Bear Taylor 
COMMEMORATING THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE VIETNAM WAR (1961-1973)…
LEST WE FORGET… The NEW YORK TIMES, Friday, 22 August 1969… “U.S. BATTLE DEATHS RISE TO 244–Highest for a Week in Two Months… The sharp upsurge in fighting in South Vietnam last week left 244 Americans dead, the highest weekly toll of battlefield deaths in almost two months.”… Quoted from an unknown source: “Poor is the country that has no heroes, but beggared is that people who, having them, forgets”…
Good Morning. Humble Host remembers WEEK FORTY-ONE of the campaign to throttle down North Vietnamese vehicular traffic on the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos during the Vietnam war. It was called OPERATION COMMANDO HUNT…
I. HEADLINES FROM The NEW YORK TIMES for 18 through 24 August 1969…
A. U.S. AND WORLD NEWS… (18 August) HURRICANE CAMILLE STUNS MISSISSIPPI COAST AS 200,000 FLEE–Gulfport Area Hit By Winds of 150-MPH–Refugees Jam Shelters–Tides Flood Highways–Food and Water Run Short–Power Fails and Heavy Damage Is Predicted… BELFAST REJECTS A COALITION ROLE–Criticizes Dublin–Reforms In Civil Rights For Catholics Will Proceed– U.S. COPTER CARRYING 3 DOWNED IN NORTH KOREA–U.S. Says Pilot Radioed He Was Disoriented On Training Flight… (19 Aug) HURRICANE CAMILLE DEAD AT 101–TOLL MAY GROW–Thousands Left Homeless In 3 States Along Coast–Fires Out Of Control–Nixon Aids Mississippi–Storm Heads Northwest… C.E. HAYNESWORTH NAMED TO SUPREME COURT BY NIXON–U.S. Appellate Judge Chosen For Vacancy Created By Resignation Of Abe Fortas–Senate Approval Seen… NORTH KOREA SAYS WAR CAN ERUPT AT ANY TIME–Senior Military Official Tells French Visitor of Danger of Conflict With U.S…. KOREA REDS DELAY PARLEY ON U.S. COPTER— Reject U.N. Commands Bid For Truce Unit Talks Today...I.R.A. REPORTS UNITS IN ACTION IN ULSTER… (20 Aug) STORM TOLL 170–A LUXURY PROJECT YIELDS 23 BODIES–Limited Martial Law Set By Mississippi Governor–Fear For More Deaths… BRITISH TAKE OVER ULSTER’S SECURITY–Also Pledge Discrimination Against Catholic Minority Will End…POLICE IN PRAGUE BREAKUP A RALLY ASSAULTING THE SOVIET–Unrest Starts After Husak Warns Against Disorders On Anniversary of Soviet Invasion–Tear Gas Fills Square–Young Demonstrators Yell ‘Gestapo’ as Many of Them Are Beaten In Schuffle… A YEAR LATER CZECHS FIND MANY OF GAINS GONE–Economy Slips While Infighting Occupies Party Leaders… (21 Aug) MISSISSIPPI FACES EPIDEMIC AFTER HURRICANE–Governor Says Death Toll Is 200-Plus–Guardsmen Ordered to Halt Looters–Remnants of CAMILLE Cause Severe Flooding In Virginia Mountains Killing 30… CZECH ARMY STOPS ANTI-SOVIET RIOTS MARKING ANNIVERSARY OF INVASION–Police and Soldiers Battle Protesters In Prague–Firing Erupts Briefly… SOVIETS DEPLOYING BIG FLEET ABROAD–Pentagon Reports Record Of 125 Ships Deployed… (22 Aug) PROTEST IN PRAGUE SUPPRESSED ANEW–Soviet Tanks Enter City–Tear Gas Is Used Again–Transit System and Stores Boycotted as ‘Symbol of Mourning’… U.S. ARMED FORCES CUT 100,000 BY LAIRD–Budget Trimmed–Secretary Sees The Nixon ‘Readiness Weakened $1.5-Billion Slashed–Congress Drive Cited: Pressure Against Spending And U.S. Economic Need Called Reason For Move… (23 Aug) U.S. AND THAILAND AGREE TO TALK TROOP REDUCTIONS–Bangkok Reporting Pressure For Talks Out Of Pique Over Dispute On Full Aid Plan (“Quid pro quo”???)… 76 sHIPS RETIRED BY NAVY CUTBACK–Toll To Reach 11 In Year–Manpower Reduction Is Placed At72,000... (24 Aug) PRESIDENT DEFERS A DECISION ON A CUT IN VIETNAM FORCE–White House Says Fighting Initiated By Enemy Is Cause For Delay–Peace Talks A Factor… PREMIER IN SAIGON RESIGNS TO ALLOW A BROADENED REGIME–Weeks of Maneuvering End–Victory For Thieu Seen In Humong’s Departure… VIRGINIA FLOODS RECEDE–Death Toll May Be 100… PROTESTANT FORCE IN ULSTER CURBED–British Gesture To Catholics Involves Calling In Arms… U.S. OFFICIALS SAY BIG RIOTS IN COUNTRY ARE OVER–Large City Negro Leaders Now Oppose Violence–But Racial Tensions Remain…
