Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #677… 12 January 1967, DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.: “THIS NEXT YEAR, FROM TODAY UNTIL NOVEMBER 5, MAY WELL BE THE MOST FATEFUL ONE THAT WE SHALL HAVE TO FACE FOR THE REST OF THIS GENERATION”… but first… (Humble Host notes–RTR will post a blog every day of this “fateful” year of 1968… read it here)…
Good Morning: Day SIX HUNDRED SEVENTY-SEVEN of a daily bit of history from fifty years ago as our beloved nation agonized with issues of race and a war that would kill more than 58,000 of America’s bravest while others “paraded” in protest…
13 JANUARY 1968… HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a cloudy Saturday with snow forecast…
Page 1: “U.S. And Cambodia Announce Accord On border Watch–Sihanouk And Bowles Agree On Moves To Strengthen International Policing–Soviet Said To Object–Washington Feels The Talks Have Been Step Toward Improving Relations”… “The United States and Cambodia announced substantial agreement today on measures armed at insulating neutral Cambodia from the war in South Vietnam. The Soviet Union was reported to have moved promptly to obstruct immediate implementation of the accord to strengthen international policing of Cambodia’s frontiers, reached in Pnompenh by Prince Norodom Sihanouk, Cambodia’s Chief of State, and President Johnson’s special envoy, Chester Bowles, who is Ambassador to India.”… Page 1: “Thieu Is Delaying Reform of Army–Issue Splits Saigon Aides–General In Charge of Plan Offers His Resignation”… “A delay by President Nguyen Van Thieu in accepting a plan to reform and reorganize the South Vietnamese Army has led to a new dispute within the ranks of Vietnamese officials.”… Page 1: “Israelis Said To Get Johnson’s Pledge of More A-4 Jets–Total Probably About 20–No Commitment Reported to Eshkol on F-4 Phantoms”… “Informed sources reported today that President Johnson had promised Premier Levi Eshkol of Israel more American Skyhawk fighter-bombers to help Israel maintain her military superiority over the Arab states… the President made no promise to Mr. Eshkol on an Israel request for 50 F-4 Phantom jets, the most advanced operational plane in the American arsenal.”… Page 1: “Governor George Romney In New Hampshire; Challenges Nixon”… Page 1: “Representative Wilbur Mills Links Stand On Tax To Budget–He Will Continue to Oppose Increases In Spending If Reaches $148-Billion”... “…Chairman of House and Ways Means Committee said today that he would continue to oppose a tax increase if the Government’s budget for next year ran as high as $148-billion or $149-billion.”… Page 1: “Television Study Is Wary On World Trade Center–Mayor’ Panel Says 600,000 Homes Will Get Bad Pictures”… “…the proposed World Trade Center would impair television reception in as many as 600,000 homes for a period of up to two years.”…
GROUND WAR: Page 2: “KOREAN MARINES MOVED TO HELP GUARD DANANG”… “South Korean marines have been shifted northward to help protect the important Danang area, a Korean spokesman disclosed today. Some 6,000 marines of the Second Korean Marine Brigade have just completed the move from their former headquarters at Chulai, 65 miles south of Danang. The move freed the Fifth United States Marine Regiment of 3,500 men, who were shifted farther north to bolster marine strength in the two northernmost provinces. The Korean military spokesman said the marines of the Republic of Korea would be based at Hoian, 15 miles south of Danang, and would provide security in a 185-square mile area of the outskirts of the Danang military base... The United States Army’s Americal Division has taken over the area around Chulai formerly patrolled by the Korean marines….Although the northern area around the demilitarized zone has been relatively quiet for several weeks, marine officers expect renewed attacks in strength when the current monsoon rainy weather ends in the spring…In ground war yesterday American troops fought with entrenched North Vietnamese soldiers in rugged mountains near Dakto, where some of the fiercest battles of the war raged for three weeks in November…Soldiers of the First Cavalry Division (Airmobile), attached to the Fourth Infantry Division, were dropped in by helicopter, touching off a three-hour battle that ended late in the afternoon when the enemy fled. A United States spokesman said 15 North Vietnamese soldiers were killed and two American soldiers were wounded in the battle.”…
State Department, Office of the Historian, Historical Documents, Foreign Relations, Vietnam 1964-68, Vietnam… Two documents dated 13 January 1968 worthy of perusal. D11. is a telegram from Ambassador Bunker in Siagon to Secretary Rusk providing his weekly (34th) update on progress and problems in South Vietnam. This week’s brief summarizes progress in CY67… The second document, D12., is from the Chairman of the JCS to SecDef McNamara (yup, he is still there, in his last weeks). This is a must read. This is the discussion of whether to abandon, withdraw from Khe Sanh or take a stand and commit to making it “Dienbienphu in reverse.”… Khe Sanh is in the history books as a great American battle… D12. is a good refresher and primer… read at…
