COMMEMORATING THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE VIETNAM WAR… IN THE WEEK ENDING 30 NOVEMBER 1968, 228 BRAVE AMERICANS WERE KILLED IN ACTION, BRINGING THE TOTAL KILLED FIGHTING IN SOUTH VIETNAM SINCE 1961 TO 29,865. TOTAL WOUNDED: 188,159… LEST WE FORGET…
Good Morning. It’s Monday, 4 March 2019. Humble Host remembers Week Four of COMMANDO HUNT I– 3-9 DECEMBER 1968…
HEADLINES from The NEW YORK TIMES (3-9 Dec 1968)…
THE WAR: (3 Dec) ENEMY POSITIONS IN DMZ POUNDED–Contacts In Zone Total 29 Since U.S. Bombing Halt…”United States guns and planes pounded enemy positions in the demilitaized zone twice during the last 36 hours in the first combat actions in almost a week. The actions brought to 29 the number of engagements in the six-mile wide buffer strip since the United States halted attacks against North Vietnam on Nov. 1… Aerial observers directed air strikes against the guns, then called in artillery fire on supplies nearby. Several secondary explosions–of ammunition and fuel stores–were set off by the bombs and artillery shells.”… TWENTY-FOUR HOUR HOLIDAY TRUCE ANNOUNCED IN VIETNAM… (4 Dec) BATTLESHIP NEW JERSEY JOINS PLANES IN STRIKES ON POSITIONS IN DMZ… “American fighter-bombers and the battleship New Jersey struck against enemy gun positions that fired from the DMZ on U.S. reconnaissance planes yesterday for the third consecutive day.”… “In ground action troops of the United States First Cavalry Division (Air Mobile) fought a sharp battle near the Cambodian border…23 Americans had been killed and 82 wounded in the four hour battle.”… SOUTH KOREANS KILL 93 NORTH VIETNAMESE… “…At least 12 prisoners were taken…The clash took place on the Goboy Plain north of Quinhon.”… (5 Dec) PLANE DAMAGED BY MISSILE… “Soviet-made surface-to-air missiles damaged a United States Navy reconnaissance plane and narrowly missed another over North Vietnam yesterday. Both planes returned to their carrier. It was the second such incident since 1 Nov.”… (6 Dec) U.S. REPORTS RISE IN COMBAT DEATHS– (228 KIA week ending 30 Nov)… MAIL CALL IN SAIGON: 1,000 TONS EACH DAY… (7 Dec) ENEMY GUNS SHELL VIETNAMESE CITIES WITH LITTLE EFFECT… DEFECTIONS FROM VIETCONG INCREASE… “… 2,200 in October and another 2,200 in November, totals higher than in any other month of 1968.”… (8 Dec) MARINES BATTLE TO CLOSE CORDON–They Lose 8 Men and Kill 22 in Action Near Danang… “Bitter fighting broke out yesterday as United States marines tightened a cordon around an enemy force entrenched south of Danang.”… (Dec 9) Terrence Smith reporting from Ubon…U.S. PLANES AT THAI BASES STEP UP BOMBING IN LAOS…”Camouflaged in green and black, Phantom F-4D fighter-bombers roar off the runway of this sprawling base in eastern Thailand all day and night. Loaded with bombs and flying in tight formation, they streak towards the Laotian border, just 45 miles to the east. The planes usually are back at the base in little more than an hour, their undersides free of bombs. The planes have been striking targets along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, the enemy supply route, since Nov. 1 when the American bombing of North Vietnam was halted… United States Navy warplanes have virtually stopped bombing targets in South Vietnam and are being used, along with Air Force B-52s, to strike bases and routes in Laos… Their targets are the dirt roads and twisting jungle paths that are the principal route by which North Vietnamese supplies and reinforcements are moved to South Vietnam…. this flow of equipment averages 60 tons a day.”…