B. THE WAR IN VIETNAM… (19 Aug) AMERICANS CLASH TWICE WITH STRONG NORTH VIETNAMESE FORCE NEAR DANANG… Heavy fighting broke out yesterday near the South China Sea south of Danang. Soldiers of the Americal Division clashed twice with strong North Vietnamese forces…143 enemy soldiers were killed and American casualties were 13 wounded and 45 injured… The second engagement began shortly after noon…and went on into the night. That action centered three miles north of the first clash and enemy casualties were listed at 91 enemy killed while 9 Americans died and 27 were wounded… Elsewhere, the United States command, wary of a reported enemy plan to commemorate Vietnam’s uprising against the French with battlefield victories, sent 11 waves of B-52s to bomb enemy positions in a border province between Cambodia and Saigon…where an estimated 12,000 North Vietnamese soldiers were operating.”… Yesterday was the 24th anniversary of the start of the Vietnamese revolt against the French in 1945.”… (20 Aug) G.I.’S REINFORCED IN BITTER BATTLE–600 Go To Aid Two Units In Clash Near Danang… (21 Aug) FIGHTING FLARES NEAR DANANG–Four Day Enemy Death Toll Put At 218… American casualties were put at 16 killed and 66 wounded.”… (22 Aug) ENEMY IS BEING SOUGHT… “The effort to find the enemy is being pushed particularly hard at present. Almost every plane, helicopter and foot soldier available is on the go trying to forestall attacks that captured documents and prisoners say are planned. Allied commanders insist that this tactic does not constitute an effort to win the war, as W. Averrel Harriman, the former chief of the United Sates delegation at the Paris peace talks, charged this week. The commanders maintain that they are practicing nothing more than ‘protective reaction.’ They conceded, however, that battlefield tactics have changed over the last several months. The changes, they say, enabled Secretary of State William D. Rogers to report that the recent battlefield lull was partly because United States troops had eased pressure on the enemy. The commanders are reluctant to discuss the precise nature of the changes. However, field operations indicate that the allies are using more air and artillery strikes and fewer troops. The results have included a drop in the number of men killed on both sides. Planes and shells cannot substitute for infantry. Allied generals say they developed the new firepower tactic after they were ordered to conserve the lives of men in every reasonable manner. A High Commander: ‘My orders on finding and fixing and destroying the enemy have not changed. I’m doing basically the same things today that I was doing several months ago. But I’m using as much firepower as possible to save G.I. lives.'”… BATTLE CONTINUES NEAR DANANG… “North Vietnamese troops clung to their bunker positions south of Danang early today despite a pounding by United States artillery, napalm and the fire of American infantrymen…. Reports from the battlefield 31 miles south of Danang said that 1,000 to 1,500 troops, identified as North Vietnamese regulars, appeared to be determined to make a stand against more than 1,200 allied troops…more than 400 enemy troops had been killed since tthe battle began Sunday. They gave United States casualties as at least 27 killed and 150 wounded.”… U.S. BATTLE DEATHS RISE TO 244–Highest For One Week In 2-Months… “… 477 South Vietnamese and 3,798 enemy soldiers were killed during the week ending 17 August.”… (23 Aug) BATTLE NEAR DANANG RAGES INTO SIXTH DAY… “…From miles of interlocking bunkers about 30 miles south of the city, enemy troops are holding back United States infantrymen despite a pounding by artillery and waves of fighter-bombers… (24 Aug) U.S. SOLDIERS NEAR DANANG REACH DOWNED COPTER AFTER CAPTURING HILL–Find 6 Bodies After Seizing Hill South of Danang… “American infantrymen reached a downed United States command helicopter early today and reported that they had found six bodies in the initial search of the wreckage… the dead included Associated Press photographer Oliver Noonan… More than 500 enemy troops were killed in fighting that began last Sunday…American losses have been estimated at 35 to 40 killed and more than 160 wounded.”…
B. PEACE TALKS IN PARIS… (22 Aug) U.S. IN PARIS BIDS FOE PULL BACK TOO–Insists Again On Response To Withdrawal Initiatives–Demand Is Rebuffed by North Vietnam… “The United States delegation insisted more strongly than ever today in Paris that North Vietnam must respond to United States troop withdrawals with troop withdrawals of their own. ‘ We will not agree to unilateral allied withdrawal; Philip C. Habib, the acting head of the United States delegation, declared at the 31st plenary session of the Vietnam peace talks. ‘The withdrawal of our forces must be linked to the withdrawal of North Vietnamese forces.’ Mr. Habib’s forceful language failed to move either delegation representing North Vietnam or the one speaking for the provisional government of South Vietnam, the governmental structure established by the National Liberation Front, or Vietcong.”… (24 Aug) THIEU PICKS KHIEM, A CLOSE ASSOCIATE, AS SAIGON PREMIER–Selection Of General Implies President Is Not Ready To Change Policies…
