RIPPLE SALVO… #88… IN MEMORIAM… but first…
Good Morning: Day EIGHTY-EIGHT of a review of the air war in Vietnam fought 50-years ago…
26 MAY 1966… ON THE HOME FRONT… (NYT)… A fair Thursday in NYC…chance of rain…
Page 1: “Martin Links Policies To Decisions On Vietnam”… “William Martin, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board said today that the war in Vietnam was the overriding consideration in whether to adopt tighter economic policies for the United States.” American and European International Bankers meeting in Madrid, Spain, listened to Martin then tackled the question of increasing or cutting taxes depending on more or less war in Vietnam. Martin said: “We can fully understand why President Johnson hesitates to decide on a tax increase until he knows where we are going in Vietnam, that is, whether the war will be escalated or not.” The U.S. is facing both inflation and balance of payments problems”… Page 1: Neil Sheehan reporting from Saigon: “Tear Gas Blocks Saigon Marches By the Buddhists”… South Vietnamese troops and police broke up a small scale anti-U.S. and anti-Ky demonstration and a major action was averted. Confrontations in Danang were more serious as Ky’s troops moved to free a headquarters compound occupied by 2,000 militant Buddhists led by Trich Tri Quang. A blinding rainstorm squelch the attempt and Danang remained calm.. Page 3: ” Egyptian Says Soviet Arms Will Offest U.S.-Israeli Deal”…The Vice President of Egypt said: “We have the Soviet Union as a permanent source of arms.”…Page 4: “Australians Protest Death Of First Draftee In Vietnam,” holding that regular and career troops should go to Vietnam and draftees should remain in homeland.
Page 6: “Bases In Vietnam Hurt By Strikes”… Workers fear enemy drives against building projects as Vietcong target the one billion dollar American aid program to build bases, ports and airfields, including a major expansion at Cam Ranh Bay. There have been 11 strikes in 30 days affecting 11,640 workers. Strike also involves complaints about lack of public transportation… Page 8: “Poll On Vietnam Held at Cornell” that opens U.S. policy to criticism. The poll included seven question for 6,655 students to consider, one of which was: “Should the United States establish an immediate cease fire in the war in preparation of a withdrawal of American troops. The students voted yes, 3371 to 3116. They also voted yes to a halt in the bombing, the withdrawal of support for Ky, and that the student draft deferment be evaluated… Page 9: “General Lewis Hershey Calls Draft Superior To Systems Of Universal Duty” … The Director of the Selective Service System defended the present system as better for national defense than the recommendation proposed by Secretary McNamara in a speech in Montreal the prior week. Hershey said: “The Armed Forces should not be burdened with the education and moral rehabilitation that would be needed under the Universal System.” He was testifying before the Senate appropriations Committee….”23 GOP Congressmen Calling For Investigation Of the Draft.”…Congress called today for a congressional investigation of the draft. “Since Congress passed the current draft law,” they said, “the manpower needs of the services and the manpower available to the services are both dramatically different than they were whnen the current draft law was enacted by Congress.”…Page 10: “U.S. Armed Forces List Three Million Men in Uniform” for the first time in eleven years en route to a goal of 3,093,000 by July 1967.
PRESIDENT’S DAILY BRIEFING… 26 MAY 1966…CIA (TS sanitized)… South Vietnam: The “struggle forces” in Hue, who sacked the USIS Library today appear bent on more of the same. University students demand that the U.S. stop supporting Ky by 5PM. Assault may come soon. Some Americans ordered evacuated. Ky aware of the gravity of the situation and has told the Ambassador that he will protect Americans in Hue. Counsel fears that Ky troops may be insufficient due to a lack of will and ability…
26 MAY 1966…ROLLING THUNDER OPERATIONS…(NYT May 28 reporting May 27) “In air ops U.S. attacks on the North were light for the second day due to monsoonal weather. B-52s were active both days. The pilot and copilot of an Air Force Phantom were killed when their plane exploded during a low level bomb run at Quinhon.” This loss was also recorded in Chris Hobson’s “Vietnam Air Losses:”
1LT RICHARD HOWARD ROYER and 2LT JOHN DAVID CRAMER were Killed in Action while flying an F-4C from 391st TFS of the 12th TFW at Cam Ranh Bay. They were hit by small arms fire while attacking a Vietcong gun position 10 miles north of Qui Nhon. The aircraft was seen to burst into flames and plunge into the ground and explode. Two young warriors Killed in Action 50 years ago today… The spirit of attack borne in brave young hearts extinguished forever while in the service of their country…
26 MAY 1966… RIPPLE SALVO… IN MEMORIAM #1… On the eve of Memorial Day this post and the next five, as well, will honor and remember the service and death in combat of more than one hundred young Americans, who went to war, the Vietnam war, more than 50 years ago, and came home on their bloody shields… Today’s fallen warriors who “gave all”…
(1) 6 August 1964… USAF… CAPTAIN FRED CLAY CUTRER and 1LT LEONARD LEE KASTER were Killed in Action while flying a B-57B 25 miles northeast of Binh Hoa. The aircraft is thought to have been hit by ground fire and crashed into the Dong Nai River. They were assigned to the 405 FW at Clark AFB.
