In late October the rebels accused an American medical missionary, Dr. Paul Carlson of being a US Army major on assignment for the CIA. Carlson, with the Protestant Relief Agency, was a medical doctor who first went to the Congo on a special six-month mission, then returned in 1963 with his family. Less than a year later, after having sent his wife and four children to safety in the Central African Republic, Carlson was seized by the Simbas because he owned a radio, was an American and the rebels wanted hostages. Over the next few weeks, Dr. Paul Carlson’s name would be featured in the world’s headlines.
With the fate of the white hostages in doubt, the United States and Belgium tried to negotiate with the rebels. At the same time, they began planning various means of military intervention, even as the Congolese government forces launched a major offensive toward Stanleyville. Several possible schemes were put forth, including a large paratrooper assault by members of the 82nd Airborne Division, supported by heavy tactical air strikes. While military forces in the United States worked on the larger plan, the US military command in Europe came up with a less involved one, calling for the use of a small force of paratroopers begin airlifted to Africa for the rescue. That plan, formulated jointly by the United States and Belgium, was given the French code name ‘Dragon Rouge’ (‘Red Dragon’).
On 15 November Brigadier General Robert D. Forman, commander of the 322nd Air Division, was given word to begin preparations to airlift a force of Belgium paratroopers to the Congo for a possible rescue attempt. Forman’s command had supported the UN peacekeeping forces in the Congo from 1960 until early 1964. During those years, however, the 322nd had undergone some changes. Previously, the division had been directly under the commander of USAFE, but a reorganization of American forces in Europe led to the transfer of the division’s transfer to Military Air Transport Service a few months earlier.
Permanently assigned C-130s had been replaced by temporary duty aircraft and crews from Tactical Air Command units in the United States. In 1964 two TAC wings were supporting rotational squadrons at Évreux-Fauville Air Base, France the 317th and 464th Troop Carrier wings from Lockbourne AFB, Ohio and Pope AFB. Rotational Squadron ‘A’, or ‘Rote Alpha,’ was made up of Pope personnel who flew the newest version of the already proven Hercules, the C-130E, while ‘Rote Bravo’ was manned by Lockbourne crews and equipped with the older C-130A.
General Forman called Colonel Burgess Gradwell to Châteauroux to brief him on the upcoming mission. Gradwell, commander of Detachment One, 332nd Air Division at Évreux-Fauville, would have command. ‘Dragon Rouge’ would involve a fourteen-plane airlift of 600 Belgian paratroopers to Africa. Since the Emodel of the Hercules featured special long-range fuel tanks, ‘Rote Alpha’ would provide the planes and crews. When Gradwell got back to Évreux that night, he called in ‘Rote Alpha’ commander Lieutenant Colonel Robert A. Lindsay and the TAC liaison officer with the division, Colonel Gene Adams. Wheels were set in motion for the mission.
Before ‘Dragon Rouge’ could be launched, the aircraft and crews had to be recalled from their normal missions throughout Europe. By the evening of 16 November, all fifteen Hercules were back at Évreux and the crews were on ‘crew rest’ for an ‘important’ mission. At 1740 Greenwich Mean Time-‘Zulu time-on 17 November, the first C-130 took off from Évreux, bound for Kleine Brogel, Belgium. Aboard the first plane were Colonel Gradwell, Captain Donald R. Strobaugh, commander of the 5th Aerial Port Squadron (APRON) combat control team and Sergeant Robert J. Dias, a radio repairman with the 5th APRON. Like the C-130 crews, Strobaugh had been called back to Évreux from duties elsewhere in Europe. Other than certain key officers, no one aboard the airplanes knew where they were going until after they were airborne with no problems requiring them to turn back. Each navigator had been given a sealed envelope, with instructions not to open it until the airplane’s altitude exceeded 2,000 feet.
At Kleine Brogel, elements of the Belgian 1st Para-Commando Regiment, including the 1st Para-Commando Battalion, a company from the 2nd Battalion and a detachment from the 3rd, were loaded aboard the C-130s, along with their equipment. At 2240Z, the first Hercules departed Kleine Brogel for a fuel stop at Móron Air Base on the southern coast of Spain, then on to Ascension Island in the South Atlantic. The first plane arrived at Ascension at 1310Z on 18 November. At Ascension Captain Strobaugh instructed the Belgians on the use of the PRC-41 and PRC-47 radio sets he had brought for Évreux for communication between the men on the ground and the planes overhead. He also instructed 21 Belgian jumpmasters on C-130 jump techniques - few of the Belgian paras had ever jumped from the Hercules - then supervised as they trained the remainder of the force.
