RIPPLE SALVO… #699… NYT, 2-FEB-68, PAGE 1: “He conferred the MEDAL OF HONOR on Major MERLYN H. DETHLEFSEN, United States Air Force, of Derby, Kansas, and spoke of him as the symbol of all the fighting men who on this ‘very special afternoon’ were prepared to die to put down ‘a desperate enemy offensive.’… Above all the President paid tribute to the few hundred fliers ‘who have rewritten the rule book and the flight book of aerial warfare’ with their raids on North Vietnam,’ thus tying up between 500,000 and 700,000 enemy men in repair and logistics.’…”…but first…
Good Morning: Day SIX HUNDRED NINETY-NINE of a return to the war mostly fought by the Silent Generation and the Boomers who got drafted…
2 FEBRUARY 1968… HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a Friday full of rain…
TET OFFENSIVE: Paqe 1: “STREET CLASHES GO ON IN VIETNAM–FOE STILL HOLDS PARTS OF CITIES–JOHNSON PLEDGES NEVER TO YIELD”… “Vicious street fighting continued today in many South Vietnam towns and cities, and the Vietcong attacked three more provincial capitals. The United States military commander General William C. Westmoreland, said yesterday that there was some evidence that the enemy’s general offensive was ‘about to run out of steam,’ but he also conceded that the enemy had capability to continue ‘this phase of their campaign for several more days.’ The United States command announced that 10,593 enemy soldiers had been killed since 6 P.M. Monday–by far the heaviest losses ever inflicted by the allies in Vietnam. United Press International reported American losses were put at 281 killed and 1,195 wounded and South Vietnamese losses at 632 killed and 1,588 wounded. The assertion today that more than 10,000 of the enemy had died in the outbreaks was viewed with reserve by some observers… Since Monday, the Vietcong have attacked 26 of the country’s 44 province capitals, penetrating some of them deeply. New attacks were reported yesterday and today on the towns of Baria, Muchoa and Phucuong, all province capitals. Other important cities, such as Danang, have also been attacked in the Vietcong drive.”... Page 1: “A Resolute Stand–President Won’t Halt Bombing–Predicts Khesanh Victory”… Page 1: VIETCONG’s ATTACKS SHOCK WASHINGTON”… “Widespread Vietcong attacks on cities throughout South Vietnam dealt Washington a hard blow, too. From the State Department to Capital Hill and the Pentagon the well-coordinated and tenacious attacks were under discussion. They were recognized as costly but also as what Senator John Stennis, Democrat of Mississippi, called them–’embarrassing.'”…Page 1: TET ARTICLES ACCOMPANIED BY PHOTOGRAPHS OF PUBLIC EXECUTION OF VIETCONG TERRORIST WHO HAD JUST MURDERED A SOUTH VIETNAMESE OFFICER’S WIFE AND CHILDREN. BRIGADIER GENERAL NGUYEN NGOC LOAN PULLED THE TRIGGER… The photo was seen worldwide and changed public opinion against American participation… Page 1: “Hanoi Says Aim of Raids Is to Oust Saigon Regime”… Page 13: “FOE IS SAID TO EXECUTE TWO GI’s BEFORE CROWD OF VIETNAMESE”… Page 13: “PENTAGON LISTS NAMES OF SERVICEMEN KILLED IN VIETNAM” (60 RIP)…
Page 1: “McNamara Says Soviet Doubled ICBMs In 1967–But Secretary In Farewell Report, Tells Congress U.S. Force Is Bigger”… Page 2: “A New Stalemate On Suez Indicated–Israel Finds Proposed Plan to Reactivate Accord Lacking”… Page 1: “ACLU Bars Help To Draft Resistors”… Page 10: “Gang Fights Hit 2 Brooklyn Areas”… Page 13: “McNamara Weary Of War–Recounts Uneven Congress In War–Says U.S. Has No Pilot Shortage–Concluding Remarks On the International Situation”… Sports: “Vince Lombardi Steps Down As Green Bay Coach As A Winner”…
STATE DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF THE HISTORIAN, Historical Documents on Pueblo Incident (1) and the Tet Offensive and war in Vietnam (4)... Document 253 is a Telegram sitrep from the U.S. Ambassador in the Republic of Korea to Secretary Rusk that briefly addresses how he is handling the negotiations with North Korea to insure that the concerns and issues of the ROK are not left behind in dealing with U.S. issues of Pueblo, ship and crew… Documents 44, 45, 46 and 47 are all good reading. 44 is the CIA proposal for plotting a new course for the Government of South Vietnam to take to correct for weaknesses being exploited by the Viet Cong and North Vietnam. 45 is a telegram from Bunker to Rusk that addresses the need to repair and reverse the psychological gains of the Vietcong racked up in the ongoing Tet offensive… 46 is a short letter from the President to Bunker advising him that cuts in State Department overseas personnel won’t affect his ops in Vietnam....47 is a summary of the President answering tough questions from correspondents in the White House on 2 February, mostly QA on Vietnam… read/scan at:
