RIPPLE SALVO… Continuing the Summary Report of the August 1967 Stennis Hearings on the air war… but first…
Good Morning: Day FIVE HUNDRED FORTY-EIGHT of a look back of fifty years to the air war over North Vietnam called Rolling Thunder…
5 SEPTEMBER 1967… HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a sunny Tuesday in Brooklyn…
VIETNAM: Page 1: “VIETNAM BALLOT ACCLAIMED BY U.S. AS A MAJOR STEP–STATEMENT SAYS THE PEOPLE MADE CHOICE AND DESERVE OUR SUPPORT–Courage Also Praised–Kennedy Urges That Voting Lead to Peace Talks And Internal Improvements”... “South Vietnamese election is seen as a ‘major step forward.’…winners Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Thieu and Air Vice Marshall Nguyen Cao Ky.”… Page 1: “3 Experts From U.S. Call Voting Reasonably Fair”…”…Expert: ‘I would use the same words to describe elections in the United States.”…Page 5: “Vietcong Denounce Thieu’s Election”… “The Vietcong today denounced the victory of Nguyen Van Thieu in the South Vietnamese presidential election and said it meant an intensification of the war. Using such terms as a ‘deceitful election farce,’ the National Liberation Front–the political arm of the Vietcong–broadcast a bitter commentary of the election of Thieu and Ky: ‘dirty lackeys of the Americans’ and ‘running dirty dogs, traitors and country-sellers.’ “… Page 1: “Moscow Steps Up Arms Diplomacy”… “…military aid to non-Red Nations seems to be near 500-million annually”… Page 1: “MARINES LOSE 54 BUT KILL 154 IN 125 HOUR BATTLE”… “54 Marines were killed and 84 wounded in fight with entrenched North Vietnamese near Tamky about 30 miles south of Danang.”…
SUMMER IN AMERICA 1967: Page 1: “Computer Peril To Rights Is Seen–Research Agency Bids U.N. Study Potential Danger in Use Of Electronic Devices”... “A group of American authorities on international law and world politics called yesterday for a United Nations study of the potential threat to individual freedom posed by computers, wire taps and eaves dropping devices and genetic controls. The report said ‘arrangements will have to be made to control the precious few who know how to control these machines, and on whose wisdom and impartiality the fate of mankind may depend’… There is grave danger that actual decisions will no longer be in the hands of duly elected representatives of the people but instead in the hands of those who feed the data to the computer on which the decisions are based and who are the interpreters and implementors of the answers given by the computers.”… Page 1: “Strike Tomorrow Is Called Likely by Ford and UAW”... “Ruether says he would be unmoved by a Johnson plea…Mediator attends talks.”… Page 25: “Medicaid And Medicare Said To Lack Incentives For Efficiency”... “also lack penalties against waste…”… Page 26: “Poll Says Wallace Would Hurt G.O.P.”... “A Louis Harris poll indicates that he will take away votes from the Republicans and insure a victory for President Johnson…capture twice as many Republicans as Democrats.”... Page 30: “Brooklyn Killing Ignites Outburst–Hundreds Berate police For Shooting Mugging Suspect”… “Angry Negroes hurled bottles and stones at the police last night after a detective shot and killed a 14-year old boy who had allegedly participated in the mugging of an elderly man on a Brooklyn street. Both the boy and the detective were Negroes. At least six policemen were injured… firebombs were thrown, and responding firemen were pelted with rocks and bottles.”… Page 33: “Milwaukee Judge Scores Marchers–Says Race Gap Is Widened–1,000 File Past His Home”... “Austin Wage Marchers Charge Sellout By Leaders–Mexican-Americans seeking Minimum Wage Law demonstrate, chant ‘Long Live the Strike March.’ “… “Detroit Free Press Assesses Riot Toll–Most of the 43 deaths during the riot could have been avoided.”…
5 SEPTEMBER 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (6 Sept reporting 5 Sept ops) Page 5. “In the air war in North Vietnam an Air Force F-4 Phantom was shot down by enemy ground fire in the panhandle region south of Vinh. The two crewmen were listed as missing. The plane was the 673rd lost in the North since the bombing began in February 1965. The spokesman said the Navy pilots had destroyed two spans of a highway bridge three miles from Haiphong. The bridge–which had not been bombed before–is one of the two key bridges leading south from the port city. The other has not yet been attacked. Two other ridges 20 and 30 miles south and southwest of Haiphong were reported damaged. Air Force and Navy pilots had also attacked supply depots , surface-to-air missiles sites and army barracks. Two 37-mm guns were destroyed at a AAA site northwest of Dong Hoi…”…
