RIPPLE SALVO… #589… Two historical documents: (1) A snapshot status of the ongoing-going no-where peace initiative “Philadelphia”and the statesmanship of Henry Kissinger. Unfortunately, the North Vietnamese were very content to allow the open line so they could listen to the United States whine as they applied what can only be called: “The Silent Treatment”… Ho Chi Minh was pleased with what he saw happening on the streets and in the Congress of the United States. Ho: ‘Why talk when it’s all going my way? Let LBJ stew in his own juice.’… and (2) A very enlightening conversation in the White House on 16 October 1967 as the President struggles to find a way out of the Vietnam quagmire…
Good Morning: Day FIVE HUNDRED EIGHTY-EIGHT of a 50th year remembrance of the great warriors of Rolling Thunder who were “rode hard and put away wet,” to be forgotten… that’s life… “Grin and bear it, and if you can’t grin–bear it!”…
16 OCTOBER 1967… HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a partly cloudy Monday in the big city…
(1) Big, bright, happy picture of Ronald Reagan dominates page 1 with caption: “Reagan Says President Uses War Politically.”… “REAGAN CHARGES JOHNSON IS SILENT ON VIETNAM GAINS–CONTENDS NEWS IS WITHHELD FOR CAMPAIGN–GOVERNORS OPEN CONFERENCE TODAY”… “President Johnson’s Vietnam policy was attacked by two Republican governors and defended by once mutinous Democrats here to prepare for their annual non-partisan conference.”… Page 1: “Chinese Communist Peril Emphasized By Vice President Humphrey”...”…says the threat to world peace is ‘militant aggressive Asian Communism,’ with its headquarters in Peking. The aggressiveness of North Vietnam is but the most current and immediate action of militant Asian Communism… vigorously pursued in the Johnson’s Administration’s revived theme that the security of the United States is at stake in the Vietnam conflict.”… Page 1: “Bunker Pressures Regime in Saigon For Wide Reform–Ambassador Leads Mission in Restoring Firm Policy Abandoned in 1963–Thieu and Ky are Cautioned Against Political Excesses–Army Shifts are Sought”... “For the first time in four years the United States mission in South Vietnam is exerting strong pressure on the South Vietnamese Government to accede to American political and military guidance…the shift from leniency is being carried out by Ambassador Bunker.”… Page 1: “Lag In Negro Jobs is Seen in South–Study Predicts Wide Growth in Region’s Economy Will Mainly Benefit Whites”... “…study commissioned… to study the employment outlook in the South… ‘it is a discouraging one.’…By 1975 ‘unemployment among Negroes in the South,’ the Social Scientists say, ‘may still be more than that of Southern whites.'”…
Page 1: Pupil Gains Cited With Integration”… “Integration of Westchester County schools has improved achievement of Negro pupils without a decline of that of white pupils…study conducted by Board of Education.”… Page 4: “Fidel Castro Says Death of Che Guevara is Painfully True”… “…says he had reached the absolute conclusion that the report of the death of Ernesto Che Guevara is true. ‘No one can deny that the death of Che has been a strong low to revolutionaries. Not to be able to count now on his experience, inspiration and on that strength of prestige that provoked fear in reactionaries…it is a strong blow…a very strong blow.’ ‘… Sports: “Colts and Rams Tie, 24-24. Johnny Unitas establishes another NFL passing record of 3,835 attempts.”
16 October 1967… The President’s Daily Brief (CIA-TS) NORTH VIETNAM: Photography of 4 October indicates that the repaired rail supports may not be as strong as the original truss work but are probably adequate to carry light loads at slow speed…. Return of French dead. The French Foreign Ministry has informed the U.S. Embassy in Paris that the remains of 120 French soldiers buried in North Vietnam will be dug up from two cemeteries in the city of Nam Dinh this week, and that a similar operation will take place at Hai Duong. Shipment of the remains to France will take place at the end of the year…a small sign of improvement in Hanoi’ relations with the French.”
