RIPPLE SALVO… #917… A DIALOGUE OF THE DEAF: “…a situation in which people share their views without actually listening or acknowledging each other.”… On 23 January 1968 the North Koreans seized the USS Pueblo on the high seas. Seven months later the ship and 82 surviving members of the crew were still held by North Korea. There was a whole lot of talk going on. In fact, the ‘dialogue of the deaf’ had been ongoing since the truce ending the Korean War–275+ meetings had already been held by September 1968–and very little had been settled. The Pueblo Incident was a separate agenda, but the pace of talk to resolve the ’cause for war’ was so bad the President’s only response to a press question on the Pueblo was “no comment on that.” North Korea had the U.S. by the short hair and were dug in. The Associated Press put this short article on the wire on 26 July 1968:
“APOLOGIZE FOR PUEBLO, NORTH KOREA REITERATES”— North Korea reiterated today that the 82 crewmen fo the Pueblo will never be returned unless the United States apologizes and promises it will ‘never commit such crimes again in the future.’ A government memorandum repeated Pyongyang’s contention that the American intelligence ship intruded into North Korean waters on January 23 and that North Korea exercised its ‘legitimate right of self-defense’ in seizing it. The U.S. imperialist aggressors can never get the crew sent back unless they make an apology for the criminal acts of the crew who intruded onto the territorial waters of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and perpetrated espionage and hostile acts, and give an assurance that they will never commit such crimes again in future.,’ it said. It accused the United States of using the South Korea as pretext to bring more troops in to South Korea ‘and stepping up war preparations.’ It warned that the situation in Korea is ‘extremely tense’ and ‘war may break out again at any moment.'”… Humble Host opts to include this post on the Pueblo Crisis in this commemoration ot the Vietnam war for the lessons on dialoguing with the enemy the Korean experience–both Korean War and Pueblo Incident– provide for the Vietnam Peace talk diplomats in Paris. In fact, there are a lot of lessons here for the current Secretary of State in ongoing negotiations for the de-nuclearization of the Korean Peninsula…. Continued below in Ripple Salvo…
GOOD MORNING…Day NINE HUNDRED SEVENTEEN of a look-back to the air war fought over North Vietnam fifty years ago…
HEAD LINES from The New York Times on Saturday, 7 September 1968…
THE WAR: Page 1: “TWO BATTLES ERUPT ON SAIGON ROUTES–71 OF FOE REPORTED KILLED–U.S. Dead Placed At 33–Bombs Exploded In Saigon”… “American troops fought two battles along the approaches to Saigon yesterday and three terrorist-bomb incidents were reported in the capital itself. A United States military spokesman said tht 71 Vietcong were killed in the two actions and six were captured. American losses were 33 killed and 40 wounded. In the most serious of the terrorist incidents, a 75-pound charge of TNT exploded in a Government information office in the Chinese section, killing nine South Vietnamese civilians and wounding 30…. Troops fighting 26 miles northwest of the South Vietnamese capital, had killed 31 Vietcong but suffered twice as many casualties–31 dead and 31 wounded. That engagement and the other one 12 miles southwest of Saigon, had begun the previous day and continued through the night and early morning. While the fighting closer to Saigon ended at noon with 40 Vietcong and two American dead and nine Americans wounded the larger action continued until late in the day. Paratroopers of the 101st Airborne Division (Airmobile) had assaulted into the area northwest of Saigon after a deserter had disclosed that a Vietcong battalion was bivouacked there. Vietnam riflemen opened up on the paratroopers as their helicopters touched down, but after 30 minutes they pulled away. Later as the paratroopers began circling a village the shooting resumed…. Elsewhere in the war, North Vietnamese troops fired 115 mortar shells into a Government outpost four miles southwest of the Duclap Special Forces camp. Two weeks ago, the North Vietnamese tried for three days to overrun Duclap and, according to American officers, lost more than 800 men. Yesterday an American officer reported that five B-52 strikes had been directed near the camp…there were five other B-52 raids in South Vietnam, one of them 37 miles northwest of Saigon.”…
