RIPPLE SALVO…#166 … SUGARCOATED…but first…
Good Morning: Day ONE HUNDRED SIXTY SIX of 1,000 blogs remembering the days and warriors of Rolling Thunder on the 50th anniversary of the air war over North Vietnam…
14 AUGUST 1966… NEWS FROM THE PAGES OF THE NEW YORK TIMES… A cloudy day with showers by evening…
Page 1: “Peking Reds Back Mao And Affirm Militant Policy”…”The Central Committee of the Chinese Communist party meeting in plenary session for the first time since 1962, affirmed today that Peking would hold fast to the militant revolutionary policies at home and abroad. The assembly endorsed the leadership of Mao Tse-tung, the party chairman who presided over the session, and praised the ideological contribution s of Lin Piao, the Defense Minister. Mr. Lin, who is 58-years old and the youngest member of the Politboro, has emerged during the recent purge of the party hierarchy as the most influential deputy of the 72-year old chairman. In a communique issued after the meeting in Peking, the committee promised to support North Vietnam in fighting to the end against the United States and it accused the Soviet Union of betraying the Vietnamese communist cause. ‘The plenary session fully agrees with all the actions taken and decided upon by the Central Committee of the party and the government in consultation with the Vietnamese side concerning the aid to Vietnam for resisting U.S. aggression.’ The communique declared that ‘an invigorating revolutionary atmosphere prevails in the whole country and the situation is one of new all-round leap forward emerging.’ The meeting convened for August 1 to 12 as the 11th plenary session of the 8th Central Committee.”… Page 1: “Ky Alters Stand On War Policies”… “Premier Nguyen Cao Ky backed away today from suggestion previously attributed to him that United States troops could be withdrawn from Vietnam in two years and he strongly favored an invasion of North Vietnam. But the mercurial Air Force Vice Marshall did say he believed ‘in two or three years, or even before, the communists will be defeated.’ The total of United States troops in South Vietnam rose to 291,000 as the 196th Light Infantry Brigade of 3,000 men arrived Saturday from Fort Deven, Massachusetts.” …
Page 1: “Young GOP Votes To Purge Rat Finks”…”The national Young Republicans organization under heavy pressure from the party’s national leadership voted reluctantly tonight to purge itself of the ‘Rat Finks”, a republican anti-Negro, anti-semitic faction of the New Jersey Young Republicans unit.”… Page 1: “Wirtz Says Union Upset New Pact To End Air Tie-Up”…”Secretary of Labor W. Willard Wirtz charged tonight that the machinists union had sabotaged a tentative agreement to end the 37-day old airline strike. Mr. Wirtz in a strong statement that was sharply critical of the union, said that the tentative accord on a there-year pact costing $84 million appeared to have been reached yesterday but collapsed tonight when the union backed out. Wirtz:”Whether such a settlement can be reached without further injury to employees, the carriers, and the public depends at this point on the resumption of good faith collective bargaining. The future of collective bargaining as well as the nation’s air transport, is at stake in this case.”…
Page 43: “Rights Leaders schedule 3 Marches At Once In Chicago Today”…”Civil Rights leaders announced tonight they would demonstrate simultaneously tomorrow (14th) in three all-white neighborhoods in which realtors allegedly discriminate against Negroes in the sale and rental of property. Neighborhoods: Bogon; Gage Park-Chicago Lawn; and, Jefferson Park.”… Page 49: “Rights Raid In Philadelphia Uncovers Dynamite”…”Eighty policemen raided four meeting places of civil rights organizations today and seized two and a half sticks of dynamite and arrested four persons. The raiders, armed with rifles and shotguns, were backed by 1,000 other policemen, deployed to keep order. There was no violence. The raids were conducted based on reports that militant civil rights meeting places were becoming storehouses for arms and ammunition.’ The police acted with the approval of the Mayor and had warrants.”… Page 50: “5 Negroes Hurt In Michigan Riot”… “Five persons were injured and 27 arrested in downtown disorders today after 1500 persons, mostly Negroes, closed in around a police car answering a hotel trouble call. Security policemen and sheriffs men armed with riot guns and rifles took control of the area…and dispersed the crowd. Following the dispersal a jewelry store was looted and police made seven arrests. Police Chief termed the outbreak ‘a riotous situation’ and a’a major disturbance.’ Muskegon, a west Michigan city of 47,000 has experienced racial troubles in recent months.”…
Business section: “The computer industry is growing faster than any other industry in the United States. There are now 34,000 computers installed in the U.S. with a backlog of orders of 23,000.”
