RIPPLE SALVO… #388… “AND KICK ‘EM IN THE ARSE.”…apologies to Gen GS Patton… but first…
Good Morning: Day THREE HUNDRED EIGHTY-EIGHT of a one-of-a-kind journal… the 1000-days of Rolling Thunder at home and the Oval Office and in the air over North Vietnam…
28 MARCH 1967… HEAD LINES and LEADS from the Ogden S-E (no tape for NYT for Mar 67) on a drizzly Tuesday on the mountain…
Page 1: “Pope Paul Gives Qualified OK To Population Curbs”... “Pope Paul VI gave a carefully qualified endorsement today to government measures of population control without indicating any relaxation in the Roman Catholic means of birth control. His encyclical reads: ‘Public authorities can intervene, within the limit of their competence, by favoring the availability of appropriate information and by adopting suitable measures, provided that these be in conformity within the moral law and that they respect the rightful freedom of married couples.’ The encyclical appealed for social and economic justice.”... Page 1: “Air Bombs Burst Tanker, Set Sea Aflame, But Fire Soon Dies Out”…British bombers set the shattered tanker Torrey Canyon and the sea around it ablaze today in an effort to destroy spreading oil, but in two hours the fire went out. More naval and air force planes were immediately ready for a fresh attempt to stem the flow of oil from the 61,263-ton giants cargo which had already polluted 120-miles of England’s coastline, either side of Land’s End.”… Page 1: “Millionaire List rises, IRS Says”…”The number of American millionaires is on the rise…596 Americans showed adjusted gross income of $1 million or more on the 1965 tax returns they filed last year. That compares with 482 millionaires in 1966.” (for reference: 2014 America had 10.1 millionaires average age 62; 1.3 $5 million millionaires; and, 142,000 $25 million millionaires)… Page 10: “Clay Wins Bout With Draft Board”…”Heavyweight Champion Cassius Clay, his induction into the United States Army momentarily postponed, said he will just bide his time until the Houston draft board decides what to do. The director of the Louisville, Kentucky draft board, Clay’s original board, said Monday,’The champion’s scheduled April 11 induction into the Army has been postponed because his records have been transferred to Houston.’… ‘I am a Texan now,’ said Clay, ‘I live in Houston. They are the judges and we’ll just have to wait and see what they decide.’ Allen Sherman of the Louisville board: ‘Clay’s action was a delaying action, no doubt about it, but it is part of the Selective Service law.”…
28 March 1967… The President’s Daily Brief… Vietnam: (remains redacted after 50 years)???...Soviet Union: Profit, once a dirty word in the Communist lexicon, is becoming fashionable as the Soviets try to build incentive into their economy. The latest move in this direction is a plan–experimental at this point– to put some of the state farms on a profit and loss basis in hopes of spurring production…
State Department, Office of Historian… On the afternoon of 28 March 1967 the President called Secretary of State Dean Rusk with some instructions: Get the word to Bobby Kennedy– who was back in Europe and answering questions about the Vietnam war that didn’t make LBJ happy– tell him that we are not escalating the war, etc….interesting and brief exchange at …
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v05/d122
28 March 1967…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…Ogden S-E (29 March reporting 28 Mar ops)…Page 1: “North Supply Points Pounded By Air Strikes”... “American carrier planes hurled three raids near the major port of Haiphong Tuesday in the second day of heavy air strikes against North Vietnam. The closest target to the Communist’s chief port was a supply point on the Red River delta 12 miles above the city. All-weather A-6 jets from the 7th Fleet also hit two other barge and supply points nearby. Air Force and Navy pilots flew 124 multi-plane missions against North Vietnam. With Monday’s strikes, it is the heaviest pounding in almost a month. South Vietnamese Premier Nguyen Cao Ky (and President Nguyen Van Thieu) paid tribute to the Navy fliers today (Wed 28th) with a flight to the nuclear carrier Enterprise –the two VIPs came aboard in the right seats of a pair of VA-35 A-6s– where they watched flight ops and decorated about 60 Navy pilots and Naval Flight Officers. Flying from bases in Thailand and South Vietnam and from South Vietnam and from the carriers Enterprise, Hancock and Kitty Hawk. U.S. pilots raked supply lines from the Haiphong area to the 17th parallel Tuesday. The weather appeared to be breaking after months of fog and rain, but overcasts still prevented bomb damage assessment, and major raids were executed using radar…the number of striking aircraft over North Vietnam numbered close to 450 on Tuesday.”… (Bear#47mk81RPIIIbridge/20mmbarge)
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson) There was one fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 28 March 1967...
(1) The Air Force lost the fourth AC-47D in 1967 supporting the defense of an outpost 10 miles south of Danang. The 4th ACS and 14th ACW aircraft out of Nha Trang was in orbit for the night Spooky gunship watch over Hoi An when hit by intense automatic weapon fire. The gunship crashed a few miles from Hoi An killing the crew of seven: CAPTAIN WILLIAM HADLEY HOSEA, CAPTAIN HERBERT CHARLES RICE, CAPTAIN JOHN BISHOP CABANA, SSGT JOHN LARUE BRIM, SSGT JAMES LEWIS FIELDS, TSGT GUY JOSEPH BRUMGARD, and A1C ROBERT EDWIN RUONAVAARA… Old men talk, young men fight to the death…or live lucky…
RIPPLE SALVO… #388… From RS #387 (yesterday): “To provide deception and mutual support LCDR WENDY MULLEN and LTJG TOM MURPHY of the VA-85 Black Falcons, ‘gallantly flew the more hazardous track through the delta.'”
LCDR Mullen planned, briefed and led the strike that gathered an attaboy from CTF-77… Great tactics: Strike leader Mullen goes right up the middle (hold them by the nose) and his second bomber and the Ironhand birds run the right flank (to kick them in the side or back)… Classic…
Humble Host brings this event back for seconds to make the point that the notorious interference of Washington in how the war was fought still allowed the operators wide latitude in employing their aircraft and practicing their trade. Limits and constraints, rules of engagement, are a way of life in aviation–on the airways at home or over the battlefields of Vietnam. Know them. Adhere to them. Plan accordingly.
Strike leaders spent time following leaders and learned how to plan and lead in short order. When it came their turn to lead, to take out a target, the assignment came with wide open opportunities to exercise personal judgement, initiative, and creative thinking to get the job done. Combat leadership is the E-ride in life for those who yearn for jolts of adrenaline and suffer the “disease of the pounding heart.” Not the least of the responsibilities of combat leadership is the requirement to “take care of the troops”– the rest of your flight. The gallant leadership of LCDR MULLEN exemplifies that consideration.
Tactical aviation is unique in that the more senior you are the more in front you go. You lead the charge. Out in front. Follow me, right up through 0-6. What a way to go… Those privileged opportunities to lead in war are incomparable life experiences for glorious reflection through the fall and winter of life and the conversion of a pounding heart into the happy heart of an old warrior. On 26 March 1967 Lcdr Mullen and Ltjg Murphy executed a mission for such glorious reflection, forever. oohrah….
CAG’s QUOTES for 28 March: NAPOLEON: “Aptitude for maneuver is the supreme skill of a general, it is the most useful and rarest gifts by which genius is estimated.”… PATTON: “Waffle arse results from sitting down too much.”…
Lest we forget… Bear