RIPPLE SALVO… #180… TOUGH DUTY–DRIVING TRUCK IN NVN… but first…
Good Morning: Day ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY of a return to North Vietnam in 1966-1968…one day at a time…
28 AUGUST 1966… A FEW PARAGRAPHS FROM THE 500-PAGE NEW York TIMES SUNDAY PAPER…
Page 9: NYT should have had this on page 1!!! “Yachtsman, 64, Begins Trip Around the World–Alone”… “Francis Chichester left Plymouth Harbor today to sail around the world alone in a 53-foot ketch, the longest sea voyage by one man in history. Mr. Chichester a seasoned 64-year old yachtsman, who already has sailed the Atlantic six times, intends to complete a circumnavigation of the globe in 200-days–roughly the time it took the speedy clipper ships a century ago. His first landing point in his $55,000 ‘Gypsy Moth II’ will be Sydney, Australia, where he plans to arrive in 100-days. In the annals of yachting there have been only eight attempts to sail around Cape Horn, the southernmost tip of South America. Six ended in disaster. Chichester will be 65 on September 17, 1966.” (Your Humble Host will follow Chichester carefully for this historic voyage that we all know now was completed and led to his Knighthood.)
Page 1: “54% In Ohio Poll Assert U.S. Role In War Is Mistake”…”A large sampling of opinion in a swing congressional district in Ohio has shown that ‘it was a mistake for the United States to get involved in the Vietnam War.’ Representative Carl Mosher, a Republican, believes this was one of the most significant results of a questionnaire he sent in July to every home in the 13th District, lying southwest of Cleveland. From the 130,541 questionnaires, Mr. Mosher received 4,536 replies supplemented by 1,100 letters. To the question: ‘Was it a mistake for the U.S. to get so deeply involved in the war?’ 54.4 per-cent said Yes, 31.9 per-cent said No, and 10.3 per-cent said Not Sure. 3.4% did not answer. 68.3 per cent said the United States should ‘try harder for peace negotiations.’ 63.7 per cent think the Vietcong should participate in those negotiations. 54 per-cent thought the United Nations should take responsibility for Vietnam.”… Page 1: “Johnson’s 58th Birthday Finds Him A Happy Man”…”President Johnson celebrated his 58th birthday at the LBJ Ranch today and appeared happy and content despite weather that could have ruined anybody’s birthday. It was pouring rain–at least an inch of rain had fallen by noon–but the President said: ‘No hill country rancher could have a better birthday. I’d rather have a man mow the grass than to have no grass at all.”…
Not so fast, Mr. President…you have more problems than a downpour… The NYT had this reminder for the President on the Editorial pages…
“Talking Battle To The People”…”This has been President Johnson’s summer of discontent, and well might he cry out like Queen Gertrude: ‘One woe doth tread upon another’s heel so fast they follow.”…”Behind much of the President’s slump, most politicians believed, is public unease and uncertainty over the war in Vietnam. Though Mr. Johnson’s poll numbers rose somewhat after he loosed his bombers on Hanoi and Haiphong in July, what that probably indicated was public hunger for a decisive stroke–whether dovelike or hawklike. But even the new bombing patterns did not alter the prospect of a long and costly war which is likely to be something of a permanent drag on the President’s popularity.”… Among the President’s pains: an economy where prices and interest rates are rising; a six week airline strike; steel prices rising and unions itching for raises… “In the cities meanwhile there have been the annual race riots. These coincide with a hard fight in Congress for Mr. Johnson’s new civil rights bill with its controversial open housing provisions. Between the rioting and the rights bill some Democrats fear that a sizeable ‘white backlash’ may have been evoked. At the same time urban Negroes are still obviously restless and discontent and tend to regard the housing provision in the rights bill as less than half a loaf.”… Happy Birthday, Mr. President…
Page 6: MORE WESTY ON FRIENDLY FIRE… “Westmoreland Gets New Plea to Cut Civilian Toll”… General William Westmoreland commander of United States forces in South Vietnam has been urged by the Administration to take all possible action to reduce civilian casualties in air raids. Several weeks of conversations involving Washington, the United States Embassy in Saigon, and the general’s headquarters have followed a series of incidents in which United States plane raided Vietnamese villages, causing heavy loss of life. The exchanges with General Westmoreland are said by officials here to have involved nothing so formal as new orders nor do they imply in any way a rebuke. ‘We have in no sense ticked Westy off,’ one official said, ‘On the contrary, he has always been extremely sensitive about the problem of civilian casualties.’ General Westmoreland’s concern was reflected in his statement last Wednesday that the incidents which since July 1 have caused the deaths of at least 143 civilians of friendly military personnel and have injured 234 ‘were a great problem and had to be brought under control. The officials said raids in most parts of South Vietnam–even in areas such as the Mekong Delta where many villages are wholly sympathetic to the Vietcong–would be conducted only when there was simultaneous or imminent action. Even in these cases, advance warning is to be given by leaflet or loud speaker. Only in the five former ‘free bombing areas’ which included…areas designated as Vietcong armed camps had bombing been permitted without these restrictions. This ‘free bombing station’ has now been suspended pending a restudy.”….
