RIPPLE SALVO… #933… ON THE AFTERNOON OF 24 SEPTEMBER 1968 SENATOR EVERETT DIRKSEN CALLED ON PRESIDENT JOHNSON ON BEHALF OF REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE RICHARD M. NIXON… “He hears the Administration is listening to General Maxwell Taylor and pushing the Paris Conference with North Vietnam for a conclusion that might be regarded as something of a sellout.”… This 45-minute conversation in the Cabinet Room of the White House is a Historical Document that is good reading… a wide-open look inside the heart and mind of a tired President … see below, but first…
GOOD MORNING… Day NINE HUNDRED THIRTY-THREE of a remembrance of an air war fought in the skies of North Vietnam and the history of those times, including sources that were highly classified for several decades……
HEAD LINES from The New York Times on Tuesday, 24 September 1968…
THE WAR: Page 4: “SOUTH VIETNAMESE REPORT KILLING 200 OF FOE–SAY 98 INFILTRATORS DIED NEAR THE DMZ–40 Vietcong Slain In Battles in Southernmost Province”… “A Government spokesman reported that South Vietnamese troops killed more than 200 enemy soldiers in several fierce engagements yesterday and this morning. He said 98 enemy infiltrators were killed near the DMZ, just southeast of Giolinh, near the coast. That enemy force was apparently trying to leave the buffer zone because of a sweep by United States marines to the west. …the south Vietnamese troops took light casualties in the fighting, which lasted through most of the day. This morning in Anxuyen, the southern most province in the country, the South Vietnamese were reported to have slain 40 Vietcong soldiers seven miles north of Caiuoc. The Government troops also found a weapons cache that contained 40 mortar rounds and a number of rocket grenades…they said they had killed 40 more enemy soldiers while searching an area four miles southwest of Phumy in Binhdinh Province in the Central Lowlands…own casualties were described as light…In Quangtin Province of the country, Vietnamese militia were said to have killed 70 enemy soldiers after they had attacked several outposts that were first heavily shelled…American troops were reported in action only once, 16 miles west of the city of Quangngai. The infantrymen said they had killed 15 enemy soldiers … The United States military command said, that two more helicopters had been shot down by enemy gunners. One crashed 16 miles west of the city of Quagngai. The aircraft was destroyed and one crew member was wounded. The other went down nine miles south of the city of Quangtri. The crewmen were rescued and were not injured The two incidents brought to 868 the unofficial total number of helicopters lost to enemy fire ion the south.”…
Page 1: “THANT FINDS UNITED NATIONS WANT HALT TO U.S. RAIDS–BALL REBUKES HIM–Security General Declares General Assembly Would Back Such A Move–Not Helpful Says U.S. Delegate George Ball–Opposes A Debate On Vietnam At Session, Which Opens Today”... Page 2: “THE BUNKER METHOD:PERSUASION NOT INSISTENCE–MANY AMERICANS CREDIT HIM WITH MAJOR ACHIEVEMENT”… Page 1: “PRAGUE IS TOLD MOST SOVIET ARMY UNITS WILL BE GONE BY OCTOBER–Nation’s 50th Anniversary Is Target Date 6 to 8 Divisions Will Stay”… Page 1: “MOSCOW FAVORING RED PARLEY DELAY–Said To Fear Embarrassment Over Czech Crisis At Talks Now Set For November 25″… Page 1: “HUSSEIN URGENTLY SEEKING EARLY PALESTINE ACCORD”… Page 1: “SENATE UNIT ASKS MORE ATOM SUBS–Cites Growing Soviet Fleet And Challenges McNamara Plan To Halt Expansion”… Page 1: “GREECE RELEASES TWO EX-PREMIERS–Bars Comment On Policies–Five Others Are Freed”… Page 1: “40 ARE WOUNDED IN MEXICO CITY AS POLICE CLASH WITH STUDENTS”… Page 1: “HUMPHREY VOWS TO REASSESS WAR–Tells European TV Viewers He Will Take Action That is Needed, If Elected”… Page 1: “NIXON SAYS NATION COULD NOT AFFORD A HUMPHREY RULE”… Page 26: “U.S. ASTRONAUTS RECEIVING TRAINING FOR POSSIBLE LUNAR ORBITAL MISSION IN DECEMBER… Page 31: “Wallace Promises A Surprise For His Vice President Choice”…
