RIPPLE SALVO… #146…. “He was ready.”…. but first…
Good Morning: Day ONE HUNDRED FORTY-SIX of remembering both the glory and the agony of “gradual failure”…. ROLLING THUNDER…
25 JULY 1966… PAGE ONE OF THE HOME FRONT NEWS… NYT… A fair but warm and humid Monday on Wall Street…
Page 1: “No Trials In View for U.S. Captives; Ho Chi Minh Says”… “President Ho Chi Minh said that there was ‘no trial in view for American prisoners held in North Vietnam’ in a cablegram received yesterday by the Columbia Broadcasting Center. The message was in response to a cablegram sent Thursday by the networks news department asking that the North Vietnamese leader ‘kindly advise us so that we may in turn advise the people of America whether you have decided as yet to place on trial the captive American airmen.’“… Page 1: “Militant Rights Groups feel Pinch As Gifts Drop”…”The Northern liberals, fearful of extremism is cutting back sharply on contributions to the more militant civil rights organizations. The big drop in donations from the liberal community is verified by top officials and well informed former leaders of the Congress Of Racial Equality and the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee. Money from whites has in the past been the lifeblood of these campaigns. Three main reasons for the drop in financial support: (1) Concern over CORE and SNVCC attitudes that were described by many persons as ‘black racist,’ anti-semetic, or extreme; (2) Worry or disgust about bitter attacks by CORE and SNVCC on intensions and ‘morality’ of war in Vietnam and on the military draft; and (3) A decline of enthusiasm that the Northerner is being jostled by civil rights militancy in his own backyard.”…
Page 3: “Schlesinger Warns Of Danger Of Americanization Of War”… A full page story quoting mostly from a Look Magazine article on the war. Look interviewed Arthur Schlesinger, a former Presidential Assistant, who said: “The more we Amerianize the war–by increasing our military presence, by summoning Saigon leaders, by transforming the local war in Vietnam into a global test between America and China–the more we make the war un-winable. The bitter fact is that the war in Vietnam can never be won as a war of white men against Asians.” He urged “a civilian government that represents significant political forces in the country and is capable of rallying the army and carrying out programs of social reform.” … Henry Kissinger, a Harvard Professor, is quoted: “If we cannot deal with political, economic, and military problems as an integrated whole, we will not be able to deal with them individually.”…Herman Kahn and Kissinger agreed that the United States could not pull out of the war now. Kahn said that a stable government with a minimum American involvement in non-military affairs is needed… Hanson Baldwin was quoted: “America must win in the South. It is the 11th hour. It is not too late to win, but it soon might be.”…and he made a suggestion: a declaration of a National Emergency by Congress and authorization to mobilize 500,000 for two years…
25 JULY 1966… THE PRESIDENT’s DAILY BRIEF… CIA (TS sanitized)…North Vietnam: A muting of the drums continues evident in Hanoi’s current propaganda comment on the US prisoners. Ho according to an East German press service, said today that North Vietnam intends to treat the captured pilots humanely–“The chief criminals are not the pilots,” said Ho, “but those who sent them…” Press sources also cite North Vietnamese denying any plans to stake our US prisoners at likely bombing targets. Meanwhile, Communist China may be meeting some of North Vietnam’s petroleum needs following the strikes on storage facilities…(the rest of the subject redacted)… South Vietnam: Tam Chau, moderate head of Saigon’s Buddhist Institute, has temporarily given up his job, according to Vietnamese press reports. Tam Chau, who excused himself for “reasons of health” will be replaced for some two months by the venerable Tien Hoa, a monk generally considered non-political... Soviet Union: Soviet statistics for the first half of this year show no improvement over the unsatisfactory economic performance of recent years…
25 JULY 1966…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… NYT…(26 July reporting 25 July ops) Page 3: “Weather conditions hampered the air war over North Vietnam. Nevertheless, the Air Force reported that its planes destroyed or damaged 45 barges, 11 bridges, and 7 oil depots. For the first time in a week, the pilots saw no enemy MIGs and none of the Soviet anti-aircraft missiles. The crash of a Marine transport plane just after takeoff from the air base at Danang killed seven of the 30 military personnel aboard.”… “Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson): Three aircraft lost in SEAsia on this date…
(1) MAJOR F.C. HERBERT was flying an F-105D of the 469th TFS and 388th FW out of Korat on a strike mission in the area of Thai Nguyen and was hit by AAA. He was able to fly the damaged aircraft back to Korat but the aircraft was destroyed on the controlled crash landing. MAJOR HERBERT survived unhurt.
(2) CAPTAIN G.J. FARRELL was flying an F-100D of the 615th TFS and 366th TFW out of Phan Rang on a strike mission to destroy several Vietcong structures 45 miles south of Danang and was hit by small arms fire on a strafing pass. He flew the damaged aircraft to within 10 miles of Bien Hoa before the aircraft became uncontrollable. CAPTAIN FARRELL ejected and was rescued to fly and fight again…
(3) A C-117D of Headquarters and Maintenance Squadron Eleven and MAG-11 based at Danang crashed on takeoff killing seven United States Marines: LCOL DAVID CLEELAND, MAJOR CLIFTON BISHOP ANDREWS, MAJOR GERARD MARTIN KIESWETTER, CAPTAIN JEROME CORDELL WINTERS, SGT CLAYTON MORRE, GSGT WILLIS SHEPHERD BOWMAN, and CPL MICKEY RAY GRABLE. Twenty-three passengers survived… Fifty years ago tragedy struck…Tonight RTR marks the 50th anniversary 0f the deaths of these warriors who went forward when their country called and “gave the last full measure.” God bless and keep these fallen Marines.
