RIPPLE SALVO… #154…. “AMONG THE BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE”…. but first…
Good Morning: Day ONE HUNDRED FIFTY-FOUR of remembering a time when history was being made in the skies over North Vietnam…
2 AUGUST 1966… PAGE ONE OF THE HOME TOWN NEWSPAPER…NYT… It’s a cloudy day in the Bronx and a wet night ahead…
Page 1: “Senate Unit Acts To Let President End Air Walkout”….”A Senate committee approved today legislation that would authorize President Johnson to order an end to the air strike for any period up to 180-days. The Senate Labor and Public Works Committee reported out the bill by a vote of 10-6. Senate Mike Mansfield of Montana, Senate Democratic leader, said that the bill which is not favored by the Johnson Administration would be taken up by the full Senate tomorrow.”….Page 7: “Senate Votes Rise in G.I. Interest Rate”…”The Senate passed by voice vote today a bill that would provide payment of up to 10% in interest on savings deposited by members of the armed services stationed overseas. The measure, which goes back to the House is supported by the Administration as a step toward cutting United States dollar flow to foreign countries. Ten per cent is a raise from four, which was not attracting savings.”…
Page 1: “Sniper In Texas Tower Kills 12, Hits 33; Wife and Mother also Slain; Police Kill Him”…Austin, Texas…”An architectural student carried an arsenal of weapons to the top of the 27-story tower on the University of Texas campus today and shot 12 persons to death and wounded at least 33 before police killed him. Later the student wife and mother were found dead in their home in Austin. The police said he had killed them during the night. The sniper was identified as Charles Whitman, 25-years old, a former altar boy and Eagle Scout, who was an architectural student from Lake Wales, Florida. He crouched on an observation ledge far above the campus and sprayed the area with bullets for 80 minutes. Students, professors, and visitors ran for cover. A student on a bicycle was shot and toppled off. A small boy was shot. Three bodies lay on the campus for nearly an hour in the heat. Rescuers couldn’t reach them. An off-duty policeman, Romero Martinez, who had responded to a call on his radio, inched his way around a wall at the top of the tower and fired six bullets into the sniper with his service revolver after the snipe fired at him.”… Page 1: “Bewildered Speck Pleads Guilty In 8 Nurses Deaths”…”Under heavy guard Richard Speck pleaded not guilty today in eight indictments charging him with the murder of eight student nurses on July 14.”….
Page 1: “Army Chief Ousted In Red China Purge”…”Lo Juin ching, chief of the Army’s General Staff has been replaced in another major development of the purge sweeping Communist china. His downfall was disclosed tonight when the Peking radio announced that an Army Day reception in the capital had been addressed by Young Cheng-wu, who was described as Chief of the Army General Staff. Lo has not been seen in public since last November.”… Page 2: “Air Force Extends Use of Controllers”…”Forward air controllers in observation planes are now being used to direct some of the air strikes in North Vietnam.”…
Page 12: “Broad Negro Aid Urged By Dr. King“…”The Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. called today for a $100 billion “Marshall Plan” in America to get rid of the conditions that he says cause Negro riots and unrest. “Such an expenditure,” he said, “is very definitely more important than the war in Vietnam or America’s space program. “Raleigh to address a civil rights rally he was interviewed by a panel of four reporters for the University of North Carolina educational station. Asked if America was in danger of a race war, Dr. King replied: “We are in a difficult period.” He said Negro leaders could not stop riots–that elimination of the conditions that cause riots could do that. Asked how much should be spent to do that to help Negroes achieve the goals they want–Dr. King said,” $10 billion each year for the next ten years. It is much more important that we put men on their own to feet on earth than to put men on the moon. I don’t think I am asking too much…we need a Marshall Plan to get rid of conditions we see right here in North Carolina.”… Page 12: “Dr. King Calls Chicago Police Law In March Duty”…”The Rev.Dr. Martin Luther King accused the Chicago police today of laxity in their efforts to protect civil rights demonstrators from whites who hurled rocks and bottle at them this weekend.”….
