Bio, Debruin, Eugene H.

Name: Eugene Henry DeBruin Rank/Branch: U.S. Civilian Unit: Air America Date of Birth: 01 April 1933 Home City of Record: Kaukauna WI Date of Loss: 05 September 1963 Country of Loss: Laos Loss Coordinates: 164245N 1061021E (XD250480) Status (In 1973): Prisoner Of War Category: 1 Acft/Vehicle/Ground: C46 Refno: 0018

Source: Compiled from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated by the P.O.W. NETWORK in 2007.

SYNOPSIS: During the 1950's a deteriorating political situation in Laos had allowed NVA troops and Pathet Lao guerrillas to seize the Laotian panhandle from the Royal Lao Army. Prevented by Geneva Accords from having a large military presence in Laos, the U.S. established a "Program Evaluation Office" (PEO) in 1958 as a CIA cover for anti-communist covert actions. One activity, begun in 1958, used Meo tribesmen for a small pilot guerrilla program, which soon became the largest clandestine army in CIA history. In the first year, using U.S. Special Forces White Star teams as PEO "civilians", a few CIA officers and 90 elite Thai Border guards, an army of 9000 Meo was trained for behind-lines guerrilla activity. Within 10 years, the Meo army grew to over 40,000 guerrillas, becoming the most effective fighting force in Laos.

The CIA's covert airline, known as "Air America" (AA) supported the Meo as well as numerous other CIA-backed clandestine guerrilla armies. With the escalating war, a large US military presence guaranteed that Air America could operate in relative obscurity. With little fanfare throughout the war, AA fought in the frontlines of unconventional war. AA pilots flew "black missions" over China, North Vietnam and the Laotian panhandle. AA flew in every type of aircraft from 727 jets to small Cessnas and junk aircraft, transporting everything from combat troops (alive, wounded or dead) to baby chicks, dropping rice to refugees and specially trained Nung trailwatchers into denied areas. AA contracted both with the Drug Enforcement Agency (to track international drug smugglers) and with the Meo (to haul its annual and valuable opium crop).

As U.S. forces pulled out, AA picked up the slack, straining to maintain the status quo. The communists drove the Meo from their homelands in the early 1970's, and as the Meo retreated, AA was in the position of hauling (and feeding) tens of thousands of refugees. There were problems as the CIA fell under Congressional scrutiny of its world-wide paramilitary activities and public pressure to divest itself of Air America. South Vietnam's rapid collapse in 1975 signified the end of the clandestine war that began in Vietnam thirty years earlier.

On September 5, 1963, an Air America C46 aircraft was hit by ground fire and crashed about 2 kilometers from Tchepone, Savannakhet Province, Laos. Eugene DeBruin, Chui To Tik and two Thai nationals parachuted to safety, but were immediately captured by the Pathet Lao. Two crew members, Joseph C. Cheney and Charles Herrick, were killed in the crash.

Later, the the Pathet Lao photographed DeBruin and four others prisoners and published a leaflet naming the five as their prisoners. Several times during their captivity the entire crew was moved to different locations within Savannakhet and Khammouane Provinces.

In early July 1966, Eugene and six other prisoners made an escape. However, only two of the seven, Dieter Dingler and one of the Thai nationals who was part of Eugene's crew, reached safety. One report stated that DeBruin was killed in the escape attempt, but the Thai national reported that DeBruin was last seen attempting to reach high ground in a classified location.

Eugene's family has not stopped looking for answers. They were able to find a report that Eugene may have been alive as late as January 1968. His brother, Jerome traveled to Laos in 1972 in search of information.

Although the Pathet Lao openly admitted holding American prisoners of war, they insisted that the U.S. negotiate directly with them to ensure their release. The U.S. never negotiated or recognized the Pathet Lao, and as a consequence, not one of the nearly 600 Americans lost in Laos (many of whom were known to have survived their loss incidents) was ever released.

COMBINED LOCKS - Dar DeBruin-Hein was only 4 years old when her brother Gene's C-46 airplane was shot down during the Vietnam War. Her memories of the nightmarish phone call her family received remain clear today, 40 years later. ...

On September 5, 1963, an Air America C-47 transport on which Mr. Debruin was a "kicker" was shot down by hostile ground fire over Savannakhet Province. It crashed approximately twenty two kilometers northeast of Muang Phine. Eugene Debruin and four non- U.S. crewmen parachuted out and were captured. According to the Pathet Lao, the remaining two American civilian crewmen who were not reported to have bailed out died in the crash. On May 31, 1966, the Pathet Lao spokesman in Vientiane, Soth Phetrasy, confirmed that Mr. Debruin was alive and in captivity.

Information from an American escapee and a Thai captured with Mr. Debruin recounted Mr. Debruin's capture and prison chronology through July 3, 1966, the last time they knew Mr. Debruin to be alive with them in Khammouane Province. Accounts of the prison escape include information that four of the seven prison guards were killed during the escape attempt. One Thai who escaped and was recaptured was not killed after recapture.

A photograph of Mr. Debruin was later obtained by Air America in May 1969 and showed Mr. Debruin in captivity circa 1965. A credit card and other information concerning the dead pilot was later obtained through private sources.

Information has surfaced from American POW hunters throughout the last half of the 1980s and into 1991, as well as from Lao and Thai residents of Thailand, which asserts that Mr. Debruin is still alive in Laos and living freely with a Lao wife and children in Khammouane Province. The Debruin case is well known in the private POW/MIA community due to extensive efforts and informational leaflets distributed by Mr. Debruin's brother who for many years has attempted to recover his brother. The Joint Task Force Full Accounting has received information regarding Mr. Debruin's grave site and is currently planning to excavate it.

So who were these men who were left behind? Who were the discrepancy cases - the eighty men who the Americans knew to be alive in captivity but who did not appear on the lists handed over by the North Vietnamese? The names of these men are, of course, classified, but they included men like Gene DeBruin. (1)..... =====================================================================================

I spent many years with the USG in Laos and several of the AAM crew members you list in your site were working for me when they went down. I appreciate your efforts in keeping this issue before the American people.

However, in reading the synopsis on Eugene De Bruin I believe you have inadvertently picked up a piece of misinformation and incorrectly included it:

"AA contracted both with the Drug Enforcement Agency (to
track international drug smugglers) and with the Meo (to haul its annual and
valuable opium crop)."

AAM did, indeed contract with DEA. One of the DEA teams was stationed at the site where I ran the Air Ops. But I do not believe it can be documented that AAM knowingly carried opium for the Hmong (Meo) or for anyone else. In fact, studies by Dr. Leary and others refute this. Did AAM unknowingly carry opium? Sure. I'm sure I unknowingly allowed opium on some of the aircraft that I controlled. Opium was legal in Laos until the early 1970s so it was a legal product.