485. Editorial Note
The battle for Vientiane between the Phoumi forces and the troops of Kong Le began in earnest on the afternoon of December 13. On the morning of December 15 during a lull in the battle, the Embassy evacuated to Thailand all women and non-essential personnel from the Embassy compound. A 1 p.m. that same day, the Embassy came under heavy artillery shelling. Brown and his colleagues moved to the Ambassador’s residence where they set up a makeshift communications system with Washington. By December 16, Kong Le’s forces staged an orderly withdrawal from the portions of Vientiane they still held and control of the capital passed to the victorious Phoumi forces. On December 18, Phoumi, Boun Oum, and other members of the Revolutionary Committee entered Vientiane and the U.S. Embassy began to return to normal. This account is based on a letter-diary by Brown sent to Parsons, undated, entitled, “Notes on the battle of Vientiane FYI.” (Department of State, FE Files: Lot 62 D 26, Brown; included in the microfiche supplement)
The fighting and damage to the Embassy placed a severe strain on communications between Washington and Vientiane. After the burning of the Embassy, the only method of communication was by Morse code for a few hours a day via a small sending and receiving radio unit in Brown’s office. Because transmission of messages to Vientiane was limited to the few hours that the radio unit was on the air, all Department of State messages were routed through SEA for approval. As a standby arrangement, messages were to be sent through British Embassy channels to the British Embassy in Vientiane, but this method was to be used only in the event of a total breakdown of communications with the U.S. Embassy. This standby system was not needed. (Memorandum from Usher to Anderson, December 15; Department of State, FE/SEA (Laos) Files: Lot 65 D 169, 350 POL Affairs, Dec 11–20, 1960)