RIPPLE SALVO… #163… “MAKE HASTE TO REASSURE ME.”…. but first…
Good Morning: Day ONE HUNDRED SIXTY-THREE of a 1,000 day-by-day return to Operation Rolling Thunder…
11 AUGUST 1966…PAGE ONE OF THE HOME TOWN NEWSPAPER… NYT… A partly cloudy Thursday with showers tonight..
Page 1: “24 Die Including Civilians In U.S. Jet Strike In South”…”United States Air Force jets killed 24 persons, eight civilians and possibly some Vietcong in an air strike Tuesday on two Vietcong controlled hamlets eight miles west of the southern province capital. The number of wounded was put at 84. The officers reported that a South Vietnamese capital of the province Chief of Staff had requested the raid after highly reliable intelligence had indicated that a Vietcong company was in the area of the hamlets which form part of a village 80 miles south of Saigon. Two F-100s carried out the strike dropping napalm and anti-personnel weapons. They also fired 20mm cannon shells that burst on impact. ‘We’re all very broken up about the casualties,’ said LCOL Josia Wallace, the chief advisor of the province…Inquiries after the incident showed that two Vietcong platoons had been in the hamlet and had held peasants at gun point but fled as the F-100s came on scene.”… Page 1: “American Plan Thrust In Delta”… “American strategists are making detailed plans for placing a sizeable United States military force into the Mekong delta regions of South Vietnam. Although the delta has been relatively quiet militarily for months American planners feel it serves as the primary source of rice, tax money and conscripts for the Vietcong and must be denied them if the war is to be won. The delta is a difficult region to master. Neither the French or Japanese were able to make much headway there when they tried. Even in the dry season its land mass is laced by 2,500 miles of inland waterways, which more than doubles in volume in December after the heavy monsoon rains. No American combat units serve now in the mangrove swamps and rice paddies of the delta, although United States advisors assist the three South Vietnamese divisions and related units stationed there.”…
Page 1: “U.S. Ties Abroad Strain Relations”…”The Johnson administrations diplomatic wager in Vietnam risks undeniable short term costs for the possibilities of long-term gains. The costs are fairly obvious. (1) The search for a major accommodation with the Soviets had been severely hampered. (2)Europe’s move toward East-West reconciliation proceeds without United States participation. (3) The poorer nations of the world have not lost Washington attention, but neither have they gained any more of it. Against these costs, the possibility of the following long term gains have to be weighed.(1) The whole world is being shown that the promise of American help to one of the weakest allies is being redeemed at enormous and conspicuous sacrifices. (2) American skill at resisting Communist insurrection and guerrilla warfare will become formidable and forbidding. (3) The use of force to expand the territory under Chinese Communist sway will be severely punished and the expansion denied… Which set of considerations–the cost or the possible gains–is more important? That depends so much on the outcome of the war that any answer is speculative. And as a high State Department official has put it: ‘You can’t quantify intangibles.’… Failure to make a stand in Vietnam administration leaders contend, would soon bring challenges in Laos, Thailand, perhaps even Burma and Cambodia. They also believe that retreat in Vietnam would have long ago discouraged anti-communist challenges in a places like Indonesia and spoiled all chances of saving her. By paying a high price now, Washington believes it will avert the need to pay an even higher price later. The respect of adversaries, it believes, is more important than the affection of friends. Officials here assign great value to the war’s contributions to the ‘containment’ of China. Once the communist challenge is checked, they hope, Peking may moderate its ideology of expansionism and concentrate on domestic development, as Moscow did when checked in Europe more than a decade ago. These are the long-term gains the Johnson Administration lists beside the short term costs. On its balance sheet therefore, Vietnam seems worth the price.”…
Page 1: “Johnson Hails Rights Bill as Milestone For Justice”…”President Johnson said today that the civil rights bill passed by the House of Representatives last night was ‘an important new milestone’ toward racial justice. He urged the Senate to approve the measure without unnecessary delay. Practically, the House has barred bigotry in all new housing, but that section nevertheless was important and in apartment houses. This opens major avenues toward fair and adequate housing for millions of Americans. Symbolically, the House has, in effect, declared all Negro Americans that many of their fellow citizens believe it is wrong to deny anyone a decent place to live solely because of the color of their skin. The House has also declared that this law should be an instrument of justice in this cause.”… Page 2: “Base Built By U.S. For B-52s Opens in Thailand”…”Premier Thanom Kittikachorn opened the biggest American built air base in Thailand today and partly lifted the black out on the United States cooperation in the war in Vietnam. The new base, U Tapao, is an 11,500-foot runway and is the 6th air base to be built or expanded by the U.S. in Thailand.”… Page 1: “$2 Bill, Born in 1776, Dies of Neglect”…”The $2 bill came to the end of the road today after 190-years. Today’s announcement bars any further production…’The lack of public demand indicates that this note serves only limited public interest,’ said the Department of Treasury notice.”…