ON THIS DAY 50 YEARS AGO… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (17 Oct reporting 16 Oct ops)… Page 1: “With the weather cloudy in areas of North Vietnam United States pilots restricted their strikes to barges, lines of communication and weapons positions in the southern panhandle, which extends about 160 miles–from above the demilitarized zone to Vinh, a port. Air Force pilots continued to bomb enemy supply barges, sinking 11 barges and damaging 6 others, a spokesman reported. Navy pilots struck storage areas and two bridges, one of them 16 miles south of Thanh Hoa, the other 18 miles northeast of Thanh Hoa.”…
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There were three fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 16 October 1967…
(1) CAPTAIN RICHARD DUANE APPELHANS and CAPTAIN GEORGE WILLIAM CLARKE were flying an RF-4C of the 12th TRS and 460th TRW out of Tan Son Nhut on a night reconnaissance mission in northern South Vietnam in the area west of Khe Sanh when radio and radar contact were lost. A SAR effort centered on a point about 12 miles west of Khe Sanh was fruitless. Both CAPTAIN APPELHANS and CAPTAIN CLARKE were listed as presumed Killed in Action when neither emerged with the POWs in Feb/March of 1973. They apparently rest in peace where they fell on this day 50 years ago… Left behind?…
(2) MAJOR M.H. ALEXANDER was flying an O-1E of the 20th TASS and 504th TASG out of Danang on a visual reconnaissance mission south of Danang and was downed by small arms fire in a landing approach to a small airstrip near An Hoa, 17 miles south of Danang. He was slightly injured in the crash landing short of the field…
(3) An F-105D of the 469th TFS and 388th TFW out of Korat developed mechanical problems after takeoff that could not be resolved that required the pilot to eject near Korat where he was rescued….
MISSION OF THE DAY… From Howie Plunkett’s “34th TFS/F-105” … 16-Oct-67… Major Spence “Sam” Armstrong’s Seventh Mission (From his 100 mission combat log)…
“Mission 7. F-105D…Call Sign: “Hatchet”. Take Off 1410. Mission Length: 3+35. Flight Line-up Mission Commander- Capt Lawrence G. Hoppe flying his 77th counter for 3.6 hours. #1: Maj. Lefty Leftwich; #2-Me; #3- Maj. Jim King; #4-Capt. Larry Klinestiver.
“This was my first mission into Package VIA and what an eye opener. The length of the flight was one thing and the intensity of the AAA fire was the other. We went the sea route which meant we refueled out over the Gulf of Tonkin and entered NVN north of Hanoi heading due west. There were 16 strike aircraft in the gaggle plus 4 MIGCAP F-4s and 4 F-105Fs for Iron hand (SAM suppression). I saw 2 SAM launches on the way to the target (Dap Cau Railroad Bridge{JCS16}, 16 miles N.E. of Hanoi) and one on egress. Our flight carried CBU to suppress flak. When we rolled in, I saw many, many orange and grey flashes coming right at me. I was told later that these were 37 and 37 mm fire, but I didn’t see how we could get through them unscathed but we did. I dropped when and where Lefty did. We were attacked on the way out by 4 MIGs who fired a missile ineffectively because of our turn.”
Major Sam Armstong expanded on his combat log in composing an “unpublished manuscript” that provides some detail and a little color to the basics… that’s what aviators do…
“This particular target was the Dap Cau railroad bridge 16 miles Northeast of Hanoi. We went the water route which meant that we crossed the Northern part of South Vietnam and rendezvous with the tankers out over the Gulf of Tonkin. The tankers took us up to the 19th parallel where we dropped off with a full load and headed inland just north of Haiphong. On the way in I observed my first two SA-2 launches but they were not a threat to my flight. There was a lot of flak in the air and I lost track of the target so when Lefty Leftwich, the flight leader, rolled into his dive I followed him down the chute and dropped my bombs a couple counts after I saw his released. There was 57-mm and 37-mm flying by my cockpit in the dive. The red-hot ingots reminded me of fire flies in the headlights of a car on a country road at night. It was hard to figure why one of those didn’t hit me but it didn’t. There was one more SA-2 fired as we exited and a report of some MIGs who fired missiles at us without effect. We refueled on the way home and I logged a 3+35 flight and put a red mark on my Aussie hat back in the locker room to signify that I had flown in Pack VIA. We used blue ink marks around the hat band for non VIA missions. This was my “baptism under fire”! ” (LGEN Sam Armstrong)
HUMBLE HOST reminds readers that this website is OPEN for adding your “baptism under fire,” mission of the day, or any other tale you believe belongs in the archives of history in perpetuity, which is where ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED is headed… or, email me your story and let me or my partner, MIGHTY THUNDER, make the post and entry…
RIPPLE SALVO… #589… Two historical documents for your information and understanding of what went on in Washington while we were dodging big bullets (or not) and busting bridges… read at:
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v05/d349
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v05/d353
RTR QUOTE of 16 OCT: VICE ADMIRAL DUTCH SHOULTZ, USN, who rests in peace: “If you are not having fun doing it, you ain’t doing it right!”…One of the greatest of Naval Aviation is gone. Loveyaman….
Lest we forget… Bear