RIPPLE SALVO…#889… ON THE NIGHT OF 11-12 AUGUST 1965 LTJG DON BROWN’s VA-23 “BLACK KNIGHT” A-4E BECAME THE FIRST OF 58 NAVY AIRCRAFT TO BE DOWNED BY THE SA-2 GUIDELINE MISSILE DURING THE YEARS OF ROLLING THUNDER… In remembering the service and sacrifice of LTJG BROWN, who rests in peace in Arlington National Cemetery, Humble Host briefly reviews the development of the North Vietnamese Integrated Air Defense System that downed 382 U.S. Navy aircraft during Rolling Thunder…. In addition, a continuation of a personal salute to LCOL WILLIAM R. CORSON, USMC (1926-2000)… but first…
GOOD MORNING…Day EIGHT HUNDRED EIGHTY-NINE of a daily recall of the events and participants of the air war fought over North Vietnam in the year 1965-68… The 44-month campaign had a classified name– OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…
HEAD LINES from The New York Times on Sunday, 11 August 1968…
THE WAR: Page 1: “US COMMAND IN VIETNAM IS RIGID ON BOMBING HALT”… “Military opposition to a complete bombing halt is growing increasingly rigid as the bombing issue continues to be debated in America and at the peace talks in Paris. The American command here in Saigon has been telling Washington that it is convinced that any further cutback in the bombing would imperil the lives of large numbers of United States troops. Some of the highest ranking generals contend that the cessation of all bombing in the North would jeopardize at least nine American installations near the demilitarized zone. They assert that all of the installations are within range of enemy artillery positions just across the demilitarized zone in North Vietnam. They add that concentrated bombing raids, in addition to artillery fire are needed to prevent n ‘intolerable menace.’ Assurance from the President that he will not end all the bombing of North Vietnam, without a major deescalation step on the part of Hanoi, has eased many of the fears of the generals. However, some of the generals are concerned what Mr. Johnson’s successor might do. ‘One of the first rules of warfare is to go after whatever is shooting at you,’ one influential general said in discussing the bombing issue. ‘Our troops expect us to do it. And, damn it, they have a right to expect it.’ The command also views the bombing of North Vietnam as vital to curbing the flow of enemy supplies and equipment into South Vietnam. But the command concedes that the bombing is not effective in controlling enemy infiltration…. The command at the moment is operating under the assumption that the enemy starts twice as much ammunition and supplies southward as he actually needs to carry out an operation. The generals believe the enemy assumes he will lose about half of the material en route. The American planes try to stop at least two thirds of the supplies on the assumption that the figure will delay or curtail any planned enemy operation. ‘Obviously we don’t get all of their supplies,but we get enough to hurt them,’ a military officer said. ‘They know they have to run the gauntlet between the 20th and 17th Parallels, they think any further bombing limitation would put them under a tremendous handicap. Actually the American planes at the moment are not venturing north of the 19th Parallel….”… Page 1: “8 G.I.’s KILLED AND 50 WOUNDED IN STRAFING ERROR BY U.S. JETS”… “A United State Air Force fighter-bomber accidentally strafed American troops in the Ashau Valley yesterday, killing 8 men and wounding 50 with rockets and cannon fire…The plane, an F-100 Super Sabre jet supporting units of the 101st Air Cavalry Division, fired cannon and four rocket rounds ‘in the vicinity” of a U.S. unit near Tabat, an abandoned outpost 37 miles northeast of Saigon…”
Page !: “NIXON AND AGNEW MEET PRESIDENT FOR WAR BRIEFING G.O.P. CANDIDATES FLY TO RANCH FOR DISCUSSIONS AND LUNCH–Talks last 2 1/2 Hours–Nominee Says Parley Was Very Candid–Rusk and Vance Attend Session”… Page 1: “McGOVERN OPENS PRESIDENTIAL BID WITH PEACE PLEA–Endorses Kennedy Goals Of Healing Divisions in Society”… Page 1: “COMMUNIST PARTY RULES OUT LIBERALIZATION OF A SOVIET REGIME IN CZECH CRISIS–Bars Bourgeois Freedoms–Orders Intensification Of Indoctrination Drive–Duties Are Stressed–Document Citing Lenin Role Says Ideological Struggle Nears a Crucial Stage”… Page 1: “32 DIE IN PLANE CRASH IN WEST VIRGINIA–Craft Crashes On Mountain Just Short of Runway Amid Fog and Smoke”… Page 1: “SPAIN SEEKS MILITARY AID IN RETURN FOR BASES PACT”… Page 39: “Coast Murder Trial Of Black Panther Leader Hue P. Newton Is Entering Fifth Week”… Page 54: “G.O.P. WAR STAND IS BACKED IN POLL–Gallup Finds 66% In Favor Of De-Americanization”… Page 58: “G.O.P. DISTRESSES NEGRO DELEGATES–Many See Difficulty Trying To Justify Ticket at Home”…
11 AUGUST 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…New York Times (12 Aug reporting 11 Aug ops)…Page 4: “GUN SITES IN NORTH ATTACKED BY B-52s”… “United States Air Force B-52’s attacked targets in North Vietnam yesterday for the first time since mid-July. The planes flew three raids against artillery and anti-aircraft emplacements, storage area and suspected troop concentrations. the targets were 12 to 24 miles inland and from a half to 4 miles inside North Vietnam. There were also two strikes militarized zone aimed at troops and storage areas. Both were about 14 miles from the coast….”…
