RIPPLE SALVO… #961…THE NEW YORK TIMES, 21-OCT-68, Page 13… “VISITOR REPORTS ON LIFE IN HANOI–City Still on War Footing, French Professor Says”… by Hedrick Smith from Paris… Short Report below… But first…
GOOD MORNING… Day NINE HUNDRED SIXTY-ONE of a day-to-day review of the longest air war in American history called Operation Rolling Thunder and the only air war in American history where the targeting of the enemy’s industrial and military facilities was the work of the President and his Tuesday Lunch Group…
HEAD LINES from The New York Times for Tuesday, 22 October 1968…
THE WAR: Page 6: “LULL COVERS ONCE-BLOODY DEMILITARIZED ZONE– ALLIES SEARCH IN VAIN FOR ENEMY”… “A few months ago, General William C. Westmoreland called the frontier ‘a real war zone.’ No one in this area disagreed at the time. The rugged terrain of the demilitarized zone, along with Quangtri province, which borders the zone, was then the bloodiest fighting of the war. Today, as thousands of allied troops push through the region without opposition, the general’s word do not seem to apply. For all of their searching in chilly monsoon weather, the troops have not found the enemy. Up and down the 43-mile long border today, sergeants and operations officers sat before radio sets, sipping coffee and talking about American politics. They waited in vain for reports that enemy units had been found. Sone of the headquarter men thumbed through tattered girlie magazines and paperback novels. Atop a watchtower a few thousand yards from the foothills of north Vietnam, two young soldiers fourth boredom with a game of gin rummy. Although senior officers knew it, few enlisted men and junior officers seem aware that there is worldwide speculation that the lull they are enjoying might somehow be used as a basis for a bombing halt over North Vietnam. They only know that things have changed radically in the area around the demilitarized zone…. The suggestion that the enemy may be tacitly de-escalating the war causes allied soldiers and their officers to smile bitterly and shake their heads in the negative. ‘We have just tanned his tail and run him off,’ Major General Raymond G. Davis, the commander of the Third Marine Division, said in an interview at his headquarters at Dongha, 10 miles below the DMZ. ‘He (the enemy) is not doing this as a concession. He’s doing it because he’s been defeated and he has no choice.'”…
PEACE TALKS: Page 1: “U.S. AIDES BELIEVE A DEBATE IN HANOI DELAYS ITS REPLY–Silence On New Proposal For Bombing Halt Stirs Doubts On A Positive Response–But Hope Is Still Held–south Vietnamese Said To Be Pressing Americans For ‘A Stiffening of Terms’ “… Page 5: “PRESSURE ON U.S. REPORTED”… “South Vietnam has been pressing the United States to tighten the political terms of its proposal on a bombing halt for fear that it gives too much to the National Liberation Fronet, informed sources said today.”… Page 5: “UNCONDITIONAL HALT DEMANDED”… “The Paris peace talks will not make headway until the United States unconditionally stops all bombing of North Vietnam, the South Vietnamese National Liberation Front said today.”… Page 1: “14 ENEMY SAILORS RELEASED BY U.S. AS GOODWILL MOVE”… “Under a temporary truce, 14 North Vietnamese prisoner of war were permitted to return to their homeland today by United States military authorities in what was described as a goodwill gesture. The 36-hour truce involved an area of about 288 square miles of land and sea in which the men were set free. The rectangular zone was measured 12 miles out to sea from the North Vietnamese town of Vinh, and 12 miles north and 12 miles south of the town. Vinh is about 150 miles north of the DMZ.”…
HEAD LINES: Page 1: “GALLUP POLL SHOWS A HUMPHREY GAIN–Nixon Lead is 43 to 31″… Page 1: “APOLLO 7 TO LAND IN ATLANTIC TODAY”… Page 1: “WORSE RACIAL STRIFE THAN RIOTS FEARED BY SOME ANALYSTS”… Page 1: “HUMPHREY URGES DEMOCRATS IN NEW YORK TO FIGHT HARDER–Drawing Dunkirk Parallel He Bids Party Improvise–Looks To Jewish Voters”… Page 1: “JOB SAFEGUARDS PLEDGED BY NIXON–He Would Push Training For Poor, But Says This Would Not Make Others Idle”… Page 7: “NAVY IS STUDYING RACIAL INCIDENTS–Curbs Are Imposed After Clashes In Danang”… Page 27: “LeMAY IS DUBIUS OF BOMBING HALT–Says Arm Twisting Would More Likely End the War”… OLYMPICS: “DICK FOSBURY CLEARS 7’4”–Olympic Record–Wins Gold”…
