Minh trail. For U.S. interests, the aerial interdiction effort against the trail and the protection of Thailand were preeminent, and they became
9523-503: The sustained aerial campaign against North Vietnam that had begun on 5 March 1965, the Barrel Roll area of operations was divided on 3 April. Barrel Roll was to continue in the northeast while the southern portion of the area, where interdiction missions against the Ho Chi Minh trail were paramount, was redesignated Tiger Hound . Command and control of that area was handed over to the American commander in Saigon, General Westmoreland. At
9630-521: The thick tropical forest, the That Foun stupa , dating back some 450 years, can be seen near the road outside Phonsavan. In an ethnic village of the Phuan, to the south of Phonsavan, Ban Napi mounds of war scrap can be seen buried in tableware. During the 1980s, eight families came together and assembled bits and pieces of aluminum from damaged, crashed or shot-down United States Air Force aircraft, as well as aircraft from US-aligned air forces (such as
9737-568: The traditional blue indigo cotton shirt, skirt, and black turban woven with colored patterns. They produce rice alcohol, called lao lao that is consumed socially and used for ritual purposes. Tai Dam settled in upland valleys near streams and irrigable and accessible plains scattered among Lao and Phuan villages. They built rectangular symmetric houses on pilings, with a rice granary under the house. Villages are composed of 15¬60 houses and are not fenced. The people subsist on wet rice, vegetables, poultry, weaving, sewing and hunting. The ancestors of
9844-520: The training and equipping of what became known as the Armée Clandestine or the secret army. The neutralization agreement forced the abandonment of the Hmong program, but that was not going to last long. Due to North Vietnamese violations of the agreement, President John F. Kennedy authorized a return to covert activities in 1963. The previous year the CIA and the Thai military had established "Headquarters 333" at Udon Thani, which acted as
9951-556: The villagers. As of 2012, three minor accidents involving UXO had been reported. Xiangkhouang is home to five different ethnic groups: the Tai Dam , Tai Daeng , Phuan , Khmu , and Hmong . Their traditional houses, dresses, beliefs and rituals are part of the cultural heritage of Laos. There are also minorities of Laotian Chinese and Vietnamese, as well as some international workers from South Korea , Japan , Europe and North America . Tai Dam, Tai Daeng and Tai Phuan belong to
10058-432: Was 244,684. Xiangkhouang province covers an area of 15,880 square kilometres (6,130 sq mi) and is mountainous. Apart from floodplains , the largest area of level land in the country is on the province's Xiangkhoang Plateau. The plateau is characterized by rolling hills and grassland whose elevation averages 1,300 metres (4,300 ft). The country's highest peak, Phou Bia (2,820 metres (9,250 ft)), rises at
10165-496: Was a continual frustration. Secord's criticism may have been a little extreme. The Department of Defense had created the 7th/13 Air Force at Udon in November 1965 for the express purpose of conducting the air war in Laos. According to historian Timothy Castle, Sullivan relegated the USAF commander and his staff "to the status of clerks hired to carry out his airpower decisions." The unconventional arrangement bred frustration and
10272-633: Was a covert U.S. Air Force 2nd Air Division and U.S. Navy Task Force 77 , interdiction and close air support campaign conducted in the Kingdom of Laos between 5 March 1964 and 29 March 1973 concurrent with the Vietnam War . The operation resulted in 260 million bombs being dropped on Laos. The original purpose of the operation was to serve as a signal to the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (North Vietnam) to cease its support for
10379-606: Was adapted from the Khmer script , which itself was derived from the Pallava script , a variant of the Grantha script descended from the Brāhmī script , which was used in southern India and South East Asia during the 5th and 6th centuries AD. Akson Lao is a sister system to the Thai script , with which it shares many similarities and roots. However, Lao has fewer characters and is formed in
