RIPPLE SALVO… #318… WALT ROSTOW TO LBJ, 17 JANUARY 1967… but first..
Good Morning: Day THREE HUNDRED EIGHTEEN of a look-back of fifty years to an air war few recall… ROLLING THUNDER?? whazzat??
17 January 1967…THE NEWS AT HOME from The New York Times on a Tuesday of light snow showers…
Page 1: Harrison Salisbury reporting from Hong Kong…”Soviet-China Rift Hurting Hanoi Aid”… “Nowhere are the tensions, conflicts and delicate sensibilities engendered by the clash of the Communist giants, China and the Soviet Union more excruciatingly felt than in North Vietnam. North Vietnam’s fighting ability is almost completely dependent upon the aid and support of both China and the Soviet Union, thus the conflict between these two nations, in effect poses a threat to the virtual existence of the small Indochinese Communist state, to its ability to maintain the struggle against America’s superior material power.”... Page 1: “U.S. Link to China Cut by Turmoil”…”The turmoil in Communist China has delayed and possibly disrupted Peking’s only diplomatic contacts with the United States–those in Warsaw, Poland. Officials here in Washington attach no special significance to the delay since it fits the pattern of confusion and atrophy that they have found in all Chinese diplomatic activity. Peking’s Ambassador to Poland, Wang Kuo-chaun, has been summoned home like most Chinese ambassadors and perhaps half of all other foreign service officers.”… Page 8: “Mao Versus the Bureaucrats”…”The Chinese Communists Party’s apparatus for ruling and controlling the country appears to have remained reasonably effective, according to analysts here in Hong Kong, despite persistent efforts to Mao Ts-tung and his chief collaborator, Lin Piao, to reorganize it and use it to impose their policies. The Mao-Lin campaign had seemed at times sufficient in force and violence not only to shatter the regular party framework but to tear the country apart as well…there are indications that regular party officials have, in the process of resisting the threat to their policies and positions, moved over into defying Chairman Mao himself.”… Page 1: “Maoists Winning Shanghai Control”…”Revolutionary rebel organizations loyal to Mao Tse-tung, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party and Defense Minister Lin Piao have gone a long way toward assuming control of Shanghai…Progress has also been made toward ending economic sabotage and striking there, but efficient management of the city may not have been restored.”…
Page 1: “Israel and Syria Agree to Confer”…”and accept a proposal for a meeting at the Israel-Syrian Mixed Armistice Commission to avert a threatened outbreak of large scale fighting.”… Page 5: “SAC Chief to Head Pacific Air Forces”…General John D. Ryan in and General Hunter Harris, Jr., out (retired)…. Page 1: “Accord Reached on Kennedy Book; Suit Withdrawn”… “The legal battle by Mrs. John F. Kennedy to prevent publication of the book, ‘The Death of a President,’ ended yesterday when she withdrew her lawsuit…The settlement of one of the most bitter fights in publishing history came when the publisher, Harper and Row, and the Author William Manchester agreed to delete or modify some of the passages Mrs. Kennedy considered objectionable.”… Page 1: “Wife of Wallace Succeeds Him; Alabama Negro Becomes Sheriff”… “Mrs. George Wallace became Alabama’s first woman Governor today and immediately pledged that she would carry on her husbands fight against racial integration and ‘Federal bureaucracy while he sought the presidency. ‘The principles of self-government will not be suppressed by force–force from China, force from Russia, from Cuba or from Washington, D. C.,’ she said after a 10-mile long inaugural parade.”… “Lucius D. Anderson becomes the first black sheriff in this century to assume office in a southern county as he is sworn in as Sheriff in Tuskegee, Alabama.”…
17 JANUARY 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER... New York Times (18 Jan reporting 17 Jan ops)… Page 8: “In North Vietnam the skies were reported clear for the third successive day. The nearest strike to Hanoi was directed on the Thai Nguyen railroad yards 40 miles to the north…the last strikes on the yard were last August. During the 96 multi-plane missions carried out yesterday (17th) two Air Force RF-4C Phantoms crashed and the four crewmen were listed as missing in action. In an earlier report the spokesman had said no planes were missing. (Hanoi claimed that four American planes were shot down on January 17.).”… Page 11: Salisbury reporting:…”attacks on Hanoi Still Under Curb”…”Military sources said today that an air raid Sunday on a petroleum depot 14 miles northwest of downtown Hanoi did not mean that the United States had resumed bombing raids within the suburbs of the North Vietnamese capital…the strike against the Hagia fuel dump meant that the Johnson administration had resumed raids near Hanoi, leaving the impression that attacks such as those of December 13 and 14 were underway.”…
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson) Three fixed wing aircraft were lost in Southeast Asia on 17 January 1967…
(1) 1LT ALVA RAY KROGMAN, a Nails FAC, was flying an O-1F Bird Dog of the 23rd TASS and 504th TASG out of Nakhon Phanom directing strike aircraft on a gun site target in Southern Laos and was shot down by 37mm anti-aircraft fire. The aircraft crashed within a few miles of the target killing 1LT KROGMAN. Was there more dangerous flying duty than that of the Nails FACs?… then came this…