PEACE TALKS IN PARIS: (3 Dec) U.S. AND NORTH VIETNAMESE CONFER ON PLANS FOR SESSIONS IN PARIS…”…started confidential talks today to arrange the first formal session of a broadened Vietnam conference…no date has been set for the proposed meeting.”… (4 Dec) NIXON SAID TO ASK LODGE TO REPLACE HARRIMAN IN PARIS–Ex-Ambassador to Vietnam Is Termed Eager to Serve at Peace Negotiations–A Delay Is Indicated–Final Action Not Expected Until a New Secretary of State Can Be Consulted… SAIGON AIDE REACHES PARIS… “Nguyen Thieu Nhon, a member of Vice President Nguyen Cao Ky’s delegation to the peace talks arrived here today.”… HARRIMAN AND RUSK CONFER… “…the chief United States negotiator at the preliminary talks in Paris reported to Secretary of State Dean Rusk on the expanded talks expected to open next week…”… (5 Dec) HARRIMAN TO ASK A FORMAL TRUCE AT DMZ AT TALKS–Seeks To Replace Informal Arrangement With Hanoi–sees Nixon Today…. (6 Dec) NIXON RULES OUT SENDING AN ENVOY TO TALKS IN PARIS BEFORE HE TAKES OFFICE JAN 20.–Repeats Earlier Stand After Harriman Says Observer Will Probably Be Named”… SAIGON HOUSE DELAYS ACTION ON TALKS… (7 Dec) KY TELLS VIETNAM CHANCE OF PEACE AT TALKS IS GOOD–Delegation Determined, But ‘Full of Goodwill,’ He Says–Seating Still an Issue… TABLE FOR PARLEY KEY ISSUE IN PARIS–Vance and Hanoi Aide Settle Some Procedural Points…”The major outstanding difference remaining concerns the table or tables to be used in the meeting.”… (8 Dec) BACKING ON TALKS IS VOTED IN SAIGON AND TEAM LEAVES FOR PARIS–Legislature In Joint Session Approves by 80-21–Meeting Called Tense–Goodwill Asserted–Thieu Sees Ky and Party Off–Says Outcome in Paris Is Up To Communists… SAIGON MEN PLAN FOR LONG STAY–Team Will Try to Show It Represents Solid Regime…
OTHER NEWS OF THE WEEK: (3 Dec) KISSINGER NAMED A KEY NIXON AIDE IN DEFENSE POLICY–Job Of Overhauling Work Of National Security Council Given Harvard Expert–New Emphasis Sought–President-Elect Says Top Advisor Will Specialize in Long-Term Planning… JORDAN AND ISRAEL RENEW HEAVY ARTILLERY EXCHANGE–Air Strike In Jordan… NASSER ASSERTS THAT SUEZ FRONT IS GREATEST THREAT TO ISRAEL… (4 Dec) ISRAEL JETS SILENCE ARTILLERY IN JORDAN FOR SECOND DAY… POLICE REPEL STUDENTS AT COLLEGE IN SAN FRANCISCO… “Club swinging policemen kept 700 student strikers from disrupting classes today at San Francisco State College. Reporters watched the police beat dozens of demonstrators to the ground. Students broke furniture and used the pieces as clubs against the police….31 persons were arrested on felony charges”… ANTI-WAR LEADERS TELL HEARING YOUTH PROTESTS WILL GET WORSE…”The organizers of antiwar street protests during the Democratic National Convention told a Congressional committee today that youthful protests would get worse as today’s ‘7 and 8 year olds’ grow up into rebels. ‘There will continue to be rebellions as long as we elect people like Mayor Daley and Richard Nixon,’ Rennard Davis told the House Committee on Un-American Activities.”… HEAD OF CHICAGO POLICE DENIES HIS OFFICERS RIOTED IN AUGUST… (5 Dec) CHIEF JUSTICE WARREN CONSENTS TO NIXON REQUEST TO STAY ON UNTIL JUNE–Yields To Plea That He Remain To Prevent Disruption In Court Work… IRAQI POSITIONS IN JORDAN RAIDED BY ISRAELI JETS–Attackers Tell of Striking 40 Miles From Border–9 Israeli Aircraft Lost, Arabs Say... (6 Dec) APOLLO 8 IS SET TO LAND IN THE DARK–Pre-Dawn Return From Moon On December 27 Is Announced… OPED: “Tyranny on Campus“… (7 Dec) ARMY TO RELEASE 20,000 MEN EARLY–Acts To Demobilize Guard and Reserve Next Year–Draft Calls To Rise… U.S. IS SAID TO NOTIFY SOVIET IT IS READY FOR MISSILE TALKS–Moscow’s View Is Asked On Time, Place and Level For Delayed Meeting–Summer Move Studied–Nixon Reported To Agree To Johnson Intitiative For Restricting Weapons… (8 Dec) ISRAEL CURBS ARAB TRAVEL IN CAMPAIGN AGAINST SABOTAGE–Measures Start Today–Jordan Urges Liberation… COMMUNIST CHINA PURIFYING IT’S CLASS RANKS IN WIDE PURGE… (9 Dec) LAIRD REPORTED CHOICE OF NIXON TO HEAD DEFENSE–House Republican, Age 46, Has Taken Hard Line On War–Selection A Surprise… GREAT SOCIETY: WHAT IT WAS, WHERE IT IS–Federal Domestic Role Has Increased Ten-Fold In The Johnson Era…