10486-587: Was also granted veto power over bombing, interdiction, and reconnaissance programs outside territorial South Vietnam. That decision placed Barrel Roll behind South Vietnam, Rolling Thunder , and Steel Tiger in order of precedence. Only an estimated two percent of the total U.S. aerial effort in Southeast Asia was going to be utilized in northern Laos. On 12 December 1964, Barrel Roll was approved by Souvanna Phouma. The program originally consisted of only two U.S. bombing sorties per week that were to be conducted by no more than four aircraft in each strike. Due to
10593-534: Was also one of the most controversial. Considered brilliant by most and tyrannical by many, Sullivan was despised by the American high command (both Army and Air Force) in Saigon, Sullivan's demand that he alone maintain complete control over every aspect of American military operations in Laos and the stringent restrictions that he imposed upon those operations, earned him few friends among the military. General William C. Westmoreland , overall commander of U.S. forces in South Vietnam sarcastically referred to Sullivan as
10700-532: Was incensed and ordered that "that will cease." The program that replaced the Butterflies (and which became an even more "sensitive" issue with Momyer) would contain some of the most colorful personnel of the covert war – the Raven FACs . The Ravens were volunteer USAF officers who already had 500 flying hours (six months) as FACs in South Vietnam and who would serve six-month tours in Laos. There were always going to be shortages of both personnel and aircraft in
10807-481: Was moved to Xaisomboun province in January 2006. Xiangkhouang province is the main maize -producing area of Laos. The centre for trade and tourism is Phonsavan . In the village of Ban Napia near Phonsavan, villagers re-use scrap metal from unexploded ordnance (UXO) to make spoons to be sold as souvenirs. The scrap metal is checked for safety beforehand by UXO Lao. This community-based project provides income for
10914-461: Was not directed by the north. Back in 1959 a Laotian Lieutenant Colonel of the minority Hmong tribe had been taken under the wing of the CIA effort in Laos. The highland Hmong were more aggressive than the lowland Lao and Vang Pao was quickly elevated to their leadership in hopes of creating a paramilitary force that would counter the Pathet Lao in the northeast. Historian John Prados believed that
11021-533: Was one of the most closely held secrets and one of the most unknown components of the American military commitment in Southeast Asia. Due to the ostensible neutrality of Laos, guaranteed by the Geneva Conference of 1954 and 1962, both the U.S. and North Vietnam strove to maintain the secrecy of their operations and only slowly escalated military actions there. As much as both parties would have liked to have publicized their enemy's own alleged violation of
11128-417: Was paramount and keeping the Royal Lao government in power became the primary objective. For Hanoi, Laos was also a "limited war" with goals and objectives that were tied to its continued use of the Ho Chi Minh trail. The covert nature of the North Vietnamese logistical effort through Laos also had to be maintained in order to support the fiction that the conflict in South Vietnam was a popular uprising that
11235-431: Was solved by establishing unmanned Air Force stations that broadcast continuous radio transmissions, allowing aerial navigation from fixed geographic reference points. The Air Force also emplaced TSQ-81 radar sites in the north and northeast to direct Rolling Thunder missions over North Vietnam. During the entire covert war in Laos there was continual friction between the Air Force commanders at Udon Thani and Saigon and
11342-581: Was the AIRA, the ambassador's air attaché, an Air Force colonel. The air attaché office originally consisted of that officer and six other personnel. The burgeoning air programs in Laos however, dictated the dispatch of 117 more Air Force personnel during 1966. The USAF conducted its operations under the aegis of Project 404 , whose mission was to support the Royal Laotian military, the clandestine Hmong army, and to support project personnel, who coordinated
11449-716: Was the center of trade for a large area of upland Southeast Asia , extending as far as Da Nang in Vietnam , Samrong Sen in Cambodia , the Khorat Plateau in northeast Thailand , and the North Cachar Hills of northeastern India . In the mid-14th century, Muang Phuan was subsumed into the Lan Xang kingdom under King Fa Ngum . Siamese invasions in 1777–1779, 1834–1836, and 1875–1876 sought to resettle
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