COMMANDO HUNT 23-29 JUNE 1969

COMMEMORATING THE 50th ANNIVERSARY OF THE VIETNAM WAR (1961-1973)…

LEST WE FORGET… The New York Times of 27 June 1969… “The United States command reported today that 247 American soldiers were killed in fighting last week, bringing total United States dead in the war since January 1961 to 36,625. The command also said that 1,686 Americans were wounded…”… From Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet… I quote…

“When he shall die

take him and cut him out

    in little stars.

And he will make the face

    of heaven so fine

That all the world will be in love

    with night,

And pay no worship to the

  garish sun.”… end quote…

So many bright stars, so many fallen warriors to admire and remember… Lest we forget…

GOOD MORNING. Today, Humble Host remembers the Vietnam War and Week Thirty-Three of Operation COMMANDO HUNT, the “truck war” on “The Blood Road,” as John Prados called the Ho Chi Minh Trail of southern Laos….

HEAD LINES FROM The NEW YORK TIMES for 23 through 29 June 1969…

A.  THE WAR… (23 June) U.S. REPORTS LULL IN A FIGHTING WITH ENEMY AVOIDING CONTACT… “Ground combat in the last 24 hours dipped to its lowest level in months, but because of the up-and-down nature of the war in Vietnam military officials declined to speculate on the enemy’s reasons for avoiding contact. Allied ground and air operations remained at their usual level. In the past, such lulls in enemy action–from a day to two or three weeks–have been followed by sharp resumption of combat… United States pilots have flown 434 air strikes against suspected enemy positions and B-52 bombers dropped about 200 tons on four positions.”… THIEU SAYS VIETNAMESE CAN TAKE MAJOR ROLE… “President Nguyen Van Thieu said today that the South Vietnamese armed forces were ready to shoulder the major responsibility of fighting the war. He said that the Vietcong were in a ‘completely hopeless military situation.’…”… (24 June) ENEMY SURROUNDS BESIEGED BASE… “North Vietnamese forces opened a ground attack on a besieged Special Forces camp and two of its outposts in the Central Highlands yesterday… surrounded and cutoff by 2,000 enemy soldiers… The post is six miles from the Cambodian border…B-52s dropped 360 tons of explosives on enemy formations massed around the camp at Benhet…Supplies dropped in.”… (25 June) A CONVOY REACHES U.S. BASE AT BENHET… “A column of tanks and armored cars today led a convoy carrying badly needed supplies into the besieged allied camp at Benhet, harassed by North Vietnamese rocket and machine-gun fire… casualties in the siege have been light.”… (26 June) THE U.S. NAVY TURNS OVER 64 RIVER PATROL GUNBOATS TO SOUTH VIETNAMESE NAVY… “…the largest single transfer of military equipment to the Saigon Government’s forces thus far…. At the Special Forces camp at Benhet the enemy pressure was beginning to slacken…numbers of incoming rockets was halved and enemy troops were starting to move away… ENEMY IS BELIEVED TO AIM AT CONTROL OF COUNTRYSIDE… “Military intelligence officers report continuing signs of an enemy strategy aimed toward exerting as much control as possible over rural areas and their populations. At the same time, concerted attacks on small allied outposts and some cities such as Tayninh near the Cambodian border are believed to be aimed at creating what the sources call a dramatic splash to intensify opposition in the United States to the war.”… (27 June) GROUND AND AIR ROUTES ARE USED TO GET SUPPLIES TO BESIEGED CAMP–Enemy Is pounded But Continues To Pour Shells On Benhet–Foe’s Shells Wound Five–South Vietnamese Relief Troops Are Flown In… “Enemy mortar and artillery shells and rifle propelled grenades continue to strike the scarred Benhet outpost in the Central Highlands today despite nearly continuous counter bombardment by allied B-52 bombers, jet fighters, helicopter gunships and artillery.”… THINK TANK OFFERS MODIFIED POLICY FOR VIETNAM… “A proposal for a modified strategy in Vietnam, conceived by a ‘think factory,’ is circulating at high levels in the Nixon Administration. The authors of the plan, at the Hudson Institute are said to maintain the it could cut American casualties to a handful, make the war ‘acceptable’ in the United States and either increase chances for a peace settlement or offer a long-term chance of ‘winning’ the war. The proposal includes a reduction of American forces to 100,000 or 200,000 men by the middle of 1971, reliance on volunteers, extension of the tour of duty to two years for each soldier and construction of ‘death belt barriers’ around Saigon and along the Cambodian border to block infiltration. It also calls for new combat tactics.”…  (28 June) ALLIED RAIDS FAIL TO SLOW SHELLING OF BENHET BY FOE–But Special Forces Camp Reports Casualties Still are Relatively Light… (29 June) BENHET POUNDED BY 300 ROUNDS IN ENEMY’S HEAVIEST BARRAGE YET… “Since sunrise yesterday the enemy has poured more than 300 rounds of artillery, rocket and mortar fire into the bunkers and gun positions on the three muddy hills of the allied Special Forces outpost here. The last 36 hours have been the worst yet for the battered defenders of the besieged camp….Somehow, Benhet’s population of 1,000 men, women and children escaped relatively unscathed. In the 51 days the camp has been under fire, most heavy barrages have left at least two or three persons wounded… Air strikes of the war have been among the most concentrated of the war. Early this morning 60 B-52 bombers dropped 1,800 tons of bombs to the west of the camp in a series of strikes in support of the troops in Benhet’s bunkers. The effect on the allied bombardments is not clear. Enemy shelling is on the increase, if anything, and enemy soldiers continue to demonstrate bravery that gains the respect of almost every camp defender. Last night, for example, a North Vietnamese infantryman hiding a few hundred yards off the camp’s northern borders took on two South Vietnamese fighter bombers with AK-47 submachine gun fire. The planes bored in with bombs, napalm and cannon fire. They were met each time with the distinctive burp of the enemy weapon. An American Special Forces sergeant watched the duel for a few minutes, then said: ‘I’ll never understand where or how Ho Chi Minh gets those kind of men.'”…

