RIPPLE SALVO… #550 (POSTED FROM THE NUGGET IN SPARKS–TAILHOOK ’17)… Continuing the Summary Report of the August 1967 Stennis hearings… but first…
Good Morning: Day FIVE HUNDRED FIFTY of a thousand day journal of the air war with North Vietnam fought fifty years ago…
7 SEPTEMBER 1967… HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a sunny Thursday in NYC…
VIETNAM: “Goldberg Queries U.S. Allies At U.N. On Vietnam Peace–He suggests Call By Security Council for Geneva Parley to Seek End of Asian Conflict–Cease Fire First Step– Removal of Foreign Forces and International Controls are Included In Proposal”… “…proposes a course of action by the Security Council to obtain a cease-fire and peace negotiations in Vietnam. the main thrust of the suggestion is that the council call for an international conference for peace in Southeast Asia based on the 1954 and 1962 Geneva Conferences on Indochina.”… Page 1: “Romney Doubts Data About War–He Asserts Administration is Misleading The Public”… “Governor George Romney of Michigan today stood by this statement that he had been ‘brainwashed’ on the Vietnam war and added the Johnson Administration had not been telling the truth to the American people… relates to Romney visit to Vietnam in 1965 and his post trip stand on support of the war. Now says his endorsement was poorly placed, based on partial truths.”… “Henry Cabot Lodge responds: ‘I never brainwashed anybody in my life.’ “... Page 1: “Catholics Victors In Saigon Senate–Make a Strong Comeback”… “…won a near majority and powerful role in Senate… Catholics represent 10 per cent of the population, but gain 25-30 of the 60 seats in the Senate.”… Page 2: “Observers Tell Johnson South Vietnam Election Was Fair”... “President Johnson’s novel exercise of having prominent Americans observe South Vietnam’s election ended in a flow of warm tributes and fine food at the White House today. Governor William Guy of North Dakota: ‘As moving and profound an example of the desire for self-determination as can be found anywhere.’ Others: ‘As good as can be found in the United States.’ ” …Page 2: “8 Losers Protest SVN Election–Presidential Nominees Ask Constituent Assembly to Void Election”… “…unable to identify basis fro charge of fraud.”…
Page 3: “Briton Sees Desperation In U.S. Policy in Vietnam”… “Sir Robert Thompson, who headed Britain’s Advisory Mission in Saigon for three years says that recent United States military measures in South Vietnam ‘smack more of desperation than of the resolution needed to win the war. He was referring to the decisions to send more ground forces to Vietnam and to extend the bombing to the Chinese border…He said: ‘Search and destroy plays into the hands of General Vo Nguyen Giap… better the enclave strategy of General James Gavin.’ “... Page 1: “36 Marines Killed South of Danang; 142 of Enemy Dead”… “Major fighting erupted again last night and this morning in the Queson Valley 24 miles south of Danang where the United States Marines have been battling North Vietnamese regulars. At least 36 Marines have been killed and 152 have been wounded. Initial report said 142 Vietnamese had been killed in an enemy force of 2,500…Sporadic fighting and sniper fire continues.”…
SUMMER IN AMERICA 1967: Page 1: “Ford Strike Is On As Company Bars Arbitration Bid–160,000 Workers Made Idle at Plants in 25 Cities–No Talks Until Monday–Some Employees Leave Job Early–Johnson Aide Calm on Effect of Strike”… Page 1: “Michigan teacher Strikes Delay School For 500,000″… “Teachers say they are willing to sit it out until Christmas if necessary ‘to obtain higher wages and smaller classes.’ “… Page 1: “Johnson Chooses Walter Washington to Head Government In Washington, D.C. as Commissioner”… “President: ‘We have found a man who will be a strong and authentic voice for the people of Washington.’ “…
7 September 1967…The President’s TS (and Eyes Only) Daily CIA Brief… SOUTH VIETNAM: As defeated presidential candidates continue to insist the election was rigged, runner-up Trong Dinh Dzu claims he is going to organize a civilian opposition party. Yesterday Dzu also repeated his call for negotiations with the Communists. Lower house elections are scheduled for 22 October and some 1,500 candidates have filed for 137 seats at stake.… NONPROLIFERATION TREATY: The Soviets have backed down from their insistence that the International Atomic Energy Agency be the sole administrator of any safeguards provision. A compromise Soviet proposal would permit the Common Market countries, which have their own safeguards system, to take up to two years to negotiate with the International agency to determine how safeguards would apply. These countries could negotiate individually, more as a group…. CAMBODIA: Sihanouk, in another jab at Cambodian leftists, has dissolved the Cambodian-Chinese Friends Association–a noted tool of his Peking-leaning leftists. This action, however, (like other recent “crackdowns” on the left) was done in a way calculated from getting too worked up.
