Bear Taylor 
COMMEMORATING THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE VIETNAM WAR (1961-1973)…
LEST WE FORGET… NYT, Friday, 13 June 1969… “…The United States command reported that 252 Americans were killed in action during the week ended last Saturday… The report raised to 36,043 the number of Americans killed in combat in Vietnam since January 1, 1961. Enemy losses since that time have been put at 511,622 by United States officials.”… On 27 June 1969 the cover of LIFE magazine featured the face of one of the 242 American troops killed in one week in May 1969. Inside the publication was the story: “The Faces of the American Dead in Vietnam: One Week Toll.” The 242 pictures at 24 per page shocked the American public… The truth hit home… (See Humble Host End Note below)…
Good Morning. Humble Host looks back fifty years to Week Thirty-One of the air campaign to interdict the enemy life-line of men and material that supported their relentless fight to defeat South Vietnam. It was called COMMANDO HUNT (1968-1972)…
I. THE HEAD LINES FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES for 9 through 15 JUNE 1969…
A. THE WAR… (9 June) US TROOPS REPEL THREE ATTACKS ON BASE KILLING 399 OF FOE… “For three consecutive nights, enemy troops have tried to overrun a United States artillery base five miles from the Cambodian border in Tayninh Province… Enemy soldiers shelled and then charged the base, a small sandbagged fortress. Military spokesmen said that the bodies of 399 soldiers had been found beyond the outer ring of wire at the base. American losses were one dead and eight wounded.”… (10 June) SHARP CLASHES END BRIEF LULL IN WAR…”Sharp fighting broke out in South Vietnam yesterday after a one day lull. Many enemy soldiers were reported killed in actions ranging from the northern areas around Danang to sectors northwest of Saigon… a long fight for Apbia mountain (Hamburger Hill) near the Laotian border has ended.”… FIRST U.S. ARMY NURSE KILLED BY FOE IN VIETNAM… “…killed when a rocket struck a ward of the 312 Evacuation Hospital in Chu Lai… 25 wounded.”… (11 June) TEN B-52 MISSIONS STRIKE AT ENEMY–Seven Are Near Recent Action North of Saigon…”The air war over South Vietnam was intensified yesterday as United States B-52 bombers struck at enemy positions in the Central Highlands and northwest of Saigon. Five missions were flown in Tayninh province on the Cambodian border (Operation Menu?)…”…four battles were fought on familiar battlegrounds ranging from 32 to 65 miles from Saigon that resulted in 137 enemy dead. The United States command said that American losses were 12 killed and 57 wounded.”… HANOI INSISTS CAPTURED PILOTS ARE WAR CRIMINALS… “Hanoi today reaffirmed its stand that American pilots held in North Vietnam were war criminals…. and have the right to put the pilots on trial for taking part in bombing missions against North Vietnam…. The paper said that, although the pilots were war criminals, they had received ‘humanitarian treatment’ in North Vietnam since their capture.”… (12 June) ENEMY STAGES HEAVY ASSAULTS ON TWO BASES IN COASTAL REGION–16 Americans Killed in Raids South of Danang–Vietcong Breach A Post’s Defenses… (13 June) U.S. WAR DEATHS FALL SLIGHTLY–Losses of South Vietnamese and Foe Rise–Increase Laid To A Wave of Enemy Attacks Last Week… (14 June) A COASTAL SWEEP… “Seven thousand allied troops are sweeping through the coastal plains of Central Vietnam in a drive to smash an enemy fortress ten miles south of the city of Danang… In the three weeks since the sweep began 322 North Vietnamese and Vietcong have been killed and 51 taken prisoner… 152 weapons have been captured….Marine losses were put at 31 killed and 240 wounded….Marines of the First and Fifth Regiments have done most of the fighting and most of the killing.”… (15 June) FOE KILLS 18 G.I.s IN ATTACK ON BASE NEAR ASHAU VALLEY–NINE SITES SHELLED… “North Vietnamese troops throwing dynamite and grenades fought their way to the edge of a United States brigade headquarters near the Ashau Valley today. Striking before dawn, 40 to 50 enemy soldiers crawled up a jungle slope and attacked an advance base of the Third Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division killing 18 American paratroopers and wounding 47. Thirty-one North Vietnamese were killed in the skirmish.”… MANY CASUALTIES ON APBIA PEAK ARE ATTRIBUTED TO U.S. MISTAKES… (artillery short rounds and helicopter accidents)…