D11. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d11
D12. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d12
13 JANUARY 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… (AND STEEL TIGER)… New York Times (14 Jan reporting 13 Jan ops)… Page 1: “U.S. SAID TO SHIFT MAJOR AIR RAIDS TO LAOS TARGETS–Attacks Along Ho Chi Minh Trail Reported to Top Those Against North”… “Reliable sources said today (13th) that the thrust of Untied States air action in Vietnam had shifted temporarily to Laos because of increased North Vietnam truck traffic along the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The Air Force was reported to be sending about 250 fighter-bombers daily against convoys and troops moving south on the trail, a network of supply paths, in eastern Laos. This is said to be more than three times the average daily number of Air Force craft that with Navy and Marine jets, are carrying on the bombing offensive against North Vietnam. The Seventh Air Force refused to comment. The bombing is a touchy issue with political ramifications, because Laos is supposed to be a neutral country. {In Washington, a Defense Department spokesman also declined to comment}…
“Navy Planes Diverted. The informants said some carrier-based Navy planes were also being diverted to targets in Laos. Weather is the key factor. This is the dry season in Laos as it is in most of South Vietnam, and roads are in relatively good shape. North Vietnam is in its wet season, and storm clouds of the northeast monsoon limit the choice of bombing targets. ‘You must go where the traffic is,’ one officer remarked. Another said: ‘There are tremendous truck sightings. Probably twice as many as at this time last year.’ About 6,000 to 8,000 trucks were reported seen moving in the southern panhandle of North Vietnam and in Laos in December. Military men estimate that the airstrikes are destroying or damaging 25% of the trucks. The others are presumable getting through with supplies and men to bolster enemy forces within South Vietnam…
“‘Pirate’ Charge Recalled. Communist China charged Friday that ‘pirate planes’ had raided Yunnan Province. The wording of the statement suggested the attack had been made by Laotian planes, which fly regular missions against Pathet Lao positions in Northern Laos (Barrel Roll). The only thing Air Force will say officially on air action in Laos, as it has been saying over the last few months, is ‘armed reconnaissance missions are being flown over Laos with the consent of the Laotian Government. Only air missions over North and South Vietnam are listed in the daily communiques. They never mention Laos…
“The United States command announced that 91 missions were flown over North Vietnam yesterday, including strikes at missile sites just north of the demilitarized zone. Air operations in the South included B-52 raids on two suspected enemy concentrations near the Cambodian frontier.”…
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There were no fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 13 January 1967…
From the Compilation “34 TFS/F-105 History” by Howie Plunkett… 13-Jan-68 …
“Crossbow flight from the 34 TFS flew a FAC-controlled mission into southern Laos. The flight took off at 0725. The line-up was: #1 Captain Harry Paddon II; #2 Captain Vernon Ellis; #3 Major Sm Armstrong: and #4 Major Almer ‘Buddy’ Gamer, Jr. It was Major Armstrong’s 53rd combat mission.”… This from Major Armstrong’s 100-mission combat log: “This was also a Cricket-assigned mission in southern Laos. Our FAC put us in on a suspected storage area and we bombed it with no noticeable results (ie no secondaries of fires). We then came back and strafed the area and again saw no secondaries. We then flew over and flew across the Package I to the coast but it was almost completely overcast and couldn’t see anything. made a formation GCA landing. Otherwise it was very uneventful.”… Also from the Plunkett compilation: “Fellow 34 TFS pilot Major David C. Dickson, Jr. also flew a mission into RP-1 on 13 January. His targets on his 65th mission were trucks near Dong Hoi.”…
RIPPLE SALVO… #677… NYT, 13 January 1968. Page 3: “DR. KING CALLS FOR ANTI-WAR RALLY IN CAPITAL FEBRUARY 5 AND 6″…
By Douglas Robinson... “The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. called yesterday (12 Jan) for a large-scale antiwar rally in Washington early next month to protest ‘one of history’s most cruel and senseless wars. We need to make clear in this political year, to Congressmen on both sides of the aisle and to the President of the United States, that we will no longer tolerate, we will no longer vote for men who continue to see the killing of Vietnamese and Americans as the best way of advancing the goals of freedom and self-determination in Southeast Asia,’ he said.
