RIPPLE SALVO… #375… AIR RESCUE SERVICE: “These things we do so others might live.”… but first…
Good Morning: Day THREE HUNDRED SEVENTY-FIVE recalling the courage and sacrifice of those who went to war in the skies of Laos and North Vietnam and fought for each other…
15 MARCH 1967… HEAD LINES and LEADS from The New York Times on a cloudy Wednesday with lot’s of rain…
Page 1:”President Seeks to Extend Drive Against Poverty”… “President Johnson promised Congress today that he would hold down costs and tighten the Administration of his anti-poverty programs but he pleaded strongly for the funds needed to carry on at a slightly increased pace. In a special message to the legislators summarizing his programs for the urban and rural poor the President tried to meet the many criticisms leveled against his Great Society measures and overcome the skepticism on Capital Hill about their extension.”… Page 1: “79 Teachers Quit, Blaming Attacks by Bronx Students”… “Seventy-nine teachers at an East Bronx junior high school resigned yesterday to protest working conditions and assaults by pupils on the faculty. The written resignations by more than half of the staff at JHS 98 were submitted to the Board of Education. Teachers at several other schools may join in support of JHS 98 staff.”…Page 1: “Negro and Puerto Rican Pupils In Majority Here for First Time”… “For the first time in the city’s history Negro and Puerto Rican pupils now constitute the majority in the city’s public school enrollment…In the last ten years the proportion of those two groups has risen from 31.7 percent to 50.2 percent. The remaining 49.2 per cent, designated ‘other’ include, in addition to whites, Asians, American Indians and other ethnic groups.”…
Page 1: “Peace Hunt Gains U.N. Source Says”…”A qualified U.N. source said today that there had been a new development in the quest for a negotiated settlement of the war in Vietnam. This was reported after a 90-minute meeting between Secretary General Thant and Arthur J. Goldberg, United States representative. Their meeting was followed by a meeting that included representatives of the Soviet Union and Poland.”… Page 1:…“Premier Nguyen Cao Ky will fly to Guam this weekend to attend a conference with President Johnson.”… Page 1: “Big Rockets Fall on Base in Danang”... “The enemy hit the big American air base at Danang today with his biggest weapon of the war: Soviet made 140mm rockets, and wounded 19 American Air Force personnel. The rockets were launched from an area five miles southwest of the base.”…
Page 1: “Bodies of JFK and Two Children were moved quietly in the dark of night to their permanent resting place at Arlington National Cemetery…
15 MARCH 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER... New York Times (16 March reporting 15 March ops)... Page 5. “U.S. Jets Hit 5 of Foe’s Patrol Boats”...”Rocket Firing United States Navy jets destroyed or damaged five North Vietnamese patrol boats in attacks off the Gulf of Tonkin coast…one of the vessels was damaged 40 miles east of Haiphong, which is Hanoi’s port. The attacks were carried out yesterday by pilots from the carriers Kitty Hawk and Ticonderoga. Also yesterday American pilots flew 116 missions against military targets in North Vietnam, most of them around Haiphong and in the southern panhandle part of the country. U.S. Air Force and Navy pilots hit supply routes, storage areas, bridges and a radar site in North Vietnam. The radar site was on an island 41 miles east-southeast of Haiphong. United States air losses over North Vietnam moved up to 485 yesterday with the loss of an F-8 Crusader. The pilot is listed as missing in action. In the South an F-100 Super Sabre was shot down to bring the loss total in the South to 160 aircraft. The pilot is missing.”... Vietnam:Air Losses” (Hobson) There were four fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 15 March 1967…
(1) 1LT VICTOR HUGO THOMPSON was flying an F-100D Super Sabre of the 3rd TFW out of Bien Hoa on an a strike mission on a VC base camp 20 miles south of Saigon and was shot down by intense ground fire on his initial strafing pass. There was no ejection and 1LT THOMPSON perished –Killed in Action– in the crash on target fifty years ago today. His remains were returned to the United States in 1974. Our thoughts are with his family…
(2) LCOL PETER JOSEPH FREDERICK was flying an F-105D of the 357th TFS and 355th TFW out of Takhli on a road reconnaissance mission near the Bartholemy Pass. LCOL FREDERICK was flying #2 on a diving attack on a target and when the lead recovered from his attack he was unable to raise his wingman. It was never determined whether he was hit by ground fire or flew into the ground. There was no communication, parachute or beeper and the wreckage was not found in the search that followed. His remains were found, returned to the United States, and identified in 2004. No man left behind…
(3) LTJG DEAN SMITH was flying an F-8C of the VF-24 Checkertails embarked in USS Bon Homme Richard on a coastal reconnaissance mission searching out waterborne logistic craft from among the fishing boats off the coast. As the flight maneuvered to identify a target LTJG SMITH was observed and warned that he was losing altitude in a turn. It is unknown whether he was hit by automatic weapon fire and crashed or inadvertently flew into the water. The young fighter pilot was Killed in Action, body not recovered, and he rests in peace where he fell, on his shield, on this day that marks the 50th year of his death in the service of his country.
(4) CAPTAIN STANLEY P. KRUEGER, USMC, was flying an A-4E of the VMA-223 Bulldogs and MAG-12 out of Chu Lai on a night armed reconnaissance mission just north of the DMZ and was hit by ground fire while attacking an active automatic weapon site. He was able to fly his battle damaged aircraft well to sea before having to eject. He was rescued by an Air Force helicopter. A night to remember…
RIPPLE SALVO… #375... “They Called it NAKED FANNY: Helicopter Rescue Missions During the Early Years of the Vietnam War”… AUTHOR: SCOTT HARRINGTON with JOE BALLINGER… Partner Mighty Thunder will have a review of this set of tales and hairy stories from the days of the Air Rescue Squadrons at Nakhon Phanom on line shortly. F-105 driver Frank Tullo, a grateful customer of the life saving services of the 35th ARS, has this to say about the HARRINGTON/BALLINGER collage of testimony from a band of brothers who fought their war in unarmed rescue birds–HH-43Bs– “Blades of wood and men of steel.” Tullo: “The stories between the covers of this book bring to life the valor and courage needed day in and day out and animate the cold facts hidden in mission statements for half a century.”
“Naked Fanny” is a superb addition to the history of the air war over North Vietnam and Laos… Amazon can get you a copy in 24-hours. For a sample of the heroics that was the standard in the Air Rescue Squadrons punch in this link:
http://www.rotorheadsrus.us/documents/406.html
CAG’s QUOTES for 15 March: “NAPOLEON: “As long as a man is a man, there will be war, and the only way to avoid trouble is to have the best Army and Navy.”… PATTON: “We will live to return to our families as conquering heroes.”…
Lest we forget… Bear