RIPPLE SALVO… #482… “OUT OF CHAOS COMES OPPORTUNITY”… The resolution of the presidential candidate crisis…but first…
Good Morning: Day FOUR HUNDRED EIGHTY-TWO of a return to the Vietnam war and the air war named Operation Rolling Thunder…
30 JUNE 1967…HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a rainy Friday in NYC…
Page 1: “Ruling Generals Reportedly Ready to Quit in Saigon–Ky and Thieu In a Struggle Over Presidential Race Offer to Step Down–Junta Would Keep Reins–Successors are Designated–Bitter Closed Meetings Enter Second Day”… “The two generals who have ruled South Vietnam for more than two years are ready to step down…they have agreed to resign after acrimonious emergency meetings of the junta that lasted all day yesterday into the night. The generals went into another session early this morning. A caretaker government would take over until the presidential election September 3.”... THEN… NYT, Saturday, 1 July 1967, page 1: “Ky Gives Up Race for Presidency, Bowing to Junta–Runs With Thieu–Premier Ky Takes Second Place on Ticket ‘For Good of The Nation’ :Premier Nguyen Cao Ky has withdrawn from the Presidential race and has agreed to run for Vice President on the ticket of his rival, Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Thieu, the Chief of State.”… “Ky: ‘We must make a sacrifice in order to realize unity.’ General of the South Vietnamese Army prevailed upon Ky yesterday in a series of heated meetings that lasted 20-hours over three days to ‘pull out for the good of the nation.’ “…AND THIS: From The President’s TS Daily CIA Briefing for 30 June: SOUTH VIETNAM: The Thieu-Ky rivalry for the presidency may have been resolved today. Ky has agreed to run as the vice presidential candidate on the Thieu ticket headed by Thieu.The agreement was finally hammered out and announced a few hours ago by the military members of the Directorate. Further portions of the agreement are as yet unclear. Both men are apparently to resign from the military service and campaign as civilians. They may have to give up their government jobs in favor of a caretaker regime led by their associates in the military. (The Junta)…
Page 1: “Arabs and Israelis Mingle Joyously and Gaily in Jerusalem–Thousands of Residents Move Between Sectors as 19-Year Barriers Go Down–Streets Jammed–Trade Active”… Page 1: “Eban View Hints a Softened Stand on Old Jerusalem”... “He refuses to term action on the Jordanian sector an annexation move. Consultation Pledged. Foreign Minister says goal is to maintain city unity and guard Holy Places…appeared to have backed away from the concept of incorporation into Israel of the Jordanian part of the city, toward the view that the action was an administration arrangement that would be linked to agreements with religious groups concerning the holy places.”… Page 1: ‘Israelis Aim Tied to Six Vital Areas–Main Thrust of Diplomacy Will Be Accorded With Arabs Rather Than Territory. Israel is making clear that the main thrust of her diplomacy in the wake of her defeat of three Arab states is aimed not as territory as much as agreements with the Arabs, reached without third-party intervention. In any peace negotiations with the Arabs six strategically vital areas are expected to be the focus of Israel efforts: Jerusalem; two small strips of Jordan territory; Gaza; Golan; and the West Bank… Contend ‘not much of captured land required to satisfy Israeli security requirement.’ “... Page 1: “Cairo Paper Reports Egypt Suffered 5,000 Casualties”…
Page 14: “Violence Called Only Language”…
” ‘We shall overcome until doomsday and nobody would listen to us. Throw a brick and break a window and the whole world wants to know what’s wrong–as if they didn’t know already.’ This was the evaluation of the street rampagers here (Buffalo) by a 19-year old who admitted to participating in the rioting with other youths. Some others who admitted rioting said:’We want some money in our pockets. White boys have some money in their pockets. We want jobs. The cops come and push you off the street corners. Where else can you go but on the street corners? and They push and say, ‘Move, Nxxxxx.’… ‘I want some of those clothes in that white man’s store–he cheats my mom out of every dime she makes. It is about time I collect some of that money back.
