Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #678… KNIGHT NEWSPAPERMAN DON OBERDORFER INTERVIEWED LGEN FREDERICK WEYAND and detected “a whiff of the new situation.” Oberdorfer “discovered that Weyand felt the enemy was about to make a new move of some kind. It was vague, but Weyand’s unease reflected top-level discussions, later resulting in troop redeployments closer to Saigon and other province capitals.”… Oberdorfer’s report published in the Miami-Herald on January 12 …but first…
Good Morning: Day SIX HUNDRED SEVENTY-EIGHT of a return of fifty years to the air war over North Vietnam called Rolling Thunder… the year is 1968 and the date is…
14 January 1968: HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a rainy Sunday in the Big City…
Page 1: CLASH IN QUESON VALLEY–15 MARINES DIE IN AMBUSH”… “Fighting resumed yesterday in the Queson Valley, 30 miles southwest of Danang, a military spokesman reported this morning. Scouting teams of the First Cavalry Division killed twelve enemy soldiers, and four Americans were wounded. An American observation helicopter was shot down, but the crew escaped injury and the aircraft was recovered. Further west in Quangtun Province a Special Forces patrol reported having killed 10 enemy soldiers. One American was wounded in the clash…North Vietnamese troops ambushed a United States Marine convoy in mountains just south of the demilitarized zone today killing 15 Americans and wounding 49. A Marine spokesman in Danang said the convoy had been about four miles south of the border stronghold known as ‘The Rockpile,’ six miles south of the zone, midway between Laos and the South China Sea. The early sweep of the battlefield netted 19 North Vietnamese dead and some enemy weapons, officials said.”… “Pentagon Announces Names of 35 American Soldiers Killed in Combat in Vietnam”…
Page 1: “FOR JOHNSON, A DIFFICULT TIME BEGINS” ... “President Johnson flew back to Washington tonight to plunge into what will probably be his most difficult year yet in the White House. He faces a difficult struggle to stabilize the economy, to cope with a still reluctant congress, to relieve the tension of blight of the cities, to beat back challenges to his leadership in the Democratic party and finally, barring a surprise, a campaign for reelection…. He will outline his over-all budget and economic plans in the State of the Union message next Wednesday night and follow this with a score of economic and legislative reports and proposals. Simultaneously, he must continue to manage the war in Vietnam, overcoming domestic opposition and persuading the country that this policy is gradually succeeding. Also, he must deal with as yet unclear diplomatic and military challenges from North Vietnam and their Communist allies.”….
Page 1: “NEGROES DOUBLED ON DRAFT BOARDS–Gains in Last Year Credited to Appeals Hershey Made to Southern Governors”… “In the attempt to counter charges that the draft discriminates against Negroes, the Selective Service System has more than doubled the number of Negros serving on local draft boards in the last year.Officials at Selective Service national headquarters here said that 278 Negroes were members of the countries 4,080 draft boards at the end of 1966 but 394 were serving by last November 30, the most recent date for which accurate statistics were available.”… Page 1: “Humphrey Scores McCarthy On War–Defends U.S. Role as Moral–Says Disunity in Party Could Cost Election”… Vice President Humphrey challenged today Senator Eugene J. McCarthy.s contention that the Vietnam conflict was ‘immoral.’ time after time, words or by implications, Vice President defended was as ‘moral.’ For almost 75-minutes, an emotion-charged speech was interrupted by repeated applause at a statewide conference of Democratic Party members… The audience numbered 1,000 or so. The response to Mr. Humphrey indicated it to be strongly committed to the Johnson Administration. {In Washington, Senator John Sherman Cooper of Kentucky, warned that if the United States did not stop the bombing of North Vietnam now a ‘chance for peace will be lost.’}… Sports: UCLA Even Without Lew Alcindor Wins 46th Straight”… “Packers are 14-Point Favorites to Beat Raiders Today”… “75,546 To See Super Bowl (II)–Daryl Lamonica V. Bart Starr”…