OPERATION COMMANDO HUNT I… PACIFIC AIR FORCES: Southeast Asia Air Operations… November 1968… Declas 2/92…
MONTHLY SUMMARY (11/68)… 346 attack sorties were flown in North Vietnam before the bombing halt became effective at 2100H, 1 November. Traffic flow at the end of November indicates Mark-36 Destructors previously seeded were not seriously inpeding the enemy. Reconnaissance aircraft were escorted by fighter aircraft over North Vietnam after ground fire reaction began on 7 November. Information obtained from reconnaissance photos indicate heavy rebuilding, repair and resupply efforts by the enemy. Average weekly vehicle sightings increased sharply from 363 during previous period to 1,002 during the 28 October–1 December period. Average weekly waterborne logistices craft sighting decreased from 284 to 138 during this same period.
The volume and intensity of the resupply effort appears massive. Supplies passing south through MuGia Pass appear destined for use in Laos and/or South Vietnam. Increased supply movement is also prevalent north to Hanoi and beyond.
The continued photo reconnaissance effort permits a factual appraisal of the enemy’s efforts. RF-4C aircraft flew 108 photo reconnaissance sorties over North Vietnam during November.
Attack sorties in Laos increased 169% (12,821 in November versus 4,764 in October) following the North Vietnam bombing halt. Heavy pressure was maintained on South Laos lines of communications against the flow of enemy supplies moving south. Sorties in support of ground operations increased in North Laos (Barrel Roll). Expanded controls over aircraft operations were imposed to handle the additional flights in Laos and to prevent North Vietnam border incursions. Pilots and Roadwatch Teams sighted 7,686 vehicles from 28 October to 1 December. 15% of the 3,556 trucks sighted by pilots were destroyed/damaged.
Barrel Roll attack sorties increaed 89% to 1,296. Strikes were primarily against troop concentrations, supply areas and gun positions. Attack sorties in Steel Tiger increased 183% to 11,525 during November. 8,380 attack sorties were flown by the USAF, 2,312 by the USN, and 833 by the USMC. OPERATION COMMANDO HUNT I, a closely integrated and centrally directed U.S. air campaign against the enemy logistices system, began 15 November. Approximately two-thirds of the Steel Tiger sorties flown after 15 November were within the COMMANDO HUNT area. Allied forces in South Vietnam continued on the initiative, pressing the enemy into combat where possible. Heavy use of tactical air, armed helos, fixed-wing gunships and artillery contributed to the continuing high trend of enemy versus friendly KIA ratio.
B-52 Arc Light sorties in SEA decreased from 1,849 in October to 1,790 in November. All November B-52 sorties were flown in South Vietnam and Laos.
Of 56 allied aircraft lost to enemy action in November, 38 were helicopters. The 50 aircraft losses in South Vietnam is the fourth lowest of the year. Twenty-five enemy attacks were launched against friendly air bases/airfields. Seventy-one aircraft were damaged during these atacks, but none were destroyed.
5 SAM firings were reported during November. No aircraft were lost to SAMs.
FINDINGS: The reconnaissance effort in North Vietnam shows clearly the character of the massive resupply, repair, and rebuilding efforts underway. Large sea-going vessels, two lane traffic, and exposed supply depots are common from the DMZ to Hanoi and beyond.
