RIPPLE SALVO… #666… THE END OF THE TRUCE, THE RESUMPTION OF AN ENDLESS WAR… but first…
Good Morning: Day SIX HUNDRED SIXTH-SIX of 1000-blogs to remember Operation Rolling Thunder (S), reported as the “air war” to protect the classification of the operation–the bombing of North Vietnam…
2 JANUARY 1968…HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a cold, cloudy and windy Tuesday in the canyons of New York City…
Page 1: GROUND WAR: “26 AMERICANS DIE IN VIETCONG ATTACK BEFORE TRUCE ENDS”… “Vietcong guerrillas, attacking in regimental force, killed 26 American infantrymen and wounded 111 early today in rubber plantation country near Tayninh, 50 miles northwest of Saigon…Early reports from American commanders said 344 enemy bodies had been found after daylight on the battlefield at Dantieng. The attacking Vietcong force was estimated at 2,500 men… the guerrilla attack was launched one hour and 20 minutes before the end of the three-day cease-fire proclaimed by the Vietcong.”…
Page 1: “Johnson Acts on Dollar; Curbs Investing Abroad and Asks Cut in Tourism–New Laws Sought–Big Payments Deficit Perils Prosperity, President Says–No Basic Change–Controls First For US– No Time Limit Set For Their Duration”… “President Johnson imposed mandatory restrictions today on most direct investments abroad by American corporations and requested a series of other programs, legislative and voluntary, to defend the dollar. He did this as he reported from a news conference from his ranch in Johnson City, Texas that the nation’s balance of payments-the net account of all transactions with foreign countries–has slipped sharply in 1967 to a net deficit of $3.5-billion to $4.5-billion.”…Page 1: “Bankers Object to Dollar Curbs”...”The financial community was highly critical yesterday of the balance-of-payments program announced by President Johnson.”...Page 1: “Both Parties See G.O.P. Adding 3 to 8 Governors”... “The Republican Party opens the 1968 election year with the pleasing prospect of increasing its majority of the nation’s Governors, probably by three of four and perhaps as many as eight. There will be 22 Governors chosen during the coming year, 14 in states that now have Democratic Governors. In only four of those states do the Democrats appear to be on solid ground.”… Page 1: “PRESIDENT HAILS SIHANOUK STAND ON HOT PURSUIT–He Reports It Has Aroused Both Interest and Pleasure And is Still Under Study by U.S.”…”…Cambodia would not resist United States forces if they pursued North Vietnamese and Vietcong troops into her territory was described by President Johnson today as good and encouraging news.”...Page 3: “Center in South Vietnam Trains Montagnards To Farm and Fight”... Page 3: “Senator Robert Kennedy Opens War Study In Saigon–He Calls For More Aid for Civilians”… Page 5: “Senator Eugene McCarthy Finds Slow Response–But days He’s Not Gloomy About the Campaign”…”He said he was encouraged by his support from the young people ‘who are on the edge of almost complete alienation from politics.”… Page 1: “USC Beats Indiana in Rose Bowl, 14-3 as OJ Simpson Scores Two Touchdowns” LSU over Wyoming, 20-13 in the Sugar Bowl; Teas A&M over Alabama, 20-16, over Alabama in the Cotton Bowl; and Oklahoma over Tennessee, 26 to 24 in the Orange Bowl….
