Hog’s Exit: Jerry Daniels, the Hmong, and the CIA

22. Marana

|| 283 22 Marana S UNDAY evening: smokejumpers gather at the Oxford Saloon . The establishment of Intermountain Aviation at Marana Airpark, Arizona; research and development for CIA’s covert air operations overseas; Skyhook and CIA’s “Operation Coldfeet”; social outings . Jerry Daniels and Toby Scott leave Intermountain; fifty-eight days of fishing and hunting in Montana. KEN HESSEL, former smokejumper; former Continental Air Services (CASI) Air Operations, MR3, Laos The Hmong had a big thing goin’ on, a wake. They kind of stayed in their own group over there at the funeral home. We hit that occasionally. We’d go over and visit for a little while and then we’d go back to the Ox. And that’s where a lot of it happened. Sittin’ around down there at the Ox. That was mostly jumpers, but a select few of those guys from Washington went down there with us. One of the topics we got to talkin’ about was Marana. THOMAS J. “T. J.” THOMPSON, former smokejumper; former air delivery specialist, MR2, Laos I knew Jerry even before Marana. I first met Jerry in ’59 smokejumpin’ after I got out of the army. We worked together as smokejumpers in ’59 and ’60. In late ’60 the Agency came out to the smokejumper bases in Missoula and McCall to recruit people . Well, we just got damned good recommendations by the smokejumper foremen. There’s no way around that. Several of us were hired. The way it worked, we were relieved from the Forest Service to go with the Outfit, the Agency. And in ’62 Jerry and I met up again when we went to work for Gar at Marana Airpark. We already knew Gar. He’d been a smokejumper for the Forest Service before he set up Intermountain. Do you know about Marana? Marana is a small town in Arizona, about thirty miles out of Tucson. At the end of World War II and during the Korean War, Marana Airpark was an air force facility used to train pilots. Then in late ’61 it was established as an Agency proprietary under the name Intermountain Aviation. Gar Thorsrud was the president, and it was his child, his son. He developed it, he organized it, he ran it rough, ran it hard, ran it good. Gar’s a hard charger and sometimes that got him 284 || Hog’s Exit some bad press, but the end product, he did one hell of a great job. Gar was a kingpin leader, and in those early years he was all over—Laos, Thailand. He had a major role as the chief of air ops in the Bay of Pigs. Intermountain was Gar’s child, and it was a great organization. The things we developed at Intermountain we’re still using today. GLENN F. HALE, former smokejumper; former Continental Air Services (CASI) Air Operations, MR3, Laos The Agency really is an entity that whatever is happening in the world, that’s what they’re interested in. If you are a whatever-you-are and they have something going in the world and they need someone like that, then they’d be interested in you. Because we were smokejumpers and our training was with airplanes and cargo, they were interested in us. But mostly I think the jumpers were useful because of a can-do attitude . Most of the people in our group at Intermountain were ex-military, airborne or smokejumpers. Intermountain Aviation was started by the Agency to train pilots and develop cargo systems for different types of airplanes that would have the capability of clanJerry Daniels and T. J. Thompson at Intermountain Aviation, Marana, Arizona, 1962. T. J. Thompson collection. Marana || 285 destine missions. As the Vietnam War heated up there was a demand for Intermountain ’s services in Laos, and Intermountain got into it heavily. The Agency’s clandestine side of Intermountain became part of the secret war in Laos; we supported U.S. interests in Laos and Vietnam from the Lao side of the border. ROBERT H. NICOL, former smokejumper and pilot I went down to Marana in January ’62 to help get the parachute loft set up and licensed by the FAA. I was one of the few people with a master rigger certificate who was available to go. When I got down there, the parachute tower was under construction and the loft was just a big empty building. Jerry and...