AIRCRAFT LOSSES 3 THROUGH 9 DECEMBER 1968… References include: Chris Hobson’s VIETNAM: AIR LOSSES… Seven aircraft and four aviators were lost…
(1) On 3 December an OV-1A of VMO-2 and MAG-16 operating out of Marble Mountain piloted by 1LT ROBERT LYON NORTON, USMC, and 1LT ROBERT ARTHUR CARNEY, USMC, was lost after completing an artillery spotting mission six miles south of Danang. The pilot radioed intention to conduct a short reconnaissance of “Happy Valley,” an area southwest of Danang, and disappeared. The wreckage of the aircraft and the remains of the two Marine aviators were later found and recovered. It was presumed the aircraft had been downed by ground fire. 1LT ROBERT NORTON and 1LT ROBERT CARNEY, who flew, fought and died together, are buried in Arlington National Cemetery, together, under a dual headstone…
(2) On 3 December an F-4D of the 497th TFS and 8th TFW out of Ubon piloted by MAJOR C.L. GALLANGER and 1LT D.K. CHASTAIN was downed on a Night Owl mission over the Ho Chi Minh Trail near Ban Senphan and the exit of the Mugia Pass. The aircraft was hit by AAA and both aviators successfully ejected, parachuted safely into the jungle, evaded the enemy and were rescued by a USAF HH-53 Jolly Green out of Nakhon Phanom…. To fly and fight, again…
(3) On 6 December an F105D of the 357th TFS and 355th TFW out of Takhli piloted by CAPTAIN R.M. WALKER was one of four Thunderchiefs striking a POL site near Ban Soppeng opposed by 57mm ground fire. CAPTAIN WALKER was hit while in a dive on the target and was able to maneuver a few miles from the guarded target before ejecting to be rescued by one of the bravest-of-the-brave, HH-3 driver LCOL ROYAL BROWN out of Nakhon Phanom, who would earn one of his Silver Stars for intrepid performance on the 21 November 1970 Son Tay Raid…
(4) On 8 December an A-1J of the 602nd SOS and 56th SOW piloted by MAJOR T.H. O’CONNOR was downed on his third strafing pass on a enemy troops near Sopka in Northern Laos (Barrel Roll). Small arms fire created an airframe fire requiring MAJOR O’CONNOR to eject a few miles from the enemy troops. He was rescued by an Air Force helicopter, but not without difficulty… A squadronmate Captain Pirruccello would fall in the rescue effort…
(5) Two hours after MAJOR O’CONNOR was downed, CAPTAIN JOSEPH SAMUEL PIRRUCCELLO, JR of the 602nd SOS was flying an A-1J supporting the RESCAP helicopter. After several runs suppressing ground fire throughout the Sopka area to allow the Jolly Green an opening to make the rescue of MAJOR O’CONNOR, CAPTAIN PIRRUCCELLO’s Spad was hit by ground fire and failed to recover from the attack. He was not seen to eject and was declared killed in action. Greater love hath no man than to lay down his life for his brother…
The following is quoted from the book CHEATING DEATH: Combat Air Rescues in Vietnam and Laos by COLONEL GEORGE J. MARRETT, USAF, a great storyteller whose squadron was on the scene that day… (Page 140-141)…
“On the morning of December 8, 1968, the day Tom O’Conner got shot down and rescued, Gene McCormack briefed Joe Pirruccello on the high speed stall characteristics of the single seat-H and J models. The planes were very unforgiving of pilots who manhandled them during a steep dive and rapid pullout low to the ground.
“Squadron commander (Lieutenant) Colonel (Walter) Stueck was also flying on O’Connor’s rescue. Stueck later said, ‘Pirruccello’s A-1 exploded on contact with the ground then careened back into the air and ran smack into a karst mountain about five hundred feet high.’ Colonel Stueck didn’t see Pirruccello eject or parachute to the ground. He had no doubt in his mind that Joe Pirruccello was killed. Even after 32 years, he can still vividly see Pirruccello’s Skyraider crash into the mountain. Whether Pirruccello was hit by ground fire or simply pulled too many Gs in the stall-prone J-model was never known.