D. 253… https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v29p1?d253
D. 44… https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d44
D. 45… https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d45
D. 46… https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d46
D. 47… https:// history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d47
2 FEBRUARY 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… NYT, Page 11: “PEKING CHARGES U.S. BOMBED SHIPS–Says Two Freighters were attacked in North Vietnam:... “The Chinese Communist Foreign Ministry accused the United States today of having bombed two Chinese freighters in North Vietnamese ports. The aerial attacks took place January 20 and 27, according to the Peking radio, which said an earlier attack took place January 3. One freighter, the Hongqi 152, was anchored at Hongay, the other, the Hongqi 153, was anchored at Campha. A Foreign Ministry statement described the attacks as ‘deliberate provocations by United States imperialism against the Chinese people.’ The statement said the United States would never succeed in its attempt to ‘use bombs to prevent the Chinese people from supporting and assisting the Vietnamese people in their just cause.’ The United States, it added, ‘must pay for all crimes it has committed against the Chinese people.’
“‘The Chinese people will as always firmly stand together with the fraternal Vietnamese people in inflicting even more severe punishment on the United States bandits until the final and thorough defeat of the United States aggressors.'”…
Page 11: “U.S. Investigates Charge”... “The State Department said tonight that it was investigating Communist China’s charge that United States planes had bombed Chinese freighters in the North Vietnam ports of Hongay and Campha.”…
No other NYT coverage of the air war over North Vietnam.
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There were two fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 2 February 1968…
(1) Another Vietcong rocket and mortar attack on the flight line at Danang claimed another F-4C (366th TFW)…
(2) LIEUTENANT PETER FREDERICK CHERNEY was flying an F-8E of the VF-191 Satan’s Kittens embarked in USS Ticonderoga and suffered an engine failure returning to the ship from a photo reconnaissance escort mission and crashed into the sea. Lieutenant CHERNEY rests in peace today, 50 years after his last flight, where he fell in the service of his country.
RIPPLE SALVO… #699… NYT, 2-Feb-68, Page 1: “A RESOLUTE STAND–President Won’t Halt Bombing–Predicts Khesanh Victory”.. by line: Max Frankel…
“President Johnson responded today to the new enemy challenges in South Vietnam with a vow that ‘the enemy will fail again and again’ because’ we Americans will never yield.’ The enemy in South Vietnam has been met and matched, he said, and will be thrown back in the hills around Khesanh. The enemy in ‘North Vietnam will continue to be bombed ‘with very precise restraint,’ he said, ‘until there are ‘some better signs than what these last few days have provided,’ that he will not step up his terrorism or accelerate his aggression.
“Mr. Johnson seized upon a previously scheduled ceremony of honor for an Air Force officer to give a reaction to the assaults on dozens of American installations in South Vietnam this week and to the major enemy build-up around Khesanh. ‘Let those who would stop the bombing,’ he said, ‘answer this question: What would the North Vietnamese be doing if we stopped the bombing and let them alone?’…
“‘The answer, I think, is clear. The enemy force in the South would be larger. It would be better equipped. The war would be harder. The losses would be greater. The difficulties would last longer. And one of the things you can be sure: it would cost man more American lives.’