RIPPLE SALVO… #146… HE WAS READY…. Writer’s block this Sunday evening. I was sizzling right along until a few moments ago I read something from “One Trip Too Many: A Pilot’s Memoirs of 38-Months in Combat Over Laos and Vietnam,” by Wayne E. Warner (2011), who flew C-130s, F-105s and A-1s in his unique Vietnam War experience. Now, my brain is all mixed up with crossing thoughts and stirred feelings for one of the best friends I ever had. He was in fact the “best man” at my 1958 wedding…Here’s what I read: (pages 78-79)
“On the night of Friday the 13th of January 1967 we (Blindbat– a C-130 flare dropper) were working in the Steel Tiger area over Laos northeast of Nakhon Phanom. During my brief Air Force career in the cockpit, I had come to the conclusion that there must be a lot of truth to the superstition that Friday the 13th is an unlucky day. That night we had a two ship flight of Navy A-4s scheduled to join us; they checked in and found all we had for them was one of the never-ending road cuts. We kicked out our flares and gave run-in directions for the two Skyhawks. As they were confirming target and release parameters their radio transmissions became very garbled and then silent. we tried to raise the two A-4s on the UHF radio to no avail. There was no sign of serious trouble and we had no indication anything was wrong other than silence.
“Suddenly the voice of one of the Skyhawk pilots broke the silence saying,’Bat, we had a mid-air collision. I am on the ground.’ We contacted search and rescue and were told that a pick-up would not be attempted until first light. In the meantime we located the exact position of the downed pilot by fixing on his radio transmissions and transmitted that information.
“We had no indication more than one pilot had survived the collision. We maintained hourly contact with the survivor and dropped single flares near his position to keep up his spirits: we would also move several miles away and drop multiple flares in other locations just to keep the enemy in the dark as to where the downed pilot was hiding. I had the flight engineer calculate our fuel load to see how long we could remain in the air and I made a decision to shut down the two outboard engines on our Herk (C-130) to conserve fuel. I also had the loadmaster count our remaining flares to see how long I could keep up the continuous light source saving enough flares if a night pick-up was attempted.
“It was getting near dawn when the downed pilot called and said, ‘Bat, I hear voices: they are coming after me.’ I relayed that information imploring someone to risk a night rescue. A Huey chopper belonging to some unidentified detachment at NKP launched to pick up the survivor: as he arrived in the area, we gave him directions to the guy on the ground and I called on the radio, ‘Pop your smoke now.’ At once the blackness below us was broken with not one flare but two.
“The second pilot had also survived but had remained silent on the radio. The chopper successfully picked up the first pilot we had been talking to and we provided directions to the chopper pilot regarding the location of the second Navy pilot. The chopper went into his hover, dropped the penetrator, and the second pilot seated himself waiting to be hoisted out of the jungle.
“The chopper began hoisting the pilot from the jungle floor when the penetrator became ensnarled in the tree tops–the pilot was being crushed between the penetrator and the tree limbs when the cable snapped plunging the doomed aviator to the ground. While this was happening the pilot had an open mike and every scream and agonizing plea for help, including the prolonged scream as he fell to the ground was being transmitted.
“We sat in the Blindbat in stunned silence as what had been such a joyous moment seconds before was replaced with a profound sense of helplessness.”
The doomed pilot was Lt Art Tyszkiewicz flying an A-4C of the VA-56 Champs from the deck of the USS Enterprise. We were brothers through flight training and “plowed back” as basic flight instructors in Pensacola for our first flying assignments. We pulled a lot of weekend liberty together and we always started out with a stop at the Catholic Church for Art’s “session of confession.” Art was a Polish Prince whose Mother had escaped from Poland and the Germans and Soviets with her sons to join family in America. An historic odyssey. Art attended college in Texas and joined the Navy as an Naval Aviation Cadet in September 1955. He was truly a great “best man” for all seasons. And a warrior, through and through– he had purpose. The communists, who had executed his father, were his enemy.
When Art died in the Laotian jungle on 14 January 1967, I too was serving on USS Enterprise and felt the loss with all my heart. Why Art? Why and how could the most devout Catholic I knew be “called home” so soon in his life? To which a squadron mate, next door neighbor of Art and Linda in Lemoore, California, and stout Catholic himself, explained as simply as anybody can, “Bear. He was ready.”
Memories of Art are forever with me, but this day, with this new information they burst to the front of my focus as I read for the first time, in detail, an eyewitness account of his horrific death. And it is a vivid picture that writer-C-130/F-105/A-1 pilot Warner has shared in his otherwise entertaining book about his unique Vietnam experiences. His vivid word picture leaves me silent and in need of a sunset and some time with my stars… and Art…
Lest we forget… Bear ………. –30– ………