22 OCTOBER 1968…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times… Page 7: “VIETNAM AIR CRASH KILLS 24 AMERICANS”… “A twin-engine C-47 transport en route from Tansonnhut airfield at Saigon to Danang crashed in the Central Highlands about 175 miles northeast of Saigon today.” (Refer to RTR for 20-Oct-68) … Two other aircraft, an F-4 Phantom jet fighter and a rescue helicopter, were lost as the air war against North Vietnam regained some of its former pace. The fighter was downed by ground fire in the Gulf of Tonkin on the eastern edge of the demilitarized zone. The helicopter was brought down while it tried to rescue the jet’s two-man crew. Eventually two other helicopters rescued the jet crew and the four-man crew of the first helicopter. The loss of the jet brought the number of fixed wing aircraft lost over the North to 909. Ten helicopters have been lost in the North.”… NYT, 23-Oct-68, page 4, reporting 22 Oct operations… “MONSOON SPREADING”… “Bad weather hampered combat throughout the day. Some United States pilots striking targets in North Vietnam reported roads so flooded that few trucks were moving. In South Vietnam, just south of Danang, four days of uninterrupted rain forced a South Korean unit to evacuate its base and move to higher ground…. In the air war over North Vietnam a United States Navy A-4 Skyhawk jet fighter-bomber was downed about 50 miles northeast of Vinh. It was the 910th American plane lost in the North. The pilot was listed as missing. (LT K.K. KNABB, USN, VA-106, USS INTREPID, see RTR 21-Oct-68)…
VIETNAM: AIR LOSSES (Chris Hobson) There were two fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 22 October 1968…
(1) CAPTAIN EUGENE WILLIAM KIMMEL, USMC and CAPTAIN RODNEY RENE CHASTANT, USMC were flying an OV-10A Bronco of VMO-2 and MAG-12 out of Marble Mountain on a tactical control mission under low clouds 12 miles southwest of Danang when hit by ground fire as it marked targets. The aircraft was uncontrollable and crashed killing both pilots. A Marine Corps Huey landed and recovered the body of CAPTAIN KIMMEL, one of the brave, before Vietcong fire drove the helo off. A subsequent helicopter retrieved the body of CAPTAIN CHASTANT, who now rests in peace at Port Hudson National Cemetery in Baton Rouge. CAPTAIN KIMMEL rests at Hills of Rest Cemetery in Sioux Falls.
(2) A KC-135A of the 4252 SW out of Ching Chung Kang crashed into a mountain 47 miles from the airport on a night approach. The crash killed a crew of six. The wreckage wa found 1,000-feet below the summit of a 7,300 foot peak… To err is human. Military aviation is unforgiving of human error. Fifty years ago this day six good men perished in the service of our country…
SUMMARY OF ROLLING THUNDER LOSSES (KIA/MIA/POW) FOR THE FOUR 22 OCTOBER DATES OF THE FOUR YEARS OF THE OPERATION OVER NORTH VIETNAM…
1968… NONE…
1967… LTJG JAMES EDWARD DOOLEY, USN… (KIA… Status remains “XX”- Presumptive Finding of Death) However, Humble Host invites your attention to the case of John Dooley as it is recorded by POWNETWORK. The case was contentious when discussed in Congressional Hearings in 1991. Good reading at…
https://www.pownetwork.org/bios/d/d033.htm
1966… LCDR EARL PAUL McBRIDE, USN… (KIA)… and… LCDR THOMAS CARL KOLSTAD, USN… (KIA)… and… LTJG WILLIAM BLUE KLENERT, USN… (KIA) … These losses were reported in RTR of 22-Oct-66, Ripple Salvo #234. Further research: LCDR McBRIDE remains where he fell 52 years ago, but a memorial stone is in place in Arlington that recognizes his service and valor. The memorial notes his award of the Distinguished Flying Cross.; LCDR KOLSTAD rests in peace at Calvary Cemetery, Virginia, Minnesota; LTJG KLENERT rests forever at Long Island Memorial Cemetery.
1965… MAJOR FRED VANN CHERRY, USAF… (POW)… AIR FORCE CROSS, SILVER STAR (2), LOM (2), DFC (2), BRONZE STAR wV (2)… Previously reported in RTR as “Among the Brave”… COLONEL CHERRY served 2,671 days of incarceration as a POW with honor. He passed away in 2016 and is buried at Arlington… He is remembered with respect and admiration on this 53rd anniversary of his first day as a POW…
RIPPLE SALVO… #961…NYT, 21-Oct-68, ARTICLE by HEDRICK SMITH from Paris:
“VISITOR REPORTS ON LIFE IN HANOI–CITY STILL ON WAR FOOTING, FRENCH PROFESSOR SAYS”… I quote:
“Despite the moratorium on United States raids on a large part of North Vietnam for nearly seven months, a recent Western visitor reports that life in the cities of Hanoi and Haiphong remains largely on a war footing. ‘They maintain the general evacuation of children–families are separated,’ said Laurent Schwartz, a professor of mathematics at the Sorbonne. ‘The schools, universities and some other institutions are still dispersed in the countryside. ‘There is no school in Hanoi. The same is true of Haiphong. They are very cautious.’
