here is pin the wings on,” Lunsford said. “Quietly, at Mackall.”
“And the orders designating them Army parachutists?”
“I issue them in Africa,” Lunsford said. “Classified Secret. ‘The exigencies of the service having made it necessary for the following officers and men to participate in parachute operations in connection with a classified assignment, and having done so a minimum of five times, they are hereby designated Army parachutists. ’ You get a copy of the order, declassify so much of it as pertains to designation as Army parachutists, and direct that it be confirmed and made a matter of record.”
“You’d need a microscope to see the line between what you’re suggesting and knowingly and willingly issuing and/or uttering a false document.”
“These guys want to be on the team,” Lunsford said. “Why not prove to them we think of them that way? What about ‘The Good of the Service’?”
“My God, Father!” Hanrahan said, and slumped back in his chair for a full sixty seconds.
“Do it,” he said finally.
Lunsford rose to his feet and came to attention.
“Yes, sir. Does the major have the general’s permission to withdraw?”
“The major has my permission to go fuck himself,” Hanrahan replied. “If one of these guys so much as sprains an ankle, Father, I’ll break both of your legs.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”
Major Lunsford executed a perfect about-face movement and marched out of the office.
XVII
[ ONE ]
SECRET
Central Intelligence Agency Langley, Virginia
FROM: Assistant Director For Administration
FROM: 13 February 1965 0810 GMT
SUBJECT : Guevara, Ernesto (Memorandum #56.)
TO: Mr. Sanford T. Felter
Counselor To The President
Room 637, The Executive Office Building
Washington, D.C.
By Courier
In compliance with Presidential Memorandum to The Director, Subject: “Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara,” dated 14 December 1964, the following information is furnished:
(Reliability Scale Three) (From CIA, Johannesburg, South Africa) SUBJECT believed to have arrived from unknown departure point, possibly Peking, in China aboard Air France Flight 811 0805 Zulu 12 February 1965. SUBJECT did not pass through South African passport facilities, and departed Johannesburg 1250 Zulu 12 February 1965 on UTA Flight 2332, probable destination Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
(Reliability Scale Five) (From CIA Dar es Salaam, Tanzania) SUBJECT arrived Dar Es Salaam 1645 Zulu 12 February aboard UTA Flight 2332 from Johannesburg, South Africa.
(Reliability Scale Three) (From CIA Dar es Salaam) SUBJECT is to meet with President Julius Kambarage Nyerere, despite official government denials that SUBJECT is in, or expected in, Tanzania.
Howard W. O’Connor
HOWARD W. O’CONNOR
SECRET
[TWO]
Camp Mackall, North Carolina
1205 19 February 1965
The Bell HU-1D “Huey” fluttered down to the crude Mackall airstrip as luncheon was being served to what was now—as of the day before yesterday—officially known as Special Forces Detachment 17.
When an army unit is activated, even down to company-sized units, there is almost always an activation ceremony. A band plays, and a senior officer presents the unit’s colors to the sergeant major, and makes appropriate remarks. The new commander then makes appropriate remarks. The newly activated unit, in class A uniform then marches past a reviewing stand.
This did not happen with Detachment 17.
Master Sergeant William “Doubting” Thomas stood up in the mess at the evening meal and thumped on a stainless-steel water pitcher with a knife until he had everyone’s attention.
“You will all be doubtless thrilled to know that as of yesterday, the Army has a new unit, Special Forces Detachment 17, and all you clowns are in it. Any questions?”
There was a chorus of voices, all asking essentially the same question, with variations of colorful profanity: “When the [expletive deleted] do we get out of this [expletive deleted] place?”
“The major says he hopes to have something about that tomorrow, ” Master Sergeant Thomas said, to be greeted by moans of disbelief.
The interim Table of Organization & Equipment under which Detachment 17 was formed called for six officers and thirty-five enlisted men. The officers were Major G. W. Lunsford, Commanding; Lieutenant Geoffrey Craig, Executive Officer; Captain Darrell J. Smythe, Aviation Officer; Captain J. Kenneth Williams, M.C., Surgeon; and three other Army aviators, one of whom was Lieutenant Jacques Portet, and the other two the first Morning Report stated were not yet joined.
Seniority would normally have dictated that Captain Smythe be the executive officer, but his only combat experience had been as an aviator. Geoff Craig was only a lieutenant, but Geoff had combat experience as a Green Beret and had been in the Congo during the Simba uprising. Experience, rather than regulations, counted.
Similarly, it was pointed out to Dr. Williams that he had zero experience in treating traumatic injury caused by gunfire—Dr. Williams was a parasitologist recruited from the