Bear Taylor 
COMMEMORATING THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE VIETNAM WAR (1961-1973)…
LEST WE FORGET… The NEW YORK TIMES, Friday, 29 August 1969… CASUALTIES ON BOTH SIDES IN VIETNAM DROP IN WEEK– “Casualties for the United States, South Vietnam and the enemy dropped last week as enemy-initiated attacks subsided…United States headquarters said that 190 Americans had been killed and 1,367 wounded compared with 244 killed and 1,409 wounded the week before. The week saw a surge of enemy infantry and rocket attacks. South Vietnamese headquarters reported 398 Government soldiers killed and 928 wounded in the week that ended last Saturday, 23 Aug. The week before, South Vietnam listed 477 killed and 1,269 wounded. The two commands said that 2,757 Vietcong and North Vietnamese were killed last week compared with the week before of 3,898.”
A total of 38,128 Americans have been killed in action in Vietnam since Jan. 1, 1961. The total of those who have been wounded is at 247,096. BRUCE NORTON writing in his book FORCE RECON DIARY: “Combat is fast, unfair, cruel, and dirty. It is meant to be that way so that the terrible experience is branded into the memory of those who are fortunate enough to survive. It is up to those survivors to ensure that the experience is recorded and passed along to those who just might want to try it.”…
Who would have thought that on this day in 1969, fifty years ago, American participation in the Vietnam war would continue into 1973 and more than 20,000 more American warriors would perish fighting for a lost cause in the quagmire of Southeast Asia?…
Good Morning. Humble Host remembers the Forty-Second week of the relentless hunt for trucks and infiltrators on the Ho Chi Minh Trail linking I. HEAD LINES FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES for 25 through 31 August 1969…
A. U.S. and WORLD NEWS… (25 Aug) U.S. OFFICIALS SEE PUBLIC SCHOOL INTEGRATION DOUBLING IN SOUTH–Expected Rise This Fall To 40% Applies to Negroes Entering White Schools–No Rebellion Develops–Southern Compliance With Law Could Be Greater Than In Other Areas… ISRAEL DENOUNCES ARABS’ CAMPAIGN SINCE SHRINE FIRE–Eban Charges They Try To Gain Political Advantage From Loss–200 In New York Protest Fire At Al Alksa Mosque In Jerusalem… AUSTRALIAN CARRIER SKIPPER CLEARED IN COLLISON AT SEA–Australian Military Judge Orders His Acquittal… (26 Aug) MRS. GANDHI WINS ON PARTY CENSURE–Foes Back Down In Fight Over Presidency Choice… THAIS EASE VIEW OF U.S. TROOP CUT–Premier Declares Bangkok Wants No Withdrawal Of American Forces Now… CAPITAL DOUBTS WAR IN MIDEAST–But Violence Is Expected–Jerusalem Fire And Iraqi Executions Deplored... (27 Aug) SECURITY COUNCIL CONDEMNS ISRAEL FOR LEBANON RAID– U.N.Body By Unanimous Vote Deplores August 11 Attack on Village–All Incidents Decried–Violations Of Cease-Fire By Both Sides Are Scored–Israeli Voices Criticism… JOB PROTEST SPURS PITTSBURGH CLASH–Negroes Battle Policemen–180 arrested, 45 Injured… MITCHELL AIDES AGREE TO PROTEST DELAY ON CIVIL RIGHTS–40 Justice Agency Lawyers Want Assurances Of Firm Stand By White House–Wide Dissent Reported–Closed Parley In Washington Follows Move to Put Off Integration in Mississippi… ARABS WILL MEET TO RALLY FORCES–Defense Unit To Sit In Fall–Rocket Launchers Found On Site Near Jerusalem Mosque… (28 Aug) ISRAELIS ATTACK NILE VALLEY POST–Forces Presumed Ferried By Helicopter Raid A U.A.R. Military Headquarters… WHITE LOUISIANA SCHOOL CLOSES AFTER 6 NEGRO TEACHERS ENTER… SENATOR PERCY IN THAILAND SAYS U.S. WILL ONLY PULL OUT 1,500 MEN… SECRETARY OF ARMY GENERAL SEES MORE