RIPPLE SALVO… #103… CIA TS STUFF… but first…
Good Morning: Day ONE HUNDRED THREE of a review of Operation Rolling Thunder fifty years ago…
10 JUNE 1966…ON THE HOME FRONT…(NYT)… Friday full of rain in NYC… tomorrow too…
Page 1: ‘Tornado Toll Up to 14 In Topeka”…and 300 injured along the 15 mile swath of destruction that included the city of 120,000. The tornado also ripped through the campus of Washburn University, destroyed 300 homes and damaged 500 others. Fifty businesses blown away… Hurricane Alma passed over Florida panhandle into Georgia… Page 1: “A Daring Captain Saves Company” by ordering air strikes on his own position during a bitter three day battle with the 24th Regiment of the North Vietnamese army. In one of the biggest battles of the war the 1st Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division the young Captain asked that the aircraft be brought “in on top of me. We are being overrun and we might as well take some of them with us.” Battle is ongoing near Kontom, a mountain province near the Laos border 200 miles northeast of Saigon… Page 1: North Vietnam infiltrate 19,000 men into SVN in the first four months of 1966 and the Vietcong recruited 3,000 in the South…
Page 3: “500,000 More Troops Needed In Vietnam U.S. General Says” …Major General Ben Sternberg of the 101st Airborne division said the 500,000 more troops would be required to seal off the border of South Vietnam to infiltrators. the General was speaking to the Middle Tennessee Executive Council in Nashville having just returned from a 26 month tour in Vietnam. He said that a defeat in South Vietnam is possible, but an aide said later that the general had meant anything is possible and that he had not meant to imply defeat was probable or even conceivable. “I did not intend to paint a gloomy picture of the military situation in Vietnam or that the U.S. forces were in a hazardous situation. In fact, on the contrary. I stated that the United States forces had defeated the Vietcong and North Vietnamese on every occasion when they had met on the battlefield in open combat. the Vietcong are tough guerrilla fighters. They think they have us over a barrel because they feel the United States will become discouraged and withdraw its support for South Vietnam.”
Page 3: “Decline Of President’s Popularity In Polls Is Linked To Growth of Hawks”…”President Johnson is being told that his diminishing popularity in the public opinion polls can be attributed to an increase in the number of Americans who think he should step up the war. The most recent Gallup poll showed a drop to the 46% in proportion of Americans who approve of the way he is handling his job and the most recent Harris poll to 55%. President: “I urge you to remember that Americans grow impatient when they cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel–when policies do not overnight usher in new order. But politics is not magic when some of our fellow citizens despair of the tedium and the time necessary to bring change–and I mean no criticism of anyone–as an example, in Vietnam today, I believe they are really forgetting our history. Thirteen years elapsed in our colonies from the time we set out to become a nation.” The White House said: “There is no question that basic sentiment in the country is not to pull out of Vietnam. But people are asking why the United States is unable to end the war. Americans cannot understand why a country as powerful as theirs is not able to force the Communists to negotiate. Writer John Pomfret concluded the piece with: “The President’s policy is satisfying no one, neither the doves or the hardliners. The President always felt the Hawks would be a bigger challenge than the doves.”