Page 1: “MOSCOW GIVES CONDITIONS FOR WITHDRAWAL OF SOVIET TROOPS FROM CZECHOSLOVAKIA–Russians Stress Party Role–Kuznetsov Sees Svoboda”… Page 2: “WEST GERMAN NIGHTMARE–Build-Up Of Soviet Forces At Border In Czechoslovakia Revives Old Fears”… Page 6: “NEW GROUPS RULE ALL CHINA AREAS–Maoist Units Set-Up In Last Two Regions, Peking Says”…
Page 1: “NIXON DENOUNCES HUMPHREY VIEWS–Tells 30,000 Texans Rival Wavers On Main Issues– Backs Jets For Israel”… Page 1: “ROCKEFELLER PICKS CHARLES GOODELL FOR ROBERT KENNEDY SEAT IN SENATE”… Page 1: JOHNSON PRESSES SENATE LEADERS TO ACT FOR JUSTICE FORTAS–Tells Mansfield And Dirksen ‘A Little Group’ Should Not Prevent Vote By Tricks–Reports New Support–Backs Nuclear Curb Treaty and Implies Receipt Of Assurances On Rumania From Russia”… Page 1: “JOHNSON ASKS RISE IN SPENDING LIMIT–Wants $1-Billion Exempted From Requested Trim”… Page 1: “PRESIDENT HINTS HE’LL PLAY DEFENSIVE CAMPAIGN ROLE”… Page 20: “SPIRO AGNEW LINKS PROTESTERS WITH REDS–Governor Points Out 10 Moscow Trips–Warns oof Overplaying Issue But Insists To Be Aired”… Page 18: “Senators Muskie Cautious On Paris Peace Parley–Says Candidates Should Not Refine Positions Too Soon–Warns On War Specifics Now”… Detroit’s Denny McLain Wins 28th To Equal Robin Roberts 28 Victories in 1952…
7 September 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times… Page 8: “American pilots flew 33 multiple raids into North Vietnam as the turbulence of tropical storm Bess disrupted air operations for the second day…(NYT, 8 Sept reporting 7 Sept ops) As tropical Storm Bess continued to dissipate, the spokesman said, American operations over North Vietnam began to return to normal. Pilots flew 81 multiple aircraft missions Friday against supply lines and storage areas.”… VIETNAM: AIR LOSSES (Chris Hobson) There were two fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 7 September 1968.
(1) An F-105F of the 44th TFS and 388th TFW out of Korat went down over Thailand when the aircraft suffered a catastrophic engine failure requiring the two aviators aboard to eject. They were rescued to fly and fight again…
(2) CAPTAIN J.B. DENTON, USMC and 1LT J.C. CHURCH, USMC were flying an F-4D of the VFMA-115 Silver Eagles and MAG-13 out of Chu Lai on a close air support mission seven miles west of Hue and were downed while making a napalm run. they were making their second run when hit by small arms fire in the part engine that developed into an engine fire requiring the crew to eject. CAPTAIN DENTON was able to pilot the Phantom east before ejecting near the Marine Corps base at Phu They. The two Marine aviators were quickly rescued…
SUMMARY OF ROLLING THUNDER LOSSES (KIA/MIA/POW) ON THE FOUR 7 SEPTEMBER DATES OF THE FOUR YEARS OF THE OPERATION OVER NORTH VIETNAM…
1966, 1967, 1968… NONE…
1965… LTJG CHARLES BERNARD GOODWIN, USN… (KIA)… On the night of 7-8 September 1965, LTJG GOODWIN was the pilot of an RF-8A aircraft of VFP-63 Detachment D, Carrier Air Wing-15, when he launched from the USS Coral Sea for a solo combat photo mission over North Vietnam. At the time of the flight numerous thunderstorms were reported between the USS Coral Sea and the North Vietnam coast. Fifteen minutes after launch, LTJG GOODWIN reported he was topping thunderstorms at 38,000-feet en route to the target area. Radio contact was lost and young LTJG GOODWIN perished. An extensive search followed but failed to develop any sign of the missing aviator or his aircraft. He was declared Missing in Action. In 1988, a Vietnamese refugee provided information regarding the location of possible human remains and material evidence, including a military identification card for Goodwin. Between April 1998 and December 2016, multiple attempts were made by the Vietnamese Office for Seeking Missing Persons and Joint U.S.Vietnam teams to locate the crash site and remains of the pilot, without success. In December 2016, a Joint Forensic Review team received possible human remains that had been in the possession of a Vietnamese national. The remains were sent to the Defense labs for analysis and positively identified as those of COMMANDER (promoted three times while MIA) CHARLES BERNARD GOODWIN. … This persistent effort and successful search of more than 50 years that brought a fallen warrior home from the war is a great victory for the countless people on both sides of the Pacific involved in the search… oohrah…
LEAVE A REMEMBRANCE…VVMF WALL OF FACES…