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There were three fixed wing aircraft downed in Southeast Asia on 5 September 1967…
(1) MAJOR J.O. GASSMAN was flying an A-1G of the 1st ACS and 14th ACW as a part of a flight of Skyraiders on an armed reconnaissance mission at the southern tip of Laos. Trucks and troops drew their fire. On a strafing pass MAJOR GASSMAN’s aircraft was hit by ground fire and set afire. He was able to fly a few miles before ejecting where he was rescued by a VNAF helicopter… to fly and fight again…
(2) CAPTAIN DONALD WILLIAM DOWNING and 1LT PAUL DARWIN RAYMOND were flying an F-4C of the 557th TFS and 12th TFW out of Cam Ranh Bay in a section of F-4s on a night armed reconnaissance mission just north of the DMZ and attacking a truck park when hit by a barrage of 37-mm. The wingman observed a large fireball fall to the ground just to the northwest of the target. No voice or beepers were heard. CAPTAIN DOWNING and 1LT RAYMOND were carried as missing in action for the duration of the war before being presumed killed in action. Their bodies hav not been recovered and they lie in peaceful rest where they fell fifty years ago this day… left behind?…
(3) An RF-4c of the 16th TRS and 460th TRW out of Tan Son Nhut crashed in South Vietnam due to engine failure and is logged as an accident. The two crewmen survived…
RIPPLE SALVO… #548… STENNIS HEARINGS: III of IX parts of Summary of August Senate Preparedness Investigating Subcommittee:
Air War Developments…
“It should be noted that since our air attacks began the enemy has accomplished a tremendous and very formidable buildup of his air defenses. The North Vietnamese air defense environment overall, including antiaircraft fire, surface-to-air missiles, and MIG aircraft over the heavily defended targets in North Vietnam, has been described as the most deadly the world has ever seen. The massive air defenses have extracted a heavy toll of American aircraft an pilots. More than 660 planes have been shot down over North Vietnam. The long delay in approving targets in North Vietnam has almost certainly contributed to our aircraft and pilot losses since it gave the North Vietnamese the time to buildup formidable defenses. Moreover, the long delay enabled the enemy to prepare for a response to the anticipated loss of installations, such as petroleum storage, by dispersal of facilities and building reserve stocks.
“An important area of controversy and difference of opinion between Secretary McNamara and the military experts lies in the evaluation of the impact of the air campaign in the North on US casualties in the South. General McConnell’s was typical of all military testimony when he stated: ‘It is my opinion that that is correct,’ in response to the question, ‘Would not the converse be true in that we probably would have suffered fewer casualties in the South if the air campaign against the North had not been burdened with restrictions and prohibited targets?’ All other military witnesses asked the question had the same view.
“Secretary McNamara is in clear and complete disagreement with this assessment. He was asked: ‘Would we in all probability have experienced fewer casualties in the South had those restrictions and prohibitions not been imposed against the bombing of the North?’ Secretary McNamara responded: ‘It is my very firm opinion that regardless of what other merit there might have been for following different practices of air activity against the North in the past, it would not have reduced our casualties in the South.
“He continued: ‘I am simply saying that I have seen no evidence of any kind submitted by any agency that is involved in analysis of our North and South operations that indicates that an accelerated campaign of air attacks against the North in the past would have reduced our casualties in the South, and I have seen considerable evidence that points to the opposite conclusion that it would not have.
“As stated above, the overwhelming weight of the testimony by military experts is to the contrary.”
Tomorrow: IV of IX: The Nature and Effect of Restrictions…
RTR QUOTE for 5 September: ROBERT BROWNING, Luria: “He who did well in war just earns the right to begin doing well in peace.”…
Lest we forget… Bear