Page 5: “Dirksen Contends President Is Not Candid On War”… Senator Everett Dirksen accused the President and his Administration of being neither “candid” nor “consistently credible” in their statements of United States policies and our position in Vietnam. The President met with 15 congressional committee chairmen and indicated that the morale of the Vietcong and their standing with villagers in the countryside is slipping… Page 56: Sports…”Pro Football Accord Likely To Bring Players Pay Raises As Bonuses Drop”… Average salary of Giants and Jets is $20,000. The Jets payroll for 40 players is $450,000…
10 JUNE 1966… PRESIDENT’S DAILY BRIEF….CIA (TS sanitized) South Vietnam: There have been no incidents reported in Hue’ in the wake of Saigon’s dispatch of some 350 combat police into the city today. Pro government forces there seem to be gradually getting the upper hand, though Buddhists continue their nonviolent protest gestures. General Thi displayed his irritation with Tri Quang and the struggle movement during a conversation today with a US consular officer. He said the movement has been infiltrated by Communists, and then he proceeded to name several. Thi was equivocal when asked whether he thought the present government could stay in power until after elections. He said that what the country really needs is a strong benevolent dictator to end the anarchy. He hinted he would be a good choice for the job… North Vietnam: A review of shipping from North Vietnam last month indicates that there was a notable reduction of coal exports as a result of the mid-April air strike against Cam Pha, site of the principal coal processing and transportation facilities. It appears that the entire deficit was deducted from Communist China’s quota. Deliveries to North Vietnam’s two major coal customers, Japan and France, were maintained at normal levels. (more in Ripple Salvo below)
10 JUNE 1966…ROLLING THUNDER OPERATIONS…. NYT (11 June reporting 10 June ops) Page 4: B-52s struck early in the morning 60 miles north of Saigon…the loss of a light observation plane and pilot for two days was reported… In North Vietnam U.S. Air Force and Navy pilots flew 60 missions, all involving more than one aircraft. In strikes in the panhandle and in the vicinity of Haiphong the Navy pilots destroyed 13 buildings, 15 cargo junks and barges and 4 trucks. The Air Force bombed near Dong Hoi, Dienbienphu, Hanoi and the Mugia Pass. They destroyed six barges, one bridge, seven buildings and tree railroad cars. B-2s joined the raging battle in the central highlands near the Laotian border and dropped 500 and 1000 pound bombs in an area where units of the North Vietnamese regiment are believed to be. One aircraft loss reported for 10 June 1966, fifty years ago today:
(1) CAPTAIN DAN BRUEN PACKARD was flying an O-1E from 20thTASS and the 505thTACG on a FAC mission near Ban Vangthen in Laos near the DMZ and was hit by ground fire while providing close air support control and crashed in the target area. There was no rescue attempt. CAPTAIN DAN BRUEN PACKARD was Killed in Action fifty years ago today. He died alone carrying the fight to the enemy…
RIPPLE SALVO…. #103… PRESIDENT’S DAILY BRIEF…. In September 2015 the CIA competed a “sanitizing” of the PDB and Memorandum For the Record (MFR) for the years of Rolling Thunder 1965-1968… Your Humble Host drags these out of the CIA archives in a never ending search for “the rest of the story.” Interesting stuff but no golden nuggets yet. Unfortunately, the CIA idea of “sanitizing” the notes for meetings held fifty years ago is ultra conservative, so I am panning dust, so far…. Some of the President’s briefs included longer updates with more background and analysis… Here is the Annex to the PDB of 10 June 1966, fifty years ago today… CIA (TS sanitized)…
“CHINESE COMMUNIST FORCES IN NORTH VIETNAM” (xxxx) = redacted portion
“Chinese Communist military forces in North Vietnam have not grown substantially since (xxxx) early March. The overall structure of these forces has become somewhat clearer since then, however. Also, photography has shown continued progress on major construction projects in the areas where the Chinese engineer units are located.
“Total troop strength in North Vietnam is now estimated to be between 30,000 and 47,000. This includes four engineer divisions, two anti-aircraft divisions, a coastal security division, three lesser units apparently associated with construction projects, and service units of perhaps regimental size. (xxxx)
“The (xxxx) Division, which moved to Kep area (xxxx) is installing an extra rail on the meter-guage rail from Kep to the Chinese border, thus making this segment of the track capable of handling both the meter-guage Vietnamese and the standard-guage line that is being constructed directly to the Thai Nguyen iron and steel complex, a large Chinese aid project.
“(xxxx) Recent photography shows extensive road construction and improvement in the area. This route is a good alternative to the more exposed rail and road routes into China farther east. (xxxx) what looks increasingly like airfield construction. One airfield is apparently being built in the Yen Bai area and the other in the Son Dong area some 20 miles west of Hanoi. These projects could be completed by the end of this year.
“The new air bases are probably being built for the North Vietnamese as part of a continuing Chinese effort to improve Hanoi’s air defenses. At present, there are only five airfields in all of North Vietnam capable of handling jet fighters. It is possible, of course, that these airfields may be intended for contingency use by the Chinese.” (xxxx)…….for half a page…..
If you were a back bencher for this brief on these improvements to the North Vietnam “integrated air defense system,” what would you be advising your boss to consider and recommend to the President? How about suggesting that these new facilities should be immediately targeted and remain targeted. What are we waiting for? Why give the MIGs options?
A final note for this RS #103, and an unhappy one it is. A dear friend of 58 years and shipmate on multiple tours, Bill Zipperer, lies in a coma in Florida tonight and he is in the hands of God and hospice. A warrior leader of great courage and skill is completing his life of service for his God, family and country. And my heart aches for he and his family as his sands run out. May God bless and keep you, Zip … Bear
Lest we forget….. Bear ………. –30– ………..