Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #316… NATURAL VITALITY and INTENSE PATRIOTISM…but first…
Good Morning: Day THREE HUNDRED FIFTEEN of a remembrance of the air war fought fifty years ago with North Vietnam…
15 JANUARY 1967…NEW YORK TIMES HEADLINES and highlights on a drizzly and cold Sunday…
Page 1: “Air Strike Mark is Set in South Vietnam”…”United States fighter-bombers flew a record total of 549 single aircraft attacks in South Vietnam yesterday…the total was seven more than the previous record set in July…generally the tempo is 400 to 450 sorties per day. The record came as a result of especially heavy demands for support from ground commanders and because bad weather over North Vietnam has made more strike planes available for use in the South. A factor in the high rate of air activity in the South was the request for 82 strikes by commanders in Operation Cedar Falls, a sweep through an area known as the Iron Triangle, 20 to 30 miles north of Saigon. This region has long been regarded as a Vietcong stronghold. One officer noted: ‘General William DePoy, Commander First Infantry Division, likes to use a lot of air power…in seven days, General DePoy requested and received more than 6oo tactical air strikes in support of his troops.’ During the period an Air Force F-100 crashed on a bombing run 38 miles east of Saigon bringing to 147 the number of American planes lost in South Vietnam since January 1961. The pilot is listed as missing in action.”… Page 2: “Marines Kill 61 Vietcong” … “A United States Marines company battled for six and one half hours against Vietcong defending a hamlet 15 miles south of Danang and killed 61 of the enemy…The 265 Marines took moderate casualties in the fierce engagement.”… Page 2: “Vietnam Chiefs Hold Wide Power”… “The chiefs of the more than 250 districts into which South Vietnam’s 46 provinces are divided have the power of an unaopposed political boss and a military commander combined. For the last two years these chiefs have been Vietnamese army officers of the relatively junior ranks of captain or major. Many have failed to show aptitude for the assignment and some have been inefficient or corrupt. But there are reasonably efficient and honest men filling this impossible position, and they are proudly put on display by Vietnamese and American officials.”… Page 4 (14 Jan): “8 American Soldiers Killed and 34 Wounded”…when artillery shells from a nearby unit landed among them. All involved were members of the First Infantry Division participating in Operation Cedar Falls. (Maybe that’s why General DePoy requested so much air support)…Enemy losses in the operation are put at 237 killed and 51 prisoners.”…
Page 1(14 Jan) “U.S. Won’t Strike at MIG Bases Now”… “General Earle Wheeler, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said today that for the present the United States was not going to attack four major North Vietnamese airfields in the Hanoi-Haiphong area. Other officials indicated the risk of civilian casualties of damage to nearby civilian areas was one reason for continuing to exclude the airfields from the authorized targets (ROLLING THUNDER #53) …The main reason: U.S. has been able to maintain air superiority in the North without going after the bases used by North Vietnamese MIGs.”… Page 1: “Chou Says Foes of Mao’s Policies are Losing Fight”…”Premier Chou En-lai said in a speech tonight that opponents of Mao Tse-tung’s cultural revolution are beginning to show signs of collapse…He said the present class struggle would end in victory for Mao’s line. The anti-Mao faction amounts to a handful of people in authority and a few diehard reactionaries, Mr. Chou said. It shows signs of crumbling, he asserted, but was still not reconciled to its defeat and has opened a new general offensive that should be crushed.”… Page 3: “Hanoi Says Pilots Concede Collusion of U.S. and Thais”…”North Vietnam has published a book containing alleged depositions by captured American and Thai fliers that Hanoi says show the extent of ‘collusion’ between Thailand and the United States in conducting the war in Vietnam…Hanoi radio broadcast a portion of the book contending that the depositions show ‘many evidences of U.S. aircraft taking off and landing from Thailand bases on bombing raids on North Vietnam’ and the Communist held portion of Laos. ‘These evidences included depositions by Thai and American air pirates captured in North Vietnam and maps showing flight routes of bombing missions from Thai bases.’ The broadcast named eight Americans, captured in North Vietnam as having made the alleged depositions. Among the eight: LCOL Robinson Risner, Captain Richard Kiem, Captain Charles Boyd, Captain David Hatcher, Captain Murphy Jones and Major James Kasner.”… Page 10:”Hanoi Expected to Get New MIGs”… “United States Air Force officers said this week that they expected North Vietnam to rebuild its fleet of MIG-21s which was nearly halved by American pilots in two dogfights over the Red River valley last week. When the rebuilding is completed, perhaps in three months or so, the officers said renewed aerial combat is likely…Hanoi’s air force consisted until last week of about 75 to 100 aircraft and more than 3,000 officers and men. Between 17 and 20 of the planes were MIG-21s…the rest were MIG-15 and 17s. Reports that 100 new MIG-21s were sent to North Vietnam late last year have not been borne out by detailed checking.”…Page 33: “Packers Meet Chiefs Today in $ million Super Bowl Game in LA”…60-million to watch on TV… player’s share: $15,000 for winners and $7,000 for losers… Bart Starr versus Lenny Dawson and Vince Lombardi versus Hank Stram.”
