RIPPLE SALVO… #943… HUMBLE HOST IS POWER OFF… SHORT POST…
Good Morning…Day NINE HUNDRED FORTY THREE of remembrances from the years of Rolling Thunder…
HEAD LINES from The Ogden Standard-Standard for Friday, 4 October 1968…
THE WAR: Page 1: “ALLIES SURPRISE ENEMY–Kill 159 In Red Camp–3 Helicopter Struck By Enemy Fire”… “Allied forces killed 150 enemy troops in a major outbreak of heavy fighting near the Cambodian border, along the jungled approaches to Saigon. Enemy gunners shot down a U.S. helicopter ferrying ammunition to the embattled South Vietnamese mercenaries in the area. Four Americans were killed and two wounded. Earlier, … 24 Americans were killed in the collision between a big Army Chinook and an Air Force Caribou (See earlier post)…The fighting along the Cambodian border, 60 miles northwest of Saigon was triggered at daybreak Thursday when about 400 South Vietnamese civilian irregulars were lifted into the area by American helicopters. They immediately ran into an enemy force of about 800 to 1,000 men. Two and a half hours later another 400 mercenaries were committed to the fight…reports from the area said the mercenaries had seized 10 machine guns, 25 assault rifles, and other assorted weapons and ammunition Government casualties were put at 15 dead and 44 wounded…. The American helicopter was brought down by machine gun fire as it was landing. A U.S. Special Forces captain and the crew chief were killed by enemy riflemen as they crawled away from the wreckage after pulling our the wounded helicopter commander. The commander, a first lieutenant, and Special Forces master sergeant, survived with minor wounds…. The new outbreak of fighting broke a week long lull in ground action along the Cambodian border where the enemy lost 700 men during the last week of September in suicidal attacks on Green Beret camps screening infiltration routes. The enemy troops were believed to be from the Viet Cong 9th Division, which has bases within Cambodia.”
HEAD LINES…Page 1: “ANTI-WAR GROUP BOLTS HEARING ON RIOT CAUSES–Counsel Ejected–Others Follow as Dispute Arises”… Page 1: “HUMPHREY AND NIXON REACT QUICKLY TO GENERAL LeMAY STAND ON USE OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS“… Page 1: “MEXICO CITY DEATH TOLL SET AT 27–Police and Troops Continue On alert as City grows Calm”… Page 1: “SENATE OKs $71.9-BILLION EXPENDITURE DEFENSE BILL”… Page 4: “TWO SURVIVE B-52 CRASH AT MINOT, NORTH DAKOTA“… Page 5: “Navy Probes Hazards In Submarine Steel”… Page 5B: “OLYMPIC ATHLETES RECEIVE ASSURANCE THAT 1968 OLYMPICS WILL BE STAGED–Concern About Cancellation Unnecessary”… “WORLD SERIES ALL-EVEN AS DETROIT TAKES GAME TWO.”
4 OCTOBER 1968…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…Ogden Standard-Examiner/AP…No coverage of air operations north of the DMZ…
VIETNAM: AIR LOSSES (Chris Hobson) There were no fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 4 October 1968… oohrah
SUMMARY OF ROLLING THUNDER LOSSES (KIA/MIA/POW) ON THE FOUR 4 OCTOBER DATES FOR THE FOUR YEARS OF THE OPERATION OVER NORTH VIETNAM…
1965, 1968… NONE…
1966… LCOL JOHN DOUGLAS BURNS, USAF… (POW)…
1967… LCDR PETER VAN RUYTER SCHOEFFEL, USN… (POW)… and… MAJOR MORRIS LAROSCA McDANIEL, USAF… (KIA)… and… CAPTAIN WILLIAM ALLEN LILLUND, USAF… (KIA)…
RTR Quote for 4 October: Ship’s Call for Burial at Sea: “Bury the dead. Bury the dead”…
Lest we forget… Bear