RIPPLE SALVO… #322… “The Rock and The Hard Place”: A situation involving two dangers in which an attempt to avoid one increases the risk from the other… President Johnson in January 1967… but first…
Good Morning: Day THREE HUNDRED TWENTY-TWO of a project to remember and honor the warriors of ROLLING THUNDER, AN AIR WAR FOUGHT FIFTY YEARS AGO…
21 January 1967… HEAD LINES from the New York Times on a sunny Saturday in the Big Apple…
Page 1: “U.S. Says Moscow Displays Interest in a Missile Curb. Arms Race is Feared. Administration is reluctant to deploy NIKE system at a cost of billions. The Soviet Union has indicated an interest in President Johnson’s proposal that the two countries avoid another arms race involving deployment of missile defense systems….The interest was expressed in recent unpublished meetings between Secretary of State Dean Rusk and the Soviet Ambassador, Anatoly F. Dobrynin.”… Page 1: “Maoists Reported Creating Rule That Parallels Party’s”… “A sort of parallel government meant to rival the unreliable Communist party organization and Government bureaucracy, seems to be coming into being in China…All over China ‘revolutionary rebel committees’ have sprung into being to further Mr. Mao’s cultural revolution.”… Page 1: “Purged Chinese Called a Suicide”… “Lo Julching, purged Chief of the General Staff… (and three others)… of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army was reported in wall posters today to have committed suicide have reportedly failed in attempts at suicide. No quarter is being given in this new phase of the struggle.”…
Page 4: “Anger Over Dikes is Found in North”… “Farmers in North Vietnam’s rice bowl accuse American bomber pilots of trying to destroy their dikes, says an American editor who visited the area. The dikes are part of an ‘ambitious scheme to control the water’ and increase the harvest of rice, an Asian staple, William C. Baggs, editor of Miami News wrote. Mr. Baggs, who recently returned from an eight-day visit to North Vietnam in his capacity as Director of the Center for Democratic Institutions, said: ‘The old worry of the North has been not enough rice. For centuries, North Vietnam got more than half of its rice from the South, but the war down there has cut off the supply. More rice is a necessity if the country is going to be independent of foreign sources, such as China,’ Mr. Baggs said. Reporting in a copyrighted article of his visit to My trung, 80 miles south of Hanoi, in Namha Province, Mr. Baggs said: ‘Not much industry is in Namha Province. There is a factory that cans fruit, a glassware plant, and a factory that makes farm implements, we were told. Otherwise it is all farming. Here too, you hear the familiar stories about the American bombers and we had three alerts during a two day visit in the province. The men and woman who do the same work in the fields are trained to fire rifles or machine guns at the aircraft. The complaints become bitter when these farmers accuse Americans of trying to bomb their dikes and destroy their water control system. Mr. Baggs said he talked to a newspaper man from Nam Dinh, Viet Trung, who said a 1,000-pound bomb was dropped December 6 on the dike in the village of Xauntien on the Ninhoo River.’ He produced a picture and said the portion of a dike destroyed, plainly visible in the photograph, was 24 meters long and 9 meters deep…”…
Page 4: “Ashmore Reports Firmness”…”A former Pulitzer Prize winning editor just returned from Hanoi (He and Mr. Baggs were together on the visit) says he thinks North Vietnam may send a delegation to an unofficial peace conference, but doubted that negotiations to end the war could start until the United States stops bombing the North. Harry Ashmore, former editor of the Arkansas Gazette invited President Ho Chi Minh to attend the world peace meeting planned for Geneva in May by the Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions. He said he was encouraged by the reaction. At a news conference yesterday, he said of the bombing: ‘It does not seem to be effective in really reducing the war effort. In its own military terms, I would consider the bombing a failure. The damage done is offset by the unifying influence on the people. This is a country of very high morale. I would say that this type of bombing will not end this war.’ He said the North Vietnamese he had talked with indicated strongly that no peace negotiations would be entered into until the bombing stopped. ‘I think they see the war as a statement…But they will fight it as long as they have to. They believe honestly they cannot be beaten.’ “….
