Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #894…Humble Host is a half-day late and missed the usual 3AM deadline… the old eyes needed a longer break than normal… chalk it up to five hours of small print on the Weber County Library’s microfilm reader and the smoke pouring into Utah from California burning… To catch up I have pinned the rocket rack and will forego the salvo…
GOOD AFTERNOON… Day EIGHT HUNDRED NINETY-FOUR of a return to the years of Operation Rolling Thunder, the air war over North Vietnam during the years of 1965 to 1 November 1968…
HEAD LINES from The New York Times on Thursday 15 August 1968…
THE WAR: Page 1: “In South Vietnam B-52’s flew 10 missions with 6 to 12 plane each and one of them bombed suspected enemy positions 29 miles north of Saigon. There was no major combat in South Vietnam today, but American infantrymen captured 5,000 recoilless rifle shells, 72,000 automatic rifle cartridges and a variety of other ammunition and documents when they cordoned off a village about 20 miles northeast of Saigon. They also killed two Vietcong and detained two villagers.”…
PEACE TALKS: Page 1: “TALKS ON VIETNAM STILL IN IMPASSE–CHARGES TRADED–After 3 Months Each Side Continues To Accuse Other Of Blocking Progress”… “The first three months of official conversations on Vietnam ended today with the United States and North Vietnam locked in the same disagreement with which they began and blaming each other for blocking progress. American negotiators apparently sought once again in private to get some word that Hanoi intended the current battlefield lull in South Vietnam to have diplomatic significance, but there was said to be no satisfactory response. Indeed, the atmosphere in today’s meeting, the 17th formal session at the Majestic Hotel in Paris since the talks began on May 13, was stern and the deadlock unyielding. The tone contrasted with speculation in the French press tht President Johnson was about to end the bombing of North Vietnam, as Hanoi demands, and with Vice President Humphrey’s appraisal last Sunday that ‘we have a better chance of gaining progress in the peace talks than at any point up to date.’… HARRIMAN DISCOURAGED… “W. Averell Harriman, the chief United States negotiator, sounded a discouraged note as he left the four hour meeting. ‘I wouldn’t say there hasn’t ever been any real progress in these discussions,’ he told reporters, ‘but I must confess I couldn’t see any ‘straws in the wind’ today.’… “… Page 2: “FOUR PRINCETON PROFESSORS URGE NEUTRALIZED SOUTH VIETNAM”… “…contains principles of compromise now acceptable to U.S, North Vietnam and Vietcong”… (ignores inclusion of South Vietnamese in proposal???)…
Page 1: “JOHNSON REPLYING TO CRITICS TERMS NATION HEALTHY–In Speech To Negro Doctors Says He Rejects View Country Is On Deathbed–Lists Five Freedoms–Asks Jobs, Homes, Health, Education For Everyone Without Discrimination”… “…Breaking the silence he has maintained since the Republican party nominated Richard M. Nixon for President, Mr. Johnson cast himself as a diagnostician of the nation’s health and pronounced it basically good. ‘There are some who say that we Americans are on our deathbed and that we haven’t done anything to cure ourselves,’ he said in a speech here (Houston). ‘Others say we are in bad health because we prescribe too much medicine–or the wrong kind. I disagree. America, I believe, is essentially healthy. america is getting healthier. Because we have shown that our remedies are taking hold, we must work harder than ever toward our goals.’ Noting that President Franklin d. Roosevelt had ‘inspired a nation with Four Freedoms’ 30 years ago, Mr. Johnson listed ‘five new freedoms–the new freedoms we are trying to win for America in our time.’ He said they were ‘The freedom to earn a decent living from a full-time job, the freedom to own a decent home, the freedom of every citizen to get all the education that he or she can absorb, the freedom from discrimination and the right of every American to as healthy a life as modern medicine can provide.”…
Page 1: DEMOCRATS HAVE NO ROOM FOR PUBLIC AT CONVENTION–Size Of Hall Is Cited–Johnson Seen Calling Tune”… “Frustrations continued to mount today for opponents of a ‘closed’ Democratic national convention in Chicago… seating will exclude the general public.”… “The Democratic Presidential candidates and their aides believe that the national convention in Chicago August 26, is being set up in accordance with orders from President Johnson… who favors the candidacy of Vice President Hubert Humphrey.”… Page 1: “Southern Democrats Offer Seven For Vice Presidency”… “…named Governors Connally of Texas; McKeithen of Louisiana; Ellington of Tennessee; and McNair of South Carolina. Also named: former Governors Sanders of Georgia and Sanford of North Carolina. Also Senator George Smathers of Florida.”… Page 1: “McCARTHY URGES HOUSING PLAN–Calls U.S. Plans Insensitive To The Poor–He Wants Suburbs Opened To All”… Page 6: “AIR DEFENSES OF SOUTH KOREA BOLSTERED SINCE PUEBLO INCIDENT”… Page 1: NARCOTICS DEATHS ON INCREASE HERE (NYC)–450 Fatalities To June 30–Most In Age 15-35 Group”… Page 33: “23 Seized In Suffolk and 51 in Westchester In Narcotic Raids”…