B.  PEACE TALKS IN PARIS… HUMBLE HOST opts for an entire article vice headlines.  (25 June) SEVEN U.S. DELEGATES AT PARIS TALKS TO CHALLENGE OTHER SIDE TOMORROW TO NEGOTIATE WITH SAIGON REGIME… by Drew Middleton…

(As you read this report from 1969, ponder the similarities with ongoing negotiations in Afghanistan as our nation searches for a way to exit from an 18-year war in a quagmire akin to Vietnam.)

“The United States delegation to the Paris peace talks plans to challenge the other side at Thursday’s session to fulfill an agreement to negotiate a political settlement with the South Vietnamese Government. The American position is that negotiation and agreement between North Vietnam and a peace cabinet, or any other group, not include representation of the Saigon Government would violate a pledge by North Vietnam in November to negotiate with South Vietnam.

“American sources said that North Vietnam’s attendance at the weekly plenary meeting was not enough, and that Hanoi was obligated to negotiate either across the conference table or in private, with the Saigon delegation. To American officials, facing what they regard as an increasingly rigid position, it appears that this approach is the only one that has a chance of getting the North Vietnamese and their allies to negotiate. The other side’s position has been outlined publicly and privately by members of the delegation of North Vietnam and of the provisional revolutionary government created earlier this month by the National Liberation Front, or Vietcong. The position can be summarized as follows. (1) No negotiations with the Saigon regime of President Nguyen Van Thieu for the creation of a commission of Communists and non-Communists. (2) No international supervision of elections in  South Vietnam because this would infringe on the sovereignty of that country and its right to self-determination. (3) No de-escalation of the war so long as the United States, by replacing its forces with South Vietnamese forces, seeks to win the war.

“There have been no recent references to the retirement of North Vietnamese forces from South Vietnam implied in the National Liberation front’s 10-point program, either at the conference table or in interviews. The Vietcong radio, in a broadcast monitored in Hong Kong tonight, declared that peace talks will ‘remain at a complete standstill’ until the United States meets the ‘basic priority conditions’ of unconditional troop withdrawal and the abandonment of the Thieu Government…. There is little disagreement among allied diplomats over the basic motives behind the other side’s seemingly inflexible opposition.

