ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED 27 MARCH 1968

RIPPLE SALVO… #752… A PROCLAMATION:

ON THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE VIETNAM WAR and OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…

WHEREAS, in 2018 we continue the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam War and the air war, code name OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER, rollingthunderremembered.com salutes all Vietnam veterans who served our beloved country in that foreign war; and

WHEREAS, 1.8 million Vietnam veterans and their families have been publicly thanked and honored during 11,000 ceremonies, through more than 11,000 local, state, and national organizations serving as commemorative partners of the Vietnam War Commemoration. The mission of these organizations and rollingthunderremembered.com is to assist the nation in thanking and honoring our seven million living veterans and nine million families of those who served, with special honor for those who served and supported the warriors of ROLLING THUNDER who carried the war to the heartland of our enemies in North Vietnam; and

WHEREAS, there remain nearly five million living U.S. Vietnam veterans who deserve our profound appreciation for their service in the U.S. Armed Forces between November 1, 1955 and May 15, 1975; and

WHEREAS, the Vietnam War was an extremely divisive issue among the citizens of the United States, and upon their return home members of the Armed Forces who served the United States bravely and faithfully in the cross-fires of a protracted war of attrition were caught again in the cross-fires of public debate at home about the nation’s participation in the war; and

WHEREAS, the establishment by Presidential Proclamation of NATIONAL VIETNAM WAR VETERANS DAY is an appropriate way to honor those whose members of the United States Armed Forces who served in Vietnam during the Vietnam War, especially those who flew the missions of OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER, and to thank them for their bravery and service to the United States of America, the land of the free because of the brave;

NOW, THEREFORE, rollingthunderremembered.com, joins wholeheartedly in the 29 March 2018, VIETNAM WAR VETERANS DAY commemoration proclained by President Johnson… so say HUMBLE HOST and Web Master ‘MIGHTY THUNDER”…

P.S. We will also be remembering both those who did not come home alive and those who remain where they fell on the battlefields and waters of Southeast Asia during the decadeS of the Vietnam war… May they rest in peace…

with a few additional notes in RIPPLE SALVO below…but first…

GOOD MORNING: Day SEVEN HUNDRED FIFTY-TWO of a review of a page of history titled: OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…

HEAD LINES from The New York Times on Wednesday, 27 March 1968, a sunny, mild Big Apple day…

THE GROUND WAR & KHESANH: Page 1: “FOE PENETRATES U.S. PERIMETER WEST OF KONTUM–135 NORTH VIETNAMESE DEAD IN ATTACK ON ARTILLERY POST IN CENTRAL HIGHLANDS–Clash Continues On Ridges Outside Camp After G.I.s Repulse 2 Battalions”… “North Vietnamese infantrymen sliced the barbed wire of an artillery outpost in the Central Highlands before dawn today and attacked American troops with flamethrowers, grenades and machine guns in one of the war’s most savage battles in months. By evening the fighting was continuing on the ridges and thick woods around the base. late reports indicated that 19 Americans had been killed and 51 wounded. The total of enemy dead was put at 135…. The attack took place 19 miles west of Kontum, or about 250 miles northwest of Saigon…. The clash was by far the bitterest in the Central Highlands area since November when 300 American soldiers were killed, many of them on a single battle on a hill…. Ten miles south of Pleiku other Fourth Division units fought a sizable enemy force all day. …18 enemy soldiers were reported killed and there were no reports of American casualties…At the Marine outpost of Khesanh a patrol came under heavy enemy fire 100 to 200 yards south of the bases’ perimeter. The spokesman said that artillery and tactical air strikes could not be used because the enemy was so close to the perimeter. …Heavy fighting also broke out in the Mekong Delta…during the clash five South Vietnamese soldiers were killed and the Vietcong death toll was put at 98.”… Page 3: “WOMEN JOIN ENEMY ASSAULT”… “At least six women took part in an assault by Vietcong troops on an American armored column moving to reinforce this key district town–Trangbang–28 miles northwest of Saigon.”… Page 3: “Ex-Official Critical of Pacification Disputed By Komer”… Page 3: “HOUSE RAISES AID LIMIT ON VIETNAM’S LOANS”… Page 1: “Battleship New Jersey Starts Her Pre-Vietnam Trials”…

