RIPPLE SALVO… #450… Humble Host wishes you a peaceful and thoughtful Memorial Day 2017…My thoughts: The words, hopes and prayers of Lyndon B. Johnson on the Memorial Days of 1963-1967… but first…
Good Morning: Day FOUR HUNDRED FIFTY of a 1000-day journal in retrospect of the air war in North Vietnam fought fifty years ago…
29 May 1967… HEADLINES from The New York Times on a cloudy, rainy Monday in NYC…
NEWS FROM THE BOILING MID-EAST… Page 1: “Israelis to Take ‘Political Action’ To End Blockade”... “Premier Levi Eshkol indicated tonight that Israel would continue to negotiate with the major powers to find ways to reopen the Strait of Tiran to Israel shipping. He said the cabinet had decided on ‘the continuation of political action in the world arena’ to stimulate international factors to take effective measures to insure free international passage in the strait.”… Page 1: “Thant Says Failure in World Morality May Bring On War”... “Secretary Thant said tonight in a televised address…that the failure of governments to comply with their international obligations might bring another world war…”... Page 2: “Johnson Backing Cautious Tactics”... “President Johnson sought a few hours of relaxation at his ranch near here today, apparently hoping that the Middle East tensions of he last week may yet be abated by diplomatic rather than military action…His decision to take the break after several days of doubt reflected the glimmer of hope that American officials say they detect in the situation.”… Page 2: “Cabinet Shifts Urged on Eshkol; Ben-Gurion or Dayan Proposed”... “Party leaders inside and outside Premier Eshkol’s cabinet have been urging the transfer of Mr. Eshkol’s defense portfolios to one or two Israeli war heroes. They ask that either David Ben-Gurion, who led the country during the war of independence in 1948 or General Moshe Dayan, commander of the Israeli forces that swept the Egyptians out of Sinai Peninsula in 1956, be put in charge of the nation’s defense and defense forces.”... Page 3: “Hussein Fearful War May Erupt”... “King Hussein of Jordan declared in an interview today the chances of war between Israel and Arabs had now reached their peak. ‘It could be a matter of days, it could be a matter of hours.’ ‘
Page 24: Editorial: “Military Reality in the Mid-East”... “The responsibilities of power rest upon the United States in the Middle East crisis. Despite President Nasser’s distorted accusations, Washington’s responsibilities are not entirely of Washington’s choosing. The United States has filled the vacumm left in the area by the decline of British power and the virtual withdrawal of the French. But whether one likes it or not, the facts are that the United States is the only power capable of the rapid projection of military force to the area of conflict. This is a sobering responsibility and not one to be taken lightly. Korea and Vietnam prove that military intervention–even on a small, initial scale–can lead to open-ended commitments and uncalculated costs in blood and treasure…both Korea and Vietnam have shown that sea and air intervention alone were inadequate to accomplish the purposes of intervention and that considerable ground power was needed. This might not be true in the power vacuum of the Middle East. But it is a possibility that the nation must recognize at this critical time.”…
THE REST OF THE NEWS… Page 1: “Democrats Face Losses in Senate”… “On the office wall of the junior Senator from South Dakota is a framed certificate bearing two printed words: ‘Why Vietnam?’ Beneath these words is bold handwriting that proclaims: ‘To George McGovern in my search for peace, not only in Vietnam, but in all the world. LBJ’… Senator McGovern received the certificate in the early stage of the Vietnam build-up when the President was still trying to pacify Senate Doves. The Senator is no longer welcome at the White House to discuss Vietnam. Of the 23 Senators of the Democratic Party up for reelection in November 1968, half will be forced to retire or make a difficult choice whether to support the war or not. (George McGovern chose to run for President)…” …Page 1: “Integration In South: Erratic Pattern”… “An erratic pattern of racial progress and recalcitrance covers the South like a crazy guilt now that the civil rights movement has collapsed in the region…i.e. some states are changing, others are not…”
BEST STORY OF THE DAY: Page 1: “Chichester Returns to Jubilant Britain”... “Sir Francis Chichester, waving and smiling, sailed int Plymouth Harbor at dusk this evening, home at last, from his voyage around the world. His 53-foot ketch, Gypsy Moth IV, passed the Plymouth breakwater at 8:59p.m. a gun sounded and the perilous 14, 750-miles homeward trip from Sydney was ended on the 119th day. The entire trip: 226 days t sea covered 28,500 miles…oohrah….. One of a kind!…my kind…”the rugged individual” !!