TROOP CUTS… TROOPS DISBURSE ARKANSAS WHITES–Crowd Calls for Lynching Of 3 Negro Suspects…NEGRO GROUPS STEP-UP MILITANCY IN DRIVE TO JOIN BUILDING UNIONS–Blacks Unsatisfied With Slow Pace Of Job Integration, Increase Picketing And Work Stoppage At Projects… (29 Aug) SOVIET SAYS WAR WITH CHINESE WOULD PERIL ALL–Pravda Editorial Warns It Would Inevitably Involve Use Of Atomic Weapons–Peking Policies Scored–I.S. Discounts Report That Moscow may Launch A Strike Against China… NORTH KOREA SAYS 3 ON DOWNED COPTER ARE ALIVE–2 Were Badly Wounded–An Apology Is Demanded… WHITE HOUSE WINS MISSISSIPPI DELAY IN DESEGREGATION APPEALS COURT BACKS ADMINISTRATION–Lawyers See Wave Of Bids For School Stays–An Appeal Is Planned–NAACP Fund to Ask For A Reversal–Judges Set New Deadline Of 1 December… ISRAELI JETS RAID JORDANIANS AGAIN–Third Aerial Strike In Week Follows Firing By Arabs… (30 Aug) U.S. JET WITH 113 HIJACKED TO SYRIA–By 2 Young Arabs–Commandos Assert Action Is Reprisal For American Assistance To Israelis–Boeing 707 Is Diverted Over Italy As Girl Takes Command… SYRIA IS ADMITTING AMERICANS AGAIN–1967 Ban Rescinded… TROOP MOVEMENTS IN CHINA REPORTED–Shift Points To Preparations For Defensive Strategy In Possible Civil War… U.S. ACTS QUICKLY ON COPTERS CREW–Hope Voiced North Koreans Will Release 3 Men Soon… NAVY FIRM ON CLOSING OF BROOKLYN YARD–Says Economics Require–Mayor Lindsay Insists Jobs At Laboratory Be Saved… 26 U.S. AIRCRAFT HIJACKED IN A YEAR… (31 Aug) SYRIA FREES 105 ON HIJACKED TWA JET–6 Israelis Held–Mrs. Meir Issues Warning–Rogers Voices Shock At Action Of Damascus–96 Arrive In Athens… COLLEGE TUITION AND FEES IN SHARP SPIRAL–Out-Of-State Students Bear Brunt Of Cost Rise At Public Universities… 65% IN GALLUP POLL SUPPORT NIXON ON WELFARE REFORM…
B. THE WAR IN VIETNAM… (25 Aug) U.S. UNITS BATTLE FOE FOR SEVEN HOURS– Report Killing 48–American Deaths Put At 2–Hospital At Cam Ranh Bay Attacked Second Time–All 8 On Copter Found–No Survivors In Downing In Danang Area–Abrams Sees Resor Again…”United States infantrymen, backed by planes and artillery, battered an enemy force for more than seven hours yesterday about 28 miles northwest of Saigon…Forty-eight enemy soldiers were killed in the battle, which broke out when a United States patrol spotted a force of about 60 men dug-in near Cuchi, headquarters of the United States 25th Infantry Division…U.S. losses were 2 killed and five wounded. The battle ended at dusk when the enemy withdrew.”…MILITARY GAINS BY PATHET LAO WORRY THAILAND… (26 Aug) B-52s STRIKE NORTH OF SAIGON TO BLUNT NEW ENEMY ASSAULTS… “United States B-52 bombers struck about 80 miles north of Saigon yesterday in a move to blunt an expected round of enemy attacks. Five missions were flown against enemy activity, base camps, bunkers, supply and staging areas in south Vietnamese territory close to the Cambodian border (Operation Menu??)... (27 Aug) 138 NORTH VIETNAMESE ARE KILLED IN BRUSHLANDS SOUTH OF DANANG… “… as savage fighting erupted again across the brushlands south of Danang…Twelve Americans were reported killed and 97 wounded in the battles yesterday in the vicinity of United States artillery posts atop small hills about 30 miles south of the big base there. United States intelligence sources believe that Hanoi has ordered the stepped-up fighting around remote sites in an effort to have the United States commit reinforcements protecting the populated coastal plain. That would leave key cities such as Hoian and Tamky more vulnerable to attacks and terrorist raids enabling the Vietcong to contend that the Government cannot provide security there….638 North Vietnamese have died since the current series of battles started a week ago.”