“Gene McCormack, who had briefed Pirruccello only hours earlier about the J-model’s stall characteristic, grieved over the loss. He said, ‘I guess I wasn’t a good briefer–the high-speed stall got Pirruccello.’ McCormack felt Pirrucello’s loss greatly, but Joe Pirruccello was flying the plane and made his own decision on dive angle and pull-up point. We are individually responsible for our own flying techniques and the risks we took in attempting to save another pilot. That fact didn’t lessen the pain and frustration we felt in losing a squadron plot and good friend.'”…
CAPTAIN PIRRUCCELLO went down in an area of many caves where many Americans were known to be held, out of sight from aircraft searching overhead. Any hope that the Captain survived was dashed when the POWs were released in 1973. He was declared killed in action, body not recovered; a status valid today. He is memorialized at the USAFA…
(6) On 8 December an F-105D of the 354th TFS and 355th TFW out of Takhli piloted by 1LT ROBERT ALAN REX was lost on a mission in Barrel Roll. 1LT REX rolled in on his first dive attack, was hit by ground fire in the run and failed to eject before the Thunderchief flew into the ground. His remains were recovered by a joint US and Laotian team in 1994 and positively identified in 1996. The young warrior was buried at the Randolph, Utah cemetery on 25 July 1996, where he rests in peace…
(7) On 9 December an RF-4C of the 11th TRS and 432nd TRW out of Udorn piloted by MAJOR ROBERT I. McCANN, with CAPTAIN J.B. KOEBBERTLING in the rear cockpit, was downed on a photo reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam. The photo Phantom was hit by 37mm fire at 7,000-feet and 540 knots 25 miles northwest of Dong Hoi . MAJOR McCANN was able to keep the crippled F-4 flying east to enable an over-water ejection. The pair of aviators came down about one mile at sea and were rescued by an Air Force SAR helo. MAJOR McCANN would go on to log more than 150 missions with 100 over the North. He would retire a a General officer… oohrah…
RIPPLE SALVO…The New York Times, 5 DECEMBER 1968, Page 1:
BOMBING HALT LEADS BOTH SIDES TO SHIFT TACTICS IN VIETNAM by Douglas Robinson, Dateline Saigon, South Vietnam, 4 December–
“‘It would be easy if we just knew what the enemy was going to do,’ an American officer lamented recently as he stared out at the rugged mountains that stretch across the demilitarized zone into North Vietnam. ‘Before the bombing halt, we kind of knew what he was up to and how to react,’ he continued. ‘Now we don’t know whether he’s going to jump or lie down.’
“The impatience voiced by the officer could easily have come from a majority of the allied military commanders in South Vietnam these days as they wait and watch, their minds occupied with thoughts of the Paris talks and the battlefield at the same time. In the month since President Johnson announced the halt in attacks against targets in North Vietnam, there has been a slow but perceptible change in military tactics on both sides. For the Americans the change has brought an increased emphasis on wresting control of villages and hamlets from the Vietcong, the placing of troop screens along the Cambodian border to keep down infiltration while at the same time occasionally attempting to lure the enemy into a fight, and close watching for enemy movement in the demilitarized zone. For the Vietcong and North Vietnamese, it has brought a call for increased guerrilla warfare to keep the allies out of the hamlets, threats of pending invasions, retreat into sanctuaries in Cambodia and Laos to refurbish and resupply mauled troops, and a new wave of terrorism against the civilian population.
“‘The door is open to gain new villages for the South Vietnamese Government,’ says one high-ranking officer in Saigon. ‘In some parts of the Mekong Delta and in the provinces along the Cambodian border, it is total war.’ In the delta and in the Central Lowlands, American and South Vietnamese units are increasing their efforts to take over villages long held by the Vietcong. The cordon operation, in which a large body of troops surrounds an area suspected of containing a large number of enemy soldiers or cadres, is increasingly coming into use.
“The emphasis in this drive is on elimination of the Vietcong’s shadow government, which the military calls the infrasructure. There are signs that the accelerated effort to get control of the hamlets is succeeding. Just today it was announced that the Government had succeeded in ‘planting the flag’ in 250 hamlets near Saigon occupied by more than 300,000 peasants in little more than a month.
