RIPPLE SALVO… #473… NAVAL GUNFIRE SPOTTING — IN BOTH DIRECTIONS… but first…
Good Morning: Day FOUR HUNDRED SEVENTY-THREE of looking back to the skies over North Vietnam and the warriors who carried the Vietnam war home to Ho Chi Minh…
21 JUNE 1967… HEADLINES from The New York Times on a nice, breezy Wednesday in New York City…
Page 1: “Johnson Efforts To Meet Kosygin Appeared Stalled…but some Russians indicate Premier eager to hold meetings in New York–U.S. Gestures To Soviet Is Sought– Soviet President Visits Tito of Way to Conference in Conference in Cairo With Nasser”... “President Johnson’s efforts to arrange a meeting with Premier Aleksie Kosygin appear to have been stalled by the Soviet leaders rigid definition of his mission in the United States. Soviet diplomats are said to be adhering to the view that the Premier has come to the United States on United Nations business and cannot be diverted from it at this time.”
“Goldberg Proposes Talks Assisted by a Third Party”… “U.N. Told of Need for Refugee Aid–Relief Chief Warns That Food for Arabs will Run Short in Three Weeks”… “Thant Answers Eban on Pullout--Says request to shift part of U.N. Force from Egypt to Israel was rejected…and helped unleash the Israeli-Arab conflict…”... Page 1: “Lebanon Army Chief Rejected Order to Move Against Israel”... “General Emile Bustani to Premier Rashid Karami on order to ‘open front’: “When you wear this uniform you can condemn the army to destruction. But while I wear it, you cannot.”… Page 1: “20 Killed in Aden as Troops Mutiny--Uprising by South Arabian Troops Leaves 17 British Soldiers Dead…22 more British soldiers wounded. Mutiny was in protest against a disciplinary suspension of four Arab colonels...’The bodies of the British soldiers were so full of bullets they could hardly be lifted.’ “
Page 1: “Clay Guilty in Draft Case; Gets Five Years in Prison”… “U.S. Judge also fined the boxer $10,000 for refusing induction. Cassius Clay, the deposed heavyweight champion was convicted by a jury tonight of violating the United States Selective Service laws by refusing to be drafted…this was the maximum penalty for the offense, a felony. The sentence was pronounced immediately at Clay’s request: ‘I’d appreciate it.’ The 25-year old boxer said he wants to be able to sleep tonight without worrying what the sentence will be.”…Page 2: “Draft extension Sent to President”... “The House completed Congressional approval today on a bill to continue the military draft for four years with statutory deferment rights for college undergraduates. The vote was 377 to 29.”... Page 2: “House Acts to Make Mutilation of Flag a Federal Offense”… “Angered by a rash of recent flag burnings the House moved to make it a crime to publicly mutilate or otherwise desecrate the United States flag.”… Page 1: “Negro Killed, 3 Hurt in Atlanta Violence”... “In a Confrontation with police in a troubled neighborhood on the city’s west side Mayor on scene to declare a state of emergency and a curfew from 9 pm to 6 am.”…
Page 1: U.S. River Assault Force Wins a Major Victory Over Vietcong–Armored Gunboats and Troops in Delta Battle–Unit First of Kind Since U.S. Civil War”... “The first river assault forced used by the United States since the American Civil War has produced a major victory over a Vietcong battalion in the Mekong Delta 17 miles south of Saigon (172 enemy killed, 27 Americans killed and 126 wounded)…
21 JUNE 1967… The President’s TS Daily CIA Brief: ARAB STATES-ISRAEL: An atmosphere of tension is still being maintained in the Egyptian capital with all press media banging way on the theme of eventual victory over Israel. Nasir has made no public appearance since 10 June, but presumably will be on hand to greet Soviet President Podgorny when he arrives in Cairo today. Podgorny’s visit is another gesture to dramatize Moscow’s support for the Arabs. Such support, incidentally, could get expensive if the Russians try to replace all the equipment lost by the Arabs. We estimate this bill would run somewhere near $500 mi8llion. Closure of the Suez Canal is also going to cost the Soviets about $11 million a month in increased charges…ADEN: Fighting flared again this morning after a night of sporadic shooting…Cairo’s open calls for destruction of the US and Brit1sh positions in the Middle est have done nothing to help things…
21 JUNE 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (22 June reporting 21 June ops)…Page 3: “In the air war American planes continued their steady pressure against North Vietnamese rail yards and lines near Hanoi. Air Force and Navy pilots flew 122 missions under clearing skies. Anti-aircraft fire was heavy but no aircraft were lost. Raids have now been made against railroad targets in the Hanoi area or 13 of the last 19 days. Thailand based F-105 Thunderchiefs blasted the Bacgiang generator plant and boiler house and other buildings in the plant complex were heavily damaged.”…
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There were three fixed wing aircraft were lost in Southeast Asia on 21 June 1967…
(1) CAPTAIN DARREL JOHN SPINLER was flying an A-1E of the 1st ACS and 14th ACW out of Pleiku on a strike on a Vietcong storage area in southern Laos near Ban Phon. He was the lead aircraft and in the recovery from his second attack dropping napalm from 200-feet, was hit by ground fire. The aircraft immediately rolled into the ground killing CAPTAIN SPINLER. He died a warrior’s death–on the battlefield, on the attack–with great honor. His ultimate sacrifice, made 50 years ago this date, is remembered here with admiration and highest respect…
(2) CAPTAIN R.E. PATTERSON was flying an RF-101 of the 20th TRS and 432nd TRW out of Udorn on a photo reconnaissance mission in Route Package 6 and was unable to outmaneuver an SA-2 at 30,000-feet. He ejected and came down in an area permitting a successful rescue by an HH-3. CAPTAIN PATTERSON had a similar experience three months later…
(3) An A-4E of the VMA-211 Avengers and MAG-12 at Chu Lai suffered a catastrophic engine failure and the pilot ejected and survived. Non-combat loss…
RIPPLE SALVO… #473… In the last months of 1966 the Rolling Thunder interdiction campaign was deemed to be less effective than expected or required. Part of the problem was the North Vietnamese development of alternatives to the network of roads in “the funnel,” including greater use of waterborne logistic craft (WBLCs pronounced “wib-licks”). Our response included Operation Sea Dragon “to interdict sea lines of communication and supplies going south from North Vietnam to South Vietnam.” Our surface ships were to find and disable WBLCs for boarding and exploitation. Navy ships of the line entered the fray north of the 17th parallel starting in October 1966 and would continue to patrol the Gulf of Tonkin until late 1968.
