Written by Dawa Shaurya Chakra
Translated by TenGyal
Whole Dude – Whole Secret: TIBET AWARENESS – PROJECT CIRCUS. The quest for Freedom in Tibet. A military training Camp known as Camp Hale was established in Colorado under the supervision of CIA officers Roger E. McCarthy and John Reagan.
“ In 1959, due to the unlawful invasion of the whole of Tibet by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), an extensive number of Tibetan volunteer soldiers and resistance fighters were trained in combat and guerilla warfare in Colorado, America. They fought to resist the Chinese aggression and restore the political and religious sovereignty of Tibet.”
– Page 291 of The Short Biography of Do-ngag Tenzin, former Kalon/Cabinet Minister of the Tibetan Government in Exile.
Among these resistance fighters were former members of the erstwhile Tibetan Army and local militia outfits. On the ground, approximately 150 people from the U-tsang province participated in combat training and selflessly contributed to the armed resistance movement. In this article, I have gathered brief excerpts, which form a small part of the extensive historical account of their contributions.
The first-hand narrative account of the events quoted below was provided by Bhusang La, a former soldier of the erstwhile Tibetan Army and later the “Cha” Battalion of the Special Frontier Force on 7th April 2001. He was directly involved in the guerilla operations. His account has been quoted verbatim. He currently resides in Dharamshala.
According to Bhusang La:
“On 22nd February 1960, in one of the earlier batches, twenty of us from both the Tibetan Army and local militia outfits from Utsang travelled from Darjeeling to East Pakistan( Bangladesh), which was part of the eight-country military and political alliance with America. We were flown to North America from East Pakistan to train in guerrilla warfare.
To introduce who were the twenty of us to the Tibetan fraternity, I am going to list their names:
1. Bodyguard-Soldier Lieutenant Dro Sang (Dro Srang) -Currently retired from service
2. Bodyguard Jampa- Passed away while in service
3. Bodyguard-Soldier Jampa- Currently retired from service
4. Body Guard-Soldier Sonam Tashi- currently resides in Switzerland
5. Body Guard-Soldier Thinlay- Completed training in radio operations and sent to Mustang
6. Body Guard- Soldier Namgyal -Completed training in radio operations and sent to Mustang ???
7. Body Guard- Soldier Ngawang- Parachuted into Chagra Palbar
8. Lieutenant Tenzin from Drapchi- Died while in service in the Indo-Tibetan Border Forces (ITBF)
9. Nye-thang Choeze Soldier, Drapchi Batallion,– Parachuted into Chagra Palbar
10. Dorje Phuntsok, Soldier, Drapchi Batallion-
11. Lieutenant Namgyal Wangdue from Gyantse, “Nga” Battalion of SFF, (Former)Member of Parlimenatarian, Currently resides in Dehradun.Namgyal has since then passed away
12. Dadul from Gyantse, “Nga” Battalion of SFF- parachuted into Markham
13. Bhutruk from Gyantse, Nga Battalion of SFF, went on to serve for the Indian secret service.
14. Phurbu Goekye Nga Batallion SFF, went on to work in Intelligence Bureau(India)
15. Bhusang i.e myself, Cha Battalion SFF, parachuted into Markham
16. Choenyi Yeshe from Lhoka, parachuted into Sogdher
17. Tashi from Tashi De, Gyantse- parachuted into Sogdher and remained in hiding in prison afterwards
18. Lobsang Rabgye from Kongpo, worked in Intelligence Bureau(India), elected member of parliament from U-tsang, and passed away while serving as the settlement officer in Meo Tibetan Settlement.
19. Bhutruk from Dhokhar- worked in Intelligence Bureau(India)
20. Name not remembered.
In America, the location where we trained was Colorado, secretly code-named “Garden”. During the training, there were Tibetans who translated for us, such as Jayulwa Tashi Choedhar, Jayulwa Mae, Thinlay Paljor from Shigatse, Nangang Sonam from Gyantse, Andrugtsang Apen, Tashi Paljor from Shigatse, and a couple of others whose names I don’t remember now.
After seven of us, volunteer trainees in America, completed our training, on March 15, 1962, just as the sun was about to set, we were flown on a plane into Tibet from East Pakistan. As we entered the Tibetan airspace, we hovered in the sky for a while, calibrating and evaluating the location. After completing these, at 10 p.m., we parachuted down into Markham. As per the general regulation, Yeshi Thinlay from Markham and I were responsible for leading the operation. Following are the people who made the parachute jump with us:
1. Yeshe Wangyal, son of Phurbu Phon from Markham
2. Bhusang,“Cha” Division SFF, in charge of radio operations and medical assistance.
3. Dorje Phuntsok from Drapchi Batallion, Volunteer Army “Kha” Division, Radio Operator
4. Dadul from Gyantse Battalion, Heavy Weapons Operator
5. Tsawa Rongwa Ogyen Dorje, Radio Operator
6.Losang from Lithang
7. Tashi Gyaltsen from Lithang
“Although we planned to parachute into Markham, specifically to a location called Mude Pangthang near Phuba Pongtsang, when we checked the maps at sunrise the next day, we realised that we had miscalculated the co-ordinates in the darkness of the night and had landed on top of Tzi Song Rak Tri, the border between Gonjo and Gyadtsok in Markham.”
Their estimation of the coordinates of the jump location was slightly off. Barring the slight injury to his right hand suffered by Lithang Tashi Gyaltsen, the rest of them landed safe and in good condition.
