RIPPLE SALVO… #580… On 4 October 1967 the President had a conversation with Secretary McNamara that went something like this:
The President: “As I understand it, Bob, we now have twenty-four targets that are unauthorized. What percentage of the targets in North Vietnam do these represent?”
Secretary McNamara: “Off the top of my head, Mr. President, five point eight per cent. Let me give you a few statistics. There are 9,000 targets in the bombing encyclopedia for North Vietnam of which 5,000 are military targets. Most of them are worthless. Never-the-less, ‘we’ have hit 1,700 of these, and the Joint Chiefs consider 400 to 600 of the 1,700, presently 412, as ‘important fixed targets.’ Of these 412, only 24 remain that you have not authorized: that is five point eight per cent. Nine of these targets are in the Haiphong area and about fifteen more are in Hanoi.”
The President: “Hit all you can.”… …see Ripple Salvo below for more… but first…
Good Morning: Day FIVE HUNDRED EIGHTY of a return to the skies over North Vietnam and Operation Rolling Thunder fifty years ago…
7 OCTOBER 1967… HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a cloudy Saturday in New York City…
Page 1: “Game 3 of the World Series today in St. Louis with the series tied, Cards and Red Sox, a game apiece. May get some rain in st. Louis.”… Page 1: “Johnson Urges Public to Press For Tax Increases– (???)–To Talk To Savings Aides, He Calls for Help In Getting ‘Unpleasant’ Task Done–A Freeze is Ordered–President Secretly Moves to Halt Conclusion of Contracts to Industry”... ” ‘I know it is not a popular thing for a President to do–to ask for a penny out of a dollar to pay for a war that is not popular either… If I were concerned only with my own popularity or my own poll, that wouldn’t be the way I’d go about it–to suggest higher taxes or more wars. But you have to do what is responsible and you have to do what is right, if you sit in this place–(the Oval Office).”… Page 1: “Wilbur Mills Demands President Cut Long-Term Spending–House Financial Leader Says Tax Rise Is Dead Without Policy Change”... “The chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee demanded today a reappraisal of long-term Federal sending policies of the Johnson Administration and a congressional voice in setting those priorities. The chair, Wilbur D. Mills, Democrat of Arkansas, accused the President of ‘buck-passing’ “… Page 1: “Cut In NASA Funds Halted by Senate–Proxmire and Williams Fail as $4.6 Billion Is Voted For Space Work, 60 to 5″… Page 1: “India Sees Talks If Bombing Stops–Voices Confidence at U.N., Hanoi Would ‘Response Favorably’ to Move”... “Suggests Hanoi would agree to an international conference similar to the Geneva meeting in 1954.”…
7 OCTOBER 1967… The President’s Daily Brief… SOUTH VIETNAM: More anti-government demonstrations appear in the offing, despite the hard-line policy against this kind of activity announced yesterday by Thieu. Specifically, student leaders plan another really in Saigon today, and there is talk of a general strike of businesses and transportation workers in Hue... NORTH VIETNAM: Rail and highway traffic have been restored on the Paul Doumer bridge… East Germany has joined other Communist countries in outlining its support for North Vietnam- to supply light industrial goods, trucks, medical and various consumer goods… Other support agreements: China, Russia, North Korea, Mongolia, Rumania, Bulgaria and Cuba…
7 October 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (8 Oct reporting 7 Oct ops)… Page 1: “U.S. Jets Attack Deep In North Vietnam 5th Day In Row–Two Bridge Spans Destroyed–Hanoi Reports Downing of 9 Attacking Planes (Actual Loss= 4)–New Target Is Struck: Fuel Dump Newly Removed from Restricted List”… “American pilots pounded rail facilities, weapons positions and storage areas deep in North Vietnam yesterday, driving for the fifth day in a row to cut supply links to Communist China. In raids announced today, Air Force pilots attacked a petroleum storage area at Cuvan, 43 miles north of Hanoi. The pilots reported that the area, on a hillside, had burst into a 2,000-foot thunderball of swirling black smoke, according to a military spokesman. (The AP reported the Cuvan storage area was the latest target removed from Washington’ restricted list.)
(HUMBLE HOST NOTES: Ripple Salvo #581 tomorrow will have expanded coverage on this highly successful Air Force strike…)
“On Friday, American planes bombed two bridges near the Chinese border and struck a fuel dump six miles north of Haiphong, also newly removed from the restricted list…. With skies over the North clear, United States pilots pressed their effort to hit supply routes before the monsoon rains begin at the end of the month…. Navy pilots of the carrier Constellation reported having destroyed a span of the Locbinh bypass highway bridge 10 miles south of the Chinese border. The west end span of the four span steel and concrete bridge was destroyed earlier in the week. Another bridge at Chiengchang, 15 miles south of the Chinese Border, was also hit on Friday. A military command spokesman said that the bridge’s center span had been destroyed in the attack.
“Although no plane losses were reported in the attacks, the spokesman announced that a Navy F-8 Crusader, a carrier based plane, was downed by ground fire in North Vietnam on Thursday. The pilot was listed as missing in action. (Ensign Davis Paul Matheny, VF-111, USS Oriskany, POW). It was the 689th American plane lost in the North.