STATE DEPARTMENT DOCUMENT (FRUS, 1969-1976, Volume VI, Vietnam, January 1969-July 1970) 85. Intelligence Memorandum No. 05730/69 of June 12, 1969… STRESSES IN NORTH VIETNAM… “As the leaders of North Vietnam enter the eleventh year of their attempt to seize control of the South by force, they face a rising level of war-weariness among their people. In addition, as a result of the cessation of the bombing last year, the regime is having to combat a relaxation on the part of the North Vietnamese generally. Once the bombing stopped, many North Vietnamese, even the armed services and the vital areas of transportation, appear to have suffered an emotional letdown in the belief that the war was over as far as they were concerned. Now, the regime is having difficulty convincing the people that they must continue to endure deprivation and that many must continue to go South to fight what by now must seem to them to be an interminable war. Although these problems do not appear to be so grave as to impair significantly the regime’s ability to prosecute the war, they are causing the politboro concern and it is reacting.”…
B. PEACE TALKS IN PARIS… (9 June) NIXON TO REDUCE VIETNAM FORCE–Pulling Out 25,000 G.I.’s By August 31–He and Thieu Stress Their Unity–Sign a Midway Accord–Leaders Agree A Cutback Will Begin In 30 Days… Dateline MIDWAY ISLAND… “President Nixon met with President Nguyen Van Thieu today (June 8) and announced that 25,000 American soldiers would be withdrawn from Vietnam before the end of August. And with Mr. Thieu standing at his side, Mr. Nixon held out the hope of further reductions in the 540,000-man American force when this first phase was completed.”… (10 June) VIETCONG SCORN MIDWAY ACCORD–Hanoi Team In Paris Also Critical–Raises Doubt on Early Progress on Talks… AFTER THE MIDWAY TALKS–Key To Troops Reduction Tactics Lies In Hanoi’s Response To Offers in Paris… (11 June) NIXON SAYS TALKS AT MIDWAY OPEN ‘DOOR TO PEACE’–He Returns to Capital After Conference With Thieu–North Vietnam Urged to Act–Cites Troop Cut Plan–Hanoi Urged To Reciprocate on Battlefield or At Peace Table in Paris… TWO PATHS FOR NIXON–He May Face Choice Between Stronger Thieu Regime Or Bigger Vietcong Role… (12 June) NEW GOVERNMENT IS REPLACING NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONT AT TALKS IN PARIS–Front’s Delegate Says Group Formed By Vietcong Has Assumed All Functions–Little Policy Change–U.S. Sees Move as ‘Same Old Wine In New Bottle’– Thieu Discounts NLF Actions… (13 June) NEW VIETCONG GROUP IN PARIS CALLS FOR COMPLETE VICTORY AS BASIS OF PEACE… (14 June) VIETCONG’S MOVE EXPECTED TO STALL PEACE TALKS–Soviet Recognizes New Vietcong Group–Red China Remains Silent… (15 June) VIETCONG OFFICIAL REAFFIRMS DESIRE FOR TALKS IN PARIS–Delegate Denies Naming of Regime Means Emphasis on Military Solution… “An offical of the provisional revolutionary government proclaimed by the Vietcong said yesterday that its formation did not signify a turn away from the Paris peace talks toward a military solution. Tran Buu Kiem, minister of the presidency in the new organization, foresaw the possibility of political contacts between a ‘peace cabinet’ in Saigon and his government. He said they could begin before the total withdrawal of American troops that the Vietcong have demanded.”…
