RIPPLE SALVO… #246… A CASE STUDY: VIETNAM… but first…
Good Morning: Day TWO HUNDRED FORTY-SIX of remembering the sacrifices of American blood and treasure fighting a land war in Asia…
3 NOVEMBER 1966… The HEAD LINES IN AMERICA from the New York Times… On a rainy Thursday on the Hudson…
Page 1: “Johnson Home, ‘More Confident On Goals In Asia’…”…”President Johnson returned home this evening from his seven nation Pacific tour ‘more confident and more hopeful that peace, security and prosperity’ could be achieved in Asia. ‘The road ahead may be a long and difficult one,’ he told a crowd that had assembled on a rainy fall evening to greet him at Dulles International Airport. ‘But if our countrymen will stand with us,’ he said, ‘if we will travel the difficult road together, I think we will come out well in the end… The world of Asia and the Pacific is moving through a critical transition, from chas to security, from poverty to progress, from anarchy of narrow nationalism to regional cooperation, from endlwss hostility to a stable peace. It has been myhope and my prayer since I took leave of you that this journey and this meeting at Manila would help move things faster in the right direction.’ After his brief statement at a nationally televised welcoming ceremony, the President and Mrs. Johnson were flown by helicopter to the White House.”… Page 1:.”McNamara Victor In Stand On Thais”…”Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara has won an argument over whether the United States should become physically involved in putting down a Communist uprising in northeast Thailand. The White House has upheld Mr. McNamara’s contention that Washington should not dispatch United States helicopter companies to Thailand and should not assign American military advisors to battalion level units of the Thai army. He is understood to be hesitant to see the United States become physically involved in combatting another Communist insurgency on the Asian mainland unless there is a vital need. Graham A. Martin, United States Ambassador to Thailand has contended for several months that helicopter companies and advisors should be sent to assist Thai army units.”…
Page 1: “Atomic Pact Plea Is Adopted At U.N.”…”An urgent appeal for completion of a treaty to prevent the spread of nuclear weapon was approved today by a vote of 100-1 in the General Assembly’s Political Committee. Nineteen states abstained, including Cuba, and Albania voted no. Supporters of the resolution look upon it as an interim measure until the treaty is completed. They feel it has significance as an expression of the Assembly’s moral force.”… Page 1: “2nd Foray staged By North Koreans After they Kill 7″…”Three hours after North Korean soldiers attacked a United Nations command patrol just south of the demilitarized zone, infiltrators clashed with south Korean forces today along the zone, allied military authorities reported. Six Americans and one South Korean were killed in the earlier encounter, which took place along 30 miles north of the Walker Hill resort where President Johnson was sleeping. The attack occurred eight hours before the President left Korea.”… Page 1: “FAA Considers Making Kennedy A Domestic Field”…”the Federal Aviation Agency is studying the possibility of shifting all international flights from Kennedy International Airport to a less congested airport…such a step might be taken if local authorities fail to reach agreement in the near future on a site for a fourth airport.”…
Page 1: “U.S. Naval Gunfire Hits North Vietnam”…”United States Navy sources disclosed today that Navy ships have bombarded the coast of North Vietnam for the first time…the bombardment was carried out just north of the demilitarized zone between North and South Vietnam during the last few days in conjunction with air strikes against North Vietnam. Three North Vietnam divisions have been reported in the area. There were unconfirmed reports the ships were fired upon from the shore and that one ship was hit…”…
3 NOVEMBER 1966… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (4 Nov reporting 3 Nov ops) Page 16: “The weather continued to improve over North Vietnam yesterday and United States pilots flew 165 multi-plane missions. Targets included five missile sites. Three MIGs were spotted but not engaged.
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson) Three fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 3 November 1966 (all five aviators rescued by helicopter)…
(1) LT R.W. SCHAFFER and LTJG J.P. PICCOLO were flying an F-4B of the VF-154 Black Knights embarked in USS CORAL SEA on an armed reconnaissance mission along Route 1A south of Vinh and had cleared from a strafing run on trucks when hit by ground fire. LT SCHAFFER turned toward the sea and flew his damaged and burning Phantom twenty miles before both airmen ejected to be rescued by a SAR helicopter.
(2) CAPTAIN D.J. HANEY was flying an RF-101C of the 45th TRS and 460th TFW out of Tan Son Nhut on a photo reconnaissance mission in over the demilitarized zone at 7,000-feet when hit by ground fire. He turned east and was forced to eject a few minutes later over the Gulf where he was rescued by an Air Force helicopter.
(3) LT WALT A. WOOD and LT E.J. DUCHARME were flying an F-4B of the VF-14 Top Hatters embarked in the USS Franklin D. Roosevelt and returning from an armed reconnaissance mission and were unable to refuel from a tanker and flamed out before they could recover on the carrier. They were rescued by helicopter.
RIPPLE SALVO… #246… THE WITHDRAWAL OPTION… “Cut and run.” Retreat? Give up? How un-American can you get?… Not a chance!!!
By the end of 1966 the United States was spending $2 billion a month on a war that was being fought by American boys “doing the job Asian boys should do.” And more and more Americans were dying doing it. In the more than five years of American participation in the war before 1966, 2,264 Americans had been killed in South Vietnam. In 1966 another 6,143 perished. More than 340,000 American troops were fighting Vietcong and divisions of North Vietnamese Army troops from one end of South Vietnam to the other as the year came to an end. Efforts to negotiate an end to the war had been fruitless and both sides were settling in and committing to a long war of attrition. And attrition it was.
In 1967, 11,153 American warriors would die on the battlefields of Vietnam.
In 1968, the high of 16,592 gave their lives for the cause. An average of more than 300 American G.I.s were killed in action every week.
In 1969, 11,616 more would die. In April of that year 543,482 American warfighters were doing what Asian boys should have been doing.
By the end of the fight and our withdrawal from South Vietnam in 1973, more than 58,000 American boys died for the cause. In the end, we withdrew. We cut and ran. We gave up. We lost. Our nation had lost the will to win. And we lost precious blood and treasure. Fifty-eight thousand of America’s finest had given their lives in a lost cause.
Think about that while you are standing in front of the Vietnam Wall on the Mall. Did all these men and a few brave women, give their lives in vain? Yes!…Unless… our nation’s leaders exercise more wisdom and accept the lesson the bloody Vietnam experience provides–withdrawal must be an acceptable option to attrition warfare.
In future Ripple Salvoes your Humble Host intends to make a case for withdrawal from fights that can’t be won a national policy, starting now, in November 2016 as we transition from the Obama Administration to a fresh set of leaders…. More than 58,000 brave Americans gave the last full measure in Vietnam to prove that the alternatives to attrition as a national strategy must include withdrawal in the 21st century… “They shall not have died in vain.”
Lest we forget… Bear ……… –30– ………