Page 6: “Stennis Calls For Stepped Up Air Raids on North”…”One of the most influential members of the Senate Armed Services Committee has called for an intensification of America’s air war over North Vietnam and a ‘substantial increase’ in American forces in South Vietnam ‘even if it requires mobilization.’ Senator John Stennis, Democrat of Mississippi, urged that the United States start bombing North Vietnam industrial and power installations and attacking four key North Vietnamese air fields that are now off-limits…He said there will be a requirement for well over 500,000 men in South Vietnam by the end of 1967….He urged several other measures to step up the war in Vietnam so it could be won or settled on honorable terms. These included widening the bombing of North Vietnam, taking action to close the port of Haiphong and other North Vietnamese ports, and adopting an overall long range strategy to replace what he called ‘piecemeal commitments’ to the war effort… His speech (in Philadelphia) was in response to concerns of ‘doves’ over the dangers of intensifying the war and reports of civilian casualties in North Vietnam as the result of American bombing. While he termed civilian casualties in North Vietnam ‘regrettable and unfortunate,’ Senator Stennis warned against falling into the Communist trap of halting American air raids on the North because of enemy propaganda. Instead, he said, we should remove the arbitrary restrictions and widen and expand the air war so as to strike all militarily significant targets. We should knock out their steel mills, concrete plants and electric generating plants.
Senator Stennis: “We must not be panicked into making the tragic mistake of letting pressure, either domestic or foreign, oor the worldwide propaganda offensive which Hanoi has mounted, force us to stop bombing.”
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM… COLONEL JACKSEL M. BROUGHTON, USAF… AIR FORCE CROSS…
“The President of the United States…takes pleasure in presenting the AIR FORCE CROSS to COLONEL JACKSEL M. BROUGHTON, UNITED STATES AIR FORCE, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an opposing armed force in Southeast Asia while serving as Pilot of an F-105 Thunderchief of the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing, Takhli Royal Thai Air Base, in action over North Vietnam on 5 February 1967. On that date, COLONEL BROUGHTON was Mission Commander of a flight of a two wing F-105 Thunderchief strike force which attacked a heavily defended target in North Vietnam. Despite serious aircraft malfunctions, marginal weather, and grave damage to his aircraft from an exploding surface-to-air missile, he placed his armament directly on target, scattering fire and debris which illuminated the target for easy acquisition by the following strike force. Disregarding the crippled condition of his aircraft, which minimized his chances for recovery in friendly territory, COLONEL BROUGHTON then willfully acted as a decoy to divert hostile aircraft approaching the strike force. Through his extraordinary heroism, superb airmanship, and aggressiveness in the face of the enemy, COLONEL BROUGHTON reflected the highest credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.”
Among COLONEL BROUGHTON’s military awards: The Air Force Cross, Silver Star (2), Distinguished Flying Cross (4), and Air Medal (9)…
21 January 1967… Operation Rolling Thunder…New York Times (22 January reporting 21 January) Page 10: “In the air war over North Vietnam yesterday American fighter-bombers took advantage of clear skies to attack three important railroad yards as well as bridges, road transport, surface-to-air missile sites and antiaircraft installations. Navy planes flew 35 missions against Dong Phong Thuong rail complex nine miles northeast of Thanh Hoa. Returning pilots said their bombs did heavy damage despite intense ground and missile fire. One SAM was reported to have ‘gone ballistic or failed to home on the attacking American planes and was seen by an American pilot smashing into a populated area near the rail complex. Also damaged in the six hour raid by three carrier air wings were three missile sites, a main railroad bridge and a railroad bypass bridge. Rail lines were torn up in seven places and one radar site was destroyed and another damaged. Seven flights of F-105 Thunderchiefs heavily damaged the Vuchua railway yard 43 miles northwest of Hanoi with 750-pound bombs…pilots reportede numerous MIG sightings and encounters in the industrial area northwest of Hanoi. There were at least eight encounters that involved exchanges of fire. North Vietnamese news agency implied in a broadcast that seven American planes were shot down. American losses, if any, are not announced for 24-hours or more after the actions.”…
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson) There werefour fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 21 January 1967…
