RIPPLE SALVO… #385… DECATUR: “OUR COUNTRY! IN HER INTERCOURSE WITH FOREIGN NATIONS, MAY SHE ALWAYS BE IN THE RIGHT; BUT OUR COUNTRY, RIGHT OR WRONG.”…but first…

Good Morning: Day THREE HUNDRED EIGHTY-FIVE of pondering the history of Rolling Thunder and our decade of war with North Vietnam…

25 MARCH 1967… HEAD LINES and LEADS from the Ogden, Utah Standard-Examiner on a nice Saturday on the mountain..

Page 1: “Peace Prayers Highlight Easter”… “From the serene St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome to the battle scarred rice paddies of Vietnam, Christians the world over observed Holy Saturday today in preparation for the Easter celebration of Christ’s resurrection. They prayed for peace in Vietnam and social justice in the world.”...Page 1: “Youth’s Beach Fun in Florida Keeps Paddy Wagons Rolling, Court Full”... “City Court worked overtime in Fort Lauderdale today as more than 200 vacationing collegians–and non-student infiltrators–went on trial for shenanigans on the beach…charges were mostly drunkenness, disorderly conduct and unlawful assembly.”… Page 1: “We’ll Slaughter Cows, Dairy Farmers Threaten”…”The National Farmer’s Organization has demanded four month contracts from milk processors in its drive for a 2-cent a quart increase for their milk. At the same time farmers in 27 states are threatening to slaughter their milk herds if the contract and 2-cents per quart increase is not accepted.”... Page 1: “Reds Orbit New Cosmos; Manned Launch Near?”… “The Soviet Union launched its fourth unmanned satellite in the past five days, indicating possible preparation for a manned space launch. The Soviet has not launched a manned spacecraft since March 6, 1965.”…

Page 4: “Clay Told Appeal to Court for Injunction is Premature”…”The U.S. Justice Department said Friday heavyweight champion Cassius Clay’s appeal to the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals for an injunction to keep him from being drafted April 11 was improper and premature. A hearing in U.S. District Court in Louisville set for next Wednesday is the next move for Muhammad Ali in his bid to avoid induction into the Army.”… Page 1: “Reds Ambush Truck Convoy; 24 Marines Killed in Combat”… “Communist forces in the northern sector of South Vietnam shot up a 121-truck convoy Friday. In skirmishes and mortar attacks the Reds killed 24 U.S. Marines and wounded 140 more. The Communist ambushed the big South Vietnamese army convoy near Danang leaving heavy South Vietnamese casualties and 57 trucks wrecked.”…

25 March 1967…The President’s Daily Brief: VIETNAM: The Communists are working all out to extend Route 922 from the Laotian panhandle into the A Shau Valley area of South Vietnam (about 60 miles west-northwest of Danang). Recent photography shows construction activity–including river crossings–reaching nearly 15 miles into South Vietnam. All this has been done since February 1. Friendly guerrillas say the communists are working day and night and–apparently in expectation of US air strikes–are building pontoon bridges for alternative river crossings. The Road may soon be ready for truck traffic and eventual establishment of the Communists’ first truck-head inside South Vietnam. Up to now supplies have been brought in by porters from road terminals in Laos. The road may also be used to bring artillery weapons into South Vietnam…

US State Department Office of Historian, FRUS 1964-68, Volume V, Vietnam, 1967… Document 117. A 24 March 1967 telegram from the State Department to the US Ambassador in the Soviet Union passing the essentials of a discussion between Bundy and Dobrynin in the US concerning what comes next in trying to get a conversation going between the US and Hanoi. This was Top Secret stuff on 24 March 1967 and is of interest to those of us who were what the discussions were all about — to bomb or not to bomb. Good footnotes to the two page discussion, too. Read at:

https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v05/d117

25 March 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… Ogden Standard-Examiner(26 Mar reports of 24 Mar ops)… Page 1: “Bombs, Prayers Blend as Easter Dawns Over Asia”… “American and other allied forces conducted Easter services in South Vietnam on Sunday and U.S. warplanes struck again on North Vietnam’s big steel plant near Hanoi. Saigon spokesmen announced that all-weather A-6 Intruders from the nuclear-powered carrier Enterprise hammered the Thai Nguyen steel fabrication plant 35 miles north of Hanoi on Saturday night and that pilots reported mission successful. In South Vietnam the U.S. Military Command reported that a heavily outnumbered company of Vietnamese civilian irregulars and their American Special forces–Green Beret– advisors successfully fought their way out of a Vietcong encirclement close to Cambodia. The company–about 120 men–killed 73 of the enemy while taking light casualties themselves. U.S. headquarters said American casualties included one U.S. Special Forces advisor killed and two wounded.

