RIPPLE SALVO… #487… “I hated Kep and the northeast railroad.”…BGEN Al Lenski… but first…
Good Morning: Day FOUR HUNDRED EIGHTY-SEVEN retracing the events and valiant service of the Rolling Thunder warriors…
5 JULY 1967… HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a partly cloudy Wednesday in the Big Apple…
SIX-DAY WAR: Page 1: “Soviet Defeated in Voting at U.N. On Middle East–Draft Backed By U.S. also Falls short–Jerusalem Unification by Israelis is Called Invalid”… “The Soviet Union suffered a significant defeat tonight in voting in the General Assembly emergency session that Moscow had summoned to condemn Israel and for her unconditional withdrawal from the territory of the three Arab states she had defeated. Draft resolutions embodying objectives and a demand fo payment of reparations were rejected in a series of vote that followed 14 days of debate and discussion…The delegates will meet tomorrow to agree on at least one proposal constructive resolution that will promote peace in the Middle East.”… Page 1: “Israelis Report Downing Egyptian MIG Near Suez”… “…two planes penetrated the airspace above Israel occupied Sinai Peninsula and the Israelis opened fire with anti-aircraft guns downing one with the other retreating MIG-19.”…
Page 1: “A Kennedy Plan Seeks Slum Jobs and Lower Rents–Senator Hopes to Induce Private Capital to Build Housing in Ghettos–Will Offer Billion Soon–Federal Subsidies Would Reduce Cost to the Poor While Raising Profits for Investors”… 300,000 units sought… Page 1: “Meredith’s March Through Mississippi Ends Quietly”… “James Meredith ended today his 162-mile ‘march against fear’ through Mississippi, but the courthouse square here was about empty when he arrived as most whites and Negroes observed independence Day somewhere else. Mr. Meredith’s 11-day trek ended quietly as he sat down on the courthouse steps and said, ‘We made it.’ He said he made the walk to help the Negro, not to show some protest to the Whites.”... Page 5: “Anti-War Protest is Held in Lexington (Mass)”… “about 200 persons protested against the war in Vietnam today in a silent demonstration held on Lexington Green, the site of the first battleground of the Revolutionary War.”… Page 22: “George Wallace Is Choice for Patriotic Party”... “Alabama Governor nominated in Kansas City as Presidential candidate for 1968 election contingent on the choice of the Patriotic Party for Vice President, expected to be William Penn Patrick…there are 3,000 dues paying members of the party.”…
Page 26: “Harry and Bess Truman Review July 4 Parade From Their Veranda in Independence, Missouri…leaning on a cane and holding his hat as flags passed. The 83-year old former President rarely appears in public…” …Sports: “Cale Yarborough Firecracker Victor–Fords Gain Sweep at Daytona Beach Firecracker 400 Before 48,400.”…
Page 1: “15 Marines Killed Near DMZ–U.s. Positions Shelled 8 times–Navy Jets Raid MIG Airfield in North”… “North Vietnamese gunners fired more than 300 rockets and mortar shells during eight attacks on Marine positions at Cothien and Dong Ha near the demilitarized zone last night and early this morning. 15 Marines were killed and 31 wounded….Marine fighter-bombers from the Marine air wing at Danang attacked the North Vietnamese positions.”…
5 JULY 1967… The President’s TS Daily CIA Briefing…CONGO: early this morning troops from kidnapped ex-premier Tshombe’s home province of Katanga mutinied at Bukavu on the Congo’s eastern border. the picture is not yet clear, but the revolt appears to be in support of Tshombe who has been held in Algeria since his airplane was hijacked Saturday. If this mutiny is not put down quickly, trouble could break out in other parts of the Congo and seriously threaten President Mobutu’s regime. The last remaining unit of white mercenaries appears to have sided with the Katangese mutineers…SOVIET UNION: The strain of the past few weeks is showing on Soviet leaders and there are signs of dissension in the ranks (The rest remains redacted)…CUBA: The Cubans appear to be getting a new defensive missile system, this one for use against low-flying aircraft…(redacted)The SA-3 is designed for use against aircraft flying too low for the SA-2 missile system. This will be the first time the SA-3 has been deployed outside the Soviet Union… MIDDLE EAST: Israel claims its antiaircraft gunners bagged an Egyptian jet fighter over the Sinai Peninsula yesterday. The Egyptians have denied it. No one seems disposed to use the incident as an excuse for renewed fighting…