14 January 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER... New York Times (15 Jan reporting 14 Jan ops)… Page 1: “In the air war, 98 missions were flown through generally poor weather against North Vietnam. Strikes in the Hanoi-Haiphong area were limited to planes equipped with radar to guide their bombs (sic). Strikes were reported against Yenbai airfield and a storage yard 78 and 94 miles northwest of Hanoi. The spokesman had no comment on published reports that as many as 250 planes a day were being sent against enemy supply routes in Eastern Laos.”…
“Vietnam: Air Losses” There were four fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 14 January 1968…
(1) MAJOR STANLEY HENRY HORNE was flying an F-105D of the 469th TFS and 388th TFW out of Korat as part of a strike force targeting the Yenbai airfield. Departing the target area the flight was jumped by several flights of MIGs. MAJOR HORNE’s Thunderchief was hit by an air-to-air missile and the aircraft went down near the Red River east of Yenbai. There was no voice, beeper or parachute observed and MAJOR HORNE was listed as missing until on 8 April 1990 the North Vietnamese delivered remains from a crash site that were later (November 1990) identified as those of MAJOR HORNE…. He was lost then found, glory gained, duty done… he was remembered and he was not left behind… he rests in peace on this day 50-years after his last flight…
(2) 1LT W.H. TRISKO was flying an O-1G Bird Dog of the 21st TASS and 504th TASG out of Nha Trang and controlling a close air support operation 10 miles east of Phan Rang airfield when hit by ground fire. He was able to fly his flaming aircraft away from the immediate hostile area for a crash landing that left him with major injuries. He was rescued by an Air Force helicopter…
(3) 1LT PAUL DOUGLAS STRAHM was flying an F-100D of the 510th TFS and 3rd TFW out of Bien Hoa on a close air support mission and suffered an engine failure and was killed in the ensuing crash of his aircraft… so young…
(4) MAJOR POLLARD HUGH MERCER; MAJOR IRBY DAVID TERRELL; MAJOR TOMAS WRENNE SUMPTER; CAPTAIN HUBERT C WALKER; 1LT RONALD MERL LEBERT; LT THOMPSON; AND, LT PETER PEDROLI were flying an RB-66C of the 41st TEWS and 355th TFW out of Takhli was supporting Rolling Thunder strike operations from an orbit 40 miles west of Thanh Hoa and listening and jamming when intercepted by a MIG-21. The EB-66 took an air-to-air missile in the starboard engine setting up a survival story unlike any other. MAJOR MERCER set a course southwestward hoping to reach a safe area for abandoning the aircraft. Unfortunately, the crew was required to leave the aircraft over the mountains just inside the border of North Vietnam… The seven man crew all survived the parachute descent , but were widely separated and each had a different story of survival. A major SAR effort was undertaken… (1) 1LT LEBERT came down in a tree and hung there for 17 hours before enemy militia capture him. He was a POW in NVN until released in 1973. The SAR effort located four of the crew but weather and darkness postponed a rescue effort until the 15th. Jolly Green 20 of the 37th ARRS went down in a heroic effort to penetrate low clouds. The helo was hit by ground fire and crashed with all crew members surviving to await rescue. Two more HH-3s from Lima Site 36 were dispatched to rescue the Green Jolly crew but suffered small arms fire damage and withdrew. (2,3,4) MAJOR MERCER, LT PEDROLI and LT THOMPSON were rescued by an HH-3. MAJOR MERCER was badly injured and would die of his injuries later in the hospital at Clark AB in the Philippines. Rescue ops continued until 22 January, including an attempt to put a Bright Star team on the ground that was aborted due to the absence of a landing site. (5,6,7) MAJOR TERRELL, MAJOR SUMPTER, and CAPTAIN WALKER were captured and interned as POWs for the remainder of the war. They were released in 1973….
RIPPLE SALVO… #678… Humble Host will be tracking the North Vietnamese Tet Offensive (Jan-Mar 1968) by regular reference to the published articles of the newsmen who were reporting from Vietnam, in addition to The New York Times’ daily coverage. My principal source is “Big Story: How the American Press and Television Reported and Interpreted the Crisis of Tet 1968 in Vietnam and Washington,” by Peter Braestrup.