(1) LCOL EUGENE OGDEN CONLEY was flying an F-105D of the 354th TFS out of Takhli as the mission commander on a major strike on the Thai Nguyen railway yard when he was shot down. The weather was poor and the defenses intense as he approached the target at 11,000. He was hit by an SA-2 and was seen to dive straight into the ground. LCOL CONLEY was on his third flying tour in the theater and was the second Commanding Officer of the 354th to be Killed in Action in less than two months (LCOL DON ASIRE, KIA, 8 December). No further information on recovery of remains. LCOL CONLEY was killed leading a charge fifty years ago today… He rests in peace and is remembered with admiration and respect…
(2) CAPTAIN GEORGE GRADY COOPER and MAJOR GEORGE LOWE were flying a B-57B of the 13th TBS and 405th FW and 35th TFW out of Phan Rang on bridge strike 11 miles west of Kontum. On their fifth pass on the target they were brought down by ground fire and the aircraft flew into the ground before they could escape from the aircraft. CAPTAIN COOPER and MAJOR LOWE were Killed in Action and died tempting Fate. (Multiple napalm passes on a bridge?)… a tragic loss…
(3) CAPTAIN WILLIAM JOSEPH BAUGH and 1LT DONALD RAY SPOON were flying an F-4C of the 480th TFS and 366th TFW out of Danang on a MIGCAP mission in support of a strike on the railway targets near Kep. They were hit by an 85mm or 100mm shell and managed to fly the aircraft for several miles before having to eject. Both were captured and interned as POWs. They were both released in March 1973…
(4) CAPTAIN W.R. WYATT was flying an F-105D of the 421st TFS and 388th TFW out of Korat on the strike on the rail targets near Kep. CAPTAIN WYATT was also hit by an 85mm or 100mm shell at altitude — 12,000-feet — but was able to fly the dying aircraft more than 50 miles to sea over the Gulf of Tonkin before having to eject, where he was rescued by a Navy helicopter… Hobson observes: the North Vietnamese were adding mor and heavier AAA to their arsenal along with radar directed fire. Higher altitudes were ever more dangerous for Yankee Air Pirates and Red River Rats…
RIPPLE SALVO… #322… “A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE”… Doves on one side and Hawks on the other, with President Johnson bobbing and weaving in indecision in the middle… Case in point: the New York Times pieces above. Two doves visited North Vietnam (Baggs and Ashmore) and talked to Ho Chi Minh, came home and let the whole world know that the way to peace was to stop bombing. At the same time, Senator Stennis speaks for the Hawks, “Let the dogs of war loose!”…more tropps, more bombing… What’s a poor President to do?…Make a Decision!!!
The Bridges of Hanoi follow-up from my Ripple Salvo #321 of yesterday… One of the great warriors of Rolling Thunder was Colonel Jack Broughton…see above Air Force Cross citation and the top row of his ribbons… (he will be going into the RTR link “Among the Brave”) … Colonel Broughton authored three great books. Here’s a page from his “Going Downtown” that supports my conclusion that: Nobody ever won a war by bombing bridges!... I quote page 119…
“The raids against bridges, rail facilities, and other industrial structures proceeded in parallel with the POL strikes, and if an outside observer kept track of the claims for bridges blown up it would be easy to assume that the North was made up of nothing but bridges. Sometimes it seemed that way to us. Quite often when we would attack a bridge we could see the replacement pontoon bridges waiting along the river banks. The North had a construction force of 600,000 laborers to repair bomb damage, and they did their bridge work just like they did their rail work and their road work, quickly. As soon as we knocked a bridge down they dispatched masses of laborers and put in substitute facilities while they rebuilt the damaged bridge. It doesn’t take much of a pontoon bridge to support bicycle and pedestrian traffic. If they needed to move something like a heavy truckload of supplies and the makeshift bridge would not support the truck, they used people, bicycles, cattle, or whatever was available to haul the truckload, piece by piece, to the other side. There always seemed to be another truck, or another back, waiting on the other side to continue the journey. We did not match their sense of purpose and did not show the desire to do the interdiction forcefully. If you go after a repairable target, then ignore it for a few months, you can bet the enemy will rebuild it if that suits his purpose. It’s tough to win a war in Asia with an attack plan based on the whims and schedules of the Oval Office rather than a calculated interdiction plan.”
CAG’s QUOTES for 21 January: NAPOLEON: “Tactics should change every ten years to maintain a semblance of superiority.”… PATTON: “The purpose of discipline is to produce automatic obedience through habit so that the excitement of battle will not prevent men from functioning properly and carrying out orders.”
Lest we forget…. Bear.