Even though there is a very long account of how, each of them carrying a pair of small and big guns, and sharing the load of radio equipment, food, and provisions, they valiantly launched offensive attacks, inflicting death and injury, on the Chinese People Liberation Army, I have refrained from including the specific details here to avoid wordiness.
Yet to provide a summary of the events, Yeshe Wangyal’s father, Phuba Pon, tragically lost his life. However, they met up with Dakpa Lama, Maepa Pon, and approximately 70 fighters, comprising both monks and lay people, who were bravely resisting Chinese aggression. This encounter was marked by immense relief and joy as they embraced each other.
Amid this joyful encounter, they explained how His Holiness the Dalai Lama is living in India without any harm and advancing the Tibetan cause worldwide.
They also informed the Khampa group of the re-establishment of the Tibet Government in Dharamshala and that with the Indian government’s extensive financial support and assistance in providing settlements with farmland, factories and employment in the road construction projects, the Tibetan refugees had a good basis to earn a livelihood according to their own choices.
They also described how schools have been established for young Tibetan children, and many new monasteries and institutes have been built to revive Buddhist teachings.
In particular, the seven explained the many Tibetans from all three provinces, who continue to undergo combat training in America to regain Tibetan freedom. They also detailed their motives for coming to Tibet.
Afterwards, the two leaders of the Markham resistance outfit -the chieftain and the Lama- told them that they were about 700 resistance soldiers, comprised of monks and lay people, from the area of Markham and its three monasteries. They had been fighting the Chinese PLA since the tail end of 1956. They were now facing a desperate situation and almost on the verge of collapse. The two leaders expressed their profound gratitude for the fact that the seven had come to offer direct support without any concerns about danger and difficulties. They took great joy and comfort in hearing the special news that the Gaden Phodrang government has been reestablished in India and that the leader of the Tibetan people, His Holiness the Dalai Lama is safe and well.
Saying they couldn’t imagine any better news, the two groups went on to talk and share their common joy and difficulties for about five hours. In conclusion, they agreed to be united on all fronts and work in complete confidence and solidarity even in the face of death. Many were overcome with tears. This meeting fostered a great sense of love and trust among the men.
“ After closely surveilling the area, it became evident that we must head towards the north. We communicated this clearly to the Americans on 8th April 1962 through radio. The next day, on 9th April, on our way to the north, we were suddenly confronted by a large number of PLA soldiers. A huge battle ensued and as stated earlier, we lost Dorje Phuntsok from Drapchi Batallion and twenty soldiers from the Markham outfit to the enemy. Earlier in the day, we killed and injured about 150 Chinese soldiers. As the day and the battle went on, just about in the afternoon, it became clear that the majority of our soldiers were not equipped with quality weapons and sufficient ammunition. Realising this, the Chinese soldiers, to test us, began to fire recklessly with an almost contemptuous disdain and advanced towards us.
At that time, we the paratroopers threw hand grenades and fired our machine guns that could fire fifty and hundred rounds of ammunition on the Chinese onslaught. Even as countless Chinese soldiers fell, without any sense of pity/regret for the loss of lives, a Chinese officer was rallying his soldiers and rushing towards us, shouting (in Mandarin) ‘Chong a,Chong a!(Go ahead! Go ahead!)’
Come the evening, everywhere we looked we could see Chinese corpses; one among them was the same Chinese officer.”
“A while after dusk, the battle came to an end. We immediately escaped in the night.
We decided to stop and rest overnight on the 15th but just as the day was about to break in the morning, we saw Chinese soldiers advancing in hordes, like ants breaking out of their nests, from both sides of the hillside around and in front of us. Even though the area where we had camped was small, we set up the best of our weapons and tried to hold our ground as best as possible. At around 1 pm, when I looked left, I saw that Lithang Lobsang and Lithang Tashi Gyaltsen both lay dead; they had consumed their suicide pills after running out of ammunition. At that moment, Dragpa Rinchen shouted to me “ Aro! If you have suicide pills, give me one!” I told him I had only the one left and couldn’t give him any.
Due to the endless barrage of bullets, I couldn’t see and check on Dragpa Lama and Yeshe Wangyal, who were on the right and Damdul (a soldier from the Gyantse Battalion), Tsawa Rongpa Ogyen Dorje and the rest who were behind me. The three Khampa soldiers beside me had already been killed.
Just nearby, Chinese and Tibetan soldiers fought in hand-to-hand combat. I wanted to help them but I had to keep firing on the Chinese soldiers who were advancing towards us. I put the suicide pill in my mouth and thought that if I ran out of bullets, I would fight with my knife. As I kept firing, I heard a sudden thud at the back of my head. I didn’t know if I had swallowed the pill or not, but I had fainted by then”
The Chinese soldiers had hit him with the wooden buttstock of a gun. They squeezed the suicide pill from his throat and arrested him. On that fateful day, among the ten or so wounded surviving captives were a boy from Phubatsang who had just turned sixteen and the two daughters of Maepa Pon and Phuba Pon. The two leaders of the Markham Outfit ( i.e.Dragpa Lama and Maepa Pon) and the rest lost their lives in the defence of the Tibetan Buddhist religion and political sovereignty.
Many others parachuted into Chakra Palbar, Sog Dher and other areas from the same location.
In remembrance of these patriotic heroes and their sacrifices:
“ Enduring a hundred different hardships,
Having sacrificed their own precious lives and possessions,
For the sake of their Dharma, political sovereignty and people,
May the protector look after them.”