OTHER AREAS YET TO REPORT
“The countrywide goal is to assert control over a total of a thousand formerly contested hamlets containing more than a million people by January. Today’s report from the III Corps area, embracing the eleven provinces around Saigon, means that in the Saigon area the accelerated pacification program has been virtually completed. The official reports from the other corps areas are not yet in. ‘The problem with the village programs is that once we’re in a village, we have to leave South Vietnamese militia there to guard it while we move on to the next hamlet,’ said the high-ranking officer. ‘At this point in the war, we can’t afford to tie up large numbers of troops to guard villages. When the military is in a village in force, the residents are just fime,’ he added. ‘When we start to leave, they get nervous.’
ALLIES SEEK TO DRAW OUT FOE
“At present there is at least one large-scale cordon operation under way–Operation Meade River south of Danang–involving several thousand troops that have surrounded territory where there are large numbers of enemy soldiers. More than 400 Vietcong and North Vietnamese have already been killed and the Americans are slowly drawing the noose tighter around several hundred more. To the northwest of Saigon, a large number of helicopter-borne troops are for the most part keeping enemy units bottled up in their rest camps and bases in Cambodia. Occasionlly the allies draw the enemy into a fight, and occasionally they are successful.
“The rice fields and tree lines, between Saigon and the border, however, still hold large cumbers of Vietcong and North Vietnamese regulars, and there are almost daily skirmishes that take a steady toll of American lives. Clashes in the demilitarized zone are continuing as the North Vietnamee continue to move troops into the buffer area and the Americans atack them out with artillery and air strikes. Although the United States has stopped bombing the North, there are many reconnaissance flights each day over the DMZ and indeed over a large part of North Vietnam. At least three planes have been shot down. When the antiaircraft fire comes from the buffer zone, artillery shells are directed at the positions.
CHANGE IN NORTHERN AREA
“For the most part, however, the North Vietnamese troops have been driven out of the northern provinces and here too, the Americans are turning their attention to cleaning out the infrastructure in the scattered towns and villages. The enemy, for its part, is keeping up a steady drumfire of threats to destroy the allied combat units and pacification teams, both by guerrilla warfare and by a new offensive. ‘We think that these threats are primarily for local consumption,’ one intelligence source said. ‘The threat of a new offensive, we think, is designed to help keep up the morale of the enemy troops.’
“The bigger threat, he said, comes from the calls for more guerrilla warfare, since they led to attacks on allied outposts and ambushes. Since the bombing halt, 439 South Vietnamese have been reported killed in terrorist attacks, a rise over the number of those killed in the fall and summer months. The South Vietnamese warn that an increase in such terror attacks is to be expected. Many American officers around the country fear the growth of a Korean-War situation if the peace talks are protracted. In that war, fighting went on for two years after talks began. These leaders feel that the enemy will stall at the bargaining table while consistently pecking away at allied troops in the field. But their fear is not universally shared. ‘Drawn-out talks may be in our favor,’ said one general. ‘It will sure give us a chance to root out more cadres and to take more and more enemy-held villages under our wing.’
“Many high-ranking American officers concede that the largest threat to the allied military position in South Vietnam lies in the enemy’s ability to retreat from the battlefield entirely, leaving an enormous war machine to churn along in high-gear with no place to go. ‘If the enemy drew back for a year,’ one military leader remarked, the outcry to ‘bring the boys home’ would be tremendous. ‘Then once we left, the enemy could come back and pickup the marbles,’ he said.”…. End Douglas Robinson report….
HUMBLE HOST END NOTE: Ponder, if you will, the wisdom of that last remark: “If the enemy drew back for a year, the outcry to bring our boys home would be tremendous. Then once we left, the enemy could come back and pickup the marbles.”…. But the enemy did not draw back, they chose instead to “fight while talking.” And the war went on: for another 52 months; another 1,565 more days of inhuman imprisonment for Joey Crecca and more than 500 other Red River Valley Rats and Yankee Air Pirates housed in the Hanoi Hilton; and most tragically, another 28,355 American troops would be called on to lay down their lives in a war that never should have been fought.
Lest we forget… Bear…