11 August 1966…The President’s Daily Briefing… South Vietnam: Elections preparation are still moving along well. Even some of Ky’s critics now concede that the candidate screening operation has been fair and reasonable. This is now about complete and the candidate lists are to be formally posted tomorrow. It seems that more than 700 candidates will be competing for the 108 assembly seats on 11 September. Well over 5 million people may be registered to vote. This is about what the government was aiming for…
11 August 1966…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… NYT (12 August reporting 11 August ops) Page 2: “Navy Crusader Shot Down”…”The United States Navy lost an F-8 Crusader to North Vietnamese ground fire yesterday…bringing the total of warplanes lost in the North this week to eleven. The Crusader went down 35 miles east of Haiphong and the pilot was rescued by Navy helicopter…”…”Vietnam: Air Losses (Hobson)… Page 70: two fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 11 August 1966…
(1) LTJG C.A. BALISTERI was flying an F-8E of the VF-111 Sundowners embarked in USS Oriskany on an armed reconnaissance mission in the many islands off the coast of North Vietnam when hit by ground fire. LTJG BALISTERI was able to continue flight for more than 30 before having to eject. He was rescued by Navy helicopter…
(2) CAPTAIN P.I. PENN and 1LT BENJAMIN B. FINZER were flying an F-4C of the 497th TFS and 8th TFW Wolfpack out of Ubon on an armed reconnaissance mission near Kep and was hit by 85mm ground fire recovering from an attack on an enemy AAA site. CAPTAIN PENN was able to fly the aircraft east to the Gulf of Tonkin before the Phantom became uncontrollable and the crew was forced to eject. Both men were rescued by Navy helicopter.
RIPPLE SALVO… #163… THE LETTER OF CENTURION MARCUS FLAVINIUS, 2ND COHORT OF THE AUGUSTA LEGION… but first a few words from Mount Ogden… Rolling Thunder Remembered is composed in three parts: a few news items from the NYT, a brief recap of Rolling Thunder ops and losses, and a few of my thoughts in Ripple Salvo. The intent is to pair what was happening at home with what was happening at the same time in the air war in Vietnam. During the war the time gap between SE Asia and home was days, even weeks. It wasn’t until late 1966 before an American news magazine was cleared for airmail delivery to the carriers at Yankee Station. News was junk mail and came aboard in bags from replenishment ships. Our morning paper was a page of one paragraphs articles put together by the carrier’s Public Information Office. We were starved for news. So was Centurion Marcus Flavinius. We had something else in common with the warriors of the Roman Legions– we were rumored to distraction by the divisiveness on the home front. We were fighting a war for our countrymen, even while an ever increasing number of them protested our cause. So it was with Marcus… The Letter…
“We have been told, on leaving our native soil, that we were going to defend the sacred rights conferred on us by so many of our citizens settled overseas, so many years of our presence, so many benefits brought by us to populations in need of our assistance and our civilization.
“We were able to verify that all this was true, and because it was true, we did not hesitate to shed our quota of blood, to sacrifice our youth and our hopes. We regretted nothing, but whereas we over here are inspired by this frame of mind, I am told that Rome factions and conspiracies are rife, that treachery flourishes, and that many people in their uncertainty and confusion lend a ready ear to the dire temptations of relinquishment and vilify our action.
“I cannot believe that all this is true, and yet recent wars have shown how pernicious such a state of mind could be and to where it should leas.
“Make haste to reassure me, I beg you, and tell me that our fellow citizens understand us, support us and protect us as we ourselves are protecting the glory of the Empire.
“If it should be otherwise, if we should have to leave our bleached bones on these desert sands in vain, then beware the anger of the Legions!”
More than 58,000 American warriors would leave their “bleached bones” on the battlefields of Vietnam as the resolve of our leaders and countrymen dissolved and history records our commitment as a war fought in vain. A conclusion reaffirmed every time we commit a new generation of troops to a foreign war without a strategy and the resolve to finish it in victory. One strategy for defeat after another. Including our current half-hearted effort to conclude the longest war in our nation’s history. The lessons of Vietnam continue to be ignored, lessons paid for with the blood of 58,000 valiant warriors “who did not hesitate to shed their quota of blood, and to sacrifice their youth and hopes.” …
“–that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain–” “…beware the anger of the Legions!”
Lest we forget… Bear ………. –30– ………..