… (28 Aug) G.I.’s IN TWO CLASHES SOUTH OF DANANG–U.S. Copter Shot Down On Way To Aid Wounded… “A task force of United States marines and infantrymen clashed twice yesterday with North Vietnamese troops in the rolling foothills 30 miles southwest of Danang… There has been hard fighting there since August 17 with at least 650 enemy soldiers and more than 60 Americans listed as killed.”… (29 Aug) G.I.’s IN BATTLE AREA SOUTH OF DANANG SHRUG OFF STORY OF BALKY COMPANY A…”When the 900 American soldiers began moving along the valley floor south of Danang at 5:30 A.M. today, the temperature stood at 84-degrees. By noon it was 118-degrees and enemy fire had killed at least a dozen of the Americans. Several hundred men have been fighting here for more than a week. Today some of them shrugged when they heard of an incident that occurred early on Sunday when a company commander ordered to move forward told his superior, ‘My men refuse to go.'” (THE REST OF THE STORY AT HUMBLE HOST’S END NOTE…) …(30 Aug) ALLIES REINFORCED SOUTH OF DANANG–3,000 troops Seek To Drive Enemy From Hills… …”…virtually doubling the size of the force attempting to trap a North Vietnamese army division that has been engaged in the area (called “Death Valley”) for the last 14 days. The move placed about 3,000 allied troops on four sides of a jungled complex of hills roughly 2 1/2 miles long on the northern edge of the Hiepduc Valley 30-miles southwest of Danang. First Marine Division sources said that sharp fighting in the valley and on the lower slopes in recent days indicated a heavy concentration of enemy forces, possibly most of the Second North Vietnamese Army Division, which allied officers say has already lost up to 1,000 men in two weeks of fighting near Hiepduc.”… (The story of this engagement is told in detail in the book DEATH VALLEY: The Summer Offensive, I Corps, August 1969 by KEITH WILLIAM NOLAN and in Rocky Bleier’s FIGHTING BACK. Four out of five stars for both books. I love reading about courage under fire where men sharing danger care for each other.)…
III. COMMANDO HUNT II (April-November 1969) Source: Headquarters, PACAF, Summary of Air Operations Southeast Asia, AUGUST 1969 (Documents held at Air Force HRA, Maxwell, AFB)… PERIOD SUMMARY… (Quote)… “Analysis of August reconnaissance flights over North Vietnam indicates that the enemy is stockpiling supplies in the Mu Gia and Ban Karai Pass areas for movement through the Laotian road system during the dry season (Starting in November). The western DMZ cross-border routes continue to be the only infiltration routes open into southern Laos.
“Attack sorties flown by all services in Laos during August decreased 7% from the July total. USAF Laotian attack sorties increased slightly reflecting increased support for friendly ground forces in Barrel Roll. The sharply reduced air operations in Steel Tiger reflect the reduced enemy logistics movement. Pilots and Roadwatch Teams sighted 2,893 vehicles in Laos during August. The 93 average daily sightings equal the July average. Barrel Roll attack sorties increased to 4,648 in August. This total is 2.3 times June 1969 level and 6 times the level of activity in August 1968. The concentration of effort in Barrel Roll was in response to the enemy’s unprecedented rainy season offensive and in support of OPERATION ABOUT FACE. Navy aircraft flew 16 Barrel Roll sorties using COMMANDO NAIL (A-6 Radar) tactics. Barrel Roll BDA included 54 vehicles, 1,977 buildings, and 42 AAA sites damaged or destroyed.
