RIPPLE SALVO… #942… EAVESDROPPING AT THE WHITE HOUSE…Ten Historical Documents (30 September to 3 October) that tell a story featuring the role of Operation Rolling Thunder– the bombardment of North Vietnam…
GOOD MORNING…Day NINE HUNDRED FORTY-TWO in-a-row of daily posts from the mountain in Ogden, Utah. Every post dedicated to the remembrance of the events and the bold-brave-duty bound warriors who did the dirty work in the skies of North Vietnam for forty-four months. Then got pixxed on as the-worst-of-the-worst of “the American baby-killers” when they came home….
HEAD LINES from the Ogden Standard-Examiner for Thursday, 3 October 1968…
THE WAR: Page 1: “ENEMY MORTARS RIP YANK BASE NEAR SAIGON–GUNFIRE FOLLOWS–Enemy Pulls Back After Attack”… “Enemy forces slammed more than 100 rounds of mortar shells into a U.S. base protecting Saigon’s northwestern flank today, then sent a platoon of infantrymen firing into it in an apparent effort to test the American defenses. The enemy troops pulled back after an hour of fighting leaving 13 dead on the battlefield 14 miles northwest of Saigon. defending troops of the U.S. 25th Infantry Division seized 10 weapons, 35 rocket-grenade rounds and seven bangalore torpedoes designed to blow holes in the barb-wire defense perimeter. Four Americans were reported injured…. Earlier, South Vietnamese infantrymen reported killing 22 enemy soldiers a mile away from the American base. The government soldiers also seized a 75 recoilless cannon, a bazooka rocket launcher, two assault rifles and a quantity of mines and ammunition. No government casualties were reported. these were the only significant ground clashes and they were relatively small. “Ground action in the republic yesterday (Wednesday) was light and scattered with only minor contacts,’ said a communique from U.S. command…LOWEST LEVEL… Fighting hit its lowest level in a week and the enemy is scaling down his efforts in some areas. The slowdown was reflected in the weekly casualty report with 247 Americans killed in action during the seven day period ending last Saturday. This was a drop of 43 from the previous week. South Vietnam casualties dropped from 473 KIA to 316 KIA. Enemy casualties were put at 2,866 compared to 3,380 the prior week.”…
HEADLINES… Page 1: “BLOODY RIOTS BREAK OUT IN MEXICO CITY–SHOTS KILL 25 IN MEXICO CITY–Strife Perils Olympics Set For October 12″… “Mexican army troops silenced sniper guns early today in the bloodiest battle yet of Mexico City’s student rebellion. Tanks patrolled downtown streets of the capital, due to become host October 12 to the Olympic Games. Police and hospitals reported 25 persons were killed in an hours-long exchange of fire set off by a rifle shot, presumably crowded site of an antigovernment rally Wednesday night.”… Page 1: “POLICE HOLD YIPPIE ABBIE HOFFMAN IN FLAG INSULT”…”Yippie leader Abbie Hoffman was arrested today when he showed up at a House office building to attend a meeting of the Committee on Un-American Activities (YES, WE USED TO TAKE AN INTEREST IN UN-AMERICAN ACTIVITIES) wearing an American flag designed as a shirt.,,,Hoffman had been subpoenaed by the committee investigating the disorders during the Chicago Democratic National Convention…”… Page 1: “GEORGE WALLACE CHOOSES GENERAL LeMAY AS VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE”… “Retired Air Force Chief of Staff Curtis E. LeMay, a famous flying general in World War II became George C. Wallace’s vice presidential candidate today and called for a harder line in Vietnam.”… Page 1: “AS FORTAS BID FOR CHIEF JUSTICE COLLAPSES–LBJ Has Three Alternatives” … Page 1: “GROMYKO AT U.N.– Reds Offer Friendship“… Page 7: “RED PARTY GETS ON BALLOT IN MINNESOTA”… Sports: “GIBSON STRIKES OUT 17 AS CARDS SNARE OPENER, 4-0…BEATS 31-GAME WINNER McLAIN”…
3 OCTOBER 1968…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER …Ogden Standard Examiner (Associated Press) (4 Oct reporting 3 Oct Ops) Page 2: “Aircraft and Helicopter Reach 4,465″… “In an aerial collision far to the north, headquarters said the Air Force Caribou had just taken off from Camp Evans, headquarters of the U.S. 1st Air Cavalry Division. Thirteen men were killed aboard the Caribou, including four crewmen. Eleven others were killed on the helicopter, including four crewmen. The collision was the second worst this year. Last June 25, twelve American, 16 Thailand servicemen and a South Vietnamese soldier were killed when two Army helicopters collided 16 miles east-southeast of Saigon. The resulting explosion knocked down a third helicopter… The loss of the helicopter shot down and the one destroyed in the aerial collision raised to 11 the number of American aircraft lost since the first of the week.
