The Ravens: The True Story of a Secret War (39 page)

Critter - Fred Platt’s prehistoric pet.
(Pic: Platt collection)

Lloyd Duncan with the fighter pilots of the Royal Lao Air Force in the panhandle.
(Pic: Kricker collection)

Hal Mischler beside an OV-10 he flew as a FAC over the Ho Chi Minh Trail just before leaving for Laos.
(Pic: Whitcomb collection)

Tom Palmer during the siege of Long Tieng, holding up a sign with the Backseaters’ favourite phrase written on it - “We go home now.”
(Pic: Morrison collection)

Fred Platt in neck brace and party suit, after the war.
(Pic: Personal collection of Fred Platt)

Jim Hix and his Backseater Phanti beside an O-1 he “dead sticked” into a rice paddy after the engine quit. Phanti carries a captured Russian AK-47. Hix carries a Car-15 and a 9mm automatic.
(Pic: Personal collection of Jim Hix)

Craig Morrison and Scar (right) with captured Chinese rifle.
(Pic: Morrison collection)

Larry “Pepsi” Ratts with his squeeze box, and wearing his Volga boatman’s hat, outside the Raven hootch in Pakse.
(Pic: Kricker collection)

A Vietnamese anti-aircraft gun inside Laos - their camoflague was superb.
(Pic: AP/Wide World Pictures)

A boy holding an M-16 rests against a tree while a water buffalo grazes nearby.

Cheerful boy soldiers rest beside a bamboo hut, eagerly awaiting the next battle.

The Meo were first organized by the French into bands of masiquards who fought behind the lines of the Vietminh. A group of Meo soldiers lead a pony carrying supplies across the Plain of Jars.
(Pic: AP/Wide World Pictures)