“Total attack sorties flown by all services were down 24% from the previous month. 59% of the sorties were flown against truck parks/storage areas. All weather procedures were used on 19% of all sorties. Pilots and Roadwatch Teams sighted 2001 vehicles in Steel Tiger (COMMANDO HUNT) during August. Steel Tiger BDA included 109 trucks, 482 buildings, and 27 AA sites damaged or destroyed.
“Ground activity in South Vietnam remained at a low level during August. Total sorties flown by all services increased 3.6% over July to 864,107. On 12 August there were 135 attacks by fire on friendly installations and population centers, the first major activity of this type since 6 June. 17,872 attack sorties were flown by tactical aircraft in South Vietnam during August, a 3.3% increase over the July total. Strike results included 1,714 enemy confirmed KBA and 1,910 sampans destroyed or damaged. Total ARC LIGHT sorties declined 16.5% to 1,445 in August. The primary decrease occurred in Laso where ARC LIGHT sorties declined 65.2%, from 417 sorties to 145.
“Tactical Combat Skyspot missions were down 41%, reflecting the decline of COMMANDO SCARF missions and improved weather.
“17 fixed wing and 40 rotary wing aircraft were reported lost to enemy action in Southeast Asia during August. A USMC F-4B was reported missing on an escort mission over Route Package I in North Vietnam on 7 August. The overall Southeast Asia combat loss rate for August was 0.18 losses per 1,000 combat sorties.”…
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The following was clipped from VIETNAM CHRONICLES: The Abrams Tapes, 1968-1972. The quote is from a briefing at the MACV headquarters on 28 August 1969… Briefer: “With respect to combat operations, the ultimate objective in the Republic of ‘South Vietnam (sic) is to provide security for the population so that pacification can proceed…. Strategically we’re conducting a mobile defense within the political boundaries of South Vietnam, supported by an interdiction campaign where we’re permitted to do so. Tactically, we conduct extensive reconnaissance to detect enemy units and react to prevent them from approaching and operating in the populated areas. We attempt to preempt the enemy by promptly engaging his forces and seizing, or destroying, his supply caches. And in so doing we make extensive use of our flexible, concentrated firepower, particularly our tactical air and our B-52s.”
HUMBLE HOST NOTE: I reckon this short sketch of combat operations then comports with our 2019 operations in Afghanistan and Iraq: the Strategic Defense…
III. AIRCRAFT LOSSES IN SOUTHEAST ASIA: 25-31 AUGUST 1069… References include Chris Hobson’s recently updated VIETNAM AIR LOSSES that has been made available online, in its entirety, at https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com During the week ending 31 August the United States lost four fixed wing aircraft and five valiant warrior aviators…
(1) On 25 August an F-105D of the 357th TFS and 355th TFW out of Takhli was downed on a strike mission in Barrel Roll. The Thunderchief was piloted by MAJOR STEVEN ROY SANDERS. He was killed while attacking enemy troops 30 miles east of the Plaine des Jarres. He had expended his externally carried ordnance on five runs on the enemy before being hit by ground fire on his bold sixth pass strafing the troops. His aircraft failed to recover from the diving pass and MAJOR SANDERS perished in the crash. He was initially listed as missing in action but was later declared “killed in action-body not recovered.” However, Humble Host notes that MAJOR SANDERS is NOT listed by DPAA on either the recovered or not recovered rolls of the missing. He is memorialized at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Hawaii. One source lists this fallen warrior as “buried” at the cemetery… Wherever he rests, he is remembered on this 50th anniversary of his final flight with respect and admiration as a brave, bold, distinguished warrior…
(2) On 27 August an F-4D of the 480th TFS and37th TFW out of Phu Cat piloted by CAPTAIN C.J. WINGERT and WSO MAJOR J.J. BLACK was downed by ground fire attacking an automatic weapons site 25 miles south of Quang Ngai, South Vietnam. The Phantom was hit in the port engine on the second diving attack on the weapons site. CAPTAIN WINGERT turned east, flew out to sea and when the aircraft quit flying five miles out, both officers ejected. They were rescued by an Army helicopter to fly and fight again…
