RIPPLE SALVO… #927… ON THE WEEKEND OF 14-15 SEPTEMBER 1968 SECRETARY OF DEFENSE CLARK CLIFFORD AND HIS WIFE MARNY SPENT THE WEEKEND WITH THE JOHNSON’S AT CAMP DAVID in Thurmont, Maryland. The future of Rolling Thunder and the Paris peace talks were the focus of the discussions, and Secretary Clifford’s autobiography–COUNSEL TO THE PRESIDENT: A MEMOIR— has a few words on the weekend, and the following ten days, that are of interest and worthy of inclusion in this review of the air campaign… but first…
GOOD MORNING: Day NINE HUNDRED TWENTY-SEVEN of a daily remembrance of the “bombing of North Vietnam” in the years 1965 to 1 November 1968…
HEAD LINES from The New York Times on Wednesday, 18 September 1968…
THE WAR: Page 1: “TWO ALLIED UNITS BATTERED BY FOE–Losses In South Vietnamese And Marine Forces Heavy”…”At least two allied units suffered heavy losses in the last 24 hour as sharp fighting broke out near the demilitarized zone and in a rural area just south of Danang. This morning American B-52 bombers carried out two strikes in North Vietnam a mile north of the demilitarized zone, apparently in support of United States marines fighting in the south of the buffer zone. It was the first time since August 17 that the huge bombers had struck targets in the North. In addition to the strikes north of the demilitarized area, the warplanes dumped tons of bombs in the southern part of the zone, just south of the Benhai River. In the Danang area, five miles west of the town of Dienban, a South Vietnamese Ranger battalion was mauled by a Vietcong force that attacked its night position. The South Vietnamese military command said that the unit suffered heavy casualties, meaning that 15 per cent or more of the battalion (600 men) had been killed or wounded. Another Ranger battalion sent in to reinforce the battered unit, killed 62 enemy soldiers during the day in the nearby countryside. The relief battalion suffered light casualties.”…BATTLE NEAR THE ROCK PILE… “To the north, a United States Marine company came under intense mortar and small arms fire as it swept the area near the Rock Pile, an artillery base four miles south of the demilitarized zone. The Marine casualties were 26 killed and 128 wounded. At full strength a Marine company has 220 men, but most units are at less than full strength. The fighting began just before nightfall as the Marines prepared a night defensive position. The Americans spent the entire night trying to survive as 150 mortar shells fell on the small encampment during the night. The marines, aided by helicopter gunships, artillery and mortars returned the barrage. After the enemy had withdrawn, 27 bodies were found outside the defensive perimeter…. The allies foared better near Saigon… 49 enemy soldiers were killed while 11 Americans were wounded…”…
Page 1: “TEXAS PARTY NOMINATES WALLACE AS LAST OF THE ‘NATIONAL CONVENTIONS’… “George C. Wallace roused himself for a new attack of illness today to accept the Presidential nomination of the American party of Texas. The party convention and nominating procedure was a technicality necessary to place Mr. Wallace’s name on the election ballot in Texas. He and 3,000 to 4,000 delegates acted with little wasted motion…’Our movement represents the thinking of a majority of the American people,’ he told the cheering convention.”… Page 1: “NIXON SEES A PLOT BY RIVALS IN SOUTH–Reports Collision By Forces of Humphrey and Wallace to Block G.O.P. Victory”… Page 1: “PRESIDENT APPEALS TO VOTERS IN TEXAS TO BACK HUMPHREY”… Page 1: “HUMPHREY HAILED IN UPSTATE NEW YORK–Aides Call It Best Day”… Page 1: “SOVIET IS WARNED ON WEST GERMANY–U.S., Britain, France Give Bonn Assurance On Any Use of Force by Russia“… Page 1: “SENATE PANEL BACKS ATOM CURB PACT–New Delay Seen–Democratic Leaders Likely To Put Off Action If Ratification Is In Doubt–G.O.P. Hints Opposition–Questions Treat’s Ability to Prevent Proliferation Of Nuclear Weapons”… Page 1: “FORTAS APPROVED BY SENATE PANEL–Filibuster Looms–Committee Vote 11-6–Possible Obstacle Arises Over Fund For Seminar”… Page 25: “FBI AGENTS SEIZE LEADERS OF YIPPIES, ABBIE HOFFMAN”…
18 SEPTEMBER 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…New York Times (19 Sept reporting 18 Sept Ops) Page 5: “American warplanes flew 125 missions over North Vietnam, concentrating on river traffic, ferry landings, bridges, truck parks and suspected storage areas.”… VIETNAM: AIR LOSSES (Chris Hobson) There were no fixed wing aircraft losses over Southeast Asia on 18 September 1968…
SUMMARY OF ROLLING THUNDER LOSSES (KIA/MIA/POW) FOR THE FOUR 18 SEPTEMBER DATES OF THE FOUR YEARS OF THE OPERATION OVER NORTH VIETNAM…
1965, 1966, 1967, 1968… NONE… ooohrah…
RIPPLE SALVO… #927… The topics of discussion at the Tuesday Luncheon on 12 September 1968 that dominated the conversation were the stalled–for months–Paris peace talks and the Rolling Thunder operations, the bombing of North Vietnam. The President had taken a stand and was immovable in demanding North Vietnam show some de-escalatory movement before he would order cessation of Operation Rolling Thunder. Secretary of Defense Clark Clifford was convinced cessation of the bombing would get the Paris talks moving. The conversation on the 12th was carried over into the weekend in the woods of Maryland 62 miles north of the White House. The following is snipped from Clark Clifford’s book, pages 571-2… I quote…
“I was encouraged by (the President’s) declaration of support for Humphrey, but I knew that, in fact, Humphrey was against the war, but thought it was still necessary to stick with the President.
