To lead the raid, the Army chose Colonel Arthur D. “Bull” Simons, a legendary and highly decorated Ranger who had already participated in the raid at Cabanatuan.
The Son Tay Raid: U.S. Special Forces Risked It All to Save U.S. Prisoners
All the Son Tay Raiders were awarded the Silver Star, the nation’s third-highest award for valor under fire, for the determination to go above and beyond the normal call of duty to save their compatriots.
Six years of overt and covert war, mainly in South Vietnam but also in North Vietnam and the adjoining countries, had produced a lot of American prisoners of war, primarily aviators who had been shot down by North Vietnamese anti-aircraft fire.
The U.S. intelligence community estimated that by 1970 approximately 450 Americans were held as prisoners of war in North Vietnamese prisons, often under harrowing circumstances, with forced starvations, lack of medical care, and torture all thinning down their numbers by the day.
MD Helicopters participates in Son Tay Raid 50th anniversary celebration MD Helicopters Press Release | December 10, 2020
Estimated reading time 3 minutes, 17 seconds.
MD Helicopters, Inc. (MDHI) proudly participated in a special Son Tay Raid reenactment on the 50th anniversary of the fateful raid to free POWs in Vietnam that would inspire countless future successful operations. In partnership with the Silent Warrior Foundation, MDHI provided two MD 500 helicopters to transport surviving raiders and POWs from Scottsdale, Arizona, to the Dillon Aero range in Maricopa, where partial reproduction structures of Son Tay prison camp had been built for the occasion.
MDHI provided two MD 500 helicopters to transport surviving raiders and POWs from Scottsdale, Ariz., to the Dillon Aero range in Maricopa, where partial reproduction structures of Son Tay prison camp had been built for the Son Tay Raid reenactment. MDHI Photo