Page 1: “GENERAL ABRAMS IN CAPITAL, SEES PRESIDENT AND AIDES”… “General Creighton W. Abrams, deputy United States military commander in South Vietnam arrived in Washington unannounced last night and conferred this morning with President Johnson and senior administration officials…he is reported to be the successor to general William C. Westmoreland as the United States commander… Page 1: “EISENHOWER HITS PEACE CANDIDATES–Says He Will Not Support Advocates of Pull-out–Charges Near Treason”… “Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower says he will withhold support from any candidate who advocates a pull-out from Vietnam, and he accused militant peace groups of ‘rebellion’ and near-treason.’… Page 32: “POLL FINDS NIXON LEADS PRESIDENT–Gallup Cites 41-39% Edge With 14% for Wallace”… “Richard M. Nixon has a slim 41-to-39 per cent lead over President Johnson in the latest Gallup Poll ‘trial heat’ conducted after the New Hampshire primary.”… Page 1: “MANSFIELD OPPOSES ANY TROOP BUILDUP”… “Mike Mansfield of Montana, Senate Democratic leader, came out firmly today against the commitment of any additional American troops to the Vietnam war.”…

Page 24: “DR. KING TAKES POOR PEOPLE’S CAMPAIGN TO GROUPS IN HARLEM AND QUEENS”…”The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said last night he would move his planned nonviolent ‘camp-in’ demonstration from Washington to the national political conventions if Congress adjourned without having taken significant action on behalf of the poor. Dr. king visited neighborhood groups in the city area and had lunch in a Harlem tenement yesterday as part of his nation-wide drive to develop support for his ‘Poor People’s Campaign.’… Dr. King: ‘We are going to follow them (congressmen) to Chicago and then we will follow them to Miami.‘… The campaign, which seeks to dramatize to Congress and the Government the plight of America’s poor, will begin, Dr. King said, with a smile, disciplined group of 3,000….Later we expect thousands and thousands in Washington. It will be a stay-in, wait-in campaign.’… Dr. King addressed an audience of 1,000 at the South Side Junior High School and drew his greatest applause during his 18-minute talk when he declared, referring to the Vietnam war, that ‘we’ve got to de-escalate and end that evil, unjust war. The hour has come for the President, Dean Rusk and the Administration to say we made a mistake in Vietnam.’ “… (HUMBLE HOST notes: Dr. King is, at this point, a week away from his date with destiny on a motel balcony in Memphis.)

27 MARCH 1968…THE PPRESIDENT’S DAILY BRIEF (TS-SI, Partial Declas)… PANAMA: Panama City has now calmed down after the rioting last night, but there will probably be more trouble today. National Guardsmen ‘President’ Delvalle and his aides from entering the Assembly building. The Guard fired tear gas into the crowd accompany Delavalle after stones and bottles were thrown. COMMUNIST CHINA: According to foreign newsmen in Peking massive demonstrations yesterday denounced three senior military officers as ‘plotters.’ The three men–not previously under serious attack– are Acting Chief Political Commissar, and the Peking Garrison Commander, and the Peking Garrison Commander… The disgrace of these prominent military figures could well be a tip-off that a major power play is under way…  JORDAN: The  chief of staff has told embassy in Amman that Israel is moving more troops into the northern section of the border (portion remains redacted after 50 years)The Jordanians may be overreacting this time, but another clash is likely sooner or later…. HANOI, NORTH VIETNAM: Observations: …dispersed open storage areas for vehicles and material are used widely to avoid bomb damage. ..fire engines and military vehicles parked under trees in downtown Hanoi, apparently instead of in central garages where they might be easier targets. Vehicle repairs are also being carried out in the open… piles of construction material, fuel, bridge sections, and food grains along roads leading into the city. Each supply area extends no more than 100 yards along the road, and there is an open space of at least the same distance between each area. Four-man air raid shelters were seen at about 20-yard intervals along the same sections of road…concluded from the external appearance of the main Hanoi thermal power plant that it was completely undamaged and in full operation…the city’s power supply seemed reasonablY normal, but this can be attributed at least in part to the many small generators used throughout Hanoi, as well as to the fact that foreigners get preferential; service…People in Hanoi are becoming noticeably thinner, but …no signs of large-scale malnutrition or of epidemics …despite privation and loss of efficiency, people’s morale was generally high….

