John T. Halliday Flying through Midnight: A Pilot's Dramatic Story

Flying through Midnight: A Pilot's Dramatic Story of His Secret Missions over Laos During the Vietnam War

John T. Halliday

Scribner, Oct 2005, $27.50

ISBN: 0743274881

In 1970, twenty-four year old John T. Halliday reported to his unit, the 606th Special Operations Squadron in Thailand. Having little flight time outside of school, Halliday anticipates minor cargo deliveries, until a seasoned pilot takes him up on an orientation trip that nukes the Air Force rule book. He begins to better understand the top secret mission of project "Candlesticks"; the bombing of the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos, to include the emergency landing of his plane in the dangerous mountainous terrain of northern Laos, at the same time that Nixon denied any strikes in that country.

Timely with the reasons provided by the White House for the Iraq War, this is a terrific first hand account of a part of the Vietnam War, that the American government denied was happening. Thus all roads lead to John's struggle to safety, at the same time Nixon says he and his compatriots do not exist (sound familiar?). Readers will see through the eyes of pilots dodging enemy fire while struggling with sanity, as a form of battle fatigue sets in on pilots and crews. The war that never happened is a fabulous expos of secret brutal missions, as related by one of the insiders who provides readers with a deep account of what really occurred.

Harriet Klausner