The
Battle of Lima Site 85, also called
Battle of Phou Pha Thi, was fought as part of a military campaign waged during the
Vietnam War and
Laotian Civil War by the
Vietnam People’s Army (VPA) (then known as NVA) and the
Pathet Lao, against airmen of the
United States Air Force 1st Combat Evaluation Group, elements of the
Royal Laos Army, Royal Thai
Border Patrol Police, and the
Central Intelligence Agency-led
Hmong Clandestine Army. The battle was fought on Phou Pha Thi mountain in
Houaphanh Province,
Laos, on 10 March 1968, and derives its name from the mountaintop where it was fought or from the designation of a landing strip in the valley below, and was the largest single ground combat loss of United States Air Force members during the Vietnam War.