Being an Air America "Brat" -
As an "Air America Brat" and the daughter of a pilot who lost his
life supporting the effort in Laos I am doing what I can to preserve the memory
and promote the truth about the true mission of Air America in Southeast
Asia.
Recently the Discovery Channel aired a three part documentary
titled "CIA: Secret Warriors". The program was very critical of Air America (a
CIA proprietary "airline" that supported covert intelligence agents and military
personnel) and alleged that the company was involved in drug smuggling and other
illicit activities at the direction of the CIA during it's mission in Southeast
Asia. The Discovery Channel, long recognized as a source of truthful and quality
programing, unfortunately gave credibility to unfounded rumors that are not
warranted or deserved by this distinguished group of men and women, many of them
veterans.
Air America provided a valuable service to this country in
the defense of freedom. The pilots, crews and other civilians, confronted danger
on a daily basis and many of them never returned home. My Father, Ben Coleman,
was a pilot with Air America from 1962 until his death in 1972 in north central
Laos. He was on a humanitarian mission - flying rations and medical supplies to
a village that had been cut off from supply routes for weeks due to the weather
- when his plane went down. For years, he and the others, have remained
unrecognized and undecorated by our government due to the nature of their
mission although they made the supreme sacrifice serving the cause of freedom
while working for the United States Government and the Central Intelligence
Agency, which was their ultimate employer.
Through the tremendous
efforts of the Air America Organization, we have come closer to realizing one of
the most powerful statements of recognition for those who were involved in the
Southeast Asia mission with the consideration by the US Postal Service to go
forward with a commemorative Freedom Stamp. It would be a real tragedy if this
effort comes to a halt because of the unfair and very untrue portrayal of Air
America in the Discovery Channel series.
In the interest of preserving
the memory and the honor of these men I am respectfully dedicating my home page
to promote the "truth" - and asking for your assistance in an effort to support
the
Air America Freedom
Stamp issue as well as persuading the Discovery
Channel to amend/correct/delete the portions of their series that contained the
misinformation that was related as "fact" about Air America.
If you have an opinion or comment, please email me at
[email protected].
One voice is not
enough but hundreds of voices can make a difference. None of us should be
allowed to forget that freedom is not free! Nor should any of us forget
those who made the supreme sacrifice serving the cause of freedom.
I invite and encourage you to visit the
"Links" page to learn more
about these courageous men and women, their families and the legacy left for us to preserve
in their honor.
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Air America (AA or A/A) Affiliation Disclaimer:
Attention Visitors! Although I am a Member of the Air America Association,
please note that these are personal web pages. They are NOT
sponsored by, nor do they necessarily reflect the opinion of the Air America Association.
I welcome your comments and questions and ask that you sign my Guest Book before you
leave. However, I encourage you to visit the Official Air America Web Site which
can be found on my
"Links" Page and ask that you
direct any official inquiries for the Air America Association to their site.
Thank you for stopping by! Enjoy the remainder of your visit!
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