HIGHLIGHT: 50 YEARS AGO COMMANDER GUY CANE, VF-53, BAGGED A MiG-17… oohrah…
RIPPLE SALVO… #877… JULY 30 SITREP…SITUATION NORMAL–F.U.B.A.R….. “WITH (the Paris Peace) TALKS STILL STALLED IN LATE JUNE, AT THE PRESIDENT’S REQUEST WHEELER (CJCS) REPORTED ON THE ENEMY’S CURRENT MILITARY SITUATIONS COMPARED WITH THAT OF 31 MARCH 1968: IT HAD DETERIORATED IN THE SOUTH, BUT IMPROVED IN THE NORTH. Augmented air defenses, advanced MiG-21 fighters, new airfields, more SAMs and AAAs deployed south of 20 degrees, plus restored roads, rail lines, and industrial facilities had enabled Hanoi to dispatch an unprecedented 80,000 troops southward since the 31 March bombing halt. Those numbers, Wheeler expected, would make themselves felt in combat during the late summer and fall of 1968.”… quoted from Edward R. Drea’s McNAMARA, CLIFFORD, and the BURDENS OF VIETNAM, 1965-1969…. continued below… but first…
GOOD MORNING… Day EIGHT SEVENTY-SEVEN immersed in the the pages of history covering the years 1965-1968 and the air war over North Vietnam secretly called Operation Rolling Thunder…
HEAD LINES from The New York Times on Tuesday, 30 July 1968…
THE WAR: Page 6: “NAVY EXTENDS MEKONG PATROLS TO CAMBODIAN LINE–CRAFT OPERATE AROUND THE CLOCK IN THE UPPER DELTA AREA–Missions Attempting To Halt Infiltration of Enemy”… “The United States Navy said today that its small patrol boat were operating 24 hours a day on the waterways of the upper Mekong Delta all the way to the Cambodian border. The patrols, designed to check the infiltration of enemy soldiers and supplies into South Vietnam, are being carried out on the upper reaches of the Mekong and Bassac Rivers . It is the first time that such patrols have been used on a full-time basis in the isolated stretches of the rivers. The 31-foot fiber glass boats are accompanied by helicopters…. In the last seven days the trails and suspected enemy gathering points have been blasted by thousands of tons of B-52 bombs… Ground fighting throughout the country has been sporadic and no significant actions were reported… An Army helicopter was shot down south of Saigon by enemy ground fire. One member of the crew was injured.”….
PEACE TALKS: Page 6: “HANOI’S AIDE DECRIES SAIGON’S ACTIONS AGAINST CITIZENS”… “A North Vietnamese spokesman contended today that recent actions by the South Vietnamese government against its domestic political critics showed that the regime had panicked in the face of peace sentiment in Saigon. Nguyen Thanh Le, a spokesman for the North Vietnamese delegation at the talks with the United States mentioned the five -year prison sentence given to Trong Dinh Dzu…He also cited the death sentence imposed on 10 leaders of the Alliance of National, Democratic and Peace Forces, a group that favor an accommodation with the Vietcong… In their last session at the Peace talks in Paris on Wednesday, Americans and North Vietnamese negotiators argued over the legality and popular support of the Government of President Nguyen Van Thieu. The U.S. called on Hanoi to begin to deal directly with Saigon. American officials have privately conceded that their efforts to emphasize the constitutionality of the Saigon Government and its tolerance of free speech have been somewhat undercut lately by repressive measures by the Thieu regime.”….
