RIPPLE SALVO… #145… “YET ANOTHER VOICE”… but first
Good Morning: Day ONE HUNDRED FORTY-FIVE of the retelling of a great battle fought fifty years ago… ROLLING THUNDER…
24 JULY 1966…PAGE ONE OF THE HOME TOWN PAPER… NYT… A fair and “seasonably warm” Sunday in Central Park…
Page 1: “Johnson Asserts Riots By Negroes Impede Reforms”…”President Johnson spoke strongly today against riots by Negroes in city slums and warned that the consequences would fall most heavily on those who begin the riots. Mr. Johnson’s statement in a speech at the Indianapolis Athletic Club was his strongest on this issue since the start of recent violence in Brooklyn, Cleveland and Chicago. ‘Riots in the streets do not bring about lasting reforms. They tear at the very fabric of the community. They set neighbor against neighbor and create walls of mistrust and fear between them. They make reform more difficult by turning away the very people who can and must support reform. They start a chain reaction the consequences of which will always fall most on those who begin them’…The President also made an appeal for understanding and support for his policy in Vietnam…and appealed to business, and labor for restrain to avert inflation.”… Page 1:”Cleveland Negro Slain In His Car”…”a 29-year old Negro motorist was killed by shotgun fire today and police held two white men as suspects in the slaying. The incident raised to four the number of persons killed during a week of disorder that forced Governor James Rhodes to declare a state of emergence and summon the National Guard. The fatal shooting took place in a white neighborhood adjacent to the sprawling Negro areas on the east side that have been rocked by vandalism and arson since Monday night.”…Other page 1 headlines…“Mayor Receives A Pledge to Cool Brooklyn”…”Unrest In East New York: Flight From Fear.”
Page 1: “Hanoi Appoints Panel to Study War Crimes”…“North Vietnam has established an official 11-member committee to investigate United States ‘war crimes’ in Vietnam, Hanoi Radio announced today. This appeared to be the first formal move by the Government of President Ho Chi Minh toward finding a legal basis for war crimes trials of captured American pilots downed in North Vietnam. Hanoi charged that increased raids on North Vietnam had hit schools, populated cities, hospitals, dams, dikes, farms, factories and public health buildings. It said that United States raids from June 12 to June 22 virtually wiped out a medical complex housing a leprosy research and treatment center.”…Page 1: “Russian Protest Rejected By U.S.”…”The United states sharply rejected today Moscow’s charge that a United States air raid July 7 on targets in the vicinity of the North Vietnam port of Haiphong had endangered four Soviet Merchant ships. In a note to the Soviet Foreign Ministry. the United States said that Moscow’s protest dated July 9 contained inaccuracies and false allegations. The note regretted Soviet aid to the North Vietnamese regime’, which was described as a factor in encouraging it to continue to support the guerrilla war against South Vietnam. The note urged Moscow to press Hanoi to agree to negotiations.”……
Page 8: “Prisoner’s Conduct Upheld”…”Military authorities repeated today that there had been no established slip-ups in the behavior of American prisoners of war in Vietnam. With the North Vietnamese threatening to try and execute them as war criminals, the prisoners (of war) have so far appeared to have adhered to the post-Korea code of conduct, which pledges them not to disclose anything more than name, rank, serial number and date of birth. Pentagon officials estimate that 45 United States Air Force and Navy aviators are held prisoner in North Vietnam. (I listed last names in RTR for 22 July) They constitute the bulk of the 63 Americans known to have been captured. An additional 212 are missing and may have been captured. Broadcasts from Hanoi have said repeatedly that American prisoners have ‘apologized’ for bombing Communist oil depots and other installations. The broadcasts lack the authentic flavor of signed statements obtained from some American prisoners in the Korean War and been described by officials as sounding artificial. The new military code of conduct is getting its first test in a shooting war. It was drawn up because of the behavior of some American prisoners in the Koirean War. Twenty-two of them refused to be repatriated after the war.”…
24 JULY 1966…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (25 July reporting 24 July ops) Page 2: “During raids by Air Force pilots in North Vietnam, one F-105D was shot down by ground fire 25 miles west of Hanoi, both crewmen were listed as missing. A Navy A-4 Skyhawk fighter-bomber was shot down Sunday by ground fire but the pilot was rescued uninjured. Flying 40 multi-plane missions, the Air Force men dodged six surface-to-air missiles. They bombed three fuel depots in the vicinity of Dong Hoi and destroyed eight barges, a bridge, a truck and one military vehicle in a strike near Mu Gia Pass… “Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson)…Page 67… Four fixed wing aircraft downed in Southeast Asia on 24 July 1966….
(1) LT E. I. FOSS was flying an A-4E assigned to the VA-55 Warhorses embarked in USS Ranger on a strike mission in response to a lucrative target of trucks discovered in Route Pack 2. His aircraft was struck by AAA shortly after going feet dry and he immediately reversed his flight path to return to feet wet. His aircraft was flyable to a point about three miles off shore and he ejected. He was rescued by helicopter, uninjured.
