RIPPLE SALVO… #721… IT WAS NAVY CROSS NIGHT ON THE HANOI WATERFRONT FOR COMMANDERS GLENN KOLLMANN AND JERRY ZACHARIAS, LIEUTENANT COMMANDER JOHN GRIFFITH and LT MIKE HALL… among the bravest of the brave.  It was also a night — PLUS 60 MONTHS — to remember for another Intruder crew: MAJOR JERRY MARVEL, USMC and his B/B “FISH” FRIESE, USMC, who met some new friends in the course of a lengthy stay of 1,842 days in the Hanoi Hilton… but first…

Good Morning: Day SEVEN HUNDRED TWENTY-ONE of a return to the air war called ROLLING THUNDER fought fifty years ago… and never to be forgotten…

24 FEBRUARY 1968… HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a cloudy, dry day in New York City…

THE GROUND WAR (“War is a killing business”) Page 1: “ENEMY BATTALION AND ALLIED FORCE CLASH AT KHE3SANH–FIGHTING OUTSIDE PERIMETER FOLLOWS HEAVIEST GUNFIRE ON OUTPOST TO DATE–SAIGON AIR BASE STRUCK–LFOUR U.S. SERVICEMEN KILLED AND 36 WOUNDED IN SHELLING–FOE SET BACK AT HUE”… “North Vietnamese forces clashed with South Vietnamese rangers last night at Khesanh after the United States Marine outpost there was raked with its heaviest bombardment so far. The fighting involved an enemy force estimates at a battalion, about 400 men. It occurred at a section of the perimeter manned by a battalion of rangers. There were reports that the North Vietnamese had attacked the perimeter, apparently in a probe of the defenses at Khesanh, where the Marines have been expecting a heavy attack from massed enemy forces…. On the outskirts of Saigon, the enemy struck Tansonnhut Airport this morning with 18 rounds of fire from mortars and 122-mm rocket launchers. Six more rounds landed near the adjacent headquarters of the South Vietnamese Joint General Staff. In a preliminary report, the American command said 4 men had been killed and 38 wounded….In continued heavy fighting in Hue, South Vietnamese troops stormed a main enemy position inside the walled Citadel and raised their colors in place of a Vietcong flag that had flown for 25 days. But the enemy still held some strong points according to the Associated Press… 700 rounds of artillery, 300 rounds of mortar fire and 300 rounds of rocket fire hit the Khesanh camp between 1 P.M. and 6 P.M. The bombardment with a total of 1300 shells was nearly four times as intense ad the heaviest previous shelling. The command said eight marines were killed and 38 wounded in the bombardment, 19 of whom had to be evacuated.”… Page 1: “IN NORTH VIETNAM MOUNTAIN REFUGE–Visitor Sees Hidden Schools, Factories and Hospitals”... Bernard-Joseph Cabanes, a correspondent of Agence France-Presse–who had just returned to Hanoi from a trip through the mountains of North Vietnam… Hanoi, Feb. 23. “The back country of North Vietnam is prepared for a long war. It offers a secure refuge from the bombing for the administrative, industrial, cultural, scholastic and health organizations of the Red River delta and the southern provinces. This is the major impression gained in a 300-mile trip through the mountain country from the foothills of the Annamite chain to the Laotian border. Wide good roads have been made in these mountains, whose summits are covered with thick jungle and swathed for several months of the year in mist…..”

State Department, Office of the Historian, Historical Documents, Foreign Relations, 1964-68, Volume VI, Vietnam: Document 85 of 24 February 1968 is a telegram from Walt Rostow in Washington to President Johnson on his ranch in Texas. This is a very good summary of the Tet Offensive. Read footnote #2 first: On 23 February Rostow sent a telegram to Generals Wheeler and Westmoreland that summarized the situation as Rostow and the President saw it requesting the Generals comment… Document 85 is their response… Read at:     https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d85

