RIPPLE SALVO… #620… The President gets some high price advice on how to “develop over a period of weeks a public posture which rebuilds the confidence of the American center in our objectives and methods in Vietnam.”… Including: “Stop bombing targets in the Hanoi-Haiphong area.”… but first…
Good Morning: Day SIX HUNDRED TWENTY of daily flashbacks of fifty years to celebrate the gallant warriors of Rolling Thunder…
16 NOVEMBER 1967…HEAD LINES from The New York Times on sunny Thursday full of goosebumps…
Page 1: “Anti-Poverty Measure With $1.6-Billion Passed By House–GOP Succeeds In Cutting $466-Million From Request of $2.06-Billion By Johnson–Final Vote 283 to 129… “The anti-poverty program will continue to operate until next July 1 at about the level it has operated at over the last 18-months.”… Page 1: “NAACP Taking A New Track In Drive For School Integration…”Actions designed to break up impoverished, all-Negro school districts and merge them with weather, adjacent predominately white districts… In a nationwide program, it hopes to end defacto segregation in northern metropolitan areas.”… Page 1: “Washington Suburb Asks For Busing”... “A group of white suburban parents in Maryland announced a plan to recruit and bus underprivileged Negro children from downtown Washington to their all-white schools with Feds paying tuition and transportation costs.”…President Signs Foreign Air Bill But Decries Cuts By Reducing These Vital Programs”…” I regret to say that the Foreign Assistance Act of 1967 reduces the margin of hope to the danger point.”… Page 2: “Four Ramparts Aides Burn Draft Cards–Say Picture on Magazine Reflects Youth Dilemma”… “The fourth edition of Ramparts magazine sold yesterday that the cover of the December issue which shows their draft cards burning was ‘an editorial statement reflecting the dilemma of young men in America.’ “… Page 4: “Leaders of Rusk Demonstration in New York Cite New Techniques of Protest”... “Leaders of the antiwar demonstration in mid-town said yesterday that they had produced something new in pacifist street protests–new technique of civil disobedience that they described under the general term of ‘resistance.’…
16 November 1967…President’s Daily Briefing… NORTH VIETNAM: Hanoi on US Deserters: North Vietnam had described as “resolute and valiant” the desertions of the four U.S. Navy sailors in Japan. A 15 November Hanoi International Service broadcast in English states that the sailors left their ship in protest against the “US aggressive war” in Vietnam. The broadcast reports a commentary in the Hanoi Daily, Nhan Dan, claiming that the sailors have “clearly seen the truth” of the Vietnam war policy of the United States. The Hanoi paper also says that the desertions were a “heavy blow” to President Johnson and showed that the antiwar movement of the American people was growing stronger… A separate broadcast reports the desertions of US troops in Western Euro[pe have exceeded 1,000– 70% of them to avoid being transferred to South Vietnam “to serve as cannon fodder.”….
16 NOVEMBER 1967…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times…Devoid of air war coverage…”Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson) There was one fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 16 November 1967…
(1) LCDR PAUL HENRY SCHULTZ and LTJG TIMOTHY BERNARD SULLIVAN were flying and F-4B of the VF-151 Vigilantes embarked in USS CORAL SEA as the lead flak suppression element of an air wing Alpha strike on the Haiduong railroad bridge and were met by a volley of four SAMs en route to the target. LCDR SCHULTZ was unable to outmaneuver the fourth missile and was peppered by shrapnel the length of left side of the Phantom’s fuselage. They were forced to eject and were immediately captured, interned and spent the duration of the war as POWs.
AMONG THE BRAVE… GALLANTRY AND INTREPIDITY…COMMANDER PAUL HENRY SCHULTZ and LIEUTENANT COMMANDER TIMOTHY BERNARD SULLIVAN… the SILVER STAR MEDAL… NORTH VIETNAM… NOVEMBER 1967…
“The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the SILVER STAR MEDAL to COMMANDER PAUL HENRY SCHULTZ, United States Navy for conspicuous GALLANTRY and INTREPIDITY while interned as a Prisoner of War from 16 to 20 November 1967. Commander SCHULTZ’s captors, completely ignoring international agreement, subjected him to extreme mental and physical cruelties in an attempt to obtain military information and false confessions for propaganda purposes. Through his resistance to those brutalities, he contributed significantly toward the eventual abandonment of harsh treatment by the North Vietnamese, which was attracting international attention. By his determination, courage, resourcefulness, and devotion, Commander SCHULTZ reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Naval Service and the United States Armed Forces.”