VIETNAM: AIR LOSSES (Chris Hobson) There was one fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 11 August 1968…
(1) LCOL CHARLES TEAGUE was flying an A-1H of the 1st SOS and 56th SOW out of Nakhon Phanom, returning from a combat mission, and crashed executing a GCA (Ground-Control Approach). LCOL TEAGUE was killed in the crash fifty years ago this day… and remember as a waarrior fallen in the service of our country…
SUMMARY OF ROLLING THUNDER LOSSES (KIA/MIA/POW) ON THE FOUR 11 AUGUST DATES OF THE FOUR YEARS OF THE OPERTIONS OVER NORTH VIETNAM…
1966,1967,1968… NONE…
1965… LTJG DONALD HUBERT BROWN, JR., USN… (KIA)… was flying an A-4E Skyhawk of the VA-23 Black Knights embarked in USS Midway on the wing of LCDR DEE ROBERGE on a night road recce mission west of Thanh Hoa when downed by a SAM. Chris Hobson reported the historic event this way: “Following the loss of the first US aircraft to the SA-2 on 24 July and the subsequent disastrous raid on the SAM sites three days later, there had been no further SAM activity apart from new construction of sites. On the night of 11-12 August two A-4Es flown by LTJG D.H.BROWN and LCDR F.D. (Dee ) ROBERGE were flying at 9,000-feet on a road reconnaissance mission about 30 miles northwest of Thanh Hoa when they spotted what they initially though were two flares glowing beneath a cloud layer below them. Too late they realized that the flares were in fact the exhaust plumes from two SA-2 missiles. LTJG BROWN’s aircraft was hit and exploded and LCDR ROBERGE’s aircraft was badly damaged but managed to limp back to USS Midway where it was discovered to have more than 50 shrapnel holes from the missile’s explosion. The day after the incident the US Navy mounted the first sorties of its SAM suppression campaign. Almost exactly 20 years to the day after his death, the remains of LTJG DONALD BROWN were handed over to the US authorities on 14 August 1985.”…
The following excerpts are from a compilation of various open sources by the P.O.W. NETWORK for the Homecoming II Project of 15 May 1990…
“North Vietnam learned the lessons of modern aerial warfare rapidly. Over the short span of 36 months, Ho Chi Minh, with the help of his supporters, led the North Vietnamese military from technology-poor and ground-oriented military to one with one of the world’s strongest and most sophisticated air defense networks. The motivation was simple. During the 1965-1968 ROLLING THUNDER program, U.S. aircraft dropped a daily average of 800 tons of bombs, rocket and missiles on North Vietnam. The Soviet Union and China to a lesser degree, provided surface-to-air missiles (SAM), anti-aircraft guns, small arms and jet aircraft almost as fast as the dock workers at Haiphong could unload the cargo. they also sent an array of technical advisors and food products to support their communist brethren.
“Consequently, North Vietnamese missile sites grew from ground zero in 1965 to estimates three years later of two hundred SAM sites nationwide and some thirty SAM battalions in the Hanoi area alone. each battalion contained up to six missile launchers plus accompanying radar, computers and generators.
“Surface-to-air missiles, however, were just one element for U.S. pilots to reckon with. By September 1967 the defense system included some eight thousand lethal AAA guns firing twenty-five thousand tons of ammunition each month at American planes, a complex radar system, and computerized control center. An elaborate warning system was devised, the more sophisticated systems keyed to Soviet observation trawlers on duty near American carriers. these spy ships relayed how many aircraft were leaving the decks, their bomb loads and side number, and it was not to difficult for the North Vietnamese to compute where and when the aircraft would arrive and to prepare a proper welcome. The primitive alarm system utilized observation towers, whistles, gongs, drums and triangles to warn of impending attacks.
“The rules of engagement (ROE) limited ROLLING THUNDER’s damage on the enemy. It was actually designed only to apply military pressure ‘for the specific purpose of halting aggression in South Vietnam, ‘not for inflicting maximum damage. Unfortunately, U.S. aircrews died while fighting under these less than ideal conditions as the North Vietnamese became very sufficient at employing their defense network….
“The first SAM site was discovered in April 1965, yet U.S. pilots were forbidden to take immediate defensive action. A second SAM site was spotted about a month later, and by mid-July several more sites were photographed in the area of Hanoi and haiphong. Defensive strikes were not approved for any of the sites, primarily because Washington leadership feared killing Soviet personnel involved in training the North Vietnamese crews. It ws not until the North Vietnamese had shot down a number of aircraft that U.S. forces were permitted to strike back at the sites.
