RIPPLE SALVO… #632… “Rolling Thunder Remembered” is air war over North Vietnam oriented, of course! But today’s post goes ashore to spend a day in the boots of the grunts north and south of Danang and in the Central Highlands in a Special Forces camp. This post includes a full and typical daily report from Saigon carried in the New York Times, which is what the Mothers of America were reading as their beloved sons awaited a draft call, or they waited for the black sedan coming in the driveway…. but first…
Good Morning: Day SIX HUNDRED THIRTY-TWO of a 50th anniversary visit to a war that took the lives of more than 58,000 young American men 50 years too soon…
28 NOVEMBER 1967…HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a fair and windy Tuesday on Liberty Island…
Page 1: “MCNAMARA NAMED BY UNITED STATES TO HEAD WORLD BANK–JOHNSON MOVE A SURPRISE–SHIFT DUE IN 1968–CAPITAL SEES NO HINT OF ANY CHANGE IN POLICY ON WAR”... “President Johnson has nominated Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara as the new President of the World Bank. The nomination has been submitted to the 107 member governments of the bank for their approval. Although Mr. McNamara has played a key role in the Vietnam war, and has sometimes differed with the views of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, there was no indication that his shift to a new post would involve any changes in the government’s policy on the war.”... Page 1: “Westmoreland Backs Walt As New Chief of Marines”… “General William C. Westmoreland of the Army was reported by Marine Corps sources today to have recommended in writing that LGEN Lewis D. Walt is his choice to be the next Commandant…in so doing he has outraged the Marine Corps hierarchy.”… Page 1: “Turkey Approves Basis For Ending Crisis in Cyprus–Vance Leaves For Athens After All-Night Talks With Foreign Minister–Timing Still An Issue–Ankara Wants Troops Taken Off Island More Rapidly Than Plan Envisions”… Page 2: Max Frankel column: “Major Shift in Capital: McNamara Has Been an Influential Force In Politics of Two Presidents…”… Page 2: Neil Sheehan column: “McNamara Split With Joint Chiefs–Except On Bombing Step-up He Won Johnson’s Support”… Page 1: “Arab Chiefs Call December Parley–Meeting To Be Held in Cairo or Rabat–To Study U.N.’s Mideast Plan”… Page 1: “DeGaulle Again Bars British From Bloc–Asks ‘Free Quebec And Return To Gold–U.S. Role in Business in Europe Decried–Israel Berated”… “President de Gaulle, more combative and defiantly nationalistic than ever before placed a new an all-embracing veto today on Britain’s move to enter the European Common Market.”… Page 1: “Cambodia’s Role In War Unclear–Questions of Sanctuary and Port’s Use For Vietcong Still Remains Murky”…”Up to 10 days ago the International Control Commission’s inspection system hadnoted no movement of military supplies for the use of the Vietcong through Sehanoukville, a Cambodian port.”…
President’s Daily Brief… NORTH VIETNAM: The North Vietnamese have been quick to report recent actions protesting of criticizing US policy in Vietnam. A recent broadcast in English from Hanoi reported that 300 students and faculty of Yale University published a statement in the New Haven papers registering their refusal to be drafted for the war in Vietnam. The statement, according to the radio, condemned the war as unjust, illegal, and immoral.” The broadcast also reported an open letter from 14,000 members of the Democratic Party carried in the Los Angeles Times (and the NYT–see RTR 27 Nov for letter) urging President to stop the bombing and escalation of the war. The signers were reported as stating that they withdrew all their support for the President and would devote all their energy to stopping the bloodshed in Vietnam…A third letter from a group of professors at the University of California at Berkeley published in the San Francisco Chronicle, calling on the US to “stop at once, definitively, and without condition, the bombing of the north.” Also included in the broadcast…reported the position of former Ambassador Kenneth Galbraith urging the administration to stop “forthwith the bombing of the North and bring the troops home.” (was also quoted in my RTR of 26 Nov)…
28 November 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (29 Nov reporting 28 Nov ops)… “Haiphong Bombed Anew”… “American pilots, taking advantage of clearing weather, bombed two targets in North Vietnam’s port city of Haiphong yesterday (28th). A United States command spokesman said Navy carrier pilots attacked the Haiphong railroad yard in the northwestern suburbs and the Haiphong railroad and highway bridge one mile west of the center of the city. Air Force pilots penetrated far north to cut rail tracks in five places along the northwest rail line linking Hanoi with the Chinese border. United States Marine pilots concentrated on the area around the demilitarized zone hitting at artillery and antiaircraft positions and a fortified village in the eastern end of the zone containing enemy troop concentrations. Low clouds over the area prevented damage assessments. In the raid on the Haiphong railroad yard, pilots reported touching off a large explosion followed by a fireball. Although heavy flak hampered damage assessments, the spokesman said pilots had reported cutting rails in a number of places. ..the northern span of the bridge received a direct hit.”…
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There was one fixed wing aircraft loss in Southeast Asia on 28 November 1967…
(1) An O-1G Bird Dog aircraft of the 19th TASS and 505th TASW out of Bien Hoa was destroyed on the ground at the airstrip at Bach Gia by enemy mortar fire.