14 AUGUST 1966… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…New York Times (15 August reporting 14 August ops)…Page 3:…”Record Week’s Losses Now At 15″…”The United States command reported today (14th) the loss of the 14th and 15th American airplanes in a week over North Vietnam following a day of strikes in the Hanoi-Haiphong area and in the southern panhandle. Dispatches from North Vietnam said the planes had struck a dam and a residential in the outskirts of Hanoi killing and wounding 30 civilians….
In North Vietnam United States Air Force and Navy pilots flew 121 missions in the Hanoi-Haiphong area and in the Southern panhandle where supplies flow toward the South. Pilots reported hits that started fires in fuel depots, barges, ammunition caves, and railroad sidings. The pilots reported sighting seven North Vietnamese torpedo boats among the islands northeast of Haiphong, They said they swept in and destroyed two boat and possibly damaged another with bombs and rockets.”… “Vietnam: Aircraft Losses” (Hobson) Page 71: Four aircraft were lost on 14 August 1966…
(1) CAPTAIN CHARLES EDWARD FRANKLIN was flying an F-105D of the 469th TFS and 388th TFW out of Korat on a Rolling thunder strike on the oil targets in the Thai Nguyen area and was hit by AAA over the target and crashed about ten miles north of the target. CAPTAIN FRANKLIN radioed he was hit and going to eject. Thereafter, nothing was heard of CAPTAIN FRANKLIN until July 1988 when his remains were returned by the Vietnamese to the United States. CAPTAIN FRANKLIN was Killed in Action 50 years ago today and came home on his shield with great honor twenty-two years later….
(2) CAPTAIN CURTIS ABBOT EATON was flying an F-105D of the 333rd TFS and 355 TFW out of Takhli in a strike group that followed the Korat group strike on the petroleum targets in the Thai Nguyen complex. CAPTAIN EATON was hit over the target and was observed flying north of the target and crashing without any further word. He was presumed to have been killed in the crash. CAPTAIN EATON was Killed in Action and perished on the battlefield in North Vietnam. He apparently remains where he fell and rests in peace…..
(3) CAPTAIN JOHN WARREN BRODAK was flying an F-105D of the 354th TFS and 355th TFW in a strike group hitting Thai Nguyen petroleum targets right behind the FRANKLIN and EATON flights and was hit by the intense AAA in his attack and turned for home. His damaged aircraft made it to just short of the North Vietnam border with Laos and he was forced to eject. He was captured before he could be rescued and was a POW until released nearly seven years later in March 1973.
(4) CAPTAIN E.S. KOWALCZYK, USMC, was flying an F-8E of the VMF-AW-235 Death Angels and MAG-11 out of Danang and incurred an afterburner failure and engine fire on takeoff and eject safely to fly again.