Page 1: “48,000 FACE DRAFT, HIGHEST TOTAL IN 18-MONTHS”... “The Department of Defense announced today that 48,000 men would be drafted for military service in April. This will be drafted for military service in April. This will be the highest monthly total in 18 months. In October 1966, a total of 49,200 were inducted–the highest monthly draft call during the Vietnam war. Of those drafted in April…4,000 will go to the Marine Corps. Not since the major Vietnam military build-up of 1965 and early 1966–when the Marines drafted 19,000 men to help create the fifth Marine Division hurriedly–has the corps had to rely on Selective Service.”… Page 5: “Allies Disagree On Enemy Aims–U.S. Girding At Khesanh–Saigon Looks To Highlands”... “A basic disagreement has developed between the American and South Vietnam commands over the enemy objectives in the current offensive. General Westmoreland, the American commander and his staff believe that Khesanh and Saigon are the major targets of the Vietcong and the North Vietnamese. General Cao Van Vien, the chief of the South Vietnamese joint staff, is said io believe that the enemy’s primary goal is to split South Vietnam with an attack through the Central Highlands to the coast between Nhatrang and Quinhon.”…

Page 1: “CAPTAIN CONFIRMS ATTACK IN GULF OF TONKIN–Commander Of Two Destroyers Denies Any Provocation Before the 1964 Incident”...”… says his ships were definitely attacked by the North Vietnamese and he denied that the attacks were provoked.”… Page 9: “Senator McCarthy Charges Tonkin Gulf Deceit”... “Senator Eugene J. McCarthy said today the Johnson Administration had ‘deceived’ Congress and the public about the Gulf of Tonkin incident that set off the first bombing raids on North Vietnam.”… Page 28: Opinion Editorial: “Half-Truths About Tonkin”… “By making public only selective portions of classified material to support its version of the Gulf of Tonkin incident, the Pentagon has stirred justifiable anger among members  of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, who have access to more complete information.”… Page 5. “DELAY IS SEEN ON PUEBLO’s CREW”... “The South Korean intelligence authorities estimate that North Korea will hold the 82 crewmen of the captured American intelligence ship Pueblo for two months more and possibly longer in order to extract as much information as possible.”…

Page 8: “Soviet Confirms Nuclear Build-Up–Enormous Force Deployed, Defense Chief Reports”...”Marshal Andrei A. Grechko, the Soviet Defense Minister, declared today that the Soviet Union had deployed an ‘enormous’ force of intercontinental nuclear missiles…emphasized today that all branches of the Soviet armed forces had been strengthened and modernized to enable them to emerge victorious in any type of war, ‘with or without the use of nuclear weapons.’ “… Page 9: “RUSK IDENTIFIED AS CRITICS CRITIC–Said, In Backgound Talk, ‘Whose Side Are You On?'”… “…told a group of newsmen that criticism of the handling of the war in Vietnam sometimes gets to the point ‘when the question is, whose side are you on? Now, I’m the Secretary of State of the United States, and I’m on our side.’ “…

24 Feb February 1968… President’s Daily Brief… (a few notes) SOUTH VIETNAM: Saigon remains relatively quiet but firefights persist on all sides of the city. …Several cities in the north also appear threatened…The Vietcong have overrun many rural areas, while South Vietnamese forces remain tied down defending the cities. The Communists have been having such success in their recruitment drives in the delta countryside that their strength seems greater now than it was prior to the Tet offensive, despite their heavy casualties.…LAOS: At last word, Communist forces around Saravane had not yet followed by yesterday’s artillery attacks with a ground assault on the town…. NORTH VIETNAM: The Communists threatened yesterday on 22 February to retaliate for any executions of Viet Cong prisoners in Hue. … “…adopt appropriate measures” against American troops captured in Hue if Communist prisoners were executed by South Vietnamese authorities.

24 FEBRUARY 1968…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…New York Times (25 Feb reporting 24 Feb operations) Page 24: “U.S. BOMBS WHARVES OF HANOI FOR FIRST TIME”…

“Navy radar bombers struck for the first time yesterday (24th) at the Red River wharves and warehouses of Hanoi... It was emphasized that these facilities were not used by foreign vessels. The area is primarily a cargo-transfer point for supplies carried by barge up the Red River from the deep water port at Haiphong and by the northeast rail line from China. The spokesman could give no reason why the port area had not been hit previously. As far as could be determined, it has never been mentioned as a site on the list of prohibited targets. The only two places in North Vietnam that are believed to remain off limits to American bombers are the Gialam airport, which is used by commercial planes of several Communist nations as well as by the International Control Commission, and the port of Haiphong, which is usually crowded with foreign flag shipping including vessels of Western powers.