4,465 AIRCRAFT & HELICOPTERS LOST–904 OVER NVN
“U.S. headquarters said the latest losses raised to 4,465 the number of fixed wing aircraft and helicopters lost in the Vietnam war. A spokesman said 904 U.S. fighter-bombers had been downed in combat over North Vietnam, including two previously unannounced for security reasons. (Probably downed aviators missing and evading on the ground). Another 309 warplanes have been downed in combat over South Vietnam and 1,176 have been lost as the result of accidents, mechanical failures or being downed by enemy ground fire while serving as support aircraft.”…
VIETNAM: AIR LOSSES (Chris Hobson) There were two fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 3 October 1968…
(1) LT JAMES LEE MERRICK was flying an RF-8G of the VFP-63 Detachment on USS Hancock off the coast of South Vietnam when the aircraft suddenly pitched nose down into a 60-degree dive and impacted the water. LT MERRICK inexplicably did not exit the aircraft before impact. He is remembered with respect and sorrow– so young, such bad luck– on this 50th anniversary of his final flight… he rests in peace in his hometown in Ames, Iowa…
(2) A C-7B Caribou of the 537th TAS and 483rd TAW out of Phu Cat collided with an Army CH-47 Chinook helicopter from the 228th Combat Support Aviation Battalion near Camp Evans. The Caribou (Pilot: CAPTAIN WAYNE PHILIP BUNDY) had just taken off and was making a climbing right hand turn and reaching 1,100-feet, collided with the inbound Chinook (Pilot: CW2 T.E. JOHNSON). One of the Chinook rotor blades sliced through the Caribou cockpit and the Caribou spiraled to the ground killing all aboard (4). The Chinook fell to the ground and exploded killing the crew of five and six passengers (11). A tragedy by definition… especially for the eleven families who absorbed the shock and loss of kin…and for the kids? A traumatic and life changing tragedy…
SUMMARY OF ROLLING THUNDER LOSSES (KIA/MIA/POW) FOR THE FOUR 3 OCTOBER DATES DURING THE FOUR YEARS OF THE OPERATION OVER NORTH VIETNAM…
1965, 1966, 1968… NONE…
1967…MAJOR ROBERT WARREN BARNETT, USAF… (POW)… and… LCOL RONALD RUNYON KING, USAF… (KIA)…
RIPPLE SALVO… #942… THE AFTERMATH OF THE VICE PRESIDENT HUBERT H. HUMPHREY PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN SPEECH DELIVERED IN SALT LAKE CITY ON 30 SEPTEMBER 1968… “ROLLING THUNDER–TO BE OR NOT TO BE” (“on the chopping block”)…
Source: Ten consecutive Historical Documents recording the messages and conversations of the President and his men, on the subject, over the period 30 September-3 October. A History Lesson. A Political Science Lesson. Since these documents from the Office of the Historian, State Department, are consecutive, after you key in “Document 40. Editorial Note,” access to 41, etcetera, is easy–just key the faded carrot in the far right margin to move to the next document in the series…
Document 40. Editorial Note. Introduction that identifies the seeds of discord sown by the Humphrey speech– he veers from the President’s policy on Rolling Thunder–the bombing– and the peace talk strategy in Paris… read at…
https://history.state.gov./historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v07/d40
Document 41. Telephone conversation between LBJ and George Ball, who has quit the UN job to help Humphrey in his campaign (and hopes to become HHH’s Sec State). Ball is a dove and has called his old friend LBJ to discuss the Salt Lake speech, which he had a hand in writing to include the prospect of cessation of the bombing “based on good faith.” Ball is refreshed on the Administration policy, including the specifics that LBJ wants both Nixon and Humphrey to support, and why… read at…
https://history.state.gov//historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v07/d41
Document 42. Telephone conversation between LBJ and Senator Everett Dickson, Senate Minority Leader. Dirksen heard the speech and calls the President to see if the Administration policy has changed and if the criteria for granting North Vietnam a cessation of bombing the North has changed. LBJ squares Ev Dirksen away. “President. Well, so here is our present policy–that we are ready, anxious, willing, eager to stop the bombing (ROLLING THUNDER) just as we are eager to stop the war. But we just can’t stop one side of it. The other side has got to stop something too. We found that when we stop and they don’t stop, it kills more men. so we’ve said to them, ‘If we did stop the bombing, what would you do?’ They are now considering that. They have not given us a firm answer.“… read at…
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v07/d42