“The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the SILVER STAR MEDAL to Lieutenant Commander TIMOTHY BERNARD SULLIVAN, United States Navy, for conspicuous GALLANTRY and INTREPIDITY while interned as a Prison of War in North Vietnam during November 1967. Lieutenant Commander SULLIVAN‘s captors, completely ignoring international agreements, subjected him to extreme mental and physical cruelties in an attempt to obtain military information and false confessions for propaganda purposes. Throughout his resistance to those brutalities, he contributed significantly toward the eventual abandonment of harsh treatment by the North Vietnamese, which was attracting international attention. By his determination, courage, resourcefulness, and devotion, Lieutenant Commander SULLIVAN reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service and the United Sates Armed Forces.”
ROLLING THUNDER OPS… “In the afternoon of 16 November 1967 the 388th TFW of Korat provided a Wild Weasel flight on a strike against Bao Mai airfield (JCS 7). This was the 388th TFW second attempt at Commando Club radar bombing. COMMANDO CLUB procedures involved control of the flight path and determination of the bomb release point by ground-based radar (WAGER)…thus requiring continual communication between the force commander and WAGER.” Red Baron II Report.
“The Wild Weasel ‘Ozark’ flight took off at 1400. Their mission lasted 3 hours and 45 minutes. the flight lineup was: #1 Major Porter Thompson; #2 Major Robert S. Beale; #3 Major Oscar Dardeau, and #4 Major Sam Armstrong…
“This was Major Armstrong’s 20th combat mission to North Vietnam. ‘We were fragged to hit the Bai Mai airfield in downtown Hanoi. We had been sitting on this target for several days but the weather had been too bad to go. I was in the Iron Hand or Wild Weasel flight. We were going in ahead of the strike force by 4-minutes and launch on the DAM sites. The weather was entirely undercast past the target so we turned around and went back out to the west clear of NVN and then turned and came back in on a heading f 020-degrees for a radar-controlled drop on Thai Nguyen. Our flight went to the south and looked for SAM sites. the bombing was aborted when we lost radio contact with the radar controller. they dropped their bombs safe over North Vietnam. We launched Shrike missiles at a radar site on the way out. I also strafed a radar sited on a hill sticking up out of the clouds.” ….
LT COL RUFUS DYE, JR. , also from the 34 TFS, flew his 13th mission as ‘Locust 02’ against a target in RP-6. ‘Divert due weather/released safely/light 37mm’…. “Four 8th TFW F-4Ds from Ubon on MIG CAP support to the F-105 strike force encountered two MiG-21s. The flight …departed Ubon…refueled…rendezvoused with the F-105s from Korat…passed Channel 97…and headed 060-degrees toward the target, in the vicinity of Phu Tho one of the MIG-21s fired two air-to-air missiles at two F-4Ds in the flight’s second element. One of the missiles exploded 1000-feet behind number 4, which was in a 5-G turn causing no damage and the other missile disappeared. The MIG-21 flew north and escaped. The radars on number 1 and 3 F-4Ds failed. Attacking the second MIG-21, the MIG CAP lead tried to fire an AIM-4, which failed to cool and an AIM-7 which didn’t launch due to radar failure. He then fired foo-rounds from his 20mm cannon pod but the MIG was out of range. The lead F-4D reached bingo fuel… and rejoined his flight out of area. In the meantime the strike force dropped ordnance on the target.”…
A memorandum for President Johnson on 17 November 1967 reported this MIG engagement this way: “Two North Vietnamese Mig-21s and 4 US F-4s fought a prolonged air battle 50 miles west of Hanoi. The MIGs later recovered at communist China’s Ning-ming Airfield. No aircraft were lost by either side. The engagement was unusual because Hanoi’s MIG-21s customarily have refrained from attacking US planes, particularly F-4s, unless they have a distinct tactical advantage. This time they chose to fight despite being outnumbered and extended the battle beyond the usual hit-and-run tactics. The incident also marked the third time North Vietnamese MiGs have landed in China after a combat mission.”….
RIPPLE SALVO… #620… At the President’s mini-Delphi with the “Wise Men” on 2 November he had asked for advice on five questions/issues. #5 requested ideas on how to improve support for the war among the citizens of the country. “Dissension is mounting in opposition to the war, how can I turn this round?”… #2 at the State Department Nicholas Katzenbach submitted a 3 part 13 page memo with responses to all five questions. On 16 November he addressed the dissension problem….
“If we can’t speed up the tortoise of demonstrated success in the field we must concentrate on slowing down the hare of dissent at home…I have set forth in some detail the five general ways in which we could move in this direction. By way of conclusion I want only to suggest five specific measures.” Included in the five: #4. “Stop bombing targets in the Hanoi-Haiphong area.”
The Katzenbach memo to the President is at:
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v05/d401
RTR Quote for 16 November: HENRY NEWBOLT, Hawke : “For bragging-time was over, and fighting-time has come.”