RIPPLE SALVO… #682… HUMBLE HOST respectfully requests your assistance in raising awareness of the ongoing “Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War,” and in particular, OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER. Last November President Trump signed a Presidential Proclamation Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War “to salute our brave Vietnam veterans who, in service to our Nation and in defense of liberty, fought gallantly against the spread of communism and defended the freedom of the Vietnamese people.” A DOD Vietnam War Commemoration Program Office was established a few years ago and controls and monitors the various events across the country to honor the participants, living and dead, in the long and bloody Vietnam War. To date, there has been zero notice or recognition of the war within a war–the air war in the skies of North Vietnam that we knew as OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…. ZERO!!! Time is running out for “commemorating” the gallant service of River Rats, Yankee Air Pirates and the nation’s military aviation warriors who alone carried the war into the heartland of the enemy for 40-months.
Here is my request to you–Make Something Happen! Take the lead from Bruce Herman in Pensacola. For the last six months Bruce has been stirring the pot in the Florida panhandle and now has the ear of his Congressman. I suggest we, the active, living survivors of Rolling Thunder, have an obligation to Stand Up and Be Heard —“REMEMBER ROLLING THUNDER.” I have provided a generic form of Bruce Herman’s latest letter to the office of Congressman Matt Gaetz ( who is a comer!) for your use as a starter with your congressman/woman and your two Senators… Read the letter and I guarantee you will know this is a cause that merits your participation… My hope is that every member of Congress becomes aware of the heroic service of the Rolling Thunder warriors voluntarily given half a century ago.
Rolling Thunder? What’s that? Isn’t that a bunch of bikers who ride into town once a year with their “Leave No Man Behind” and POW/MIA flags awaving? HELL, NO–ROLLING THUNDER WAS A WAR THAT LASTED YEARS AND COST A THOUSAND AVIATOR LIVES AND AS MANY AIRCRAFT AND, COLLECTIVELY, A THOUSAND YEARS OF TORTURE AND PRISON FOR SEVERAL HUNDRED OF OUR MATES… “Hey, Senator. You ever heard of Rolling Thunder? Give me five minutes to tell you about it. ….
Read the Herman letter, get involved, let’s make something happen… Oh, by the way, what are The Red River Valley Fighter Pilot Association, the Tailhook Association, the Marine Corps Association, the Daedalians, and all the other military aviation associations doing to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the greatest air war in American history? OK, maybe second greatest–let’s discuss it over a beer… Write the letter–Make something happen…
http://www.vietnamwar50th.com/contact.us/default.aspx?c=y
Good Morning: Day SIX HUNDRED EIGHTY-TWO of a 1,000 daily blog-journal recalling the air war over North Vietnam, one-day-at-a-time, and the great cadre of warriors who took the war to where the enemy lived 50-years ago... Today’s bit of history will be included in my blog for 19 January– a twofer–so I can devote this entire 18 January post to motivating you to make a date with your Congresswoman/Man and your Senators to press them into thinking “ROLLING THUNDER” as well as MAGA… or not…
A Letter For Your Consideration…
Dear……. It has been brought to my attention that Congressman Matt Gaetz of Florida’s First District is initiating a form of recognition for the honorable and heroic service of our nation’s Vietnam War OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER warriors who fought the air war over North Vietnam 50 years ago. I most respectfully request you join Congressman Gaetz in this commendable effort to support the Presidential Proclamation Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War, including the 40-month air war over North Vietnam so bravely fought by our nation’s military aviators. For the survivors of this historic operation, most of whom are in their 70s and 80s, recognition of their sacrifice and service is decades overdue and time is running out.
The Rolling Thunder aviators came in all sizes and shapes. Some were young, some old. There were sons and husbands, fathers and grandfathers, who gallantly volunteered to fight when asked on behalf of their country. They alone carried the war into the enemy’s heartland where “the greatest gauntlet of air defenses in the history of modern warfare–AAA, MIGs and Surface-to-air missiles”–awaited every day from 2 March 1965 to 1 November 1968. Your support for Congressional recognition of these bravest-of-the brave is most earnestly requested.
Between March 1965 and November 1968, aircraft of the US Air Force flew 153,784 strike sorties against military and industrial targets in North Vietnam. The Navy and Marine Corps strike-fighters flew an additional 152,399 strike sorties against these targets to support the ground war being fought by half-a-million American troops in South Vietnam for more than three years. On 31 December 1967 the Department of Defense announced that 864,000-tons of American bombs had been dropped on North Vietnam during OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (Source: Pentagon Papers). This compares with a total of 653,000-tons dropped during the Korean War and 503,000-tons dropped in the Pacific theater during the Second World war.
The CIA estimated on 1 January 1968 that damage thus far in the Rolling Thunder bombing campaign against the war-making capability of North Vietnam had inflicted $370-million in physical destruction, including $164-million worth of damage to capital assets such as bridges, factories and power plants. The enemy defense of these military and industrial targets was vicious and unrelenting, and in the campaign downed 506 Air Force aircraft, 397 Navy carrier aircraft and 19 Marine strike aircraft. During Operation Rolling Thunder 745 Air Force pilots and aircrew were downed in North Vietnam. The Air Force rescued 145 of their aircrewmen and listed 255 as killed-in-action and 222 captured with 23 perishing while captives of the ruthless prison personnel of the North Vietnamese. During Rolling Thunder (March 1965 to November 1968), 454 Naval Aviators were killed, captured or missing during the combined operations over the North and Laos.
Congressman….., these few statistics speak to the courageous deeds, valorous performances of duty, extraordinary heroism, incomparable airmanship, and aggressiveness of the unsung aviation warriors of OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER in the face of the toughest air defense system in military history. I believe the contributions of the Rolling Thunder warriors is deserving of special recognition. Your support for Congressional recognition on the 50th anniversary of this historic air campaign is most earnestly requested.
I am available at…… to provide additional information as requested by you or your staff. In addition, I suggest your staff plug into a website that functions to “remember the event and participants of Rolling Thunder.
www.rollingthunderremembered.com
Thank you for all you do for our National Defense and our country; and for your consideration of this request.
Sincerely………………………..
Humble Host looks forward to hearing of your success in getting your congressional reps interested in taking the least expensive, and most rewarding, action a human can take… a pat on the back. We hope that Congressman Gaetz has taken the bit in his teeth and is ready to charge. If so, co-sponsors are what it will take to “make something happen.” Don’t hesitate to query either me or Bruce Herman for info or moral support. In lieu of a quote for the day, here is the formula for happiness: Get a good cause, work at it a little each day, and while you are at it–do something nice for somebody else. This cause will make you happy! Go get ’em…
Lest we forget… Bear