In this presentation of the forum, Terry Buckler, the youngest of 56 volunteers from the Army Green Berets and Air Force Special Operations, will discuss the famous Green Berets’ raid on the Son Tay prison camp in North Vietnam. On November 12, 1970, U.S. Forces conducted a daring POW rescue attempt into a North Vietnam prison camp. With ground forces led by Army Special Forces Col. Arthur “Bull” Simons and overall mission commander Air Force Brig. Gen. LeRoy Manor, the Son Tay Raid is a masterful demonstration of surprise, concentration, audacity, and tempo. Although the mission failed to recover any U.S. POWs, it was highly successful at both the tactical and strategic levels and proved that, despite the North Vietnamese air defense network, U.S. forces could inflict punishment in North Vietnam without massive bombing campaigns.

This event is only open to members of the ARNSF. If you are not a member but are interested in joining, contact Bob Ulin at rulin@cgscf.org.

Terry Buckler grew up on a farm in Clark, Missouri and on March 18, 1969, he was drafted into the U.S. Army. Three days later he extended his service to be a member of the U.S. Army “Green Berets.” These choices soon led to Buckler becoming the youngest member of a joint group of volunteers from the Army Green Berets and Air Force Special Operations that trained for and executed the Son Tay Raid in November 1970 to rescue U.S. prisoners of war during the Vietnam War. The raid by the 56 Green Berets on the Son Tay prison camp in North Vietnam ranks as one of the most daring missions in special operations history.

After his enlistment, Buckler attended Moberly Junior College and graduated from Columbia College, Missouri, earning a bachelor’s in business. He is founder and president of Delta Systems Inc., a Kansas City-based software development company. Buckler is also president of the Kansas City Special Forces Chapter 29 of The Green Berets and also serves as president of the Son Tay Raiders Association.

Buckler’s military awards include the military’s third-highest decoration, the Silver Star, awarded for gallantry in action. He also earned the Combat Infantry Badge, Vietnam Service Medal, Parachute Badge, and Good Conduct Medal. In 2019, Buckler received the Philip Pistilli Silver Veteran’s Medal from the Harry S. Truman Foundation. He co-authored the book Who Will Go: Into the Son Tay POW Camp with Cliff Westbrook, a personal story of his military training and the mission to rescue POWs, published in November 2020.

Questions about registration? – Contact Lora Morgan, lora@cgscf.org or call 913-651-0624.

For questions about the ARNSF contact Col. (Ret.) Robert Ulin, Simons Center Director, at rulin@cgscf.org or call 913-240-1495.

Please register below.

The Arter-Rowland National Security Forum is an exclusive professional information sharing and networking event exclusively for members of the forum and select invitees of the CGSC Foundation’s Simons Center and the Kansas City Chapter of the Association of the United States Army (KCAUSA), the co-hosts of the Forum.

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