RIPPLE SALVO… #873… A VOICE FROM THE NOT TOO DISTANT PAST–PAUL HARVEY. AND WHAT A VOICE IT WAS… “He railed against welfare cheats and defended the death penalty. He worried about the national debt, big government, bureaucrats who lacked common sense, permissive parents, leftist radicals and America succumbing to moral decay. He championed rugged individualism, love of God and country, and the fundamental decency of ordinary people.” (wikipedia)… My kind of guy!!! On 25 July 1968 Mr. Harvey spoke frankly about the Vietnam Peace Talks… see below… but first…
GOO MORNING…Day EIGHT HUNDRED SEVENTY-THREE of a cruise through 1965 to 1968 to commemorate the extraordinary sacrifice and service of the Rolling Thunder warriors who took the Vietnam War to Ho Chi Minh’s bailiwick…
HEAD LINES from the OGDEN STANDARD-EXAMINER for Friday 26 July 1968…
THE WAR: Page 1: “REBEL BOMB RIPS NEWSPAPER PLANT IN SAIGON–GIRLS TAKE PART IN VIETCONG RAID”…”Terrorists struck in Saigon today for the second time in a week and blew up the city’s largest Chinese newspaper. Police said four young Vietcong, two of them girls, set off a 60-second plastic bomb in the press room of A Chau VAn Quoc, the Asian Daily News, an anti-Communist paper which supports the Saigon government. No casualties were reported… In the only significant ground action reported, units of the 101st Airborne Division sweeping near Saigon suffered 13 dead and 27 wounded in a 14-hour Thursday with North Vietnamese troops 27 mild northwest of the capital.”…”…Closer to Saigon, U.S. helicopter gunships and infantrymen from the 25th Infantry Division intercepted five sampans carrying 15 soldiers, rocket warheads and explosives. In a brief fight 19 miles southwest of Saigon, 10 of the enemy were killed, two were captured and \there were no American casualties.”… Page 4: “THREE STATES LEAD IN VIETNAM WAR DEATH RATE”… “New Hampshire, Hawaii and Massachusetts have suffered the highest percentage of men killed in terms of men entering the service since Americans started fighting the Vietnam war. The AP count shows New Hampshire has suffered 99 dead from hostile action in the war among an estimated 7,542 men drafted or enlisted , mor precisely, .013 per cent of the state’s manpower contribution.. Hawaii had 127 dead from among an estimated 12,393 drafted or enlisted during the 89-month period for a loss of .0102 per cent.”
PEACE TALKS: No coverage.
Page 1: “NEGRO UNREST STIRS IN CHICAGO SUBURB”… “More than a dozen persons were injured last night when Negro youths vandalized a food store on Chicago’s North Side. In suburban Maywood another crowd smashed store windows after police used tear gas to disperse demonstrators at the village hall. Twenty-five persons were arrested in Maywood. Three were held on disorderly conduct charges after the Chicago disturbance.”… Page 1: “LOOTERS AND ARSONISTS RETURN TO NEGRO SLUMS IN CLEVELAND”… “National Guardsmen and white police officers returned to Cleveland’s Negro slums Thursday night to enforce a dusk-to-dark curfew imposed by Cleveland’s Black Mayor Carl Stokes. There were 30 arrests Thursday night.”… Page 2: “GRENADE RIPS MAGAZINE’S OFFICES IN NYC–12TH IN BLAST SERIES”… “…in the offices of the Evergreen Review in Greenwich Village shattering three windows and causing no injuries. It was the 12th bombing incident in the met area since April 22.”… Page 46: “Seattle Routs Youth Gang With Tear Gas”… Page 1: “MORE OBSCENITY CRIES RISE IN FORTAS CONFIRMATION HEARINGS”… “Senator Jack Miller, R-Iowa, said today that Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas’ judgement is abhorrent to the maintenance of moral standards by our communities.’… In a Senate speech, Miller called on President Johnson to withdraw his nomination of Fortas to succeed Chief Justice Warren…. in May and June of 1967 the Supreme Court reversed 23 of 26 state and federal convictions for violating laws on obscenity and reversed 26 additional cases during sessions that ended last month. Justice Fortas voted with the majority in all of these cases, Miller said.”… Page 1: “Reagan Signs California Bill On Auto Pollution”… Page 3: “CUBA GEARS UP FOR HUGE CELEBRATION–CASTRO TO SPEAK–COMMEMORATE 26TH OF JULY (15th Anniversary)…
