RIPPLE SALVO… #642… Edward F. Murray in the Preface to “Vietnam Medal of Honor Heroes”: “America’s youth fought the enemy in Vietnam as well as, if not better than, their fathers fought World War II, or their grandfathers fought in World War I. Unlike heroes from earlier wars, though, the returning Vietnam heroes received scant public attention…. American society had said, in effect, ‘The war is over. We lost it. Let’s forget it–and forget the men who fought there. If we ignore them, maybe the painful memories will go away.'”…
Good Morning: Day SIX HUNDRED FORTY-TWO of a 1,000-day blog remembering the events and war-fighters of Operation Rolling Thunder…
8 December 1967… HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a partly cloudy Friday coming into a great weekend….
Page 1: “President Johnson Among Leaders at St. Patrick’s Rites For Cardinal Spellman–Nine Cardinals At Service Take Part in English Mass’… “Cardinal Spellman was buried beneath the high altar of St. Patrick’s Cathedral yesterday after a princely requiem that combined the 1,900-year-old traditions of Roman Catholicism with the church’s most modern liturgical innovation. The words ‘Grant him mercy and peace everlasting,’ were pronounced by the Pope’s personal representative in the United States…They were heard by President Johnson, Vice President Humphrey; by thousands of mourners gathered outside…; and many thousands more on television… Page 1: “Helicopter Flies President to Central Park Meadow”... “Tight security measures, including the use of helicopter and the maintenance of extraordinary security, were employed yesterday when President Johnson came to New York for the funeral of Cardinal Spellman.”... Page 1: “Dirksen, Erstwhile Johnson Ally, Suggests G.O.P. Might End The War”... “…a new President who would be free to take new approaches might bring peace.”… Page 1: “Paris Due to Lift Arms Ban on Iraq In A Deal For Oil Curbs On Other Arab States That Did Not Fight In June War May Also Be Ended–Accord Reported Near”… Page 1: “Senate Restores Many Cuts in Aid; Votes $2.7-Billion–Leaders Speed Action–Seek to Meet Dec 15 Target for Winding Down Congressional Session–Conferees Face Fight”…
Page 1: “U.S. Gold stocks Drop $475-Million–Largest Loss In Any Week Spurred By Speculation After Cut in Pound”… “Today’s loss of gold brought closer the day when Congress will be asked to repeal or modify the present requirement that currency in circulation be ‘covered’ 25-per cent by gold. The gold reserve has already fallen to 28.5 per cent of the currency outstanding which grows steadily… Repeal or modification will almost certainly be in the President’s program next year.”… Page 1: “Labor Cool To President’s Plea for Restraint in Wage Demands”... “Labor leaders in industries facing a major contract negotiating next year showed no disposition today to heed President Johnson’s call for restraint in their wage demands.”…
GROUND WAR (“War is a killing business.”) NYT 7 Dec, Page 15, Hanson Baldwin article: “Airmobile Drive is Showing Some Gains–Fire Brigade Tactics Held Effective in Binhdinh”... “The commander of North Vietnam’s Third Regiment was killed yesterday along with 16 other enemy soldiers in a sharp fight somewhat typical of the skirmishes that occur daily throughout South Vietnam, but particularly in the area assigned to the Army’s only air cavalry division. The First Cavalry Division (Mobile), with its 445 aircraft, has averaged almost 300 air assaults a month in units of platoons, company or battalion size. Using its helicopters and working with South Vietnamese soldiers and national policemen, field force elements of the division jump all over the area, moving small units quickly through the air in what amounts to 20th century Indian warfare.
“Since September, 1966, the division has been concentrating on Binhdinh Province–a rice area on the coast, long a stronghold of the Vietcong. Many of the units–such as those assigned to the Third Brigade, fighting with the American Division in the I Corps area–have answered ‘fire brigade’ calls for help from many parts of South Vietnam outside the division’s area of responsibility. Today its battalions were widely scattered. Yesterday the division completed its 295th day of combat in Operation Pershing, a drive to weaken the enemy in the northern Binhdinh area.
“Since February, the division has lost 499 Americans killed in action, 2,345 wounded and 25 helicopters destroyed. But enemy losses have been disproportionately high, and all the signs indicate that the Vietcong and North Vietnamese have been hurt heavily in Binhdinh in the last year. For a year, Major General John J. Tolson, the division commander has concentrated on whittling down the Third Division and loosening the grip of the enemy on the ricelands and the people. Prisoners and defectors–in strong contrast with those captured in the battles of the frontiers along the Laotian and Cambodian borders–have been dispirited, half starving and poorly equipped.
“The fight, General Tolson is sure, is by no means over, but there is by no doubt in the minds of the officers of the First Cavalry Division that the enemy’s main units are far weaker than they were a year ago. At the same time, the struggle for control of the ricelands has made slow progress. In large parts of the province, the Vietcong still tax the peasants 10-per cent of their crop, and according to the South Vietnamese Government’s figures, the enemy controls some 43,000 acres of riceland in Bindinh. But some of this land has gone out of cultivation as people have been removed, or have fled, from enemy areas.
“Many of the enemy’s rice caches have been captured, and protection for the harvest–now under way–is being provided by South Vietnamese and the United States forces. Highway 1 is open in Binhdinh by day–even to United States military vehicles. Intermittently bridges are blown up or burned at night, but not so frequently as a year ago. And the road is never closed for long–a sharp contrast with the past. United States military officials believe, perhaps optimistically, that the Vietcong tax collectors have been driven from the road.
