COMMEMORATING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE VIETNAM WAR… IN THE WEEK ENDING 4 DECEMBER 1968, TWO HUNDRED-TWENTY-TWO (222) AMERICAN FIGHTING MEN GAVE THEIR LIVES IN BATTLE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA, BRINGING THE TOTAL U.S. MEN KILLED IN ACTION SINCE 1961 TO 30,279… NORTH VIETNAMESE AND VIETCONG TROOP DEATHS PUT AT 452,329… LEST WE FORGET…
Good Morning. It’s Monday, 18 March 2019. Humble Host remembers WEEK SIX of OPERATION COMMANDO HUNT I — 17 TO 23 DECEMBER 1968…
HEADLINES from The NEW YORK TIMES (17-23 December 1968)…
THE WAR: (17 Dec) U.S. EXPECTS PILOTS’ RELEASE… “United States officials said today that they believe the reports that North Vietnam was preparing to release some captured American pilots during the Christmas season… Robert J. McCloskey, the State Department spokesman, said that ‘we welcome news from Moscow that appears to confirm earlier reports.’… U.S. SENDS 7 BACK TO NORTH VIETNAM–Civilian Prisoners Released In Boat 13 Miles at Sea… “The United States returned seven North Vietnamese civilian seamen to North Vietnam today. They had been in custody in South Vietnam for more than a year. The seamen were put aboard a 45-foot motorized junk 13 miles off the coast of North Vietnam.”… (18 Dec) ENEMY AMBUSHES AMERICAN CONVOY–Swift Counter-Attack By Artilley, Airstrikes, Gunships and Pursuit Prevents Heavy Losses… “…several trucks in the convoy of 50 trucks were damaged but all reached their destination, a combat base 42 miles from Saigon.”… ALLIED POSTS SHELLED… “…outpost five miles northwest of Tamky was pummeled by 45 mortar shells.”… (19 Dec) 14 OF 44 ON U.S. PLANE DIE IN VIETNAM CRASH (see below)… (20 Dec) U.S. WAR DEATHS PUT AT 222–Up 30 For Week–Total Since 1961 Is 30,279–Allies Bombard Jungle Northwest of Saigon… “…A total of 523 Americans were wounded and 676 suffered minor wounds…2,059 Viuetcong and North Vietnamese soldiers were killed by Americans and South Vietnamese during the seven day period…About 198 South Vietnamese troops were killed…” … ENEMY ROUTES POUNDED… “American officers said here today that constant air and ground attacks on infiltration routes had seriously affected North Vietnam efforts to mass troops for a new offensive against Saigon.”…”Elsewhere in South Vietnam United States infantrymen killed 61 North Vietnamese 55 miles north of Saigon. B-52 bombers fly nightly missions against the routes and suspected North Vietnam troop concentrations between Saigon and the Cambodian border.”… (21 Dec) TWO JETS BOMB ENEMY GUNS IN NORTH AFTER ATTACK… “Two United States jets dodged a hail of antiaircraft fire in North Vietnam Thursday (19th), then dived against the guns with bombs…Air Force Phantoms… The incident marked the fourth time that United States aircraft had attacked in North Vietnam since President Johnson halted the bombing on Nov. 1… Seven days ago a Navy Skyhawk fired an air-to-ground missile at a surface-to-air missile site near the North Vietnamese city of Vinh.”… (22 Dec) U.S. JETS AGAIN FIRE AT ENEMY IN NORTH… “Both attacks came after foe fired on photo reconnaissance flights.”… (23 Dec) FOE HITS BASE IN VIETNAM NEAR P.O.W. BASE…… “North Vietnamese troops tried for seven hours this morning to take a small base near Saigon without success… leaving 81 bodies behind. The Americans lost 17 dead and 12 wounded.”… (23 Dec) FOE HITS BASE IN SOUTH VIETNAM–Shell U.S. Air Bases–Blast Near Ambassador Bunker Home–30,000 G.I.s In Vietnam Turn Out For Bob Hope And Ann Margaret… “An Army of 30,000 men was waiting in the broilinjg sun today when Bob Hope opened his fifth Vietnam Christmas tour here (Long Binh). ‘I’d planned to spend Christmas in the States, the comedian told the laughing troops, ‘but I can’t stand violence.'”
