RIPPLE SALVO… #467… “Quotes”–Words of wisdom that endure the test of time… but first…
Good Morning: Day FOUR HUNDRED SIXTY-SEVEN of a return to a bloody battlefield– the skies of North Vietnam– and an air war called Rolling Thunder…
15 JUNE 1967… HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a hot and humid Thursday in Gotham City…
ARAB-ISRAELI SIX DAY WAR…Page 1: “Security Council Bars Soviet Move to Censure Israel”... “The Security Council rejected decisively today a Soviet draft resolution that condemned Israel as an aggressor and demanded the withdrawal of Israel forces from territory they had occupied in the United Arab republic, Syria and Jordan. Shortly after Secretary General Thant asked the other members of the United Nations whether they concurred with the Soviet Union’s call for an emergency sessions of the General Assembly. Approval by the majority of the 122 members is required. The pullback sought by the Soviet was to the 1949 armistice lines.”… Page 1: “Israel Captured 9 UAR Generals...the Israeli troops also captured 10 Colonels an 3,000 other officers. Total prisoner count was 5,499 of whom 4,500 were Egyptians. Nine Israelis were known to be prisoners of the United Arab Republic: three were pilots and 6 were sailors. Other prisoners held by Arabs: two in Iraq; two in Jordan and 1 in Libya. All Egyptian prisoners held in Israel have been released back to Egypt.”… Page 1: “United Nations Bids Israel Assist Refugees...15 member Security Council unanimously asked Israel to ‘facilitate the return of refugees who fled areas now occupied by Israeli forces…calling for scrupulous respect for the humanitarian principles governing the treatment of POWs and the protection of civic persons in time of war.”… Page 1: “Tens of Thousands of Jews Pray at Wailing Wall...for the first time today, a week after its capture…”
HOME: Page 1: “More Disorders Grip Cincinnati”… “National Guardsmen and police dashed from one trouble spot to another in jeeps and squad cars last night and early today, dispersing rock-throwing bands of Negro teenagers and snuffing out fires in a riot-torn city…more than 800 guardsmen and 700 policemen were on duty. Tuesday night riots injured 3 and incurred $1-million in property damage.”…Page 1: “Senate Approved Draft bill 72 to 23; President Curbed”… The Senate approved today the full text of a bill extending the national draft for four years but restricting President Johnson’s authority to call-up college undergraduates and barring a draft lottery. The vote was 72-23. Senator Edward Kennedy led the opposition forces holding that a one year extension was enough.”…
VIETNAM: Page 1: “Thieu Announces He Will Oppose Ky for Vietnamese Presidency … LGEN Nguyen Van Thieu, the Chief of State announced today that he would run for the Presidency of South Vietnam. He is opposed by Premier Nguyen Cao Ky…”… Page 1: “Sixty of Foe Killed in Vietnam Battle”... “Soldiers of the United States First Division killed 60 Vietcong in a stronghold 50 miles south of Danang. Three U.S. infantrymen were killed and 11 wounded.”... Page 2: “Policy in Vietnam Target of Questions by Southern Presbyterians”…Long list of questions on United States policy in Vietnam were posed to 950,000 members… Sample Qs: “Can the cost of victory nullify the victory itself?… Is there a worse evil than defeat?…
15 June 1967…The President’s TS Daily CIA Brief: ARAB-ISRAELI 6-DAY WAR: There have been no significant developments over night. The Soviets may be doing some artful dodging with their latest UN gambit. By moving the crisis into the General Assembly, the Soviets give up the veto they have in the Security Council. They can do as much shoe pounding as they want in the assembly, but, in the end, they can let themselves be “pressured” by the majority into a more tenable–and reasonable–position… The Arabs, meanwhile, are unbending in their opposition to direct negotiations and the Israelis are just as adamant that there must be such negotiations. Yesterday the Egyptians said the Suez Canal would not be opened until the Israelis left the eastern shore…
15 June 1967…Office of the Historian, State Department, FRUS, 1964-68, Volume V, Vietnam 1967…Memo (Document #203) from Rostow to the President. “Here are my views on the bombing program.” This memo follows two Tuesday lunch and later, meetings that discussed the 12 June 7-page document #194, posted in my June 13 Blog… Humble Host notes that the #203 memo also discusses manpower. On this same day 50 years later, today, our Secretary of Defense is pondering what to tell President Trump what we should be doing in Afghanistan and what troop level to settle on… What goes around comes around in an amazing coincidence, IMHO… Documents at:
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v05/d203
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v05/d194
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM…MAJOR WILLIM DAVID BURROUGHS, United States Air Force…THE AIR FORCE CROSS…11 JULY 1966…
“The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the AIR FORCE CROSS to MAJOR WILLIAM DAVID BURROUGHS, United States Air Force, for EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM in connection with military operations against an opposition force while serving with the 15th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, in action in Southeast Asia on 11 July 1966. On that date MAJOR BURROUGHS flew his unarmed and unescorted RF-101 Voodoo against a strategic target of vital importance situated along a critical northeast railroad only thirty-five miles northeast of Hanoi. This target was of singular value, and the immediate area defenses were as concentrated, menacing and vicious as any in the annals of air warfare. Refusing to be deterred by a direct hit from a deadly missile which caused major structural damage to his aircraft, MAJOR BURROUGHS courageously pursued his mission and obtained important photo intelligence of this strategic target. By his EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM, superb airmanship and aggressiveness in the face of an armed hostile force, MAJOR BURROUGHS reflected the highest credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.”
