RIPPLE SALVO #634… Humble Host presents the lengthy testimony of Major Sam Armstrong (en route to LGEN, USAF) on the 50th anniversary of the second Red River Rat tactics conference at Takhli and Bangkok… AND on 30 November 1967 the VIETNAM WAR PASSED A MILESTONE… 15,000 AMERICANS KILLED-IN-ACTION, so far … Before it’s over 43,000 more Brave Warriors will give their lives in a war that should never have been fought by American warriors… but first…
Good Morning: Day SIX HUNDRED THIRTY-FOUR of a remembrance of the air war fought over North Vietnam 50 years ago…
30 NOVEMBER 1967… HEAD LINES from The New York Times on Thursday of rain and snow…
Page 1: McNAMARA TAKES WORLD BANK POST; WAR SHIFT DENIED–PRESIDENT DECLARES NATION’S POLICIES IN VIETNAM HAVE BEEN CLEARLY DEFINED–HAILS VALUED FRIEND–SECRETARY GETS JOB AT WORLD BANK EARLY NEXT YEAR–NO HINT AS TO SUCCESSOR AT PENTAGON”... “Secretary of Defense Robert Strange McNamara formally received and accepted this evening the offer to become the President of the World Bank.”… Page 1: “James Reston: McNamara’s Departure: A Puzzle Still”... “The Capital is still puzzled about the Johnson-McNamara drama. The parting was such sweet sorrow that nobody here could quite believe the official secret. After all the official communiques and explanations, one question still intriqued the divided and suspicious political city. Why did the President choose to act on Secretary McNamara’s shy flirtation with the World Bank rather than on Mr. McNamara’s much more fervent offer to stay with Mr. Johnson to the end of the term?…”… Page 1: “Cyprus Leaders And Cyrus Vance Meet on Peace Plans–Optimism Grows As Special U.S. Envoy Participated in Long Talks On Nicosia–Troops the Main Issue–All Sides Are Said to Agree On withdrawal But Timing Remains to Be Decided”… Page 1: “5000 New Police Proposed in City–Sources in Police Department Say More Are Required to Make the Streets Safe”… “…raise present level from 28,228 to more than 33,000 men-in-blue.”… Page 1: “Eisenhower’s Donate Home at Gettysburg to Nation”… “Former President and Mrs Dwight D. Eisenhower have deeded their 230-acre farm near Gettysburg to the United States as a national historical site…the house was the first they owned after 51-years of marriage. they obtained the home in 1950.”… Page 13: “U.S. And Iran Celebrate the End of The Aid Program”... “…official end of economic development aid to Iran which began in 1951 under President Harry Truman’s Four-Point Plan technical assistance. Washington’s warm tributes to Iran’s success story were coupled today with an open invitation by the Iranian Government to American private industry to invest and trade more heavily in Iran.”...Page 17: “Navy Quarantine of Cambodia Opposed By State Department”… “A proposal being studied by Defense Department.”…
THE GROUND WAR: Page 1: “Foe Attacks U.S. Marines Near Cothien, Killing 15”... “A United States Marine company was attacked yesterday by an enemy force near Conthien in new outbreak of bitter fighting south of the demilitarized zone. Fifteen marines were killed in the four-hour action. A spokesman said today that the enemy left behind 26 dead in the battle area, 2.4miles northeast of Conthien. During the fight 53 marines were wounded. The clash was one of the heaviest in weeks near the demilitarized Zone along the border between North and South Vietnam. Military officials expect sharp fighting to continue in the area, where the marines have a chain of outposts…. the clash yesterday broke out at 2 P.M. when a company of the Third Marine Division, on a search mission, began receiving heavy automatic weapon and mortar fire from a company size enemy force of about 130-men. Striking from camouflaged and heavily fortified positions, the enemy force hit the marines continuously until 6 P.M. By that time, a company of reinforcements had maneuvered into position and attacked one of the enemy bunker positions. During the battle, the marines rushed three other companies into the area–one providing a base of fire, another assaulting a segment of the enemy position and a third attacking one of the bunkers…
“Air Force B-52s also hit suspected enemy troop concentrations and artillery positions yesterday eight miles north of the Marine base of Geolinh which is just below the DMZ…In the South, the B-52s flew two missions early today. They struck an enemy base area, a supply camp, bunkers and fortifications 19 miles southwest of Dakto in Kontum province. In the last few weeks, the area has been the scene of some of the heaviest fighting of the war. B-52s also hit suspected troop concentrations 34 miles northwest of Saigon in Tayninh province…
