Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… “…CONSCIOUS, CONTINUING TRAVESTY,”…but first…
Good Morning… Day TWENTY-NINE of a look back at Operation Rolling Thunder… Fifty Years Ago…
29 MARCH 1966 (NYT)… ON THE HOMEFRONT… A sunny and cool (40) Tuesday in New York and clear and 45 in Washington. Page 1 focused on the news from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, where the FBI seized 13 Mississippi Klu Klux Klansmen and was conducting a search for 14 more on the run in connection with the death of Negro Vernon Dahmer. Dahmer was killed at 2AM on January 10, 1966 in Laurel, Mississippi. He was the president of a branch of the NAACP. Nightriders from the KKK fire bombed his home and in the ensuing gunfight Dahmer was killed. His last stand was a heroic one. He came out of his burning house through a hail of bullets with his shotgun blazing, He died 13 hours later…oohrah. The Imperial Wizard, Sam Holloway Bowers, Jr., was one of the 14 Klansmen on the run…. On page 2 in the small “KIA in Vietnam” box was the number 54… The air war report: “Weather over Vietnam was reported to be extremely bad and only 18 missions were flown…mostly in the area of Vinh.” In another article, B-52s hit targets only 18 miles from Saigon, the closest to the capitol since the beginning of American air support. Fifty tons of 750-pound bombs slicked an area 1-mile by a half mile 5 miles west of the Saigon river…On page 40 in the Editorial section, reaction to the proposed changes in student exemptions for the draft bubbled up as a pro/con discussion. The change was seen as favoring the affluent who were college smart and wealthy and “…it was still an unfair draft.” Class standing puts the burden on the least affluent and least academically talented of American youth, was the charge. As a consequence, it was recommended that the Selective Service return to the lottery or require universal national service….On the Sports page: Cassius Clay was a 7-1 favorite to defeat George Chuvalo in the Tuesday night fight in the Toronto Maple Garden…
29 MARCH 1966… ROLLING THUNDER…”the air war”… Bad weather limited ops and the Gulf of Tonkin Yacht Club and Red River Fighter Pilots washed their flight suits and did some chores. Write a letter, roll a 3″ audio tape for the wife and kids, stand in line to make a MARS call… communication with the home front was little better than it had been for warriors of WWII and Korea. The strain on families and the pain of separation remained a major career detractor. Periodic mail call was the primary link between a warrior on the line and his family. Ugly. I wonder why so few of those millions who came home from Vietnam tours to patch up the family ties and press on with their lives, including a short turnaround to go back for another tour, never found time to feel traumatized?
RIPPLE SALVO… I digress, with good reason…to cite a “CONSCIOUS, CONTINUING TRAVESTY.” …The men I went to war with — the Vietnam War — were of the character best described by ex-Senator, ex-Secretary of the Navy, and ex-candidate for President, the Honorable James Webb in his essay of September 6, 2013, entitled “Heroes of the Vietnam Generation.” I quote:
“The rapidly disappearing cohort of Americans that endured the Great Depression and then fought World War II is receiving quite a send-off from the leading lights of the so-called 60-s generation. Tom Brokaw has published two oral histories of the “Greatest Generation” that feature ordinary people doing their duty and suggest that such conduct was historically unique. Chris Matthews of “Hardball” is fond of writing columns praising the Navy service of his father while castigation his own baby boomer generation for its alleged softness and lack of struggle. William Bennett gave a startling condescending speech at the Naval Academy a few years ago comparing the heroism of the “D-Day Generation” to the drugs-and-sex nihilism of the “Woodstock Generation.” And Steven Spielberg in promoting his film “Saving Private Ryan,” was careful to justify his portrayals of soldiers in action based on a supposed unique nature of World War II…..” that’s for starters…
“Heroes of the Vietnam Generation” is a must read if you are from the cadre who laid it on the line fifty years ago in the Vietnam War, especially if you were a Rolling Thunder warrior. It is too well composed and written to ever be forgotten. Jim Webb, a Navy Cross (Silver Star, Bronze Star) leader of men in battle uses every one of many words to recognize and applaud his Marines, his heroes, and those who bore the battles of Vietnam… I proudly present Jim Webb’s final paragraph for your thoughts..