AT THE FRONT: Page 8: “U.S. Brigade Takes Heavy Enemy Toll”… “Circling over burning and burned out houses this morning in his command helicopter the colonel muttered, “We’ll get a hundred of them by the time we quit counting.” In a 24-hour fire-fight the Marines killed and counted 73 dead of the 60th North Vietnamese brigade. The American Marines lost 2 killed in action and 17 wounded.”…
29 May 1967… The President’s TS Daily CIA Briefing (sanitized): ARAB STATES-ISRAEL: The situation has remained essentially unchanged since Eshkol’s temporizing statement last night. Arab reaction to the Israeli Premier’s radio address is not yet in. Following yesterday’ protracted cabinet meeting, one of Eshkol’s ministers told the British Ambassador that Israel will not run any ships through the Tiran Straits except within the framework of whatever international force will be created by Israel’s supporters… Arab mobilization continues, although some of it is probably illusory…The Syrian chief of state has left to discuss the crisis with Moscow, and the Syrian foreign minister is awaiting a reply from France before flying to Paris to consult with President De Gaulle…SOUTH VIETNAM: enemy ground activity over the weekend was limited largely to sporadic mortar attacks, terrorist raids, and small-scale unit actions in the northern provinces and western highlands. There are continuing signs, however, that a general offensive by Viet Cong and North Vietnamese army forces is imminent...NORTH VIETNAM: Still more MIG aircraft have been brought into North Vietnam from China as replacements…
29 May 1967… The President’s Daily Diary…..The President remains at “the ranch.”
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… HEROISM AND EXTRAORDINARY ACHIEVEMENT…COMMANDER JOSEPH ERVAL MILLS, United States Navy…DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS… 19 MAY 1967…
In the name of the President of the United States the Commander-in-Chief U.S. Pacific Fleet takes great pleasure in awarding COMMANDER JOSEPH ERVAL MILLS, United States Navy, the DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS for HEROISM and EXTRAORDINARY ACHIEVEMENT while serving as a pilot of a jet aircraft attached to Fighter Squadron ONE HUNDRED FOURTEEN, embarked in USS KITTY HAWK (CVA-63) during combat operations against enemy forces in North Vietnam on 19 May 1967. Assigned as the strike leader of a group of 19 aircraft and leader of the F-4 fighter escort element, Commander MILLS boldly planned and led a daring daylight strike against the Vien Dien SAM supply and support facility on the outskirts of Hanoi, the most heavily defended area in North Vietnam. By imaginatively employing the resources at his disposal Commander MILLS maximized the effectiveness of his entire strike group and assured the success of the mission. Penetrating an area known to be defended by numerically superior enemy fighter aircraft, Commander MILLS exhibited exceptional daring and aggressive leadership by electing to closely escort the strike group during its attack to afford maximum protection for the strike aircraft although exposing his element to all the defensive anti-aircraft fire the enemy could interpose. Twenty-five miles from the target the group began to encounter tracking surface-to-air missile fire which continued throughout the attack. Despite indications of being continually tracked by missile fire control radar, and having to violently maneuver to evade seven missiles guiding toward his aircraft, Commander MILLS maintained his defensive position during the approach and retirement from the target. Although approximately 30 surface-to-air missiles were fired at the group the attack was executed which resulted in inflicting major damage to the strategic target complex. Having insured that no enemy fighter aircraft threatened the retirement of the main strike group, Commander MILLS returned to the hostile environment until all support aircraft were safely clear of the objective area. By his sound professional judgement, bold and aggressive planning, unerring tactical leadership and gallantry under fire, Commander MILLS upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.”…
29 MAY 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times…no coverage of the air war over North Vietnam…”Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson)… There were no fixed wing aircraft lost over Southeast Asia on 29 May1967… and the Bear was at the bar in Cubi Point drinking Stingers and watching “cat shots.”…..