THE VIETNAM PEACE TALKS IN PARIS: (17 Dec) CLIFFORD ASSAILED BY KY FOR STAND ON LAG IN PARLEY–Vietnamese Rejects Remark Implying Saigon’s Position On Seating Causes Delay… (18 Dec) HARRIMAN AND KY ACT TO AVOID A RIFT–Confer In Paris–Saigon Firm On ‘2 Sides’ Issue… McGOVERN CONDEMNS KY AS A ‘TINHORN DICTATOR’… (19 Dec) KY BERATES CRITICS IN U.S. AS IRRESPONSIBLE… (20 Dec) U.S. AND VIETCONG TO DISCUSS POWs–Americans Accept National Liberation Front Bid On Vietnam Meeting… (21 Dec) THIEU WARNS SAIGON MAY QUIT PARIS TALKS IF VIETCONG ATTACKS CITIES… (22 Dec) CLIFFORD APPLIES PRESSURE–The Paris Charade Goes On… (23 Dec) KY RETURNS TO SAIGON AMID HINTS OF REAPPRAISAL OF THE VIETCONG… “Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky of South Vietnam returned home today for consultations amid hints that the Saigon regime might re-examine its posture toward the Vietcong.”…
THE REST OF THE NYT HEADLINES: (17 Dec) NIXON IS NEUTRAL ON EARLY ACTION TO RATIFY A-PACT–Takes No Position… CRIME RISE OF 19% REPORTED BY F.B.I.–All Categories Are Up–Every Region Effected… SUPREME COURT BACKS CURB ON DRAFT APPEALS–1967 Law Restricting Right to Bring Challenges Against Local Draft Boards Upheld… (18 Dec) NIXON SEES THANT AT U.N. VOWS TO HELP U.N. IN PEACE EFFORTS–Pays Courtesy Call In N.Y…. JETS FROM ISRAEL STRIKE IN JORDAN–Blow Believed To Be Reply To Arab Commando Attack… CURB ON F-111 MAY DIE IN SPRING–Air Force To Receive New Version Of The Fighter Plane… JAPAN FEARS RIOTS OVER VISIT OF U.S. SUBMARINE–The nuclear submarine Plunger is due to arrive at the harbor of Sasebo tomorrow… (19 Dec) ACCORD ON RELEASE OF PUEBLO CREW SEEMS TO BE NEAR…After 11 months of deadlock, a formula that might permit the early release of the 82 surviving crewmen of the intelligence ship Pueblo appears to have been found at the secret talks with North Korea in Panmunjom… CAMBODIA TO FREE 11 G.I.s–Kissinger Has A Parley Plan… (20 Dec) SOCIALIST NORMAN THOMAS DIED–He Ran For President Six Times… CAMBODIA FREES 12 U.S. SOLDIERS–Sihanouk Describes Move As Christmas Present… NEGOTIATORS MEET FOR 5-HOURS IN PANMUNJOM ON PUEBLO… FINAL COUNTDOWN ON FOR MOON SHIP TOMORROW–Commander Of 3 Astronauts Reports They Are Ready… ‘Colonel Frank Borman of the Air Force, the Apollo 8 commander and his two crew mates, Captain James A. Lovell and Major William A. Anders spent the morning reflecting on the mounting tension of the launch.’… PEKING SEES VICTORY BY VIETCONG IN WAR… “Peking’s implicit reservations about the expanded Paris talks on Vietnam reflected today in a message expressing the belief that the Vietnamese People’s War would win final victory.”… (21 Dec) APOLLO 8 CREW SET FOR START TODAY ON MOON VOYAGE–7:51 A.M. Launching Slated For First Manned Flight Toward Lunar Orbit–Six Day Trip Planned–Borman, Lovell and Anders Retire Early As Saturn 5 Spacecraft Is Fueled… TIGHT SECRECY ON PUEBLO IS MAINTAINED IN SEOUL… (22 Dec) U.S. ASTRONAUTS SPEED TOWARD MOON ORBIT–Apollo Leaves Earth At 24,600 MPH–Flawless Liftoff–Craft Is Headed For Lunar Rendezvous On Christmas Eve… NATION UNITES IN HAILING FEAT WITH AWE AND PRIDE… (23 Dec) ASTRONAUTS GIVE TELEVISION SHOW ON WAY TO MOON–Apollo On Target… 82 IN PUEBLO CREW FREED–U.S. Gives North Koreans ‘Confession,’ Disavows It–U.S. General Repudiates Document Before Signing It– 11 Month Ordeal Ended–Skipper Bucher Cites Beatings And ‘Pretty Vivid’ Threats…
OPERATION COMMANDO HUNT I… One of the preferred sources for my posts will be VIETNAM CHRONICLES: THE ABRAMS TAPES, 1968-1972… Therein are the notes from General Abrams’ Weekly Intelligence Estimate Update (WIEU). These sessions constituted increasingly wide-ranging discussions on all aspects of the war. Once a month the meetings expanded to include commanders from throughout the country; these were: “Commanders’ WIEUs… Pages 91-334 of the 900+ page volume cover 1969… Page 91 provides a summary of the year 1969… quoted here…
“Early in 1969, again during the Tet period, the enemy made one final stab at coordinated countrywide attacks. Once again he suffered heavy casualties, apparently leaving him at long last to reevaluate his approach and map out a change of direction. The new approach, described in COSVN Resolution 9 of July 1969, involved a shift of emphasis fom urban to rural areas with the mission of disrupting pacification. Large units were to be broken down into smaller ones employing sapper tactics so as to preserve strength and protract the war. Menawhile, large number of troops infiltrated from North Vietnam continued to shift the balance of enemy forces in the south from predominantly Viet Cong to more and more NVA.
