RIPPLE SALVO… #497…A short story of jungle survival by Major Ken Mays, USAF,  but first…

Good Morning: Day FOUR HUNDRED NINETY-SEVEN of a return to Operation Rolling Thunder, the air war fought fifty years ago over North Vietnam…

15 JULY 1967…HEAD LINES at home from The New York Times on a nice sunny Saturday in New Yawk…

SUMMER 1967: Page 1: “11 Die, 600 Hurt In New Jersey Riots–Troops Used To Curb Negroes–Governor Sees Insurrection–Curfew Imposed on City–Sniper Slays Policeman”... “Gunfire crackled through the streets of this riot torn city in new fury last night, bringing the death toll of dead to 11, including  policeman shot by a sniper while chasing looters. Governor Richard Hughes declared Newark a city in ‘criminal insurrection’ or the fighting and looting continued despite a curfew and the presence of n armed troops. The violence was the worst racial outbreak since the rioting in the Watts section of Los Angeles in 1965. At least 800 persons were under arrest; at least 600 were wounded; and damage to property after two days of looting ran into the millions. At least five policemen, including three shot last night have been injured….Governor Richard J. Hughes: ‘The line between the jungle and the law might as well be drawn here as well as any place.’ “… Page 1: “Leisurely Looters Defend Acts As Way to Deal With Whitey”... “Most of the group of young Negro women who were here looting the supermarket at Springfield avenue and Morris Street in leisurely fashion today left their shopping bags and carts and ran outside when someone yelled that the National Guard were coming. One, who did not run, called to the others from behind an empty bread shelf, ‘Do you see any soul brothers among them?’ …’Not one blood among the whole group’… ‘They ain’t letting the brothers into anything.’ “…Page 1: “Negroes Battle With Guardsmen–Soldiers Exchange Gunfire With Snipers on Newark Projects Top Floors”… Page 1: “Tear Gas Halts Riot By 100 Prisoners At Fort Dix Stockade”... “About 100 military prisoners rioted for nearly an hour last night in the stockade here, hurling bunks and footlockers through the windows, breaking lights and shouting obscenities t military policemen summoned to restore order. Forty of the prisoners were injured before the outbreak was slowed with water from fire hoses and nine canisters of tear gas.”… Page 9: “Directors Of NAACP Assailed By Units Critical of ‘Old Guard’–Wilkins Spared in Attacks At Parley–Philadelphia President Suspended”… “Three groups of opponents of the ‘old guard’ today attacked the 60-man board of directors of the NAACP. The groups were seeking to destroy what they consider to be the middle class image of the association and to make the association more responsive to what the dissidents believe is the grassroots Negro sentiment in the United States. The attack comes in the 5th day of the convention stronger than ever.”… Page 9: “Hartford (Conn) Calm As Patrols Go On–Officials and Civic Leaders Ponder ‘Why’ of Violence”... “Mayor Kinsella: ‘This is not a racial thing, it’s a local, internal disturbance and a lack of jobs.’… ‘If a man’s got a police record he can’t get a job. Sometimes he can’t get one anyway and the white shopkeepers, to whom these people give their money, overcharge and give them abuse in return, ‘ said Collin Bennett of the Hartford City Council.”…

NYT Editorial, Page 24: “Newark and Beyond”… “The sorry roll call of American cities rippled by summer riots grows. In Newark National Guardsmen patrol the streets; in Hartford, a state of emergency has been declared; even in the heart of the Nation’s corn belt young Negroes riot in a small Iowa town. The rioting is contagious, but it is not caused primarily by outside agitation. This is internal combustion. The flame of frustration may be fanned by militant cries of black power, but the combustible material is already present. … the answer is opportunity, not promises of more legislation…”

SIX DAY WAR: Page 1: “UN Again Calls On Israel to Halt Jerusalem Move–Assembly Vote 99-0–Demands End to Any Steps To Alter Status of City–Eban Critical of Text–He Indicates No Intention of Compliance–U.S. and 17 Others Abstain”… Page 1: “Thant Says Israelis Looted U.N. Depots in Gaza and Storage Depots at Rafah during period they occupied these installations.”... Page 1: “Fighting Flares Along the Suez–Israel Silenced Foe’s Attack–Cairo Says Five Planes Downed”... “Israeli fighter planes attacked Egyptian artillery positions on the west bank of the Suez Canal today after heavy shelling killed five Israeli soldiers and wounded 20 on the east bank.”…