“On the weekend of September 14-15, Marny and I were invited to Camp David, and I spent almost four hours talking to the President about Vietnam. On Saturday afternoon, I tried again to get him interested in the plan I had first suggested at the LBJ Ranch in early August. ‘You just want to stop the bombing without any concessions in return,’ he said. I tried to assure him that I was proposing a plan to test Hanoi’s seriousness, and that we could resume the bombing if Hanoi did not respond. I lso predicted flatly that Hanoi would enter into negotiations that included Saigon if we stopped the bombing.
“On Sunday morning, while I was having a late breakfast, a three-thousand-word telegram from Harriman and Vance arrived at Camp David. They had just finished the first significant private conversation with Le Duc Tho and Xuan Thuy, the North Vietnamese negotiators. For the first time, they said, they were ready to begin serious discussions immediately after the bombing stopped. The telegram arrived at a fortuitous moment. Even the President seemed impressed with their news of the first break in Paris.
“A few days later, I met with Averell Harriman, who had returned from Paris for the funeral of his mother-in-law. He intended to launch another assault on the President; as usual, he was optimistic and tenacious. He hated the war in Vietnam, he hated Richard Nixon, and he was determined to fight for his beliefs. This magnificent old warrior, who had already lived a life filled with service to the nation, was just two months shy of his seventy-seventh birthday. He knew that the two jobs he wanted most in his career, President and Secretary of State, would never be his, but he never looked back–only forward.
“He wanted to tell the President that we had to stop the bombing to save the nation from Nixon. I tried to prepare Harriman for the President’s mood and the response he was likely to get. ‘I’d quit if I thought I was just being used in Paris to hold the line until Nixon takes over,’ Harriman replied vehemently. Harriman called immediately after his meeting to tell me that he thought he had made an impact on the President. In fact, he had not. The President felt his recommendations were compromised by his early open commitment to the cessation of the bombing. I recognize that, in the President’s eyes, I suffered from the same defect.
“The calendar kept moving, but the negotiations did not. On September 24, Marny and I dined with the Johnsons. Before dinner the President invited me for a swim, and we discussed the Soviet summit and the war for almost an hour as we paddled up and down the White House pool. After dinner, with some Johnson family friends, we resumed our conversation until after midnight, leaving our wives alone in the hall. Seeing how tired Lady Bird looked, Marny urged her to get to bed. Always the gracious hostess, Lady Bird declined to leave her guests alone. In turn, seeing how exhausted her husband looked, Lady Bird tried several times to interrupt us and get him to go to sleep. But each time she approached us, he ignored her completely.
“As Lady Bird tried to get her husband to bed, I made my case again for stopping the bombing. If we stopped the bombing, we could fight on, if necessary, and lower the costs at home. ‘Why shouldn’t we risk giving up five percent of our total effrort in Vietnam–the bombing–to get movement in Paris?’ I asked. ‘I urge you to proceed on the assumption that your conditions will be met. The risk is minimal.’
“‘Abrams says it would endanger our men,’ the President replied.’
“‘No, Mr. President, that is not what Abrams says,’ I replied. ‘Abrams says his men would be additionally endangered only if the North Vietnamese took advantage of the bombing halt. If they do that, we can start bombing again, and you will not be blamed.’ I concluded, somewhat emotionally, that he should have the ‘honor’ of settling the war, and not leave it to Nixon.
“I had not mentioned Humphrey, but the President brought him into the conversation. He doubted, he said, that ‘Humphrey had the ability to be President,’ He would have respected Humphrey more, he said, if he ‘showed he had some balls.’ Johnson would not recognize of course, that the best way for Humphrey to show personal strength was to do exactly what the President least wanted him to do–break with the Administration over Vietnam.”… End quote
Humble Host notes that by mid-September 1968 the “last days of Operation Rolling Thunder” had begun. The days of bombing north of the DMZ and south of the 19th Parallel had six weeks to run, unless of course, the President decided to wrap-up Rolling Thunder sooner. In addition, the Northeast Monsoon was on schedule and the weather was already causing cutbacks in the number of daily strike sorties into Route Packs I and II. The targeting was to shift to the other side of the the mountains and Steel Tiger. Road cuts instead of “the bridges of North Vietnam.” Your Humble Host will press on with the best copy possible and a daily tribute to one or more warriors from the years of Rolling Thunder. And anybody out there with a Rolling Thunder DFC or war story you want added to the RTR archives please contact the webmaster using the contact form or email. Your story will go into the archives for the date of the event.
RTR Quote fro 18 September: MAO TSE TUNG, Principle of Operation #7: “Strive to wipe out the enemy when he is on the move. At the same time, pay attention to the tactics of positional attack and capture the enemy fortified points and cities.”…
Lest we forget… Bear