Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #709… One hundred sixty years ago in 1858 a young Abraham Lincoln jumped on a stump in Illinois and gave a speech as suitable for the citizens, legal and illegal; the Congress; and the President of the United States on 12 February 2018 to ponder, as it was for the folks Mr. Lincoln addressed in 1858 … a bit of that resounding wisdom is below in RS… but first…
Good Morning: Day SEVEN HUNDRED NINE of 1000 days of American history… one day at a time…
12 FEBRUARY 1968… HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a mostly sunny Monday in the windy canyons of Manhattan…
TET OFFENSIVE/KHESANH: Page 1: “SAIGON’S SOLDIERS BATTLE BIG FORCE CLOSE TO CAPITAL–U.S. COPTER GUNSHIPS JOIN SHARP CLASH ALONG RIVER–Most Of City Is Quiet–Casualty Totals Given–2,119 South Vietnamese and 973 Americans Are Listed As Dead in 12 Day Period”... “South Vietnamese paratroopers on the fringes of Saigon clashed with a sizable Vietcong force tonight as sporadic, sharp fighting continued around the capital. B y late evening United States helicopter gunships and South Vietnamese Skyraiders were supporting the South Vietnamese troops that were moving along the banks of the Bencat River, a branch of the Saigon River, four miles north of the capital. The action was one of several heavy clashes near Saigon. The city itself on this cool pleasant Sunday was quiet except for some brief skirmishes… The United States officials posted the casualty count for the 12 days from January 29 through 11 February. Americans: 973 KIA and 4,874 wounded in action. South Vietnamese: 2,119 KIA and 7,718 wounded. enemy casualties are given as 30,795 killed in action, a figure many observers doubt… Within the last two weeks more than a half million South Vietnamese have been left homeless. The largest number, about 217,000 are from Saigon… Page 1: “HUE’s MAYOR SAYS FOE EXECUTED 300–Asserts Civilians Were Put In One Grave Near City–Marines Enter Citadel”… “The Mayor of Hue said today that the Vietcong executed 300 South Vietnamese civilians on Friday and buried them in a common grave several miles from the city…. Government officials, civil servants and technicians were among those executed. Meanwhile, two fresh companies of United States Marines were transported up the Huang River by naval landing craft tonight and landed above the embattled city of Hue….It marked the first time that American forces had been sent into the politically sensitive downtown Citadel area, which was the ancient imperial capital of Vietnam. This brings to 1,000 the total Marine force in and around Hue.”… “Possibly the heaviest action around Saigon took place in the GoVap district where two South Vietnamese airborne battalions, about 800 men, fought about 400 Vietcong in rice paddies lining an ammunition dump on the Bencat River. The dump is one of the chief supply centers for weapons and ammunition used by the thousands of South Vietnamese troops in Saigon.”… “In Longan Province, south of Saigon, four Americans soldiers died and 11 were wounded when a large enemy force attacked Tanan, headquarters of the Third Brigade, Ninth Infantry Division….123 enemy troops were killed…”
Page 3: “Sihanouk describes Rebels In Cambodia as Vietminh”…“Prince Norodom Sihanouk, the Chief of State said today that a Cambodian ‘Vietminh’ movement was trying to gain control of areas in the country. ‘The choice is dramatic,’ he told a news conference. ‘One must either allow these zones to develop, 0r else bomb them as in the case of zones controlled by the Pathet Lao in Laos.’. The Vietminh were the Communist-backed nationalists who fought the French in Vietnam until 1954.”… Page 3: “Westmoreland Criticized for Deluding Congress”... “Representative Margaret M. Heckler, Republican of Massachusetts, said today that commander of American troops in Vietnam, General William Westmoreland, ‘is engaged in the vain art of self-delusion’ and ‘is certainly deluding members of Congress.’ “… Page 4: “COMMANDER AT KHESANH: David Edward Lownds”… Two column piece on the famous Colonel Lownds, USMC… ‘My mission is to stay, and I intend to stay.’.”…Page 5: “5 U.S. Deserters Press A Recruiting Campaign–Group In Europe to Launch Paper to Tell American Servicemen the Safe Countries For Desertion”… Page 6: “WAR DOUBTS IN SENATE–Misgivings Over Administration Policy Said to Spread as Offensive Continues“… “Like a delayed time fuse, the current enemy offensive in Vietnam seems to be setting off within the Senate a critical reaction against the validity as well as the credibility of the Administration’s policy. The initial shock and humiliation over the success of the enemy offensive, particularly in attacking the American Embassy compound in Saigon, is now turning in the opinion of Senate leaders, to unease the misgivings over the Administration’s military and political policies in Vietnam.”... Page 8: “Senator Mansfield Speaking In Maine Warns of War Realities–He Says No Part of South Vietnam Is Safe”…