PAGE 1: “POPE BARS BIRTH CONTROL BY ANY ARTIFICIAL MEANS–TAKES NOTE OF OPPOSITION–Tone Forthright–Encyclical Binding on Catholics But Is Not Immutable Dogma-=-Dissent Is Voice–Indifference Is Shown By many Catholics in U.S.”… Page 1: “SOVIET TROOPS IN GERMANY ARE REPORTED ON ALERT–About 75,000 Are Said to Be Moving, Most Toward Czechoslovak Border”… Page 1: “RUSSIANS MEET CZECH LEADERS SUPPLY PRESSURE–SECURITY IS TIGHT–Soviet Group Is Given Solemn Greeting In Tiny Border Town–Pravda Emphatic–Stresses Dependence of Prague on Close Economic Ties”… Page 23: “JOHNSON FINDS U.S. WEAKENED BY INEQUALITY OF SUBURBAN AND CITY WEALTH”…
30 JULY 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…New York Times (31 July reporting 30 July ops) Page 3: “Over North Vietnam, American fighter-bombers flew 114 missions in moderate to heavy antiaircraft fire. They reported having hit sampans, trucks, highways and bridges. Northeast of Vinh, a few miles south of the 19th parallel, four Navy F-8 Crusaders fought a five-minute battle with four MiG-17s. One MiG was shot down by an air-to-air missile. WORLD WAR I DOGFIGHT…The pilot of the Crusader that downed the MiG, Commander GUY CANE of New York, described the duel as a ‘classic World War I dogfight (CDR CANE “…ended up turning with the enemy fighters until he got off a missile, which detonated just behind the MiG’s tailpipe….)
Stars and Stripes article by SGT ROGER NEUMAN…”NAVY F8 BAGS MIG OVER PANHANDLE…
‘There were F8s and MIGs everywhere. it was just like a real old-fashioned World War I dogfight.’ World War I was a little before his time, really, but Commander GUY CANE felt the thrill of classic air battle Monday when he shot down a MIG-17 over North Vietnam in a five-minute scrap between four Crusaders and four MIGs. CANE, executive officer of Fighter Squadron 53, was flying over the Gulf of Tonkin with three other F-8 pilots when Navy radar picked up enemy planes inland. The crusaders moved in to intercept the MIGs over the southern panhandle near the coastal city of Vinh. ‘My wingman and I went in first,’ said CANE, 38 of New York City. ‘The MIGs were certainly aggressive. After being over land only a short time we found them closer than expected.’ CANE’s wingman , LTJG DEXTER MANLOVE, 25 of Columbia, MD, spotted one of the dark green Soviet-made planes silhouetted against a cloud. Then two more broke out of the white mass and a fourth followed. ‘We met head-on,’ said MANLOVE.
“For five minutes they fought, dodging fire and scrambling for positions over a four mile area of the panhandle. ‘I went after one and fired a missile but it detonated just short of his tailpipe,’ said CANE. ‘I thought it had missed until a chunk of his starboard wing came off and the MIG went into a nose-down, diving spiral. It wa the first MIG he had seen in 186 missions over North Vietnam. He said there was no sign of a parachute in the area as the plane crashed in flames 26 miles northwest of Vinh. ‘I turned my attention, to make sure there were no other enemy,’ he said. ‘And when I looked back down I saw a huge fireball.’ The Navy pilots said their planes escaped damage in the skirmish that claimed the 11th enemy plane downed by air crews of USS Bon Homme Richard. The other three MIGs broke way and had fled north above the 19th parallel, the boundary for American aircrews. End quote…
VIETNAM: AIR LOSSES (CHRIS HOBSON) There was one fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 30 July 1968…
(1) CAPTAIN THOMAS JOHN BEYER wa flying an O-2A Skymaster of the 20th TASS and 504th TASG out of Danang on a detachment to Chu Lai and launched on a FAC mission as Helix 15 to FAC in the area called “Pocahontas Forest, Quang Tri province to support the U.S. Army’s Americal Division. CAPTAIN BEYER reported absence of enemy activity and intention to head to Kham Duc in SVN. When he failed to return to Chu Lai a five-day SAR was launched. The search centered on the site of an explosion heard by a ground party that had seen the O-2A shortly before hearing the explosion in the direction the O-2 was flying. No trace of the aircraft or CAPTAIN BEYER were found and the Captain was listed as MIA. The crash site was found in 2009 and the remains of MAJOR BEYER were positively identified and returned to the family for burial in North Dakota with full honors on 13 December 2010 after more than four decades of prayer and hope… rewarded…His funeral was attended by his wife, a son and a daughter… they also serve who wait… and wait…
Among MAJOR BEYER’s combat awards: the SILVER STAR, DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS, BRONZE STAR, PURPLE HEART and the AIR MEDAL…
Thank you Joint Recovery Team troops… you are appreciated…
30 July 2018 Today… “Leave a Remembrance” at “Wall of Faces“… and put your heart into Remembering…
RIPPLE SALVO… #877… THE SITUATION ON 30 JULY… Quoted from Drea’s McNAMARA and CLIFFORD, pages 229-30:…. I quote…
“Increasingly restive over the enemy buildup in the southern portion of North Vietnam and convinced Hanoi had no intention of reducing the level of fighting, the Joint Chiefs of Staff again recommended air attacks between the 19th and 20th parallels. To apprise the Joint Chiefs of the issues at stake, (Cyrus) Vance during a return from Paris discussed with them the state of the negotiations. He addressed a variety of issues at a meeting on 17 July, explaining that bombing north of the 19th parallel would seriously hamper any chance for successful talks; moreover, the bombing south of the line was proving effective. Meanwhile, (Paul) Warnke had proposed to go even further–by ending the bombing unilaterally in the hope of producing meaningful negotiations.