STATE DEPARTMENT, Office of the Historian, Historical Documents, Foreign Relations, 1964-68, Vietnam: Two documents dated 27 March of interest… Document 160: An editorial note summarizing the 584th meeting of the National Security Council. Good list of membership. Includes Generals Wheeler and Abrams who briefed the  the Vietnam war with most of conversation covering troop levels, before the scheduled topic, Non-Proliferation Treaty is discussed (not included in the two pager…Three Stars… Document 162: A one pager of very brief one-liners to summarize a meeting to  the President on troop levels. Two Stars… Read at:

160.     https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d160

162.     https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d162

27 MARCH 1968… OPERATION ROLLING  THUNDER…New York Times (28 Mar reporting 27 Mar ops)… Page 1: “U.S. JETS POUND RAILS NEAR CHINA–Vital Yard at Langgiai Hit”… “Air Force jets moved through gray and overcast skies yesterday to pound a vital North Vietnamese; railroad yard 18 miles from the border of Communist China The United States command said today that F-4 Phantoms had struck the Langgiai yard, 70 miles northeast of Hanoi. The yard is on the main northeast railroad supply route from China. Despite dismal weather, Air Force and Navy pilots have focused for the last two days on bombing the railroad routes from China . Assessment of bomb damage has been limited because of the poor weather. The United States pilots in recent days have also bombed the main northwest railroad routes from China, at Sontra, 94 miles northwest of Hanoi, and Kydong 113 miles northwest of the capital. The raids were announced as military officials predicted a series of stepped up attacks over the North as soon as the weather cleared. For the last few months, bombing attacks have been severely limited because of the overcast weather. In April and May, however, the skies are expected to clear and raids will increase sharply.”…

Humble Host flew #125 a day Ironhand support mission for a mini-Alpha striking targets in Vinh. Lots of APR activity and I got a good lock on a radar site. Put a AGM-45 Shrike down the throat. Radar went off the air, but clouds precluded any BDA. The Enterprise bombers came through OK… Multi-layers of clouds made it a little hairy… Logged .5 actual instruments…

“Vietnam: Airt Losses” (Chris Hobson) There was one fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 27 March 1968…

(1) CAPTAIN RICHARD LEE WHITTEKER and 1LT JAMES LINSDAY BADLEY were flying an F-4D Phantom of the 480th TFS and 366th TFW out of Danang providing directed strikes on a convoy of trucks near the Ban Karai Pass when downed by small arms fire. They were on their fourth pass and strafing the trucks when hit. There were no chutes or beepers.

1LT BADLEY was on his 85th mission, and he had pushed the squadron scheduler hard to get on this particular flight… On his 25th mission on 20 November 1967 he and his pilot were shot down and rescued. His actions on the ground during the rescued led to his award of the SILVER STAR. On 14 March, two weeks before the fatal flight, LT BADLEY assisted in the successful rescue of MAJOR GARY L. TRESEMER of the 390th TFS and 366th TFW. His actions on the RESCAP resulted in the award of the Distinguished Flying Cross… Today, 50 years after their last flight CAPTAIN WHITTEKER and 1LT BADLEY remain on the battlefield where they fell in the gallant service of our country. They are remembered as they rest in peace with admiration and respect…   Left behind??? But not forgotten…

RIPPLE SALVO… #752… Humble Host is beholden to Rear Admiral Sam Cox, the Navy’s history guru for the following concise summary of Naval Aviation’s role in OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER, which is just one part of his exhaustive summary of the Navy’s entire contribution to the Vietnam war that began in 1955 and was still going strong in 1975. Rear Admiral Cox has provided this material as part of the Navy’s participation in the 29 March 2018 commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam war. Humble Host has narrowed the collection to the following summary of Naval air power during the war, including Rolling Thunder… I quote…

“Naval air power played an indispensable role in the war from the first retaliation strikes against North Vietnam following the Gulf of Tonkin incident to Rollilng Thunder, the longest sustained campaign of the war, and Linebacker I and II– the war’s air power finale. The U.S. Navy deployed a total of 17 aircraft carriers to Vietnam. These flattops made 73 cruises lasting a total of 8,248 days. navy and Marine aircraft dropped 1.5 million tons of bombs during the course of the war–approximately 24% of the total tonnage delivered by American air power. The Navy lost 531 fixed-wing aircraft in combat and suffered 299 losses through accidents. The North Vietnamese and Chinese Captured 170 naval aviators and aircrew, 160 of whom Hanoi released in 1973. During the three-and-a-half-year Rolling Thunder aerial assault;, Navy and Marine aircraft flew 152,399 attack sorties against North Vietnam, just short of the Air Force total of 153,784 attack sorties. These U.S. strikes dropped 864,000 tons of bombs and missiles on North Vietnam. This total compared with 653,000 tons of conventional bombs unleashed during the three years of the Korean War, and the 503,000 tons dropped in the Pacific theater during more than three years of World War II. All told Navy pilots shot down 29 enemy aircraft during the Rolling Thunder period while losing just eight aircraft to MIGs.”

RTR Quote for 27 March: LONGFELLOW, Drift-Wood: Table Talk: “As turning a log will make a dull fire burn, so changes of studies a dull brain.”

Lest we forget…      Bear…

LN