RIPPLE SALVO… #450… The Memorial Days of Lyndon Baines Johnson…1963 through 1967…
Vice President Johnson was described in a New York Times piece as being a “distracted, distressed and depressed” #2 to President John F. Kennedy in the spring of 1963. For a change of pace he accepted an invitation to give a Memorial Day speech at Gettysburg. The speech went into the annals as one of the most memorable speeches of 1963, the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Gettysburg and the Abe Lincoln speech at the November dedication of the National Cemetery in the little town that hosted the greatest battle of the American Civil War. The Vice President took the occasion to respond to the Martin Luther King “Letter From Birmingham Jail” that deplored the pace of equal rights legislation and initiatives to bring justice and equality to American Negroes. King had written: “For years now I have heard the words ‘Wait!’ It rings in the ear of every Negro with piercing familiarity. This ‘Wait’ has almost always meant ‘Never.’ We must come to see with one of our distinguished jurists, that ‘justice too long-delayed is justice denied.’ “
On Memorial Day 1963 at Gettysburg Vice President Johnson answered:”One hundred years ago, the slave was freed. One hundred years later, the Negro remains in bondage to the color of his skin.”...“The Negro today asks justice. We do not answer him–we do not answer those who lie beneath this soil–when we reply to the Negro asking ‘Patience.’ It is empty to plead that the solution to the dilemmas of the present rests on the hands of the clock.” And then “he walked the talk” and created his plan for a “Great Society” that fate would give him the opportunity to put in place as the President of the United States…
On Memorial Day 1964 President Johnson issued “A Proclamation” that reminded Americans of the annual custom of honoring “the Nations forefathers and compatriots who have laid down their lives that we might live in freedom.” The Proclamation “designated Memorial Day, Saturday, May 30, 1964, as a day of prayer for permanent peace, and I call upon all the people of the Nation to invoke God’s blessing on those who have died in defense of our country and to pray for a world of law and order. I designate the hour beginning in each locality at eleven o’clock in the morning of that day as the time to unite in such prayer.”…
On Memorial Day 1965 President Johnson’s “Proclamation” requested that “the Nation honor those who gave their lives that this country might live in peace and freedom.” He proclaimed, “Their numbers legion, their deeds valorous, their memories hallowed. They fought in the valleys of Pennsylvania, in the trenches of Verdun, and in the foxholes of Guadalcanal. Now Americans sons are again making the highest sacrifice to protect for this and future generations the liberty won in previous struggles. Man now possesses the capacity to end war and preserve peace. We are able to eliminate poverty and share abundance, to overcome disease and illiteracy, and to bring to all our fellow citizens the fulfillment of their dreams of a better life. We have the means to achieve these victories, now we need only the will.”…”I call upon the people of the Nation to pray for a lasting peace in which all mankind may reap the fruits of his blessing.”…
On Memorial Day 1966 President Johnson’s “Proclamation” reflected the realities of a brutal war that was taking the lives of American youth. His “Proclamation”…”Americans will be fighting and dying in Vietnam this Memorial Day 1966, in fulfillment of our commitment to freedom. Their sacrifice is part of an ancient legacy that begins with man’s first act of transcendent courage, and that contains all that is noble and selfless in human character. Our own liberty was won in struggle against tyranny. In two wars and in Korea, brace Americans and their allies gave their lives that men might live and prosper in freedom. We shall not forsake that sacrifice. We shall–because we must–persevere.
“We are totally committed to defeat this aggression. This nation has never left the field of battle in abject surrender of a cause for which it has fought. We shall not do so now. We shall see this through. Yet as we protect freedom by courage in arms, we shall every day continue the search for an honorable peace.
“It is tragic that young lives must be sacrificed, that great sums must be spent for the instruments of war, when the work of peace awaits man’s accomplishment in every land. America today–as in past years–is prepared to join in that work with any nation whose devotion to peace with its neighbors, and a better life for its people. Let the guns of aggression be silent, we say, that the sounds of builders, of the planters, of the teachers, may be heard.
“On this Memorial Day, as we honor the memory of brave men who have borne our colors in war, we pray to God for His mercy. We pray for the wisdom to find a way to end this struggle of nation against nation, of brother against brother. We pray that soon we may begin to build the only true memorial to man’s valor in war–a sane and hopeful environment for generations to come.”
On Memorial Day 1967, fifty years ago, President Johnson delivered more than a proclamation. the full text is elsewhere on the RTR pages for today…see the Mighty Thunder Post… The President asked that the day be spent not just honoring the fallen, and praying for the troops but asking for support for the cause for which hundreds of thousands of American fighting men were being sent into the jungles of Southeast Asia to fight for– freedom for the South Vietnamese.
“In reverent tribute on this Memorial Day 1967 we salute the gallant men of our country who have served and still serve us so nobly and selflessly in defense of freedom. We can never repay their sacrifice. Our honored dead sleep in hallowed ground on five continents. The debt we owe them, and that our children will owe for generations to come, is beyond measure. Today our young men are fighting and dying in Vietnam so that other young men may stand as they have stood–proudly independent, free to determine their own destiny. Before their common sacrifice and dedication the barriers of race,color, or creed crumble. The heroism of a just cause makes all brothers against tyranny.”… “Every President in time of armed conflict must act in the deep conviction that the cause for which our young men must suffer and die transcends their sacrifices.”…”We have had to accept the war in Vietnam to redeem our pledge to those who have accepted in good faith our commitment to protect their right of free choice. Only in this way can we preserve our own right to act in freedom. We shall continue to resist the aggressor in Vietnam, as we must.”…
On Memorial Day 1967 President Johnson was resting on his ranch in Texas. Four years after he was a despondent Vice President speaking in Gettysburg he was a tired President. And the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a “plan to stir up trouble in some big cities” on behalf of “righteous causes.” And in Vietnam the total number of Killed in Action exceeded 10,000. More that 48,000 young Americans were yet to die for the cause of …………
Lest we forget… Bear