RIPPLE SALVO… #301… The UNSTOPPABLE vs. The UNMOVABLE… but first…
Good Morning: Day THREE HUNDRED ONE of a day-to-day look back at the air war over North Vietnam fifty years ago…
27 DECEMBER 1966… HEADLINES AT HOME from the New York Times on a Tuesday full of sunshine…
Page 1: Harrison Salisbury reporting from Hanoi: “U.S. Raids Batter Two Towns; Supply Route Is Little Hurt”… “These two dispatches depict two aspects of the war in North Vietnam–the extensive bombings and the enemy’s speed in repairing communications. The writer is an assistant managing editor of The New York Times. He reached Hanoi on Friday (Dec 23rd) from Pnompenh, Cambodia, on a plane of the International Control Commission for Vietnam after his visa application had been approved by Hanoi and his passport validated by Washington for travel to North Vietnam.”… “Hanoi Dec 25: Hanoi’s Christmas quiet was shattered at 2:30 PM today when an air alert sounded, anti-aircraft guns roared and a United States plane was reported down. Residents in the center of Hanoi reported that they had heard the sound of aircraft shortly after the alert sounded. Almost immediately guns fired and the United States plane was reported down. Another alert was sounded when a second plane appeared about 12 miles from the city. Hanoi’s alert was apparently the same as that touched off in Nam Dinh, 50 miles to the southeast, where this correspondent was inspecting earlier bomb damage.” (article ran 20 column inches)… Second Article: “Viewed from air reconnaissance or on photographic maps National Route 1, the old French built highway that runs south from Hanoi to Saigon must look like a bombardiers dream target…The highway and the railway run parallel only a few feet apart, mile after mile, straight across the table flat delta of the Red River. The highway is marked by lovely, regularly planted shade trees, and camouflage, disguise or concealment is impossible. This is no jungle country. This is no tricky mountain terrain. This is rich, flat rice lands crisscrossed by irrigation flows and paddy fields. The railroad and highway could not be a plainer target if they were picked out by continuously flashing beacon lights. It is easy to imagine…that Hanoi’s southward supply services can be easily interdicted by a few easily placed bombs. But appearances can be remarkably deceiving as ground level inspection of Route 1 quickly discloses. Viewed on the ground, it is obvious that the ‘dream target’ is in reality a snare and delusion. The railroad and highway have been bombed again and again and again, but it is doubtful that rail traffic has ever been held up more than a few hours and the highway seems capable of operating almost continuously regardless of how many bombs are dropped… It is the conviction of the North Vietnamese that the United States is deliberately directing bombs against the civilian population although ostensibly contending that ‘military objectives’ are the target.”… (article ran 26 column inches)…
Page 1: Post by Neil Sheehan: “Washington Concedes Bombs Hit Civilian Areas In North Vietnam“…”Administration officials acknowledged today that American pilots had accidentally struck civilian areas in North Vietnam while attempting to bomb military targets in the North and ‘all possible care is taken to avoid civilian casualties.’ The statement conceded however: ‘It is impossible to avoid all damage to civilian areas.’ The Pentagon statement was issued in response to Harrison Salisbury’s dispatch from Hanoi that reported extensive damage to civilian residences and serious loss of life in the town of Nam Dinh and in Phuly as a result of American bombing.”… Page 12: “Clerics Criticize Johnson on Hanoi Bombing”…”In a letter to President Johnson the ‘Central Board of Christian Social Concerns of the Methodist Church’ says that the ‘killing of civilians shakes the public’s faith in U.S. idealism… Any moral superiority the United States may possibly have has been obliterated by the cruel use of indiscriminate weapons and overwhelming fire power.”… Page 3: “Westmoreland Cites Need for More Men in Vietnam”…”General William Westmoreland, commander of United States forces in Vietnam, said last night that he would need more troops to fight the war there…He said on ABC-TV’s ‘Peter Jennings With the News’…’The tide has turned in our favor during the year 1966. We must prepare ourselves for what the Communists call a protracted war. The time involved is not measured in months, it is measured in years.’ There are now 372,000 American troops in Vietnam.”…
Page 4: “Spellman Again Tells G.I.s in Vietnam They are Defending Civilization”… “…that you are the defense, the protection and salvation not only of our country but, I believe, of civilization itself…I have no words to express the satisfaction and the gratitude I feel for what you have done and are doing for our country.’ Saturday the Cardinal said that the United States military commitment in Vietnam was in defense of civilization and that ‘less than victory is inconceivable.’ “…Page 4: “Moscow on Spellman”…”…accused Cardinal Spellman of neglecting the Bible commandment: Thou shalt not kill. ‘The militant sermons of the Cardinal are in sharp dissonance with recent statements of Pope Paul VI who appealed for an end to the bloody killing…’ “… ( Humble Host: The Pope will have more to say to the Cardinal)…
NYT Editorial, Page 34: “The Truce Dies”…”The speed with which bombing and other American military operations were resumed in Vietnam yesterday extinguished the hope that the brief Christmas truce would lead to a prolonged pause and negotiations…A year ago orders to American forces after the Christmas truce were to refrain from offensive operations in the South until attacked. The bombing of the North remained suspended, ultimately for a total of 37-days. Substantive American peace proposals were broadened, clarified and codified in President Johnson’s ‘Fourteen Points.’ High level representatives were sent around the world in strenuous efforts to encourage negotiations. The contrast today is a chilling event.”