VISITING LAST MONTH
“The 53-year old professor, an outspoken critic of United States policy–and before that French policy–in Vietnam was interviewed in his Left Bank apartment. In 1962-63 he taught a graduate course in mathematics at New York University’s Courant Institute. Mr. Schwartz, a vice president of the so-called War Crimes Tribunal set up by Bernard Russell, made no secret of his sympathy with the North Vietnamese cause. He visited North Vietnam from September 2 to 26.
“The prolonged absence of air raids around Hanoi has allowed people to relax somewhat, he said. But pilotless drones pas over or near the capital fairly frequently. ‘There were several air alerts when I was there because of the reconnaissance planes,’ Mr. Schwartz said. ‘The people were careful, but they did not go to the air raid shelters.’
“School children returned to the city around September 2, the North Vietnamese national holiday, but returned to the countryside soon after the festivities. Mr. Schwartz, who traveled widely, said he had visited technical schools in bamboo huts and other schools hidden and broken up into small units for safety. ‘The places are secret, of course, he said.
“The professor said that traveling by car he had found major transportation arteries had been largely repaired but bomb damaged housing areas are still left in rubble, desolate and abandoned. Nonetheless, he said, the North Vietnamese are still heavily dependent on bicycles to move a vast range of goods, food and equipment. ‘Everything moves by bicycle,’ he said. Mr. Schwartz said he had talked with President Ho Chi Minh, Premier Pham Van Dong, education ministers and other high officials.
“He said North Vietnamese leaders were suspicious that the United States was trying to insure the political division of Vietnam with its concentration of air raids against the southern belt of North Vietnam. ‘They told me that they think the shift in bombing last spring was for strategic reasons, not for pacifist reasons, he said. Their theory was that the United States wanted to cause an evacuation of some of the civilian population in the region from the 17th to the 19th parallel, where the bombing continues. ‘This would make the division of Vietnam at the 17th Parallel a fait accompli,’ he said.
“But Mr. Schwartz was told that the North Vietnamese were determined not to evacuate the area. Although he had made plans to visit tht region himself, he could not do so because a tropical storm made travel virtually impossible. But he said he had heard many stories of the endurance of the the people of the region and personally been impressed that the Education ministry had been able to carry out baccalaureate examinations in June despite the bombing.”…. End Quote…
RTR Quote for 22 October: On 22 October 1966, President Johnson gave a speech in Sydney, Australia much like a dozen other speeches he gave that month. His purpose was to reinforce the ties that bind allies in a time of waning confidence. He was on the stump to give a pep talk to our allies in the war with North Vietnam. His words were also meant for the American public and to let Ho Chi Minh know that he and the US were standing firm and fit to fight for as long as it was to take…. A few lines from his speech in Sydney…
“America did not come into existence because someone wished it would. It came into existence because men, good and true, faithful, loyal, fearless, were willing to stand up and fight for freedom and fight for liberty nd to put that the highest priority. And as the aggressors marched in the low countries in the late 1930s, that ultimately wound up in World War II, there are aggressors prowling again on the march tonight. Their aggression shall not succeed. But I would remind you it is much closer to Melbourne that it is to San Francisco. And it is time for you to stop, look and listen and decide how much your liberty and your freedom mean to you and what your willing to pay for it. If you want to sit back in a rocking chair with a fan and say, ‘let the rest of the world go by’ you won’t have that liberty and that freedom for very long because a dictator and aggressor recognizes that you don’t cherish it, that you aren’t willing to fight and die for it, that you a pushover, then you are the number one objective.
“So tonight American boys, almost a half a million of them, have left their families and their homes and they have taken our treasure to the extent of $2-billion oper month to go to the rice paddies of Vietnam to help that little country of 13 or 14 million try to have the right of self-determination without having a form of government they do not want imposed on them.
“And those brave Aussie lads are there by their side: not half way, not a third of the way, but all the way to the last drop of their blood because they are never going to tuck and run. They are never going to surrender.
“They are going to be there until aggression is checked before it blooms into World War III. We wish it were not so, but wishing it were not so, doesn’t make it so. We wish we could transfer it from the battlefield at this moment to the conference table in an hour.
“But we can’t do it by ourselves. and until we can convince these people that we have the resolution and we have the support of our own people, they are not going to come to their senses. But as far as our country is concerned, don’t be misled, as the Kaiser was, as Hitler was, by a few irrelevant speeches.”… Unquote…
Lest we forget… Bear