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Page 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 In early 1958, a second group of men was selected for training. Once again, they made the clandestine crossing into East Pakistan before being flown to a training camp, this time in Virginia, in America itself. Among them was Lhamo Tsering, Gyalo Thondups right-hand man, who would later head the operations out of India. Buoyed by the success of the two radio operators in Central Tibet, the CIA was now keen to step up its involvement. A top secret training facility was built at Camp Hale, a disused World War Two military base high in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. A story was circulated in the local press that Camp Hale was to be the site of atomic tests and would be a high security zone. The entire area was cordoned off and its perimeters patrolled by military police. The Tibetans immediately fell in love with the place, which, with its high mountains, thick forests and alpine meadows, reminded them of their home. They nicknamed the camp, Dhumra "The Garden". |
The fall of Lhasa and the Dalai Lamas escape spurred the CIA to expand the scope of their involvement. More groups of men were brought to Camp Hale. By the time the camp ceased to function in October 1964, some 259 Tibetans had been trained there. The Tibetans proved to be diligent students and impressed their instructors with their quick intelligence, ready humour and natural martial skills. A close relationship developed between them and their American instructors, one that was based on mutual respect and a strange sense of shared "frontier" values. The Americans were known only by their first names Mr Don, Mr Zeke, Mr Tony, and so on. They were mostly tough former soldiers, men who would later go on to more harrowing and dubious operations in Southeast Asia and who would recall their time with the Tibetans as the one shining highpoint of their careers. |