[1] The raid was improvised after local Central Intelligence Agency officers induced a Pathet Lao deserter to lead a rescue party back to the prison camp.
At about 0400 hours on 9 January 1967, a raiding party of 10 Lao mercenaries led by Sergeant Te killed or dispersed the communist guard force, only to discover twice as many rescuees as they had counted upon.
Some of the captives immediately returned to their local homes, while the others followed their rescuers to an impromptu pickup zone in the midst of the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
This ex-paratrooper was considered the best road watch team leader in the CIA's probes against the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
Although triple canopy jungle hindered aerial observation, the ground team could see a pair of cave mouths at the base of a 500-meter cliff face.
Sergeant Te used bolt cutters to cut open chains lashing shut the bamboo bars.
F-4 Phantoms attacked the pursuers before departing; then Royal Lao Air Force T-28s strafed and bombed the pursuit.
[5][8] After gaining an open clearing guarded by friendly forces off Route 12 at about 17:00, the band of 53 escapees awaited rescue.
Ignoring Air America policy forbidding night operations, Sikorsky H-34s swooped in and carried the rest to Savannakhet.
Based on this information, the CIA not only increased its operations in the vicinity of the prisons in Military Region 3, but also changed their focus.
Rather than passively watch the Ho Chi Minh Trail, locally recruited CIA teams now laid ambushes and called in air strikes on any target of opportunity.