Among COLONEL BURROUGH’S combat awards are two SILVER STARS– one awarded for gallantry and devotion to duty on a photo recon mission of 6 July 1966, and a second SILVER STAR for honorable and gallant service during more than six years of service as a POW. He flew nearly 100 missions in the F-101 Voodoo during his Vietnam service, flying out of Udorn, Thailand. Other awards include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, air Medals, Purple Heart, Air Force Commendation Medals, and the Prisoner of War Medal. COLONEL BURROUGHS passed away in 1999. Fifty years ago on this date he was imprisoned. Today he rests in well-earned peace.
15 June 1967…Operation Rolling Thunder… New York Times was devoid of air war news…
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There was one fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 15 June 1967...
(1) CAPTAIN JOHN WILLIAM SWANSON was flying an F-105 of the 34th TFS and 388th TFW out of Korat on a raid on the coastal rail line 20 miles north of Vinh when hit by 37-mm anti-aircraft fire. He was able to pilot the battle damaged Thunderchief eastward over the Gulf of Tonkin before ejecting. He was never found and perished, killed in action. His body remains lost at sea: left behind forever… Today, our thoughts are gently touched with sorrow and sadness for his family, who will never know more than they do this day, fifty years after their young warrior went to war…
RIPPLE SALVO… #467… When I was in my year–1974-75– at the Army War College at Carlisle I put together a 365-day calendar of military quotes that I used in every subsequent tour, both in my commands –Air Wing 3, USS Kalamazoo, USS Coral Sea, and the Light Attack Wing of Strike-Fighters, Pacific Fleet–and in four tours in Washington. Useful little buggers, they are. I found no better way to deliver a daily message to the troops than to include my quotes of the day in the unit “Plan of the Day” and to have posted in my admin office for all to see and suck up. A daily dose of warrior thought. A shot of fighting spirit. The troops loved the daily warrior word from the CO. A bonus was having a ready file of time-tested quotations taken from the writings of history’s great military captains for use in speeches and conversation.
Good quotes are also an important part of history. ROLLINGTHUNDERREMEMBERED will include more quotes for the remainder of this journal of 1,000+ posts reviewing the history of the air war in North Vietnam of 1965-68. The quotes will continue to draw from my War College library but will include an additional daily quote or two from the Vietnam war era. Humble Host invites readers to submit favorite and appropriate quotes as comments to the posts by leaving them in the comments section below. You may also email the webmaster or use the contact form for him to post in RIPPLE SALVO with credit… Bring ’em on…
THE QUOTES for 15 June: In June 1961 John F. Kennedy told James Reston of the NYT: “Now we have a problem in trying to make our power credible, and Vietnam looks like the place.” Humble Host notes the similarity of then to now as President Trump struggles to “make our power credible” somewhere–Afghanistan???…
“The Domino Theory,” where did that come from?… President Ike Eisenhower in a press conference in April 1954: “You have a row of dominoes set up; knock over the first one, and what will happen to the last one is that it will go over very quickly.”
Patton: “There is only one kind of discipline, perfect discipline.”
Lest we forget… Bear