Page 5: “ASSAULT ON BUDOP REPELLED”… “American infantrymen supported by fighter-bombers and point-blank artillery fire today beat off a wave of assaults by hundreds of enemy troops on a Special forces camp near the Cambodian border. although the 500 to 600 attackers overran the reconnaissance company’s outpost, they were turned back at the district headquarters, which was defended by a local militia company 190 men and the remainder of the army unit. With the coming of dawn, the Vietcong unit, which included many North Vietnamese, broke off the attack. throwing smoke grenades to hide their movements, they drifted into the nearby jungle, dragging many of their dead with them. Even so, bodies of 69 enemy soldiers were found around the camp, indicating that the total dead was probably at least 100. The reconnaissance company, all volunteers, had 15 men killed and 51 wounded of 94 on duty. Militia losses were killed and 36 seriously wounded. United States commander’s in the area believe that the enemy may be trying to lure allied forces into a major battle.”…
“The action occurred as the United States command announced that the number of Americans killed in the war exceeded 15,000 last week. It said 212 were killed in action in the week before, bringing the total of American battle deaths in the Vietnam war to 15,000.”… enemy KIA last week was put at 1,826… American wounded for the week=1,242 and MIA=66.
30 November 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (1 Dec reporting 30 Nov ops)… Page 15: “In the air war over the North Marine Corps F-4 Phantoms struck the Hongai storage area 37 miles northeast of Haiphong. a railroad siding 23 miles southeast of Hanoi was struck by A-6 Intruder crews from Chulai and Danang. Damage assessment was not reported. Navy carrier based pilots, hampered by poor weather both at Yankee Station and the targets, flew limited strikes to the coast of North Vietnam.
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There was one fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 30 November 1967…
(1) A DISASTER… A C-7A Caribou of the 458th TAS and 483rd TAW out of Cam Ranh Bay was on a routine personnel transport mission and approaching destination airport at Qui Nkon the pilot was advised the weather was below minimums for an approach. The pilot opted to divert to an alternate–Nha Trang– but erred in his missed approach at Qui Nhon and in heavy weather flew into a mountain five miles south of the airport at the 1,850-foot level killing all aboard, including a crew of four and 22 passengers, including two civilians… 26 good men perished fifty years ago this day in the service of our country and are remembered here with somber thoughts of their families…
From Howie Plunkett’s “34TFS/F-105 History“ a few missions to provide an understanding of how the weather impacted strike operations… “30-Nov-67…At 0705, four pilots from the 34TFS of ‘Pistol’ flight took off from Korat on a mission to bomb a target in Mu Gia Pass in RP-1 North Vietnam. The mission last 2 hours 45 minutes….Major Sam Armstrong was flying #4 in a 4-ship flight of F-105Ds…The mission was Major Armstrong’s 29th. ‘Weather was bad in RP-6A again so we went to 1st alternate target. We dropped in Mu Gia Pass via Sky Spot through clouds. No assessment of BDA.’…. Major David C. Dickson, Jr. also flew from the 34th and on 30 Nov flew his 42nd mission into North Vietnam where he attacked trucks, probably in Mu Gia Pass also…”…
RIPPLE SALVO… #634… Continuing from the Plunkett collection… “30-Nov-67 to 06-Dec-67… Major Spence M. ‘Sam’ Armstrong from the 34TFS spent his second R&R at the River Rats tactics conference at Takhli and Bangkok. In his memoirs, he described his experiences in some detail…”
Major Sam Armstrong: “When my flight was scheduled for our next R&R, it coincided with the second Red River Pilots Tactics Conference hosted by Takhli. The first one of these had been held in Ubon under the auspices of Colonel Robin Olds. They had actually stopped part of the war for a day to get together and discuss tactics with all of the wings who flew into North Vietnam represented. Ubon added some character to the event by bringing in elephants for the participants to ride. So we knew that between us and a flight from the 469th which was representing Korat with us, that there would be some shenanigans and that we shouldn’t stand short.