“On the night of August 11-12, the first Navy aircraft fell victim to SAMs.LCDR FRANCIS D. ROBERGE and LTJG DONALD H. BROWN of VA-23, flying A-4Es from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Midway, were struck by SAMs while on a road reconnaissance some sixty miles south of Hanoi. The pilots saw what they believed were two flares glowing beneath the clouds and coming closer. Too late, they realized that blowing missile propellant was the source of the light. LTJG BROWN’s aircraft exploded and crashed, while ROBERGE limped back to the ship with a scorched and peppered belly.”… (What a night recovery/landing that must have been!) End quote…
Humble Host will return to this narrative on 13 August, the day that became known as Black Friday as the Navy and Air Force went on the offensive against the burgeoning enemy SAM capability– and lost badly to AAA…
LTJG BROWN FLEW HIS LAST FLIGHT 53 YEARS AGO and rests in peace in Arlington National Cemetery among the nation’s bravest fallen heroes. The following ” NATIVE AMERICAN PRAYER” is among the many “Remembrances” left for him on his VVFM “Wall of Faces“…
“It is said a man hasn’t died as long as he is remembered. This prayer is a way for families, friends and fellow veteran’s to remember our fallen brother and sisters…
“DO NOT STAND AT MY GRAVE AND WEEP, I AM NOT THERE. I DO NOT SLEEP. I AM A THOUSAND WINDS THAT BLOW. I AM THE DIAMOND GLINT ON SNOW. I AM THE SUNLIGHT ON RIPENED GRAIN. I AM THE GENTLE AUTUMN RAIN. WHEN YOU AWAKEN N THE MORNING HUSH, I AM THE SWIFT, UPLIFTING RUSH OF QUIET BIRD IN CIRCLED FLIGHT. I AM THE STARS THAT SHINE AT NIGHT. DO NOT STAND AT MY GRAVE AND CRY. I AM NOT THERE, I DID NOT DIE.”… Amen…
RIPPLE SALVO… #889… Humble Host returns to the legacy of LCOL WILLIAM R. CORSON and his book THE BETRAYAL— “A devastating report on the saboage of our ‘other war’ in Southeast Asia by corruption, mismanagement, and self-deception, with a positive program for a way out. Written by a tough marine officer who fought the pacification war and won America’s only meaningful victory in Vietnam.”…
The Other War? The struggle to promote economic and political self-sufficiency necessary for the nation to carry on as a viable society after the shooting stops. LCOL CORSON excelled in the field as a practitioner. He wrote his book to show how and perhaps why the prosecution of the Other War was sabotaged. He writes in his wrap-up: “As we have seen, the Other War has been betrayed as military strategists have pursued one fruitless escalation after another. The Administration has for four years produced neither military victory nor peace negotiations. Administration policy is stuck on dead center, though as will be discussed…, it is teetering on the edge of a major disaster.” CORSON to the rescue. This post adds LCOL CORSON’s resume to the RTR archives and briefs the steps in the CORSON rescue`plan for two options–“To stay or Not to Stay.”…
THE RESUME… Humble Host most highly recommends a perusal/reading of the The Arlington National Cemetery Website entry for WILLIAM RAYMOND CORSON, Lieutenant Colonel, United States Marine Corps… read at:
http://arlingtoncemetery.net/wrcorson.htm
THE CORSON PROPOSALS: One of the 1968 reviewers of The Betrayal, William Lederer, wrote: “…Corson shows us how we have lost, he shows us the reasons why, and he describes how to be successful in the future. He has given us a key to peace in Asia,” and concluded that if the proposals Corson put forth were to be put to work, we would win the Other War. The people of Vietnam would also win. “And then the shooting war would no longer be necessary.”… Wow!! I wonder why the Tuesday Lunch Bunch never discussed the book and the Corson proposals (Based on my research of the Historical Documents now available on the internet–I will keep looking)… Here are the proposals. Humble Host will discuss each in posts this week… Proposal #1 tomorrow…
(1) STOP THE AIR WAR IN THE NORTH. IT IS COUNTERPRODUCTIVE…
(2) END ALL ILLEGAL LAND RENTS AND AGRICULTURAL TAXES IN VIETNAM…
(3) BUILD SCHOOLS, TRAIN TEACHERS AND PROMOTE UNIVERSAL EDUCATION…
(4) TAKE CARE OF CIVILIAN REFUGEES AND CASUALTIES…
(5) TAKE DIRECT CONTROL OF HUMANITARIAN AID (AND CUT OUT THE GOV’T OF SVN)…
(6) CUT OUR GROUND FORCES BACK TO 250,000 TROOPS AND RETRUCTURE OUR FORCES…
RTR Quote for 11 August: NAPOLEON: “Make war offensively; it is the sole means to become a great captain and fathom the secret of the art.”
Lest we forget… Bear