Page 8: “Vietcong Step Up Election Terror”…”The Vietcong staged a number of terrorist attacks as election candidates began face-to-face campaigning among the voters today. Voters in the Saigon area appeared indifferent to the candidates and the first election rally in the metropolitan area was poorly attended. The worst incident took place…62 miles southwest of Saigon yesterday. Fifteen persons were killed and 10 wounded when a bus was blown up by a guerrilla mine. Ten of the dead and 9 of the wounded were South Vietnamese recruits on the bus. Near Hue a Vietcong band broke into a hamlet yesterday and assassinated the pro-government village chief. Another assassination took place near Danang.”…
28 AUGUST 1966… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… NYT (29 August reporting 28 August ops)… Page 1: “3 U.S. Planes Lost In Raids In North”...”Three American fighter-bombers have crashed in North Vietnam in the last two days…Two of the lost planes, a Navy A-6 Intruder and an Air Force F-4 Phantom were brought down by ground fire. Two crewmen were rescued and two were listed as missing in action. The two jets were the first lost in North Vietnam in seven days. The third plane was an A-1 Skyraider that crashed this morning 35 miles south of Thanh Hoa…the pilot was rescued. In 109 missions yesterday involving more than one aircraft each, the Americans struck at highways, railroads, costal shipping lanes and storage areas near the port of Haiphong and southward to a point just north of the DMZ. Bad weather prevented attacks near Hanoi and in northwestern North Vietnam.”…”Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson)…Page 72; Two aircraft lost in SEAsia on 28 August 1966:
(1) COMMANDER GORDON H.SMITH was flying an A-1H of the VA-152 Wild Aces embarked in USS Oriskany on an armed reconnaissance mission along the coastline south of Thanh Hoa when hit by ground fire that resulted in a fuselage fire. COMMANDER SMITH was able to turn eastward and bailed out of his burning aircraft a few miles to sea where he was rescued by Navy helicopter.
(2) An F-4C of the 390th TFS and 35th TFW at Danang crashed on take off, shearing the under carriage and burning on the runway. Both crewmen safely abandoned the aircraft without injury.
RIPPLE SALVO… #180… “The Life and Times of a North Vietnamese Truck Driver”… The following is pulled from “a rare book” by Jon M. Van Dyke, “North Vietnam’s Strategy for Survival” (1972). The author put together articles from a North Vietnam army newspaper Quan Doi Nhan (November 1966)… Every American aviator who flew an armed reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam had an opportunity to go hunting for trucks. There were a bunch to look for–North Vietnam had a fleet of 12,000 trucks working the north-south highways from the buffer zone bordering China to the DMZ and Southeastern Laos. Every mile of their trip in either direction was full of surprises. They were our quarry-rabbits- in a life and death challenge. After reading this excerpt from Van Dyke’s translation I believe you will share my conclusion that “I’d rather be flying..”…… (Pages 54-55)… Quote:
“Two articles that appeared in the army newspaper Quan Doi Nhan Dan on November 11, 1966 provide a glimpse into the hard life of a truck driver when North Vietnam was being continually bombarded. They warn that the driver must always be ready to load, unload, repair, and camouflage his truck without help. He must also be prepared to make long and unpredictable journeys without rest. While on the road, the driver may face a damaged road (he should assist with repairs), a dirt road turned into a quagmire because of the rain (if he gets stuck he should set up a combat position and wait for help), a flooded road (which he should ford if possible), or a delayed action bomb (around which he should detour). Worse still, he may find that U.S. planes are dropping flares around his convoy: the only defense is to try to flee from the flares into the darkness. In the summer of 1967 the United States increased the perils facing truck drivers by dropping onto roads bombs called destructors, which do not explode until hit by a truck or another force.
“Hazards increase as the driver moves deeper into the jungles to the south. On the long and arduous journey it is difficult for him to get adequate exercise, food and sleep, and to avoid disease. Some drivers are on the road for 120 continuous nights; they are cautioned to catch some sleep when they are waiting for a ferryboat or are stuck in a traffic jam. They are warned not to sleep with their cab windows closed, however because of gas and fumes. If the window is opened, on the other hand, mosquitoes pester the driver, and if he sleeps on the ground, he must face ‘prowling scorpions, millipedes, and other crawling insects’ plus yellow flies and ticks. The driver is therefore advised to sleep in a hammock with mosquito netting or to put mosquito netting over his cab window.
“Mechanical failures plagued many drivers, and shortages of petroleum are frequent. The North Vietnamese deal with these problems, as they may deal with all problems, by thinking up slogans. Truck drivers are told to adhere to the ‘Three Checks’: check before leaving, while going, and when returned. Then there are the ethical standards of the ‘Four Yields’: yield to persons wanting to pass, yield the right of way, yield favors to friends, and yield when friends are quick tempered. During the trip, drivers must observe the ‘Five Slows’: travel slowly when entering bridges, when going on property of others, when passing through markets and cities, while going aboard ferries, and when avoiding other trucks. Finally, drivers must avoid strictly forbidden ‘Six Nots’: they are not to drive if they have no horn, no lights, no brakes, not enough air, not enough electricity, or no effective camouflage. The all encompassing slogan that guided drivers to ‘love and care for their vehicles as if they were their own children and value gasoline as they value blood.’
“Another hazard for truck drivers was the problem of following the route. Drivers traveled alone or in groups of three or four to avoid attracting aerial attacks. They often got lost because of the constant detours and infrequency of signs on bombed roads. The North Vietnamese press has been filled with articles stating that the drivers should be aided by better signs and by more assistance from the sentries, a group of teenage girls who have day-to-day authority for governing the activity on the highways. These girls station themselves at all crossroads, examine the passes that must accompany each vehicle, decide which vehicles have priority in crossing rivers, and instruct drivers in the perils they face ahead. During the bombing, they also regulate the small lights, which were placed on all routes into the southern part of the country to signal trucks when planes were near so they could take cover, and they helped repair routes of crossings to keep traffic moving.”
Lest we forget… Bear ………. –30– ……….