anti-aircraft fire, he was pursuing a ship carrying one thousand Indonesian troops. "His last bomb missed the troopship by about forty feet, sparing hundreds of lives". After fracturing his right thigh when bailing out, Pope was held not in prison but under house arrest at the small mountain resort of Kaliurang, where his injury was given "excellent medical attention". He said he felt he was fighting international communism. An Indonesian four-man military court rejected Pope's plea that he be considered a prisoner of war. On April 29, 1960, it found him guilty of killing 17 members of Indonesia's armed forces and six civilians and sentenced him to death. The execution was not carried out, but Pope remained under house arrest. He was used as a bargaining chip in Indonesian negotiations with the United States for arms. He was eventually exchanged with 10 Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport planes. In February 1962, U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy paid President Sukarno a goodwill visit and pleaded for Pope's release. Sukarno also received a visit from Pope's wife, mother and sister, who all tearfully pleaded for his pardon. On July 2, 1962, Pope was quietly driven to the airport and put on a U.S. plane out of Indonesia. Sukarno told Pope: Southern Air Transport After his release from Indonesian imprisonment in 1962 Pope returned to Miami, where he joined Southern Air Transport (SAT). Like CAT, SAT was a CIA front organization flying covert missions in regions including southeast Asia. Recognition On February 24, 2005, France's ambassador to the US, Jean-David Levitte, made the then 76-year-old Pope and six other CAT pilots Chevaliers de la Légion d'Honneur for their service in the Battle of Điện Biên Phủ. In 2005, Pope said of his Vietnam service: Of his Indonesian experience in 1958 he had elsewhere observed: Notes References Sources External links Cold War: The Pyrrhic Gambit The Man from Florida 18 Secret Armies Of The CIA Clandestine US Operations: Indonesia 1958, Operation "Haik" 1928 births American flight instructors American Korean War bomber pilots American military aviators American people convicted of murder American people imprisoned abroad American prisoners sentenced to death Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur CIA agents convicted of crimes Guided Democracy in Indonesia Living people People from Miami People of the First Indochina War People of the Central Intelligence Agency Prisoners sentenced to death by Indonesia Possibly living people Recipients of the Air Medal