“A Communist source noted what was called ‘the realities of the world situation,’ and said, ‘After all, we are not negotiating in a vacuum.‘ The principal reality, this source said is the ‘irreversible tide of public opinion against the war in the United States including popular refusal to accept further casualties. ‘They are cynical about it,’ an American diplomat commented. ‘They are telling us in every meeting and at every news conference that bloodshed hurts you more than it does us. If they lose 4,000 men, no one on their side knows it. If we lose 200, everyone does.’ The other side also appears to be encouraged by the differences between Washington and Saigon over policy. The other side has made it clear in public and private statements that its position will not be altered by concessions of the Saigon Government. The North Vietnamese and their allies will be satisfied, according to current assertions, only by the abandonment of the Thieu Government by the United States and its replacement by one largely reflecting the insurgents views.”… End Middleton quote…

(27 June) FOE AT PARIS TALKS DERIDES NIXON’S TROOP PLAN–Calls It Pretext For Pursuing War–Lodge Sees No Sign Of A Will To Negotiate… by Drew Middleton… “The Communist side in the Vietnam negotiations today dismissed the President’s conditions for withdrawal as part of what was described as a search for pretexts for continued American aggression…. (North Vietnamese) speeches at the 23rd plenary session of the peace talks concentrated on President Nixon’s June 19 news conference remarks and on attacks on the American policy of replacing U.S. forces with South Vietnamese forces…. ‘As long as the United States sticks to its neocolonial position and demands mutual troop withdrawals and reciprocity, the Paris peace talks can make no progress.’…”…

C. THE REST OF THE NYT HEAD LINES… (23 June) WARREN COURT ERA ENDS TODAY AFTER 16 YEARS OF REFORM–Warren Burger’s Seating to Close a Time of Controversy And Mixed Results… LEADERS OF NEW FRENCH CABINET APPOINTED–Maurice Schumann Foreign Minister for Pompidou… ISRAELI JETS RAID JORDANIAN SITES–Commandos Cross Border in Second Attack On Arab Positions in 24-Hours… EGYPTIANS ASSISTING EMIGRATION RUSH–Huge Growth Of Population Brings Change In Policy… (24 June) BURGER IS SWORN AS CHIEF JUSTICE–Outgoing Warren Praised–Nixon, In Unusual Speech, Calls Retiring Court Head ‘Example of Integrity’–Continuity Is Stressed… LAIRD MODIFIES MISSILE WARNING–Tells Senators Weapon Aims Only to Counter Soviet First Strike… ISRAELI SABOTAGES JORDAN CANAL–Raiders Strike $85 Million Water Diversion System–Nation’s Most Important… DEATH OF THREE BROTHERS ON US EVANS BRINGS NO SHIFT IN U.S. POLICY…  (25 June) PERU WILL SEIZE ALL BIG HOLDINGS FOR LAND REFORM–Just Compensation Vowed By Regime–Rockefeller Interests Involved… SENATE DOUBLE FOOD STAMP FUND–Rise Seen As Effort to Get Urban Aid For Farm Bill… ARAB SABOTEURS BLAST PIPELINE AT HAIFA–A Key Israeli Site Is Attacked For First Time–Fire Rages Five Hours… GOP SEEKS MODIFIED STAND ON PRESIDENTIAL ACTIONS ABROAD–Resolution In Senate Allows Use of Troops Only With Legislative Approval… VIOLENCE PANEL FEARS COLLEGES WILL BECOME SCREENED AND GUARDED CAMPS… (26 Jan) SENATE ON 70-16 VOTE CALLS FOR A CURB ON OVERSEAS COMMITMENTS–Urges Executive Not Send Soldiers Or Funds Abroad Unless Congress Agrees… U.S. AIDES ASSURE RELATIVES OF POWS RELEASE BY NORTH VIETNAM IS SOUGHT…”About 50 relatives of prisoners being held captive by North Vietnam were assured by representatives of the State and Defense Departments today that everything possible was being done to obtain their release at the Paris peace negotiations. The relatives, gathered in the officer’s club of the Suffolk County Air Force Base, were told by the officials that North Vietnam had repeatedly violated the Geneva Convention governing the treatment of prisoners of war. Many of the relatives sobbed as they left the meeting.”… (27 June) AIR FORCE ORDERS M.I.R.V. WARHEADS–$87-Million Contract For 68 Minuteman Vehicles Is Let Without Public Notice… U.S. NAMES FIVE-MAN TEAM FOR SOVIET MISSILE TALKS…   DYAN SAYS EGYPT MAY RESUME WAR–He Reports Arab Build-Up Along Suez and in Syria… CHILE AND ANACONDA AGREE ON TERMS FOR A GOVERNMENT TAKE-OVER–Mines Will Be Nationalized In Two Stages at Price Keyed to Later Profit–Triumph for President Eduardo Frei–He tells Nation of Pact–Copper Company Relieved To Avoid Expropriation… NINE U.S. OWNED SUPER-MARKETS IN ARGENTINA BOMBED… (28 June) SECRETARY OF DEFENSE ORDERS STUDY OF VESTS FOR WAR–Move Follows Charge That Defects Were Detected… (29 June) NIXON WILL VISIT ROMANIA AND FIVE COUNTRIES IN ASIA–Will Watch Apollo Return Trip In Late July–Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, India and Pakistan on Itinerary… SOVIET LEADERS WILL VISIT ROMANIA AHEAD OF NIXON… A NEW NADER GROUP AIDS CONSUMERS…  42% OF GALLUP POLL FAVOR A FASTER PULLOUT–Would Quit Vietnam Quicker Than Nixon is Doing…

