RIPPLE SALVO… #254… NOT MEMORIAL DAY… but first…
11 NOVEMBER 1966… HOMETOWN HEADLINES from the New York Times… A clear and cool Friday on Wall Street…
Page 1: “Johnson Believes G.O.P. Gains Peril New Legislation but says he is confident of renewed two party front on National Security… View is Philosophical…President finds Democratic loss exceeds forecast– His surgery date uncertain.”… Page 1: “U.S. Will Train Negroes In South To Cut Migration…Federal project for unemployed poor will be tied to industrial expansion Regional Plan Associations told.”… Page 1: “McNamara Hints Soviet Deploys Antimissile Net…Administration will probably urge Poseidon production to counter development…goal is gain in offense…new U.S. submarine missile could surpass Polaris in penetration of defenses.”… “Wilson Declares Intention To Enter Common Market…”… “Page 1 “Nonpoisonous Gas Used By Vietcong…U.S. patrol is not harmed in the attack…two generals unhurt in helicopter crash Generals DePoy and Hollingsworth walk away.”… Page 1: “USS Nautilus Rams Aircraft Carrier In Maneuvers Off Carolina…USS Essex damaged below water line by Nautilus heavily damaged conning tower…both head for home port.”… Page 4: “United States Troop Loss Rate Rises with 127 KIA and 605 WIA, prior week 64/493. Troops in Southeast Asia on 5 November 1966= 352,000.”… Page 5 “Hanoi says Communist Allies Pledge More Aid. Soviets, China, North Korea and others offering larger support in war.”… Page 9: “McNamara Says Draft Lottery Would Cut Inequality.”…
Page 42: Editorial Page: “How Big Is Backlash?”…The presence of racial antagonism in a political compaign is like the presence of a plague in a stricken city. When it turns out to have been less deadly and less far reaching than has been feared, the general sense of relief is so great that the tendency is to overlook how much damage has been done.”…
11 NOVEMBER 1966… the President’s Daily Brief… CIA (TS sanitized): VIETNAM: Hanoi and the Viet Cong have been dropping hints that they may set up the Viet Cong’s National Liberation Front as a provisional government for South Vietnam. This line has appeared in the past without anything being done about it. The Communists may be considering it more seriously now, however, as a means of countering recent setbacks.”…
11 NOVEMBER 1966… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… NYT (12 November reporting 11 Nov ops)… Page 1: “5 U.S. Planes Shot Down”… “North Vietnamese anti-aircraft gunners shot down five United States planes yesterday while American commanders in the South quietly dismantled the largest force so far thrown into action in the Vietnam War. The Operation Attleboro force of 20,000 was peeled down to 11,000. The pilot of an Air Force A-1 Skyraider, a propeller driven plane, was rescued today shortly after the crash, but the six crew members of the four other planes are all listed as missing… The five planes lost over North Vietnam were 2 below the single day record of 7 shot down August 7. The graveness of the losses was accentuated by the fact that the United States pilot, again stymied by bad weather, flew only 76 missions of 2 to 5 planes each, over the North yesterday.”…
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson) Seven fixed wing aircraft lost over Southeast Asia on 11 November 1966….
(1) and (2): CAPTAIN ROBERT IRVING BISS and 2LT HAROLD DELOSS MONLUX and 1LT RICHARD LEIGH BUTT and 1LT HERBERT BENJAMIN RINGSDORF were flying F-4Cs of the 559th TFS and 12th TFW out of Cam Ranh Bay and both shot down while delivering napalm on targets within a few miles north of the DMZ. All four aviators ejected successfully but were captured before the SAR operation could respond in an extremely hostile area. CAPTAIN BISS, 2LT MONLUX and 1LT RINGSDORF survived more than six years of captivity as POWs. 1LT BUTT perished while in captivity and further details are not known. No remains returned. 1LT BUTT was been left behind???
(3) CAPTAIN R.P. ROSECRANS was flying an A-1E of the 602nd ACS and 14th ACW out of Udorn on a SAR orbit over the DMZ and was on scene for the rescue attempt of the two F-4C airmen. As CAPTAIN ROSECRANS and his wingmen entered the area of the downed F-4 crews he was hit in the port wing by ground fire and immediately turned to the west toward Laos but was forced to bailout over the DMZ. The helicopter in the SAR package headed for the Phantom crews siverted to rescue CAPTAIN ROSECRANS.
(4) MAJOR ARTHUR STUART MEARNS was flying an F-105D of the 354th TFS and 355th TFW out of Takhli on a strike mission on the northeast railroad system that approached the target from the Gulf of Tonkin and led his division through weather that caused the rest of the strike group to abort. MAJOR MEARNS and his division successfully attacked the target, but as MAJOR MEARNS was climbing away from the target he was hit by ground fire and caught fire. He was able to climb to 20,000 where the aircraft became uncontrollable about 30 miles northeast of Haiphong. He “is thought to have ejected but did not survive.”… MAJOR MEARNS was Killed in Action and apparently remains where he fell fifty years ago on this date.
(5) CAPTAIN ORSON GEORGE SWINDLE was flying a Marine F-8E of the VMF(AW)-235 Death Angels and MAG-11 out of Da Nang on a strike mission a few miles north of the DMZ. He was hit by ground fire on his second dive attack and was unable to fly the crippled Crusader clear of the coastline. He was captured and was a POW until 1973. He was shot down on his 209th and last mission. ORSON SWINDLE would later serve as the Presidential Campaign Manager of Ross Perot’s unsuccessful run for the Presidency in 1992.
(6) A pilot of the VA-22 Flying Redcocks embarked in USS CORAL SEA was forced to eject from his damaged aircraft after being overrun by his wingman and was rescued. The wingman landed his damaged aircraft.
(7) A C-47B psychological warfare aircraft equipped with loud speakers of the 5th ACS and 14 ACW out of Nha Trang was dropping leaflets when an engine failed and the aircraft was crash landed. All four in the crew survived…
RIPPLE SALVO… #254… With apologies to Sarah Kickler Kelber of the Baltimore Sun who wrote a little piece on Memorial Day in 2012 entitled “Today is not Veterans’ Day.” Her point was that Memorial day is for remembering fallen warriors, not thanking veterans for their service. So what follows is her work with a reverse take…in other words, “Today is Veterans Day, not Memorial Day.” On Veterans’ Day all across social media and elsewhere, I see well meaning declarations of sympathy for the families and friends of fallen warriors. As full of good intentions as these statements are, they miss the purpose of the Holiday.
When you honor the dead on the day meant to thank the living, you miss an opportunity to learn a bit about what military service is all about.
So on November 11, the goal for the day should be to ask service men and women–active, former and retired– real, live veterans, about their service. Of course, they will probably steer the exchange off to memories of fallen comrades anyway, because Veterans live every day with cherished memories of brother warriors who are gone. The challenge for all on Veterans’ day should be to get a Vet to talk about his or her service. Thanking them “for their service” is a good start. But the day is meant to be a day of getting to know, admire, appreciate and respect those who serve, or have served in uniform, especially old Vets basking in Veterans’ Day glory before they qualify for Memorial Days forever…
Today is Veterans’ Day, not Memorial Day….
Lest we forget… Bear -30-