Atlanta Daily World

More U.S. Troops
Flying To Asian
Land Of Thailand

By WALTER LOGAN
By United Press International

The United States was flying 500 more Army and Marine combat troops to Thailand Friday but the crisis over Laos appeared to be cooling slightly in the face of resolute U. S. action against the Communist threat.

Gen. Paul D. Harkins, commander of U. S. forces in Thailand and South Viet Nam, flew into Bangkok and set up his headquarters while the U. S. troop buildup and deployment for combat continued. Both the Marines and U. S. Air Force flew in additional fighters and fighter-bombers.

U. S. Ambassador to Thailand, Kennedy Todd Young said in Bangkok the activities of the American forces in Thailand may "depend on what happens outside Thailand." and that they were in Thailand to insure Thailand's territorial integrity and keep the peace.

"What happens here depends on what the Communists do," Young said. "What constitutes a direct threat to Thailand? It doesn't mean that the threat exists only in Thailand. It depends on what happens outside."

KHRUSHCHEV ISSUES
WARNING

Premier Nikita S. Khrushchev said in a speech at Obnova, Bulgaria, that dispatch of U. S. troops to Thailand was "stupidity" on the part of President Kennedy and he warned that "blood will be shed there." But he made no direct threats.

Khrushchev said the American forces will be "driven out" and that their expulsion "is only a question of time" but he indicated it was the Thai people and not the Communist armed forces he had in mind.

Chinese Communist broadcasts were surprisingly mild, but in Calcutta Indian Communists staged anti-American demonstrations against the U. S. landings. A throng of 500 marched on the American consulate with such slogans as "American imperialists hands off Asia." There was no violence.

Secretary of State Dean Rusk
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MARINES LAND IN THAILAND-United States Marines file down the gangway of the attack transport Navarro as they land near Bangkok, Thailand. Other Marines were landed near the capital by helicopter They were dispatched to the Southeast Asian country to make good President John F. Kennedy's pledge to defend Thailand from Communist invasion from Laos. The hope for a political settlement in Laos improved when leaders of the pro-Communist Pathet Lao agreed to negotiate with neutralist and rightist princes in the near future. All is presently quiet on Laotian front.
More U.S. Troops
(Continued from Page One)

told newsmen in Washington the crisis in Southeast Asia could be settled "very quickly" if Moscow would agree to "leave these countries alone."

Rusk Answers Russian

Referring to Khrushchev's boast that the Americans would be driven out within 15 years, Rusk said "we could get out before 15 years" if the Communist world would leave Southeast Asia alone, and let it pursue its independence.

The 500 American troops enroute to Thailand aboard five air transports were combat specialists and combat support troops from Hawaii. Most were from the Army's 25th Infantry of the 25th division which already has 1,000 men in Thailand. The group included a small number of Marines.