“To this day it stuns me that their own countrymen have so completely missed the story of their service, lost in the bitter confusion of the war itself. Like every military unit throughout history we had occasional laggards, cowards, and complainers. But in the aggregate, these Marines were the finest people I have ever been around. It has been my privilege to keep up with many of them over the years since we all came home. One finds in them little bitterness about the war in which they fought. The most common regret almost to a man, is that they were not able to do more for each other and for the people they came to help. It would be redundant to say that I would trust my life to these men. Because I already have, in more ways than I can ever count. I am alive because of their quiet, unaffected heroism. Such valor epitomized the conduct of Americans at war from the first days of our existence. That the boomer elites can canonize this sort of conduct in our father’s generation while ignoring it in our own is more than simple oversight. It is a conscious, continuing travesty.”
Readers: suggest you add … http://www.jameswebb.com/ …. to your Favorites…
Lest we forget… Bear Taylor
–30–
Today, March 29th, is Vietnam Veterans Day. A day to remember and honor those who served during the Vietnam War with great personal and family sacrifice, and at a significant time in our nation’s history. March 29th is also the day in 1973 that the final troops returned to the U.S. from Vietnam, marking the end of U.S. involvement in the war.
In 2012, President Barack Obama signed a presidential proclamation declaring March 29, 2012 Vietnam Veterans Day, and now each year on March 29th Vietnam vets are honored.
Presidential Proclamation — Vietnam Veterans Day
VIETNAM VETERANS DAY
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION
On January 12, 1962, United States Army pilots lifted more than 1,000 South Vietnamese service members over jungle and underbrush to capture a National Liberation Front stronghold near Saigon. Operation Chopper marked America’s first combat mission against the Viet Cong, and the beginning of one of our longest and most challenging wars. Through more than a decade of conflict that tested the fabric of our Nation, the service of our men and women in uniform stood true. Fifty years after that fateful mission, we honor the more than 3 million Americans who served, we pay tribute to those we have laid to rest, and we reaffirm our dedication to showing a generation of veterans the respect and support of a grateful Nation.
The Vietnam War is a story of service members of different backgrounds, colors, and creeds who came together to complete a daunting mission. It is a story of Americans from every corner of our Nation who left the warmth of family to serve the country they loved. It is a story of patriots who braved the line of fire, who cast themselves into harm’s way to save a friend, who fought hour after hour, day after day to preserve the liberties we hold dear. From Ia Drang to Hue, they won every major battle of the war and upheld the highest traditions of our Armed Forces.
Eleven years of combat left their imprint on a generation. Thousands returned home bearing shrapnel and scars; still more were burdened by the invisible wounds of post-traumatic stress, of Agent Orange, of memories that would never fade. More than 58,000 laid down their lives in service to our Nation. Now and forever, their names are etched into two faces of black granite, a lasting memorial to those who bore conflict’s greatest cost.
Our veterans answered our country’s call and served with honor, and on March 29, 1973, the last of our troops left Vietnam. Yet, in one of the war’s most profound tragedies, many of these men and women came home to be shunned or neglected — to face treatment unbefitting their courage and a welcome unworthy of their example. We must never let this happen again. Today, we reaffirm one of our most fundamental obligations: to show all who have worn the uniform of the United States the respect and dignity they deserve, and to honor their sacrifice by serving them as well as they served us. Half a century after those helicopters swept off the ground and into the annals of history, we pay tribute to the fallen, the missing, the wounded, the millions who served, and the millions more who awaited their return. Our Nation stands stronger for their service, and on Vietnam Veterans Day, we honor their proud legacy with our deepest gratitude.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 29, 2012, as Vietnam Veterans Day. I call upon all Americans to observe this day with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities that commemorate the 50 year anniversary of the Vietnam War.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord two thousand twelve, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-sixth.
BARACK OBAMA