C. THE REST OF THE NEW YORK TIMES HEADLINES… (9 June) PRESIDENT MEETS THIEU AT MIDWAY… “…The principal purpose of the meeting was to permit the two presidents to review a broad range of matters of mutual interest. These included developments in Vietnam–political, economic and military–the Paris talks, and the general situation in Southeast Asis… The two Presidents confirmed their conviction that the form of government under which the people of South Vietnam will live should be decided by the people themselves. They reiterated their common resolve to reject any attempt to impose upon the Republic of Vietnam any system or any particular form of government, such as a coalition, without regard to the will of the people of South Vietnam.”… SOVIET GAIN IN M.I.R.V. PROGRAM–Pentagon Analysis of Test Bolsters U.S. Advocates of Further Testing… POLICE SEEK TO EASE HOSTILITY–Survey Finds That A Rise In Efforts To Reduce Racial Tension Sometimes Fails…ISRAEL WEIGHS A REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT PLAN… INDIA-PAKISTAN BORDER CROSSING REFLECTS HOSTILITY OF TWO NATIONS… PLAN FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AGENCY GAINS… (10 June) SENATE CONFIRMS BURGER AS CHIEF JUSTICE by 74-3–Vietnam War Critics Delay Vote… SIXTEEN STUDENTS OUSTED FROM HARVARD FOR SEIZURE OF BUILDING… VIOLENCE PANEL OPPOSED TO NEW STUDENT PENALTIES–Such Laws Would ‘Spread the Difficulty’, Group Says As It Urges Legislation to Strengthen Their First Amendment Rights… PRIME RATE RISES TO A RECORD 8 1/2% FOR BANK LOANS–Minimum Interest Charged–Economy Slowdown Seen Following a Steady Job Rate During Month… APOLLO OFFICIALS TO GIVE DECISION THURSDAY ON MOON SHOT DATE… (11 June) GROMYKO IN CAIRO FOR URGENT TALKS–Discussions Focus On Big 4 Negotiations Ongoing at U.N. in New York… PRAVDA VOICES SOVIET DISPLEASURE WITH U.S. ON MISSILE POLICIES–Also U.S. Delay of Arms Talks… (12 June) SOVIET DOCTRINE SCORED BY ITALIANS–Italy’s Red Leader In the Kremlin Says Individual Parties Must Be Autonomous… LATIN GRIEVANCES AGAINST THE U.S. HANDED TO NIXON–Chilean Presents Report For 21 Countries–President Pledges Serious Study… GROMYKO REPORTED TO GIVE NASSER A PEACE PLAN–Formula Said To Allow Israel To Retain Jerusalem And Golan Heights In Syria… (13 June) TALKS ON MIDEAST AT CRITICAL STAGE–U.S. Awaits Soviet Assent To Its Package Plan For Arab-Israeli Accord… EIGHT ARABS, THREE ISRAELIS REPORTED KILLED IN FIERCE ATTACK… U.S. OFFICIALS MEET IN HAWAII TO PLAN TROOPS PULLOUT… JULY APOLLO 11 TO MOON–SHOT APPROVED BY N.A.S.A.–Touch Down on Moon Set For 20 July… (14 June) NIXON INDICATES NEW POLICY ON LATIN AMERICA IS NEAR… MOSCOW MAY SEEK ASIA DEFENSE PLAN–Move Expected On System to Include Nations Along The Frontiers of China… 20,000 CHRISTIANS FILL MADISON SQUARE GARDEN–Billy Graham Opens Crusade... LAOTIAN PREMIER CONCEDES U.S. PLANES FLY RAIDS IN LAOS… GROMYKO ENDS TALKS WITH NASSER–Joint Statement Stresses 1967 U.N. Resolution–Eban Scores Communique… (15 June) FRENCH VOTERS TO DECIDE TODAY— Poher or Pomidou… PALESTINIAN ARABS GUERRILLA MOVEMENT UNDERGOING FRAGMENTATION INTO SPLINTER GROUPS…
II. COMMANDO HUNT II (May to Nov 1969)… The following is snipped from my signed copy of General Merrill A. McPeak’s excellent autobiography HANGAR FLYING… I have selected just one short paragraph from his testimonial of his tour as a MISTY– a Fast FAC. I wish I could quote the whole Misty chapter. It is the story of ops in southern Laos. Humble Host most strongly suggests RTR readers peruse the MISTY website and take a few minutes to watch General McPeak in company with his two sons return to tour the Ho Chi Minh Trail on bikes. Their day on the trail was spent in the center of COMMANDO HUNT country… Watch and peruse at…
http://mistyvietnam.com/general–merrill-mcpeak-in-search-of-the-ho-chi-minh-trail-youtube/
Quote from HANGAR FLYING, page 279… General McPeak wrote:
“Honor is a gift we make to ourselves, and Misty was nothing if not generous. In all, 35 of the 157 Mistys were shot down during their stay with the squadron, two of them twice. Seven were killed, three captured. Fully a third of all Misty sorties into the panhandle (of North Vietnam) ended up in rescue efforts, often one Misty capping another, downed by ground fire. For some reason, the loss rate did not much abate when in October 1968, President Johnson stopped all bombing in the North, a ‘pause’ that lasted four years. As I joined the outfit, at the beginning of February 1969, Misty was flying seven sorties a day, all of them into southern Laos (COMMANDO HUNT), site of the Ho Chi Minh Trail.”
