Ballenger were eventually released in August 1962.Ĭapt. They found a boat and were going downriver when they were surprised and captured by the Pathet Lao seven days later. Ballinger, demolitions sergeant, escaped through the jungle and linked up with some Lao soldiers. The vehicle was halted and its crew captured. Biber had already been wounded and was apparently killed by stick grenades thrown against the armored car. Bischoff fired a machine gun from the vehicle until he was shot through the neck and killed. According to Lao survivors, they crouched behind the turret, but the car came under heavy grenade attack. Biber (the radio operator), and some Laotian soldiers jumped aboard an armored car, heading south on Route 13, in a breakout effort. Walter Moon, was captured in the initial attack.
Shortly after the battalion commander announced that they were cut off, the perimeter collapsed and the Pathet Lao quickly overran the battalion positions. On April 22, 1961, the battalion was subjected to a heavy and accurate artillery barrage and was rapidly flanked at Phou Tesao. Walter Moon’s four-man Field Training Team FTT-59, MAAG, of the 7th Special Forces Group was attached to the 6th Bataillon d’infanterie (Lao) at Ban Pha Home, about thirty miles north of Vang Vieng.
In early March two Pathet Lao battalions drove Groupement 12 back toward Vang Vieng. Nosavan and Groupement 12 of the new Forces Armees de Laos continued to give chase to Kong Le and his troops, they were not successful in regaining the Plain of Jars. Pathet Lao troops were airlifted by the Soviets to take the Plaine des Jarres region in March 1961.Īlthough Gen. Phoumi Nosavan’s countercoup forces at the capitol city of Vientiane in December 1960. Kong Le found support from the Soviets, who assisted him in defeating Gen. Kong Le had himself been a graduate of the CIA-sponsored Philippine scout and ranger school and had announced that he was fighting the corrupt royal government headed by Prince Souvanna Phouma. SYNOPSIS: The early 1960’s marked a period of civil war and military coups in the country of Laos which resulted in major objectives being taken by Kong Le-Pathet Lao communist forces. Other Personnel In Incident: Orville Ballenger (released 1962) Gerald Biber John Bischoff (both missing) Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Source: Compiled from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered Unit: Company B, FFT-59, 1st Special Forces
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