12 February 1968: The President’s Daily Brief: SOUTH VIETNAM: Communist pressures eased over the weekend round cities and towns in some parts of the country, but new attacks took place against two provincial capitals and two allied airfields in the delta. In the north, the communists in Hue Continue putting up stubborn resistance. Life in Saigon is gradually returning to normal…. The Khesanh situation is unchanged… KOREA: Mr. Cyrus Vance had his first meeting with President Pak today to the accompaniment of steady drumbeat in the Seoul press insisting that the South Koreans want a fuller US commitment, not just military aid. No word yet on the substance of the talks….Satellite photography of last week shows that the Pueblo has been moved from its anchorage in Wonsan Bay to a more secure berth at a nearby naval base. this will facilitate examination of the ship’s equipment, presumably with the help of the Soviet experts…. NORTH VIETNAM: Chinese troops in radio conversations between Chinese units in North Vietnam intercepted on 30 and 31 January, one unit stated that the problem of food shortages “troubles us very much” and that some people might have to be sent to Nanning... U.S Pilots: Since the three POW American pilots scheduled to be released from North Vietnam did not make the ICC flight on Friday, the ICC is trying to arrange a special flight tomorrow... World Reaction To Senator Robert Kennedy’s 8 February Speech: The Senator’s speech on Vietnam has received only light coverage in world news media. Neither Hanoi nor Peking has yet commented…
STATE DEPARTMENT, Historical Documents, foreign Relations, 1964-68 Vietnam: Three out of four very interesting documents dated 12 February 1968… Document 68: Westmoreland to Wheeler and the JCS stating the need for more troops based on the fact that the enemy has changed strategy from a protracted war to one of swift victory in the American election year. Westy: “The game has changed, the enemy is going for broke. I need 6 Battalions now.”... Very good reading… Document 69 is a telephone conversation between the President and McNamara with Mac giving the President a heads up on the Westmoreland troop request…Good reading… Document 71. Boring reading concerning the ongoing peace negotiation possibility. Averill Harriman, Ambassador-at-Large, and Dean Rusk talk about getting the good offices of the Rumanians in the mix… Document 72 is the CIA’s summary of the Tet Offensive 29 January to 10 February… very good reading, if you aren’t addicted to Fox news and “the memos.” …. Read at…
Document 68… https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d68
Document 69… https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d69
Document 70… https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d71
Document 71… https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d72
12 FEBRUARY 1968…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…New York Times…Page 1: “The air war over North Vietnam was generally curtailed because of cloudy weather. Navy pilots struck a radio station 10 miles south of Hanoi. It was the first time the station had been struck.”…
Humble Host has the story; this mission was flown on 10 February by the intrepid A-6 Intruder crew of COMMANDER JERRY ZACHARIAS and LCDR MIKE HALL of VA-75 embarked in USS Kitty Hawk…
AMONG THE BRAVE…EXTRAORDINARY ACHIEVEMENT AND HEROIC ACTION…
SUMMARY OF ACTION…
The Target and Significance. The Hanoi high-frequency telecommunications site, Phu Coc, in comparison with other known North Vietnamese facilities is deemed of high value and strategic importance to the North Vietnamese military forces. Because of its size and proximity to Hanoi, this facility has been accorded a significant position in the enemy TELECOM scheme. Its location, ten miles south of Hanoi on the flat plain of the Red River Valley, renders it capable of serving all areas of North and South Vietnam, Laos, as well s the southern reaches of Communist China.
Target Defenses. The target area is located within the lethal range of eleven known surface-to-air missile sites and is located within the periphery of the Hanoi complex, which is defended by fifty-five active anti-aircraft artillery (AAA) batteries plus innumerable small arms and automatic weapons. The target is additionally defended by enemy fighter aircraft. All these factors combine to make Hanoi the most heavily defended area against air attack in all of North Vietnam.
Planning and Execution. Every phase of the planning and execution of the flight was done by COMMANDER JERROLD MATTHEW ZACHARIAS, Commanding Attack Squadron 75, embarked in USS KITTY HAWK, and his Bombardier-Navigator LCDR MICHAEL RICHARD HALL, VA-75. On the night of 10 February 1968, a lone A-6A Intruder loaded with twelve MK-83’s (1000-lbs each) launched from the deck of USS KITTY HAWK (CVA-63) and proceeded to the coast at low altitude to minimize the possibility of early detection. With navigation data supplied by LCDR HALL, CDR ZACHARIAS crossed the coast at an altitude of three hundred feet because of immediate penetration of effective envelopes for two SAM sites. At this time a MIG warning was issued for an area 15 miles from the target. On the 70-mile overland leg to the target, CDR ZACHARIAS flew at minimum altitude to utilize the mountains to mask the aircraft from enemy search and fire control radars. Using consummate skill and airmanship, CDR ZACHARIAS maintained an average altitude of three hundred feet at night through the rugged mountainous terrain. After passing the last karst ridge at eighteen miles from the target, LCDR HALL located the target on radar and provided accurate steering information to his pilot to place them in the optimum position for the bombing run. Eight miles from the target, the aircraft was acquired by multiple Fansong radars, whereupon CDR ZACHARIAS descended to a minimum altitude of 150-feet and continued the run-in along the optimum attack heading. Ignoring the SAM hazard and AAA, CDR ZACHARIAS commenced a gradual climb to release the heavy bomb load on target. LCDR HALL, meanwhile, was constantly updating the steering information to enhance the precision to the attack and simultaneously employing the DECM equipment.
