RIPPLE SALVO… #208… “…WHOSE NAME IS ON THAT DAMN WALL.”… but first…
Good Morning: Day TWO HUNDRED EIGHT of a recounting the years of OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…one day at a time…
25 SEPTEMBER 1966…THE HOMETOWN NEWS from the NEW YORK TIMES… A cloudy Sunday with a chance of showers…
Page 1: “U.S. Will Press Bid Despite Rebuffs”…”The United States will continue to solicit support here for its Vietnam peace proposals despite their rejection by North Vietnam, Communist China and the Soviet Union…Secretary of State Dean Rusk, emerging from a four and a half hour dinner meeting with the Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko, said that if North Vietnam ‘wanted to test us’ it should have given us ‘a more considerate reply.’ The Secretary said that the American proposals were a very serious matter. (In San Antonio, President Johnson issued a statement pledging his administration to a continuing ‘search for peace on every front, whatever the obstacles we may confront–however long the road may be.’…”
Page 1: “China’s Red Guard Drive Reported Costly In Lives”…”Reports of Red Guard vandalism and violence reaching this British Colony (Hong Kong) indicate that a reign of terror of the young vigilantes has been costly in terms of lives and property. One European diplomat who witnessed what he called ‘lynch mobs in action’ on the outskirts of Peking and in other cities ‘systematically beating their victims to death,’ believes the overall death rate is high. “If what I saw is a sample of what has been happening all over China then hundreds of thousands of people have been killed…Analysts here said his estimate is speculation, but other reports confirm there has been widespread bloodshed…In Washington, analysts say they have no evidence of large scale killings in the current political upheaval in China. The Red Guards, who are mostly teenagers recruited from China’s schools, were given a free hand a month ago to spread the word of Mao Tse-tung, the Chinese leader, and launch a fierce attack on foreign and old influences. Despite official instruction to use persuasion and not force terrorist tactics and violence have prevailed in many areas. Victims have ranged from ordinary citizens wearing bourgeois clothes to senior communist party leaders accused of anti-party activities. A young European who by some bureaucratic quirk was permitted to travel in Central China when most other tourists were confined to Peking and Canton told of his journey up the Yangtze River to Wuhan and neighboring town villages, he saw literally thousands of people being paraded through streets by Red Guards. Many of them were escorted out of town and the Red Guards later returned alone.”…
Page 6: “Atom Bombs Getting Easier To Make“…”It is cheaper today for a non-nuclear power to make an atomic bomb than ever before, and it is getting easier every year. No major secrets stand in the way of manufacturing a crude weapon. Secrecy remains a factor chiefly in the design of weapons of high yield that will fit into the bomb bay of an aircraft or nose of a missile. This is the situation found in a review of open literature that is available to any nation that decides to join the ‘nuclear club.’ It is in part the cause of concern that recently led to an appeal by 290 leading Americans for the urgent conclusion of a pact on non-proliferation of nuclear weapons.”… Page 9: “South Vietnam’s Air Force To Get U.S. Jet fighters”…”By next spring South Vietnam ‘s Air Force pilots will be flying their first squadron of jet fighter-bombers in raids against the Vietcong. Six months later a second squadron of about 20 planes will be added to the more than 400 planes, mainly A-1 Skyraiders, that now comprise the South Vietnamese Air Force’s inventory. The new jet will be the Northrup Corporation’s 1000-mile per hour twin jet F-5 Freedom Fighter. It ha a combat range of 900-miles and can carry a wide range of bombs and rockets…F-5s have been supplied to Turkey, Greece, Iran, South Korea, Taiwan, Spain and the Philippines.”….NCAA Football: Notre Dame over Purdue 26-14; SMU over Navy 21-3; Maryland over Wake Forest 34-7; Michigan State over Penn State 47-7; and Army over Holy Cross 14-7….
25 SEPTEMBER 1966… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (26 Sept reporting 25 Sept) Page 5: “Air Force B-52s bombed targets in the DMZ for the 10th time striking at enemy infiltration routes and supply and storage areas in the southern half of the buffer zone. Bad weather over North Vietnam limited American strike pilots to only 68 multi-plane missions there yesterday. Navy pilots attacking North of coastal Thanh Hoa reported wrecking 5 boxcars and damaging 20 to 25 others and the two rail yards where they were marshaled…”
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson) One fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 25 September 1966, fifty years ago this date…
(1) CAPTAIN CLIFTON EMMET CUSHMAN, USAF, was flying an F-105D of the 469th TFS and 388th TFW out of Korat on a strike on the rail line 10 miles northeast of Kep in a flight of three Thunderchiefs tasked with flak suppression of the many AAA sites around the target. CAPTAIN CUSHMAN’S aircraft was hit by intense ground fire as he was executing his diving flak suppression run and the aircraft disintegrated and crashed a few miles north of his target. There was no ejection or parachute seen and no SAR beeper heard. CAPTAIN CUSHMAN was thought to have been killed in the cockpit or died of his wounds shortly thereafter. CAPTAIN CUSHMAN was Killed in Action on the attack with his enemy in sight on this day fifty years ago. A witness was found in 1992 who claimed that the pilot’s body had been buried, but that his remains were subsequently washed away in a flood and perished … He is remembered…
RIPPLE SALVO…#208… CAPTAIN CLIFF CUSHMAN… HE IS REMEMBERED… Ed Haerter remembers, and has shared this memory with RTR and your Humble Host… Ed writes:
“September 25 will be the 50th anniversary of the shoot down in an F-105, and presumed death, of Captain Cliff Cushman, USAF. Cliff was my ‘tablemate’ during primary flight school, and after graduation, we both went to fighters, me to an F-100 and Cliff to an F-102. He was an amazing guy. Son of a minister, tall ,blonde, blue-eyed–the all-American boy. He ran track, and won the silver medal in 400 meter hurdles in the 1960 Rome Olympics. In 1964, he narrowly missed the Olympics again, where he hit the last hurdle, tripped and was eliminated. He went back to the F-102, and in early 1966 was assigned to the F-105.The last time I saw him was at McConnell AFB during his checkout in early 1966. We exchanged stories and photos of our wives and kids. He left a wife and son. Thought you’d like to meet him…”
Ed, thanks for the “introduction.” And thanks for the shared thoughts of a fallen warrior on the 50th anniversary of his death. I salute your humanity and join you in remembering Cliff Cushman…
Ed added a note about “Rolling Thunder Remembered”……”it’s the first thing I look at every day, and although I have printed records of all F-105 losses, it is still chilling to see the details of the loss of some guy I served with 50+ years ago, whose name is now on that damned wall.”
Lest we forget….. Bear ……… –30– ………
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