MISSION RESCUE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80R01720R000400170001-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 9, 2004
• Sequence Number: 1
• Content Type: OPEN

Approved For Release 2004/05/05 :CIA-RDP80R01720R000400170001-5
Mission: ,Rescue
., A DETAILED STUDY, of ~ controversial
operation in the Vietnam war,.The Raid, '
by Beniamin Schemmer will be pub-
lished ei;'rfy~n l$7'BbyHarper & Row. The
subject is the effort to rescue American
prisoners from a North Vietnamese
prison at Sontay; 18 miles from Hanoi, in
November 1970. The top-secret .mission
caused considerable controversy after it
was discovered that the prisoners were
not there.
Schemmer, editor of the Armed Forces
Journal, has uncovered ways in which the
raid succeeded that were never publicly
discussed, according to his editor at Har-
per & Row, M. S. Wyeth Jr.
"Comparing the book with press ac-
counts of the Sontay raid, it is apparent
that only 10 to 20 per cent of how and why ~
this operation was conducted and what it
really accomplished has ever been made
public," Wyeth said.
Schernrner interviewed hundreds of
persons concerned with the raid, and his
account covers. the story an all levels,
from the White House briefing down to
the actual operation in the field.
Approved For Release 2004/05/05 :CIA-RDP80R01720R000400170001-5