RIPPLE SALVO… #601… AMONG THE BRAVE: LIEUTENANT COLONEL THOMAS HENRY KIRK, JR., USAF, is remembered on the 50th anniversary of one of his own most memorable days… and … the Washington marchers have great admirers who have a few words for America and the world… but first…
Good Morning: Day SIX HUNDRED-ONE of a look back a chapter of history with lessons for the present…
28 OCTOBER 1967… HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a breezy Friday full of sunshine in New York City…
Page 1: “SLOW STRANGULATION OF MAO PURGE SEEN”… “Western political observers believe that the Cultural Revolution in Communist China is slowly being strangled by Army officers and Government bureaucrats. the central group in charge of the Cultural Revolution has been progressively downgraded and stripped of power. This committee largely contained leftist ideologists close to Mao Tse-tung, chairman of the Communist Party and it directed the purge of many of Mr. Mao’s political enemies in the name of the Cultural revolutions.”... Page 1: “Mexican Leader Bids U.S. Go Slow On Curbing Trade”... Page 1: “World Bank Head Urges Global Foreign Aid Study”... “…to assess the results of foreign aid and develop a new strategy for the future.”… Page 1: “Dayan Says Truce With Egypt is Still in Force–Hints shelling of Suez Was in Retaliation for the Sinking of the Elath by Egyptians”... Page 1: “Rural Vietnamese Swept Up By War Into Refugee Camps”...”In the last there and a half years the war has swept millions of rural Vietnamese from their hamlets into the anonymity of refugee camps and shanty towns.”… Page 1: “A White Chosen School Head in Capital; Negroes Disrupt The Meeting”... Militant Negro demonstrators shouted objections here today as William Manning, a white Michigan educator, was appointed new head of the District of Columbia nearly all-Negro public school system. The Negroes temporarily seized control of the school board meeting at which Dr. Manning was chosen.”...Page 4: “Air Force Seeks To Armor Planes–Stress on Speed Yields to New Desire for Defense”… “The United States Air Force is making a determined effort to find ways to armor American warplanes against enemy fire, particularly over North Vietnam.”… Page 5: “Blood Poured on Baltimore Draft Files–Priest, Minister and Two Others Arrested”… Page 1: “Reagan Censures Johnson On War–Says Casualties in Vietnam Are a Result of Policy”…
28 OCTOBER 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (29 Oct reporting 28 Oct ops) Page 1: “HANOI AREA RAIDED ANEW; FOE CLAIMS 5 U.S. PLANES”… “United States warplanes bombed the Hanoi area again today and North Vietnamese broadcasts said five were shot down. It was the fifth successive day of round-the-clock raids in the area. There was no immediate report on the raids from the United State command. But a communique said that a MIG jet was downed yesterday after an engagement over the enemy capital. It was either the sixth or seventh MIG downed in a week. The raids on Hanoi yesterday (28th) cost three United States planes–two Air Force F-105 Thuderchiefs and one two-man F-4C Phantom. Thirteen American planes have been reported down in the last week, the heaviest losses since the week of August 21-27, when 16 were downed.
“Captain Gene I. Basel of Lakeside, California, was the latest American to have shot down an enemy jet, a MIG-17, during an attack on the Longbien (Paul Doumer) Bridge in Hanoi. ‘He was really moving out,’ Captain Bazel said, ‘so I positioned my sight far out in front of him and opened up with 20-mm fire and allowed my sight to drift back as I closed on him. I could see my hit tear into his tail section. The MIG rolled a hard left and started down, his tailpipe torching.” The downing of the MIG was the sixth one confirmed since Tuesday, when one was shot down and a ‘probable’ was reported. Four MIGs were downed on Thursday, and United States officials said at least 20 were destroyed or heavily damaged in attacks on the Phucyen and Hoalac bases. At the time of the increasing strikes, the North Vietnamese were reported to have 30 MIGs in North Vietnam and 50 based in China.
“Major Pack W. Hart of Merritt Island, Florida confirmed that the anti-aircraft fire and missile fire was some of the most intense of the war. the Major, who has flown nearly 100 missions led strikes against a five span steel and concrete bridge over the Canal des Rapides in the northwestern part of Hanoi.”
“Vietnam” Air Losses”(Chris Hobson) There were two fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 28 October 1967…
(1) An F-105D of the 34th TFS and 388th TFW out of Korat. Operational loss. Engine failed due to loss of foil pressure. Crashed 33 mile south of Udorn. 1LT DAVID WALDROP ejected and survived, rescued by an Air Force helicopter. “While passing through 16,000-feet the pilot noticed that the master warning light was illuminated and the Oil Pressure Low light was on…. the pilot notified his flight lead of the emergency and was immediately instructed to turn toward Udorn… severe engine vibrations continued until an explosion occurred…the pilot ejected and landed in a tree suffering no injuries. He was on his 81st mission… (He gets a refly)…
(2) LIEUTENANT COLONEL THOMAS HENRY KIRK, Commanding the 357th, flying an F-105D of the 357th TFS and 355th TFW out of Takhli, led his force into a highly successful dive attack on the heavily defended Paul Doumer Bridge delivering his bombs directly on the bridge. His day took a turn for the worse when he was hit by the intense 37 and 37mm antiaircraft fire over the target. LCOL KIRK was able to coax the burning aircraft ten miles south of Hanoi before he was forced to eject. He was captured and joined five other Thunderchief pilots downed and captured in the last four days of strikes in the Red River Valley. LCOL KIRK was imprisoned as a POW and released in March 1973.
EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM…LIEUTENANT COLONEL THOMAS HENRY KIRK, United States Air Force…THE AIR FORCE CROSS… HANOI, NORTH VIETNAM… 28 OCTOBER 1967…
“The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the AIR FORCE CROSS to LIEUTENANT COLONEL THOMAS HENRY KIRK, United States Air Force, for EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM in connection with military operations against an opposing armed force as an F-105 Pilot of the 357th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Takhli Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand, PACIFIC Air Force, in action near Hanoi, North Vietnam on 28 October 1967. On that date COLONEL KIRK planned and led a 24-aircraft strike force against an important and heavily defended railroad and highway bridge near Hanoi. Despite seven surface-to-air missiles being fired at him and extremely poor visibility, COLONEL KIRK, with undaunted determination, indomitable courage and professional skill, led his force to a precise ordnance delivery point, placing his own bombs directly on the target. During recovery from the bomb run, his aircraft sustained a direct hit from the extremely intense anti-aircraft fire. He courageously flew his burning aircraft until it became completely uncontrollable and he was forced to eject over hostile country. Through his extraordinary heroism, superb airmanship, and aggressiveness, LIEUTENANT COLONEL KIRK reflected the highest credit on himself and the United States Air Force.”
RIPPLE SALVO… #601… NYT, 26 October 1967, Page 6: ‘NORTH VIETNAM HAILS PROTESTS IN WASHINGTON AS GREAT ENCOURAGEMENT”… by Charles Mohr, Dateline Hong Kong:…”North Vietnam spokesmen termed today the recent demonstrations in Washington against the war in Vietnam ‘valuable support,’ for and ‘a great encouragement’ tp North Vietnam. A lengthy discussion on the protest demonstrations of last Saturday and Sunday was carried here by the official North Vietnamese press service, the Vietnam News Agency.
“The press service transmitted the text of an editorial in the Newspaper Nhan Dan, official organ of the North Vietnamese Communist party, that said ‘the American people’s growing movement against the U.S. ruling circles’ aggression in Vietnam constitutes a valuable support for the Vietnamese people. We warmly hail the struggle.’
“In another dispatch, the News Agency quoted an official of ‘the Fatherland Central Committee’ as having said in a speech yesterday that the Washington rallies ‘marked a new step in the development of the movement in the United States against the Johnson Government’s war of aggression in Vietnam.’
“The Fatherland Front is the last and most exclusive of the front organizations created by Ho Chi Minh in recent decades to broaden support for the regime. It includes some nominally non-Communist elements. It is not believed to exercise real power. Nguyen Xien, a member of the Presidium of the Fatherland Front, told an audience in Hanoi that ‘together with the world peoples’ movement of solidarity with Vietnam against U.S. aggression, it (the demonstrations) constitutes a great encouragement to our people.’
“The National Liberation front, the political arm of the Vietcong guerrilla movement in South Vietnam, created asocial group recently that hopes to get in touch with and encourage members of the antiwar movement in the United States.
“Some political sources speculated today that the Fatherland Front’s mass meeting yesterday might be a step in the same direction by the Hanoi Government itself. Delegates at the meeting sent a message to the National Mobilization Committee to end the War in Vietnam, which organized the Washington rallies, the Vietnam News Agency said. the message ‘warmly welcomed the success of the week of protest.’
“Mr. Xien said the people of North Vietnam rejoiced at the protests in Washington and in European capitals. He said, ‘We are all the more confident in the victory of our just fight and will be united still more closely to defeat the U.S aggressors.’ The Nhan Dan editorial seemed to suggest that Hanoi would like to play some direct role in the antiwar movement in the United States. The editorial concluded with the words:
“By coordinating actions on both fronts in Vietnam and the United States and stepping up the struggle against their common enemy–the Johnson government, the Vietnamese and American peoples will unquestionably defeat the U.S. imperialist aggressors.’
“Nhan Dan said an important aspect of the Washington rallies was that they marked the end of protest and the start of a ‘fierce struggle’ against the war. The campaign in the U.S. for an end to Johnson’s aggressive war in Vietnam has entered ‘a stage of active resistance,’ said Nhan Dan. ‘No longer a mere manifestation of the American people’s disapproval of U.S. intervention and aggression in Vietnam but a firm action aimed at staying the hands of the U.S. ruling circles and a demand to them to stop the aggression in Vietnam.’ “…
RTR QUOTE for 28 October 1967: Matthew 12:22: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself.”…
Lest we forget Bear