“The policy of ‘Vietnamization,’ progressively turning over more and more of the responsibility for conduct of the war to the Vietnamese themselves, was continued. Pacification progressed, aided by major increases in the Regional Forces and Popular Forces and by establishment of an armed People’s Self-Defense Force, both contributing to increased local security by providing the ‘hold’ in ‘clear and hold.’
“The major development on the U.S. side was redeployment during July and August of the first increment–25,000 troops–in what would become a continuing unilateral withdrawal of forces. At year’s end the authorized strength was 484,000, down from a peak of 543,000 in April. For the first time, fiscal constraints began to impact on the U.S. effort, reflected most notably in reductions in sortie rates for bombers and tactical air.
“In early November President Nixon made an address to the nation in which he asked for support from the ‘silent majority’ for his Vietnam War policies, an appeal that met considerable success. In Paris, peace talks between the contending parties continued, but without success.”…
AIRCRAFT LOSSES 17 THROUGH 23 DECEMBER 1968, Week Six of Commando Hunt I …References: Vietnam: Air Losses by Chris Hobson and other sources… Eight fixed wing aircraft were lost and nine intrepid aviators (and thirteen passengers in a C-123 crash) were killed in action serving their beloved country…
(1) On 17 December a C123-K Provider of the 309th Special Operations Squadron crashed shortly after takeoff from Chu Lai Air Base as a consequence of fuel transfer and engine failure problems. The three man crew and eight Army passengers were killed in the crash. The USAF crew: Aircraft Commander: LCOL RICHARD A. BROWN, a veteran of WWII, Korea and Vietnam: Co-Pilot 1LT ROGER H. STROUT; and Flight Engineer SSGT JESSE J. BRADSHAW. The USA passengers: 1LT JOHN A. BLANCO, JR; PFC BRADLEY J. BOURQUE; SGT RAMON CASTRO-MORALES; CAPTAIN RICHARD C. DREWES; CAPTAIN JOHN K. HAYWARD, CWO JOHN P. KOOB; 1LT JOHN D. KROUSLIS; SSGT WALLACE F. SIMPKIN; and, CAPTAIN MORTON H. SINGER. Five other passengers died of their injuries subsequent to the crash: Marines SGT MANCOL R. CLIFTON (18 Dec) and PVT GEORGE W. BROWN (13 Jan 69); SP4 DENNIS G. BENSON (23 Dec); SFC RICHARD H. SWEGER (2 Jan 69); and SP4 HENRY E. RUSSELL (7 May 69)… Glory gained, duty done, they rest in peace and are remembered 50 years later….
(2) On 18 December an A-6A Intruder of the VA-196, “The Main Battery”, embarked in USS Constellation was lost on a COMMANDO HUNT mission about 15 miles southeast of the A Shau Valley. Four Navy aircraft were striking a target under FAC control when the A-6 piloted by LTJG JOHN RICHARDS BABCOCK and B/N LT GARY JON MEYER was hit by ground fire as it rolled in on the target. The aircraft burst into flames and never recovered from the dive. No ejection or parachute were observed, or beeper or voice transmission heard by other aircraft in the area. The possibility of a premature detonation of the Intruder’s bomb load was also considered a possible explanation of the tragic loss of two young warriors. LTJG BABCOCK rests in peace in the Winterset Cemetery, Winterset, Iowa. Inexplicably, the remains of LT GARY JON MEYER have not been found and his name is not listed among either those still missing or those whose remains have been recovered and identified, as of 25 February 2019.