RIPPLE SALVO… #917… NYT, 8-Sept-68, Page 24: “RELEASE OF THE PUEBLO’S CREW IS REPORTED NEAR–But Washington Is Dubious of a Prediction in Seoul That North Korea Will Act”… “Seoul, South Korea, Sept.7 (AP)–A South Korea newspaper said today that United States and North Korean negotiators wre likely to settle the fate of the U.S.S. Pueblo an her crew by Monday, and the North Koreans announced that they would have ‘important reports’ tomorrow. Quoting unidentified sources, the newspaper Chosun Ilbo said the negotiators met August 29 and discussed a draft letter of the apology that the North Koreans have demanded from the United States. The North Koreans contend that the United States intelligence-gathering ship was intruding in their territorial waters when they seized it January 23. they have demanded an apology as a condition for the release of the 82 crewmen (including Commander Paul Bucher). Chosun Ilbo said the United State side made some concessions at the lst meeting but also suggested amendments to the draft proposed by the North Koreans. it said another meeting was scheduled at the truce village of panmunjom, at which the North Koreans are expected to react to the proposals. Tomorrow is the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the North Korean People’s Republic. United States radio monitors were alerted to the possibility that North Korea might broadcast an important statement.”…
SEOUL HOSPITAL READIED…(UPI) “A hospital ward ws cleared and ambulances stood by today for the possible release of the remaining 82 men in the crew of the U.S.S. Pueblo from their North Korean captors. One of the crew was fatally wounded during the ship’s seizure.”… WASHINGTON IS UNCONVINCED (NYT) “A State Department spokesman said today that there had been no official notice from North Korea that any announcement tomorrow would concern the U.S.S. Pueblo or her crew. He refused to speculate on reports that the crewmen might be released soon and reiterated that nothing had happened at the last meeting between North Korea and the United States to indicate a release was imminent.”… (A preview of things to come: The crew will get home for Christmas and the ex-USS Pueblo remains a national monument in a waterside park in North Korea)…
Humble Host adds a few comments from a NYT story on the 278th meeting Korean War Truce negotiations (NYT, 22-Sept-68, P. 13). Here’s the lead paragraph: “Major General Gilbert H. Woodward glanced over the greentopped table at Major General Pak Chung Kuk of North Korea today and said, ‘The people of the world have listened to your preposterous lies for 15 years until they are bored to death.”…followed by this… “The false statements and propaganda spoken by your side… indicate a sharp deviation from reality and have marked your regime as completely void of truth.’… The American general continued: “This may sound ludicrous in view of your past performance, but it is my hope that your regime has not regressed so far into the twilight zone of deceit, deception and fabrication that it cannot recover. This belief is based on your amateurish handling of the carbines. Had you been professionals, you would not have made such a blunder. Penologists have agreed for centuries that rehabilitating the older professional criminal is extremely more difficult than rehabilitating young amateurs.”…
The article adds: “Such tough talk was easily matched by General Pak. The jousting at Panmunjon is also conducted on levels other than oral invective.”… It concludes: “One justification for the weary round of talks is that ‘as long as they are talking, they are not fighting’ This, however, is no longer very true. The increase in truce violations and sharp exchange of fire since 1966 means that a small war is accompanying the talks.”… That makes it “fight while talking” which is exactly what North Vietnam’s position on ‘dialoguing with the enemy’ amounted to for more than four years. The strategy is right out of Mao’s little red book… The strategy is alive and well in North Korea today… “a dialogue of the deaf”…
RTR quote for 7 September: KEE-SHEN: Ministerial report to the Emperor of China during the Opium War with Great Britain, March 1841: “It appears to your Majesty’s slave that we are very deficient in means, and have not the shells and rockets used by the barbarians. We must therefore, adopt other methods to stop them, which will be easy, as they have opened negotiations.”…
Lest we forget…. Bear…