III. AIRCRAFT LOSSES IN SOUTHEAST ASIA: 9-15 JUNE 1969… References include Chris Hobson’s monumental study VIETNAM AIR LOSSES, now available on line in it’s entirety (Thanks Micro!!!)…During the week ended Sunday, 15 June five fixed wing aircraft and 3 American aviators flew their last flight…
Vietnam Air Losses Record Search (for the Vietnam Air Losses home page click here.)
(1) On 11 June an F-4D of the 390th TFS and 366th TFW out of Danang crewed by MAJOR W.R. DEANS and MAJOR C.A. THOMAS was downed by small arms fire while attacking an automatic weapons site 17 miles west of Tam Ky. The pair of aviators was forced to eject a few miles from their target, where an Air Force SAR unit plucked them from the hostile territory…
(2) On 11 June a YQU-22A of the 553rd Recon Wing out of Nakhon Phanom was destroyed in a crash following an engine failure on a non-combat flight. The unnamed pilot survived to fly again. This was the first QU-22 lost in SE Asia. The Air Force would add 33 QU-22 aircraft, a military version of the A-36 Beech Bonanza, to the recce force in the theater to support IGLOO WHITE sensor operations in the COMMANDO HUNT area of southern Laos.
(3) On 12 June an A-1H of the 602nd SOS and 56th SOW piloted by 1LT NEAL CLINTON “Cliff” WARD, call sign “Firefly 20,” was downed while attacking a convoy of trucks east of Ban Ban in the northern Barrel Roll area of Laos. 1LT WARD was not seen to eject from his Spad as it crashed in the immediate area of the convoy under attack. On his initial strafing attack on the lead truck he effectively stopped the convoy. He was hit on his second and last strafing run on the convoy. His heroic flight is detailed in George J. Marrett’s book CHEATING DEATH. MAJOR WARD was declared Missing in Action when a SAR effort was precluded by the presence of enemy troops at the crash site. He was subsequently judged “Presumptive Finding of Death, which is his status today, 50-years after he gave “the last full measure” for our country. MAJOR WARD is memorialized with a stone marker at Arlington National Cemetery and on the Memorial Plaza at Texas A&M. Glory gained, duty done bravely… Left behind! Active pursuit by DPAA?… Hope So!…
(4) On 14 June an F-105D of the 354th TFS and 355th TFW out of Takhli piloted by MAJOR HAROLD “Pappy” KAHLER was lost while executing a strike mission in the Barrel Roll area of Laos. Vietnam Air Losses and POW NETWORK tell the story: Two Thuds, Mantis One and Two, were searching for twenty trucks reported to be on a road in northwestern Laos but failed to find them. However, they did find a bridge near Ban Na Muang about 18 miles south southeast of Sam Neua and requested permission to attack this new target (Humble Host note: Targeting in Laos was closely controlled by the American Ambassador to Laos… permission was a Rule of Engagement–one of many). The lead aircraft rolled in to drop its bombs followed by MAJOR KAHLER. The leader, Mantis One, saw a flash of light in his rear view mirror and tried to contact MAJOR KAHLER without success. Assuming that MAJOR KAHLER had been shot down by AAA, the leader quickly searched the area before he was forced to depart due to lack of fuel. A ground search team later located the wreckage of MAJOR KAHLER’s F-105, but found no sign of the pilot. On the same day, the Pathet Lao claimed to have shot down an American aircraft and that the pilot had been ‘suitably punished’! Whatever the punishment was, HAROLD KAHLER, a Second World War veteran, was never seen again. At one point the family was told that the military “believed MAJOR KAHLER had ejected from the aircraft and was probably working his way to a safer area.”… MAJOR KAHLER earned his Silver Wings in 1943 and was a flight instructor during World War II. After the war he was a Nebraska National Guard aviator and was recalled to active duty for the Korean War. He remained on active duty for the fight in Vietnam. Today, he remains missing in the category of “Presumptive Finding of Death.”… His fate is unknown. He is remembered here with respect, admiration and appreciation, with the hope that DPAA never gives up looking for his remains…Read the Task Force Omega report on MAJOR KAHLER
(5) On 14 June an F-4D Wolf Fast FAC of the 497th TFS and 8th TFW out of Ubon piloted by CAPTAIN JAMES WILLIAM GRACE, with WSO 1LT WAYNE J. KARAS in the rear cockpit, was downed on a COMMANDO HUNT bomb damage assessment mission in the area west of Tchepone. The Phantom was fatally damaged by ZPU anti-aircraft fire and the crew was forced to eject near Ban Kapay. SAR forces were on scene immediately and a Bell UH-1F Huey “Pony Express” helicopter from the 20th SOS quickly rescued 1LT KARAS. The unsuccessful attempt to rescue CAPTAIN GRACE followed. The most complete story of what happened next is a tale unto itself and is available online at:
