RIPPLE SALVO… #522… SECRETARY OF DEFENSE McNAMARA IN REBUTTAL… but first…
Good Morning: Day FIVE HUNDRED TWENTY-TWO of thinking about a war and the warriors who fought it in the skies over North Vietnam fifty years ago…
9 AUGUST 1967… HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a Wednesday covered by dark clouds in NYC…
SUMMER IN AMERICA 1967: Page 1: “Crime Bill Voted In House, 377-23–Riot Curbs Added–Johnson Measure Is Revised By G.O.P. To Give Most of Control to States–$75-Million Provided–First Year Funds Raised By $25-Million With Aid of Southern Democrats”… “Republicans in the House, backed by Southern Democrats succeeded today in drastically revising President Johnson’s principal anti-crime bill to give most control to the states and provide strong anti-riot measures.”… Page 1: “18 In Congress Urge State of New York Not To Use New World Trade Center”...”…criticize Governor Rockefeller’s plan to lease a major part of World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan for state offices. They urged instead that the state offices be placed in a depressed area of the city.”… Page 1: “Automakers Balk at Union Demands–Big 3 Powers Reported Planning to Reject U.A.W. Proposals and Bar Compromise.”… Page 1: “G.O.P. Governors Join Rockefeller In Shine Talks–Seven Answer Call for Discussion of Tension in Nations Ghettos–House Republicans Likely to Agree On a Poverty Bill, Despite Riots”… “Despite the recent riots in the cities and the Republican’s strong numerical position, Republican leaders in the House are talking about compromise on the endangered anti-poverty bill compromise on the endangered anti-poverty bill for the first time since the program began in 1964.”…Page 1: “Job Record Set With July Total of 76.2 Million–Summer Flood of Young to Labor Market Absorbed As Economy Gains Strength–Jobless Rate Off a Bit–Upturn After Sluggish First half of Year is Expected to Help Drive for Tax Rise”…
VIETNAM: Page 3: “G.I.s Report Foe Loses 65 In Clash–U.S. Casualties Called Light”... “U.S. Infantrymen reported killing 65 guerrillas in a 10-hour jungle battle near Quangngai. One American was killed and 4 wounded. Battle erupted a few miles from the coast when a guerrilla battalion of 400 to 600 men attacked a 4th Division unit sweeping a Vietcong stronghold. The Americans counter-attacked with artillery and air. Three Americans were killed and 20 wounded in a guerrilla attack a few miles north of Saigon.”…
9 August 1967…STATE DEPARTMENT Office of Historian: Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant (Walt Rostow) to the President… in which Rostow provides the President information on the effectiveness of the interdiction campaign reducing the throughput of North Vietnamese troops. Humble Host suggests that it is a very good summary of CIA numbers that supports the bombing campaign. As Rostow says: “Without bombing of infiltration trails–with all their direct and indirect effects–these desertions, disease rates, etc., would not be occurring.”… “…if we weren’t bombing, the total level of attempted infiltration would be much, much higher than it is.”…good memo…at…
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v05/d273
9 August 1967…The President’s TS Daily CIA Brief…SOUTH VIETNAM: The government has closed a well-known newspaper after its publisher and a reporter were arrested on suspicion of Communist activity, but closing a newspaper at this point in the campaign is likely to bring on more charges of government press censorship and unfair tactics… SOVIET-UNION: Several Soviet journalists say Moscow is about to agree to submission of a joint US-Soviet non-proliferation treaty to the Geneva disarmament conference–with the crucial provision on safeguards left open. One of the journalists says the Soviets will then propose that debate continue in Geneva until the delegations agree on an acceptable formulation of safeguards. This tactic would avoid getting the UN General Assembly in on the act…
AMONG THE BRAVE
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM… COLONEL ROBERT M. WHITE, UNITED STATES AIR FORCE… The AIR FORCE CROSS… 11 AUGUST 1967… PAUL DOUMER (LONG BIEN) BRIDGE, HANOI…
“The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the AIR FORCE CROSS to ROBERT M. WHITE, Colonel, U.S. Air Force, for EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM in military operations against an opposing armed force as an F-105 Mission Commander and Pilot of the 355th Tactical fighter Wing, Takhli royal Thai Air Base, Thailand, Seventh Air Force, in action near Hanoi, North Vietnam, on 11 August 1967. On that date Colonel WHITE led the entire combat force against a key railroad and highway bridge in the vicinity of Hanoi. In spite 14 surface-to-air missile launches, MIG interceptor attacks, and intense antiaircraft artillery fire, he gallantly led the attack. By being the first aircraft to dive through the dark clouds of bursting flak, Colonel WHITE set an example that inspired the remaining attacking force to destroy the bridge without a single aircraft being lost to the hostile gunners. Through his EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM, superb airmanship, and aggressiveness in the face of hostile forces, Colonel WHITE reflected highest credit upon himself and the United States Air Force”…
AMONG COLONEL WHITE’s other combat awards: two Distinguished Service Medals; four Silver Stars; the Legion of Merit; five Distinguished Flying Crosses; a Bronze Star; and 17 Air Medals…. oohrah!!!… Colonel White was a prisoner of war in World War II…
9 August 1967…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…New York Times (10 Aug reporting 9 Aug ops)…Page 3: “In the air war, clearing weather permitted air strikes in the Hanoi area. United States pilots flew 166 multiple plane missions concentrating on railroad yards near Hanoi…
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There were three fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 9 August 1967…
