I42,
Being a pilot....I found reading about the Air Support of DBP and the valor of the aircrews (including some American Civilians) to worthy of note as well.
Walking among the fortifications on the hill with the Crater....thinking of the Men who were surrounded there with no real chance of escape....as Laos was a long way away through Viet Minh Lines...and no resupply of anything coming....that must have been a very lonely feeling.
About Forty China Air Transport (CAT) Pilots flew nearly Seven Hundred Missions in support of the French Forces during the Seige with several being killed.
Among them was a fellow nicknamed "Earthquake McGoon"....who must have been quite a character from the accounts of some folks I know who had flown with him at CAT.
CAT later became part of the CIA owned/operated Air America which became well known during the Vietnam War.
https://www.cia.gov/news-information...al-flight.html