27 Nov 67… From the Howie Plunkett compilation: “34TFS/F-105 History” page 185: “The Kep Ha Army Barracks… located 32 nautical miles north of Haiphong on Highway 13 was struck by crews from the 388th TFW and 355th TFW… This target consists of 16 major areas with a multitude of barracks, storage buildings and support facilities. It can supply vehicle support for enemy logistics network and can act as a major training center. One notable possibility is the use of this area as a billeting and training area for the vast AAA defense network around Haiphong. The continuing attacks on this target caused some loss of troops, a loss of vehicles and the destruction of valuable supplies.
“The Kep Ha Army Barracks were struck by F-105s from Korat delivering 72 750-pound bombs. Strike crews claimed damage or destruction of an unspecified number of structures.
“Major Ken Mays from the 34th TFS … “Hugh Davis… was my number 3 and we hit Kep Ha military barracks as they kept shooting at us from there. We went in under a cloud deck to the target as the weather was marginal, but after going that distance and risking people and aircraft to get to the target we pressed on. Excellent bombs on the target as most aircraft just carried CBUs (have photos of buildings burning). On the way out from the target and just as we got feet wet we started a climb. As we broke out of the clouds, we had a near mid-air collision with two MiG-21s. We were canopy to bottom of their aircraft for awhile. They went burner and cleared the area. Again no missiles on our aircraft. Hugh and I had a big laugh when we returned.”
RIPPLE SALVO… #632… For the last 630 posts the ground war in South Vietnam has been of limited inclusion in this project… This post presents a full day’s coverage of the war on the front pages of American media. This is what the mothers of America read everyday for a dozen years… New York Times 28 November 1967, page 1:
“MARINES BATTLE NORTHERN FORCE IN DANANG AREA–23 Americans Are Killed in Vietnam Clash–2 More U.S. Planes Downed”... “Saigon, South Vietnam, Nov. 27– Enemy mortar fire in the Central Highlands and two clashes between United States marines and North Vietnamese troops in the northern provinces yesterday and today left 23 Americans dead and 131 wounded, the United States command announced. The heaviest fighting was in an area 19 miles south of Danang. Twelve marines were killed and 80 wounded. A spokesman said that 20 enemy soldiers had been killed. Marines also fought one mile west of Conthien, just below the demilitarized zone straddling he border between North and South Vietnam. seven marines were killed and 13 wounded and 22 North Vietnamese were killed, the spokesman said.
“Mortar shells fell on two American positions near Dakto in the Central Highlands, and a United States military compound and a Special Forces camp in Kontum, south of Dakto. Late tonight, 15 mortar rounds hit the Soctrang airfield in the Mekong Delta, killing one American and wounding another, a spokesman said. The damage to United States helicopters and to buildings was described as moderate.
“Meanwhile, the United States command said that two more American planes had been lost in North Vietnam–a Marine A-6 Intruder and an Air Force F-4 Phantom–raising the total to 757 planes reported down in the North….
“In the fighting south of Danang, three Marine companies about 500 men, encountered North Vietnamese troops at a 2 P.M. yesterday touching off a battle that continued until 8 P.M. a company of about 150 marines joined the fight, while air strikes and artillery fire pounded the enemy positions. The military spokesman said that 150 marines were stopped west of Conthien by about 30 entrenched North Vietnamese. Enemy mortar fire, probably from the demilitarized zone, hit the marines twice. An additional 150 marines joined the fight. Besides killing 23 enemy soldiers the spokesman said the marines destroyed 14 bunkers and 100-yards of trenchline.
“A spokesman for United States headquarters in Saigon said that American troops in the Dakto area had found 224 additional bodies of enemy soldiers of enemy soldiers, raising the total to 1,641 North Vietnamese reported killed since November 1. The spokesman said that American casualties in three weeks of heavy fighting in the area were 287 dead and 1,000 wounded.’
And then there was this at the bottom of the article: “Pentagon Lists War Dead”…The Defense Department identified today 115 men killed in action in Vietnam.” This little box of bad news is found somewhere in the first ten pages of a New York Times three or four times per week. The NYT box includes the names of men killed in the New York/New Jersey area. Humble Host grew up during World War II and I remember my mother pouring over the casualty lists in the Baltimore Evening Sun that went beyond a little box to cover a page. They weren’t her sons–her boys were bred for the next war– but she cried anyway….
RTR Quote for 28 November: STEVEN CRANE: War is Kind
“Mother whose heart hung humble as a button
On the bright splendid shroud of your son,
Do not weep.
War is kind.”
Lest we forget… Bear