Qualla: Battle of Lima Site 85 https://qualla.com/battle-of-lima-site-85 en-us © 2026 Bendyline Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:21:37 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/w/7/9/u/battle-of-lima-site-85-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Battle of Lima Site 85 https://qualla.com/battle-of-lima-site-85 Battle of Lima Site 85: Introduction https://qualla.com/battle-of-lima-site-85/ Photo credit Lt/Col Jeannie Schiff, USAF, Public domain. The airmen who operated the radar on Phou Pha Thi had signed paperwork releasing them from military service. Officially, they were civilian technicians employed by Lockheed. In reality, they were U.S. Air Force personnel running a top-secret bombing guidance system on a 1,700-meter mountain in neutral Laos -- a country where American military operations were forbidden by international agreement. On the morning of March 10, 1968, North Vietnamese special forces climbed the cliffs of Phou Pha Thi and overran the installation, killing or capturing 12 Americans in what remains the largest single ground combat loss of USAF personnel during the Vietnam War. For the Hmong and Yao people who lived in the mountain's shadow, Phou Pha Thi was sacred, inhabited by spirits with supernatural powers. By 1968, it had become something else entirely: a nexus of secret wars, covert operations, and geopolitical deception.

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Image: Lt/Col Jeannie Schiff, USAF | Public domain

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/7/9/u/battle-of-lima-site-85-wp/w79u-battle-of-lima-site-85-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Battle of Lima Site 85: A Mountain Between Wars https://qualla.com/battle-of-lima-site-85/ Photo credit Lt/Col Jeannie Schiff, USAF, Public domain. Phou Pha Thi rises from the rugged terrain of Houaphanh Province in northeastern Laos, roughly 24 kilometers from the Vietnamese border and 48 kilometers from Sam Neua, the Pathet Lao capital. The mountain had strategic value that both sides recognized. In August 1966, after U.S....

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Image: Lt/Col Jeannie Schiff, USAF | Public domain

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/7/9/u/battle-of-lima-site-85-wp/w79u-battle-of-lima-site-85-a-mountain-between-wars.mp3 0:06 2 full Battle of Lima Site 85: Biplanes Over the Mountaintop https://qualla.com/battle-of-lima-site-85/ Photo credit Lt/Col Jeannie Schiff, USAF, Public domain. The North Vietnamese did not ignore Phou Pha Thi. USAF reconnaissance aircraft tracked paved roads being constructed toward the mountain through 1967, connecting it to Dien Bien Phu via Routes 6 and 19. In December, Pathet Lao companies overran a village just 12 kilometers east o...

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Image: Lt/Col Jeannie Schiff, USAF | Public domain

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/7/9/u/battle-of-lima-site-85-wp/w79u-battle-of-lima-site-85-biplanes-over-the-mountaintop.mp3 0:06 3 full Battle of Lima Site 85: Three Forty-Five in the Morning https://qualla.com/battle-of-lima-site-85/ Photo credit Lt/Col Jeannie Schiff, USAF, Public domain. The PAVN 41st Special Forces Battalion had been training for nine months -- mountain fighting, jungle operations, physical conditioning for the extreme terrain of northern Laos. Beginning in December 1967, their soldiers conducted terrain reconnaissance, watching the routines at ...

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Image: Lt/Col Jeannie Schiff, USAF | Public domain

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/7/9/u/battle-of-lima-site-85-wp/w79u-battle-of-lima-site-85-three-forty-five-in-the-morning.mp3 0:06 4 full Battle of Lima Site 85: The Longest Recovery https://qualla.com/battle-of-lima-site-85/ Photo credit Lt/Col Jeannie Schiff, USAF, Public domain. By midday on March 10, Lima Site 85 was fully in North Vietnamese hands. Twelve American airmen were dead or missing -- eleven on the ground, one killed during evacuation. A USAF A-1 Skyraider searching for survivors was shot down, its pilot killed. The PAVN held the facility unt...

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Image: Lt/Col Jeannie Schiff, USAF | Public domain

]]> Thu, 26 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/w/7/9/u/battle-of-lima-site-85-wp/w79u-battle-of-lima-site-85-the-longest-recovery.mp3 0:06 5 full