RIPPLE SALVO… #347… NYT’S R.W. APPLE REPORTS FROM USS ENTERPRISE… but first…
Good Morning: Day THREE HUNDRED FORTY-SEVEN of a non-stop return to the skies over North Vietnam...
15 February 1967… HOME TOWN HEADLINES from The New York Times on a fair Wednesday in NYC…
Page 1: “Wilson Reports Peace Was Near During Weekend”... “He asserts it was almost in our grasp but for a simple act of trust by the foe…Says plan still exists but Hanoi insists there be no bargaining on demand to halt bombing… Wilson: ‘One small move would have activated the whole proposal and continued the Tet truce until the parties were around the conference table…There is an initiative, a plan–that I can’t tell the House about–which could bring peace tomorrow and requires a very, very small movement, to activate all the complicated machinery which would bring us to peace negotiations.’ “... Page 4: “Hanoi Move Tied to Vote in South”...”North Vietnam appears eager to gain United States political recognition of the Vietcong before the South Vietnamese elections this summer. Hanoi’s idea would be to undercut the importance of the elections and the victory of any non-Communist group by having the Vietcong accepted as a political force beforehand. If the Vietcong did not take part in the elections, they could later claim that the polling was invalid.”… Page 7: “Soviet Denounces Renewed Bombing”…”The Soviet Government newspaper Investia asserted tonight that the resumption of bombing raids against North Vietnam had boomeranged on the United States by bolstering the influence and authority of Hanoi in the world’s attitude toward a settlement of the war…’The American generals can be satisfied. Their demands were acceded to at the too. And the world has seen once more who dictates the policies of the United States, at least as forces the Vietnam war is concerned.”…
Page 1: “President Seeks to Abolish Housing Bias in Three Stages”… “President Johnson will ask Congress for a three-stage law aimed at ending discrimination in the sale or rent of private housing. sources close to the President confirmed today that he would ask for the law in a civil rights message to be sent to Congress tomorrow or later in the week… The first stage would last through 1967. The Administration will try to get public opinion…to get as much voluntary compliance as possible. In 1968 open occupancy would become mandatory for dwellings sold or rented by someone other than the occupant. In 1969 the law would apply to all housing.”… Page 1: “U.S. Sets March Deadline On Talks to Reduce Tariffs”… “The United States has set a deadline of Easter, or a week either side, for conclusion of the four-year old Kennedy round of tariff cutting negotiations, although major issues remain to be resolved.”
Page 1: “U.S. Minesweepers Sunk, 2 Damaged”… “A United States minesweeper was sunk today and two others damaged severely in two separate guerrilla attacks along the Longtau river , the main shipping channel into Saigon…13 United States Navy men were wounded and one was missing…one hit a mine and sank 22 miles from Saigon and the others were damaged by 57mm gun fire 15 miles south of Saigon”… HUMBLE HOST comment: The mines were Soviet made. How come this wasn’t used to retaliate against the port of Haiphong? They get a free shot?…
15 FEBRUARY 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…New York Times devoid of news of air war in the North other than R.W. Apple report –see Ripple Salvo below… “Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson) There was one fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 15 February 1967.
(1) 1LT W.H. HEPLER was flying an F-100D of the 309th TFS and 31st TFW out of Tuy Hoa supporting Operation Junction City and attacked a target 10 miles northeast of Dau Tieng and was hit by ground fire. The battle damage was under control for all but the last ten miles back to home base. 1LT HEPLER ejected and was rescued to fly and fight again…
RIPPLE SALVO… #347… New York Times… Page 8: R.W Apple reporting…
“Bombs Fly From Decks of the Enterprise Again”… “The world’s largest fighting ship went back to war today with her crew neither jubilant nor downcast. Long before dawn the word was flashed from Hawaii, Honolulu that the pause of nearly six days was over…The weather was forbidding…unseasonable Arctic winds blowing across the Enterprise’s bow. The 90,000-ton ship shuddered and rolled as she plowed through the whitecaps of the South China Sea and Gulf of Tonkin…
*LCDR Eugene “Red” McDaniel, A-6A Intruder: ‘I was disappointed, we’d all hoped that the truce would be extended–that they’d be able to workout some end to this thing. It’s not much of a sport, getting shot at every day. After the layoff we were nervous. But once you get that first hop out of the way, it is just the same as before. It’s your way of life.’
“Other pilots disagreed, asserting that they were glad to be back at work again.
*LCDR Pete Carroll, F-4 Phantoms: ‘I thought about it and I decided that it was too bad we couldn’t have started yesterday or the day before that if we had to start at all.’
“The reason, of course, is the fear of the pilots that they have to fly through heavier anti-aircraft fire than ever before. It happened after all the other cease-fires…but today the flak was light…
“Few of the fliers expressed any doubt that the war would end in any thing but a negotiated settlement. The more reflective among them see their role as one of punishing Vietnam until it has no choice but to accept an armistice on terms favorable to the United States and South Vietnam.
*Commander Jimmie Rough, F-4 Phantom Squadron Skipper: …Told of having seen dozens of heavy North Vietnamese junks moving from Haiphong south into the coastal panhandle region…Over the weekend the Enterprise reconnaissance plane saw them heading north–empty. Rough: ‘Usually you fly around for days without seeing an enemy ship. Then you see them all over the place and you can do nothing about them. It is not always easy to play by the rules over here but we have to. When you have been shot at a lot you have to remind yourself of all the subtleties of this war we are fighting.’..”
CAG’s QUOTES for 15 February: VON MOLTKE: “Great successes in war are not achieved without great risks.”… PATTON: “In war every man is expendable. Any man who starts thinking he is indispensable already isn’t worth his weight in anything.”…
Lest we forget… Bear