RIPPLE SALVO… #280… “THE SOLEMN PRIDE THAT MUST BE YOURS”…but first…
Good Morning: Day TWO HUNDRED EIGHTY of a walkabout in the past– the air war of the Vietnam War 1965-1968…
7 DECEMBER 1966… THE 25TH anniversary of the Japanese attack on PEARL HARBOR, the start of World War II and the first war for the SILENT GENERATION (b. 1928-1944) WHO WOULD BE FIGHTING THE VIETNAM WAR twenty-five years later… HEAD LINES from the New York Times on Wednesday, 7 Dec 1966 …
Page 1: “Pearl Harbor: How The War Began 25 Years Ago”… USS Arizona burning on page 1… “War came brutally and suddenly as these sun drenched islands emerged from sleep on a Sunday 25 years ago tomorrow. Unknown to the residents, including a vast military establishment, hostile planes had sneaked in from the north…” and the rest is history… NYT devoted several columns of copy and pictures to recognize the importance of “Remembering Pearl Harbor”…
Page 1: “Johnson To Seek $9 Billion More For Vietnam War seeking funds that could raise the Defense budget to $67 billion for the current year. Tax outlook uncertain. McNamara confirms Soviet is planning more missiles than the United States expected. LBJ request will raise total Government expenses to about $127 billion against expected income of about $117 billion.” … Page 1: “U.S. Adds Funds to Spur Housing. President says $500 million more will be released for financing of mortgages. Government acting for second time in a week government release funds by the home loan bank system to help savings and loans associations expand their ability to make new loans. It is estimated that the infusion of $500 million will provide low-cost mortgage loans for 25,000 new homes.” … Page 1: “Britain Is Urged To Ask the U.N. to Bar Oil for Rhodesia by members of the Commonwealth in order to force Rhodesia into compliance with British settlement proposals for resolving conflicts in Rhodesia.” … Page 1: “Round Up of Foes Hinted in Peking. Ex-government officials ousted by Mao in purges will be put on trial. Cultural Revolution moving to new phase.” … Page 1: “U.S. Writes Odd Bases in France. Planners not even counting on wartime use in view of impasse with De Gaulle on terms.” … Page 2: “New Men in House of Representatives Would Press War and favor military escalation if necessary to win the war in Vietnam (26 vote to expand and 4 oppose expansion).”…
7 DECEMBER 1966… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (8 December reporting 7 Dec ops) “In the air war United States Navy fighter-bombers that have been hammering coastal shipping daily reported tht they had attacked 10 barges yesterday northeast of Dong hoi. A precise assessment of damage was unavaiable. Air Force pilots, focusing most of their attention further inland and to th North around Dienbienphu and Hanoi pounded highways, bridges, railroads and supply depots.”… “Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson) Two fixed wing aircraft shot down on 7 December 1966…
(1) and (2) CAPTAIN JOHNE WERNER CARLSON and CAPTAIN DERALD DEAN SWIFT were each flying F-5 Cs of the 10th FCS and 3rd TFW out of Bien Hoa and were killed in action while attacking Vietcong in an area 25 miles north of Saigon. CAPTAIN CARLSON was hit by small arms fire while dive bombing VC and failed to recover from his dive and flew into the ground without ejecting. About an hour later, CAPTAIN SWIFT was hit by small arms fire in the same area and commenced to fly his damaged and burning aircraft back to Bien Hoa. About ten miles short of the base his aircraft became unflyable and he ejected. His parachute failed to deploy and he was killed fifty years ago today. He is not forgotten…
RIPPLE SALVO… #280… “Remember Pearl Harbor”… was a war cry for our World War II fight in the Pacific with the Japanese, who had conducted a 350 aircraft sneak attack on Pearl Harbor and killed 2,400 on that day that truly does “live in infamy.” This 7 December we “remember Pearl Harbor” for the 75th time. But this is not a war cry anymore– it is a call for preparedness. Honoring the few remaining “Pearl Harbor Survivors” and “the Greatest Generation” is all well and good, and thinking somber thoughts and yielding respect for Veterans is good, too. However, what should never be lost in “remembering 7 December 1941” is the fact that our country had allowed our ability to fight to atrophy and the Japanese saw us as unprepared to counter the grand plan they had for conquest of Southeast Asia. So they attacked!
Unfortunately, our leaders for the last 15 years have had a field day converting our preparedness and ability to fight (as in Desert Storm) into a “peace dividend” to redistribute as ever-expanding entitlements to our softening citizenry. We have busted our budgets and accumulated unpayable debt now in the tens of trillions. We sent our industrial base off-shore and became a society of politically correct consumers mired in a service economy where half the employable are not working. Our warfighter ethos has been sisified. We have expended our inventories of weapons and failed to do the research and modernization required to meet the pace of technology being introduced to the operational fighting forces by our adversaries. Two thirds of our children are unfit for military service. Waivers for mental, physical and moral criteria are required to keep the ranks of our paltry 1.5 million men, women (and others) armed forces filled. The all-volunteer force has proven to be prone to rampant Post Traumatic Stress and become undeployable by the tens perhaps hundreds of thousands. Mention a return to the draft and a rebellion will ensue.
In sum, our nation is now a sitting duck in a world that is coming unglued just as it was in the 1930’s, and did in December 1941. I have concluded that we can no longer deter war because our enemies have reasoned that the Un-United States of many cultures and languages can no longer win a non-nuclear war, and nobody wins a nuclear war. This state of affairs will allow our adversaries and the legions of war lords and rascals of little note to lean and move forward without fighting knowing that we have demonstrated an inability and unwillingness to match their new found aggressiveness. The United States has become “a paper tiger.” In fact, our nation doesn’t even look good on paper.
George Washington advised “In time of peace, prepare for war.” That is why we remember Pearl Harbor, or should. In 1941 we were unprepared for war. That’s why the Japanese bombed our Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor and challenged us to an all-out war. And 75 years later, guess what!!!
That said, today, and any day, is a good day to walk among the rows of engraved stones that mark the final resting place of the fallen warriors who did their best to provide us a land that is free. Perhaps this is a good day for a visit to one of our many national cemeteries. Representative would be the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific that beautifies the Punchbowl Crater in Hawaii. Walk the walls that are etched with the names of those who died under the guns and bombs of the Japanese on Sunday, 7 December 1941. Walk among the grave markers of the fallen from several of our wars, now buried shoulder to shoulder without regard to generation–they were all great Americans who put country ahead of self. Then mount the “grand stairway” and salute Lady Columbia who guards that hallowed ground. Then anchor indelibly in your mind the words of Abraham Lincoln at the feet of the Lady: “…the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice on the altar of freedom.”
Lest we forget… Bear -30-