RIPPLE SALVO… #509… GLORY GAINED, DUTY DONE…RADM PAUL SPEER, COLONEL TOM MADISON and 1LT KARL WENDELL RICHTER… but first…
Good Morning: Day FIVE HUNDRED NINE of a day-to day-look back to 50 years ago when the skies over North Vietnam were a battleground never to be forgotten…
27 JULY 1967… HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a fair Thursday in NYC…
SUMMER IN AMERICA 1967: Page 1: “Detroit Riots Reported Curbed–After Tanks Battle Day Snipers–Death Toll Rises to 36–1,000 Guardsmen Go To South Bend, Indiana to Quell Disorders–Looters Invade Midtown New York–East Harlem Stays Calm”...Negro snipers waged a daylight guerrilla operation yesterday, but National Guard tanks and armored personnel carriers brought the situation under control last night. Lieutenant General John Throckmorton, Commander of Federal forces here said: ‘This city is totally under control except for a few isolated snipers. It just takes time to rout them out, and we will rout them out.’…Governor Roger Branigan of Indiana ordered 1,000 National Guardsmen into South Bend an hour after general curfew had been imposed Wednesday night. The curfew failed to curb bands of youthful Negroes roaming the West Side throwing rocks and firebombs.”… Page 1: “Leader of SNCC Seized in Virginia–H.Rap Brown Jailed on Charges of Inciting Riot in Cambridge, MD, Then Freed on Bail”… Page 1: “Anti-Riot Bill Gets a Push In Senate–Panel That Could Have Held Up Plan Is By-Passed–Hearing Next Week”…
Page 1: “Negro Leaders Ask Mob Rule Be Ended–Declare Violence Is Self-Destructive to Negro People”... “Four National civil rights leaders appealed yesterday to Negroes to end the mob rule and violence that have spread through the urban ghettos. A joint statement issued by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., A. Philip Randolph, Roy Wilkins, and Whitney Young, Jr., said the violence is ‘self-destruction for Negroes who are the primary victims of the riots.’…The appeal was drafted in response to a request of President Johnson. ‘Killing, arson, looting are criminal acts and should be dealt with as such. Equally guilty are those who incite, provoke and call specifically for such action. There is no justice which justifies the present destruction of the Negro community and its people.’…
” ‘We are confident that the overwhelming majority of the Negro community joins us in opposition to violence in the streets. Who are the dead, the injured, and the imprisoned? It is the Negroes who pay and pay and pay, whether or not they are individually involved in the rioting. Riots have proved ineffective, disruptive and highly damaging to the Negro population, to the civil rights cause and to the entire nation.’…
” ‘We call upon Negro citizens throughout the nation to forego the temptation to disregard the law.’ This does not mean, they emphasized that the Negro should submit ‘tamely’ to their present conditions. The four leaders also appealed to white Americas, who they said, ‘are not blameless.’ The disabilities suffered by the Negroes, they asserted, continue in force because the white citizenry, in general, support these restrictions. In their conclusion the four leaders criticized the 90th Congress, charging that it ‘has exhibited an incredible indifference to the hardships of the ghetto dweller.’ They also reaffirmed their support of President Johnson’ appeals to black and white people to join in a determined program to maintain low and order.”…
VIETNAM: Page 1: “Foe shells G.I. Base; 11 GIs Are Dead–Vietcong attack on airfield also leaves 43 wounded”… “Rocket attack on Phuocvinh airfield, 56 miles northeast of Saigon…137 rounds of 82mm and 122mm rocket fire pumped into the airstrip…Page 1: “B-52s Bomb North of the Buffer For the first time since April”…
27 JULY 1967…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times: No coverage of the air war over North Vietnam… “Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson) there were no fixed wing aircraft losses in Southeast Asia on 27 July 1967…
AMONG THE BRAVE…
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…GALLANTRY and DEVOTION TO DUTY…MAJOR THOMAS MACK MADISON, UNITED STATES AIR FORCE…the SILVER STAR… 19 APRIL 1967…
“The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the SILVER STAR to MAJOR THOMAS MACK MADISON, United States Air Force, for GALLANTRY in connection with military operations against an opposing armed force as an F-105F Pilot of the 367th Tactical fighter Squadron, Takhli Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand, in action near Hanoi, North Vietnam, on 19 April 1967. On that date, with complete disregard for his personal safety, MAJOR MADISON aggressively engaged surface-to-air missile sites threatening the fighter-bomber force in the target area, and successfully placed ordnance on surface-to-air missile installation. By his GALLANTRY and DEVOTION TO DUTY, MAJOR MADISON has reflected great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.”…
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…GALLANTRY and INTREPIDITY…COLONEL THOMAS MACK MADISON, UNITED STATES AIR FORCE…Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of second award of the SILVER STAR… 24 APRIL 1967…
“The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of a Second award of the SILVER STAR to COLONEL THOMAS MACK MADISON, United States Air Force, for GALLANTRY and INTREPIDITY in action in connection with military operations against an armed force on 24 April 1967, while a Prisoner of War in North Vietnam. Ignoring international agreements on treatment of prisoners of war, the enemy resorted to mental and physical cruelties to obtain information, confessions and propaganda materials. COLONEL MADISON resisted their demands by calling upon his deepest inner strengths in a manner which reflected his devotion to duty and great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.”
RIPPLE SALVO… #509… “For whom the bell tolls,” and thunder rolls…
Humble Host posts COLONEL TOM MADISON’s awards for gallantry and intrepidity with highest respect and admiration in recognition of his recent passing from the ranks of old warriors to join other bravehearts from Rolling Thunder who rest in peace … including 1LT KARL WENDELL RICHTER, one of the Air Force’s bravest who perished on 28 July 1967 on his 199th mission (see RTR tomorrow)…
REAR ADMIRAL PAUL SPEER, one of Naval Aviation’s greatest Rolling Thunder warriors passed on 8 July 2017 at age 88. Paul was a MIG killer, Navy Cross awardee and leader I’d follow anywhere. His Navy Cross citation was posted in a May RTR coincident with the 50th anniversary of his MIG kill… Glory gained, duty done, rest in peace old friend…
RTR QUOTE for 27 July: ST. CHRYSOSTOM: “Him who is dead and gone, honour with remembrance not tears.”…
Lest we forget…. Bear