RIPPLE SALVO… #140… WAR OF WORDS…
Good Morning: Day ONE HUNDRED FORTY of a remembrance of an air war fought fifty years ago over North Vietnam…
19 JULY 1966…PAGE ONE OF THE HOME TOWN NEWS… New York Times… A cloudy Tuesday at the United Nations…
Page 1: “Gemini Docks With Agena 8 and Then Joined Vehicles Rocket Into Higher Orbit”…”The Gemini astronauts rocketed into orbit late yesterday afternoon, caught and linked up with an unmanned satellite, then early this morning they maneuvered deeper into space than man has ever ventured. Thus less than seven hours after their Tuesday mission began here, Astronauts John Young and Major Michael Collins had already achieved what Space Agency officials considered the primary objectives–rendezvous and docking…”
Page 1:…”Negroes Riot In Cleveland”…”Rioting broke out last night in the all Negro Hough area of Cleveland. A woman was shot and killed and four policemen were injured by bricks and bottles. Two Negro men were wounded by gunfire. The police said that bands of up to 200 Negroes were roaming through the 30 square block area surrounding Hough Avenue. Three hundred policemen were ordered into the area and the rest of the force was put on alert. The white helmeted patrolmen fanned out in the shabby tenement district, and occasionally fired tear gas into the large unruly crowd. The police reported that at on time they were under heavy small arms fire.”
Page 1:”Moscow Rebuffs Appeal By Wilson On Hanoi P.O.W.s”…“The Soviet Union declined today to intervene with North Vietnam or to accept any responsibility for the fate of captured United States airmen under threat of being tried in Hanoi as war criminals. The Soviet response was made to a personal plea from Prime Minister Wilson. In an extraordinary rebuff to a visiting head of government, the response was announced to Western newsmen at a late evening press briefing by a Soviet Foreign Ministry spokesman. Premier Aleksie Kosygin put the Soviet attitude bluntly…’the question of the United States pilots remains fully within the competence of the Government of North Vietnam, which will settle it as it sees fit.’…”…
Page 3:”Aide Insists Hanoi Has Right Of Trial”… “The North Vietnamese consul general in New Delhi said today that American pilots held in North Vietnam were ‘war criminals’ and Hanoi had the right to put them on trial. Speaking at news conference the consul general Nguyen Hoa said the pilots classified as war criminals under the ‘Nuremberg Charter.’ This was apparently a reference to the Nuremberg trials of German military and civilians leaders tried for war crimes committed during World War II. ‘They (the American pilots) have brought damage to our country and therefore they can be tried according to our laws. He said the world knew some of the American pilots had already confessed that they were war criminals. When asked about the treatment of the prisoners, the consul general said: “The United States imperialists are drumbeating about the criminals in order to cover up their crimes and pave the way for further escalation. But the United States imperialists cannot threaten our people.”…
OpEd…James Reston… “THE ENDANGERED PRISONERS”…
“Hanoi has in its power to make a compromise peace in Vietnam virtually impossible. Secretary General U. Thant of the United Nations and the eighteen Senators who issue a ‘plea for sanity’ have pointed out that if American prisoners of war are tried and executed, pressure in this country for retaliation could quickly intensify the struggle into a merciless, no-hold-barred war. Despite escalation of the conflict, the bitterness toward the enemy that has characterized armed struggles in the pasty has largely been lacking. Restriction of the Hanoi regime’ has been rejected as a war aim by Washington. The Johnson Administration has even recently called for a peace of ‘reconciliation,’ including economic aid to North Vietnam. All this is endangered by Hanoi’s threat of ‘war criminals.’ The element in this country that favor all-out war and total victory will be vastly reinforced in the Hanoi threat it carried out, what-has-been until now an unpopular war–supported only because no honorable way out has appeared–could be transformed almost over night into something else again. This prospect may please Peking, despite the risks it entails for China itself. But Moscow cannot welcome any move that raises the possibility of rapid expansion of the conflict into a far wider war. The responsibility of the Kremlin–and men everywhere who can influence Hanoi–will be great if a vigorous effort is not made swiftly to prevent the irreparable. Even if the war itself cannot now be brought to the conference table, it is imperative to bring the prisoner issue to negotiation. The Soviet Union and its allies in Eastern Europe are the only possible intermediaries. Unless they act now, directly or through international agencies such as the Red Cross, the world as a whole may reap the whirlwind that Hanoi sows.”