Elsewhere, Strike airplanes from the Enterprise teamed with other Navy fliers from the carrier Hancock and pilots reported destroying or damaging 53 cargo barges and other coastal craft along the coast of North Vietnam. In other raids Navy fliers reported destroying a railroad bridge 17 miles west-southwest of Thanh Hoa and setting fire to a storage area three miles north of that city.” (Bear#44Mk82sRPIVstorarea)

“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson) Two fixed wing aircraft were lost in Southeast Asia on 25 March 1967…

(1) 1LT JOHN WAYNE MOWER and SGT ALBERT CLIFTON FILES (US ARMY) were flying an O-1E of the 21st TASS and 504th TASG out of Nha Trang and operating out of a remote strip in the Central Highlands. Both the pilot and observer were killed in action when their Bird Dog was hit by ground fire on takeoff from the remote strip. Two young, brave warriors gone too soon…

(2) LTJG JAMES HAMILTON HISE was flying an F-8E of the VF-53 Iron Angels embarked in USS Hancock and recovering after a ferry flight and a failure in the arresting gear of the ship that resulted in LTJG HISE’S F-8 Crusader going over the side and taking the young fighter pilot to his death 50 years ago today…He remains where he fell — in the depths of the South China Sea entombed in his ‘Sader — and rests in peace. There but for the grace of God……

RIPPLE SALVO… #385… “Our country… may she always be in the right.” That  is not exactly the toast of the great American naval officer Stephen Decatur, but it is an enduring modification–apologies to Captain Decatur…

As a witness to history and citizen of America the beautiful for my entire 82 years I learned early that when you love your country you must accept the rough as well as the smooth, just as in any love affair and matter of the heart. For the millions of us who served our country in Vietnam, we answered the call in the same manner that our forebears had for more than 200-years. Duty called. Duty done. And when it was all over–after more than a decade of fighting and dying for our country, we learned that it was all a mistake. Got in and couldn’t get out. A quagmire! A terrible mistake. My country, right or wrong my country. Get over it. I got over it. But there were 58,000 who never got the chance. Their names are on a wall in Washington. And there isn’t any one of us who still lives with the memories of our war and the mates whose names are on that wall, who does not agonize with the fact that the lessons of our war have been lost or ignored by our nation’s 21st century leaders. Did the 58,000 die in vain?

Today, 24 March 2017, I read: “U.S. officials are disputing reports the Taliban have retaken a hotly contested region in the opium-rich Helmland valley, saying local security forces made a planned, deliberate withdrawal from the Sangin district after months of heavy fighting left their facilities in ruins.” Retreat, withdrawal, whatever. Why? “William Salvin, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Kabul told Military Times on Thursday. ‘This move has been in the planning for months. … There is nothing left in the old district center except dirt and rubble.’…” Lipstick on a pig. The Taliban control 80% of the province after 15 years of fighting. And here is the kicker: the 15 year war in Afghanistan is described in this essay as “at a stalemate” and more American troops are required “if there’s any hope of the Afghans regaining momentum. Other military leaders and some members of Congress support such a move, though it’s unclear whether the White House does.”

Afghanistan: after more than fifteen years of fighting and dying we need more troops. We got in. We can’t get out. Quagmire. Let’s go back into Iraq. Quagmire. Let’s go into Syria. Quagmire. How about Libya? The Vietnam model for ignominious defeat has become a national and foreign policy staple… wrong lesson!

My country, right or wrong, my country… may she start getting it right…may she weigh the terrible cost in blood and treasure of foreign adventure before “going in”– or staying in…may she pause to consider the sacrifice of her warriors –past, present and future– who so willingly lay down their lives for the causes she chooses… may she choose more wisely… My country, may she start getting it right…soon.

Lest we forget…. Bear