https://sites.google.com/site/leehillard1969/home/memorials/james-grace (Webmaster note: requires Google account to access)
MAJOR GRACE was initially listed as missing after a ground search team could not find his body. In June 1976 he was officially declared killed in action. In 1997 the canopy of the aircraft was found but no further evidence of MAJOR GRACE found (Or was there?? See the next link and the saga of a loyal wife). He is memorialized with a memorial stone at Arlington National Cemetery. His fate remains unknown. He is remembered here 50 years after his last flight with respect, admiration and appreciation for his heroic service for our country. I join DPAA in their desire for a lead that will refresh the search for MAJOR GRACE. The story of his wife’s untiring effort to find her husband is detailed at…
https://www.pownetwork.org/bios/g/g068.htm
IV. HUMBLE HOST END NOTE… LIFE magazine was on the scene in Vietnam to record in award-winning photography the story of death and destruction on the battlefields and in the cities of Southeast Asia. The impact of those pictures and the nightly television news programs seared into the minds and hearts of all Americans. The June 27, 1969 cover story and TEN consecutive pages of pictures of fallen warriors made history. The impact was overwhelming and a crushing blow to what little remained of American fighting spirit on the home front. Humble Host goes to a 15 May 2014 TIME pictorial essay to record the historic event for the RTR archives… I quote…
FACES OF THE AMERICAN DEAD IN VIETNAM: ONE WEEK’s TOLL, JUNE 1969… By Ben Cosgrove…
“In June 1969, LIFE magazine published a feature that remains as moving and, in some quarters, as controversial as it was when it intensified a nation’s soul-searching 45 years ago (now 50). On the cover, a young man’s face–the very model of middle-America’s ‘boy next door’–along with 11 stark words: ‘The Faces of the American Dead in Vietnam: One Week’s Toll.’ Inside, across ten funereal pages, LIFE published picture after picture and name after name of 242 young men killed in seven days halfway around the world ‘in connection with the conflict in Vietnam.’
“To no one’s surprise, the public’s response was immediate, and visceral. Some readers expressed amazement, in light of the thousands of American deaths suffered in a war with no end in sight, that it took so long for LIFE to produce something as dramatic and pointed as ‘One Week’s Toll.’ Others were outraged that the magazine was, as one reader saw it, ‘supporting the antiwar demonstrators who are traitors to this country.’ Still others–perhaps the vast majority–were quietly and disconsolately devastated.
“… Below is the text, in full, that not only accompanied portraits of those killed, but also explained why LIFE chose to publish ‘One Week’s Dead’ when it did–and in the manner it did.”
“From the June 27, 1969, issue of LIFE:
‘The faces shown on the next pages are the faces of American men killed–in the words of the official announcement of their deaths–‘in connection with the conflict in Vietnam.’ The names, 242 of them, were released on May 28 through June 3 (1969), a span of no special significance except that it includes Memorial Day. The numbers of the dead are average for any seven-day period during this stage of the war.
‘It is not the intention of this article to speak for the dead. We cannot tell with any precision what they thought of the political currents which drew them across the world. From the letters of some, it is possible to tell they felt strongly that they should be in Vietnam, that they had great sympathy for the Vietnamese people and were appalled at their enormous suffering. Some had voluntarily extended their tours of combat duty; some were desperate to come home. Their families provided most of these photographs, and many expressed their own feelings that their sons and husbands died in a necessary cause. Yet in a time when the numbers of Americans killed in this war–36,000–though far less than the Vietnamese losses, have exceeded the dead in the Korean War, when the nation continues week after week to be numbed by a three-digit statistic which is translated to direct anguish in hundreds of homes all over the country, we must pause to look into the faces. More than we must know how many, we must know who. The faces of one week’s dead, unknown to but the families and friends, are suddenly recognized by all in this gallery of young American eyes.'”…. End quote…
Lest we forget… Bear
