RIPPLE SALVO… #800… OOHRAH… A GREAT OCCASION TO VISIT OUR POWs… Where are the POWs on the agenda in the Paris “conversations?”… Of course, we all know how this turns out in the long run. They weren’t coming home until March 1973. That meant that on 14 May 1968 our imprisoned squadron mates had 1,754+/- more days of inhumane treatment to survive to make it to Operation Homecoming. The May 1968 Paris talks provided an indication of where repatriation of our downed aviators ranked among the American objectives in the Peace conversations… but first…
GOOD MORNING… Day EIGHT HUNDRED of ONE THOUSAND days and blogs remembering a bloody chapter in American history–the air war with North Vietnam called ROLLING THUNDER…..
HEAD LINES from THE NEW YORK TIMES on a partly cloudy Tuesday, 14 May 1968 in New York…
THE WAR: “Page 1: “VICTORY IN SAIGON CLAIMED BY ALLIES–FOE’S OFFENSIVE IS CRUSHED GENERALS SAY–Outpost in Quangtin Abandoned”… “Allied generals said today that the main thrust of Vietcong attacks on Saigon had been crushed. Vietcong and North Vietnamese soldiers who had tenaciously held a neighborhood south of the Y-shaped bridge just outside the city limits finally withdrew overnight. In northern South Vietnam, meanwhile, a camp of anti-guerrilla Special Forces at Khandduc in Quangtin Province, led by air to avoid encirclement of North Vietnamese troops. The evacuation apparently reflected a belief that the camp could not be held against the gathering enemy force. …In Saigon, almost 3,000 American infantrymen occupied and searched the area of the Y-bridge after seven days of fighting. GENERALS ISSUE STATEMENT… issued by Lieutenant General Fred C. Weyand …’Although isolated small attacks, terrorism and harassment by fire, including rockets, are still possible, a large number of the enemy have been attempting to withdraw from the battlefield for the past 48-hours, many being intercepted in the process,’the statement said….For the first time since the mini-Tet offensive began, the city was relatively quiet. The sound of explosions was heard only infrequently over the din of busy traffic.”… “…5,270 North Vietnamese and Vietcong soldiers had been killed in the last week in the Saigon area and the surrounding provinces. On the allied side, 154 American soldiers and 362 South Vietnamese died…. 798 bodies of enemy soldiers had been counted in the Y-Bridge area….the fighting in Saigon destroyed 10,700 houses and more than 200,000 people in the area became refugees.”… Page 1: “HANOI PROCLAIMS A VICTORY”… “North Vietnam claimed major successes today for the latest offenc=sive aagainst Saigon and confirmed that the new attacks throughout the country were a follow-up to the Lunar New Year assaults on South Vietnamese critic. A military commentator said in the North Vietnamese Army newspaper Quai Doi Nhan Dn that the new fighting was a continuation of the earlier offensive, the North Vietnam press agency said in a report monitored here (Hong Kong)”… Page 15: “20,000 RESERVISTS REPORT FOR DUTY–WERE CALLED UP IN APRIL–May Be Kept For Two Years”… “…have left their homes and reported for active duty t military centers across the country yesterday. …10,000 already are scheduled to go to Vietnam…in general, they seemed in good spirits, and some were anxious to be sent overseas.”…
PEACE TALKS: “Page 1: “PARIS TALKS OPEN WITH REPETITION OF OLD CHARGES–U.S. Accused of ‘Monstrous Crimes”–Aggression is Laid to Regime in Hanoi–BROADER ISSUES RAISED–On Bombing, Neither Party Gives Sign of Shift During Session of Three Hours”… “The United States and North Vietnam threw the whole range of familiar charges at each other today as they began substantive talks on the war. W. Averell Harriman, chief American delegate, spoke of long-continued North Vietnamese ‘aggression.’ Xuan Thuy of North Vietnam, in a statement more strident in tone accused the United States of ‘monstrous crimes.’ On the first vital issue, United States bombing of the North, there was no shift from established positions. Mr. Harriman called for restraint by Hanoi in return for a total halt in the bombing. Mr. Thuy scorned the principle of ‘so-called reciprocity.’…Neither delegation had any illusion that there would be an easy road to peace in Vietnam through these ‘official conversations,’ and, despite all the hard words, both made clear their intention to keep talking–and for a long time.”…
Page 1: “FRENCH WORKERS JOIN HUGE PROTEST–STUDENT RANKS SWELLED TO HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS IN MARCHES IN MANY CITIES”…” …students and workers joined in an extraordinary protest against ‘police repression’ and the de Gaulle regime. It was the most massive outpouring in the recent international wave of student-led demonstrations. Students here, latecomers to the movement, chanted ‘Berlin, Warsaw, Rome–Paris’… Page 1: “CZECHS SCORE CRITICS IN BLOC–POPULACE POLLED ON DEMOCRACY”… “The Prague radio today accused three newspapers of Soviet-bloc countries of slandering Czechoslovakia with ‘evil intent.’ At the same time the new party leadership of Alexander Dubcek got encouragement for tis democratization from the visiting Yugoslav Foreign Minister Marko Nikezic, who conferred at length with his counterpart, Jim Hajek.”… Page 6: “HUSSEIN SAYS TIME IS RUNNING OUT FOR U.N. MISSION TO MIDEAST”… “King Hussein of Jordan warned today that ‘time is running out’ for a settlement between the Arabs and Israel under the auspices of Dr. Gunnar V. Jarring’s mission for the United Nations in the Middle East.” He said his optimism was waning as time passed, but that ‘I believe the road is still open for a little while.'”…