26 JULY 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… Associated Press: no coverage of air operations north of 17th Parallel…VIETNAM: AIR LOSSES (Chris Hobson) There was one fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 26 July 1968…
AS PAUL HARVEY, rest in peace, WOULD SAY…”HELLO AMERICANS, this is PAUL HARVEY, Stand by for the NEWS …PAGE ONE…”
LCDR FRANK EUGENE FULLERTON was flying an A-4F Skyhawk of the VA-93 Blue Blazers embarked in USS Bon Homme Richard on a night armed reconnaissance mission with a wingman in the area south of Vinh. As the flight crossed the coastline, LCDR FULLERTON placed his wingman one to two miles en trail position and 2,000-feet above his altitude.(Humble Host used this night strike formation using a feature of our TACAN system. Lead sets in Channel 1 with wingman on 94 and system provides a mileage separation readout. Then fly lights out). Three to four minutes after crossing the beach LCDR FULLERTON spotted a series of lights on the ground and assessed them to be trucks traveling south from the town of Ha Tinh toward the Mu Gia Pass. He radioed his wingman reporting multiple targets and stated that he was setting up to make a dive bombing attack on the lights. The wingman observed two bombs detonate on the target then observed a third orange-red fireball, which he assumed was a third bomb exploding on the road. The wingman proceeded to make a diving attack on the area lighted by small fires from LCDR FULLERTON’s bombs. Climbing out of his attack he called the flight lead and got no response. After several calls without answer he reported his conclusion that LCDR FULLERTON was down in the target area and search and rescue operation was begun. After an extended visual and electronic search, the search was terminated and LCDR FULLERTON was reported as missing in action.
PAUL HARVEY’s … “PAGE TWO… LCDR FULLERTON IS MISSING… “
The area of the loss of the VA-93 A-4F Skyhawk is a forested and mountainous area located approximately 4 miles northeast of a single-track railroad line that generally ran from the northwest to the southeast and curving through the mountains from Vinh to Dong Hoi. The primary road intersected the railroad line four miles northeast of the loss location as well as being approximately 17 miles south of the major hub city of Ha Tinh, 29 miles north-northeast of the Mu Gia Pass, 44 miles south of Vinh and 62 miles northwest of Dong Hoi, Ha Tinh Province, North Vietnam. This location was the center of the search and rescue operation and subsequent efforts to find and return the remains of LCDR FULLERTON to his family and homeland. There is no way to know if Frank Fullerton crashed because he was shot down; he misjudged his altitude in a mountainous area and flew into the ground on his 45-degree dive bombing attack; or, one of his bombs detonated early with bomb shrapnel ripping the aircraft leading to a resultant impact with the ground without an ejection. There was no beeper transmission at any time. For the duration of the war until the POWs were returned in February and March 1973 hope was held that perhaps Frank FULLERTON had ejected and been captured. On that premise he was promoted to Commander while in MIA status. But he didn’t come home, and shortly thereafter a decision was reached that he was presumed to have been killed in action and remains where he fell on 26 July 1968. Glory gained, duty done.
PAUL HARVEY would continue with ” and now, THE REST OF THE STORY…”
“LCDR FULLERTON is honored in Washington with the inclusion of his name on the Vietnam War Memorial Wall. In addition, he is remembered with a memorial headstone amid the rows of granite headstones marking the final resting place of generations of the nation’s bravest warriors in ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY. But there is more. On a rainy day some time back, in the town of Jonesboro, Georgia, from whence he came, a memorial was unveiled for Frank Eugene Fullerton, Tailhooker and leader of warriors. Beneath the brass name plate honoring the Vietnam War fighter-bomber pilot from Jonesboro, Georgia is a simple phrase carved in stone;
“To Those Who Fight For It, Life Has A Flavor The Protected Never Know”…
Frank Fullerton, Junior, a Salem, Oregon attorney with the Department of Justice attended the memorial dedication with his wife Lorraine at the Harold R. Banks Justice Center in the small town of Jonesboro south of Atlanta.