(3) On 18 December an F-100D of the 136th TFS and 31st TFW out of Tuy Hao piloted by 1LT H.W. ROBERTS was hit by small arms fire on takeoff. 1LT ROBERTS opted to fly his striken aircraft to Danang for an emergency landing. He didn’t make it, and was forced to eject at sea off the coast where he was rescued by a USAF helo to fly and fight again…
(4) On 18 December an A-1H of the 22nd SOS and 56th SOW piloted by MAJOR GREGORY INMAN BARRAS was downed on a night COMMANDO HUNT mission over the Ho Chi Minh Trail near the village of Ban Sang, 10 miles west of the MuGia Pass on Route 12. He died in the crash, but was carried as MIA for several years, and was promoted to Colonel in the interim, before his remains were found and positively identified in 1998. COLONEL BARRAS is buried at the USMA cemetery at West Point where he rests in peace… He was among the bravest of the brave: the Distinguished Flying Cross with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, the Air Medal with seven oak leaf clusters, and the Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Palm… Then there is this “Remembrance” left on the VVMF Wall of Faces nineteen years ago;
“The Corps! Bareheaded, salute it! with eyes up, thanking our God…that we of the Corps are treading where they of the Corps have trod! They are here, in ghostly assemblage! The MEN of the Corps long dead! And our hearts are standing at attention! While we wait for their passing tread! We sons of today, we salute you! You sons of an earlier day! We follow, close order, behind you, where you have pointed the way! The Long Gray Line of us stretches through the years of a century told! And the last man feels to his marrow, the grip of your far-off hold! Grip hands with us, now though we see not! Grip hands with us, strengthen our hearts, as the Long Line stiffens and straightens, with the thrill that your presence imparts!! Grip hands, though it be from the shadows! While we swear, as you did of yore! Or living or dying to honor… THE CORPS!! AND THE CORPS!!! AND THE CORPS!!!! We the people of America, salute COLONEL BARRAS, whose devotion to DUTY, whose devotion to HONOR.. And ABOVE ALL!!! …whose devotion to GOD and our COUNTRY!!!…the land that he loved…the land of the free and the home of the brave…will never…I say again…will NEVER be extinguished from our minds!!!!!!!… Unknown…
(5) On the night of 19-20 December an A-6A Intruder of VA-196 “The Main Battery” embarked in USS Constellation piloted by LT MICHAEL LORA BOUCHARD with LT ROBERT W. COLYAR in the rightseat as Bombardier/Navigator was downed on a night COMMANDO HUNT STRIKE near Savanakhet in Laos. Their Intruder was hit in the dive and exploded. LT COLYAR was able to eject and was subsequently rescued by an Air Force helicopter and RESCAP team the following day, barely escaping capture by the large force of North Vietnamese troops in the area. It is not known whether or not LT BOUCHARD was able to eject. He was listed as Missing in Action. Over time, three Bright Light Teams were dispatched to search for LT BOUCHARD without success. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency assesses LCDR BOUCHARD’s case to be in the “analytical category of Active Pursuit.” He is memorialized on the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. He remains where he fell on the battlefield fifty years ago…
(6) On 20 December an F-100D Super Sabre of the 306th TFS and 31st TFW out of Tuy Hoa piloted by MAJOR FORREST B. FENN was downed on a dusk COMMANDO HUNT strike on a target near Ban Kate northwest of the DMZ. AAA hit his aircraft in the forward fuselage requiring an almost immediate ejection over the target. He was hard pressed to evade searching enemy troops through a long night, but he did. And at dawn the next day an HH-3E of the 40th ARRS piloted by LT I. EGAN, United States Coast Guard (on exchange duty), made the rescue. It was the 1,500th rescue made by the SAR forces in Southeast Asia since the beginning of the war. OOHRAH…
(7) On 21 December an F-105D of the 354th TFS and 355th TFW out of Takhli, piloted by CAPTAIN RICHARD KENNETH ALLEE, was lost on a COMMANDO HUNT mission while attacking enemy troops near Ban Senphan, a few miles south of the MuGia Pass. CAPTAIN ALLEE was hit as he rolled in and continued his diving attack to deliver his bombs on the enemy concentration. He did not recover from the dive and was assumed to have been critically wounded at the top of his dive. He was not seen to eject and was carried as Missing in Action until 17 August 1979 when his status was changed to Killed in Action. During the interim he was promoted to Colonel. His crash site was excavated and his remains recovered and returned to the United States in December 1996. He rests in peace at Arlington Memory Gardens in Oklahoma City. COLONEL ALLEE was among the bravest of the brave and was awarded the AIR FORCE CROSS (Posthumously) for his extraordinary heroism….