“A battalion of the South Vietnamese national police and its intelligence unit–both patterned after units the British established in the Malaysian insurgency–have been making at least a dent in the real Communist strength in South Vietnam: the underground political and military cells. It will be a long time before their iron grip is broken. But at lest a start has been made, and the grip is weakening in Binhbinh Province, where the Communists are far weaker today than they were a year ago.”…
(Two months to the start of the NVN Tet Offensive)
8 December 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (9 Dec reporting 8 Dec ops) Page 1: “The continued bad weather over North Vietnam, now well into its third week, limited American missions against North Vietnam to 75 flown against minor targets in the southern panhandle. One plane whose loss had not been previously announced was included in the summary of aircraft losses in the North for the seven day period ending Tuesday.”… “Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There was one fixed wing aircraftlost in southeast Asia on 98 December 1967…
(1) A C-123K of the 310th ACS and 315th ACW out of Phan Rang with a crew of five crashed due to pilot error. The details are missing. The crew of five survived…
RIPPLE SALVO… #642… Humble Host has located an excellent articulation of a Vietnam warrior’s homecoming and afterlife as a veteran of the Vietnam war… Edward F. Murphy nails it in the Preface to his “Vietnam Medal of Honor Heroes” story book written thirty-years ago, which is a good, condensed history of the war. The author uses the heroic experiences of 238 Medal of Honor awardees to trace the war from start to finish. From the “first hero,” Captain Roger Donlon’s intrepid deeds in July 1964, to the final Vietnam War Medal of Honor presented posthumously to Major Alan Kellogg, USMC, on 17 May 1984 for action that took his life in 1970… Humble Host posits that the heroes of the Vietnam war included every swinging-Richard who came home wearing a Combat Action Medal or an Air Medal, including the 238 MOH awardees… Every Vietnam combat vet rates hero status in my book… And every one of the millions who took a turn or two in Southeast Asia during those twelve years of an unpopular war rates a ration of adulation and appreciation from our countrymen and women… They rate belated thank-yous for the ones that never came to the veterans of the Vietnam War in those first twenty years of the silent treatment, or worse…
The Preface….
“During World War II, newspapers, magazines, and news reels were full of stories about how our soldiers had killed enemy troops , or shot down scores of enemy pilots. World War II heroes sold war bonds, toured manufacturing plants, kissed movie stars, received job offers, had their picture taken with civic leaders. An admiring public made them objects of adulation.
“The heroes of earlier wars received tremendous publicity. Men like Alvin York, Eddie Rickenbacker, Jimmy Doolittle, Joe Foss, and ‘Commando’ Kelly were as familiar to some people as their own families.
“They were treated like heroes.
“The heroes of the Vietnam War weren’t so lucky.
“Being a hero in such an unpopular war was often a heavy burden. Friends and even families felt uncomfortable in their presence. Strangers wanted to know how many Vietnamese babies they killed, or women they raped, to earn the Medal. ‘Hey,’ someone asked one Medal of Honor recipient, ‘If you’re so brave, why didn’t we win over there?’
“Most of the serving recipients of the Vietnam War Medals of Honor quickly settled into a lifestyle of obscurity. Few sought public recognition. A surprisingly large number of the eighty-eight survivors–fifty-six–decided to return to, or remain in, the military. A military career offered them an anonymity–and acceptance from their peers–not found on the ‘outside.’
“By the time Saigon fell in 1975, almost all of Vietnam’s heroes had retreated into the security of building careers, raising families, and paying mortgages. Few were active in community affairs. Few led parades. The graves of posthumous Medal recipients went unacknowledged, except for relatives.
“American society had said, in effect, ‘The war is over. We lost it. Let’s forget it–and forget the men who fought there. If we ignore them, maybe the painful memories will go away.’
“‘Time heals all wounds’ is a well-worn cliché, but it is a strikingly appropriate description of American’s reaction to the Vietnam War. As the years have passed, the agony of the war–and the disputes and recriminations that followed–had faded from most people’s minds.
“Today (1987) there are millions of Americans who had not even been born while the war was raging–and millions more are too young to remember it. It is becoming distant history.
“With enough distance from the war, people have begun to respect Vietnam veterans for the sacrifices they made. The vets themselves have begun to play a more visible role in society.
“The dedication of the Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial in Washington, D.C. on November 11, 1982, catalyzed national recognition of the Vietnam veteran. It had taken the American public nearly twenty years to realize that it was all right to hate the war, but not hate their warriors.
“From the beginning, the true story of the Vietnam combat soldier began to be told. History books and memoirs have appeared that reveal the unbelievable hardships that American troops experienced during the war–and the uncommon valor and heroism with which they responded. Only now can the most neglected group of warriors in our history receive the public praise they deserve. The stories of the incredible heroism they displayed in fighting an unpopular war can finally be told.
“Their deeds of valor equal, and sometimes surpass, the heroics of soldiers from earlier wars. Their achievements deserve an equally respected place in American history.”
RTR Quote for 8 December 1967: Vergil, Eclogues: “Thy honor, they name and thy praises shall endure forever.”…
Lest we forget… Bear