2 January 1968…The President’s Daily Brief… NORTH VIETNAM: Prime Minister Nguyen Duy Trinh said Hanoi “will” talk with the US if the bombing and “all other acts of war against North Vietnam are ended “unconditionally.”…there “could be talks’ if North Vietnam’s conditions are met…. NORTH VIETNAM: Hanoi radio reported a Saint Louis Dispatch editorial strongly against the Johnson Administration’s plea for support for his Vietnam policies. The broadcast quoted the editorial as “laying waste point by point’ a statement made by Assistant Secretary of State Bundy.”…
2 JANUARY 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times: Page 3: “Hanoi Says It Shot Down 1,063 U.S. Planes in 1967″… North Vietnam reported today that it shot down 1,063 American planes in 1967. the North Vietnam press agency also said that the number of United States pilots sized in North Vietnam last year was ‘higher than in 1965 and 1966.’ It did not say how many were captured. In another dispatch the agency said that ‘nearly 365,000 enemy troops ‘including 179,000 American and allied troops were killed in South Vietnam last year. The enemy figures for United States deaths and plane losses in 1967 exceed American figures for the whole war. As of December 23 the official United States total of American dead since 1961 was 15,812 with 99,305 listed as wounded. the United States said 767 planes were lost over the North by that date (772 for the year)…
(Humble Host will post a 1967 summary of Operation Rolling Thunder tomorrow…he is slow with numbers)…
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There were three fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 2 January 1968…
(1) LTJG CRAIG M. TAYLOR was flying an F-8C of the VF-111 Sundowners embarked in USS ORISKANY escorting an RF-8 on a photo recce mission in the area of Thanh Hoa when he suffered a total electrical failure. He maneuver the stricken and partially powered aircraft toward the coastline and the sea crossing feet wet at 1,200-feet. LTJG TAYLOR was able to coax his Crusader seven miles to sea before having to eject. A Navy SAR helicopter beat North Vietnamese waterborne logistic craft and fishing boats to the downed Navy pilot and a successful rescue was made… It was LTJG TAYLOR’S first mission and, by my count, the 33rd aircraft lost by Oriskany on the 1967-68 cruise…
(2) MAJOR JOHN PATEE was flying a T-28D of the 606th ACS and 56th ACW out of Nakhon Phanom on an armed reconnaissance mission over Laos when his engine failed. He either jumped from or crash landed the T-28 and survived to be rescued by a USAF helicopter the next day…
(3) An F-105D of the 355th TFW out of Takhli suffered a flameout from fuel exhaustion returning from a successful strike mission. In a critical low-fuel state (Bingo Fuel), he was en route to join on a tanker when the flameout occurred. He was rescued to fly and fight again.
From the Compilation of Howie Plunkett “34 TFS/F-105 History“... 02-Jan-68… TFS 34 at Korat launched a four ship flight against Yen-Bai Airfield ijn North Vietnam. The weather precluded a visual strike requiring the flight to drop on Yen Bai through the clouds as directed by Commando Club.
RIPPLE SALVO… #666… NYT 2 Jan 68, OpEd, Page 36: “END OF A TRUCE”…
“The resumption of fighting in Vietnam at the end of a second brief year-end truce again shatters the hopes of mankind for a new move toward peace. A third chance will come during the pause for Tet in February. But as Pope Paul VI warned yesterday, the achievement of peace is ‘being made more difficult by new terrible obstacles…new problems and threats…increasing dangers.’
“Prince Sihanouk’s offer to meet with an American representative may ease one of the dangers the Pope evidently had in mind. But the dangers of ‘a spreading war, an endless war,’ engulfing ‘Cambodia and Laos and perhaps bringing China into the conflict, will not vanish until the Vietnam war is over. How to end the war remains the overwhelming question. Whether or not President Johnson and the Pope clashed on this issue at their Vatican meeting is a less important than the fact, which is quite evident, that they did not agree. The Pope said publicly yesterday that he would like to see a ‘lasting truce,’ not just a one-day cease-fire extended symbolically for another twelve hours in deference to his request. He again urged ‘fair negotiation’ and made clear his view that the world does not understand ‘on which side justice lies.’
“Two years ago, in the last serious American effort to achieve negotiations the bombing of North Vietnam was halted for 37 days, but Hanoi was not ready to talk. Last year came indications that Hanoi had changed its mind. But the allied year-end cease-fire were limited to 48-hours each. This year, they have been announced for 24 hours. The figures hardly bespeak an eagerness to create new initiatives for negotiated peace. On Saturday, North Vietnam’s Foreign Minister made the clearest statement yet–according to the official Vietnam News Agency–that Hanoi ‘will’ hold talks with the United States, if the bombing of North Vietnam is halted. Previously, Hanoi had issued conditional statements, permitting doubts about the firmness of the commitment to negotiate. The new Hanoi statement is being checked and evaluated, President Johnson said yesterday. But, unfortunately, the bombing is being resumed.
“Secretary of Defense McNamara has published the facts. The bombing achieves little that is crucial militarily. It inflicts an economic price on the enemy, but it stiffens, rather than weakens, Hanoi’s will to resist. No convincing explanation has been made of the Administration’s refusal to test Hanoi’s protestations by a bombing suspension. Peace in Vietnam is ‘up to’ the enemy, President Johnson said yesterday, asserting that ‘we are pursuing every possible objective’ toward peace. There is one simple way to convince the country and the world of this–an unconditional halt in the bombing of North Vietnam.” …..
RTR Quote for 2 January: HENRY CLAY, House of Representatives, 1813: “An honorable peace is attainable only by an efficient war.”….
Lest we forget… Bear