Every year for decades the Atlanta Vietnam Veteran’s Business Association identifies one of the sons of Georgia who remains Missing in Action for the honor of memorial plaque such as that in place forever for COMMANDER FRANK FULLERTON. Some of the previous plaques have been placed in the CNN Center, The Georgia World Congress and Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport.
Frank Fullerton, Jr. was quoted at the time of the dedication of his father’s memorial in Jonesboro, “This was a tribute from other veterans and it was in his hometown, many of his former classmates are there and some of his old teachers, and really good for me.” He said the memorial and the accompanying ceremonies provided a denouement for the family’s Vietnam experience. It began with a knock on their door in the summer of 1968, when Frank was missing in action, now it feels like he is at home. “After the prisoners of war returned there was talk of others still in captivity, there was always that wondering,’ he said. “And a big thing is not having any remains.” …
Fifty years ago this day LCDR FRANK FULLERTON called “rolling-in, hot”… it was his last transmission…
” PAUL HARVEY… GOOOD….DAYYY…”
“Leave a Remembrance”… Vietnam Veteran Memorial Foundation, Wall of Faces…
RIPPLE SALVO… #873… PAUL HARVEY spoke and wrote for folks in the right of center political spectrum, but he was folksy and clever in delivery of short stories of America and the world that were captivating, right through “Page 1”, “Page 2” and “…the rest of the story.” On 25 July 1968 he took a poke at the Paris Peace Talks in his syndicated column. From page 6 of the 25 July 1968 Ogden Standard-Examiner (and 600 other outlets)… I quote…
PARIS ‘PEACE’ TALKS BENEFIT ONLY ENEMY
“So-called ‘peace talks’ in Paris are being used by the enemy to curtail our bombing and are being used by Washington to take the heat off during an election year. We dangle a billion-dollar bait over Hanoi and they sneer at us. President Johnson has in fact offered a billion of your dollars to try to buy our way out of this bloody blunder–offering to reconstruct Southeast Asia including North Vietnam–but the enemy loudly rejects this vulgar dollar diplomacy. Meanwhile, 200 additional American coffins are draped with flags every week and more than a thousand others of our sons come home maimed.
ROTTEN WAR
“This is a rotten war. Nonetheless, for the politicians or the Paul Harveys to beat their breasts and renounce the involvement is sheer hypocrisy–unless they can offer a workable alternative. Presently, front running Hubert Humphrey is saddled with the Johnson Administration’s prescription of sustained pressure pending meaningful negotiations.
“Front-running Richard Nixon, unwilling to give his eager GOP adversaries an opening, is declining to discuss Vietnam ‘for fear of jeopardizing Paris peace negotiations.’ That’s a convenient dodge for him now, but after the conventions and before th election he’d better have something more constructive to propose. Pollsters are surprised tht the Vietnam issue is not now paramount among voter considerations. I disagree.
“It’s just that the staged ‘peace talks’ in Paris have provided a temporary palliative. From Saigon, it’s obvious to our troops that the enemy has benefited from the talks by a reduction in our bombing and we have benefited not at all. From Saigon it is obvious to our troops that Uncle Sam is being played for a sucker by the enemies, his allies–and by his own representation.
BLACK MARKET
“Agency for International Development (AID) officials in South Vietnam are profiting handsomely from his war, more than a hundred of them receive salaries in excess of $35,000 a year–plus 25 per cent hardship allowance plus $3,000 maintenance allowance plus air-conditioned housing and medical care. Yet in spite of the fact that any member of Congress, still some of them use PX commissary merchandise such as cigarettes and whisky and radios on the black market.
“This is a rotten war.
“The handwriting on the wall says we made a bad investment; we drilled a dry hole.
“Now do we continue to sacrifice more sons and money by stubbornly digging deeper. Or do we salvage whatever we can and come home? If Mr. Nixon waits too long to read the handwriting, voters will be justified in deciding there is nothing to be gained from a change in administration.”… End Harvey quote…
RTR Quote for 26 July: CHARLES NESBITT, COL, USAF (Ret) , F-105s: “Operation Rolling Thunder… the top brass had a list of the 250 most strategic targets, numbered and prioritized. They started us on number 250 and worked their way up to the most strategically important target that would be the last one to strike. In my opinion, that’s a totally defeatist mindset.”…
Let we forget… Bear