II.  COMMANDO HUNT II (April-November 1969) Humble Host has snipped the following from the PACAF Summary of AIR OPERATIONS SOUTHEAST ASIA for JUNE 1969, made available on disc provided by the great folks at the HRA at Maxwell AFB… COMMANDO HUNT/STEEL TIGER AIR STRIKE ACTIVITY…

USAF attack sorties in Steel Tiger (Southern Laos) totaled 6,070, 35% of which were flown at night. The approximate sortie distribution by target was as follows: Traffic Control Areas, 6%; Traffic Control Points, 18%; truck park/storage areas, 51%; vehicles, 10%; defenses, 3%; and other targets, 12%. The use of special munitions packages against select targets continued although weather caused a decrease in the use of Paveway I and Bullpup missiles. Both of these missiles require unrestricted visual acquisition of the target. Weapons delivered included: Paveway 129; Bullpup 79;  Time Delay Bomb 375; and, MK-36 Destructor 5,720. A highlight: on 12 June, 2 flights of A-26s struck a storage area south of Tchepone and reported a combined total of more than 350 secondaries (an attack pilot’s dream). The AC-130 Gunship II flew 29 strike and 40 armed reconnaissance sorties in Steel Tiger. BDA included 39 trucks destroyed and 25 damaged, 72 secondary fires and 627 secondary explosions.

TARGETS DESTROYED/DAMAGED

TOT SORT   NITE   VEH   BLDGS  R CUTS   AAA  SEC/EXP

USAF          6,070    2,108    287          377         353          36      

USN           2,686       967      200         19             21             6         

USMC       921              ?           72          35             25             3          

Visual truck sightings indicate a decrease in truck traffic in Laos of approximately 69%. This is also reflected in a 79% decrease in sensor reported traffic (Igloo White). It appears some enemy engineering units and transportation elements have been withdrawn from Laos into NVN. The reason for the sharp decrease in traffic appears to be two fold: (1) heavy seasonal rains inundating roads previously cratered by bombing have made much of the Laotian route structure impassable; (2) heavy strike pressure has been maintained against movers and truck park/storage areas. Enemy desire to maintain his flow of supplies southward is evidenced by the presence of road building equipment, corduroying of critical road sections, graveling and the use of pierced steel planking. Route 8, south of Nape Pass is virtually closed to through traffic due to deterioration of the road. The route structures south of Mugia and Ban Karai passes are also extremely muddy with large drops in reported traffic. The POL pipeline transiting Mugia Pass from NVN into Laos was struck by 23 sorties resulting in 6 pipeline cuts, 6 secondary explosions and 3 secondary fires. By the end of June, pipeline cuts were no longer producing secondary fires, indicating possible discontinued use. COMMANDO HUNT truck sightings for the month: Road Watch Teams 710; Pilot 581: and Sensor 651.