“The president did not conceal the burdens he has felt since the flare-up in South Vietnam, the seizure of the Pueblo off North Korea, the loss of four hydrogen bombs in the crash of a B-52 off Greenland, the attacks on the dollar abroad, the threats of inflation at home and the mounting pressure of an election year. At the annual Presidential peace breakfast at the Shoreham Hotel this morning he compared his current affairs to the wintry season of the calendar.
THE NIGHTS ARE VERY LONG
“‘The nights are very long,’ he said. ‘The winds are very chill. Our spirits grow weary and restive as the springtime of man seems farther and farther away.’ As President, he said, he has no right to tell citizens how or when they should worship, but he added: ‘I can, and I do, tell you that in these long nights your President prays.’
“He recalled the trials and stout spirit of President Roosevelt in the dark days of World War II in 1942 and commended prayer to all citizens. ‘We cannot know what the morrow will bring. We can know that to meet its challenges, and to withstand its assaults, America never stands taller than when her people get on their knees.’
“Chance had left the President’s calendar crowded with other ceremonial appearances and between more briefings on Vietnam and consultations with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he seemed to be making a determined effort to show himself as composed and confident, capable of light banter and solicitous of those around him.
AIR FORCE OFFICER HONORED
“He met in the Cabinet Room with the Council of Economic Advisors and its staff to make a fervent appeal to Congress for a tax increase. He met with Patricia Neal, the actress who had suffered three strokes, to honor her for having the ‘heart of the year.’He received Klaus Schutze, the Mayor of West Berlin, and escorted him through the west lobby to chat a few minutes with reporters. all the while, the White House was considering a formal television report to the nation on the situation in Vietnam. But Mr. Johnson decided to respond to events at once, at a festive ceremony in the East Room. He conferred the Medal of Honor on Major Merlyn H. Dethlefsen of Derby, Kansas, and spoke of him as a symbol of all the fighting men who on this ‘very special afternoon’ were prepared to die to put down ‘a desperate enemy offensive.’
“The Major was honored for having flown his crippled F-105 fighter plane through gun, missile and plane defenses last March to destroy an antiaircraft missile site near a North Vietnamese industrial target. His gallantry, the President said, cleared a safe path for the bombers that followed and destroyed the target.
THEY “WILL NOT FAIL US”
“The American forces in Vietnam ‘will not fail us even if it means dying before another morning comes, Mr. Johnson said. ‘That is as sure as this brave man is standing here,’ he said. ‘It is he who says the enemy will fail again for as long as he threatens the freedom and the peace we Americans will never yield.’
“The President honored the men on the ships like the Pueblo for performing ‘the most perilous missions,’ and the men who died defending the United States embassy in Saigon yesterday during what was ‘supposedly’ a truce period, and the men who will throw back the enemy in the hills of Khesanh.’
“Above all he paid tribute to the few hundred fliers ‘who have rewritten the rule book and the flight book of aerial warfare’ with their raids on North Vietnam, thus tying up between 500,000 and 700,000 enemy men in repair and logistics work. The bombing cannot keep the sniper from climbing a roof or prevent the enemy from ‘ultimately’ moving into battle position, Mr. Johnson said. “But it can and it does reduce their momentum,’ he added. ‘It can keep many of the enemy off the backs of our men who are defending our lives.’
“The President then gave still another definition of his terms for an end of the bombing. White House officials said it was merely another way of stating the terms that he set forth in San Antonio last September, when he asked for prompt and productive talks and some reason for assuming that North Vietnam would not take advantage of the cessation of bombing in the north.”…
RTR Quote for 2 February: President Johnson quoted Thomas Paine as an add-on to a meeting with several members of the press in the late afternoon of 2 February in the White House (see Historical Document D. 47 above)…
THOMAS PAINE: “These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country, but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered, yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem to lightly, ’tis dearness only that gives everything its value. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed, if so celestial an article as freedom should not be highly rated.”…
Lest we forget… Bear