Allen Lawrence Pope
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Allen Lawrence Pope
Allen Lawrence Pope (born c. 1929) was a 29 year old ex-US Air Force first lieutenant who was shot down on May 18, 1958 while flying a B-26 during a raid on government forces at the Indonesian port of Amboina.[1]
Some other twenty aircraft supporting the Indonesian rebels were reported seen with Nationalist Chinese markings covered over with hasty coats of paint, their pilots were Chinese and Americans from Claire Chennault's Formosa-based Civil Air Transport.[1] Pope claimed he was paid $200 for each completed flight by the rebels, but the operation is widely believed to have been bankrolled by the CIA as Operation Haik to overthrow the Sukarno government which was feared to have communist sympathies. Pope's capture along with a number of incriminating documents led to great embarrassment to the US government. US Ambassador Howard Jones characterized Pope as an American "paid soldier of fortune", and expressed his regret at the involvement of an American.[1]
Pope's targets consisted primarily of Indonesian military targets whose destruction would benefit the rebels. It is not known how many missions he completed, but the Indonesian military trial accused him of killing 17 Indonesian soldiers and six civilians over the course of six combat missions. He admitted only to flying one mission.[2]
After suffering a broken thigh during his bailout, Pope worked himself back into shape in prison, and read enough law books to help conduct his own defense (he felt he was fighting international Communism, he said). An Indonesian four-man military court rejected Pope's plea that he be considered a prisoner of war and found him guilty of killing 17 members of Indonesia's armed forces, and sentenced him to death.[3]
The death sentence was never carried out and Pope was released in July 1962 at the behest of the Kennedy Administration after the President's brother, Robert Kennedy, met with President Sukarno earlier in the year and appealed for Pope's release.[4]
According to Tim Weinstein, Pope expressed no regret for having killed Indonesian civilians and soldiers.
I enjoyed killing Communists… They said Indonesia was a failure[, Al Pope reflected bitterly]. But we knocked the shit out of them. We killed thousands of Communists, even though half of them probably didn't even know what Communism meant.[5]
In a 2004 ceremony at the official residence of French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte, the then 76 year old Pope was awarded the Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur, or Legion of Honor, along with six other CAT pilots for their service in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu delivering supplies under fire.[6]
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