COMMANDO HUNT/STEEL TIGER intentions in July are to continue to strike major LOCs, storage areas, truck parks and other lucrative targets, continue the use of munitions packages against the routes leading from NVN, continue all-weather tactics during periods of poor weather, increase the surveillance/mining of navigable waterways and conduct armed reconnaissance along major LOCs.

BOOK REPORT…  SPECIAL AIR WARFARE AND THE SECRET WAR IN LAOS: Air Commandos 1964-1975 by Col. Joseph D. Celeski, U.S. Army, Retired, is a 500-page history of the American war in Laos. The following is snipped and added to RTR as a teaser to encourage readers to give this great chronicle of our Laos ops a look. The full length book with superb maps and pictures is on line in its entirety –FREE– at:

https://media.defense.gov/2019/Jul/02/2002153035/-1/-1/0/B_0156_CELESKI_SPECIAL_AIR_WARFARE_%20AND_THE_SECRET_WAR_IN_LAOS_AIR_COMMANDOS_1964_1975.PDF

FROM PAGE 306…  “The Rolling Thunder campaign was designed to punish North Vietnamese, in combination with interdiction of war material at its origin; yet when it failed to achieve significant results, the United States turned to the interdiction of the HCMT to impede North Vietnamese assets from reaching the south. In 1968 the first of these concentrated air campaigns, in conjunction with covert team insertions along the trail, began. Dubbed Commando Hunt, seven iterations of this operation were launched to cover both the wet and dry seasons.” (From November 1968 to April 1972)….

FROM PAGE 303… “TRUCK ROUTES”… “The NVA went to great lengths to constantly improve the main truck routes on the HCMT, primarily to counter the rains and resulting mud from the monsoon season. Truck routes were one lane with several bypasses and turnarounds (for northbound traffic), ranging from eight to twelve feet wide, and with improved surfaces to give them all-weather capability. Crushed gravel, improved earth, raised roads–on roads built over areas prone to flooding–and some asphalt paving allowed for the almost unimpeded flow of trucks. In earlier road construction, logs were used to corduroy the roads to keep them in use during the monsoon rains. Wooden bridges and ferries helped to overcome swollen creeks and rivers. Underwater bridges at fords increased movement capability. By 1966 over 900 miles of motorable roads were in place. US intelligence estimates calculated the throughput infiltration rate of North Vietnamese truck movements as ranging from a minimum of 100 short tons per day (STPD) to a high of 400 STPD, more than sufficient to supply communist efforts in South Vietnam throughout the war.

“Primary routes, lateral routes and feeder routes were under construction and maintenance. Multiple NVA engineer battalions were each apportioned sections of the HCMT to either improve existing routes or build new routes. They also kept the routes repaired, augmented by North Vietnamese labor battalions, civilian laborers or Laotian villagers organized into construction and labor battalions. NVA troops stationed along the HCMT, or troops moving south, would augment the efforts of the engineer battalions, if available. Notable in their efforts, road repairs, from weather deterioration or from interdiction, took no longer than 18-24 hours on average to put back into service. The engineers were equipped with heavy equipment such as bulldozers and earth-moving equipment to support these efforts. Labor and construction battalions were used to weave trellises of foliage over the route making them undetectable by visual reconnaissance.

“The bulk of trucks used by the NVA were Russian, although some variants from Poland and China were seen operating on the HCMT. Truck convoys ranged from five to twenty-five vehicles in a convoy; not often, but occasionally, truck movements numbering up to 100 were detected. Truck convoys moved at night, using bicycle lights under their fenders to aid drivers, all of whom were North Vietnamese. Estimates varied; however, intelligence analysts settled on between 600 and 1,000 trucks were required to keep the HCMT in operation. Even though battle damage assessment records indicated a massive number of truck kills, which should have severely hampered NVA operations, the DRV easily made up its losses through repair and replenishment of trucks supplied from communist-bloc countries…”…. End quote from the Celeski book…

III.   AIRCRAFT LOSSES IN SOUTHEAST ASIA: 23-29 JUNE 1969… References include Chris Hobson’s VIETNAM AIR LOSSES, which, thanks to David Lovelady, is now available in its entirety at  https://www.VietnamAirLosses.com   … During the week ending 29 June 1969 the United States lost four fixed wing aircraft. Seven brave hearts perished…

