Long Tieng (also spelled Long Chieng, Long Cheng, or Long Chen) is a Laotian military base in
Xaisomboun Province.
During the
Laotian Civil War
The Laotian Civil War was waged between the Communist Pathet Lao and the Royal Lao Government from 23 May 1959 to 2 December 1975. The Kingdom of Laos was a covert Theatre (warfare), theater during the Vietnam War with both sides receiving heavy ...
, it served as a town and airbase operated by the
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
of the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. During this time, it was also referred to as ''Lima Site 98'' (LS 98) or ''Lima Site 20A'' (LS 20A).
At the height of its significance in the late 1960s, the "secret city" of Long Tieng maintained a population of 40,000 inhabitants, making it the second largest city in Laos at the time, although it never appeared on maps throughout this period.
History

In 1962 the CIA first set up a headquarters for Major General
Vang Pao
Vang Pao ( RPA: ''Vaj Pov'' , Lao: ວັງປາວ; 8 December 1929 – 6 January 2011) was a Major general in the Royal Lao Army and later a leader of the Hmong American community in the United States.
Early life
Vang, an ethnic Hm ...
in the Long Tieng valley, which at that time had almost no inhabitants.
By 1964 a 1260 m runway had been completed and by 1966 Long Cheng was one of the largest US installations on foreign soil.
North Vietnam
North Vietnam, officially the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV; ; VNDCCH), was a country in Southeast Asia from 1945 to 1976, with sovereignty fully recognized in 1954 Geneva Conference, 1954. A member of the communist Eastern Bloc, it o ...
ese forces began to threaten Long Tieng in late 1971, and came close enough to start shelling the area on December 31 at 15:30 local time. In early January, 19,000 North Vietnamese forces launched a four pronged attack on Long Tieng from all four cardinal directions, encircling the site, capturing several facilities and positions, and installing antiaircraft batteries. Despite subsequent claims of victory from communist forces, the 10,000 defenders of Long Tieng, a mixture of
Hmong
Hmong may refer to:
* Hmong people, an ethnic group living mainly in Southwest China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand
* Hmong cuisine
* Hmong customs and culture
** Hmong music
** Hmong textile art
* Hmong language, a continuum of closely related ...
,
Thai, and Lao, had not been overrun, and in mid-month reinforcements appeared in the form of CIA-led Thais and 1200 elite irregulars from southern Laos. After enduring a third to 50% casualties, these forces succeeded in taking back key positions by the end of the month.
Description

Long Tieng was often described as "the most secret place on Earth". It was in a valley at 3,100 feet elevation, high enough to have chilly nights and cold fogs. It was surrounded by mountains and on the northwest side of the runway were
karst
Karst () is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble carbonate rocks such as limestone and Dolomite (rock), dolomite. It is characterized by features like poljes above and drainage systems with sinkholes and caves underground. Ther ...
outcrops several hundred feet high. In the shadow of the karst outcrops was "Sky" the CIA headquarters in Long Tieng. Jerry Daniels, a CIA officer codenamed "Hog," is said to have named Sky after his home state of
Montana
Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...
, known as "Big Sky Country".
Long Tieng was protected on three sides by limestone mountains.
"What a place is Long Tieng," said
USAID
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is an agency of the United States government that has been responsible for administering civilian United States foreign aid, foreign aid and development assistance.
Established in 19 ...
officer Jim Schill. "Tribal soldiers dressed in military garb standing next to traditionally dressed Hmong, with Thai mercenaries milling about. And the Americans here are mostly CIA operatives with goofy code names like Hog, Mr. Clean, and Junkyard. The town itself is not much. There's one paved road running through it and tin shacks on either side with eating shops, food stalls, and living quarters."
During the Secret War, Long Tieng became the largest
Hmong
Hmong may refer to:
* Hmong people, an ethnic group living mainly in Southwest China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand
* Hmong cuisine
* Hmong customs and culture
** Hmong music
** Hmong textile art
* Hmong language, a continuum of closely related ...
settlement in the world.
In the words of one author, Long Tieng "became a desultory metropolis, an unpaved, sewerless city of 30,000 where Hmong ran noodle stands, cobbled shoes, tailored clothes, repaired radios, ran military-jeep taxi services, and interpreted for American pilots and relief workers."
Evacuation
On February 22, 1975, the final defensive outpost for Long Tieng was defeated, leading US Brigadier General
Heinie Aderholt to begin planning an evacuation.
