RIPPLE SALVO… #670… Humanity lost a great human being, the Navy lost a skilled coxswain, and a cadre of rough writers lost their rock polisher last week when Zip Rausa “went west.” Paul Mersky’s Wings of Gold Tribute to Zip as he stepped aside from “30 years at the helm” of the journal of Naval Aviation, and the trumpet of The Association of Naval Aviation since 1975, provides a brief bio worthy of Zip. Google has a page full of sources that fill-in a few other details on the extraordinary Naval and professional career and contributions of Zip Rausa. And for the full story, you can buy Zip’s biography– Gold Wings, Blue Seas –on abebooks.com (more than 30 used copies available starting at $13). While you are ordering a copy, add Tennessee Patriot: The Naval Career of Vice Admiral William P. Lawrence, co-author Zip Rausa. I will always remember Zip as one of the steadiest proponents of every element of Naval Aviation, and especially big deck carriers. As such he was the dedicated coxswain who took the orders from the bridge and held the ordered course for decades of hazardous maneuvering in the perilous waters of Washington. He was also an expert rock polisher. Zip stood in the front rank of editors. He was an expert at taking ragged rocks and turning them into polished stones that were”works of art.”… Ragged writers became published essayists as Zip tumbled their raw material into widely read articles and essays. He was a professional with a ruthless red pen. And fifty years ago he was right there with the first team carrying the fight to the enemies in Southeast Asia… But, most of all, Zip was a true and loyal friend, full of care and share, who gave his life to the cause of freedom and his beloved United States… God bless a great one, Zip Rausa, “glory gained, duty done” as he rests in peace…
Good Morning: Day SIX HUNDRED SEVENTY of a 1000-blog about Operation Rolling Thunder and the events of fifty years ago in 1965-68…
6 January 1968…HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a cold, windy and cloudy Saturday in New York City…
Page 1: “Pressure Mounts for Bombing Halt As Test For Hanoi–Administration Is Urged to Take Steps To See Whether North Will Negotiate–Offer of Talks Is Cited–Appeals to Johnson Come From Senators, Rabbis and West German Socialists”... “The Administration came under mounting pressure today to halt air, ground and naval bombardment of North Vietnam’s to test Hanoi’s latest offer to begin talks. Administration spokesmen declined to comment on appeals to stop the bombing and would not elaborate on the explanation by Secretary of State Dean Rusk yesterday that the United States was trying to learn whether Hanoi seriously wanted to enter negotiations or was engaged only in a propaganda move. Hanoi’s offer was in a statement last Saturday by Nguyen Duy Trinh, the North Vietnamese Foreign Minister, who said that his government ‘will’ hold talks with the United States on relevant questions once American bombings and ‘other acts of war’ against North Vietnam are ended.”… Page 1: “Sihanouk Hopeful On U.S. Relations–Says Bowles talks On Issue of Cambodian Sanctuaries May Ease Tensions”... “Prince Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodia’s Chief of State, said today that improved relations between his country and the United States could result from the visit to Phompenh next week of Chester Bowles, American Ambassador to India.”... Page 3: “Bowles Leaves Monday”… “Ambassador Bowles plans to leave India Monday morning for Cambodia and expects to be in Cambodia for several days.. Page 1: “U.S. Raid Damaged Soviet Ship, Moscow Says”… “The Soviet Union has charged that United States aircraft seriously damaged a Soviet merchant vessel while bombing the North Vietnamese port of Haiphong yesterday. The ship’s captain was said to have radioed that a bomb exploded six feet from his vessel… punctured her hull, smashed the stern and damaged machinery in the engine room. No casualties were reported among the ship’s 41 crew members. ‘In view of the situation taking shape appropriate Soviet agencies will be compelled to take measures to insure the safety of Soviet vessels sailing for ports of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam,’ the protest message warned….The accident was the fifth in the last 18-months involving Soviet vessels delivering cargoes to North Vietnam.”… {In Washington, the United States expressed regret to the Soviet Union for damage to the freighter, but said that if American planes were responsible, it was an accident.}”…
