- Pisidhi Indradat
Pisidhi Indradat is a Thai civilian that worked as a "kicker" with Air America during the
Vietnam War . His job was to kick the pallets ofrice and food down the plane to aid the refugees of the war.On
September 5 ,1963 , Indradat took off on a mission to theSavannakhet Province inLaos , with fellow Thai Prasit Promsuwan and Prasit Thanee, Chinese Y.C. To, and AmericansEugene DeBruin , Joseph C. Cheney and Charles Herrick. During the flight, theC-46 aircraft was hit by ground fire and crashed about 2 kilometers from Tchepone on the Savannakhet Province. DeBruin, Y.C. To and the three Thai nationals parachuted to safety, but were immediately captured by thePathet Lao . Cheney and Herrick were killed in the crash.After his capture, Indradat and the other prisoners were moved from camp to camp. In May 1964, they managed to escape for three days, but were caught at a watering hole. By February 1966
US Air Force pilot 1st LieutenantDuane W. Martin andNavy pilot LieutenantDieter Dengler joined the POWs in the prison.On
June 29 ,1966 , while the guards were eating, the group slipped out of their hand and foot restraints and grabbed the guard's unattendedsubmachine guns . The Pathet Lao guards spotted some of the other prisoners trying to escape. A shootout between the two sides ensued and Indradat ended up in a shootout with four guards and shot one to aid in the escape. Two others ran off, presumably to get help. The seven prisoners split into three groups. Indradat, and the other Thai prisoners; DeBruin stayed with To, who had been too ill to continue with the escape; and Dengler and Martin headed for theMekong River to escape to Thailand. Martin was eventually killed, while Dengler was rescued after 23 days in the jungle. The rest of the prisoners are still unaccounted for.On the second day after the escape, Indradat separated from the two other Thai. After 32 days in the jungle, Indradat lapsed into unconsciousness and was captured again. He was taken to a prison camp with a large number of Royal Lao POWs, but no Americans or Thais. In early January 1967, information about this prison complex was received by
CIA personnel responsible for operations inLaos . They devised a rescue plan which was successfully implemented onJanuary 7 ,1967 . They rescued 53 prisoners - 52 Lao and 1 Thai.Indradat currently resides in
Bangkok, Thailand .Pisidhi Indradat in Film
Pisidhi Indradat was portrayed by
Abhijati Jusakul inWerner Herzog 's 2007 film "Rescue Dawn " about the life of Dieter Dengler.ee also
*
Dieter Dengler
*Eugene DeBruin
*Duane W. Martin
* "Rescue Dawn "External links
* [http://www.rescuedawnthetruth.com Rescue Dawn: The Truth]
* [http://www.usvetdsp.com/vn_pw_bios/h607.htm Gene DeBruin and Co. Escape Attempt Story]
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