27-31 DECEMBER 1966… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… NYT: No coverage of the air war over North Vietnam during the period other than Salisbury reports (see above) …”Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson)… Page 84: “A 48-hour Christmas cease fire ended on the morning of the 26th but no more U.S. aircraft were lost in combat during the remainder of the year. However, four aircraft were lost in accidents during this period. On 27 December as an A-4 (VA-22) was launched from the USS Coral Sea for a test flight, the aircraft’s rudder suddenly deflected to the right. The aircraft developed a yaw to starboard that the pilot could not control and the Skyhawk crashed into the sea after the pilot ejected (and was rescued). Also on December 27 during a combat air patrol an F-4C Phantom from the 555TFS and 8th TFW out of Ubon had a problem with its fuel transfer and crashed in Thailand when the engine failed through fuel starvation. 1LT G.D. SHEPARD and MAJOR R.E. GUST ejected and were rescued. On December 28 the 432nd TRW lost a U-6A Beaver utility aircraft when it suffered an engine failure and crashed in Thailand. There were about 15 Beavers in USAF service in Thailand at this stage of the war and the aircraft was used for liaison and ferry flights. On December 30 an O-1G Bird Dog of the 21st TASS and 504th TASG out of Nha Trang crashed as a result of pilot error…
Five consecutive days where the fickle finger of fate was a thumbs up for pilot survival!
RIPPLE SALVO… #301… UNSTOPPABLE VERSUS UNMOVABLE gets you IMPASSE… The incapable of being stopped runs into that which is not capable of being moved, and the result is a predicament from which there is no obvious escape, and that’s where the Vietnam War was as 1966 came to an end… Both sides were engaged in bringing force levels and preparations for “a protracted war” amid fruitless attempts to find common ground for negotiating an end to a war of attrition.
University of London Professor P.J.Honey spent the latter part of 1966 studying the situation looking for the answer to the question every thinking person was pondering: How do we end this war? Professor Honey published the results of his pondering in the China News Analysis issue dated December 16, 1966, in an essay titled: “North Vietnam, End 1966.” He concluded: “…there is still no indication from its public statements that North Vietnam has moderated its inflexible opposition to peace negotiations except on its own unacceptable terms. Hanoi, it would appear, continues to wage war single-mindedly in the hope that somehow, at some future time, victory will be achieved. Damage to North Vietnam is, apparently, ignored, though the cumulative effects of American bombing have become very great.”
As 1966 wraps up, your Humble Host is gearing up for a marathon day-to-day review of all 365-days of the air war in North Vietnam, all part of Remembering Rolling Thunder. It is going to get ugly. Here is what a great commentator will report at the end of 1967: “…Hanoi insists it will not respond to a pause: it demands an unconditional cessation (of bombing). This is the impasse in which we find ourselves as 1967 enters its final weeks. For this reporter (David Schoenbrun writing in “Vietnam: How We Got In, How We Get Out”), coming out of a three-month tour of Asia and the Pacific area, there was no light to be seen at the end of the tunnel.”
Buckle up… 1967 was a fierce fight from start to finish…rollingthunder remembered.com … will be there, every day…. to revisit the history we made!!!
This is my final post for 1966… Next RTR post: 1 January 1967… with all good wishes for a happy and healthy new year of caring and sharing…
Lest we forget…. Bear -30-