5 JULY 1967…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER (6 July reporting 5 July ops)… Page 7: “Missile Sets Village Afire”… “United States Navy carrier pilots reported today (5th) that a Soviet-built surface-to-air missile crashed back to earth today south of Haiphong yesterday (4th) setting the village on fire. Navy pilots from the carrier Bon Homme Richard said they had wiped out a SAM site that was firing the ‘flying telephone poles.’ When they flew in for an attack on the Thanhbien railroad bridge 10 miles southwest of Haiphong. The pilots in the attack saw ‘a missile fall back into the village, scoot through the village and explode on the south side of the village.’ Other pilots from the Bonnie Dick flew through heavy anti-aircraft fire to attack the Hai Duong railroad bridge 27 miles west-northwest of Haiphong and the Chinhoai cargo transfer point 12 miles west of the port city. During the day, American pilots flew 115 missions under clear skies after bad weather the precious day had limited strikes to the lowest number in more than two months.”…NYT, 7 July, Page 1: “Four American Planes Have Been Shot Down over North Vietnam over the past two days raising to 599 the number of American aircraft lost over North Vietnam since the air war began in 1965. Three Air Force Thunderchiefs and an Air Force F-4 Phantom jet were downed. Five pilots were reported missing...Meanwhile, Navy pilots continued their heavy attacks against North Vietnamese railroad yards, petroleum dumps and roads and bridges.”…
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) (Page 107) There were three fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 5 July 1967…
(1) MAJOR DEWEY WAYNE WADDELL was flying an F-105D of the 354th TFS and 355th TFW out of Takhli…
(2) CAPTAIN WILLIAM VANDERVOS FREDERICK was flying an F-105D of the 357th TFS and 355th TFW out of Takhli…
(3) MAJOR WARD KENT DODGE was flying an F-105D of the 357th TFS and 355th TFW out of Takhli…
Chris Hobson: “The 5th of July was another bad day for the Takhli Wing with the loss of three pilots. Simultaneous raids on the Cao nung railway bridge and the nearby Vu Chua railway yard northeast of Kep may have been intended to split the attention of the defenses. Wolf flight from the 354th TFS lost the first aircraft. Major WADDELL’s aircraft was hit twice by AAA as it was diving on the target at Cao Nung and crashed a few miles to the east. A few minutes later Bear flight from the 357th TFS rolled in to the attack but CAPTAIN FREDERICK’s aircraft was hit by anti-aircraft fire as it was pulling out of its dive. He also flew a few miles to the east to eject over high ground where he stood a better chance of being rescued. Although MAJOR WADDELL was captured almost immediately after landing and was eventually released on 4 March 1973, there is no direct evidence that CAPTAIN FREDERICK survived to become a POW, although he was seen on the ground following ejection. His remains were among those handed over by the Vietnamese in the late 1980s and positively identified in 3 January 1990. WAYNE WADDELL was shot down on his 48th mission…”
“As one formation of Thuds was hitting the Cao Nung Bridge another group was bombing the railway yard at the Vu Chua a few miles to the Southeast. Just as MAJOR DODGE was about to roll-in from 15,000-feet to bomb the target, he was hit by an 85-mm anti-aircraft shell. After a brief struggle to regain control he was forced to eject close to the target. WARD DODGE is known to have been captured, but he apparently died of unknown causes in a prison camp about a week after he was shot down.”… WARD DODGE’s remains were returned and identified in April 1974.
Chris Hobson notes: Three F-105D aircraft had been shot down within the space of four minutes in a small piece of sky near Kep.
The Kep airfield and northeast railroad targets attacked by the Taklhi wing on 5 July 1967 was one of the most heavily defended target areas in North Vietnam. The order of battle identified nine medium and nine light antiaircraft sites with multiple barrels, many radar controlled, and tied to the well-developed Integrated Air Defense System. In addition, 12 SA-2 surface-to-air missile sites, with no less than five manned and ready at any one time, covered the Kep area. MIGs were at Phuc Yen, less that five minutes flight time from Kep. Kep was tough.
I like the way AL LENSKI refers to Kep in his dandy journal of his hundred counters titled “Magic 100.” LENSKI: After he was told the Golden Rule had been bumped up to 95 from 90 as the line of exemption for further missions in Route Pack 6, he wrote (Page 110):
“Now I really was paranoid! At this point, I really thought someone or something was out to get me. I’d finished my 90 missions like everyone else that preceded me. I hated Kep and the northeast railroad where we lost so many guys, and now, the day I reach 90, they change the rules. Not only that, but I was now scheduled to Kep rail yard, the worst target in the system. I thought, ‘was the world against me or what?’ I knew in my mind that this was it! My last mission. I figured I was a dead man. I really believed it!”
RTR QUOTE for 5 July : PERICLES: “Freedom is the sure possession of those alone who have the courage to defend it.”
Lest we forget… Bear