Table of Contents

Foreword: Reflections on History's Largest Air War, by Alfred W. McCoy
Textual Note
 
Introduction: Laos and the Advent of Automated War
 
What sadness!
Have pity on the victims of the war!
May the life of a former nurse from Xieng Khouang pass away without returning again
Why did the planes drop bombs on us?
The day does not exist when we will forget
Three jets came together dropping bombs
He and his wife died together in the rice fields because of the airplanes
And so we sang with brave hearts
Then the F-105 warplanes strafed and dropped rockets and 150 kg bombs on the village and people without stopping
A bomb fell about fifteen meters from where my father was plowing
Then they bombed our village; hitting houses, the pagoda, the school; devastating our rice fields; and killing the cows and buffalo
We lived in holes all the time
In the forest, I would go from one hiding place to another
They died like animals die in the forest
This is my house, built of lumber twenty-six years ago. It was struck by the airplanes.
 
Epilogue: After the War Ended, 1975–Present
 
Appendix:
Complete Text and Supporting Documents of USIS Refugee Survey as Obtained by Congressman McCloskey
A Survey of Civilian Casualties among Refugees from the Plain of Jars, Laos, by Walter M. Haney