RIPPLE SALVO… #904… THE DEMOCRATS WERE MUSTERED IN CHICAGO TO SELECT THEIR CANDIDATE TO RUN AGAINST RICHARD NIXON FOR THE PRESIDENCY. PROBLEM: What is the Democratic position on the bombing of North Vietnam? The magnitude of the question can be understood by “listening in” on a long and emphatic statement of the President in a telephone conversation of 26 August 1968. His position is made clear: “Humphrey says to me that he does not favor ‘stop the bombing.’ If he tells the truth, he ought to stay with it. If he doesn’t, he ought to go on his own. Now it’s that simple. We do not favor any words ‘stop the bombing.’ Let’s make that clear and repeat it over and over again. We do not favor any words that say “stop the bombing.’ “… Another line LBJ used to indicate the direct association of our Rolling Thunder operations with the safety and survival of the troops doing the fighting in South Vietnam: LBJ: “The President is not going to agree to stop all of the bombing, Charlie (Jones). Period. Now I just hate to say it; I am just like you. I had rather vote for Nixon than to kill my boys.”… This is a great Historical Document. Get a cup of coffee and read it all at…
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d339
And as you absorb the conversation (mostly one way) think on this: the ability– and resolve– of our nation to project destructive power to the heart of an enemy is the cornerstone of effective diplomacy. ROLLING THUNDER was the President’s most useful persuader for changing North Vietnam behavior. Unfortunately, just like most things in life, if you go about doing something at half speed, you end up doing a half-arsed job. Cutting your enemy slack –as we did with the ROLLING THUNDER operations; it was called ‘gradualism’– is parcel of a strategy for defeat…. Humble Host switches to an article on a hero of my youth below…
GOOD MORNING…Day NINE HUNDRED FOUR of a return to the years of the air war called, in secret, ROLLING THUNDER…
HEAD LINES from The New York Times on Sunday, 25 August 1968…
THE WAR: Page 1: “3OO AT ALLIED CAMP HOLD OFF FOE FOR 2ND DAY–Duclap and Nearby Outpost Remain Under Siege–Battles Reported Continuous in Northern Provinces”… “… have fought through the second night in a row as enemy forces surrounded and inched closer toward the outpost…At least 1,000 enemy soldiers were besieging the counter-guerrilla camp, 130 miles northeast of Saigon and 3 miles east of the Cambodian border. Last night and this morning B-52 bombers flew four missions around the camp, dropping huge bomb loads as close as two miles away. Gunships and tactical aircraft also swept over the area and through the night, pounding the surrounding hills. A total of 68 enemy dead have been reported so far. American casualties have not been reported yet… The attack on the camp and a nearby outpost is considered one of the major battles that have broken out during the last week from the northern province to the Mekong Delta…heavy clashes near Danang… sharp fighting has also developed in Tayninh Province, one of the enemy’s key infiltration routes to Saigon…”…
Page 1: “DUBCEK AND CERNIK PARTICIPATING IN EXTENDED MOSCOW NEGOTIATION–Czech Envoy At U.N. Scores Soviet–Step Is Surprise–Smrkovsky Also Joins In Talks–Which Continue Today”… Page 1: “INVASION ILLEGAL CZECH HAJEK TELLS U.N.–Minister Rejects Contention Of Moscow That Prague sought Intervention”… Page 1: “How 1,200 Members of Czech Congress eluded Russians”… Page 1: “FRANCE EXPLODES HER FIRST H-BOMB–Device Tested On An atoll–adds Fifth Power to Thermonuclear Bomb Club”… Page 3: “ARMS RACE STIRS CONCERN ON CHINA–Some U.S. Experts Worry About A Peking Reaction”… Page 4: “SETBACK SEEN FOR NUCLEAR PACT A DISTRUST OF SOVIET IS STIRRED”…
Page 1: “HUMPHREY FOUND CLOSE TO VICTORY ON FIRST BALLOT–Delegates Check Puts Him 63 Votes Short Without 5 Favorite Sons or Texas–McCarthy Far Behind– Vice President Likely To Get More Early Support From Big Uncommitted Block”… Page 1: “Agnew Says Vice President Should Quit In a Major Rift“… Page 34: “EISENHOWER RESTS AFTER SETBACK–General Has Two Periods of Rapid Heart Action”…
25 AUGUST 1968…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…New York Times (26 Aug reporting 25 Aug ops)… Page 2: “In the air war, American pilots flew 113 missions over the southern area of North Vietnam. A United States Air Force RF-4 Phantom jet was reported to have been downed Friday in the north. The two man crew was listed as missing (23 Aug: 1LT F.L. SETTERQUIST and 1LT CHARLES L. BERGEVIN, MIA)… VIETNAM: AIR LOSSES (Chris Hobson) There was one fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 25 August 1968…
(1) An F-105F Wild Weasel of the 357th TFS and 355th TFW out of Takhli was abandoned by the two aviators after the Thunderchief’s oil system failure led to engine failure near Takhli. The two aviators were rescued to fly and fight again.
