RIPPLE SALVO… #233… Poet Edward Young…”One to destroy is murder by the law, And gibbets keep the lifted hand in awe; To murder thousands takes a specious name, War’s glorious art, and gives immortal fame.” …but first…
Good Morning: Day TWO HUNDRED THIRTY-THREE, “The follies past are of a private kind, Their sphere is small, their mischief is confin’d, But daring men there are (awake my Muse! And raise thy verse!) who bolder frenzy chuse; Who, stung by glory, rave, and bound away, Their world their field, and humankind their prey.”
21 OCTOBER 1966… THE HOMETOWN NEWS, New York Times style (“All the news that’s fit to print.”)… Have a nice Friday…
Page 1: “President Hails Australians In Vietnam War”…”President Johnson asked Australians to hold fast to their commitments to South Vietnam suggesting that ‘there is light at the end of what has been a long and lonely tunnel.’ Addressing a nation that is heatedly debating the use of conscripts to fight in Vietnam, the President found hope no only in their successes on the battlefield but also in his sense of a ‘widening community of people who feel responsible for what’s happening in Vietnam…Mr. Johnson responding to a warm reception at the outset of a five city tour of Australia in three days spoke at a luncheon of Australian leaders at Parliament House broadcast to a nationwide television audience. He and Mrs. Johnson flew to Melbourne after the speech. He reflected a deep sense of appreciation for Australia’s commitment of 4,200 ground troops and 300 fliers. a fourth of whom were recruited in the nation’s first time draft. the President and Prime Minister Harold Holt of Australia said after a two hour meeting that the allies have barred a military victory for North Vietnam and should press ahead militarily ‘until a satisfactory settlement could be negotiated.”… “In Manila, the Philippines Department of Foreign Affairs suggested in a memorandum to the United States that they suspend bombing of North Vietnam while an honest broker nation sounded out Hanoi on peace negotiations.”…
Page 1: “Congress Passes Poverty Program With New Curbs”…”President Johnson’s anti-poverty program was extended another year by Congress today, but it will operate under closer supervision and on less money than the White House requested. A House vote of 107 to 109 sent the authorization bill to the White House. The President had requested $1.75 billion for the program and Congress authorized that amount. But authorization bills merely set a ceiling on the amount that can be spent; the actual money is provided in the appropriations bill. In appropriations bills for the anti-poverty program the House has voted for $1.56 billion and the Senate for $1.66 billion. A joint conference is trying to reach a compromise. The current budget of the Office of Economic Opportunity, the anti-poverty agency, is $1.5 billion.”…
Page 1: “UN Told Of Gain On Nuclear Pact”… “The Soviet Union and the United States in major policy statements held out a promise today for agreement on a treaty to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. Opening the annual arms debate, Nikolai T. Fedorenko the Soviet Delegate, declared that there were no insurmountable difficulties in the way of a treaty. He said the Soviet Union saw and welcomed ‘some changes for the better’ in statements by the United States.’ But he pointedly noted that the Soviet Union was waiting for the assurances to be followed by ‘concrete practical deeds.’…” … Page 1: “U.S. Is Urged To Back ‘2 China’s’ In U.N.”…”The United States was urged by a panel of prominent citizens today to adopt a policy that would permit both Communist China and Nationalist China to be members of the United Nations. An end to opposition to Communist China’s membership and adoption of a ‘two Chinas” policy the panel suggested wsould strengthen the United States position in the world.”…
Page 1: “Rebellion By Pilots In Laos Reported”…”Units of the Laotian Air Force based in Southern Laos rebelled today and bombed the headquarters of the army general staff and another army camp on the outskirts of Vientiane, the capital. The reports said some buildings in the city also were machine gunned during a dog fight between attacking pilots and pilots loyal to the military command in the capital.”