(3) On 29 August a Marine F-4B of the VFMA-542 Bengals and MAG-11 out of Danang crewed by CAPTAIN JERRY ALLEN ZIMMER, USMC, and 1LT ALBERT STEPHEN GRAF, USMC, was hit by ground fire while dropping 500-pound Snakeye bombs and Napalm to clear a landing zone for a Recon insert 20 miles south of Danang. The aircraft burst into flame and flew into the ground before either Marine could eject. The 1st Force Recon team hiked to the area and determined that there were no survivors of the crash. However, due to the presence of unexpended ordnance in the wreckage and the close proximity of enemy troops the bodies were not recovered at that time. They were listed as Killed-in-Action, Body Not Recovered, a status in which they remain today. But the story doesn’t end there. Read the story of the tireless and heroic forty year effort of ELAINE ZIMMER DAVIS to find her Marine at:
https://pownetwork.org/bios/z/z352.htm
(4) On 29 August the Marines also lost an OV-10A Bronco of VMO-6 and MAG-39 out of Quang Tri. CAPTAIN JACK ERVIN SCHOBER, USMC, and 1LT RICHARD DIDACUS KRUPA, USMC, were killed on takeoff when an engine failed and the Bronco rolled over and crashed into a hangar at the field. 1LT KRUPA ejected but was killed by a steel beam in the roof of the new hangar. This was the third of three OV-10s the squadron lost on the combat deployment. Both Marines rest in peace at Arlington National Cemetery…
IV. HUMBLE HOST END NOTE: A War Story: BALKY COMPANY A… From The New York Times…
TUESDAY, AUGUST 26 (AP)… “On the ground, two battles flared late south of Danang in the area that has seen the heaviest recent fighting. Soldiers of the Americal Division’s 196th Light Infantry Brigade were reported to have killed 74 of the enemy in one fight 30 miles south of Danang suffering one killed and 49 wounded.”…
TUESDAY, 26 AUGUST, NYT, Page 1: A dispatch from AP reporters Horst Faas and Peter Arnett, dateline, Monday, August 25, Songchang Valley, South Vietnam:
TOLD TO MOVE AGAIN ON 6th DEADLY DAY, COMPANY A REFUSES… “‘I am sorry, sir, but my men refused to move out,’ Lieutenant Eugene Shurtz, Jr. reported to his battalion commander over a crackling field telephone. Company A of the 196th Light Infantry Brigade’s battleworn Third Battalion had been ordered at dawn yesterday to move once more down the jungled rocky slope of Nuilon Mountain into a labyrinth of North Vietnamese bunkers and trench lines 31 miles south of Danang. For five days the company had obeyed orders to make this push. Each time it had been thrown back by invisible enemy forces, which waited through bombs and artillery shells for the Americans to come close then picked them off….Yesterday, Lcol Robert C. Bacon, the battalion commander, had been waiting for Company A to move out. He was leading three of his companies in the assault. He paled when he was told by Lt Shurtz that the soldiers of Company A would not follow orders. ‘Repeat that please,’ he said, without raising his voice. ‘Have you told them what it means to disobey orders under fire?’…”I think they understand,’ the lieutenant replied, ‘but some of them simply had enough–they are broken. These are boys here who have only 90 days left in Vietnam. They want to go home in one piece. The situation is psychic here.’ ‘Are you talking about enlisted men, or are the N.C.O.s also involved?’ the colonel asked. ‘That’s the difficulty here,’ Lt Shurtz said. ‘We’ve got a leadership problem. Most of our squad and platoon leaders have been killed or wounded.’ At that point in the fight Company A was down to 60 men, half of its assigned combat strength. The colonel told the lieutenant to talk to them again and tell them that the enemy bunkers are empty–the enemy has withdrawn. The mission of Company A today is to recover their dead. They have no reason to be afraid. Please take a hand-count of how many really do not want to go.’ The lieutenant came back a few minutes later: ‘They won’t go colonel, and I did not ask for the hand count because I am afraid that they all stick together even though some might prefer to go.’ The colonel told him: ‘Leave these men on the hill and take your C.P. element and move to the objective.” The lieutenant said he was preparing to move his command post and asked: “What do we do with the ammunition supplies? Shall we destroy them?’ The colonel ordered: ‘Leave it with them.’… VETERAN GIVEN JOB… Then Colonel Bacon told his executive officer, Major Richard Waite, and one of his Vietnam veterans, Sgt. Okey Blankenship, to fly from the battalion base across the valley to talk to Company A. ‘Give them a pep talk and a kick in the butt,’ he said. They found the men of Company A exhausted in the tall, blackened elephant grass, their uniforms ripped and caked with dirt. ‘One of them was crying,’ Sergeant Blankenship said. The soldiers told why they would not move. ‘It poured out of them,’ the sergeant said. They said they were sick of the endless battling in torrid heat, the constant danger of sudden firefights by day and the mortar fire and enemy probing at night. They said that they had not enough sleep and that they were pushed too hard. They had not had any mail or hot food. They had not had any of the little comforts that made the war endurable. Helicopters brought in the basic needs–ammunition, food and water–at a tremendous risk under heavy enemy ground fire. But the men believed that they were in danger of annihilation and would go no farther. Major Bacon and Sergeant Blankenship listened to the soldiers, most of them a generation younger, draftees 19 and 20 years old. Sergeant Blankenship, a quick-tempered man began arguing. ‘One of them yelled to me his company had suffered too much and that it should not have to go on,’ Sergeant Blankenship said. ‘I answered him that another company was down to 15 men still on the move–and I lied to him–and he asked me, ‘Why did they do it?’ I replied: ‘Maybe they have got something a little more than what you have got.’ The soldier howled, ‘Don’t call us cowards, we are not cowards,’ running toward sergeant Blankenship, fists up. Sergeant Blankenship turned and walked down the ridge line to the company commander. The sergeant looked back and saw that the men of Company A were stirring. They picked up their rifles, fell into a loose formation and followed him down the cratered slope.”…
WEDNESDAY, 27 AUGUST, NYT… (AP) Saigon. COMMANDER OF UNIT THAT WOULDN’T FIGHT RELIEVED IN VIETNAM… “The company commander whose men refused to go into battle Sunday has been relieved of his job and is being transferred to a new post, his battalion commander said today. The commander of Company A, Lieutenant Eugene Shurtz, Jr., will be given a new assignment with the 196th Brigade of the Americal Division. The battalion commander Lieut. Col. Robert C. Bacon, said in a telephone interview from the battalion base camp south of Danang that he went out into the field Monday morning to relieve Lieut. Schurtz. Company A at first refused to move again down the jungled, rocky slopes of Nuilon Mountain into a labyrinth of North Vietnamese bunkers and trench lines after having made the same push and being driven back five consecutive days…. After persuasion by Colonel Bacon, Maj. Richard Waite and Sgt. Okey Blankenship, the company finally moved out. Colonel Bacon said today that he made the decision to relieve Lieutenant Shurtz Sunday night. ‘I went out personally,’ Colonel Bacon said. ‘I wasn’t satisfied with the progress the company was making in the two or three days I had them. I made the decision for a lot of reasons. I didn’t think he–Shurtz–had the experience to handle the job. It became more apparent as time progressed that we needed new blood in the job. The company wasn’t responsive, it was dragging its feet. It was slow getting its gear together. I didn’t think the company moved when I wanted it to. I would tell them to move out at 6 A.M. They would move at 6:30. The company was not responsive.’ Colonel Bacon said the incident Sunday ‘was certainly a contributing factor’ in relieving Lieut. Shurtz. He said, however, that his decision ‘was not solely based on that.”… Lieutenant Shurtz had been in Vietnam a month and had command of Company A for three weeks. A spokesman for the Americal Division and Colonel Bacon said that to their knowledge no charges were pending against anyone and no formal investigation was being conducted. ‘The matter is not being further pursued. The men are still in the company and Company A is in the field.’…”
TO BE CONTINUED IN WEEK 43 POST ON 25 NOVEMBER 2019…
JAMES RESTON opines and comments on BALKY COMPANY A… “A Whiff of Mutiny“…(behind NTY paywall)
Lest we forget… Bear
