RIPPLE SALVO… #92… IN MEMORIAM V…. but first…
Good Morning: Day NINETY-TWO of a look back of fifty years to review and remember the brave aviator who carried the war to the enemy in his homeland in North Vietnam… and on this day, Memorial Day 2016, RTR starts with two additional features: a speech and an opinion editorial from the New York Times dated 30 May 1966. It is a short piece that reflects that day in our country fifty years ago.
Memorial Day 2016… A day of remembrance. Please include the May 30 post by “Mighty Thunder” in your reading this day or week. It is a speech by Colonel Ralph Praeger, Jr., presented today in Caflin, Kansas. The speech is the story of his father’s heroic duty as a guerrilla leader in the Philippines in 1941-42 and imprisonment until his execution by the Japanese in 1944. Captain Ralph Preager, United States Army, Distinguished Service Cross with Palm, epitomizes the Army code: “Duty, Honor, Country,” and sets an example of courage and commitment to our beloved country every American should wish to emulate…. Thanks, Ralph, for sharing…
On May 30, 1966, fifty years ago, the New York Times published the following OpEd:
Ages before Horace sang that “it is sweet and honorable to die for one’s country, those who perish in battle received the sad tribute of the living.” Today, which is our special American day to honor the war dead, some 3,500 young Americans who died in Vietnam must be added to the long list.
Memorial Day in our country is not exclusive as its origins showed in honoring “the blue and the gray,” the dead of the Union and the Confederacy in our Civil War. Death after all is the least exclusive of human deeds. Premature death, however, tugs at the heart just as it gnaws at the brain. We pity as we pay honor, and we long for the day when men and women will not have to die in combat.
Commemoration is therefore mixed with prayers for peace and for forgiveness .”For my enemy is dead,” wrote Walt Whitman, “a man as Devine as myself is dead. Each one paid his price with a simple faith that would not have been clouded by the complexities of statesmanship.”
In the United States there is a conflict of minds over Vietnam, but for those who died in the faraway land all manner of conflict is over. They rest in peace and in honor.…and the Vietnam War went on for six more years and claimed the lives of another 55,000 American warriors… they too “rest in peace and honor.”…
30 MAY 1966…ON THE HOME FRONT…(NYT)… A fair Monday in New York City…
Page 1: “4 Buddhists Die As Suicides Rise In Anti-Ky Drive”... The self-immolation deaths of two women, a monk and a young girl indicate the return of the tactic used by the Buddhists against the Diem regime in 1963. The deaths led to demonstrations in several cities in South Vietnam including more than 20,000 in Saigon that were dispersed by government troops… ‘Buddhists Blames Johnson For Ky’s action At Danang”… “Thich Tri Quang said today that President Johnson was responsible for the deaths of South Vietnamese Buddhists who lost their lives in the struggle against the government of Premier Nguyen Cao Ky. Thich said that the President lost the sympathies of the Buddhists by allowing Ky to use troops to occupy Danang. He called the crime equal to the use of nukes.”…R.W, Apple reporting from Hue.
Page 1: “Soviets Caution U.S. In Cuba Rift” and warned the U.S. to stop hostile action against Cuba, and that Cuba could count on Moscow’s friendship. The Soviet release by TASS: “The Soviet ruling circles follow developments in that area closely and consider it necessary to issue a reminder of earlier pledges of support for heroic Cuba, which is fighting for its freedom and independence. Those who harbor aggressive designs against the Republic of Cuba should not forget that Cuba has true and reliable friends.”…Page 1: “Pressure To Change Draft Is Gaining In Washington”…”Prospects grow daily for a thorough review of the Selective Service System and there is an excellent chance that in the next two weeks the Pentagon will recommend a long range overhaul of the system.” House Armed Services Committee Chair Mendell Rivers noted that this would be the first review in 15 years. Of the more than 10 million men in the 19 to 26 age bracket who have not yet seen military service, more than half are not likely to. As of March 31 there were 3,514,866 married fathers classified 3-A (“those whose conscription would cause hardships”); 2,500,566 classified 4-F (“mentally or physically unfit”); 202,801 classified 2-A (“critical skills”); and 1,878,242 classified 2-S (“student deferments”). The range of draft age is 18 to 35. A change to a lottery system is gaining momentum….
Page 3: “Peking Says U.S. Bombs Its Boats”… China claim: “U.S. attacked its fishing boats Saturday in international waters killing 3 and wounding 18. This is an act of piracy. Chinese boats were strafed in the Gulf of Tonkin and 7 bombs were dropped to sink one and damage another.” The identification of the nationality of boats is the issue. China: “The sending of military planes by the U.S. Government to sabotage fishery production on the high seas and wantonly bomb and strafe boats engaged in peaceful labor and in the murdering of Chinese fishermen that the Johnson Administration is the most barbaric and most ferocious aggressive gangster of modern times and shows the Johnson Administration intends to expand the war.”
PRESIDENT’S DAILY BRIEF…30 May 1966… CIA (TS sanitized): South Vietnam: Tri Quang may believe he has gone too far out on the political limb and he may now be trying to move himself back a bit. This morning one of his emissaries passed the word that Quang wants an American authority to come to Hue and discuss a compromise…the middleman suggested that this might involve retaining Ky, dumping Thieu and Co. and bringing Thi back into the government. As for Thi, in an interview today, he gave the impression that he was somewhat fed up with Tri Quang and that he may be prepared to reenter government service. When asked whether his rapprochement with Ky would isolate Quang more and more, he answered, “You’re intelligent enough to figure that out for yourself.” In a meeting this morning, Ambassador Lodge branded Buddhists current suicide campaign as a desperate and cynical effort to pressure the U.S. Despite these suicides, however, the “struggle forces” have yet to follow them up with new large scale demonstrations in the major cities.
30 MAY 1966… ROLLING THUNDER OPERATIONS… The Air Force flew 83 missions on 30 May for the heaviest flying day ever in Rolling Thunder…One aircraft loss… CAPTAIN DAVID BURNETT HATCHER, USAF, flying an F-105D from the 333rd TFS and the 355 TFW at Takhli was shot down while participating in a wing strike on a railway bridge at Bao Ha. CAPTAIN HATCHER was hit by ground fire on a second strafing pass on his target in the complex. He ejected and was captured, and interned as a POW. He was repatriated on 12 February 1973.
RIPPLE SALVO… #92… IN MEMORIAM… Please excuse my short end note this evening…I will be on the upper deck of my cave on a mountain in Utah watching day turn to night and the arrival of a million stars. And sniffing and sipping a brandy. And remembering and toasting all the fallen squadron mates, shipmates, and so many fallen warrior friends and family who are not here this Memorial weekend, “they rest in peace and in honor.” Enjoy the day…
Lest we forget…. Bear ………. –30– ……….