<SANITIZED>JOHN W. KEARNES, III

• Document Type: FOIA
• Collection: FOIA Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 06903488
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: July 11, 2023
• Document Release Date: February 15, 2022
• Case Number: F-2015-02404

Approved for Release: 2022/02/11 C06903488
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John W. Kearnes, III (1942 � 1972)
Fast Facts:
Directorate served:
Directorate of Plans (now
National Clandestine
Service)
Position title:
Paramilitary Operations
Officer
Grade:
GS-10
Award date:
1974
a8cJohn Wesley Keams was killed in Laos on 15 December 1972
during a devastating mortar attack by North Vietnamese Army troops
against an Agency-supported Thai irregular unit.
feerJohn Kearns, born in 1942, grew up in Texas and joined the US
Army Special Forces upon graduation from high school. Like many
young soldiers of his generation, he was soon posted to Vietnam,
where he earned the Combat Infantryman's Badge for valor under
enemy fire. He returned home in 1965 and earned a degree in
geography and economics at North Texas State University in 1968.
(Ari During his Army tour in Vietnam, John met several CIA employees
and learned about the Agency's growing role in the war effort in
Southeast Asia. This exposure helped him decide what he wanted to
do after college. In June 1968 John joined the CIA on contract as a
paramilitary (PM) officer. A year later, in June 1969, after completing
intensive operational training, he was assigned to our Station in
Vientiane, Laos as a PM operations officer.
(.8fJohn spent his first year in Laos as an advisor to a small team at
Nam Yu in the north. This unit was responsible for assisting and
supporting pro-government irregular forces and intelligence teams in
the area. At that time Nam Yu was the site of four CIA subsections
inside Laos under the operational direction of the CIA base in Udom,
Thailand. Some gency case officers worked at the four posts.
Counting these o:rs, plus working wives and military detailees, the
total complement at Udom itself was about people.
(81 In 1970 and 1971, Kearns was posted in Long Tieng as
"commando/raider" officer. In this capacity he became heavily involved
in high-priority special operations in which Laotian action teams sought
to inflict heavy damage against North Vietnamese installations deep in
enemy-held territory. John oversaw all phases of these operations�
planning, training, team leadership, motivation, command and control,
and post-mission debriefing and analysis. Like many other young CIA
paramilitary operations officers serving in Indochina, he demonstrated
great personal courage on many occasions. In one instance, while
enduring a high fever from malaria, he insisted on overflying
dangerous terrain to help one of his teams in securing a helicopter
landing zone for a major troop infiltration behind enemy lines. In 1971,
Keams volunteered to try a cable landing from a helicopter to search
for the missing crew of a crashed C-46 aircraft. Despite dense foliage
that prohibited a ground search, and with low fuel restricting him to ten
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minutes on the ground (while the helicopter hovered above), he
extracted the co-pilot's body from the wreckage.
(S) Upon completion of his first Agency tour in Laos in October 1971,
John returned to CIA Headquarters and enrolled in full-time intensive
Thai language training. After four months he emerged with a good
understanding of the language and speaking abilities. He then
completed the basic clandestine operations course. In August 1972,
John and his new wife returned to Laos. John was initially
assigned to Long Tieng in northern Laos, and then to Pakse in the
south. like other dependent wives, stayed in where
John would visit her whenever possible.
(S) John was caught up in Agency efforts to counter the most
extensive offensive yet undertaken in Laos by the North Vietnamese
,Army (NVA) and the Vietcong. By the end of 1972, Agency officers in
Laos were guiding and supporting 40,000 Thai and Laotian irregular
troops in operations that tied down elements of at least four NVA
divisions, preventing them from joining the war against the South
Vietnamese government and allied US forces.
(S) On 15 December 1972, John Kearns was in the Paksong area,
supervising the infiltration of several hundred replacement troops for a
battalion exhausted from combat. That evening eight rounds of 82mm
mortar fire impacted near the battalion; hours later 15 more rounds
slammed in. A C-47 gunship silenced the suspected mortar positions,
but not before casualties had been suffered�among them, John
Kearns. Although seriously wounded, John directed counter-battery
fire, led others to safety, and supervised evacuation of the wounded by
helicopter before being evacuated himself. John Kearns died en route
to the hospital. A mortar fragment had pierced his aorta.
(U) John Wesley Keams, Ill was 30 years old when he was killed. He
was posthumously awarded the Agency's Intelligence Star for his
courage and sacrifice. John was survived by his wife, who at that time
was expecting the birth of their son'.
For a detailed article on John Keams' assignment in Laos, please refer
to Studies In Intelligence, Vol. 46, No. 4, 2002 � Recalling a CIA
Officer's Sacrifice; John Kearns and the Cold War in Laos.
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