Benghazi v. Dick Holm: The CIA, loyalty, and Leave No Man
Behind
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WEST PALM BEACH, Florida, March 2, 2013 – Once
upon a time, the CIA left no man behind. The Agency took care of its own,
even in the face of disapproval from the public or from other government
organizations. Right or wrong, the Agency did everything it could to protect
its employees. And the leaders in the United States Government backed those decisions, anxious to protect Americans overseas. That was the CIA that saved Dick Holm; that went into the Congo not once but twice to rescue him. In 1964, Dick Holm was a young CIA officer. After a two-year tour in Laos and Thailand, Holm was assigned to the Congo, to collect intelligence and support Belgian operations in the country. One day in 1965, the chief of the air unit directed Holm to conduct an air survey of the area to determine whether arms and ammunition were coming across the border with Sudan. Holm was to ride with pilot Juan Peron in his T-28, a two-seater plane where the passenger sits behind the pilot. The mission was to gather intelligence but, even more importantly, to attack military targets. Holm tells how he and Peron spotted some trucks and a power plant, and Peron attacked both targets. After the attacks, the weather turned threatening, blowing the plane off course. Lost and low on fuel, Peron decided to take the plane down before dark while he still had the ability to land in a clearing. They crash-landed into the jungle. During the landing, Holm was splashed with flaming jet fuel on his face, his hands and his legs. Juan was unhurt. The plane was on fire. Holm’s eyes were seared shut from the fire and he had little use of his hands. He could smell fire and hear Juan yelling at him to get out of the plane. He used his elbows to release the harness and then crawled out of the plane, and Juan helped him get away from the plane minutes before it exploded. Holm was weak and barely able to move, and he and Juan were in enemy territory with no support. Holm says he knew burns meant dehydration and infection, and the jungle was an inhospitable place for someone hurt as badly as he was. Holm says in his book, “Juan used his knife to cut charred skin hanging from several of my fingers. There were already bugs on some of my burns.” Holm and Juan were also in enemy territory. Simba rebels, the force the Belgians and Americans opposed, were in the jungle and would not hesitate to kill Holm and Juan if they found them. They were known to eat their enemies after killing them, believing they gained strength from eating their vital organs. The next morning, Juan found a village. Village Chief Faustino agreed to help Holm and Juan to safety, and to take care of Holm while Juan went for help. When Juan and the villagers came back to Holm, he was covered in bees and barely conscious. The villagers made a litter and carried Holm back to the village. They cared for his burns and dug out the worm-like bugs that had burrowed into his wounds. They applied a salve that hardened and created a type of coating, which Holm credits with saving his life. Juan and two villagers left Holm in the village to go for help. Eight days later, Juan and the villagers arrived at an air station in Paulis. Within two hours, the Agency officers at Paulis received permission to use one of the Belgian helicopters at the field to rescue Holm. They also sent a T-28, piloted by Juan, and the air operations chief in Paulis had ordered a C130 to be at Paulis to transport Holm as soon as he arrived. When the helicopter crashed on landing to rescue Holm, the air operation authorized a second helicopter to take its place. Read more: http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/intelligence-and-world-affairs/2013/mar/3/benghazi-v-dick-holm-cia-loyalty-and-leave-no-man-/#ixzz2NRjHxnaM Follow us: @wtcommunities on Twitter http://www.rumormillnews.com/cgi-bin/forum.cgi?read=271622 |
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