Document 43. A memo from the Director of the Bureau of Intelligence to Secretary of State Rusk. A report that provides insight into what the North Vietnamese are thinking using information provided by the Russians through the Norwegian “Oslo talks”..diplomacy at work… read at…
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68vo7/d43
Document 44: Telegram from Ambassador Bunker in Saigon with his (69th) weekly report on how every aspect of the war is progressing, or not. This is a long one worth a skim as Bunker, a real unsung hero in the war, lays out the progress in “pacification,” “Vietnamization,” and the leadership (Thieu and Ky)…read at…
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v07/d44
Document 45. Telegram from Harriman in Paris to State/President on how the weekly meeting with the North Vietnamese delegates to the Peace talks went. This reflects the core elements of what Johnson wants from the NVN guys in exchange for a cessation of the bombing. The Humphrey speech impacts the bargaining by appearing to be a better deal for the NVN if they wait until after the election. No wonder LBJ is tight. Both Harriman and Vance have tried without success to make their job negotiating easier by giving up the bombing first, then if the North doesn’t come through with something, restart the bombing. A view now shared with Humphrey. On the other hand, LBJ, Walt Rostow, Dean Rusk and the JCS do not want to give up the bombing until the NVN stops shelling the cities in SVN, backs off the DMZ, and accepts the SVN guys in on the talks… Sec Def Clifford wavers, but in his heart, sides with the Harriman group. … read at…
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v07/d45
Document 46. An information memorandum from Walt Rostow, the President’s right hand man of national affairs and almost everything, to the President. Rostow puts a new look on the three elements of the bargain with the North Vietnamese (GVN participation n the talks/Pressure off the DMZ / Stop the attacks on the cities)… Good staff work for the President’s consideration… read at…
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v07/d46
Document 47. Another memo from Rostow to the President concerning exchanges with the Russians on refining the language of the exchanges to eliminate any chance of misunderstanding. I surmise this is the sort of diplomacy ongoing with North Korea, Iran, Russia now…. read at…
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v07/d47
Document 48. A memo within the intelligence services titled: “Covert Diversionary Operations in North Vietnam” (TS)… Just interesting reading…One paragraph: “Rube Goldberg Devices. Another nascent plan involves the air-dropping of obsolete beacons, weather sensors, electronic devices made of unrelated parts soldered together, apparent agent equipment, empty crates with appropriate markings, etc. It is expected that North Vietnamese intelligence agencies will soon conclude that these devices are decoys but will feel they cannot be ignored.”… read at…
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v07/d48
Document 49. Memorandum for the Record. Subject: “Meeting with Ambassador Vance, October 3, 1968, 9:00-10;30am.” Ambassador Vance meets with the President in his bedroom to tell him what was already discussed in D.45– the meeting in Paris a few days before… very short… read at…
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v07/d49
Document 50. Telephone Conversation Between President Johnson and Secretary of State Rusk. 3 Oct, 10:15 am. Rusk is in New York for the UN meeting and the President calls…”Dean…I’m rather distressed at the papers this morning. I don’t guess you have seen the Washington papers?”… This is a good read (teaser at RTR Quote)! It will hold your interest… read at…
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v07/d50
RTR Quote for 3 October: Washington Post, 3 October 1968, Page 1. (By-line Kraft) “The Vietnam speech had a carefully prepared public build-up. A major speech was announced by the Vice President three days in advance. Leading advisors Under Secretary Ball and Postmaster General O’Brien were on hand. The text itself, while not altogether clear was artfully wrought. The Vice President moved toward a total halt of the bombing of North Vietnam in a way that placed his position far in advance to that laid down in the most recent statements by the President and Secretary of State Rusk. The speech was hardly over before Mr. Ball was pointing out to various press people how the Vice President stands differ from the current posture of the administration.”…
Lest we forget… Bear