Book sponsorships pay most, but not all, of the cost of creating and printing a book. That helps us keep prices low, for schools, for visitors, and the growing number of Lao people who have enough income to consider buying a low-priced book. We asked sponsors to tell us why they decided to do so.

Like many book sponsors, Charles Felsenthal had once been in Laos, but long ago:

I spent a year in Laos as an intelligence officer in the U.S. Air Force (1971-72). Although in many ways I was part of the problem, I did what I could to avoid civilian casualties, greatly annoying the CIA at times.

During my eight months in Savannakhet I worked closely with several Royal Lao Air Force pilots, one of whom was a lieutenant named Thongsouk. He was a decent and principled man who shared my desire to protect civilians. One day, to his everlasting credit, he flatly refused to carry out orders to bomb a wat in the village of Ban Na that was being used as a command post by a unit of the (North) Vietnamese army. He said to the Army colonel who issued the order "Sir, if you want to use your mortars on it, I can't stop you, but as long as I'm controlling airstrikes here, there will be no bombs dropped on the wat."

What I found particularly touching about this was his religious affiliation. He happened to be a devout Catholic, but he was unshakeable in his respect for the wat -- and the village. He died of malaria a couple of years later, but I think of him often. He deserves to be remembered as a very fine human being.

Charles Felsenthal, United States

The photo shows Charles today, and Thongsouk in about 1971.