RIPPLE SALVO… #242… THE AMERICAN PRISONERS OF WAR IN SOUTHEAST ASIA… but first…
Good Morning: Day TWO HUNDRED FORTY-FOUR of an odyssey through ROLLING THUNDER–the air war over North Vietnam… OLD HISTORY!… Renewed!
30 October 1966… HEADLINES ON THE HOME FRONT from the New York Times… on a fair and breezy Sunday at Battery Point…
Page 1: “President Warns China Of Danger In Nuclear Race”…”President Johnson warned Communist China today that any atomic weapons power it develops –can– and will — be deterred. Mr. Johnson served notice on Peking through a speech prepared after China’s announcement Friday of a successful test of a nuclear-tipped warhead missile. The speech was to be delivered at a dinner in Kuala Lumpur tonight. ‘We hope that mainland China, like other developing nations will concentrate its resources on economic development…in this way a truly modern China can emerge on the mainland. For a peaceful China has nothing to fear from us. A peaceful China has nothing to fear from any of us. A peaceful China can expect friendship and cooperation. A reckless China can expect vigilance an strength.’…”…Page 1: “Fresh U.S. Units Struck By Forces Of North Vietnam”…”North Vietnamese army regulars attacked American infantrymen in the Central Highlands five times between sunset and early this morning…the enemy inflicted moderate casualties on three companies of American ground troops and shot down three helicopters. Moderate casualties would be those serious enough to interfere with the effectiveness of the companies. Forty-nine of the enemy were killed and one captured in the fighting about 240 miles northeast of Saigon. The battle was the first significant combat for the men of the Fourth Infantry Division that began arriving in Vietnam from Fort Lewis in the state of Washington in August…Last fall troopers of the First Cavalry Division (Airmobile) killed more than 1,000 of the enemy at the same area in the bloodiest battle of the war known as the Iadrang Valley campaign.”…
Page 4: “Air Force Reduces Officer Training”…”In a move to keep more pilots and other officers available for duty in Vietnam and elsewhere, the Air Force announced a sharp curtailment of advanced training for officers. Officials said this move is in line with an Air Force program aimed at getting more fliers and other needed officers out of desk jobs and into combat. The Air Force, although meeting its requirements in Vietnam is known to have serious shortages of pilots elsewhere. More than 2,000 officers have been ordered out of desk job and into cockpits in the last year.”…. Football scores on Page 1: “Notre Dame 31 Navy 7; Maryland 14 South Carolina 2; Alabama 27 Mississippi State 14; Nebraska 35 Missouri 0; Tennessee 38 Army 7; and UCLA 38 Air Force 13… “…Page 58: “Super Market Price Protests Spreads to 21 States”…”The housewives revolt against rising food prices spread yesterday to nearly half the states in the nation. In a few places there were signs of peace attempts by grocers. Some asked the housewives to meet with them and discuss the problems. Others discontinued games and giveaways that housewives said raised prices. A few storekeepers sent coffee and doughnuts to the pickets outside their door. According to an Associated Press survey protest groups are active in at least 21 states. The goal of the women is to bring down the price of food.”…
Page 63: “Carmichael Asks Drafts Defiance”…”Stokely Carmichael assailed the Johnson administration today and called upon the nations youth to say, ‘Hell, No” to the draft. A big segment of an audience here (Berkeley) of more than 10,000 on campus gave the black leader in the black power movement a standing ovation when he shouted ‘We have to say there is a higher law than a racist named McNamara, a fool named Rusk, and a buffoon named Johnson.’ Mr. Carmichael also spoke disparagingly about Governor Edmund Brown and his Republican challenger Ronald Reagan. Without naming the two candidates whose increasingly bitter campaign furnished a backdrop for the all-day rally in the University’s outdoor Greek theater. Mr. Carmichael asked his audience: ‘Can you disassociate yourself from two clowns that go up and down the state talking about each other? Can you disassociate yourself from two idiots like that?’…”… Section F1: “Drop In trade Surplus Worries U.S.”…”America’s swindling trade surplus, a matter of concern in recent months is not improving. In fact, latest Government data show that imports are growing nearly twice as fast as exports.”…
30 OCTOBER 1966…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… NYT (31 Oct reporting 30 Oct ops) Page 4: “In North Vietnam yesterday United States pilots flew 55 missions of 2 to 5 planes each through poor weather and light to moderate ground fire. Striking around Haiphong, the major North Vietnam port, and through the narrow panhandle region, the pilots destroyed two barges, one bridge and three trucks.”… “Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson)… There were no fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 30 October 1966… oohrah…
RIPPLE SALVO… #242… “Honor Bound: American Prisoners of War in Southeast Asia, 1961-1973″…by Stuart Rochester and Frederick Kiley… Your Humble Host suggests a great book for your consideration: “Honor Bound.” This is a big history book about a war and a special breed of heroes– more than 700 of them. This is a book that preserves history the way it should be: told by the people who lived it and carefully recorded by historians who are great researchers and storytellers. This is a must read for anyone who is serious about “remembering our POWs and MIAs.” The books written by our returned POWs are without exception important sections of the path to understanding the human experience under extreme duress. “Honor Bound” collects all those personal experiences and puts them in order in a very comprehensive package that marches with time through the dozen years of our Vietnam war. Every page stirs the heart and stretches the mind. And here is the good news. This book is a Department of Defense history published by the Naval Institute Press in 1999. abebooks.com lists 97 used copies for sale at about that many booksellers in the world. For example, Wonder Books in Frederick, Maryland has a good used copy for less than five bucks, including mailing. At the rich end, the same used book is for sale at MS Books in Salisbury, Maryland for more than two hundred bucks. It is not too late–it is never too late–to add a great history book to your library, or put in the hands of a deprived recent BA grad who skipped history, majored in sociology, deals in food stamps, organizes community protests, lives in your basement and calls you Grandpa….
Lest we forget… Bear ………. –30– ……….