24 SEPTEMBER 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (25 Sept reporting 24 Sept ops) Page 4: “In North Vietnam, a Navy A-4 Skyhawk was shot down by antiaircraft fire 23 miles northwest of Vinh, and the pilot is missing (LCDR DALE OSBORNE, POW, see RTR for 23 Sept 1968). American pilots flew 112 multi-aircraft missions against targets just to the north of the demilitarized zone.”…
VIETNAM: AIRCRAFT LOSSES (Chris Hobson) There were two fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 24 September 1968…
(1) CAPTAIN GEORGE MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM and MAJOR NORMAN NORTHROP CUNNINGHAM were flying and O-1G of the 19th TASS and 504th TASG out of Bien Hoa on a “Nail” FAC mission in support of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment 15 miles north of Bien Hoa when their aircraft went down. Both were killed in the crash…. From the book Who Are Those Guys? by T. Mangan: “MAJOR NORMAN N. CUNNINGHAM, was an Aero Scout Platoon leader from !st Squadron ‘Blackhorse,’ Air Cavalry Troop, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. On September 24, 1968, he was on a reconnaissance flight in an Air Force Cessna L-19/O-1 Bird Dog light observation aircraft piloted by CAPTAIN GEORGE M. CUNNINGHAM (no relation to MAJOR CUNNINGHAM). The airplane went down in dense jungle near Phu Giao, 15 miles north of Bien Hoa. No distress signals or radio calls were picked up to indicate what happened. The crash site was not located until six weeks later when an Army AH-1G Cobra gunship spotted the wreckage during a routine overflight of the area. A long range patrol (LRRP) from the 51st Infantry (Airborne) was sent in to investigate the site and found that both men had been killed in the crash.”… Unrelated, but brothers in life and death they are remembered on this 50th anniversary of thier final flight with admiration and respect for their sacrifice of everything for our country…. CAPTAIN GEORGE CUNNINGHAM is buried at Michigan Memorial Park, Flat Rock, MI… MAJOR NORMAN NORTHROP (“Rocky”) CUNNINGHAM, U.S. ARMY, is buried at Oakwood Memorial Park, California…
A remembrance left for Major Rocky Cunningham reads: “I served with Major Cunningham in Viet Nam. We were both assigned to the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, Air Cavalry Troop. Major Cunningham was a Scout pilot and I was the aero-rifle Platoon Leader. We would routinely fly together over the ‘rocket belt’ before dusk to detect enemy rocket positions aimed at our base camp, timed to fire remotely after dark. Major Cunningham was an excellent pilot, officer and comrade in arms. I am proud to have served with him and to call him a friend.”…Dennis Reardon.
(2) 1LT NORMAN MacLEOD PAULSEN was flying an F-100D Super Sabre of the 308th TFS and 31st TFW out of Tuy Hoa was killed in an unexplained crash in Phu Yen province, South Vietnam. 1LT PAULSEN’s name is on “The Wall,” but Humble Host is hard pressed to learn more about a young warrior who gave his all for our country an perished 50 years ago this day…
(Webmaster note: To learn more abouth 1LT Paulsen I recommend reading the personal comments left on the Wall Of Faces or Vietnam virtual wall website. It is very obvious he is much loved, and missed.)
RIPPLE SALVO… #933… State Department. Office of the Historian. Historical Documents. Foreign Relations of the United States. Vietnam 1964-68. Volume 7. Document 31. “Summary of Meeting Between the President and Senator Dirksen in the Cabinet Room, 24 September 1968, 1:15-2 p.m.”… Read at…
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v07/d31
RTR Quote for 24 September: Mao Tse-Tung, Principles of Operation #10: “Make good use of the intervals between campaigns to rest, train and consolidate our troops. Periods of rest, training and consolidation should not in general be very long, and the enemy should as far as possible be permitted no breathing space. These are the main methods the People’s Liberation Army has employed in defeating. Chiang Kai-Chek. They are the result of the tempering of the People’s Liberation Army in long years of fighting against domestic and foreign enemies and are completely suited to our present situation…. our strategy and tactics are based on a people’s war, no army opposed to the people can use our strategy and tactics.”…
Lest we forget… Bear