II. COMMANDO HUNT II (April-November 1969) The following is clipped from the on-line diary of 1LT ‘SMOKEY’ GREENE, USAF, RAVEN 42 and continues his tales from his FAC experience in Laos in the Fall of 1969… I quote:
LANDING SITE-46 (Edward M. Kennedy International)
“When we had time we would fly out to some of the sites to spend a little time on the ground with case officers, and I was struck by the remoteness of some of these sites. One that comes to mind is LS-46, well south and east of the Plain des Jars about 30 miles due south of the Fish’s Mouth, kind of out there in the middle of nowhere. There must have been an infiltration route for enemy forces nearby to justify placing a (CIA?) case officer at the site. Early in my tour the case officers sometimes stayed on their sites for extended periods. Later, as enemy pressure increased, the case officers were usually flown home to a base to spend the night and then return to the site the next morning. LS-46 … we called it ‘Edward M. Kennedy International’ in memory of the Chappaquiddick incident… required a pilot make a careful approach and landing in the O-1, which was not really a STOL aircraft. The relatively short dirt strip at LS-46 climbed up the slope of a mound of huge ground in the midst of a beautiful little valley. The pilot had to set up a straight-in approach, milk a little flap to control speed, plunk the bird on the first few feet of the strip, and let the bird slow as it climbed up the fairly steep hill. From short final the pilot was committed to land and if too fast or too high, the bird would roll over the top of the hill and over the cliff at the top end of the strip. The departure was a little sporty too. The aircraft would roll down the short downhill strip gathering just enough speed to stagger off the end and descend into the valley where you could then accelerate to climb speed. It was a bit of a test of flying skill so several of us used to go there just to say we’d done it.
“I went in to LS-46 a number of times and spent some pleasant time with the friendly case officer whose call sign was Swamp Rat… I have a photo in my collection, a photo he must have taken of me offering a snack to a curious water buffalo that hung around the site. These were the ‘good days’ when we were succeeding militarily, the weather was pleasant, and the case officers were relaxed. We felt safe on the ground in these remote sites and had spare time to enjoy the stark beauty of the countryside. That would change soon.
THE DARK DAYS…NOVEMBER 1969–JANUARY 1970…
“During the second half of my tour the military situation began to turn around. The NVA poured into Laos in strength and the weather deteriorated with the approach of winter. The gains of ‘Operation About Face‘ were increasingly threatened. In early November I was checked out in the T-28 by ‘Water Pump’ Instructor Pilots at Udorn. My Air Force flight records reflect a lot more time and sorties in that checkout (5 sorties and 8.7 hours) than I remember. My recollection is we did a pattern ride, an instrument ride in the back seat under the hood, and a range ride to show me the guns and rockets. I recall the ground school was a 30-minute chat with an IP over a glass of whiskey and then we retired to the Holiday Inn for a rubdown. I guess it was adequate and I had a ball flying the T-28 for the next three months… me and Mike Byers (were) the only T-2-qualified guys at the site to fly our two birds–sweet….
THE THANKSGIVING RICE CAMPAIGN…
“In late November we were trying to disrupt the enemy rice supply by attacking the harvested stacks of rice in Ban Ban Valley and another small rice growing area about ten miles north of Ban Ban. We learned that rice was a difficult target. You could bomb the stacks and scatter the rice, but we learned they would collect the scattered undamaged grains. We considered some kind of poison but settled on napalm as the most practical means. The problem was the rice was in well-defended areas and finned napalm dropped from a dive just plopped in a small fire as opposed to the impressive splash you got when unfinned nape was dropped from a low level pass.
“So on Thanksgiving Day 1969 about 1430 in the afternoon I was directing a flight of Skyraiders (Zorro 52 and 53) with napalm against stacks of rice in the center of Ban Ban Valley. They were dive-bombing from fairly high altitude and the results were poor. I wanted them to try low-level delivery and decided to show them that there was no AAA in the area. I set up for a low pass from north to south trying to have a dramatic effect by having my shadow closely approach my airplane. I recall I even dropped a little flap. As I was about to transmit, ‘See, no problem,’ there was a problem.
