Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #71… LT CHUCK KLUSMANN …. but first…
Good Morning: Day SEVENTY-ONE of the long look back to Operation Rolling Thunder…
10 MAY 1966 (NYT)… A rainy Tuesday in both New York and Washington…
Page 1: “Market Declines Sharply; Auto Plans A Factor”… The Dow Jones Index fell to a nine month low in a general retreat based on Ford trimming auto output to 18,000 per month, a cut of about 2%, and cutting overtime…”Democrats Argue As Rusk defends Moves in Vietnam”… “In a Senate Foreign Aid funding debate televised nationally senator Wayne Morse lashed out at the Secretary of State calling the United States stand in Vietnam “unconscionable.” An “acerbic debate between Democrat members of the Foreign Relations Committee while the Republican members sat silent and let the Dems quarrel publicly over Viettnam. Oregon Democrat Morse challenged Secretary Rusk’s “fallacious prosecution of the Vietnam War that violates international law.”… “GIs And Terrorists Battle In Saigon”… An explosion near the United States billet set off a gunfight in the downtown streets of Saigon leaving a scene akin to a battlefield. Five terroists were killed. Eight Americans were among the 32 wounded in the fight…
Page 4: “Chinese Statement on 3rd Nuclear Test” … At 4PM (Peking time) on May 9, 1966, China successfully conducted over its western areas, a nuclear explosion that contained thermonuclear material. This experimental nuclear explosion is a new important achievement scored by the Chinese people in their efforts to further strengthen their national defense and safe guard the security of their country and the peace of the world.” With this development China moves ahead of France in nuclear bomb science… Page 6: “Vietnam War Problem” Writer A.P. Apple column from Saigon under a headline: “Allied Forces Are Winning Key Battles But Enemy Continues To Gain Strength.”…”More than 14 months after the first United States combat troops arrived here the progress of the war in Vietnam remains difficult to assess.” Americans win battles and kill more enemy and continue to increase the intensity of the air strikes, but progress is slow. In the first four months of 1966 16,000 NVN/VC troops have been killed versus a total of 4,800 SVN/US killed in action. Never-the-less, the Viet Cong have grown by 20,000 troops and control 10% of the country. The pacification program progress is making some progress. The article concludes with a prediction that NVN/VC offensive operations will increase in late May as a consequence of the start of monsoon rains that will hamper allied air power throughout South Vietnam…
Page 2: The Air War: “Jets Hit Missile Sites”… ” United States jets dodged 11 North Vietnam missiles yesterday 9 May in raids near Hanoi and Haiphong. The American planes hit two missile sites– one 30 miles northeast of Hanoi by the Air Force and one 12 miles northeast of Haiphong by the Navy. MIG 17s were airborne but there were no engagements with American aircraft. A total of 51 missions over North Vietnam were flown. One F-105D was downed on 8 May and the pilot is MIA. In air operations today, 10 May, 12 B-52 raids supported the 1st Infantry Division. “In North Vietnam: the Navy flew 44 missions. Navy pilots said they had destroyed 26 cargo barges and junks and damaged four bridges, 6 railroad box cars, and three railroad buildings in the panhandle region. The Air Force flew missions to Barrel Boll, North Vietnam and Steel Tiger…see next paragraph…
10 MAY 1966 ROLLING THUNDER OPS… Not a good day for Thuds…
CAPTAIN MARTIN H. MAHRT flying an F-105D of the 333rd TFS from the 355th TFW at Takli was downed on a Rolling Thunder mission by AAA while recovering from a dive attack on the ammunition depot at Yen Bai. He flew the burning aircraft 15 miles west of the target before ejecting and was rescued by an Air Force HH-3E in the deepest penetration for a helo rescue up to the date. CAPTAIN MAHRT was on his 88th mission over North Vietnam and 102nd total.
CAPTAIN JOHN EDWARD BAILEY flying an F-105D of the 469th TFS of the 388th TFW at Korat was downed by anti-aircraft fire while executing an armed reconnaissance mission 15 miles north of the DMZ. CAPTAIN BAILEY may have been hit in the cockpit and disabled as the aircraft was flown clear of the target area but flew into the ground with no ejection observed. CAPTAIN BAILEY was Killed in Action. His remains were recovered in 1995 and were identified as those of CAPTAIN BAILEY in March of 1999.