(1)  On 23 June a C-130B of the 773rd TAS and 463rd TAW home based at Clark AFB, P.I. and operating out of Tan Son Nhut was downed by ground fire while making a supply run to Special Forces camp at Katum. The aircraft was in the approach at 3,000-feet when hit by radar directed gunfire that knocked out one engine and set the aircraft afire. The crew made a valiant effort to unload the cargo of 360 rounds of 105mm shells in the final seconds of flight as the pilot CAPTAIN GARY EDWARD BRUNER attempted to make the runway at Katum. The aircraft was observed to stall, fall off on a wing and spin into the ground. There were no survivors in the six-man crew. Two Air Force helicopters made heroic efforts to approach the crash site to assist possible survivors and both were driven back and downed by exploding 105mm shells in the unsuccessful effort. The remains of four of the crew were recovered and identified soon after the incident: CAPTAIN BRUNER; LCOL JEAN ARTHUR KEARBY; SSGT BILLY WALLACE McDONALD and SSGT GEORGE CHARLES PETERS. Two others were recovered in 1994 by the joint US/Vietnamese recovery team and returned to the United States for identification and burial: MAJOR WILLIAM HOWARD CONDIT and 1LT TERRY MICHAEL REED. CAPTAIN BRUNER rests in peace at the Air Force Academy Cemetery in Colorada Springs; MAJOR CONDIT is buried at Fort Logan National Cemetery in Denver; LCOL KEARBY is buried at Arlington National Cemetery; 1LT REED rests at the Fort Sam Huston National Cemetery in San Antonio; SSGT McDONALD is buried at the Permian Basin Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial in Midland, Texas; and, SSGT PETERS rests in peace at Manchester Cemetery in Manchester, Illinois. There is also a memorial stone under a large oak tree at Arlington National Cemetery that carries the names of all six warriors who perished together at Katum on 23 June 1969…

(2) On 25 June a Marine F-4B of the VFMA-542 Bengals and MAG-11 out of Danang piloted BY 1LT A. VADYAK, USMC, and 1LT S.S. TALBOT, USMC, WSO, was downed on a close air support mission south of the DMZ near Dong Ha. The Phantom was hit as it recovered from a dive attack and the two young Marines were forced to eject. They were recovered–specifics not located.

(3) On 26 June an F-100D of the 614th TFS and 35th TFW out of Phan Rang piloted by CAPTAIN J.H. CASPER was hit by ground fire while conducting close air support under FAC control in South Vietnam. CAPTAIN CASPER was able to control the flaming Super Sabre clear of the target and over the sea before ejecting. He was rescued by Air Force helicopter. Hobson notes that an HH-43F of the 38th ARRS at Phang Rang lost a helicopter, probably to ground fire in the SAR effort for CAPTAIN CASPER…

(4) On 28 June an A1-E of the 1st SOS and 56th SOW out of Nakhon Phanom piloted by LCOL W.D. NEAL and MAJOR W.L. BAGWELL was downed in northern Laos–Barrel Roll– while on an armed reconnaissance mission and strafing enemy troops at the abandoned Lima Site at Muong Soui on the Plain de Jars. Both aviators were able to escape the aircraft before it crashed and were rescued to fly and fight again. This was MAJOR BAGWELL’s second downing and rescue…  

HUMBLE HOST FINAL NOTE… In June 1969 the Vietcong put out the “party line” for the fighting units in South Vietnam in two documents. Allied intelligence provided a two page backgrounder under the title: “DECISIVE VICTORY: STEP BY STEP, BIT BY BIT”…  Document No. 61 is titled: “MATTERS TO BE GRASPED WHEN PERFORMING THE IDEOLOGICAL TASK IN THE PARTY BODY.” Document No. 62 is a report on the achievements and experiences gained — a situation report for the cadres. These documents are written by communists for communists and are interesting reading for non-communists…. This is a 16-pager from the Vietnam archives at Texas Tech… Peruse or read at…

https://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/reports/images.php?img=/images/315/3150103004.pdf

Lest we forget…     Bear