“Two youngsters who did not riot but instead worked to head off renewed violence found it difficult to condemn the rioters…need to change the conditions of the Buffalo environment that perpetuate a system of discrimination that trap Negro youngsters and perpetuate the slums… “We can be laborers, or athletes or entertainers and nothing else. and if we speak out we’re called communists or Black Muslims.’ “… Page 15: “Chicago NAACP and Dr. King Split”… “The NAACP formally split with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Chicago Freedom Movement.”…
30 June 1967…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…New York Times (1 July reporting 30 June ops) Page 4: “U.S. Bombers Attack a MIG Base Near Hanoi”... “Air Force pilots bombed Hoalac air base 20 miles west of Hanoi yesterday, cutting two runways and probably destroying two MIGs on the ground…At the same time Navy carrier pilots attacked two targets within five miles of downtown Haiphong. Pilots flew 152 missions against North Vietnam during the day. No MIGs had been sighted and no American planes were reported lost. The attack against Hoalac base was the tenth since 24 April. The airfield was reported out-of-commission after a heavy attack May 8, when huge craters were left in the main runway by Air Force Thunderchief fighter-bombers. Four subsequent attacks kept the base out of operation, but there had been no strikes since May 30. Thunderchiefs based in Thailand hit the base yesterday and the northwest end of the runway was cratered in three places. Another runway at the east end of the field was hit. ‘We could see our bombs go right down the center of the runway,’ said one of the pilots, Major William T. Twinting, 38, of Boca Raton, Florida. Navy pilots from the Intrepid and Bon Homme Richard attacked the Lodong petroleum depot, four miles northwest of the center of Haiphong. Both target are on the banks of the Gulcam river…A spokesman said there were no reports of foreign ships near the attacks…In South Vietnam B-52s made three bombing attacks, one nine miles north of Khe Sanh and two in the Central Highlands…”
“Vietnam: Aircraft Losses” (Chris Hobson) There were three fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 30 June 1967…
(1) LT LeGRANDE OGDEN COLE was flying an A-4C of the VA-15 Valions embarked in USS Intrepid on a division strike on the Ben Thuy thermal power plant on the Song Ca river south of Vinh. The target was defended with intense AAA and LT COLE’s aircraft failed to complete his diving attack on the target. An impact explosion was seen near the target and no beeper, coms, or parachute was heard or seen and a SAR was not attempted. LT COLE was listed as MIA until his remains were returned and identified in May 1989 for subsequent burial in Arlington. He was on his second cruise having flown 100 missions in 1966…He is remembered with respect and admiration on this 50th anniversary of his final flight…
(2) LT JOHN MICHAEL McGRATH was flying an A-4C of the VA-146 Blue Diamonds embarked in USS Constellation on an armed reconnaissance mission 30 miles south of Nam Dinh. The flight took a bridge under attack and LT McGRATH was hit by ground fire in the left-wing in his diving attack. Control was lost immediately and the ejection was very late resulting in a partial parachute landing in a tree. LT McGRATH was seriously injured and captured almost immediately. He was interned as a POW at Hanoi Hilton until released in March 1973. His book about his POW experience is a classic in words and drawings (“Prisoner of War: Six Years in Hanoi”). He had flown 157 missions on his first combat cruise on Ranger and was downed on his 22nd on Connie. He resumed his Naval career, commanded VA-97 (A-7s), and was the Naval attaché in Peru before retiring to fly 737s with United Airlines… oohrah…
(3) MAJOR RALPH L. KUSTER was flying an F-105D of the 388th TFW out of Korat on a strike on the railroad yards at Thainguyen. As he recovered and flew out from his dive bombing attack he was hit at 14,000-feet by 85-mm anti-aircraft fire. The hit was serious, but the aircraft was flyable for about 125 miles before MAJOR KUSTER was forced to eject. He was subsequently rescued by an Air Force HH-3…
34 TFS and F-105 HISTORY (Howie Plunkett) During the month of June 1967 34 TFS flew 406 combat missions to North Vietnam and four to Laos. Targets in the North Vietnam rail and transportation system dominated the bombing effort. “…critical supply routes were interdicted on numerous spots and heavy damage was inflicted on rolling stock.”…”Changes have been noted in the enemy AAA defenses. They have strengthened their gun emplacements at key points around the rail yards in an attempt to counter our repeated attacks on the system. MIGs have been reported airborne on nearly all strikes but they appear to be extremely reluctant to engage in aerial combat.”… “Combat pilot strength stood at 19 line pilots including the commander and operations officer. Three attached pilots, wing staff members, were also available for combat.”… “during the month three pilots completed their tour of 100 missions over North Vietnam….The combat losses were Major Dewey Smith, MIA…Major Clarence Kough, rescued/injured… and Capt. John Swanson, MIA…. (Thanks Howie)…
RIPPLE SALVO… #482… “OUT OF CHAOS COMES OPPORTUNITY”… Chaos was what the scramble between Ky and Thieu had become as they vied for the “military” slot on the ballot for the Presidency in the September elections. On June 30 Ky yielded the top spot to Thieu, but not without an interesting condition…if the pair got elected Pres and Vice Pres, Thieu agreed to (1) allow Ky to choose the cabinet members of the new administration, and (2) Ky would command the air force in addition to his VEEP duties… A flurry of communications flew back and forth between Washington and Saigon as this pairing of generals moved forward. One of the concerns in the Oval Office was the interim government after Thieu and Ky gave up their positions and uniforms to run for office. That meant that a cabal of other Generals, a junta, would be running the country and this group was experienced in the art of the coup…
Humble Host includes here a lengthy message from the Embassy in Vietnam to Washington (From Bunker to Rusk/President), that provides many more details of the events and concerns on the day the generals cleared up the chaos…
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v05/d226
RTR QUOTE for 30 June: Robert McNAMARA to LBJ, May 1967: “There may be a limit beyond which many Americans and much of the world will not permit the United States to go. The picture of the world’s greatest superpower killing or seriously injuring 1,000 non-combatants a week, while trying to pound a tiny, backward nation into submission on an issue whose merits are hotly disputed, is not a pretty one.”
Lest we forget… Bear