21 October 1966… The President’s Daily Brief…CIA (TS sanitized) Laos: The revolt of the Laotian air Force is over. General Ma and most of his pilots have flown to Thailand where they will be taken into what the Thais call “benevolent custody.” Ma never really had a chance in his effort to unhorse the Laotian general staff, with which he has been feuding since last spring. Despite his dramatic bombing of Vientiane this morning, he has no support from regional commanders. Ma’s action, although not directly related to the recent shake-up in the neutralist military leadership, is a further indication of the fragile political situation in Laos…South Vietnam: Vietcong leaders have ordered all weapons withdrawn from village guerrillas in coastal Binh Thuan Province at least until the end of the year. Recent US military activity in this area has demoralized the guerrillas, and there is concern that they will take their weapons and rally to the government…
21 OCTOBER 1966… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… NYT (22 Oct reporting 21 Oct ops)…Page 6: “In North Vietnam yesterday two Navy A-4 Skyhawks crashed while participating in some of the 80 multi-plane attack missions flown in the vicinity of the major port of Haiphong and through the panhandle regions north of the demilitarized zone. The cause of the A-4 crashes was not known. Both pilots are listed as missing (LTJG Purrington, captured, and LTJG Edwards, KIA). Pilots destroyed 10 barges, five buildings and four trucks.”… “Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson) One fixed wing aircraft downed in Southeast Asia on 21 October 1966…
(1) CAPTAIN DAVID JOHN EARLL was flying an F-105D of the 469th TFS and 388th TFW out of Korat on a strike on a storage depot 18 miles northwest of Dong Hoi and was hit by AAA on his second run and did not recover from the diving attack. CAPTAIN EARLL was Killed in Action and died on the battlefield engaged with the enemy… No further evidence is available to me on the location of CAPTAIN EARLL’s remains…
RIPPLE SALVO… #233… My Great-Great Grandfather on my Mother’s side was a private in the Pennsylvania militia when General Lee came across the Potomac headed for Gettysburg on July 1, 1863. Private Isaiah T. Enders was called to duty in a reserve force that was mustered to defend Harrisburg. Lee ran out of gas in Gettysburg and returned to Virginia leaving a battlefield that was strewn with the bodies of 7,000 dead warriors, Union and Confederate, and more than 5,000 dead horses and mules. Of the 26,000 wounded in the four plus day fight, 21,000 remained in Gettysburg for care. The “stench of death” enveloped “the vast sea of misery” that was Gettysburg for three months. Private Enders was among those in the Pennsylvania militia who were detailed to burial and clean-up duty in Gettysburg. Private Enders was permitted to retain a small leather book of poetry (“Young’s Night Thoughts”) he found among the bodies, weapons, and tons of debris that the 165,000 combatants had left behind on the battlefield. Private Enders packed the poems of Edward Young to many more battlefields as a trooper in the Pennsylvania Ninth U.S. Calvary (Kilpatrick)– Tennessee, Atlanta ,Georgia, (Sherman’s March) Savannah, and the Carolinas in 1865. The little book found a permanent home in the family cottage in Mount Gretna, Pennsylvania. In June 1975 my grandmother presented her grandfather’s poems to me as I graduated from the Army War College at Carlisle with the Class of 1975.
“Young’s Night Thoughts (on Life, Death and Immortality) ” is 264-pages of blank verse by Edward Young of old England …I will spare you…But Edward Young did write some poetry that I find good reading and absorbing….. Young’s Satires VII, “The Love of Fame, The Universal Passion” is worthy of every old warrior’s contemplation… I think you will enjoy it…
While I survey the blessings of our isle
Her arts triumphant in the royal smile.
Her public wounds bound up, her credit high,
Her commerce spreading sail in ev’ry sky.
The pleasing scene recalls my theme again,
And shews the madness of ambitious men.
Who, fond of bloodshed, draw the murd’ring sword,
And burn to give mankind a single lord.
The follies past are of a private kind;
Their sphere is small, their mischief is confin’d;
But daring men there are (awake, my Muse!
And raise thy verse!) who bolder frenzy chuse;
Who, stung by glory, rave, and bound away,
The world their field, and humankind their prey.
The Grecian chief, th’ enthusiast of his pride,
With Rage and Terror stalking by his side,
Raves around the globe; he soars into a god!
Stand fast Olympus! and sustain his nod.
The pest devine in horrid grandeur reigns,
And thrives on mankind’s miseries and pains.
What slaughter’d hosts! what cities in a blaze!
What wasted countries! and what crimson seas!
With orphans’ tears his impious bowl o’erflows,
And cries of kingdoms lull him to repose.
And cannot thrice ten hundred years unpraise
The boist’rous boy, and blast his guilt bays?
Why want we then encomiums on the storm,
Or famine or volcano? they perform
Their mighty deeds; they hero-like, can slay,
And spread their ample deserts in a day.
O great alliance! O divine renown!
With dearth an pestilence to share the crown.
When men extol a wild destroyer’s name,
Earth’s Builder and Preserver they blaspheme.
One to destroy is murder by the law,
And gibbets keep the lifted hand in awe;
To murder thousands takes a specious name,
War’s glorious are and gives immortal fame.
When after battle I the field have seen
Spread o’er with ghastly shapes which once were men,
A nation crush’d, a nation of the brave!
A realm of death! and on this side the grave!
Are there, said I, who from this sad survey,
This human chaos, carry smiles away?
How did my heart with indignation rise!
How honest Nature swell’d into my eyes!
How was I shock’d to think the hero’s trade
Of such materials, fame and triumph, made!