19 JULY 1966…The President’s Daily Brief… CIA (Top Secret–sanitized) …Egypt: Cairo apparently intends to step up its offensive against Saudi Arabia and Jordan…(and the rest remains redacted as of September 2015)… South Vietnam: Interrogation of a Vietcong prisoner captured on Sunday in Quang Tri Province is providing good information on the recently infiltrated (redacted) North Vietnamese Division. The prisoner (redacted) says that the division consists of three regiments, each having three battalions. These units are strength because of heavy casualties. Morale is vey low and medical supplies are insufficient to met current demands. Ammunition, food, and equipment are also in short supply. The prisoner claims that advance warning was received before B-52 strikes and that his battalion suffered few casualties as a result of the air strikes because their tunnels afford good protection…”
19 July 1966… Operation Rolling Thunder…New York Times (20 July reporting 19 July ops) Page 1:” U.S. Jet Downed By MIG In North Vietnam”…”An American jet fighter was shot down by a Communist MIG over North Vietnam yesterday and other airplanes were downed by anti-aircraft fire. The loss of an F-105D in aerial combat brought to four the number of aircraft lost to MIG aircraft over North Vietnam. American airplanes have shot down a total of 17 MIGs in the air war so far. Another F-105D and a Navy F-8 Crusader were shot down by ground fire during bombing raids on fuel depots and other targets near Hanoi. Their loss brought to 297 the number of aircraft lost in combat over North Vietnam since February 7, 1964 when the raids began. All the pilots of the three aircraft are listed as missing.”…Page 1: “10 Planes Down, Hanoi Says”…and a number of “Air Pirates captured.”…
“Vietnam: Air Losses”…(Chris Hobson) Page 66: four aircraft lost on 19 July 1966…
(1) LT TERRY ARDEN DENNISON was flying an F-8E Crusader of the VF-162 Hunters embarked in Oriskany on a MIGCAP covering a strike by Oriskany bombers on the Co Trai bridge south of Hanoi and was trailing the group on exit from the Hanoi area when struck by a SAM, one of 13 fired at the strike group, and his F-8 disintegrated. there was no parachute or beeper. The plane fell from 12,000 to the ground 18 miles south of Hanoi. (no information on the recovery of LT DENNISON’s remains…?) LT TERRY DENNISON is remembered this day 50 years after he died on the battlefield with his boots on and engaged with the enemy…So young, so brave, so soon…
(2) CAPTAIN JOHN RICHARD BOTTESCH and A1C DARRYL GORDON WINTERS were flying an F-100F of the 90th TFS and 3rd TFW out of Bien Hoa on a combat photography mission covering a Close Air Support attack on a troop concentration near Tan Am 17 miles southwest of Tan Son Nhut and was on s a strafing pass when hit by ground fire and continued to fly into the ground in the target area. CAPTAIN BOTTESCH and A1C WINTERS were Killed in Action… and are remembered for their great sacrifice on this day that marks the 50th year of their passing….
(3) 1LT STEPHEN WHITMAN DIAMOND was flying an F-105D of the 354th TFS and 355th TFW out of Takhli on a strike mission to a POL target near kep and was shot down by a MIG-17 over the target. There was no Parachute seen or beeper heard and 1LT DIAMOND perished in the air over North Vietnam fifty years ago on this day, 19 July 1966. (no information on a search or recovery of 1LT DIAMOND’s remains…)
(4) CAPTAIN R. F. STEERE was flying an F-105D of the 354th TFSS of 355th TFW out of Takhli on a strike on a target 7 milesnorth of Hanoi when hit by anti-aircraft fire. He was able to fly the crippled aircraft out of North Vietnam and across Laos before having to eject over Thailand just short of home plate He was rescued by helicopter to fly and fight another day, week, month… “Fate is the Hunter.”
RIPPLE SALVO… #140… WORDS, WORDS AND MORE WORDS…The weapons of Princes and diplomats…
Tonight the salvo is rippled at the grand stands where the media and the millions of spectators of history clamor for issues and news to massage to their heart’s content. No matter the subject, if the media can be attracted to the subject in great enough numbers to form a scent of sorts, you can be sure a pack of news hounds will charge off to track down the who, what, why, when, where, and how of the issue. The product of their search for the truth comes alive in the printed or spoken words of the hounds in the pack. In June, July and August 1966 one of the major issues of interest around the world was the threat by North Vietnam to try the American prisoners of war as war criminals. As I search and sort through the pages of history to select pertinent facts and opinions for inclusion in my daily RTR posts, I have seized on this issue as one worthy of tracking from beginning to end. So, dear readers, you are getting a full dose of what I cull out of the NYT and other documents reporting the use and abuse of our POWs to create a topic for discussion at the highest levels of government. The POWs were pawns for the summer of 1966. POWs or War Criminals??? And the words poured forth on the subject. The POWs became useful tools to spur conversations and the worldwide quest for resolution of the war in Vietnam.
I conclude that Ho Chi Minh used the POWs to rattle the Eagle’s cage by the threat to try them as war criminals and subsequent period of letting the world guess what’s next. Then the old fox used the reaction of the world to shape future exploitation of the POWs and to control all conversation concerning resolution of the war. It was no idle threat, but Ho Chi Minh never intended to try let alone execute the imprisoned aviators. He just knew how to fire up the packs of hounds and the folks who read the New York Times. Words are the weapons of the devious and deceitful. And the diplomats. And American politicians. Ok, switches safe…
Lest we forget… Bear ………. –30– ……….