Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #361… (1) The RTR Mission Continues… (2) Open Letter to “Medals of America”...
Good Morning: Day THREE HUNDRED SIXTY-ONE of remembering the air war fought bravely for more than three and a half years fifty years ago by thousands of fearless warriors forgotten by their country… then, now and the fifty years in between…
1 March 1967… HEAD LINES and Leads from The New York Times on a cold and sunny Wednesday in NYC…
Page 1: “Ramsey Clark Nominated to be Attorney General: Father to Quit Court”…President Johnson named Acting Attorney General Ramsey Clark to be Attorney General. Two hours after the announcement, Mr. Clark’s father Justice Tom C. Clark of the Supreme Court disclosed that he would retire from the bench no later than the end of the present session of the court in June to avoid any suspicion of a conflict of interest…Ramsey Clark, 39 years old, is an old family friend of the President and a widely respected supporter of civil rights.”… Page 1: “President Seeks Public TV agency as Education Aid”…”President Johnson asked Congress today for congress to create a Corporation for public Television that could channel both private and public funds into noncommercial television and radio facilities and programming. The President would have it function like a private foundation, free of Government control, but under the supervision of 15 public board members. He requested $9-million for the first year of operation.”… Page 1: “Peril to U.S. Bases Rises as Vietcong Add Russian Rocket”... “In the attack Monday against the air base at Danang, South Vietnam the Vietcong used the heaviest and most powerful ground weapons they have used thus far in the war. Soviet-made 140-mm rockets with a greater range and larger burning charge than any of the mortars or recoilless rifles of rockets hitherto used by the enemy were fired from positions 9,000-yards outside the air base. About 134 firing positions have been established by the Vietcong to launch rocket salvos of six to eight simultaneously. Fifty-one rounds actually hit the base or a nearby town. They killed 12 Americans and wounded 32… 35 South Vietnamese were killed and 70 wounded. Eleven aircraft were damaged.”…
Page 1: “Congress Is Seen Sparing Medicaid”... “New York’s multi-million dollar Medicaid program–thought to be the target of a stringent Federal cutback–escapes unscathed in legislation that Congress will start to study tomorrow. The Social Security amendments of the Administration will go before the House Ways and Means Committee.”… Page 1: “19 Named in New Indictment in 3 Mississippi Rights Killings”... “Nineteen men, including the top two law enforcement officers of the Neoshoba County and the Imperial Wizard of a Mississippi Klan group were named today in Federal conspiracy indictments based on the civil rights slayings near Philadelphia, Mississippi in 1964. Named in the indictments are Sheriff Floyd Rainey and his deputy Cecil Price.”… Page 1: “Henry Luce, Creator of Time-Life Dies”… two quotes; “We tell the truth as we see it.”…”Show me a man who claims he is objective and I will show you a man with an illusion.”…
Page 2: “Vietcong Call U.S. Sole Bar to Peace”... Wilfred Burchett reporting from Cambodia. “The Vietcong supreme command charged today that the United States ‘war policy’ was the sole obstacle to peace in Vietnam. The statement came less than 24-hours after the guerrillas had retaliated to the naval and long-range shelling of North Vietnam by blasting the Danang air base with 140-mm rockets.”… Page 2: “G.I.’s and Enemy in Sharp Fighting”... “The Vietcong inflicted heavy casualties on an American infantry company but in turn were badly mauled by air strikes and artillery in the heaviest action yet in Operation Junction City. More than 140 enemy bodies were found.”… Page 3: Defense Department “little box”…29 U.S. Servicemen Killed in Action…
Page 3: “Fulbright Backs Vietnam Limit of 500,000 G.I.’s”… “…resolution also seeks a halt in U.S. operations in the North unless war is declared… “Senator F. William Fulbright, joining other Senate ‘doves’ in support of a sense of congress resolution that would limit American forces in Vietnam to 500,000 and stop military operations over North Vietnam unless there is a declaration of war. Senator Fulbright, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, took his criticism of the conduct of the war to the floor of the Senate. He engaged Senator Richard Russell, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee in two hours of debate on the stepped-up bombing and shelling of North Vietnam. Senator Russell said he refused to be drawn into a ‘legal trap’…’a nice trap.’ He said the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution approved by Congress in 1964 amounted to ‘almost a limited declaration of limited war and under it the President could commit one million troops to Vietnam, if needed.’ “…
1 March 1967… The President’s Daily Brief…CIA (TS sanitized) SOUTH VIETNAM: Former prime minister Tran Van Huong is emerging as a potential civilian presidential candidate who would have the support of a southern regionalists. He wants the job and probably will throw his hat in the ring when the time comes, according to a US Embassy officer who visited yesterday. The Embassy officer found Huong to b an intelligent and strong-minded man, but no strong believer in democracy. As president, he would try to be a strong paternalistic leader. Huong understands the need for military-civilian cooperation, but he keenly remembers his troubles with the military when he was prime minister. He is clearly thinking in a civilian government in which the military would be kept in a subordinate role…. COMMUNIST CHINA: The army is now clearly emerging as the prime instrument for reestablishing order. Yesterday Peking broadcast what amounts to a blueprint for the military in straightening out those provinces where disorder exists. The broadcast identifies “anarchists” as the chief danger, an implicit criticism of Maoist revolutionaries and Red Guards… Radical revolutionary groups are still causing trouble in some provinces but troops are now being used to arrest their leaders and, in some cases, disband their organizations…