Belgian paratroopers spring into action during Operation ‘Dragon Rouge’.
For the next three days, the joint rescue force waited while communications were passed back and force between there and Washington by a TAC C-130 ‘Talking Bird’ that joined the mission at Ascension. On 20 November a special briefing of the various commanders was held to determine exactly how the assault was to be performed. Once it was firmed, Captain Strobaugh transmitted the plan to Washington. At 1800Z, the force was put on alert; 30 minutes later, the launch order came over the teletype. An hour later, at 1935Z, ‘Chalk One’ (tactical airlift missions are designated by ‘chalk’ numbers, after the practice of numbering loads with chalk) departed Ascension bound for Kamina, an airfield in the southern Congo, with the other thirteen C-130s right behind.
At daybreak, the first Hercules arrived at Kamina after a nine-hour flight across part of the Atlantic and halfway across Africa. The field was obscured by fog, but English-speaking air traffic controllers directed each plane to the airport in turn. Once the force was on the ground more briefings were held, including an update on the mission’s status by Colonel Clayton Issacson, commander of JTF Leo and now in overall command of ‘Dragon Rouge’ and other activities in the Congo. Then the ‘Dragon Rouge’ force went into another waiting period while Belgium and the United States continued their efforts to win the hostages’ freedom through negotiations.
Belgian paratroopers in one of the USAF C-130s en route to Stanleyville during Operation ‘Dragon Rouge’.
On Monday evening, 23 November, the rescue force relaxed at Kamina while watching what one critic in the crowd described as a ‘terrible movie’ in one of the hangars. At 2230Z (2030 local time), the teletype machines in the ‘Talking Bird’ began clattering as messages came in from Washington and Brussels. ‘Dragon Rouge’ was on, with takeoff scheduled for 0045Z, so as to arrive over the Stanleyville airport at dawn. The first C-130E, flown by Captain Huey Long’s Standardizations and Evacuation crew from the 777th Troop Carrier Squadron, lifted off from Kamina’s long runway right on time, followed at 20-second intervals by the other eleven planes of the assault force. ‘Chalk Six’ flown by Captain William ‘Mack’ Secord’s crew had lost a life raft from a wing storage compartment after takeoff from Kamina and had to return for the spare plane. Secord was told to land and wait with ‘Chalk Twelve’, the hospital plane, until the Belgians returned to the airport with the hostages in the formation. The rest of the ‘Dragon Rouge’ formation proceeded northbound at high altitude, following the Congo River, descending to treetop altitudes as the planes neared revel territory.
Nearing Stanleyville, lead navigator John Coble led the formation south of the city, still at low altitude, so as to approach from the west. As the formation reached the one-minute warning point, two B-26s made a low pass over the airport. Laurent and 299 of his men jumped over Stanleyville airport exactly at dawn.
The jump plane crews were briefed to expect only small-arms fire over the airport. Instead, they were greeted by tracers from Chinese-made 12.7mm antiaircraft machine guns. In spite of the unexpected fire, the American pilots held their course as they dropped their troopers right on the narrow drop zone beside the runway, then came back around for another pass to allow the 20 jumpmasters to exit, along with the bundles of extra equipment. Only the fir
st five airplanes in the formation dropped at that time: ‘Dragons Six’ and ‘Seven’ were rigged to either drop or land with equipment (Secord’s ‘Dragon Six’ had gone back to Kamina and was still en route), while ‘Dragons ‘Eight’, ‘Nine’ and ‘Eleven’ orbited nearly, their troops at the ready to jump in if needed, or land when the field was secure.
Once on the ground, the Para-Commandos began rushing to secure the field so rescue force aircraft could land. Within thirty minutes the Belgians managed to eliminate all resistance at the airport and within 10 minutes had cleared away about 300 water-filled 55-gallon drums and eleven wheel-less vehicles that had been placed on the runway as obstacles. To Captain Strobaugh, who was serving aboard ‘Dragon Nine’ as jumpmaster, the Belgians’ efforts were ‘nothing short of miraculous.’ At 0450Z, the first C-130E landed at Stanleyville and discharged a load of equipment and troops, then took off again to fly to Leopoldville-where the drop planes had already gone-for refuelling and to await word to return to Stanleyville and evacuate refugees. ‘Dragon One’ remained overhead, serving as a command ship for Colonel Gradwell. Colonel Issacson also made an appearance over Stanleyville in one of the JTF Leo aircraft, using the call sign ‘Dragon Chief.’
