Pisidhi Indradat
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Pisidhi Indradat is a Thai civilian that worked as a "kicker" with Air America during the Second Indochina War. His job was to kick the pallets of rice and food down the plane to aid the refugees of the war.
On September 5, 1963, Indradat took off on a mission to the Savannakhet Province in Laos, with fellow Thai Prasit Promsuwan and Prasit Thanee, Chinese Y.C. To, and Americans Eugene DeBruin, Joseph C. Cheney and Charles Herrick. During the flight, the C-46 aircraft was hit by ground fire and crashed about 2 kilometers from Tchepone on the Savannakhet Province. DeBruin, Y.C. To and the three Thai nationals parachuted to safety, but were immediately captured by the Pathet Lao. Cheney and Herrick were killed in the crash.
After his capture, Indradat and the other prisoners were moved from camp to camp. In May 1964, they managed to escape for three days, but were caught at a watering hole. By February 1966 US Air Force pilot 1st Lieutenant Duane W. Martin and Navy pilot Lieutenant Dieter Dengler joined the POWs in the prison.
On June 29, 1966, while the guards were eating, the group slipped out of their hand and foot restraints and grabbed the guard's unattended submachine guns. The Pathet Lao guards spotted some of the other prisoners trying to escape. A shootout between the two sides ensued and Indradat ended up in a shootout with four guards and shot one to aid in the escape. Two others ran off, presumably to get help. The seven prisoners split into three groups. Indradat, and the other Thai prisoners; DeBruin stayed with To, who had been too ill to continue with the escape; and Dengler and Martin headed for the Mekong River to escape to Thailand. Martin was eventually killed, while Dengler was rescued after 23 days in the jungle. The rest of the prisoners are still unaccounted for.
On the second day after the escape, Indradat separated from the two other Thai. After 32 days in the jungle, Indradat lapsed into unconsciousness and was captured again. He was taken to a prison camp with a large number of Royal Lao POWs, but no Americans or Thais. In early January 1967, information about this prison complex was received by CIA personnel responsible for operations in Laos. They devised a rescue plan which was successfully implemented on January 7, 1967. They rescued 53 prisoners - 52 Lao and 1 Thai.
Indradat currently resides in Bangkok, Thailand.
[edit] Pisidhi Indradat in Film
Pisidhi Indradat was portrayed by Abhijati Jusakul in Werner Herzog's 2007 film Rescue Dawn about the life of Dieter Dengler.