“We decided to buy some more Aussie hats and have them painted white to wear with out flight suits which we had dyed black for our squadron colors. Not a pretty sight. We stenciled on the brim of our hats ‘SxxxHot from Korat’… And we bought some chains and jewelry from downtown to simulate the ‘balls of brass’ which we hung from the side of the hats. So armed we flew over to Takhli on the base C-47. The locals met us plane-side with much fanfare. We were assigned a flatbed trailer as our float for the parade–a surprise, but what the hell at this point! There were some bales of straw and a few symbols on the flatbed but also a half-dozen young Thai women. The parade took us down the flight line and through the base before we came to the destination O’Club. We noticed that the mechanics on the flight line seemed to know the women so we quickly surmised that our Takhli hosts had requisitioned some women from local brothels for the parade–that’s all.
“We were assigned to some buildings where we could throw our belongings and hopefully sleep later. We assembled at the club and had a formal Dining-In. Normally, this would require mess dress but since we were told not to bring such, the uniform was prescribed as a white shirt and dark trousers. We had come with shirts from a tailor downtown which had an F-105 over the heart so we were in good form. There was the usual solemnity of a Dining-In with toasts. The toast that got the best response was Eddie Deck (Major Eddie Deck, 357TFS) announcing: ‘To the World Bank.” It had just been announced (on 29 November 1967) that Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara was leaving to head the World Bank. Some 25 years later he wrote a book to explain/apologize his actions, but as far as this crowd of pilots were concerned, who were risking their lives daily under his strategy, the vote was already in!…
“After dinner it got rather rowdy! Folks at Takhli had anticipated this and had moved all of the furniture out of the bar area and padded the floor with thin mattresses. I soon found out why. A few guys hollered out: ‘MiG Sweep’ and locked arms and roared across the floor knocking down everybody in the way. I joined in a couple of these sweeps myself. Takhli provided a two foot bongo board which was designed to roll on a log 8-inches in diameter. The trick was to balance on the board without taking a fall. Nobody else would represent Korat in the competition so I mistakenly stepped forward to defend the honor of our base. After about two cyles on the board, I was pitched off, landing on my right wrist. I survived the evening because of alcohol medicinal effect but my right wrist hurt me off and on for the rest of my tour. I even felt it when I had to pull several ‘g’s’ coming off a bomb run.
“The next day we all woke up with gigantic hangovers only to find that we had to pack up and board a couple of C-130s for Bangkok where the celebration would continue. There was no pretense made about tactics discussion other than at the bar. I was in the first group that spent the first two nights in the Manohra Hotel although the party was held at the Oriental Hotel which is one of Bangkok’s finest. I recall that Colonel Chappie James entertained us with a song and that he was quite good at singing! Later I was able to get a room at the Chao Phya Hotel which was the official military hotel in town but heavily booked for folks on official duty rather than party guys like us.
“We ate too richly and drank too much while we were celebrating in Bangkok. I even attended a presentation of ‘Barefoot in the Park.’ There was a subliminal thought shared by all that this might be the last celebration for some! The time came to go back to Korat. There was a C-130 that left the military base in Bangkok every day to land at every base in Thailand, starting with Korat. No tickets or reservations required–just show up in a flying suit. Tony Zang, 469th and I were out there and watched the c-130 land. the aircraft commander was a 1/LT and I balked at getting on board. We didn’t have any lieutenant pilots at Korat–very few captains in fact–so I didn’t feel comfortable flying with him. Tony argued that he felt so bad that he needed to see the Flight Surgeon at Korat so I climbed aboard with him.
“The cargo bay of the C-130 was filled with goodies that the troops bought in Bangkok. There were crated brass candlesticks and other bulky items all over the floor and the ramp. I didn’t realize that they weren’t tied down. I crawled into one of the seats down the center of the cargo bay and promptly went to sleep. I woke up when my inner ear told me that we were flying at an unusual angle of attack. Pretty soon we touched down at Korat and the aircraft commander went to maximum reverse thrust and applied maximum wheel braking.
“The C-130 stopped in less that 1,000-feet and taxied another 8,000 feet to turn off. In the execution of this minimum distance landing all of the unsecured crates came rolling forward. I barely dodged a heavy one! I was irate! I knew that I could get killed over North Vietnam, but I couldn’t stand the news going home that I had been killed by a brass candlestick! So when the aircraft was parked I got out and waited for the aircraft commander to disembark. As he stepped off I said, ‘Lieutenant that was an outstanding short field landing you made. In fact, you remind me of General McConnell, Chief of Staff of the Air Force. You have both gone as far as you are going in the Air Force.”
RTR Quote for 30 November: NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, Maxims 1831: “Nothing is more important in war than unity of command.”
Lest we Forget… Bear