(2) An unidentified pilot of the 510th TFS and 3rd TFW out of Bien Hoa was flying an F100D when the engine failed and forced the pilot to eject. He was rescued by helicopter…
(3) CAPTAIN RONALD ETHRIDGE TINSLEY and an unidentified observer were flying an O-1E Bird Dog of the 19 TASS and 505th TACG out of Bien Hoa on a CAS mission in the Gia Dinh province of South Vietnam when the aircraft was downed by ground fire. CAPT TINSLEY died in a forced landing but the observer survived… CAPTAIN TINSLEY was Killed in Action on this day 50-years ago… gone but remembered, appreciated and respected
(4) MAJOR GEORGE G. DUKE and CAPTAIN MILES T. TANIMOTO were flying an A-26 Marauder of the 606th ACS and the 634th CSG out of Nakhon Phanom on a strike over Laos and due to fuel system failure ran out of fuel. The crew was killed in the ensuing crash landing… MAJOR DUKE and CAPTAIN TANIMOTO are listed as Killed in Action… they rest in peace…
RIPPLE SALVO… #145… “Yet Another Voice,” by Colonel Norman A. McDaniel….
On 20 July 1966 an Air Force RB-66C from Takhli was supporting strike operations over North Vietnam from an orbit at 29,000-feet about 30 miles north to Thai Nguyen when nicked by one SAM then struck soundly by a second missile as it turned for home. (RTR for 20 July 1966).The crew of six successfully ejected from the burning aircraft and were subsequently captured and interned as POWs for the next 6 1/2 years. One of those warriors was CAPTAIN NORMAN McDANIEL. “Yet Another Voice” is his story. It is a timeless story, one told many times, as explained by Colonel McDaniels in the closing two paragraphs of his inspiring testimony…
“As we grow older and civilization progresses, we should become wiser. The Bible (Ecclesiastes 1:9) tells us that there is nothing new under the sun and that God knows everything (Psalms 139:1-18). But as we continually seek the truths of God’s governance and become wiser, more knowledge will be revealed to us (Proverbs 25:2 and Matthew 7:7).
“All of the religious references I’ve made in this book and all the words on how to live a meaningful and fulfilling life have been expressed many times throughout the ages, sometimes in words and at times by actions, by various individuals. Wise men of the Old Testament have conveyed the message; men of God in the New Testament have borne the same message with further enlightenment; Christians for nearly 2000 years have continued to bring the message: and I am another voice. May our father in heaven open our eyes and grant that we, individually and collectively, heed his call lest we remain in the dark beyond the point of no return.”
The section of his beautiful voice recounting his several years of imprisonment is entitled “The Never Ending Years.” I am proud to share it with you and add this to the archives or RTR at the same time…Glory be to God. Colonel McDaniel explains the value of loving and fearing God and having a stout religious faith in dealing with the hardships of life– like surviving years of solitary confinement, inhumane treatment, a daily diet of torture, and the uncertainties of imprisonment at the hands of a ruthless enemy. I quote the Colonel (page 49)… We can all learn from this….
“Religiously the long imprisonment had varied effects on the men with whom I lived or had contact. During the first years nearly all participated in worship services and stated or demonstrated dependence on God. But as the years wore on and we languished there, a few of the men openly expressed doubt of God’s compassion and goodness, and some ceased to participate in the worship services.
“Their reasoning was that they had been praying for deliverance from prison for years and nothing happened. Meanwhile, indications from home were that normal life was continuing; the POWs were coming out short. They felt that if God were real and loving, he would not permit them to suffer so much depravation of life. In conversations with these men and in some of my sermonettes during the worship services, I would make these points: (1)God has his own way and time to answer our prayers; (2) we must have faith that he knows what is best for us; (3) we should look for good in the midst of trials and hardships; and, most importantly, (4) our Lord did not promise to protect us from the problems of life, but he did promise to help us overcome them. Some of the doubting men accepted these points and received renewed strength, but a few just couldn’t reconcile themselves to feeling that God was taking care of them when they were languishing in prison while their loved ones needed them or in some cases were deserting them at home.
“I devoted many hours of meditation to that question, and some of the conclusions that gave me a better understanding were these: (1) although we don’t comprehend why God allows some things to befall us, things go better for us when we live for him and trust in his word; (2) no problems of sufferings in this life–which is only a fleeting moment in the eternity of time–could even begin to nullify the reward of eternal life with Christ.
“It was necessary for me to reconcile myself to the possibility that it might not be God’s will that I return home in this life-time, and many of my prayers were that he would bless and care for my family if this was, in fact, his will. I think that believing in God and having faith in him to the extent that you feel he is still with you and will take care of you come what may in life and death, is the key to overcoming the fears, worries, and insecurities that life in the flesh presents. Many Christian people today, however, have not yet reached that plateau.”
“YET ANOTHER VOICE” is a perfect fit for our times. Our country is going away from God. This little book makes it clear that now is the time for all good Christians to come to the aid of our country as a multitude of bold voices who will take up the cross and follow Him. As Colonel McDaniel advises: “We should all mark well the words of Psalms 127:1: ‘Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh in vain.” Those of us who understand the peril, yet fail to do our part in reversing the trend, will bear the greater blame. Today, as in the days of Christ in the flesh, the harvest is truly plentiful but the laborers are indeed few.”
LEST WE FORGET………… Bear ………. –30– ……….
“…heed His call lest we remain in the dark beyond the point of no return.”