1LT G.L. CLOUSER flying an F-105D of the 355 TFW at Takli downed during a Bullpup attack on a troop position near Sam Neua in Barrel Roll. He ejected 7 miles from Sam Neua was subsequently rescue by an Air Force HH-3E. The loss was the third Thunderchief downed in a one hour period in three distant target areas.
RIPPLE SALVO… IN THE BEGINNING… Laos 1962-1964… LT CHARLES KLUSMANN…
The Geneva Accords of 1962 ended the French-Indochina war and established the boundaries and rules for keeping the peace throughout Indochina. By 1964 fighting between all parties was underway again. The North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao, the Laotian communist fighters, teamed up to take on the Royal Laotian Army and Neutralist forces under General Kong Le. The Pathet Lao kicked off a major offensive in the Spring of 1964. The International Control Commission was at a loss to enforce the Geneva Accords and the peace as the Soviet Union and the United States entered the fray with support for their respective combatants. It was an un-secret war. As the fight heated up the United States deployed four carriers to the western Pacific and in June of 1964 had Bon Homme Richard, Ticonderoga, Constellation, and Kitty Hawk available to support the Laotian government. The carriers became “the Yankee Team.” The Navy carrier based RF-8A photo reconnaissance aircraft and Air Force RF-101s from Tan Son Nhut became vital to American and Royal Laotian/Neutralist interests. Air Force F-100s were based at Takli and Danang to provide escort coverage for the photo birds.
Unarmed Air Force and Navy photo recon pilots were authorized by President Johnson ( and Prince Souvanna Phouma ) in May 1964 to begin gathering photos for the use of the Royal Laotian T-28 strike aircraft in defending against the North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao offensive in the Plain de Jars in northern Laos. Early recon flights verified the violations of the Geneva Accords by the North Vietnamese including photos of sixteen AAA sites with 37/57mm guns in place. On 21 May 1964 LT CHARLES FREDERIC KLUSMANN of VFP-63 attached to USS Kitty Hawk launched in an RF-8A Crusader and executed a photo reconnaissance mission over Laos. He sustained battle damage that led to a fire in flight that burned for 20 minutes as he flew the damaged aircraft back to Kitty Hawk. He landed without incident.
LT KLUSMANN was launched again on 6 June to cover much of the same areas photographed in his precious flights. Again he encountered ground fire, but on this day his luck roan out and he was forced to eject near communist troops. He was able to evade for a time as communist troops chased after him. An Air America helicopter made a valiant effort to rescue him but was driven off by enemy ground fire that wounded two of the helo crew. A second attempt was underway when the enemy troops closed on LT KLUSMANN and he waved the second helo away. He was captured by the Pathet Lao on 6 June 1964. On 30 August 1964 LT KLUSMANN, in the company of two Royal Lao POWs escaped to hide in the jungle, reach a government camp, and be extricated by an Air America helicopter four days later for a return trip to friendly territory.
LT KLUSMANN’s RF-8A Crusader was the first US Navy aircraft loss of the Vietnam War. LT KLUSMANN is among the very few who were able to successfully escape captivity and return to fly and fight another day. Chuck Klusmann continued his outstanding career as a fighter pilot, Tailhooker, naval officer, and leader of men. He retired as a Captain in 1980. His extra ordinary career is well documented by Wikipedia and other internet posts. It is my honor to add one in 2016.
The events in Laos in June 1964 were reported in the Chinese media and picked up by American outlets. Outcries of protest by the world press and the American public resulted in the American operations in Laos becoming fully classified and kept very secret (?) until 1970.
Nearly 600 Americans lost their lives in Laos during the “Vietnam War.” THE PATHET LAOS ADVERTISED PUBLICLY THAT THEY HELD “tens of tens” OF AMERICAN PRISONERS…BUT…
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA DID NOT NEGOTIATE FOR THEIR RELEASE AND AS A CONSEQUENCE, NOT ONE AMERICAN PRISONER IN LAOS WAS EVER RELEASED….
LEAVE NO MAN BEHIND???
Lest we forget… Bear ………… –30– ……….
Nor did we get any returned from the USSR or China. We did get 10 returned who were captured in Laos, but then were held in the North Vietnam prison system. The ten included 7 Air Force pilots, one CIA pilot and two missionaries. HOWEVER, they were not on the original list of those to be returned but when the initial POW’s went through debrief at Clark AB the ten were identified and Mr. Kissinger was forced to return to Paris and get there release. One of the returning pilots told me the camp commander where he was held told him”you were shot down in Laos and you will go home when that war is over”. I was an escort officer for two of the returning POW’s.