RIPPLE SALVO… #480… VICE ADMIRAL WILLIAM P. LAWRENCE, USN, RIP …A few thoughts…

Good Morning: Day FOUR HUNDRED EIGHTY of  return to the days of Operation Rolling Thunder…but first…

28 JUNE 1967…HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a sunny Wednesday in the 80s in NYC…

Page 1: “Thant Says Cairo Began the Steps That Led to War–Report on U.N.s Withdrawal Lays Direct Confrontation With Israel on Egypt–Both Sides Criticized–But Secretary General Gives No Assessment of Which Side Fired First Shot”… “Secretary General Thant said today that the United Arab Republic was responsible for reviving ‘the direct confrontation of forces with Israel that led to war after a decade of shaky armistice.’ … Most explicit public statement he had issued on how the stage was set for hostilities. He did not make any judgement on who fired the first shot.”… Page 1: “U.S. Providing $5-Million For Mideast War Victims…for urgent relief needs. President Johnson’s move seemed designed to create a favorable atmosphere for his meeting tomorrow afternoon with King Hussein of Jordan.”… Page 1: “Israel Approves Jerusalem Unity–Knesset Votes to Combine the Two Sectors and to Protect Holy Places”…

Page 1: “3-Year Extension of Teacher Corps Cleared by House–Margin of 311 to 88 is Won By Shifting U.S. Controls to Local School Units”… Page 3: “Negroes Urged to Fight the Draft”...Leaders of the Congress of Racial Equality and the Student Non-Violent Coordination Committee joined yesterday to urge that Negroes resist the draft. Floyd McKissick and H. Rap Brown were addressing a news conference in New York.”… Page 2: “Moscow Asks U.S. to Punish Airmen Who Strafed Ship”… “The Soviet Union has demanded the punishment of United States airmen responsible for the strafing of the Soviet merchant ship Turkestan in the North Vietnamese port of Cam Pha on June 2. The U.S. State Department had no comments on the Soviet note.”… Page 1: “Vietcong Execution of U.S. Aide Hinted”... “A United States Embassy spokesman said today that a Vietcong broadcast indicated that an American aid official held captive for two and a half years had been expected…broadcast implied that Gustav Hertz…had suffered the same fate as three United States army men executed in 1965 in reprisal for the execution of three convicted terrorists…Long negotiations and ransom payments for his release have proven fruitless.”…

28 June 1967… The President’s TS Daily CIA Brief…EGYPT: Serious factional maneuvering may be underway in Cairo. There is unrest in the army and press reports from Cairo state the armed forces are on maximum alert. Such an alert could be part of the effort to rebuild Egypt’s shattered defenses, but it could also be prompted by concern for the regime’s internal security… SOVIET UNION: Little is being said about Kosygin’s Cuban visit. There are good indications that the trip was at Kosygin’s own initiative, not Castro’s. The Soviet premier will stop over in Paris and see de Gaulle again Saturday…. SOUTH VIETNAM: Both Ky and Thieu have announced their vice-presidential running mates. Ky’s choice is southerner Nguyen Van Loc, chairman of the advisory Peoples-Army Council. Thieu’s man, Trinh Quoc Khanh is a southerner of the Hoa Hao religious sect…ADEN: The situation is critical in this unhappy sun-baked colony. As things stand now, the British are sitting around the rim of the Crater district, an extinct volcano where many of the Arabs live. In the Crater, murder and mayhem go virtually unchecked as rival nationalists fight it out… the British have promised to be out of Aden by 9 January…It appears, at this point anarchy will be the only thing they leave behind…

State Department: Office of the Historian, FRUS, 1964-68, Volume V, 1967, Document #220. Telegram from the Embassy (Bunker) in Vietnam to the Department of State for the President… This is a mid-1967 summary of the war from the perspective of Ellsworth Bunker, his “ninth weekly telegram”… a two-pager that provides a generally positive picture with recognition of some areas for improvement… worth a look… at:

https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v05/d220

28 JUNE 1967…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…New York Times (29 June reporting 28 June ops) Page 4: “In the air war United State pilots again hammered at North Vietnamese railroad yards and lines near Hanoi and attacked several targets in and around Nam Dinh, 46 miles southwest of Hanoi. An Air Force spokesman said that two MIG-17 fighters had been sighted in the distance near Hanoi but they turned away without challenging the American planes...United States Air Force fighter-bombers attacked the Viet tri railroad yard 31 miles northwest of Hanoi, the Mo trang railroad yard 39 miles north-northwest of Hanoi, the Huon guy railroad yard 37 miles northeast of Hanoi, and the Mona luong yards 40 miles north-northeast of Hanoi. Navy carrier fighter-bombers struck nine targets in the Nam Dinh area, including the remains of the Nam Dinh power plant which had been heavily damaged by three previous raids this week… Air Force attackers made their 12th raid on the Thainguyen power plant complex today. They reported they had hit the generator and boiler buildings in the six square mile complex 38 miles north of Hanoi…Hanoi press agency reported that three United State planes had been downed and the pilots captured.”…

“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There was one fixed wing aircraft downed in Southeast Asia on 28 June 1967…

(a) COMMANDER WILLIAM PORTER LAWRENCE, CO, VF-143, and LTJG JAMES WILLIAM BAILEY were flying an F-4B of the VF-143 Pukin Dogs embarked in USS Constellation on a flak suppression mission in support of an air wing strike on a transshipment point 10 miles northwest of Nam Dinh. They were downed by 85-mm anti-aircraft fire. They were at 12,000-feet and at roll-in for CBU attack on a flak site when hit. The attack was continued and completed with weapons on target. However, in the pullout of the dive the tail section parted from the Phantom. The pair of aviators ejected and were immediately captured. Imprisoned in the Hanoi Hilton for six years, COMMANDER LAWRENCE was released on 4 March 1973 to resume a truly brilliant Naval career, retiring as Vice Admiral in 1986. The revered warrior leader of men and women passed away on 2 December 2005… LTJG BAILEY was on his 183rd combat mission when downed. He was released from internment on 18 February 1973 and resumed his Naval career retiring as a Commander…

RIPPLE SALVO… #480… VICE ADMIRAL BILL LAWRENCE… RIP... a few thoughts… A  few hours ago when I sat down to draw this post together, I discovered that today 28 June 2017 marks the 50th anniversary of the downing of the CO of the VF-143 Pukin Dogs… Admiral Lawrence was in the front rank of great human beings. He just happened to be an Admiral. And a long time friend and mentor. An inspiration. I was so full of thought and recollection of shared hours breaking bread, and caring about our navy, carriers, people, and above all, our country, that I took my reminiscing to the upper deck with a stiff cognac in hand. There, with the sun setting over the Great Salt Lake, I sipped and sniffed the brandy. But mostly I rippled through a raft of great memories of a smiling admiral I once knew….. What a guy… 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_P._Lawrence

https://www.usni.org/print/8071

RTR Quote for 28 June: VICE ADMIRAL BILL LAWRENCE: “Oh Tennessee, My Tennessee”…”And O’er the world as I may roam, No place exceeds my boyhood home. And Oh how much I long to see, My native land, my Tennessee.”

Lest we forget….         Bear…