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM…LIEUTENANT COLONEL JAMES R. BRICKEL, UNITED STATES AIR FORCE… the AIR FORCE CROSS…
“The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the AIR FORCE CROSS to JAMES R. BRICKEL, Lieutenant Colonel, United States Air force, for EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM in connection with military operations against an opposing armed force as a photo reconnaissance pilot of the 20th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, SEVENTH Air Force, in action near Thai Nguyen, North Vietnam, on 10 March 1967. On that date Colonel BRICKEL led a flight of two RF-101C photo reconnaissance aircraft on a bomb damage assessment mission against one of the most highly defended targets in North Vietnam. Despite a direct hit by anti-aircraft artillery flak that extensively damaged his aircraft, Colonel BRICKEL continued to the target and acquired one hundred per cent photographic coverage. He then made a successful withdrawal from hostile territory on a single engine and landed at his home base. Through his extraordinary heroism, superb airmanship, and aggressiveness in the face of hostile forces, Lieutenant Colonel BRICKEL reflected the highest credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.”
Among LCOL BRICKEL’s combat awards are the Air Force Cross, Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross and 11 Air Medals… oohrah….
1 March 1967…Operation Rolling Thunder...New York Times: No coverage of air war over North Vietnam…“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson) There were no fixed wing aircraft losses over Southeast Asia on 1 March 1967…
RIPPLE SALVO… #361…
(1) FIRST ANNIVERSARY… One year ago partner Angie, MIGHTY THUNDER, and I set up this website–ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED– to help our country mark the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Vietnam War and the “air war over North Vietnam” that was code named OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… We thank our readers and contributors for their contributions to this compilation of the events and bravehearts (like LCOL BRICKEL above) who carried the Vietnam war to the heartland of North Vietnam for more than three years… Lest we forget… MIGHTY THUNDER and I are pressing on with a goal of 1,000 posts and coverage of ROLLING THUNDER right through the end date of 1 November 1968 (2018), God willing…
(2) OPEN LETTER TO CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, MEDALS OF AMERICA, 114 SOUTH CHASE BLVD., FOUNTAIN INN, SOUTH CAROLINA 29644…
Dear Sir… Thanks for all you do for the nation’s current and old warriors. You provide a vital service for a great group of Americans. Your product line is the best in America. For the following comments I refer to Volume 199 of your catalog.
Fifty years ago one of the great air battles in American history took place in the skies over North Vietnam. It wasn’t a short fight–it started in February 1965 and continued until November 1968. Thousands of good men died carrying the Vietnam war into the Heartland of our enemy. That was our contribution– make the war as painful as we could on Ho Chi Minh and his folks without killing civilians. The Air Force and Navy fighter-bombers were the thorn in Ho’s side. We were President Johnson and America’s ace bargaining chip. LBJ’s gambit was: we will stop bombing if you will show equal restraint in your aggression in South Vietnam. The strategy was to gradually increase and expand the bombing campaign to force the enemy to dicker for peace.
The bombing campaign was fought by some of America’s bravest warfighters, and they executed hundreds of missions–each–against the most well defended targets in the history of air warfare. Guns, missiles and MiGs. The campaign was waged at great cost in American lives. I invite your attention to my website –rollingthunderremembered.com-– and links, for additional information.
The reason I am addressing this letter to you is to request you and “Medals of America” do something our beloved country has not seen fit to do– include the warriors of Operation Rolling Thunder in your commemorative and recognition awards and memorabilia. Surely a three-year campaign of bitter combat pursuing national purpose with a thousand or more aviators killed-in-action and hundreds more imprisoned for years, rates some consideration. Yet there is, fifty years after the fact, no campaign ribbon. Not even a ribbon. Nada…
Your catalog is devoid of “ROLLING THUNDER” items… it is like the three-year air campaign never happened… The air campaign went on until 1972 but Rolling thunder was terminated on 1 November 1968. You may want to add the 1971-72 LINEBACKER I AND II operations to your line of products as well… my interest is limited to ROLLING THUNDER…
I defer to your judgment in the hope that you can elevate the great heroes of the air war called Rolling Thunder into the public conscience in the next year as we continue to mark the 50th anniversary of “our war.”….
Thank you for the consideration, Bear Taylor
CAG’s QUOTES for 1 March: NAPOLEON: “If courage is the first characteristic of the soldier, perseverance is the second.”… PATTON: “I have never seen in any army at any time, as severe discipline as exists in the Russian Army.”…
Lest we forget…. Bear.
