RIPPLE SALVO… #402… not LADY LUCK, FATE…but the HAND OF GOD… but first…
Good Morning: Day FOUR HUNDRED TWO of a return to the furious forgotten fight over North Vietnam 50-years ago…
11 APRIL 1967… HEAD LINES and LEADS from The New York Times on a perfect Tuesday in NYC…
Page 1: “Johnson Off To Uruguay and Summit Conference”… “President Johnson left tonight to Punta del esle, Uruguay, for a three-day conference with 17 other American heads of state, the first such meeting since 1956. The conference members are expected to ratify a long-term plan for the establishment of a common market of the countries of Latin America. This is a difficult 15-year project that seeks to generate economic development by establishing tariffs in the trade among the Latin nations. Mr. Johnson is prepared to hold out the promise of additional economic aid to the members if they adhere to these commitments.”… Page 1: “Rusk and Latins Sharply Divided On Trade Policy”... “The United States and the other America republics differ sharply in private today over the future of trade policies in the Western Hemisphere. It is understood that the foreign ministers were able to do no more than agree to recommend to President Johnson and all the other chiefs of state who will start meeting here Wednesday that the conference reaffirm the trade principles adopted at Punta del este for the Alliance for Progress in August 1961. Mexico and Peru are known to have asked the United States to agree to three things: first, the elimination of all discriminatory restrictions for commerce and the import of basic products from Latin America; second, the uneconomic production of products that can be obtained under better conditions in Latin American countries; and third, the elimination of export subsidies that hamper Latin American commerce. Rusk refused to accept the proposal on the grounds it was too extreme.”… Page 1: “Bolivia Uncovers Big Jungle Camp”... “Murray Sayle of the Times of London. “I have just returned from a four-day jungle patrol with…the Bolivian Army which discovered a strongly fortified base of Castro style Communist guerrillas deep in the Bolivian jungle. Our find is the fist positive proof that Communist guerrillas have in fact established themselves in Bolivia.”…
Page 1: “The Defense Department today identified 83 servicemen killed in action in Vietnam. Among them: (ten from the NYC area)…” Humble Host: first time I can recall this KIA announcement on page 1.)…
Page 1: “Webb Holds On Apollo Goals”... “James E. Webb, head of the nation’s space program,told sharply critical Congressional investigators today that the men of the Apollo project could correct the errors and fulfill their goal of placing a man on the moon by 1970. ‘Whatever our faults,’ he said,’we are an able-bodies team.’ “… Page 1: “House GOP Bloc Offers A Substitute Poverty Plan”… “House Republicans proposed today a $1.7-billion plan of their own to replace the Administration’s embattled anti-poverty program. The Republican members of the Education and Labor Committee said they had the backing of many poor people… “The poor are fed up with all this bungling,’ Representative Charles E. Goodell, Republican of New York said, ‘They are frustrated and disillusioned. Unless the anti-poverty program is drastically revamped,’ he said, ‘Congress may well kill off the whole thing this year.’ “… Page 5: “Appeals Court Upsets Ban On Draft-Card Burning”... “The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held unconstitutional today the amendment to the Selective Service Act that forbids the burning of draft cards. In doing so the three-judge court vacated an indeterminate sentence that had been imposed in the United States District Court here last summer on David O’Brien, 20-years old of Framington, Mass. However, the court upheld Mr. O’Brien’s conviction on the ground that he had violated the Selective Service Act by not having his draft card in his possession.”…
Page 1: “NAACP Decries Stand Of Dr. King On Vietnam”... “The Directors of the NAACP voted unanimously yesterday against the proposal by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to merge the civil rights and anti-war movements. The 50-member board called Dr. King’s plan ‘a serious tactical mistake.’ In a resolution adopted at its quarterly meeting in New York, the board said the effort to fuse the two movements ‘will serve the cause neither of civil rights nor of peace.’ Dr. King in a speech last Tuesday called on all Negroes and ‘all whites of goodwill’ to boycott the Vietnam war by becoming conscientious objectors to Vietnam service. ‘A nation that continues to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death,’ Dr. King had asserted. The resolution adopted by the NAACP declared: “Civil rights battles will have to be fought and won on their own merits, irrespective of the state of war or peace in the world. We are not a peace organization. The NAACP remains committed to its primary goal of eliminating all forms of racial discrimination and achieving equal rights and equal justice for all Americans. We are of course for a just peace. But there already exist dedicated organizations whose No. 1 job is to work for peace.’ The statement, which did not mention Dr. King by name, was the first by the group on the war in Vietnam.”…
Page 4: “B-52s Bomb Foe On Thailand Trip”... “The three B-52 bombers that landed at U Taphao airfield this morning, the first to be based in Thailand, loosed their payload of 500-pound and 750-pound bombs on an enemy base camp and storage area 30 miles northwest of Saigon on their way from Guam to U Taphao.”…
11 April 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (12 Apr reporting 11 Apr ops) Page 2: “In Raids Over the North”… late yesterday Air Force F-105 Thunderchiefs and F-4 Phantoms struck in the Mugia Pass area, one of the main infiltration routes into the South. Carrier based Navy planes attacked barges, bridges and railway facilities at scattered points in North Vietnam, bu spokesmen said poor weather and bomb smoke made damage assessment impossible.”… (Bear#56mk82ST2roadcutsnite)…
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson) There were no fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 11 April 1967….
RIPPLE SALVO… #402… Yesterday’s blog touched on a Greek myth– “The Fates.” Myth: “A story that was told in an ancient culture to explain a practice, belief, or natural occurrence. An idea or story that is believed by many people but is not true.” In dangerous times, in all times, there is a better alternative than trusting Fate…
“Onward Christian Soldiers”… I come from a family of Protestants. All kinds of Protestants: Methodists, Lutherans, Episcopalians and Presbyterians. Growing up I got a taste of them all. I liked the Presbyterian dogma best–they sat a lot. Episcopalians were always on their knees and Methodists were up and down with lot’s of standing. But we all sang the same hymns, and the best of all was “Onward Christian Soldiers.” As a part of my Confirmation as an Episcopalian at St. Timothy’s in Catonsville, Maryland in about 1947 I had a short tour as an acolyte. Proud moments remembered were my turns to carry the Cross of Jesus and lead the procession at the start and conclusion of the 11:00 o’clock service. I was a Christian Soldier. And when I was taking my turns over the beach in North Vietnam, I felt the same way. No lady luck or Dame Fortune for me. No acceptance of Fate as the hunter. It was onward, Christian soldier, God’s will be done. Trust in the Lord. It worked for me. It works for me.
Lest we forget… Bear