15 JANUARY…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times: No report on the air war in the North. “Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson) There were four fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 15 January 1967.
(1) CAPTAIN G.I. HAWKINS was flying an F-105D of the 333rd TFS and 355th TFW out of Takhli was ht by small arms fire on a strike mission in Barrel Roll and was unable to get the damaged aircraft all the way back to Takhli. He eject and was rescued.
(2) LTJG DANIEL HAGEN MORAN was flying an A-4E of the VA-23 Black Knight embarked in USS Coral Sea on a strike on the railway siding at Qui Vinh and was hit by ground fire in the nose and cockpit area. He did not communicate and was observed by other flight members to maneuver erratically until he ejected over the Gulf. Unfortunately, he was mortally wounded by the explosion of an enemy 37 or 57mm shell in the nose of his aircraft and was dead when pulled from the water near the SAR destroyer. LTJG MORAN was Killed in Action fifty years ago this day… He was the 16th and last combat loss of the Coral Sea’s second Vietnam war cruise…
(3) An A-4E of VMA-211 and MAG-12 sheared a main landing gear on takeoff and the pilot ejected safely to fly and fight another day. The aircraft was a strike…
(4) A TF-102A of the 509th TIS and 405th FW out of Danang caught fire on a ferry flight and the crew ejected over Thailand and were rescued.
RIPPLE SALVO… #316… Harrison Salisbury’s ten days “behind enemy lines” was followed by an extended respite in Hong Kong where he posted a series of essays with pictures that were front page news around the world. He proved to be a propaganda bonanza for North Vietnamese. He was such an effective loud speaker for Ho Chi Minh, the North Vietnamese opened the gates for a flow of left-wingers that lasted the entire war. The fifth of his post-visit reports was published in the New York Times on Sunday January 15 on page 1 and jumped to full pages of copy and pix: “North Vietnam Spirit Found High”… here are a few highlights… Salisbury writes:
“I know you will not understand what I am going to tell you,’ Premier Pham Van Dong said,”but I must say it anyway because it is the most important thing.” And the Premier proceeded to talk with earnestness and intensity of the spirit of the North Vietnamese people that is such an important aspect of their war effort. The Premier said he had tried hard to explain that spirit to close friends in Europe and had failed. It seems to be a combination of natural vitality and intense patriotism, a determination to run Vietnam for and by Vietnamese and an element of teenage cockiness and daredeviltry. There are other elements, too. A middle-aged English visitor to Hanoi said after a few days, “Somehow the spirit of these people reminds me of the days of the Spanish civil war– a civil war without the ‘International Brigade’ “…
The “Feat of Feats” is the shooting down of a United States airplane. Everyone who has a rifle participates if planes come into sight. If by chance one is brought down by rifle fire–and the North Vietnamese say this occurs several times a month– villagers from miles around rush to the scene to share in the glory. The only thing that tops the downing of a plane in popular esteem is the capture of an airman. Legends of such captures are legion and generally involve an unarmed villager who spots the airman coming down by parachute, and the villager grabs a hoe or pitchfork and captures the airman who is armed to the teeth with survival weapons.
Or the story may be of a band of villagers who see pilots coming down and manage to surround the field and head them off before they can escape into the jungle.
Such feats are the subjects to popular ballads, music hall skits and songs. The shooting down of United States planes has become a kind of national contest. Papers print the official North Vietnamese figure on downed airplanes daily, now at 1,600 by Hanoi’s count. Commemorative postage stamps have been issued to important milestones–500, 1000 and 1500.
It is all of these factors taken together that fuse into North Vietnam’s spirit. Probably there are other factors that have been overlooked. But one thing is certain: it is a powerful force and there is no doubt about this, more than anything else, is what keeps North Vietnam in the battle.”
Harrison Salisbury’s book: “Behind the Lines–Hanoi, December 23-January 7 (1967)”…Harper Row, 1967…
CAG’s QUOTES for 15 January (for the last forty years):… FREDERICK THE GREAT: “Fortune favors the bold.”….. PATTON: “God favors the bold. The victory is to the audacious.”….
Lest we forget….. Bear #16-Strafed barges off Quin Lam– smoke and holes, no fires…