2 August 1966…The President’s Daily Brief…CIA (TS sanitized)…South Vietnam: some of the problems now faced by Vietcong units in the III Corps area–the ten provinces surrounding Saigon–came to light (rest redacted)…Vietcong units in this area may in fact be having more than the usual difficulties. General Khang, the new III Corps Commander, is said o have expressed the view recently that allied operations and the destruction of Vietcong food supplies in his corps area have forced the Vietcong to scale down their activity. Khang speculated that the Vietcong may be moving some units south to the delta provinces where there are still no US troops stationed, in the hope of scoring a victory… Soviet Union: Kosygin keeps his job. Rumors that he would retire had circulated in Moscow for several days before parliament, the Supreme Soviet, began its session today, but Kosygin was “unanimously” re-elected premier. Any changes in the lower ranks will be apparent when Kosygin presents his nominations for posts in the new government.”…
2 AUGUST 1966… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…NYT…(3 August reporting 2 August ops)….Page 1: “Oil At Haiphong Bombed 3rd Time By U.S. Aircraft”…”United States Navy aircraft bombed oil installations at Haiphong in North Vietnam today for the third time. The attack was one of about a dozen simultaneous missions against oil targets throughout North Vietnam. The Pentagon disclosed it only after a protest by the North Vietnamese army’s high command to the ICC accusing the United States of indiscriminate bombing of residential quarters and factories….Defense Department sources insisted that preliminary reports from American pilots showed all bombs and other ordnance used had been ‘on target’…”There were no residential quarters or factories in the target areas, one source said, denying the a North Vietnam accusations.”… Page 2: “Pilots Report Big Explosion”…”United States military spokesmen said today that the Navy pilots who carried out the strike on the fuel facilities outside Haiphong had reported setting off a large secondary explosion and leaving the entire area wreathed in dense oily black smoke. No further details are available. Four waves of A-6 Intruders and A-4 Skyhawks from the aircraft carrier Constellation in the Gulf of Tonkin swept over the Haiphong facilities which are said to consist of rows of large above ground fuel tanks and several buried gasoline reservoirs. No American air planes were lost in the strike despite heavy concentrations of surface-to-air missile launchers and radar guided anti-aircraft guns that guard the Haiphong area….”….(“Vietnam; Air Losses)…reported no aircraft losses in Southeast Asia on this day fifty years ago on 2 August 1966… Praises be… a day like few others…
RIPPLE SALVO… #154… “AMONG THE BRAVEST…. ” … My trusty Web Master Angie, MIGHTY THUNDER in the flesh, and I will be adding a new section to rollingthunderremembered next week… We hope to elicit inspiring inputs of memorable flights and combat performances from the witnesses to the uncommon bravery of the warriors of Rolling Thunder— the thousands of men who charged into the teeth of enemy fire day after day after nigh after day until they had logged hundreds of strike flights in some of the most dangerous skies in history. Warriors like Denny Weichman, NavCad Class 34-55, who flew more than 650 combat missions and was awarded the Silver Star, a pound of Distinguished Flying Crosses, and more than 50 Air Medals. Denny started in 1963 in Spads in Laos, cruised in Oriskany flying Skyhawks in Rolling Thunder, and finished the war in 1972 as the Commanding Officer of an A-7 squadron… Among the bravest, for sure…
Here’s our header for the new section being designed by Mighty Thunder……
..….AMONG THE BRAVEST OF THE BRAVE….
A nation’s paramount purpose is to survive in a world where…”Only the dead have seen the end of war” (Plato)…that survival requires a force of warriors imbued with “the Spirit of Attack borne in a brave heart” (Galland)…The thousands of Air Force, Navy and Marine aviators who flew and fought in Operation Rolling Thunder in the years of 1965-1968 were such men. Warriors of brave heart and indomitable fighting spirit…
Rolling Thunder Remembered is proud to include this section to recognize some of the “Bravest of the Brave”…Their stories must be preserved in order to ensure that Rolling Thunder is remembered. RTR respectfully solicits nominations for inclusion in this roster…RTR especially desires senior aviators use this opportunity to recognized those brave young warriors they led into Harm’s Way who must be remembered and never forgotten…
I am grateful to Jerry Zacharias for stepping up to help me get “Among the bravest…” rolling… What I need are YOUR eye witness, first person stories …”There I was…and this is what I remember, and what I think will help others remember our war.”.. (have an old speech, essay, letter, notes, that you want to share?)… You do not have to do it yourself…send me the story (beartaylor@comcast.net) and I will gather the fluff that will make your grandkids proud… The criteria for inclusion is VALOR…and a story to go with it…. I will be at this for two more years, to the last day of Rolling Thunder plus 50 years …Lord willing… talk to me… thanks…
Lest we forget…. Bear ………. –30– ……….