[ By May 1975, there were almost 50,000 guerillas and refugees living in and around the city. However, by then, the U.S. had withdrawn all its civilian and military personnel from Indochina, except for a few embassy personnel in Laos and CIA officer Jerry Daniels in Long Tieng. There were few resources for an evacuation. Daniels had only a single transport aircraft and Hmong pilot in Long Tieng to take evacuees to Udon Thani, ]Thailand
Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
. Aderholt located three additional American transport aircraft and pilots in Thailand. He had the planes "sheep dipped" to remove all markings identifying them as American-owned and sent them to Long Tieng. On May 10, 1975, Vang Pao
Vang Pao ( RPA: ''Vaj Pov'' , Lao: ວັງປາວ; 8 December 1929 – 6 January 2011) was a Major general in the Royal Lao Army and later a leader of the Hmong American community in the United States.
Early life
Vang, an ethnic Hm ...
reluctantly followed the CIA
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
's counsel and decided that he could no longer maintain Long Tieng against the opposing forces. Between May 10 to May 14, 1975, US C-130
The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 w ...
s and C-46
The Curtiss C-46 Commando is a low-wing, twin-engine aircraft derived from the Curtiss CW-20 pressurized high-altitude airliner design. Early press reports used the name "Condor III" but the Commando name was in use by early 1942 in company p ...
s airlifted people from the airbase to US bases in Thailand.[ Between 1,000 and 3,000 Hmong were evacuated.] Crowds of civilians surrounded the flights on the runways, creating a chaotic atmosphere. Those evacuated were primarily Hmong
Hmong may refer to:
* Hmong people, an ethnic group living mainly in Southwest China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand
* Hmong cuisine
* Hmong customs and culture
** Hmong music
** Hmong textile art
* Hmong language, a continuum of closely related ...
military leaders and CIA employees.
The evacuation ended with the departure of Major General Vang Pao
Vang Pao ( RPA: ''Vaj Pov'' , Lao: ວັງປາວ; 8 December 1929 – 6 January 2011) was a Major general in the Royal Lao Army and later a leader of the Hmong American community in the United States.
Early life
Vang, an ethnic Hm ...
and Jerry Daniels.[ Vang Pao told the people still on the tarmac "Farewell, my brothers, I can do nothing more for you, I would only be a torment for you," as he boarded a helicopter.] Tens of thousands of fighters and refugees were left behind. The 10,000 or more Hmong clustered around the airfield expected more aircraft to return, but they soon realized that none would come. The shelling of Long Tieng began on the afternoon of May 14. Many of the Hmong fighters and their families made their way overland to Thailand during the next several years, a dangerous journey that cost many of them their lives.
The American pilots, all civilians, participating in the evacuation were Les Strouse, Allen Rich, Matt Hoff, Jack Knotts, and Dave Kouba.
Accidents and incidents
*On 23 July 1970, a Douglas C-47
The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota ( RAF designation) is a military transport aircraft developed from the civilian Douglas DC-3 airliner. It was used extensively by the Allies during World War II. During the war the C-47 was used for troo ...
B XW-TDC of Xiengkhouang Air was damaged beyond repair in a landing accident during inclement weather.
*In 1971 a US Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
F-4D Phantom mistakenly hit Long Tieng with cluster bombs
A cluster munition is a form of air-dropped or ground-launched explosive weapon that releases or ejects smaller submunitions. Commonly, this is a cluster bomb that ejects explosive bomblets that are designed to kill personnel and destroy veh ...
, causing a fire that destroyed the CIA operations shack.[
]
After 1975
Long Tieng was incorporated into the restricted Xaisomboun Special Zone in 1994. This zone was dissolved on 13 January 2006 and Xaisomboun Province was created in 2013. The base is still maintained by the Laotian military.
The area's history was documented in the 2008 film '' The Most Secret Place on Earth''.
Namesake
A charter school in Saint Paul, Minnesota
Saint Paul (often abbreviated St. Paul) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, ...
, home to many Hmong refugees, was named Long Tieng Academy, but it closed in 2012.
See also
* CIA activities in Laos
* Lao People's Army
*Laotian Civil War
The Laotian Civil War was waged between the Communist Pathet Lao and the Royal Lao Government from 23 May 1959 to 2 December 1975. The Kingdom of Laos was a covert Theatre (warfare), theater during the Vietnam War with both sides receiving heavy ...
* Raven FACs
*Ban Phou Pheung Noi
Ban Phou Pheung Noi () is a Laos, Laotian village located at the peak of Phou Pheung mountain in the Xiangkhouang, Xieng Khouang province of Laos. Phou Pheung mountain is approximately . During the Vietnam War, combat between the American allies ...
References
{{authority control
Airports in Laos
Cold War
Xaisomboun province
Military airbases
Laotian Civil War
Military history of Laos during the Vietnam War
Hmong
Installations of the Central Intelligence Agency
Military installations of the United States in Laos