After ‘Dragon Seven’ landed and took off again, ‘Dragons ‘Eight’, ‘Nine’, ‘Eleven’ and ‘Ten’ followed in that order. Each crew offloaded their troopers and then took off again for Leopoldville; no more than three airplanes were to be on the ground at one time. The last two planes, ‘Six’ and ‘Twelve’, flown respectively by Secord and Captain B. J. Nunnally, were told to remain on the ground to bring out the first hostages when they were brought out of town. ‘Dragon One’ continued orbiting over the airport at 2,000 feet. Navigator Coble was uncomfortable about being so low over a combat zone; he had served four temporary duty tours in South Việtnam flying C-123s. The rest of the crew laughed, calling him ‘combat happy’- until they suddenly felt and heard the sound of bullets striking the airplane. Seven rounds hit the Hercules, knocking out hydraulics and leaving two large holes in the wing fuel tanks. With Gradwell’s approval, Long headed his C-130 for Leopoldville for repairs.
Once the airport was secure, the Belgian rescue force headed for downtown Stanleyville, where the hostages were known to be held. The hostages themselves were awakened by the wounds of the battle at the airport and the alarmed Simbas who came after them shouting: ‘Your brothers have come from the sky! Now you will be killed!’ Dressed in manes of monkey fur and feathers, the Simbas bashed down the doors of the Victoria Hotel with spears and gun butts and then roughly hustled their white hostages out into the streets. For more than an hour, the hostages had been hearing sounds of airplanes engines and gunfire while others not in captivity saw parachutes falling from the sky over the airport. Knowing that the Simbas had threatened to kill everyone under their control in the event of a rescue attempt, they were fearful.
Now the Simbas ordered the 250 whites from the Victoria out into the broad streets of the city and began marching them toward the city park and toward the Patrice Lumumba ‘monument’-a large photograph of the late prime minister-where the rebels had already slain more than 100 Congolese during recent weeks. The hostages still entertained some hope; they were being marched in the direction of the airport, leading some to believe that the rebel commander intended to turn them over to the rescue force unharmed. Then, rebel-operated Radio Stanleyville shrilled out a message: ‘Ciyuga! Ciyuga! Kill! Kill! Kill them all! Have no scruples! Men, women, children - kill them all!’
Colonel Joseph Opepe, who had befriended some of the hostages, tried in vain to stop the Simbas from carrying out the orders screamed over the radios. Many of the Simbas were drunk from a mixture of alcohol and hemp. According to some survivors, the signal to fire came from a deaf-mute ex-boxer known as ‘Major Bubu’ who served as a personal bodyguard to rebel defence minister Gaston Soumialot. Whoever gave the word, the rebels suddenly started firing into the assembled hostages with rifles and automatic weapons. The firing was not random - the rebels deliberately chose women and children as their first targets. One of those who fell was Dr. Paul Carlson, shot as he tried to run to safety. After an initial volley, the rebels temporarily ceased firing. Marcel Debuisson, a Belgian engineer, heard them say, ‘Now we’ll turn them over and finish off the ones left alive.’ Debuisson prayed for a miracle and his prayers were answered. ‘To my amazement,’ he told news reporters afterward ‘it happened. Round the corner of the square walked a single Belgian paratrooper, submachine gun on his hip.’ The rebels saw the Belgian red beret as well; immediately they turned and fled. What the Belgians found in Sergeant Kitele Avenue was not a pretty sight. About thirty whites had been killed, while dozens of others were wounded. The sight of the bloodshed left the Belgians angered, as would be the white mercenaries who came into the city a few hours later, spearheading a ground assault from the east. For the remainder of the afternoon, it was open season on Simbas in Stanleyville as the rebels paid in blood for their folly.
