U.S. helicopters cause stir in Thai town on Burma border
by
NDD-DRD on Mon 12 May 2008
In Mae Sot, home to many Burmese exiles and refugees, two helicopters stopped unannounced during a survey of the area
By Christopher Johnson | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
from the May 12, 2008 edition
Mae Sot, Thailand -In this border town known as "Little Burma," thousands of Burmese exiles and refugees were excited when they saw a US helicopter flying above them on Saturday, within view of Burmese soldiers staging a referendum across the Moei River.
"All the Burmese looked up at the sky in hope," said Myo Khin, a Burmese trader who just found out from his sister that their relatives were lost in their hometown of Lapputa in the Irrawaddy delta. "Only America and the foreign countries can save Burma now."
Local excitement grew on Sunday as another US helicopter flew into Mae Sot's tiny airport, which stopped serving commercial flights last year. The airstrip is just 1.5 miles from the Friendship Bridge to the Burmese town of Myawaddy.
Their sighting jibes with reports that the US has moved ships and aircraft into position to support a humanitarian mission in the country.
A trip Sunday afternoon to the airport found eight US crewmen in uniforms pumping fuel from one US helicopter, inscribed with "24 Marines" on the body and "EP" on the tail, to another US helicopter, labeled "25 Marines."
"They were here on a survey of the area, and they ran out of gas," explained a Thai airport official in the lobby. "One crew had to wait here overnight for another helicopter to come today and bring them gas."
The official, and a uniformed Thai Air Force officer, said the choppers came unannounced from U-Tapao airbase in Chonburi Province on Thailand's east coast, on the other side of the country from Mae Sot. "They have been on joint military exercises called Cobra Gold with the Thai Air Force."
No security officers manned the airport gates Sunday. "We have never hosted American soldiers here before," said the official, as airport staff posed for photos with the airmen. "We didn't know what to do with them."
Local residents and foreign aid workers said they saw the clean-cut US soldiers out of uniform wandering downtown on Saturday night with a Thai Air Force guide. "They introduced themselves as members of the US Air Force," said a Western volunteer worker. "They said they were looking for a place to stay."
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