In the final weeks leading up to the enemy offensive the correspondents in Saigon and South Vietnam were inattentive to what was going on, as were the American public since the President had opted to accentuate the positive and deny reality. Theodore White in “The Making of the President 1968“ spared no criticism of President Johnson…”Mr. Johnson…found it unnecessary either to inform the American Cabinet (except for those directly concerned with security) or the American people. All through the fall, peaking in November, a series of happy stories was told the American people as first Ambassador Bunker then General Westmoreland reported to the nation that all was well. Th opinion polls reflected these reports and, for the first time in over a year, Mr. Johnson’s popularity and public confidence in the President began to climb. By January 28th, 1968, his rating in the poles stood at 48-percent–a figure he was never to achieve again. Some in the White House urged that the President, in his State of the Union message, take the American people into his confidence, that he warn them of what lay ahead; Mr. Johnson, on January 17th, chose however, to report otherwise (‘…the enemy has been defeated in battle after battle…the number of South Vietnamese living in areas under government protection has grown by more than a million since January of last year…’) and drew national attention to a new peace tentacle and possible negotiation with the Hanoi Government. Mr. Johnson, thus, was the only man in American leadership who faced the crisis with complete sang-froid.” (self-possession or imperturbable state, especially under stress)…
The President and the corps of correspondents in Saigon all had a translation of an enemy notebook captured in November 1967 that included these excerpts:… “The control headquarters has ordered the entire army and people of South Vietnam to implement general offensive and general uprising in order to achieve a deceive victory… use very strong military attacks in coordination with uprisings of the local population to take over the towns and cities. Troops should flood the lowlands. They should move toward liberating capital city, Saigon, take power and try to rally enemy brigades…to our side.”…Since previous translations provided by the Public Affairs Office had proved unreliable, this one went barely noticed. Don Oberdorfer, new to the beat put the information office release together with the Weyand interview to his Miami Herald story published on 12 January…
“Communist tactics in Vietnam recently have undergone ‘marked changes,’ a top U.S. general said Thursday, and may be connected with the latest peace feeler from Hanoi…Lt.Gen. Frederick C. Weyand, commander of U.S. field forces surrounding Saigon, suggested that the military moves could tie in with current communist political actions and talk of a ‘coalition government’ for South Vietnam. Weyand admitted this is ‘conjecture,’ but the same thoughts are being entertained by responsible American civilian officials here.
“The next three weeks –from now until Tet, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year–are considered particularly important…The South Vietnamese government is excited and concerned. One top Vietnamese official told an American friend that he expects Saigon to be attacked by the enemy in the next few weeks, perhaps with mortars or rockets, as part of the psychological warfare campaign. According to Weyand, at least three to four enemy battalions are now positioned within a few miles of Saigon.”
Others got the “whiff of the new situation” as well. Orr Kelly the Pentagon reporter for the Washington Evening Star wrote a story on 14 January 1968 that reported the increasing threat to Saigon…
“While the attacks in the vicinity of Saigon have been going on in the rest of the country. American commanders long have felt that the enemy leaders would like to mount a three-pronged offensive: striking in from the sanctuaries along the North Vietnamese, Laotian and Cambodia borders, overrunning the towns as they did at Tan Uyen and Khiem Chong, and provoking anti-American demonstrations and violence in the cities If this is the enemy goal, then there has apparently been some serious slippage in plans… It may be that a coordinated offensive is yet to come.”…
Humble Host would be late to the battle. My squadron was embarked in USS Enterprise and after a shortened stop in Sasebo, Japan, 20-22 January 1968, we were underway for Yankee Station, but made a hard starboard turn to take station in the Sea of Japan off Wonsan, North Korea. Enterprise, Air Wing NINE, and VA-113 did not make it to Yankee Station until February 12. My first weapons delivery flight of my second cruise was on February 22 (8 MK-81s under Covey Fac control west of Khe Sanh) #107… I have always considered the seizure of USS Pueblo to be a coordinated plan by the family of communist nations to divert Enterprise from participation in the response to Tet. If so, it worked…
RTR Quote for 14 January: RALPH WALDO EMERSON: “Events are in the saddle and ride mankind.”
Lest we forget… Bear
