RIPPLE SALVO… #349… AND A PEP TALK FROM THE PRESIDENT… really good stuff...
Good Morning: Day THREE HUNDRED FORTY-NINE of a remembrance honoring the fallen warriorsof the air war over North Vietnam fought fifty years ago…
17 FEBRUARY 1967… HEAD LINES from the New York Times on a very cloudy Friday…
Page 1: “Hanoi Accuses U.S. of Shift On Talks”… “North Vietnam broadcast today a semi-official statement accusing the Johnson Administration of having changed its tune on peace talks after Hanoi had said negotiations could begin if there was an unconditional end of American bombing. The State Department dismissed the article containing the charge ‘as nothing new’ … and … ‘just another plot to get us to unilaterally stop the bombing without getting anything in return.’ In the article today, Nhan Dan (a Government publication in Hanoi)…demanded an end of American bombing so as to create favorable conditions for the talks. In announcing the resumption of bombing Monday President Johnson said the United States had no alternative because the truce period had been used by North Vietnam to resupply military forces in South Vietnam rather than to give some sign of willingness to open talks…open evidence that they were not sincere in their statement of negotiation.”… Page 1: “13 Helicopters Shot Down by Foe; 10 In Single Action”… “Thirteen American helicopters were shot down as South Vietnamese, American and South Korean troops fought widely separate battles yesterday.{The loss of 13 helicopters was the worst of any one day loss in the war for the United States}…255 Vietcong were killed in the Mekong Delta 110 miles southwest of Saigon where 10 helicopters were downed–all are repairable. A total of 685 helicopters and 1,174 airplanes have been lost in the war.”… Page 1: “British Pushing to Cut Troops and Costs”… “Britain outlined today a continued reduction in defense expenditures and in the strength of her forces overseas.”…
Page 1: “President Urges Aid to Consumer in Wide Program”… “President Johnson recommended to Congress today a package of new and revised measures that would give greater protection to shoppers, investors, and medical patients and would help guard against fires, electric power failures and national gas pipeline accidents. His special message, ‘To Protect the American Consumer,’ promised to provide vigorous controversy on almost every point. In it, the President emphasized the need for new controls on mutual fund managers.”…Page 1: “Shifts Possible on Reserve Board” Discovery of an obscure Government employee retirement law has suddenly given President Johnson the opportunity to remake the Federal Reserve Board with a new majority of his own appointments in ten weeks. The law requires the retirement of one board member who is conservative in April unless the President reappoints him.”… Page 1: “U.S. Gives States Road Safety Code”… “The National Highway Safety agency proposed today 13 general standards to be followed by the States in establishing highway safety standards. The proposals cover such areas as driver testing techniques, vehicle inspections, highway construction standards and uniform traffic laws and accident records.”... Page 1: “Ironclad of Farragut’s Fleet Found at Mobile Bay”…”The Civil War Ironclad whose sinking is said to have inspired Rear Admiral David Farragut to heroic utterance has been found buried in mud and silt at the bottom of the mouth of Mobile Bay. It was Admiral Farragut who said: ‘Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead.’ “… Page 2: “Pentagon Details Reserve Call-up”… “Most of the up to 25,000 Army Reserve expected to be called to active duty this year would come from control groups. These are inactive Reservists made up of men unable or unwilling to attend regular meetings.”…
17 FEBRUARY 1967… The President’s Daily Brief…CIA (TS sanitized) NORTH VIETNAM: A recently captured 12-page letter from First Party Secretary Le Duan to the compatriots in the south gives the lie to Hanoi’s claim that the National Liberation Front (Vietcong) is an independent agent. Written in late 1965 of early 1966, the letter tells the southerners, among other things, not to concern themselves with negotiations, which had been “unanimously entrusted with the Politburo,” and would be pursued when conditions were ripe. We understand the mission in Saigon preparing the interesting document for public release….
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM… LIEUTENANT COLONEL EUGENE OGDEN CONLEY, UNITE STATES AIR FORCE… AIR FORCE CROSS…
“The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the AIR FORCE CROSS (Posthumously) to EUGENE OGDEN CONLEY, Lieutenant Colonel, United States Air Force, for EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM while serving as an F-105 Thunderchief Pilot with the 354th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 355th Tactical Fighter Wing, Tuy Hoa Air Base Vietnam, SEVENTH Air Force, in action over North Vietnam on 21 January 1967. On that date, Colonel CONLEY was the Seventh Air Force mission commander for a two-wing strike force launched against a heavily defended rail yard in the vicinity of Hanoi. cooly evaluating the hostile force’s defensive posture, he skillfully led the first flight through the concentrated flak barrages and picked his way past the deadly surface-to-air missiles. After visually acquiring the target, he scanned the area for the heaviest concentration of hostile fire upon which to unload his deadly weapons in order to minimize the threat to those he led. He attacked his target and then with complete disregard for his personal safety, he circled the target area to incite the defenders to unleash their full defensive might against him, thereby permitting his followers to destroy the target. Observing a hostile missile site near the target, he marked it, ordered an attack against it, and then fearlessly circled back over the target to seek out other hostile defenses. Through his extraordinary heroism, superb airmanship, and aggressiveness in the face of hostile forces, Lieutenant Colonel CONLEY reflected the highest credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.”…
17 February 1967… New York Times (18 Feb reporting 17 Feb ops) Page 3: “In the air war American pilots flew 64 strike and reconnaissance missions over North Vietnam yesterday despite poor weather. Air Force Thunderchiefs bombed the Chamol Luong railroad yard 83 miles east of Hanoi. In the coastal panhandle region near the DMZ, F-4 Phantoms were credited with having destroyed four barges and having cut roads in five places.”…“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson) There was one fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 17 February 1967…
(1) A C-130-B crashed shortly after take off from Tay Ninh Air Base. The aircraft was from the 273rd TCS and 463rd TCW out of Clark AFB. The five man crew survived the crash.
RIPPLE SALVO… #349… HUMBLE HOST most strongly recommends a full reading of this fantastic “84. Notes of Meeting With President Johnson”… This is the most complete memorandum I have seen summarizing a White House luncheon where the President and his tight circle did the targeting for OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… This was not a Tuesday meeting, probably met on 16 February (Thursday) with memo dated 17 February 1967… Present at the meeting were the President, Secretary McNamara, General Wheeler (Chairman, JCS), General Maxwell Taylor (a recent add by LBJ to be a close advisor) and Walt Rostow, the President’s National Security Advisor. The memo provides a clear example of the nitty-gritty detail this small group at the White House went to in picking the targets and controlling the tempo of the air war in North Vietnam. Not an aviator in the group. Three pages of good reading, especially the President’s pep talk as the meeting ends… Everybody and anybody who ever talked about the Tuesday Luncheons or White House targeting needs to absorb this memo to boost/reinforce his creds… Read the U.S. State Department Office of the Historian document 84 at…
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v05/d84
CAG’s QUOTES for 17 February: “NAPOLEON: “Surprise the enemy by strategy and secrecy, by the unexpectedness and rapidity of your operations.”… PATTON: “The Russians give me the impression of something that is to be feared in future world political reorganization.”…
Lest we forget… Bear