“About the time I heard the 12.7 open fire from about 300 yards east of me, the round entered the left side of the O-1 engine cowling, blew off part of cylinder head, and continued out the right cowling, leaving an impressive exit wound. Oil immediately began siphoning along the side of the fuselage. I hope I didn’t whimper over the radio but I probably did. I was about 10 miles east of Phu Nok Kok, Black Lion’s hilltop stronghold, so my first instinct was to climb and head east. I asked the A-1s to tag along, which they did, no doubt chuckling to themselves about my foolish stunt. I was not chuckling. But the Bird Dog was behaving very well considering the abuse she had suffered. I was intently scanning the few engine instruments for a sign of impending doom and saw none. I continued to climb and cruise southwest toward and then over the PDJ and finally Skyline and home, the Skyraiders a reassuring presence throughout my anxious trip.”…
For more of Smoky Greene’s captivating adventures as Raven 42… try
III. AIRCRAFT LOSSES IN SOUTHEAST ASIA: 18-24 AUGUST 1969… References include Chris Hobson’s monumental study and history of the Vietnam air war, VIETNAM AIR LOSSES, which is now available on-line at: https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com During the week ending 24 August six American fixed wing aircraft were downed and five aviators killed in the service of our country…They are remembered here, fifty years after their sacrifice…
(1) On 18 August an RF-4C of the 16th TRS and 460th TRW out of Tan Son Nhut crashed shortly after takeoff. Both aviators ( WOLF and RICHARDSON) successfully ejected and were rescued.
(2) On 19 August a Marine F-4B of the VMFA-542 Bengals and MAG-11 crewed by LCOL ROBERT NORMAN SMITH and CAPTAIN JOHN NORLEE FLANAGAN was downed over North Vietnam while escorting a photographic mission about 12 miles north of the DMZ. The Phantom and photo bird made one successful pass and were to have rendezvoused for a second pass but LCOL SMITH and CAPTAIN FLANAGAN failed to show. They were presumed to have been shot down by ground fire and perished in the crash since there were no beepers, voice calls or parachutes heard/observed in the incident. The remains of CAPTAIN FLANAGAN, turned over to the Air Force in 1989 were positively identified in June 1997 after two expeditions by DPAA in 1993 and 1995 uncovered additional items and remains for DNA testing. LCOL SMITH’s remains were never recovered but the full story –one for the ages– is worth the read. MIGHTY THUNDER’s post of 4 November 2019 is a rerun of a story originally published in the June 2014 issue of VIETNAM magazine. COLONEL SMITH is memorialized with a marker in Arlington National Cemetery. MAJOR FLANAGAN is buried at Oaklawn Cemetery, Winter Haven, Florida…
(3) On the night of 19 August a second Marine F-4B was lost. The Phantom was from the VMFA-115 Silver Eagles and MAG-13 out of Chu Lai. 1LT JAMES RICHARD BOHLIG and CAPTAIN RICHARD THOMAS MORRISEY had completed a TPQ-10 radar bombing mission near North Vietnam and were returning to Danang when they disappeared at sea. The location of the loss was thought to be 28 miles northeast of Chu Lai and 60 miles southeast of Danang over the South China Sea. An extensive SAR effort failed to find either aviator or wreckage of the F-4… 1LT BOHLIG and CAPTAIN MORRISEY are memorialized at the Courts of The Missing in Honolulu, Hawaii, and at Arlington National Cemetery. However,they both remain where they fell on the battlefield fifty years ago, left behind…
(4) On 21 August civilian pilot Raymond Fred Fugit was killed at the controls of a YQU-22A (Beechcraft Bonanza) out of Nakhon Phanom after suffering an engine failure over Thailand… This 50 year void in the record needs filling… this reported incident is not included in the AIRPAC Air Ops Summary for August 1969…
(5) On 22 August an O-1E Bird Dog was struck from the inventory after being dropped by an CH-47 Chinook following an attempt to retrieve the aircraft from a Landing Site.
(6) On 23 August an F-100D of the 612nd TFS and 35th TFW, Call Sign Bobcat 82 out of Phan Rang piloted by CAPTAIN D. M. WANLESS was part of a flight dropping napalm on Vietcong food crops (rice?) about 55 miles southwest of the airbase when hit by the blast of one of his own napalm drops and became engulfed in flames. The damaged Super Sabre cleared the target area and the intrepid aviator ejected at low level to be rescued by an Army helicopter, a wiser warrior for the experience…
IV. HUMBLE HOST END NOTE… One of the best Vietnam war websites is that of CHERRIESWRITER. Humble Host found a story about the intense fighting ongoing fifty years ago in August 1969 worthy of your time. Go to the site and read “DEATH VALLEY: REMEMBERING AUGUST 20, 1969.” Meet Rocky Bleier at war…
HUMBLE HOST STINGER– for our Marine Brothers, a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of FDR, who said: “The Marines I have seen around the world have the cleanest bodies, the filthiest minds, the highest morale, and the lowest morals of any group of animals I have ever seen. Thank God for the United States Marines.”
Lest we forget… Bear