“Beginning in mid-June, substantially diminished enemy-initiated offensive activity resulted in fewer rocket and mortar attacks against Saigon and the withdrawal of an NVA division to 170 miles above the DMZ. Amidst these hopeful military signs, Hanoi’s diplomatic activity and public pronouncements also suggested restraint. But heavy fighting still raged in South Vietnam’s northern provinces, so it was not clear whether there was genuine restraint or pause to refit and regroup for future operations. Given this uncertainty, the JCS on 31 July urged the president to continue the bombing until Hanoi offered assurances of a reciprocal reduction in military activity. Johnson, concerned that without the air attacks against the North more enemy troops and supplies could reach South Vietnam, fumed that ‘the International Communists’ were behind an ‘iniquitous campaign’ to end the bombing and lent a sympathetic ear to Wheeler’s arguments to reopen the area between the 19th and 20th parallels.
“Johnson’s quandary over whether to bomb or not manifested itself over a New York Times editorial of late July that asserted that the only way to gauge Hanoi’s restraint was to stop bombing the North entirely. To respond to what had become a ‘new wave of demands’ to end the bombing, the president directed (General Maxwell) Taylor to prepare a report on the source of the pressure and what to do about it. On 30 July (FIFTY YEARS AGO TODAY) Taylor reported the administration had three choices: (1) succumb to the critics and stop the bombing, (2) ignore the pressure and ride out the criticism, (3) link the level of bombing to the level of violence in the South. Taylor favored the second course for the moment, while preparing to shift to tit-for-tat retaliation contingent on lifting geographical restrictions on potential targets. Rusk, Clifford and Wheeler all agreed with the second alternative. Clifford perceived no merit in escalation because the three-year air campaign hd not forced Hanoi to cease military activity in the south. Moreover, it might cause Hanoi to quit the Paris talks, with the United States blamed for the breakdown. Though still opposed to a unilateral bombing cessation absent ‘substantial restraint on the part of Hanoi, he did advise Johnson to develop initiative that might make it possible to cease the bombing entirely, stating that he had ‘been considering’ a plan that would allow resumption if necessary. In the meantime the secretary advocated staying the course. After five months of fruitless talks, however, Johnson was ‘exceedingly hostile’ to any recommendations from Paris, caustically dismissing them as attempts to influence him as ‘part of an overall conspiracy,’ with the enemy using the president’s own people as ‘dupes.’ Secretary Clifford thought this last reference was to him, Harriman, and Vance.”… End quote… And that’s the way it was on 30 July ’68: NO TRUST, NO CONFIDENCE AND NO PROGRESS TOWARD ENDING THE WAR… More than 30,000 more troops were fated to die as the stalemated war-of-attrition proceeded according to no plan…..
RTR Quote for 30 July: GEN. ERWIN ROMMEL: “In the absence of orders, go find something and kill it.”…
Lest we forget… Bear