(2) 29 August 1964… USAF… CAPTAIN RICHARD DEAN GOSS and an unidentified VNAF observer were Killed in Action while flying an A-1E and were shot down by AAA near Bien Hoa on a night training mission. This was the first A-1E lost in Southeast Asia.
(3) 8 September 1964… USN… LCDR JOHN CLARENCE THOMAS, ADR1 DELOSS WILLIAM ANDERSON, AO1 DONALD FRANK MARIT, AE1 WESLIE DAVID NEWBORN and AMS1 MICHAEL JOHN ULICSNI were Killed In Action while operating a Navy SP-2E Neptune on an anti-surface vessel reconnaissance patrol. The plane flew into the South China Sea 75 miles off the coast from Saigon killing five of a crew of 13. Eight were rescued by the USS Maddox. The aircraft and crew were from VP-42 operating out of Iwakuni, Japan.
(4) 23 September 1964… USAF… 1LT GEORGE EDWARD FLYNN was Killed in Action while flying an A1E in defense of a government outpost south of the Mekong Delta. His flight was attacking enemy troops with napalm at low level under flares and was gunned down. A VNAF observer in 1LT FLYNN’s aircraft was rescued by helicopter. 1LT FLYNN and the aircraft were assigned to the 1st ACS at Bien Hoa. As a consequence of this incident the use of napalm at night under flares was discontinued. Bombing under flares is not a good idea.
(5) 2 October 1964…USAF… CAPTAIN KENNETH EARL WALKER and 2LT B.F. FI (VNAF) were Killed in Action whole flying an A-1E on a close air support napalm attack near Giong Dua at the mouth of the Mekong River. CAPTAIN WALKER and the aircraft were assigned to the 1st AQCS at Bien Hoa.
(6) 24 October 1964… USAF… CAPTAIN EDWARD STEPHEN KRUKOWSKI, 1LT VALMORE WILLIAM BOUTIQUE, 1LT ROBERT GEORGE ARMSTRONG,SSGT ERNEST JOSEPH HALVORSON, SSGT THEODORE BERT PHILLIPS and A1C EUGENE RICHARDSON, and in addition, USA…SSGT LAWERENCE WOOD, Special Forces, and PVT CHARLES PIERCE SPARKS were Killed in Action while flying in a C-123B from the 315 TCG based at Tan Son Nhut but flying out of Nha Trang. The aircraft was lost on a day mission to drop ammunition to a Special Forces unit at Bu Prang near the Cambodia border. The aircraft over=flew Cambodia and was shot down by AAA. The aircraft crashed on the Cambodia side of the border.
(7) 26 October 1964… USAF… 1LT GLENN CHARLES DYER and a VNAF Observer were Killed In Action while flying an A-1E from the 1st ACS out of Bien Hoa. 1LT DYER was on an airborne alert orbiting near Tan Son Nhut when shot down five miles west of the airbase. Neither of the crewwas able to exit the aircraft. Five miles from TSN…wow…
(8) 29 October 1964… USAF… CAPTAIN EDWARD ALOYSIUS BLAKE and CAPTAIN JOHN CHRISTOPHER KNAGGS were killed on a training flight near Bien Hoa. This was the seventh aircraft from 1st ACS to be lost in a three month period.
(9) 19 November 1964… USAF… CAPTAIN GEORGE HENRY ALBRECHT, 1LT LEONARD PAUL HUDSON, MAJOR OTIS GORDON and CAPTAIN EDWIN RAYMOND EASON were Killed in Action while employing a section of two T-28Ds on an unspecified mission in South Vietnam. The aircraft were both downed by ground fire. The T-28Ds and the four pilots were assigned to Detachment 6 of the 1st ACW and operating out of Udorn.
These twenty-nine brave American men and two VNAF aviators are remembered this day for their courageous service, and honored for their ultimate sacrifice on the field of battle. They found peace more than fifty years ago in the fall of 1964. Their names are forever known by inclusion in the nation’s granite roll call of fallen warriors from the Vietnam War. The Vietnam Wall… and the names of 58,000 “who gave it all.”…They rest in peace…
Lest we forget… Bear ………. –30– ………..
Veterans Memorial Park is a 5.5 acre park in Downtown Pensacola which includes a number of memorials to American armed forces personnel, including Wall South.
Wall South is modelled after the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. The wall commemorates the members of the American armed forces who lost their lives in the Vietnam War. Wall South is the only permanent memorial outside Washington, D.C. to list the names of all 58,217 Americans killed or missing in action in the Vietnam War.
In 1987, the Moving Wall, a portable touring version of the national memorial, visited Pensacola. For the next five years, the Vietnam Veterans of Northwest Florida raised money for a permanent memorial in Pensacola. In January 1991 the VVNF reached an agreement with the City of Pensacola for use of the memorial site between Bayfront Parkway, Ninth Avenue, and Romana Street. While the land remains under city ownership, in exchange for use of the site, the VVNF agreed that its Wall South Foundation would be solely responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of the park. The park is maintained thanks to fundraising and the efforts of volunteers.
The park’s first memorial, the Wall South, was dedicated on October 24, 1992.
http://www.veteransmemorialparkpensacola.com/land/Welcome