Navy destroyers and cruisers sank or damaged more than 2000 WBLCs. North Vietnam responded to “the Yankee Sea Pirates” by adding powerful shore batteries to cover the WBLCs. The enemy shore batteries were more than a nuisance. During the summer of 1967, North Vietnamese coastal defenses fired on Navy ships an average of ten to fifteen times per month. Twenty-nine surface ships were hit, killing five sailors and wounding 26.
Our response was to add shore bombardment to the surface force charter. “Gunfire spotter missions” became frequent missions for the A-1H Skyraiders (“Spads”) based aboard many of the carriers at Yankee Station. Humble Host told the story of LIEUTENANT COMMANDER JOHN LANDERS in my 10 June 1967 post. I called him “Audie Murphy in a Spad.” See RTR(Ripple Salvo #462).
Today I take equal joy in posting the story of LIEUTENANT COMMANDER CLIFF JOHNS of the VA-115 “A-rabs,” embarked in USS Hancock, who logged a “Gunfire Spotter” mission worthy of the retelling…
On the afternoon of 15 May 1967, LCDR CLIFF JOHNS planned and led a pre-briefed, two Spad “Naval Gunfire Spotter” mission providing air support and spotting for USS STRAUSS and USS FECHTELER as they patrolled off the coast on North Vietnam about twelve miles east of Thanh Hoa and a few miles at sea.The area of operations was in the same SAM missile envelope that protected the Thanh Hoa Bridge. In addition, the area was within a few miles of the NVN radar unit at Sam Son. Several anti-aircraft sites also covered the area. LCDR JOHNS’s defense against the SAMs was to stay low where he was meat for the AAA..
As the mission and the gunfire mission was progressing, with LCDR JOHNS providing plots of observed hits and recommending corrections to put the ship fired rounds on military targets on the beach, he noted multiple muzzle flashes from a treeline overlooking the beach. He provided the Navy shooters a spot for counter-fire and immediately, and boldly, broke out of his 1,000-foot orbit below the SAM threat, and dove on the observed and active weapons positions to deliver 5″ Zuni rockets at point-blank range on two firing guns. His wingman, Lieutenant (Junior Grade) MARK BUNKER, matched the brazen close-quarters rocket attack of his fearless leader and tore up a third firing site. The pair of Spad pilots added a re-attack with 2.75 rockets and observed two secondary explosions and residual fires in the silenced sites as they returned to their sea orbit to provide spotting information for the two surface ships as they continued firing.
Heavy, radar controlled enemy coastal defenses entered the picture and remained active for the next twenty-five minutes, as the suddenly vulnerable Navy ship retired from the area. LCDR JOHNS positioned his flight to observe what he estimated to be 122-mm rounds tracking and closing the USS STRAUSS. He concluded that the enemy radar directed guns had the STRAUSS in immediate danger and recommended that the ship begin evasive maneuvering.
As the incoming rounds closed to within 300-feet of STRAUSS, LCDR JOHNS broadcast, “Turn the Ship, turn the ship.” The ship turned right-90 as three rounds of 122-mm hit close aboard the port side of STRAUSS spraying shrapnel into the freeboard and onto the deck of STRAUSS. The ship remained under fire for 25-minutes with LCDR JOHNS observing muzzle flashes and shell impacts and calling turn recommendations to STRAUSS as she moved to the safety of deep water. More than 130 rounds were observed to fall in the exact position of STRAUSS had not LCDR JOHNS been making his calls.
Humble Host first heard this story straight from Cliff when we were both working in the A-Ring for Mr. George (“Bagger”) Haering (OP-962), a legend in his own time… I later found Air Medal award documentation to verify the tale told here…
RTR Quotes for 21 June… SENATOR FRANK CHURCH (1970): “This war has already stretched the generation gap so wide it threatens to pull the country apart.”… GENERAL WESTMORELAND (4/1967): “We are fighting a war with no front lines, since the enemy hides among the people, in the jungles and mountains, and uses covertly border areas of neutral countries. One cannot measure progress by lines on a map.”…
Lest we forget… Bear