SPECIAL REPORT ON NORTH VIETNAM FOR THE PRESIDENT’S EYES ONLY: (largely STILL redacted 50 years later) Hanoi on elections: North Vietnamese propaganda media continue to charge the elections were fraudulent, but a note of sensitivity to the large turnout of voters can be detected… (rest remains classified)… Schoenbrun pessimistic: Ex-CBS newsman David Schoenbrun touched down in Vientiane, Laos, Tuesday evening after a two week visit to Hanoi. Schoenbrun was described by US Embassy officers as disillusioned and deeply depressed about the prospects for peace. Schoenbrun spoke of the “unswerving determination of the leadership in Hanoi, the inflexibility”of its terms for peace and negotiations, and the “remarkable organization and morale” of the people in the north. He was especially struck by the energy and morale of the people he observed on trips outside Hanoi, saying this was unlike anything he had seen before as a war correspondent. During his visit, Schoenbrun had a two-and-a-quarter hour interview with Premier Pham Van Dong and shook hands with Ho Chi Minh. Schoenbrun found nothing new in Hanoi’s peace terms and held no hopes for any immediate settlement through negotiations.
SCHOENBRUN TALKS WITH US PRISONERS:
“Schoenbrun was allowed to visit five American prisoners of war being held in a villa near the main Red River bridge in Hanoi. He thought four of them were in “fairly good” physical and mental condition, were treated and cared for as well as possible, and showed no evidence of brainwashing. One, who was severely wounded when captured, said he had been immediately taken to a hospital and nursed back to complete health. Some of the prisoners had received mail and even packages sent through open international mail. Schoenbrun said North Vietnamese argued that the prisoners are a burden to them–they eat twice as much as any Vietnamese, and the authorities are concerned they may be killed by US bombings…. (the rest remains redacted)…
7 September 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (8 Sept reporting 7 Sept ops) Page 9: “U.S. Jet Downed Over The North”… “An Air Force F-4 was reported shot down yesterday over the panhandle. Both crew members were listed as missing in action. This was the 674th United States plane reported down over North Vietnam.”…
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There was one fixed wing aircraft downed in Southeast Asia on 7 September 1067…
(1) CAPTAIN ALBERT FRANCIS SAYER and a crewman were flying n O-1E Bird Dog on a visual recce a few miles south of Bien Hoa when hit by Vietcong automatic weapon fire. The aircraft was crash landed killing CAPTAIN SAYER. The unidentified observer was injured but survived. Young CAPTAIN SAYER made his last flight for his country fifty years ago this day…
RIPPLE SALVO… #550… Stennis Senate Hearings of August 1967 V of IX: Remaining Militarily Significant Targets…
“On August 25, 1967, there were fifty-seven targets recommended by the Joint Chiefs of Staff against which strikes have not been authorized. Another sixty-eight targets on the operating target list are not currently recommended by the Joint Chiefs. The Secretary of Defense in his appearance before the subcommittee took great pains to minimize and deprecate the significance of the fifty-seven recommended targets which have not been approved. He said, ‘The present importance of such targets as these has not been shown to warrant risking the loss of American lives.’ Yet in the past many American lives have been lost by striking approved targets which were clearly of much less significance than many of those recommended but not approved.
“It was clearly implied by the Secretary of Defense that few, if any, important military targets remained unstruck. The great weight of the military testimony was to the contrary. General McConnell stated: ‘There are many valuable tgargets remaining unstruck.’ General Wheeler stated: ‘There is no question about that.’ Admiral Sharp said: ‘There are many lucrative targets that have not yet been struck…that we consider important.’ as late as August 28, General Greene said: ‘The key targets have not even yet been hit.’
“Obviously, high on the list, from the standpoint of priority of importance, is the closure or neutralization of the Port of Haiphong. As the Secretary of Defense said, the great bulk of North Vietnam’s imports now enter through Haiphong, perhaps as much as 4,700 out of 5,800 tons per day. This, the Secretary of Defense said, includes most of the war-supporting material, such as trucks, generators, and, construction equipment. However, in weighing the risks involved in closing this port, he discounts the value of closing Haiphong and asserts that Hanoi’s present heavy reliance on it reflects convenience rather than necessity. He concludes that cutting off seaborne imports would not prevent North Vietnam from continuing its present level of military operations in the South and would not, in fact, eliminate seaborne imports. He said that North Vietnam could sustain its required import rate by way of land, rail, and water from Red China.
“This position contrasts sharply with the views of military experts. For example, Admiral Sharp testified: ‘I have seen studies that say the roads and the railroads have sufficient capacity even if you mine Haiphong that they would still get enough done. I frankly do not believe it.’
“Supporting the present level of enemy forces in South Vietnam is not the only problem posed by imports into North Vietnam quantities of war materiel are needed to support enemy forces in the DMZ, and thousands of tons of antiaircraft ammunition are needed to support air defenses in the North: Practically all of this is imported.
“All military witnesses stated that the closure, neutralizing Haiphong has important policy and political considerations over and above our military requirements, including the reaction if any of the USSR and China. This is a serious and legitimate question, but it does not justify the Secretary in taking the position that closing or neutralizing this vital port is unimportant from a military standpoint, a position which is entirely at odds with the unanimous judgement of all of our military experts. The subcommittee does not believe the Secretary’s position on matter is valid.”
Tomorrow, Friday, 8 September: VI of IX: “Proposals to Suspend or Restrict Air War”… And the Bear will be posting from “The Nugget,” revisiting NAS Fallon, then milling about at one of the greatest group gropes on the planet, “The Bug Roach Flight Deck Mixer” at Tailhook ’17…
RTR QUOTE for 7 September: POPE, Essay on Man: “In Faith and Hope, the world will disagree, But all mankind’s concern is Charity.”… God Bless Texans and “Cajuns.”…
Lest we forget… Bear