SUMMARY OF ROLLING THUNDER LOSSES (KIA/MIA/POW) FOR THE FOUR 25 AUGUST DATES OF THE FOUR YEARS OF OPERATIONS OVER NORTH VIETNAM…
1965, 1966, and 1968… NONE…
1967… CAPTAIN WILLIAM OTIS FULLER, USAF… (KIA)… and … 1LT THOMAS MITCHELL KILLCULLEN, USAF… (KIA)… and …
COMMANDER EDWARD JAMES JACOBS, USN… (KIA)… and … LTJG JAMES JOHN ZAVOCKY, USN… (KIA)… and … ADJ2 RONALD ALLEN BOIS CLAIRE, USN… (KIA)… On the night of 25 August 1967 these valiant “Black Bart” RA-3 B Skywarrior operators were conducting a reconnaissance mission and were lost off radar and crashed at sea, in the final analysis. Radar contact was lost as the aircraft was nearing the North Vietnamese coastline approximately 2 miles west of a small cluster of islands known as Hon Hghi Son, within a mile of mainland North Vietnam about 30 miles south of Thanh Hoa. At the time the radar contact was lost there was no radio transmission from COMMANDER JACOBS, LTJG ZAVOCKY or PETTY OFFICER CLAIRE indicating they were experiencing trouble with the aircraft, nor was there any report of enemy anti-aircraft fire. When radio checks failed to get a response, a check of all airfields for a possible no-radio mission abort and divert was followed by electronic and visual searches. Rescue (SAR) operations were commenced. All efforts to locate the missing aircraft were negative. The aircraft and the three aviators had vanished. On 30 August, five days after the formal search operation began, it was terminated and the three Navy-men were declared “Killed in Action/Body not Recovered.”… These men flew their final flight 51 years ago today, and rest in peace where they fell on the battlefield… glory gained and duty done, they are remembered with respect and admiration…
Humble Host adds a remembrance posted for one of these three RA-3D “Black Bart” war fighters on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Foundation, Wall of Faces by a woman for her father. … My point: The remembrances left by those of us who shared the Rolling Thunder skies with those who didn’t come home, mean much to the families of the fallen. She wrote: “My heart is heavy this week, 50 years since losing my father and he is still missed every day. I am so deeply grateful to all of you who have left kind messages as a reminder that these men will forever be remembered in our hearts.”… Leave a Remembrance…
RIPPLE SALVO… #904… ADDED JUST FOR FUN… IMHO “SATCH” Paige was the greatest baseball pitcher of all time. From the NYT, 25 August 1968, Page 15, an article by Howard A. Rusk, M.D. …I quote…
“THE WASTE OF THE AGED: Return of Satchel Paige Points Up The Problems of Forced Retirement”
“In this week of international tensions and sadness, the return of satchel Paige to baseball was at least one heart warming item in the news. It made one feel that compassion, sensitivity and human interest still exist in the world. It also illustrates and emphasizes the truism that age is psychological and not chronological. Satchel Paige really doesn’t know his age. It is certainly 60-plus. a he states, ‘The mid-wife died and all the books burned up,’ and no one seems to know how old he is.
“It has long been recognized that some persons are old at 50 and others are young at 80. The turn of the page in the calendar at that magic 65th birthday does not really signify one’s ability or inability. There have been many discussions on how this magic age of 65 was determined. Why not 60 or 68 or 70? The most logical explanation this writer has heard was that given many years ago by a student of geriatrics with a sense of humor. He said: ‘I can only think of one logical way this magic age of 65 was reached. A hypothetical company had a board meeting some 50 years ago. Everyone on the board disliked and feared the president of the company. At this meeting someone suddenly remembered it was his 65th birthday so they promptly passed a resolution that there would be compulsory retirement at age 65.’….
“I well remember a meeting at the Department of Defense War College in Washington during the Korean War. A course was being given to more than 200 senior officers from all branches of the armed forces to study ways and means of obtaining better manpower utilization in the war effort. The problem of utilization of older workers was discussed this day.
“Studies in this country and in Great Britain have shown that while the older worker may not be as fast as the younger in some instances, he is more accurate, reliable and usually more dedicated than his junior counterpart. After the meeting the commanding general, a tall wiry, 62-year-old man, said: ‘Never in the history of my country has manpower been more needed. I established and organized this special section of the War College to meet this specific need. I know more about this program than anyone today. It has been my baby from the beginning.’
“‘Last week I passed my annual physical examination with a perfect record and yet by regulations I must retire in six months. Ironically, at the same age the average Senator becomes eligible for committee chairmanship.’
“Because of our lack of understanding in meeting the aging problems squarely and logically, we are wasting our most precious human resources and that is wisdom. Wisdom only comes with experience and experience only comes with time.
“Satchel Paige’s muscle fibers are old but the pitching wisdom he has developed through the years has made him a canny operator and for his period of physical tolerance a formidable foe. In this ‘devil-take-the-hindmost’ world, Satchel Paige’s return to organized baseball was a heartwarming event. The Atlanta Braves are to be congratulated on their truly humanitarian gesture, which proved to be really enlightened self-interest, certainly from a public relations standpoint. Mr. Paige was 158 days short of the time needed to qualify for his pension. It seemed ironical that one of the most dramatic figures in baseball and one eho had done so much for the game as well as race relations should be disqualified on a technicality.
“In the days to come, regardless of what team partisan fans support, everyone will be pulling for Satch whenever he takes the mound he will be pitching not only for his team but for senior citizens who want not just a pension but an opportunity to be members of the community, to feel wanted and to have dignity. The key to Satchel Paige’s character is his simple philosophy of life published many years ago, which reads as follows:
“‘Avoid fried foods which anger the blood. If your stomach disputes you, lie down and pacify it with cooling thoughts. Keep the juice flowing by jangling around gently as you move. Go very lightly on the vices such as carrying on in society–the social ramble ain’t restful. Avoid running at all times. Don’t look back. Something may be gaining on you.’ (RTR quote for 25 August)…
“In these tense and trying times one could go no further and do worse than to follow this homespun philosophy that has made “Old Satch’ symbolic and great.”
Lest we forget…. Bear