Good Morning … Day EIGHT of our long look back to Operation Rolling Thunder… Fifty Years Ago…
8 MARCH 1966 (NYT)…ON THE HOMEFRONT … It is Tuesday. Page one features Sec Def Robert McNamara’s concern that Red China will achieve the ability to deliver atomic weapons to a range of 700 miles within three years. The war coverage starts on page 7 with Neil Sheehan’s reports from Saigon, mostly details from the Rolling Thunder ops of the past week. He wrote, “… the air war has reached a new intensity,” with 71 missions directed at the destruction of targets in North Vietnam in a single day. Interdiction of the enemy transportations system to “…hinder the movement of men and material to the south,” was the objective of the missions. Ranger and Kitty Hawk struck the Vinh and Dong Hoi regions. The Air Force Thunderchiefs struck targets west of Vinh, along the railway system NW of Hanoi, and dodged six SAMs. Buried in a corner on a back page: a report of the US KIA losses for the previous week – 47 KIA. War is a killing business.
8 MARCH 1966…ROLLING THUNDER… A day without the loss of any aircraft is a day of joy forever. Thank you, Jesus.
Ripple Salvo: For Every Action a Reaction. Our early days of Rolling Thunder strikes were, by design, armed reconnaissance missions directed against: the lines of communication (LOC), infiltration routes through the passes into Laos, targets of opportunity, and vehicles and boats. Objective: Impede and destroy NVN throughput from the North. Through March, April and May 1966, the weather was unsatisfactory for effective day VFR dive bombing and there were few opportunities for major coordinated Rolling Thunder strikes. However, the concentration of our effort to interdict and destroy the enemy flow of material and men through the panhandle and passes was effective enough to cause the enemy to react and expand their LOC to include bypasses and alternates for every route south. They dispersed logistic centers and way points and put huge emphasis on construction and maintenance of the LOCs. In addition, NVN beefed up manpower and fast reaction repair capabilities, all in reaction to the American interdiction campaign in early 1966.The enemy proved , again, their ability to react and persevere, as they had in World War II and in the 1950s against the French. History records the comment of a French Foreign Legionnaire survivor at Dien Bien Phu: “…and still the little people keep coming.”
I led a flight of VA-113 A4s on a mission to crater the “runway” at Bai Thong, about 20 miles west of Thanh Hoa, in the spring of 1967. The requirement was to keep the little landing site unusable, and thereby preclude an unexpected forward deployment and surprise attack by a MiG or two from Kep or somewhere north. My four A4s, each with 6 MK-82s did a nice job on the short super dirt runway that day. On the way east from the target returning to Enterprise I spread the flight into loose cruise, all eyeballs formation, and picked up a likely road headed southeast. A few miles down the road I spotted a mass of people on bicycles headed south. I called out the target and told the guys to arm up for a staffing pass on what I reasoned was a suitable target. When you are in enemy lands, if it moves, kill it, is a good thumb rule. I dropped down a little lower as I closed on the group and as I pulled up and left to get some altitude and into position for the strafing pass, I had second thoughts. My conscience spoke: “Taylor, that looked like a group of nuns going for a picnic.” I radioed to my flight, “Knock it off, it looks like a bunch of nuns going for a picnic.” And we proceeded down the road and found a couple of barges in a canal to hole with our 20mm ammo. When I got back to the ship and the debriefing by our Ensign Air Intelligence Officer, I ran through a summary of where and how the flight went. I told him about the nuns. The Ensign assumed the posture and demeanor of an old and nasty female algebra teacher I had in high school, and proceeded to scold me as he showed me a picture of a North Vietnamese regular, in his black pajamas, stepping lively, and pushing his bicycle loaded with 600-ponds of supplies – everything he would need to fight and survive for one year of combat in the south. That, times 60, was what my conscience had told me was a group of nuns. The Ensign’s debrief stinger: “Sir, you let sixty real bad guys get away to fight another day.” The lesson for me: war is a killing business, and on the battlefield, conscience must not rule. No mercy.
Another lesson: “…and still the little men keep coming.” The NVN were a tide that could not be stopped by our air power and Rolling Thunder in 1966.
Of the 2.7 million Americans who served in Vietnam, less than 850,000 are estimated to be alive today, and all but a few are drawing Social Security. We are a declining cohort in the senior generation. Count your blessings. Now is a great time to add your favorite memory of Rolling Thunder to the legacy of a great cadre of warriors who took the Vietnam War to the homeland of the enemy. Write. Let your light shine. Option: write it, send to me by email, and I’ll smooth it up for the history books.
Lest we forget. Bear Taylor.