RIPPLE SALVO… #633… James Reston, New York Times: “Hanoi Prefers to say no (to LBJ’s overtures to talk peace) in the belief that the President’s critics are winning the battle.”… but first…
Good Morning: Day SIX HUNDRED THIRTY-THREE of remembering the events and brave men who waged our nation’s offensive air war against North Vietnam only to come home as “baby killers.”…
29 November 1967… HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a chilly and mostly sunny Wednesday in New York…
Page 1: “Accord on Cyprus In Sight After Day of Falling Hopes–Greek Approval Is Reported On Last Minute Terms Demanded By Turkey–Vance to Fly to Cyprus–Makarios Expected to Agree to Settlement Evolved After Five Days”… “…agreement to avert war after a day in which hope had plummeted. Greeks made last-minute decision to accept settlement terms.”… Page 1: “Episcopal Clergymen Here Call Homosexuality Morally Neutral”… “90 Episcopalian priests generally agreed that the church should classify homosexual acts between consenting adults as ‘morally neutral’ and acknowledged that in some cases such acts may even be a good thing.”... Page 1: “DeGaulle Views Are Spurned By Wilson and Pearson–British Will Persist (in pursuing membership in European Common Market)–Canadians Charge French With Meddling In Quebec”...and Canadian domestic problems… Page 1: “Eisenhower Backs U.S. Land Forays In North Vietnam–Proposes Limited Attacks–Supports Right of Pursuit Even In Laos and Cambodia”… “…proposed limited ground attacks to neutralize strong enemy artillery positions just north of the demilitarized zone… He also advocated the right to ‘hot pursuit of enemy forces,’ even when they seek refuge in South Vietnam’s western neighbors, Laos and Cambodia.”... Page 1: “Proposal to Pull Out of Vietnam Loses 3-2 in Cambridge, Massachusetts”… “The voters of Cambridge have rejected a proposal by more than 3 to 2 margin for the ‘prompt return of American forces in Vietnam. Vote was 17,142 against withdrawal and 11,349 for.”... Page 1: “President Orders General Cutback For All Agencies of $4-Billion Savings Aimed At Inducing Congress to Pass His Tax Increase Bill”–Wilbur Mills Doubts ’67 Stop Gap Funds Approach to Keep Foreign Aid and Poverty Units Operating”… “…cutback across the board rather than specific, selected programs…Cut personnel costs by 2-percent and ‘controllable’ programs by 10-percent…Exceptions may be made to agencies who can prove the need for them…Reductions are expected to save $4-billion.”…
Page 1: “FOE CAPTURES BASE CLOSE TO CAMBODIA AFTER HEAVY ATTACK”… “Vietcong and North Vietnamese troops captured an American and South Vietnamese military headquarters in the town of Budop, 90 miles north of Saigon before daybreak today in a heavy attack reports from the field said. The enemy force also attacked a nearby United States Special forces camp, manned by specially trained anti-guerrilla forces and an airstrip 1.5 miles north of the district headquarters. Military spokesmen said that American air raids on the headquarters complex and counterattacks by United States reinforcements had killed at least 100 enemy soldiers. Fighting was under way more than 10 hours and control of the town was in doubt. The first sketchy reports on casualties said nine South Vietnamese defenders of the Budop complex had been killed. There was no immediate report on American losses. Units of the United States First Infantry division were sent to aid the defenders….Budop, a rubber plantation town near the Cambodian frontier, is 10 miles from Locbinh, the village where American troops defeated a mixed force of North Vietnamese and Vietcong guerrillas three weeks ago.”…
29 November 1967…The President’s Daily CIA Brief… (from the CIA Reading Room)… British Group Plans Visit to North Vietnam: A 25-member British “peace group” plans to leave on 23 December for a visit to North Vietnam, according to a British press report. A spokesman for the group stated that they planned to “share the dangers” of bombing with the Vietnamese people and to bring medical supplies for these injured in air raids. He claimed that the group did not align themselves with the “military objectives of either side” but said that they hoped their presence in North Vietnam would “bring home to the people the killing of human beings who want peace and an end to suffering.” The group is currently trying to raise money to finance their trip….
U.S. State Department, Office of Historian… Two 29 Nov 67 historical documents attached here for the record. Neither is of high interest to Rolling Thunder readers. Number 420. includes a note of interest concerning security in the White House… “The President said Kosygin wrote me a letter, had his ambassador bring it in, and Chad Roberts writes most of it in the Washington Post this morning. The President said it is inconceivable how this could happen.”