“Dr. King made his statement at the Belmont Plaza hotel during a news conference that was devoted to voicing support for Dr. Benjamin Spock and four other men who were indicted last week by the Government on charges of conspiring to counsel young men to violate the draft laws. The news conference was sponsored by the Clergy and Laymen Concerned About Vietnam.
“It is Imperative. Speaking in strong, measured tones, the civil rights leader said that ‘It is imperative that church and synagogue leaders—clergy and laymen—come to Washington lest persons in the Federal Government think that men of conscience by attack on the dissenters or by blunderbuss indictments.’ The Washington demonstration, he said, will be held Feb. 5 and 6. In answer to a question, he said that while other protesters would not be turned away, the gathering would be primarily for church-affiliated groups.
“‘We want to make this a real witness that takes a stand against a social evil of our time,’ he said. ‘It is time for clergymen to speak out.’ He said that details of what form the demonstration would take had not yet been worked out but that ‘we have no plans to try to close the Pentagon or any other Federal buildings–we have no illusions about that.’
“‘Fateful’ Period Seen. Dr. King warned that ‘this next year, from today until Nov. 5, may well be the most fateful one that we shall have to face for the rest of this generation. During this year,’ he continued, ‘it will be the war that will decide whether our country regains its balance in world politics and it’s sanity at home, or turns to more bombs abroad and more arrests at home. The choice for America is now clear: Either we will end the war in Vietnam of many of our most sensitive citizens must be sent to jail.’ Following his statement, Dr. King declined to endorse any Presidential aspirant bu said he welcomed the candidacy of Senator Eugene J. McCarthy, Democrat of Minnesota, as a ‘necessary move that will provide a channel for opposition to the war. He has not spoken out on some issues that should have been discussed in recent days,’ Dr. King said, ‘but that is no sign he won’t in the future.’
“View On Rockefeller. On the possibility of the Republican Presidential nomination for Governor Rockefeller, Dr. King said he would like to know the Governor’s position on Vietnam. ‘The time is coming very soon when Mr. Rockefeller will have to make his position known,’ he said.
“Also at the news conference was the Rev. William Sloane Coffin, Jr., chaplain of Yale University, who was indicted with Dr. Spock. Mr. Coffin said that he and his co-defendants ‘welcome the chance to confront the Government in the courts of the United States in the traditional American way. Of course, we are prepared to go to jail,’ he said. When throughout the ages men have suffered death rather than subordinate their allegiance to conscience to the authority of the state to go to jail is obviously a small thing.’
“Mr. Coffin said he believed in an America that never asks men to obey duties without at the same time granting them their rights. I do not believe that thousands of blacks in Mississippi should be drafted without one black man sitting on any draft board,’ he said. He criticized the Government for charging conspiracy in its indictment of the five antiwar figures, saving that ‘there was no stealth, no guile in any thing we did. Everything we did, we did as publicly as possible,’ he said.
“‘I hope that this time will not so much intensify the activity of one segment of our population as broaden the base of opposition to the war. For I believe firmly that an aroused America will see that what we are doing in Vietnam is a deeply wicked thing.’ Dr. King and Mr. Coffin pledged that they would continue to ‘counsel young men to ‘follow their consciences’ when faced with conscription.
“Meanwhile, Senator Edward Kennedy was greeted by several students carrying signs accusing him of ‘vacillating’ on the Vietnam war when he arrived at Brooklyn College to speak to several student groups. Asked by students if he was playing ‘a game of political expediency’ on the war issue, Mr. Kennedy replied that ‘I’ll do what I think is right and in the best interest of the country.'”……..
RTR Quote for 13 January: LT JOHN KERRY, Testimony before U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, April 23, 1971: “The country doesn’t know it yet, but it has created a monster, a monster in the form of millions of men who have been taught to deal and to trade in violence, and who are given the chance to die for the biggest nothing in history; men who have returned with a sense of anger and a sense of betrayal which no one has yet grasped.”…
Lest we forget…. Bear