15 AUGUST 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER …New York Times… Page 1: “BOMBING IN THE NORTH CURBED BY STORM–Heavy Seas Bring A Halt In Strikes From Carriers”… “United States pilots flew 31 strike missions into North Vietnam yesterday–the lowest number in more than two years–as a tropical storm churned through the Gulf of Tonkin. Winds up to 70 miles an hour and very heavy seas forced the three aircraft carriers that are usually stationed off North Vietnam to cancel flight operations. The number of raids into North Vietnam was the smallest since May 27, 1966. Bad weather that day limited strikes to 10. A United States military spokesman said that the storm swept onto mainland of North Vietnam today and it appeared that air raids had been sharply curtailed for a second day. There is a delay of about 18 hours on most information concerning air attacks in North Vietnam. The Air Force and Marine pilots who returned from the raids said they had flown through moderate anti-aircraft fire. They said the bad weather made assessments of the bombing impossible.”…
VIETNAM: AIR LOSSES (Chris Hobson) There was one fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 15 August 1968…
(1) CAPTAIN TERRIN DINSMORE HICKS and CAPTAIN JOSEPH FRANCIS SHANAHAN were flying an RF-4C of the 14th TRS and 432nd TRW out of Udorn on a photo reconnaissance mission in Route Package 1 just north of the DMZ and 15 miles northwest of Dong Hoi when hit by anti-aircraft fire. Both aviators successfully ejected from the burning aircraft and came down within a mile of each other. CAPTAIN SHANAHAN, who was on his 192nd combat mission, came down in a small village and was immediately captured. He finished the war in the North Vietnamese POW prison system. He returned home on 14 March 1973. CAPTAIN HICKS was never heard from or seen again. As CAPTAIN SHANAHAN was being captured he heard gunfire which he assumed at the time came from the area where his pilot had descended. CAPTAIN HICKS was listed as missing in action with the hope he would be returned with the POWs, which never happened…
COLONEL TERRIN HICKS remains in a status of “presumed killed in action, body not recovered.” He rests in peace on this day that marks the 50th anniversary of his”last stand.”… (Leave a Remembrance…VVMF’s Wall of Faces…)… and also …Read the TASK FORCE OMEGA file on CAPTAIN HICKS.
AMONG THE BRAVE… FOR GALLANTRY AND INTREPIDITY IN ACTION… LIEUTENANT COLONEL JOSEPH FRANCIS SHANAHAN, USAF…THE SILVER STAR… Citation:
“The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the SILVER STAR to Lieutenant Colonel JOSEPH FRANCIS SHANAHAN, United States Air Force, for GALLANTRY and INTREPIDITY in action in connection with military operations against an opposing armed force during the period from 21 November 1968 to 26 December 1968, while a Prisoner of War in North Vietnam. Ignoring international agreements on treatment of prisoners of war the enemy resorted to mental and physical cruelties to obtain information, confessions, and propaganda materials. Lieutenant Colonel SHANAHAN resisted their demands by calling upon his deepest inner strengths in a manner which reflected his devotion to duty and great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.”…
Among his other personal awards earned during his tour in Southeast Asia ( 190+ combat missions and nearly six years as a POW) were the Legion of Merit and this DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS… Citation: … “…while participating in aerial flight as an RF-4C navigator over North Vietnam on 11 August 1968. On that date, Captain Shanahan’s skill and persistence were paramount in obtaining the assigned military objective despite poor weather conditions in the target area. To successfully accomplish the objective, the aviator subjected himself to continuous deadly anti-aircraft, missile, and MiG threats through the most heavily defended area in North Vietnam. the professional competence, aerial skill and devotion to duty displayed for Captain Shanahan reflect great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.”…. oohrah…
SUMMARY OF ROLLING THUNDER LOSSES (KIA/MIA/POW) FOR THE FOUR DAYS OF THE 15 AUGUST DATES OF THE OPERATION OVER NORTH VIETNAM…
1965, 1966, 1967… NONE…
1968… CAPTAIN TERRIN DINSMORE HICKS, USAF… (KIA–BNR)… and… CAPTAIN JOSEPH FRANCIS SHANAHAN, USAF… (POW)…
RIPPLE SALVO… #894… The TASK FORCE OMEGA report is quoted to make clear the extent to which our country carries the relentless effort to “leave no man behind.”… the Terrin HICKS effort is indicative and commendable by any measure… and the search goes on…
RTR quote for 15 August: DOLPH H. TAYLOR, my Dad, 1947: “Son, you have an average brain. The only way you are going to make it in life is to get up early, stay up late, and work your ass off in between.”… Boy was he right…
Lest we forget… Bear…