(2) CAPTAIN WILLIAM KEITH COGDELL was flying a T-28D of the 606th ACS and 504th TASG out of NKP…Hobson: “A SAR mission was launched as soon as LT KROGMAN’s aircraft went down in the hope that he had survived the crash of his Bird Dog. One of the escorting aircraft was a T-28D from the 606th ACS. As CAPTAIN COGDELL approached the crash site near Ban Loumpoum his aircraft was hit in the starboard wing by AAA and rolled into the ground. Two days later the USAF recieved confirmation from either friendly Laotians or from Special Forces that were sometimes used on particularly hazardous rescue missions. WILLIAM COGDELL’s remains were returned to the USA and positively identified on 24 May 1994. The 606th ACS operated a mixed bag of aircraft at this time including A-26s, T-28Ds, and UH-1 helicopters.”…
1LT KROGMAN and CAPTAIN COGDELL, brothers in the 606th, perished fifty years ago today, CAPTAIN COGDELL giving his life for another… “Greater love hath no man than he who would lay down his life for another.”…. But have we left 1LT KROGMAN behind?…
(3) MAJOR GARY GENE WRIGHT and 1LT FREDERICK JOSEPH WOZNIAK were flying an RF-4C of the 11th TRS and 432nd TFW out of Udorn and failed to return from a photo reconnoissance mission to obtain photographs of a target 15 miles southwest of Hanoi. Hobson: “The loss of four aircraft and three crewmen within the space of 11 days must have had a devastating effect on the morale of the squadron. MAJOR WRIGHT was a veteran of the Korean War, having flown F-86s in that conflict.”… MAJOR WRIGHT and 1LT WOZNIAK were Killed in Action and remain on the battlefield where they fell fifty years ago this day… apparently… they are remembered… with sorrow for their families, who wait… and wonder, as do we all…
RIPPLE SALVO… #318… CAPTAIN GENE CERNAN, UNITED STATES NAVY, Retired, Astronaut, American Hero, one of the Bravest of the Brave, has passed… He has returned to space and rests in peace… What a guy!!!
HANOI WANTS OUT? …
One of the most interesting sources of documents and memos of the Vietnam War are the files of the State Department’s library of “Foreign Relations of the United States” (FRUS)… Here is a pertinent sample: A 17 January 1967 “Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant (Rostow) to President Johnson” found in FRUS, 1964-1968, Volume V, Vietnam, 1967. The gist of this memo from Walt Rostow to the President is “Hanoi may be ready to talk.” That’s the way I read it. Whattayouthink?…
Washington, January 17, 1967, 11 a.m.
Mr. President:
I do believe we face a moment of truth with the arrival of this cable (was attached to the Memo): Hanoi has come back to us in Moscow with a three-part response: –What does the U.S. mean by a “completely secure arrangement?”… –What is the U.S. position for a settlement?”… –He wants a prompt reply, including ‘some sense of urgency.’ “
I take this seriously, because as you know, I have detected some impulse in Hanoi to get out of the war, but they didn’t appear to know how. Specifically, I felt they needed: *secrecy and speed to avoid surfacing negotiation; direct negotiations with the U.S. to avoid intermediaries and keep secrecy; and agreed end position–terms of settlement–before they surface the fact of negotiations to the NLF and the Chinese.
All these elements are in the response. Therefore, I believe, we must not only find a secure technique for negotiation, but we must now produce a plan for getting them out of the war step by step. We must take them by the hand. As for secrecy, the two best alternatives are: Moscow; and Rangoon, for reasons we explained.
With Tommy (ambassador) in Moscow, and the channel started there, we should offer to continue, but indicate a willingness to mount sustained contacts in secret in any other place or by any other means they may suggest. If they are willing to cut the Russians in, the Russians should supply a secure place in the countryside with courier service to Moscow.
But the heart of the matter is to deliver this week an outline of a settlement and sequence for settlement, which is equally important. Therefore out response should be: we propose to negotiate in secret with you these things:
–principles governing a settlement
–de-escalation steps on both sides to be taken (on an A-B basis, if you wish) when the principles are agreed and announced;
–principles we shall both urge on the South Vietnamese with whom as we are connected, for a peaceful settlement within South Viet Nam, after the principles are jointly announced;
–agreement for a reinstallation of the Geneva Accords of 1954 and 1962, as the international framework for the region.
I believe there are two reasons they want speed: to minimize loss os secrecy; and to make the most of the Tet stand-down. (8-12 February)
They may want a swift negotiation of principle; an announcement of principles; and a mutual stand-down in two weeks.
I am reacting strongly because this may be an opportunity we should not miss. When you have an insight and it opens up a little, you must back your play. But I would underline at the end that this could be fun and games. We must therefore, in presenting our position, stick to our principles and, notably, not sell out the constitutional process in South Viet Nam. If we’ve gotten this far, it’s because of your decisions–including your State of the Union Message–and the quality and courage of our men in the field….. Walt
HUMBLE HOST will post a series of FRUS memos that follow this effort “to take Hanoi by the hand and lead them to the table”… all while we were bombing anything that moved and anything that looked like a bridge or was shooting at us…
Lest we forget…. Bear