419. Telegram Bunker to State (29th weekly report)…
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v05/d419
420. Notes on Meeting With President …
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v05/d420
29 NOVEMBER 1967… Operation Rolling Thunder… New York Times (30 Nov reporting 29 Nov ops)… Page 14: “In North Vietnam, Navy carrier pilots bombed the Haiphong railroad and highway bridge and the Haiphong railroad yard. A spokesman said that carrier pilots had also bombed the Catbi air base, three and a half miles southeast of Haiphong, and supply barges along the coast.”…
Vietnam: Air Losses (Chris Hobson) There was one fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 29 November 1967…
(1) MAJOR LOUIS FARR JONES and 1LT L.J. LEMOINE were flying an F-4C of the 558th TFS and 12 TFW out of Cam Ranh Bay on a bombing mission in Steel Tiger west of Tchepone and on their second run on a road junction target were hit by ground fire. The aft section of the aircraft burst into flames and 1LT LEMOINE was able to eject and was subsequently rescued by Air Force helicopter. MAJOR JONES was killed in action, apparently unable to eject before the aircraft crashed near Tchepone. His remains were recovered in November 2000 and positively identified in November 2001… Chris Hobson’s narrative points out that the losses in Laos operations were relatively few in 1967 but increased in November and for the rest of the year. He skips an explanation. Humble Host opines that the number of weather diverts significantly increased the number of ops and in anticipation of the monsoonal shift forcing an increase in ops, the enemy brought more antiaircraft weapons into the Steel Tiger theater… multiple runs in Steel Tiger were more risky than ever…
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER... From the “34th TFS/F-105 History” of Howie Plunkett: 29-Nov-67:
“Hachet flight from the 34 TFS took off at 07:55. They refueled with Tan 23 going to the target and post-strike refueled with Tan 66…The flight worked with the FAC ‘Nail 70’ against a target at location 21-36N and 106-32E ‘75%coverage, 100% on target.’ Their mission lasted 4.3 hours.”…. “At 14:10, four pilots from the 34TFS comprising Scuba flight took off from Korat on a mission to Laos. The mission lasted 2 hours and fifty minutes…” Major Sam Armstrong was #3 in the lineup. It was his 28th combat mission…From his log: “The regular afternoon strike was cancelled and we were fortunate to get an add-on flight of four (From the schedulers at &th Air Force at Tan Son Nhut). We went up into Laos above the Thailand border where we worked with an O-1E FAC. The clouds were thick all about, but we were able to roll in on a shallow pass and drop. All of our bombs were on target and the FAC said we destroyed 12 buildings in an area where 200 enemy troops had been reported. After that we swung into North Vietnam for a road check and counter. It was the first time my tape recorder worked properly and I was really pleased.” ….
RIPPLE SALVO… #633… JAMES RESTON: “Washington: Mystery and Tragedy of Hanoi”… NYT, 15 Nov 67, Page 47…
“There are many mysteries and tragedies in Vietnam, but the greatest of these is the Hanoi Government’s continuing refusal to talk about a negotiated settlement. Again this week they have responded to President Johnson’s offer of peace talks ‘on a neutral ship’ with demands that they know to be an unacceptable humiliation for the United States. Why do they do it?
“The most plausible explanation is that they feel they were cheated twice in peace talks at the end of the last world war and at the Geneva Conference and think they would be cheated again in negotiations with the United States. Also, they are undoubtedly getting misleading optimistic reports on the progress of the war from their own field commanders and continue to believe that they will either win on the battlefield or achieve their objectives through political opposition to President Johnson in the United States. This is not, however, a realistic appraisal of either the military situation in Vietnam or the political situation in the United States. They are not winning the war. The opposition in the U.S., powerful as it is, has not changed the President’s strategy, and it is not a good bet that Mr.Johnson will lose the next election or that any likely successor would accept Hanoi’s demands for unconditional surrender.
“On the other hand, even an agreement to talk in private about negotiations would on balance improve Hanoi’s situation. This is precisely why the Joint Chiefs of Staff here are opposed to ending the bombing and start the talking. For once the bombing stopped, it would be extremely difficult for the United States to defy world opinion and start it up again. And at the moment of a cease-fire, North Vietnam would have certain obvious advantages. At that point, Ho Chi Minh and General Giap would have expelled the French from the Vietnamese peninsula and fought half a million Americans to the peace table. They would be the symbols of Vietnamese nationalism facing a group of political opponents in Saigon who have little popular support.
“Moreover, even if Hanoi does not believe President Johnson’s commitment to withdraw all his troops within six months of a peace settlement, it should not be at all difficult to get the United Nations to support and supervise that withdrawal. It is not difficult at all to understand why General Westmoreland and the Chiefs of Staff oppose the Johnson peace proposals. Unlike Ho Chi Minh and General Giap, they fear that the President would keep his commitments, and that once the American troops were withdrawn, the Communists would be in a good [position to take over, either by political agitation or in due course by military pressure.
“To the Joint Chiefs, the Johnson peace offers would lead only to a truce and make it difficult, if not impossible, to send American troops back again if the fighting started after the U.S. evacuated. This is why General Westmoreland and the military associates want to fight on and keep American power in Vietnam, for they fear that the South Vietnamese Government could never stand for political, let alone the military, pressure once the American expeditionary force left. Hanoi’s refusal at least to test the Johnson peace offers, however, is much harder to understand. No doubt they would face certain risks. It is not easy to keep guerrilla forces in being if there is no military pressure.
“Apparently Ho Chi Minh and his associates simply cannot believe that the United States would make such sacrifices of men and treasure simply to defend the principle of opposing military aggression–and then withdraw. I believe, President Johnson is perfectly sincere and would go through with it no matter what the Joint Chiefs of Staff thought.
“This is especially true if Hanoi agreed to a peace settlement in the next twelve months before the election. For during the campaigning the main political pressures on the President would be for prolonging the cease-fire and arranging U.N. supervision of withdrawal. Hanoi, however, prefers to say “no” in the belief that the President’s critics are winning the debate. This they may be doing, but they are not changing the strategy, and if Hanoi keeps insisting on a U.S. surrender, the anti-Johnson forces may lose the election as well.”
RTR Quote for 29 November: FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT, Speech October 1944: “Peace, like war, can succeed only where there is a will to enforce it, and where there is available power to enforce it.” (POWER–POSITION–RESOLVE)
Lest we forget… Bear