RIPPLE SALVO…#354… “TELL MY FATHER…” …but first…
Good Morning: Day THREE HUNDRED FIFTY-FOUR of remembering all the great guys who found joy in serving their country in the dangerous skies of ROLLING THUNDER…
22 FEBRUARY 1967… HEAD LINES of The New York Times on a Wednesday with rain turning to snow…
Page 1: “Bernard Fall Killed in Vietnam By a Mine While With the Marines”… “Bernard B. Fall, the writer and historian of the strife in Vietnam was killed today by a Vietcong mine which on patrol with the Marines. Dr. Fall, a 40-year old professor of international relations at Howard University, had written seven books about Vietnam. The most recent, ‘Hell in a Very Small Place: The Siege of Dien Bien Phu,’ was acclaimed by reviewers when published by Lippincott this month.”… Page 1: “Johnson Assures Non Atomic Lands of Peaceful Uses”... “In a message read to the Disarmament Conference in Geneva, President Johnson assured the non-nuclear powers today that if they accepted a treaty prohibiting the spread of nuclear weapons it would not hinder their development of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.”… Page 1: “Federal Agencies Open United Drive to Combat Mafia”...”The Mafia’s infiltration of legitimate business has come under a coordinated attack by a variety of law enforcement agencies.”… Page 1: “Soviet Would Widen Talks Asked By U.S. On Air Missiles”…”United Nations officials said today that the Soviet Union had indicated it preferred to broaden discussions of a proposed limitations of anti-missile defenses. Moscow has suggested that the talks take up even more complex problems of limiting offensive missile systems.” Page 1: “New 4.74% Savings Note to Help U.S. Finance War”...”A new type of Government savings bond to be called a ‘freedom share’ said to bear a higher rate of interest than traditional savings bonds will go on sale on May 1.”…
Page 1: “Gavin Urges Bombing Halt Without a Pledge by Hanoi”…”Lieutenant General James Gavin urged today an immediate and unconditional halt of American bombing of North Vietnam as the first step toward a political settlement of the war. Testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations committee, General Gavin, who was Ambassador to France in the Kennedy Administration, was a principle witness in the Committee’s hearings last year on Vietnam policy… He was recalled to testify on whether the United States had overextended itself in its global commitments. His basic position in 2 1/2 hours of testimony was the U.S was overextended in Southeast Asia and Europe to the point where pressing ‘national needs were being neglected,’…He also counseled against further escalation and called the bombing of North Vietnam near populated areas. He said the bombing of North Vietnam was militarily as well as morally wrong.”... Page 3: “Raid By U.S. Fliers Charged By China”...”Communist China charged today that two United States aircraft strafed and damaged two Chinese fishing boats in the Gulf of Tonkin killing a fisherman and wounding three others. The incident occurred soon after 20 planes flew over the western part of Hainan Island 175 miles east of North Vietnam. Also, 31 other planes flew over Hainan Island according to the Chinese Hsin Lua press. This was the 425th serious warning against provocations by American aircraft.”…
22 February 1967… The President’s Daily Brief… CIA (TS sanitized) SOUTH VIETNAM: …The constituent assembly vote on presidential age–he must be at least 35–amounts to an endorsement of Ky’s candidacy… A majority had favored 40 as the minimum age, but Ky had changed some minds by a series of ‘very clever’ informal meetings. Our embassy however interprets the vote as the assembly’s decision to let the army choose between Ky and Thieu. In a press interview today, Ky reversed himself for about the umpteenth time and said he would not be a candidate. COMMUNIST CHINA: Peking’s weather vane continues to move toward moderation in the ‘cultural revolution.’ One major factor seems to be a real concern about disruption of the economy–particularly now that spring planting is about to begin. On Monday the Central Committee, in effect, started telling the peasants and rural workers team bosses to shelve the revolution for the time being and get back into the fields.
22 FEBRUARY 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…New York Times (23 Feb reporting 22 Feb ops) Page 2: “Over North Vietnam, American fighter-bombers yesterday returned to Highway 15 north of the Mugia Pass and destroyed three more military trucks where they had destroyed 55 and damaged 31 of the original 100-truck convoy. American military spokesmen first thought that a break in the seasonably bad weather caught the convoy unaware and in the open. But returning pilots reported that the trucks had been caught between a bombed out bridge and a landslide.” (Bear/#36/nite/milky/Tchepone)
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson) There were no fixed wing aircraft downed in Southeast Asia on 22 February 1967…
RIPPLE SALVO… #354… A few thoughts on “the last letter.” Leaving a family to go to war is as old as mankind. Momentous emotions swell up to block the words that are understood without speaking. The shared pain of parting, bravely managed with forced smiles, tentative hugs, a final tight embrace, a squeezed hand, a wink, and away–all with the unspoken truth that war is a killing business–kill or be killed–hanging heavy over all. A cloud that becomes a part of every day for both the brave warrior going forward and the brave family that adapts to a suspended life standing and waiting. I think of the Greek mother who sent her son to fight with the charge: “Come home carrying your shield–or on it,” the signal that the warrior son had lived or died with honor. I think of the Union trooper who died on the battlefield at Gettysburg with a note pinned to his blue coat that said, “Tell my father I died facing the enemy.”
None of us who answered the call to do our duty, to do what we were trained and well prepared to do– attack, attack, attack– did not think about leaving a final farewell letter to our mothers, wives, family. None of us knew whether our brothers in the ready rooms ever wrote such letters. Only a few who would have the solemn duty of packing up a fallen roommate’s personal belongings for sending to his family would know. My letter was formed and reformed and was always in mind. But remained unwritten. What were the last words to my family to be?”… I thought about it, often. But I never wrote a letter…I copped out… I told my wife, at parting on the combat cruises– “God’s will, will be done.” Then I bought as much insurance as the industry would sell me, and every time I manned up a bird with a load of bombs I would look skyward, and to the consternation of the plane captains, announce, “This is a good day to die, or not.”…attack attack attack…
If I had written a letter, I like to think it would match the spirit and love of country and family of this letter I found on page 3 of the 22 February 1967 New York Times:
“Dear Mother,
“I’m writing this letter as my last one. You’ve probably already received word that I am dead and the Government wishes to express its deepest regret.
“Believe me, I didn’t want to die, but I know it was part of my job. I want my country to live for billions and billions of years.
“It is up to every American to fight for the freedom we hold so dear. If we don’t the smells of free air could become dark and damp as a prison cell…
“I fought for Sandy, Nell, Gale, Mom and Dad. But when their turns come and Sandy’s kids get old enough they’ll probably have to fight too. Tell them to go proudly and without fear of death because it is worth keeping the land free.
“Don’t mourn Mother, for I an happy I died fighting for my country’s enemies and I will have done what I have always dreamed of. Don’t mourn me for I died a soldier of the United States of America.”
Private Hiram D. Strickland of Graham, North Carolina, Killed in Action (Vietnam), was awarded, posthumously, the George Washington Medal of Freedom by the Valley Forge Freedom Foundation for his “last letter.” …. oohrah…
Lest we forget…. Bear