VIETNAM: Page 1: “12 Americans Die In Rocket Attack on Danang Base–40 Wounded and 6 Planes Destroyed–Foe Raids A Jail Freeing Prisoners”... “Enemy gunners blasted the huge Danang base with 50 rounds of rocket fire early this morning killing 12 and wounding 40 American servicemen… five of the dead were fireman killed where an aircraft exploded… All the damaged aircraft were F-4C Phantom and the destroyed aircraft were F-4s and C-130s. Many of the casualties resulted from a direct hit by a 120-mm or 140-mm rocket on a billet housing dozens of military personnel–penetrated the roof and exploded inside.”... Page 3: “A spokesman said a Vietnamese Air Force helicopter flew through heavy ground fire to rescue an Air Force pilot whose Skyraider was shot down by ground fire just south of Khesanh. The loss of the Skyraider raises to 193 the number of planes lost in South Vietnam to 193…606 have been lost in the North.”…

15 JULY 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…New York Times…No coverage….”Vietnam:Air Losses” (Chris Hobson)…There were two fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 15 July 1967 and another 10 destroyed and 49 damaged in the mortar/rocket attack on Danang Air Base (see above). Hobson: “In one of the most devastating and costly VC mortar attacks on a US airfield during the war 10 aircraft were destroyed and another 49 damaged in varying degrees…The attack commenced just after midnight on the 14th and a total of 83 mortar and rocket rounds were fired and eight men were killed and another 195 wounded. The attack almost wiped out the 390th TFS, which had 18 of its Phantoms destroyed or damaged….the ammunition dump on the Marine Corps side of the airfield was hit and exploded with terrific force. The runway was cratered in a number of places but was quickly repaired…”…

(1) LTJG ROBIN BERN CASSELL was flying an A-1H of the VA-152 Wild Aces embarked in USS Oriskany on an armed coastal recce mission in the area of Thanh Hoa. LTJG CASSELL was hit while executing a bombing run on a “water-borne logistic craft” and after reporting he was hit, LTJG CASSELL and the aircraft crashed into the sea and exploded killing the young pilot. His body rest in peace where he died in the service of his country fifty years ago today… So young….

(2) CAPTAIN T.H. HERNDON was flying an F-100D of the 531st TFS and the 3rd TFW out of Bien Hoa on a close air support mission and in the recovery of his second attack he was hit by automatic weapons fire and forced to eject. He was rescued by an Army helicopter and suffered minor injuries…

RIPPLE SALVO… #497… It is Friday evening here, and I need a Happy Hour. I’ll keep the Salvo short for a change…

This short tale was snipped from Howie Plunkett’s “34TFS and F105 History.” F-105 pilot Major Ken Mays graduated from the F-105 RTU at McConnell AFB in late June 1967 and his last stop before reporting to the 469th TFS of the 388th TFW at Korat was the jungle survival school near Clark AFB in the PI… In his unpublished memoir, “Tour At Korat–July 67 to Feb 68.” Major Mays recounts his “real survival” experience… 

“We arrived in the field and set up camp under the supervision of the Nigritos (sic). About dark rain started coming down in sheets and the water started to rise. The next morning we had about one foot of water in our campsite. Rain continued and the water continued to rise. Attempts were made to rescue us by helicopter, but they could not get to us. The Nigritos told us to abandon camp and move to the mountain area. We were soaked to the bone and everything we had was wet. With the help of the Nigritos we constructed shelters from bananas leaves, which helped to keep the rain off. That afternoon they decided we must get out of the area and to a road where we could be picked up. I got on one of the radios an AF NCO who was with us had and wanted to know who was coordinating our extraction. After a long silence a Major came on who assured us they were organizing a recovery team. About an hour later we started moving toward a creek that was out of it’s banks and running very swift. The Nigritos managed to get a large vine across the creek and then each of us crossed the creek holding on the vine. We then hiked about a mile to a road where we were picked up by a Navy bus and taken to Subic Bay. We were given dry clothing and fed. The next morning we were transported back to Clark. This was a real survival situation, but ws disappointed we could not have spent more time in the jungle.”

RTR QUOTE for 15 July: SENECA: “Animals whose hoofs are hardened on rough ground can travel any road.”…

Lest we forget…     Bear