“In other attacks, Air Force pilots destroyed a bridge 39 miles northeast of Hanoi and heavily damaged the nearby Motrang railroad yard. The spokesman said that the pilots also reported having destroyed an antiaircraft site.Two other antiaircraft sites south of Donghoi were also destroyed, the spokesman said.
“Navy pilots, flying 34 multi-aircraft missions, also hit the Namdinh power plant, 45 miles southwest of Haiphong, a railroad and highway bridge 24 miles south-southeast of Hanoi, and 8 buildings in the Yenbac military storage area 27 miles north-northeast of Thanhoa. Today they also struck hard at storage depots and bridges, including the railroad and highway bridge at Hathon, 30 miles north-northeast of Hanoi, and the one at Langcap, 28 miles south-southwest of Hanoi.
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There were four fixed wing aircraft downed in Southeast Asia on 7 October 1967…
(1) LT DAVID LAWSON HODGES was flying an A-4E of the VA-164 Ghostriders embarked in USS ORISKANY providing Iron Hand support for a strike south of Hanoi when challenged by two SA-2s, the second of which scored a direct hit on LT HODGES’ A-4. The aircraft exploded and crashed into a karst mountain near the village of Hoang Xa. There was no ejection. LT HODGES was killed in action and remained on the battlefield for nearly thirty years. The Joint US-Vietnam recovery team excavated the crash site in 1995 and 1996 and recovered LT HODGES’ remains for return to the United States. Fifty years after his last flight, he rests in peace in the land he served so well and with so much courage…
(2) MAJOR IVAN DALE APPLEBY and CAPTAIN WILLIAM RENWICK AUSTIN were flying an F-4D of the 555th TFS and 8th TFW out of Ubon as an escort for a photo reconnaissance mission and was hit by a SAM six miles north of Hanoi. MAJOR APPLEBY was able to fly the damaged aircraft 35 miles southwest toward Thailand before the hydraulic system failed requiring the two intrepid airman to eject. Only the parachute of CAPTAIN AUSTIN was observed and he was quickly captured and interned as a POW for the duration of the war. He returned in March 1973. He had flown 81 missions. MAJOR APPLEBY did not survive the day, but was not presumed to be dead, killed in action, until 1976. In January 1995 the crash site was excavated and COLONEL APPLEBY’s remains were returned to the United States and identified for burial in Arlington National Cemetery in December 1995, where he rests on this day fifty years after his final flight.
(3) CAPTAIN JOSEPH D. HOWARD and CAPTAIN GEORGE I. SHAMBLEE were flying an F-105F Wild Weasel of the 13th TFS and 388th TFW out of Korat and supporting a wing strike on the railyards at Kep when jumped by a MIG-21 and subsequently hit by an air-to-air missile. CAPTAIN HOWARD was able to fly the damaged Thunderchief within 75 miles of Danang before the two aviators were forced to eject. Both were rescued-one by Marine helicopter and the other by Air Force helicopter…
(4) MAJOR WAYNE EUGENE FULLAM was flying an F-105D of the 34th TFS and 388th TFW out of Korat on the wing strike on the Kep railyard and was downed by a round of 85mm antiaircraft fire… Chris Hobson reports the event thusly… (page 120)
“About 20 minutes after the Iron Hand flight had left the target one of the F-105 bombers was shot down. Major Fullam rolled in on the target from 12,000 feet but the aircraft was struck in the starboard wing by 85mm flak. He radioed that he was ejecting and a parachute was seen and a strong SAR beeper signal was picked up, however, voice contact could not be made. Major Fullam landed about 30 miles east of Kep and a Navy rescue helicopter attempted a rescue but could not get close due to intense ground fire. The helicopter crew saw Major Fullam’s parachute being pulled down from a tree and noted that the beeper signal ceased at the same time. A subsequent intelligence report claimed that Fullam had been captured by a Chinese antiaircraft unit operating in North Vietnam and that he had been handed over to the North Vietnamese and driven away in a jeep. This report could not be verified even after Operation Homecoming, but on 24 September 1987 remains were handed over by the Vietnamese that were later identified as being those of Major Fullam. The cause of death remains a mystery.”…
RIPPLE SALVO… #580… The opening reference to the 4 October 1967 conversation that included the President and Secretary McNamara was pulled from State Department, Office of the Historian document:
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v05/d346
Humble Host suggests a reading. Lot’s of meat. And then there is this from the beleaguered President who was having problems 50 years ago with loyalty and the media that is pertinent to our own current times…
“The President: Scotty Reston (New York Times) is doing a story on disloyalty in government. He says that disloyalty to a President has never been higher–not even President Lincoln–to senior government personnel. Once Reston writes that article, that is the line many of the columnists and commentators are going to take. If you want to oppose a President, that’s O.K., but do not say he lied to anybody. I do not have several policies on Vietnam. If you look at the history of decisions on Vietnam you will find that we have been consistent. In any case, this story has a theme that there is disloyalty in the highest ranks. It seems to make reference to the Newsweek story talking about various Cabinet members spreading anti-administration information around town.”… (now that has a familiar ring)…
Tomorrow in RS #581: The Air Force does the Cuvan (Cu Van) POL storage area.
RTR QUOTE for 7 October: ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Speech 1839: “Many free countries have lost their liberty, and ours may lose hers: but if she shall, be it my proudest plume, not that I was the last to desert, but that I never deserted her.”…
Lest we forget… Bear