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Long Tieng (also spelled Long Chieng, Long Cheng, or Long Chen) is a town in Longchaeng district, Xaisomboun Province. During the Laotian Civil War, it served as a military base for the Hmong people Army, the airbase was operated by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States. During this time, it was also referred to as Lima Site 98 (LS 98) or Lima Site 20A (LS 20A).
At the height of its significance in the late 1960s, the "secret city" of Long Tieng maintained a population of 40,000 inhabitants, making it the second largest city in Laos at the time, although it never appeared on maps throughout this period.
forces began to threaten Long Tieng in late 1971, and came close enough to start shelling the area on December 31 at 15:30 local time. In early January, 19,000 North Vietnamese forces launched a four pronged attack on Long Tieng from all four cardinal directions, encircling the site, capturing several facilities and positions, and installing antiaircraft batteries. Despite subsequent claims of victory from communist forces, the 10,000 defenders of Long Tieng, a mixture of Hmong people, Thai people, and Lao, had not been overrun, and in mid-month reinforcements appeared in the form of CIA-led Thais and 1200 elite irregulars from southern Laos. After enduring a third to 50% casualties, these forces succeeded in taking back key positions by the end of the month.
"What a place is Long Tieng," said USAID officer Jim Schill. "Tribal soldiers dressed in military garb standing next to traditionally dressed Hmong, with Thai mercenaries milling about. And the Americans here are mostly CIA operatives with goofy code names like Hog, Mr. Clean, and Junkyard. The town itself is not much. There's one paved road running through it and tin shacks on either side with eating shops, food stalls, and living quarters."
During the Secret War, Long Tieng became the largest Hmong settlement in the world. In the words of one author, Long Tieng "became a desultory metropolis, an unpaved, sewerless city of 30,000 where Hmong ran noodle stands, cobbled shoes, tailored clothes, repaired radios, ran military-jeep taxi services, and interpreted for American pilots and relief workers."
The evacuation ended with the departure of Major General Vang Pao and Jerry Daniels. Vang Pao told the people still on the tarmac "Farewell, my brothers, I can do nothing more for you, I would only be a torment for you," as he boarded a helicopter. Tens of thousands of fighters and refugees were left behind. The 10,000 or more Hmong clustered around the airfield expected more aircraft to return, but they soon realized that none would come. The shelling of Long Tieng began on the afternoon of May 14. Many of the Hmong fighters and their families made their way overland to Thailand during the next several years, a dangerous journey that cost many of them their lives.
The American pilots, all civilians, participating in the evacuation were Les Strouse, Allen Rich, Matt Hoff, Jack Knotts, and Dave Kouba.
The area's history was documented in the 2008 film The Most Secret Place on Earth.
Accidents and incidents
After 1975
Long Tieng was incorporated into the restricted Xaisomboun Special Zone in 1994. This zone was dissolved on 13 January 2006 and Xaisomboun Province was created in 2013. The base is still maintained by the Laotian military.
Namesake
A charter school in Saint Paul, Minnesota, home to many Hmong Americans, was named Long Tieng Academy, but it closed in 2012.
See also
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