1.8 MILES FROM CENTER OF HANOI… “A study of detailed maps of Hanoi indicates that the area that was attacked lies along the river 1.8 miles southeast of the center of the capital. It is bordered by workers’ houses. thirty eight storage buildings and a wharf were attacked. The raid was carried out by an undisclosed number of A-6 Intruder fighter-bombers from the nuclear-powered carrier USS Enterprise. They report their bombs had landed on target. The Enterprise recently returned to her station in the Gulf of Tonkin after having been dispatched to stand off the coast of North Korea following the seizure of the American ship Pueblo. In other raids, all of which were carried out by radar guidance because of the seasonally weather over the Hanoi-Haiphong area. Air Force Phantoms struck Kep airfield 28 miles northeast of the capital, and the Hadong army barracks, 8 miles to the southwest….”… Although heavy clouds blanketed the base at Khesanh, the Air Force, Navy and Marines flew sorties Friday against nearby enemy positions. B-52 formations, averaging about nine planes each, made six runs during the day.”... Page 26: “HANOI SAYS 2 U.S. PLANES DOWNED”…”The North Vietnamese press agency reported today that antiaircraft guns shot down two American planes today (24th), one of them over Hanoi. The second plane was downed in Nghean Province in central North Vietnam, bringing the number of American planes shot down to 2,769.”…

“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There were two fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 24 February 1968…

(1) LT WENDELL BROWN was flying an F-8E of theVF-191 Satan’s Kittens embarked in USS Ticonderoga on a dark and stormy night BARCAP over the Gulf and was unable to refuel from the A-3 tanker. An on-deck alert A-4 tanker was launched to provide an alternative. Unfortunately, as Lt Brown was plugging in the A-4 to refuel he flamed out from fuel exhaustion and was forced to eject. LT BROWN bobbed around in his life raft for two and a half days before he was found and rescued by a Navy helicopter… (Humble Host bets this tale has been enriched many times over during the ensuing fifty years of aging.)…

(2) MAJOR JERRY WENDELL MARVEL, USMC, and CAPTAIN LAURENCE VICTOR FRIESE, USMC, were flying an A-6A of the VMA(AW)-533 Nighthawks and MAG-12 out of Chu Lai on a night strike on the Haolac airfield 20 miles west of Hanoi and were downed most probably by a SAM (unconfirmed). Both aviators ejected safely and were captured by the North Vietnamese. CAPTAIN FRIESE, who was on his 138th mission, was able to evade capture for four days before being tracked down and hauled off as a POW.

AMONG THE BRAVE…. LIEUTENANT COLONEL (then Major) JERRY WENDELL MARVEL, USMC… SILVER STAR… FEBRUARY 1968 TO AUGUST 1969… CONSPICUOUS GALLANTRY and INTREPIDITY…

“The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the SILVER STAR to Lieutenant Colonel JERRY WENDELL MARVEL, United States Marine Corps, for CONSPICUOUS GALLANTRY and INTREPIDITY while interned as a Prisoner of War in Southeast Asia from February 1968 to August 1969. Refusing to cooperate with the enemy who resorted to severe cruelties, Lieutenant Colonel MARVEL resisted all attempts by his captors to compromise his rigid adherence to the Code of Conduct. As a result of his participation in an intracamp communication, he was placed in solitary confinement, yet he never deterred from performing steadfast resistance. Lieutenant Colonel MARVEL brought about an increased intensity in the mistreatment he received. His leadership by example and daring resistance served as an inspiration to other Prisoners of War, thus frustrating the attempts of his captors to attain any degree of dominance over the men. By his deep sense of devotion to the United States and his fellow Prisoners of War, Lieutenant Colonel MARVEL reflected great credit upon himself, the Marine Corps, and the United States Naval Service.”…

Among Colonel MARVEL’s other combat awards are the Legion of Merit with Valor V; the Distinguished Flying Cross; the Bronze Star with Valor V; several Air Medals, and the Prisoner of War medal…    oohrah…

AMONG THE BRAVE… CAPTAIN LAURENCE VICTOR FRIESE, USMC… SILVER STAR…FEBRUARY 1968 TO NOVEMBER 1968…CONSPICUOUS GALLANTRY and INTREPIDITY…

“The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the SILVER STAR to Captain LAURENCE V. FRIESE, USMC, for CONSPICUOUS GALLANTRY and INTREPIDITY from February 1968 to November 1968 while interned as a Prisoner of War in North Vietnam. Despite the fact that he was consistently maltreated and subjected to severe cruelties, Captain FRIESE refused to cooperate with his captors in any manner. He displayed an exceptionally high degree of determination and resolve and provided his fellow prisoners both an example to emulate and a source of encouragement. Fully aware his resistance to the enemy would arouse increased wrath and harsher treatment, he nonetheless persevered in his resistance. Through his exceptional courage and determination in the face of extreme adversity, Captain FRIESE reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps, the Naval service, and the United States Armed Forces.”…

