I am now retired from corporate flying and am rated 80% disabled and unemployable by the VA.
I have also been known to do some free-lance writing for magazines such as VIETNAM, WORLD WAR II and WW II HISTORY and am the author of a book about the C-130 troop carrier/tactical airlift mission and a Vietnam war novel, THE CAVE. My books are available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other sellers. For details and to order autographed copies, go to www.sammcgowan.com/books.html.
Other Comments:
In 2006 I helped found the Troop Carrier/Tactical Airlift Assocation and served as the secretary until 2017. www.troopcarrier.org
Description Operation Dragon Rouge (French: Opération Dragon rouge, Dutch: Operatie Rode Draak) was a hostage rescue operation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo conducted by Belgium and the United States in 1964. The operation, relying heavily on paratroopers from the Belgian Paracommando Regiment, aimed to retrieve hostages held by Communist Simba rebels in Stanleyville (modern-day Kisangani).
By 1964, the Léopoldville government, supported by Western powers, was gaining a foothold in its fight to suppress the communist-backed Simba rebellion. Fearing an inevitable defeat, the rebels resorted to taking hostages of the local white population in areas under their control. Several hundred hostages were taken to Stanleyville and placed under guard in the Victoria Hotel.
The Léopoldville government turned to Belgium and the United States for help. In response, the Belgian army sent a task force to Léopoldville, airlifted by the U.S. Air Force 322nd Air Division. Washington and Brussels worked jointly on a rescue plan. Several ideas were considered and discarded, and all attempts at negotiating with the Simbas had failed.
The Belgian task force was led by Col. Charles Laurent. On 24 November 1964, five American C-130 Hercules planes dropped 350 Belgian paratroopers of the Paracommando Regiment onto the airfield at Stanleyville. Once the paratroopers had secured the airfield and cleared the runway they made their way to the Victoria Hotel, prevented Simbas from killing most of the 60 hostages, and evacuated them via the airfield. Over the next two days over 1,800 American, Belgian and other European civilians were evacuated as well as around 400 Congolese civilians. Almost 200 foreigners and thousands of Congolese were executed by the Simbas before and after the raid.
An American medical missionary, Dr. Paul Carlson, was among those killed during the raid.