14 MAY 1968…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…New York Times… 13 May, Page 4: “HANOI WILL DEMAND RECONNAISSANCE FLIGHTS END”… “Nhan Dan, the official Hanoi newspaper said today in an editorial that the North Vietnamese delegation at Paris would demand that the United States end not only bombing raids but also reconnaissance flights over North Vietnam. The editorial said that this question should be the first business of the talks, which open tomorrow. It added that the cessation of all United States ‘acts of war,’ including bombing, reconnaissance flights and psychological warfare must be ‘definite and unconditional. Reconnaissance flights by drones and manned aircraft provide the United States with important information on the flow of supplies and troops from North Vietnam to the South. The editorial, which was transmitted abroad by the North Vietnamese press agency, said the United States must meet Hanoi’s terms ‘without delay.'”… “VIETNAM: AIR LOSSES” (Chris Holden) There were two fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 14 May 1968…
(1) LTJG BARRY EDWIN KARGER was flying an A-4E of the VA-94 Mighty Shrikes embarked in USS Bon Homme Richard on a coastal recce mission and chose to attack a small bridge on Highway 1A 13 miles south of Cap Mui Ron. His wingman observed LTJG KARGER roll in on a steep dive bombing run and start a pullout that inexplicably turned into a rolling dive into the ground. The assumption was that LTJG KARGER was hit by ground fire and was either incapacitated in the cockpit or the aircraft was rendered uncontrollable at the bottom of his dive attack. His remains were recovered by the Joint US-Vietnamese team, returned to the United States and identified for burial in 1994. On this day, 50 years after the young warrior’s last flight and death on the battlefield, He rests in peace in the National Military Cemetery in Phoenix, Arizona, and he is remembered for his sacrifice of life and liberty for our country…
(2) MAJOR SEYMOUR R. BASS was flying an F-105D of the 34th TFS and 388th TFW out of Korat and was killed in a mid-air collision with his leader, who recovered his aircraft after the fatal collision over Thailand. There are no easy days in a trade that is unforgiving of human error. MAJOR BASS perished while on a combat mission and is carried on the rolls of fallen warriors as Killed-in-Action. He is rmembered on this 50 year anniversary of his last flight…
SUMMARY OF ROLLING THUNDER LOSSES (KIA/MIA/POW) ON 14 MAY FOR THE FOUR YEARS OF THE OPERATION…
1965… NONE…
1966… NONE…
1967… LCDR CHARLES EVERETT SOUTHWICK, USN… (POW)… and… LT DAVID JOHN ROLLINS, USN… (POW)…
1968… LTJG BARRY EDWIN KARGER, USN… (KIA)… and … MAJOR SEYMOUR R. BASS, USAF… (KIA)…
RIPPLE SALVO… #800… “U.S. AWAITS A MOVE BY HANOI ON FREEING CAPTIVE AIRMEN” … That was the 12 May 1968 page 1 headline on a rare mention of our POWs by the New York Times. Here’s what Hedrick Smith reported:
“Paris, May 12–The United States would welcome as a good sign for the talks here any move by North Vietnam to release some of the several hundred American airmen it holds. The Johnson Administration has pointedly refrained from making any such suggestion to the North Vietnamese recently. The American negotiating team here is not known to be planning to raise the issue in the early phases of the official talks, which start tomorrow.
“American officials have generally skirted any discussion of the prisoner question for fear their comments might be misinterpreted in Hanoi as a demand, thus jeopardizing any North Vietnamese initiative on the issue.
PUBLIC MOOD IMPORTANT
“Some American officials apparently feel that releasing prisoners not only would help sustain the initial cordial atmosphere of the talks but would also have a positive impact on American public opinion. The public mood in the United States, to which North Vietnam has been acutely sensitive, will be an important factor influencing President as he manages the negotiations. he would need wide public backing, qualified observers suggest, to order the unconditional halt in American bombing throughout North Vietnam that Hanoi demands.
“It is also understood that some Administration officials would advocate a quick response from Washington on releasing North Vietnamese prisoners, including 14 sailors, held by the United States. A number of other North Vietnamese are being held, but negotiations for their release are complicated by the fact that Hanoi has not formally acknowledged that the troops are fighting in the South.”… End quote…
The best news for our POWs, and all of us potential POWs still in the fight, was that Ambassador Averell Harriman was the lead negotiator in Paris. As President Johnson’s Ambassador-at-Large for most of the period of Rolling Thunder, one of his principal responsibilities starting in 1967 was as lead-dog on all POW issues. I recall telling my father that if I got downed and imprisoned, I would do my time praying that Harriman would find a way to get me out of jail…. Ambassador Harriman was interviewed at the LBJ Library on 16 June 1969 after the Johnson Administration turned the war over to Nixon. Here is a clip from that interview on Harriman and the POW issue…
HARRIMAN: “I was asked by the President to watch the prisoner of war situation, which I did from May 1967. He wanted someone to give attention to the prisoners of war and so I did. But the North Vietnamese were talking about trials of our prisoners as war criminals. l did a lot. We started a campaign in every country; we asked every embassy, sent out directives, and a major drive was put on. The North Vietnamese abandoned that, because they were held up as misusing prisoners. They, of course never would permit, which we tried every way we could, to get representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit the prisoners. But they did end the those trials.”…
Lest we forget… Bear