Among Captain FRIESE’s other combat awards are the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star with Valor V; eleven Air Medals, and the Prisoner of War Medal… oohrah

From the Compilation “34TFS/F-105 History” of Howie Plunkett: 24-Feb-68: “Pistol flight from the 34 TFS took off from Korat …to bomb a causeway in RP-1… This was Major Sam Armstrong’s 74th combat mission.” From Major Armstong’s log: “The original #2 man …aborted on the ground so Buddy Barner took his place. There had been thunderstorms the night before and there was extensive cloudiness and light rain at take-off time. We had to make individual climbs to get on top of the weather. We Sky-Spotted a causeway over the river near Dong Hoi. Coming home, we ran into clouds up to 22,000 feet and made a weather penetration into the field”…

BATTLECRY 4: (Humble host) Flew #108. Led a section of VA-113 A-4Fs to Waterboy fix and was FAC controlled to drop my 8 MK-81s on “supplies” near Tchepone in Southern Laos. 

RIPPLE SALVO #721… On the evening of 24 February 1968 two Navy A-6As launched into lousy weather to carry almost 50 Mk-82s to downtown Hanoi, attacking at extremely low level the wharves and waterfront buildings of the “Port of Hanoi.” The four intrepid warriors who brilliantly executed a text book mission were each awarded the NAVY CROSS… Humble Host was there to watch the crews do their strike planning aboard USS Enterprise. I rubber-necked in awe as COMMANDR GLENN KOLLMANN and LT JOHN GRIFFITH, of VA-35, two of the bravest aviators to ever wear Wings of Gold, laid out their planned route to and from the heartland target on a briefing chart for a brief of the embarked admiral. Joining in the planning were COMMANDER JERRY ZACHARIAS and LIEUTENANT COMMANDER MIKE HALL, VA-75, embarked in USS Kitty Hawk, but pre-positioned on USS Enterprise for this Washington directed mission. This was one of 14 previously untouched and restricted targets located within a few miles of Hanoi and Haiphong that was authorized for attack by President Johnson at the Tuesday luncheon meeting in the White House that week. The President overruled the timid advice of both the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State and chose instead to sustain maximum pressure on Hanoi in the midst of the Vietcong/NVN Tet offensive in the South. (Re: the State Department Historical Documents referred to in RTR blogs over the last two weeks).

Humble Host posts the NAVY CROSS Citation for COMMANDER KOLLMANN on this post and will follow with the other three on my post for 25 February 1968 due to the length of this post…

AMONG THE BRAVE… EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM… COMMANDER GLENN KOLLMANN, USN… the NAVY CROSS… 24 FEBRUARY 1968… HANOI, NORTH VIETNAM…

“The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the NAVY CROSS (Posthumously) to GLENN EDWARD KOLLMANN, Commander, U.S. Navy, for EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM in aerial flight on 24 February 1968 as the Commanding Officer of Attack Squadron THIRTY-FIVE (VA-35) embarked in U.S.S. ENTERPRISE (CVA(N)-65). Commander KOLLMANN planned and led a night air strike against a vital and heavily defended port facility in the heart of North Vietnam. Piloting his aircraft at perilously low altitudes in the monsoon weather, he successfully penetrated intense and accurate enemy defenses. Disregarding the threatening surface-to-air missiles and the antiaircraft artillery defending the target area, Commander KOLLMANN maintained a smooth level flight path until bomb release, thereby ensuring an optimum bombing solution. Because of his daring and highly professional flying skill, his bombs found their mark, inflicting heavy damage upon the port facilities. By his airmanship, courage, and loyal devotion to duty in the face of intense hostile fire, Commander KOLLMANN contributed materially to Untied States efforts in Southeast Asia and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.”

COMMANDER KOLLMAN and LIEUTENANT GRIFFITH perished on a subsequent combat mission 16 days later on 12 March 1968… “Glory gained, Duty done”

LT JOHN GRIFFITH, COMMANDER JERRY ZACHARIAS, and LIEUTENANT COMMANDER MIKE HALL…  Navy Cross Citations tomorrow…

RTR Quote for 24 February: JAMES MICHENER, The Bridges at Toko-Ri: “Where do we get such men?” (Admiral George Tarrant)…

Lest we forget…      Bear