(8) On 22 December an RF-4C of the 11th TRS and 432nd TRW out of Udorn piloted by CAPTAIN TERRY LYNN GREENHALGH with 1LT R.E. HOFFMAN in the rear cockpit was hit in the port wing while on a COMMANDO HUNT photographic mission over southern Laos. CAPTAIN GREENHALGH was able to fly the crippled aircraft back to Udorn but was killed during the landing. 1LT HOFFMAN survived the crash with minor injuries to fly and fight again. CAPTAIN GREENHALGH is buried at Lower Valley Memorial Gardens in Sunnyside, Washington. He rests in peace, glory gained and duty done fifty years ago…
RIPPLE SALVO. The COMMANDO HUNT areas of southern Laos were well defended and crawling with bad guys. Survival as a downed pilot was in the hands and guts of the Search and Rescue forces stationed in Thailand and South Vietnam. Capture was almost certain death. There were very few aviators downed and left behind in Laos who came home. Hundreds of aviators remain MIA, presumed Killed in Action, body not recovered, who parachuted into the jungles along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. Humble Host’s plan was to avoid capture at ALL costs. I carried a belt of extra ammo. If the Air Force A-1s and Jolly Greens were unable to make the rescue, I was determined to wage a private war.
I wasn’t alone. Air Force LT GORDON BREAULT, an F-4D backseater is on record on the subject (CHEATING DEATH by Col. George Marrett, page 169): “We believed the enemy had bounties on our ears. Most of us made the determination that we were going to be rescued, not captured. Everyone had a sidearm with about ten rounds. We always said we’d never be taken alive.”…
In my weekly COMMANDO HUNT postings it will be apparent how vital and active the intrepid aviators of the Search and Rescue units were in the air campaign to kill trucks on the Ho Chi Minh Trail… the following is snipped from an Air Force Report — SEARCH AND RESCUE IN SOUTHEAST ASIA, 1961-1975 by Earl H. Tilford, Jr– on the campaigns fought in Southeast Asia, including COMMANDO HUNT…
SEARCH AND RESCUE… The recovery tactics employed on each rescue mission required innovation and the application of aerial firepower. Rescue operations generally took preference over normal strike missions and aircraft were often diverted from their assigned targets to support the A-1s and rescue choppers. “On one mission in December 1969, 336 sorties were flown over a three-day period to help rescue forces recover a navigator evading capture new Ban Phanop, Laos, just outside Tchepone (a main stop on the HCM Trail). In addition to the A-1 and Jolly Green sorties, the Air Force used fifty F-105, forty-three F-4, four F-100, plus assorted O-1 and O-2 sorties. The Navy contributed a number of A-6 and A-4 sorties.
“Any friendly airplane in the sky might be diverted to drop bombs to support a search and rescue mission. Colonel William M. Harris, IV, commander of the 37th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron in 1971 and 1972, noted, ‘During my tour rescue efforts have called upon every conceivable military resource as … Air America, special ground teams, clandestine operations, frogmen, aircraft carriers, tanks, and so on. There is no limitation on tactics or concepts to be employed to effect a rescue.’
“In the summer of 1969 the Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service’s strength in Southeast Asia peaked with a high of seventy-one rescue aircraft operating in four squadrons under the 3rd Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Group (ARRG). The 37th and 40th squadrons, at Danang and Udorn, respectively, were responsible for aircrew recoveries over North and South Vietnam as well as Laos. The 38th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron (ARRS) had its headquarters at Tan Son Nhut. Within detachments at fourteen bases throughout South Vietnam and Thailand, they were responsible for local base rescue with aircrew recovery as a secondary mission. Finally, the 39th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron operated eleven HC-130Ps from its base at Tuy Hoa.
“Force levels remained steady into 1970 when withdrawal began as politicians sought a negotiated end to the conflict. There were technological improvements to be made, as the Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service strived to achieve a truly working night recovery system. Nevertheless, in the period between 1966 and 1970, Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Service units saved 980 aircrew members from captivity, suffering, and death in Laos, North Vietnam, and South Vietnam. In other rescue efforts, ranging from evacuation of the Citadel at Hue during the Tet offensive of 1968, to picking up battlefield casualties, an additional 1,059 lives were saved. It added up to a grand total of 2,039 human lives– 635 Air Force warriors, 550 Army, 322 Navy, 317 Marines, 157 civilians, and 58 other souls.”…SAVED…. OOHRAH…
Lest we forget… Bear…