(1) CAPTAIN ALLEN SHELDON CHERRY was flying an A-1E of the 602nd ACS and 56th ACW out of Udorn and participating in an attack on a truck park 100 miles northwest of Vinh near the Laotian border when hit by ground fire at or shortly after he rolled in on the trucks. CAPTAIN CHERRY’s aircraft was observed to fly into the ground. There was no apparent attempt to eject. His remains were found and returned to the United States in March 1997 and were identified for burial in July 1999, 22-years after he died on the attack in the service of his country…
(2) CAPTAIN LAUREN ROBERT LENGYEL and 1LT GLENN LEO MYERS were flying an RF-4C of the 16th TRS and 460th TRW out of Tan Son Nhut and disappeared on a photo mission in North Vietnam. On 9 March 1970 1LT Myers was allowed to write a letter home. His status was changed from MIA to POW and along with CAPTAIN LENGYEL was returned in March 1973…
(3) An RF-101C of the 45th TRS and 460th TRW out of Tan Son Nhut had a mid-air collision with an Army Huey. The Voodoo pilot ejected and survived, the four members of the UH-1 perished…
RIPPLE SALVO… #522… The Senate hearings on Vietnam, and the parade of witnesses the event brought to Capitol Hill, inspired everybody in a suit to give a speech about Vietnam. Representative Gerald Ford of Michigan, the House Minority Leader was no exception. On 8 August 1967 he went to the well of the House and gave a long speech criticizing President Johnson’s Vietnam policies and the conduct of the air war. Representative Ford spoke for unrestricted bombing of North Vietnam. The speech as reported by Neil Sheehan in the NYT on 9 August 1967…
Page 1: “REP GERALD FORD DEMANDS INCREASED BOMBING OR END OF THE BUILD-UP” …
“Gerald Ford, the House minority leader, said today that he saw ‘no justification for sending one more American soldier to South Vietnam until President Johnson removed the restrictions on the bombing campaign against North Vietnam. In a speech on the House floor this afternoon, Mr. Ford bitterly attacked the Administration’s conduct of the war.
” ‘Must we accept as inevitable that the only way to fight the war is within the territory of South Vietnam, matching the enemy body for body, bayonet to bayonet, grenade for grenade?’
“In a statement of rebuttal tonight, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara declared that, ‘Mr. Ford’s speech completely ignores the basic objectives of the air campaign against North Vietnam.’ Those objectives, Mr. McNamara said, ‘are not to invade, conquer and destroy North Vietnam, but to reduce the flow of men and supplies from the north and to increase the cost to the Hanoi regime of maintaining that flow.’ Mr. McNamara acknowledged that there were restraints on the bombing, but he said, they are designed ‘to save American lives, to avoid unnecessary devastation and civilian casualties in North Vietnam, and to avoid action which carries the risk of widening the war with all that implies. We believe the American public supports these restraints,’ he concluded in answering Mr. Ford’s speech.
“The speech gave fresh evidence of the growing criticism in Congress of the Administration’s strategy in Vietnam. The criticism is coming from both the hawks, like Mr. ford, who want to force a military solution to the war by intensifying it, and the doves, like the Senate Majority Leader, Mike Mansfield of Montana, who want the Administration to deescalate the conflict in the hope this will bring a settlement.
“The President is coming under increasing pressure by both groups to bring the war to a conclusion in some manner.
“Yesterday Senator Mansfield and Senator John Sherman Cooper of Kentucky urged the President to try again to bring Vietnam problem before the United Nations Security Council. They also called for a halt to United States bombing of North Vietnam except in the area of the demilitarized zone…
“Senator Mansfield and Cooper said their remarks had been prompted by the President’s request last week for a 10-per cent surtax charge to pay for the 45,000 more American troops for South Vietnam.
“Mr. Ford also cited these circumstances as the initiative for his speech today. He said he did not believe the challenge in Southeast Asia can be met by pouring in more and more men and by these men pouring out more and more blood.
” ‘Our Navy and Air Force have clear superiority in the air over the North Vietnam and its coastal areas. They have the weapons and the resources they need.’ In a series of rhetorical questions, Mr. Ford then asserted that the President had severely reduced the effectiveness imposed on military action against the north. He contended: (1) Nearly half the identified top priority targets in North Vietnam are officially off-limits to air attack under high level orders from Washington; (2) Most of the air defense control centers have accounted for more than 600 planes, most of the enemy’s major airfields and of his naval facilities are restricted from attack; (3) Also restricted from attack are three-fourths of the North Vietnamese petroleum storage capacity, one-third of its electrical power facilities, one-third of its hydroelectric generators; (4) All seaport facilities and canal locks, and 60-per cent of the key targets in the transportation system.
“At a news conference before delivering his speech, Mr. Ford declined to supply further details to support his charges.
“He said he was absolutely sure of his information but could not give further details because the information had been obtained from classified sources he would be in violating security regulations if he elaborated further.
‘He held up a manila envelope, presumably containing classified documents and said ‘I can assure you that in my hand is a verification of all I have said.
“He said he considered the speech a break from Administration policy. ‘I personally have reservations about the whole thing unless they do what we want.’ What he wanted was unrestricted bombing and sea attack against every significant military and industrial target in North Vietnam.”…
RTR QUOTE for 9 August: SWIFT: “I am going to the land of Nod.”
Lest we forget…. Bear