RIPPLE SALVO… #166… “VIETNAM DIDN’T HAVE ANY COWARDS’… Yesterday’s RTR post (#165) included a short NYT article headlined “Draft Evaders In Canada Face U.S. Prosecution.” The piece reported more than 400 young American men had thus far sought refuge in Canada to avoid the draft. Evade (“to manage to avoid especially by dexterity or slyness; elude escape). Avoid (“to keep from meting something unpleasant”) Draft delinquent (“neglecting to give proper attention; disregardful; negligent). Dodge (“an act of evading; an artful device to evade, deceive or trick”).Refuge (“place where one can be safe from danger”). I thought it important to get the terms of this blog clearly defined… In 1966 the monthly draft call was 30-40,000 young men every month with no end in sight. Every American man had to make a choice, including those who were in the van– the point of the spear–and went out and met the enemy in his lair very day, day in and day out. On the home front, there was a lot of dodging, evading, ducking and hiding. “Hell no, I won’t go!” For aviators the choice to go or not was: fly the mission or turn in your wings. And many chose the latter. Poor souls.
One of the great ones from the Navy ranks of Rolling Thunder warriors, DICK WYMAN, thoughts on the subject are included in Zalin Grant’s 1986 masterpiece, “Over The Beach: The Air War in Vietnam.” I align myself with the following: (pgs. 198-99)
“…in 1967, a lot of guys were beginning to turn in their wings, and you never heard them say, ‘I’m turning in my wings because I’m scared to death and don’t want to die.’ It was always. ‘I’m turning in my wings because I don’t agree with the war.’ Vietnam was the only war in history with no cowards. We’re all afraid and cowards exist in the natural scheme of things. But Vietnam didn’t have any. Not even any old-fashioned draft dodgers like other wars always had. Just draft resistors. Every single one of them believed the war was wrong.
“Well, each guy builds his own excuse. The executive officer who quit and later became an admiral didn’t say he was quitting because he was scared. He had a pretty intricate rationale to offer. So when somebody quit, he was suspected by the other pilots of being frightened to death and just not able to admit it. There were so many things going on, you were so busy, you didn’t have time to sit down and analyze the guy. Even with Xxxxx, I probably felt a little secret contempt, felt he couldn’t hack it. At the same time, I kind of admired him for standing up and saying, ‘I don’t agree.’
“By 1967 the war had become a sensitive issue. It was like talking about religion–you avoided it as much as possible. I passed around some of my books, and we discussed them. But I think there was almost a feeling that if we got very deep into it, if we really examined the war, we would find it was bull sxxx. so we never really looked at it that closely. I think we were afraid we would cut the legs off some guy, destroy the last prop he had going, and he might say that’s it, I’m turning in my wings. And you said, “If that happens, who’s going to be flying with me next?”
“After reading books on Vietnam, I had questions about the war, especially the way it was being fought, but you could drive yourself crazy with questions. Blind military discipline. That was necessary part of it, to do what you were told to do. I was a professional naval officer, hired by the taxpayers of the United States, and I intended to do the job I was assigned in the best possible manner. So you put the questions out of your mind and said, ‘If they want me to bomb the bridge today, tomorrow, and the next day, by God, I’ll do it.’ The way to survive was to keep your enthusiasm up.”
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The “winds of war” are blowing ever harder in every quadrant of the world. Our adversaries are putting tanks in motion on their frontiers. They are positioning aircraft and ships where they have never been. Chips are on shoulders. The world has become unstable and whole populations have been displaced by civil wars. Countless nations are on the cusp of financial failure. All while our own country continues to transform and alter proven formulae for success into a nation so divided and rudderless that our ability to defend ourselves and survive as a democratic republic is now uncertain. As hundreds of thousands of veterans and active duty servicemen and women seek help for post traumatic stress disease, and the pool of eligible young men who are physically, mentally and morally fit to serve continues to decline, I wonder if our country can still muster a fighting force to meet the impending challenges that inevitably test and attack weakness? Where will we find the brave hearts to meet these enemies? How many in the draft age group will be holding signs that say, “Hell no, I won’t go?” Are we still the home of the brave? Do we still have Dick Wymans in the numbers we will need who will say, if they want me to bomb that bridge today, tomorrow, and the next day, by God, I’ll do it? We will know shortly–before 2020…
Lest we forget… Bear ……… –30– ………