After weapon release: The pair of intrepid aviators maneuvered at minimum altitude and high-speed to evade the alerted and active enemy defenses. LCDR HALL visually sighted an airborne missile, called and maintained sight of the missile as he directed the pilot in a high-G evasive action causing the missile to impact the ground behind the aircraft. Soon after the first missile flew into the ground a second missiles was evaded, along with a steady mix of 37mm and 57mm barrage and aimed antiaircraft fire during the entire 70 mile route to feet-wet. Post-flight inspection of onboard recording equipment revealed the flight had been detected by six Fansong and four Firecan radars that were active while CDR ZACHARIAS and LCDR HALL were in the target area and for most of the ingress and egress. They returned to USS KITTY HAWK in one piece for a night trap. OK#3…
Bomb Damage Assessment. The bombs were on target as determined by radar photography.
CDR ZACHARIAS and LCDR HALL were both presented the DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS by Admiral John Hyland, Commander-in-Chief U.S. Pacific Fleet for their “extraordinary achievement” and “heroic actions.”… oohrah…
12 FEB 1968…”Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There were two fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia…
(1) An 0-1G Bird Dog aircraft of the 19th TASS and 504th TASW out of Bien Hoa and forward based at the Dak To airstrip crashed into a fuel truck and suffered strike damage. Operational loss (?), pilot error.. ooops….
(2) CAPTAIN PAUL “PK” KIMMINUA was flying an A-1H of the 602nd ACS and 56th ACW out of Udorn on an armed reconnaissance mission 10 miles west of Sam Neua in Barrel Roll and sighted North Vietnamese tanks. It was unknown whether the tanks were headed south to support Khesanh operations or westerly to support a siege of Saravane. In any case, the flight of Skyraiders attacked the tanks and in the ensuing melee CAPTAIN KIMMINAU’s aircraft was hit, requiring his exodus from the area. Ten miles later he ejected from the aircraft. CAPTAIN KIMMINUA was rescued by Air Force helicopter… Captain PK KIMMINUA has told his story in a very entertaining autobiography in his book titled: “I Was Lucky I Got To Be A Pilot“…
RIPPLE SALVO… #709… Humble host fears greatly for the future of our country. We have evolved into a nation of tribes celebrating diversity and multiculturalism at the cost of unity. We no longer pull together–we are instead pulling apart… Our beloved nation has been through this before, but a civil war was required to preserve the union. The words of Abraham Lincoln, whose 210th birthday we note today, left a lot of sage advice for us to heed, including advice for a nation coming apart at the seams, as the United States is at present. I find this 50 year old OpEd from the 12 February 1968 New York Times (Page 38) most appropriate for 12 February 2018…
THE HOUSE UNITED…
“Abraham Lincoln held no public office or honors when in 1858, a dissenting private citizen stood before his fellow Republicans in Springfield and encapsuled the country’s restless mood:
‘A house divided against itself cannot stand.I believe this government cannot endure permanently half-slave and half-free. I do not expect the Union to be dissolved–I do not expect the house to fall–but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It will become all one thing, or all the other.’
“In our time, the American house continues divided at home and abroad. Restlessness marks the troubled cities, dissension over the Vietnam war is rife.
“The issue in the middle of the last century was slavery. It took a civil war to break the chains of human bondage for black people who were regarded as chattels here in the land of the free. Slavery is over in traditional terms, but a Negro bondage goes on in modern guise. It is demeaning to the nation that a Federal law is still required to insure Negroes equality in housing and jobs and to protect their own rights. It is shocking in 1968 to watch members of Congress from both parties maneuver against an Administration bill to guarantee these rights.
“In the middle of the Civil War, Lincoln told the workers of Manchester, England, that a fair examination of history authorized the belief that past actions of the United States could be regarded as beneficial toward all mankind. He said that he hoped for the ‘forbearance of nations.’ And, looking toward the future, he told his countrymen to ‘do all which may achieve a just and lasting peace, and among ourselves, and with all nations.’
“Before another Lincoln’s birthday is celebrated, the stumbling block to a house united can be removed–if, in Lincoln’s words, ‘we think anew…act anew…disenthrall ourselves.’ “….
To “Make America Great Again,” we must first ‘achieve a just and lasting peace’ among ourselves…. We must act anew…
RTR Quote for 12 February: LUKE 11:17: “But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth.”….
Lest we forget… Bear