Back at the airport, the situation was still far from calm. More than 300 rebels occupied positions near the runway. As many hostages were freed, they were returned to the airport for evacuation. The first group arrived at the airport around 0945 and was loaded aboard the two waiting C-130s. The most badly wounded were loaded on ‘Dragon Twelve’, the hospital plane. Many of the hostages were wounded, while all were terrified and in a state of shock. After more than an hour on the ground at Stanleyville, Captain Mack Secord’s crew finally saw the first hostages coming toward them. As they were the most badly injured, they had been driven to the airport. Seeing the engines running and thinking the C-130 was about to take-off, the frightened whites rushed aboard the plane through the open rear ramp. Secord reckoned he had ‘around a hundred’ hostages aboard. Secord’s two loadmasters got some of the most seriously injured people over to the other Hercules where a doctor waited to tend their wounds. Finally, Secord’s crew closed up their C-130 and began taxiing for the runway. As he taxied for takeoff, the plane passed by a clump of elephant grass. A pair of Simbas leapt out from the grass and one ran alongside the plane, trying to force a way inside, although nobody aboard it was aware of it at the time, while the other sprayed the underside of the wing with a submachine gun. Secord took off with fuel streaming from the wing and headed for Leopoldville, where he landed with no flaps, no prop-reverse and on only three engines. When he got there, he had to be bodily lifted from the airplane and taken to the hospital where he was treated for a brain concussion he had received the night before when he bumped his head getting into the airplane.
Although the Belgians spoke English, they were not used to speaking with rapid-talking Americans, many of whom were Southerners with distinct accents. To eliminate possible confusion, Colonel Laurent asked Captain Strobaugh and Sergeant Dias to take charge of communications with the American aircrewmen and radio operators.
Forty-five minutes after he jumped, Colonel Laurent reported that the airfield was secure and the freed hostages beginning to make their way there. Strobaugh requested an airlift to take them out, along with air support for the strike forces. In addition to the American C-130s, Belgian Douglas DC-6s joined the airlift. Several airplanes landed with bullet holes received while on landing approach. Periodically throughout the day, Strobaugh had to direct aircraft to orbit nearby while the Belgians repulsed attacks on the airport. As the last C-130 of the day landed at 1545Z, impacting mortar rounds signalled the start of a 150-man rebel assault on the west end of the airport. The Belgians repulsed five separate attacks as the airplane landed on the east end of the runway. Thirty minutes later, a Belgian DC-6 came in with a damaged engine that forced it to remain on the ground overnight.
Belgian paratroops boarding a C-130 during ‘Dragon Rouge’. Permanently assigned C-130s had been replaced by temporary duty aircraft and crews from Tactical Air Command units in the US. Rotational Squadron ‘A’, or ‘Rote Alpha’ was made up of Pope personnel who flew th
e C-130E while ‘Rote Bravo’ was manned by Lockbourne crews and equipped with the older C-130A. Since the C-130E featured special long-range fuel tanks, ‘Rote Alpha’ provided the planes and crews.
Rebel opposition continued in the vicinity of the Stanleyville airport on November 25 as snipers took pot-shots at Belgian and Congolese national troops. A Belgian mechanic working on a DC-4 was killed by sniper fire. Several times during the day the field was mortared and every aircraft was hit by ground fire during their landings and takeoffs. One was hit in a wing fuel tank. The crew chief whittled a plug from a broom handle and wrapped it with a rag and used it to plug the leak. Early that morning, sniper fire killed one of the Belgian officers from the stranded DC-6. Less than an hour later, a sniper’s bullets hit the control tower.
On the 26th, the evacuation of whites and some Congolese from the city resumed. Over the two-day period 41 sorties by the C-130Es and Belgian DC-6s brought out more than 1,800 American and European whites, as well as 300 Congolese. Late in the evening, seven C-130Es flew into Stanleyville to pick up troops for another rescue mission to the town of Paulis, a town 225 miles northwest of Stanleyville. Early on the morning of Thanksgiving Day the sevenplane flight took off on Operation ‘Dragon Noir’, a repeat of Tuesday’s mission. Arriving over Paulis at daybreak, the crews found their objective enshrouded in fog. The Belgians jumped anyway, making their descent into mist that obscured the ground. Every trooper landed on the designated drop zone. As soon as the fog lifted, the C-130s began landing on the dirt runway, their propellers stirring up a thick red cloud of dust as the pilots brought them into reverse after touchdown. The scene was one that would be repeated by many of those some crews in the same planes in Việtnam, where American involvement was starting to escalate. One pilot, Major Joe Hildebrand, reversed his prop while the plane was still airborne; the resulting hard landing flamed out all four engines of his Hercules.
C-130 Hercules Page 20