Page 1: “SPOCK AND COFFIN INDICTED FOR ACTIVITY AGAINST DRAFT–U.S. SAYS FIVE CONSPIRED TO COUNSEL YOUNG MEN TO RESIST SERVICE”...”Five men, including Dr. Benjamin Spock, the author and pediatrician, and the Reverend William Sloane Coffin, Jr., Chaplain of Yale University, were indicted today on charges of conspiring to counsel young men to violate the draft laws….In New York Dr. Spock said tonight that he hoped ‘100,00, 200,000 or even 500,000 young Americans either refuse to be drafted or to obey orders if in the military service.’ Attorney General Ramsey Clark announced the indictment, which was handed up this afternoon by a Federal jury in Boston. If convicted, the men could receive maximum penalties of five years in prison and $10,000 fines.”… Page 2: “General Hershey Lauds Indictment”... “General Hershey, Director of the Selective Service, informed by newsmen of the indictments commented: ‘I don’t know if They’re guilty or not and I take no pleasure in seeing anybody get indicted, but if they are not guilty they ought to get a chance to show it, and if they are, they ought to be punished. I think the Department of Justice has done a fine job in getting them indicted, and it’s a job that ought to be done,’ he continued.”… Page 3: “Vietcong Slaying of Civilians In 1967 Put At 3,820–Total Is Double That of 1965, U.S. Says Kidnappings Are Also Up Sharply”... “…the main aim of such tactics is to eliminate local political leaders, teachers and pacification workers. Kidnapped groups sometimes are impressed as laborers for units of the Vietcong…Robert Komer, the chief American advisor of the pacification program said ‘the increase in Vietcong terrorism during the year, as inhuman as it is, is inexcusable, and suggests enemy desperation.”…
6 JANUARY 1968…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (7 Jan reporting 6 Jan ops)… Page 3: “In the air war against the North, two more American planes were downed yesterday, bringing the total for the day to four, and the total in the air war over the North and South Vietnam to 1,003″… “Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There was one fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 6 January 1968…
(1) MAJOR GERALD C. GUSTAFSON and CAPTAIN RUSSELL F. BROWNLEE were flying an F-105F Wild Weasel of the 333rd TFS and 355th TFW out of Takhli and suffered an engine failure on a strike mission. They were forced to eject over Thailand and were rescued to fly and fight again. MAJOR GUSTAFSON and CAPTAIN BROWNLEE were shot down and rescued on a 19 November 1967 Wild Weasel mission…
RIPPLE SALVO… #670… Humble Host defers this post to the golden pen of friend and neighbor here in Utah, an old fighter pilot extraordinaire… Brown Bear Dick Schaffert who offers “the rest of the story.” LTJG CRAIG TAYLOR of the VF-111 Sundowners embarked in USS ORISKANY, was shot down and rescued on 2 January 1968 on his first combat mission, as reported in Hobson and in my blog for 2 January. That was just an intro for Brown Bear…
“Reference the 2 January shoot down and rescue of VF-111 Sundowner Craig Taylor. That Nugget had joined us in Subic during our Christmas stand down. When Oriskany went back to Yankee for final week or so, skipper Bob Rasmussen specifically did not want to lose another pilot. He instructed me not to schedule the FNG Craig for anything over the beach. He’d been married only a few days before he’d been sent to us and Rass wanted to take good care of him. I was scheduling him for two BARCAPs a day so he could buildup a little carrier experience. With time running out, he begged the Skipper for a shot over the beach to add a couple of points for a possible Strike-Flight Air Medal. Consequently, I scheduled him for an ‘easy’ photo escort that would require no more than five minutes over the beach exposure time. It was a quick look at some stuff around the hour-glass. In and out!
Your write-up explains how he got bagged, but the rest of the story is that on our first operating day back at Miramar, three weeks later, I scheduled him for a day warm-up with a night formation flight. It was a typical Miramar February night: broken to overcast cloud layer with bottoms at about 700-feet. Unfortunately, Craig had radio failure and joined on the leader’s wing for a section instrument approach. They were beginning the level-off when Craig disappeared from his wing position. He flew into Black Mountain. After all we’d gone through on Yankee Station (Humble Host counts 36 aircraft lost on the 67-68 Oriskany deployment), it was a bitter pill to swallow! There were many Fighter Pilot tears at the Chapel….
His beautiful young widow married former POW Dave Matheny shortly after he accepted an early release from the Hanoi Hilton and returned to the U.S. on 18 February 1968… Lt Matheny had been shot down and captured on 5 October 1967…
RTR Quote for 6 January 1968: VERGIL, Aeneid: “Wherever the Fates in their ebb and flow, lead, let us follow.”…
Lest we forget… Bear