Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #348… “STRIKES IN NORTH ACCOMPLISH AIMS”... but first…
Good Morning: Day THREE HUNDRED FORTY-EIGHT of a labor of love– wallowing in the pages of history…
16 FEBRUARY 1967… HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a rainy, rainy day in the Bronx...
Page 1: “Reservists Who Haven’t Met Obligations Will Be Called”... “In the first call-up of Reservists of the Vietnam war the Pentagon intends to summon to active duty up to 31,000 Reservists who have not met their military obligations and 100 Reserve physicians who have not served in uniform at all. But a Defense spokesman stressed that these planned moves did not portend a broader mobilization of Reservists. ‘The individuals directly affected are now enjoying draft deferment without contributing directly to the strengths and readiness of the Reserve component.’ “... Page 1: “Russia Bids China to Overthrow Mao”... “The Soviet Communist party condemned the Peking leadership of Mao Tse-tung today and appealed for his overthrow and the return of China to the ‘Socialist Community.’ The attack that called Chairman Mao a ‘renegade’ in the Communist movement was contained in an article in Pravda. Pravda declared that the anti-soviet campaign of Chairman Mao and ‘his henchmen’ was aimed at goading the Soviet Union into breaking diplomatic relations. ‘The facts show that the people who today direct the policy out of China set before themselves the goal of not only of bringing up the Chinese people in a spirit of enmity toward the USSR, but of aggravating Soviet-Chinese relations to the limit and, in the final count, to bring them to a complete break.’ “… Page 3: “Bob Hope’s Vietnam Tour gets no laughs in Investia…The paper denounced Hope as a promoter of aggression in Vietnam. It described the show this way: ‘Nearly naked girls were singing. More naked girls were dancing. In the intervals Bob clowned. Nothing is sacred to Hope. He is ready to laugh at his good mother if he gets paid for it.'”…
Page 1: “President Bars Agency Influence Over Education”...Acts after CIA disclosures to protect the integrity of the student community. President Johnson directed three high officials in his Administration to formulate a policy that would prevent the Central Intelligence Agency or any other Government Agency from endangering the integrity and independence of American educational institutions. Acting Secretary of State Nicholas Katzenbach, speaking for the President, also reported in a statement that Mr. Johnson had ordered a careful review of the circumstances surrounding subsidies by the CIA.”... Page 4: “Pentagon Is Stormed by 2,500 Women”... “About 2,500 women demanding to see ‘the generals who sent our sons to Vietnam’ stormed the Pentagon today. They were locked out when several hundred tried to push past guards protecting the main entrance. Secretary McNamara ordered the doors reopened, but he refused to meet with them. The group — ‘Women Strike for Peace’ — was mostly from New York and Philadelphia. among their signs: ‘Don’t Draft Our Sons to Burn and Destroy’ and ‘Drop Rusk and McNamara–Not the Bomb.’ “
16 FEBRUARY 1967…The President’s Daily Brief…CIA (TS sanitized) SOVIET UNION: There has as yet been no reaction by Soviet naval vessels or air units to the presence of tow US destroyers in the Black Sea. Yesterday, Moscow told the Turks it would be obliged ‘to use all available means’ to deny passage to one of the ships –USS Hawkins– which is armed with antisubmarine rockets. The Hawkins and a conventionally armed destroyer passed through the Bosporus this morning. They are to spend three days in the Black Sea and will stay at least 40 miles from Russian coast. (HUMBLE HOST NOTES: DEJA VU– Russian Intelligence ship off Delaware coast and USA destroyer (being buzzed) in the Black Sea fifty years to the day after this PDB… Cold War II)… VIETNAM: One of the first documented cases of friction between Viet Cong and North Vietnamese army troops came to light among the papers captured during Operation CEDAR FALLS. the trouble, noted in a Viet Cong report of last November, arose in integrated Viet Cong-North Vietnamese units. The troops retained their regional ties and ‘did not really unite.’ … NORTH VIETNAM: Hanoi is scheduled to import more grains during the first three months of this year than it did during all of 1966… This is an outgrowth of the country’s exceptionally poor rice crop last year. The shipments should permit Hanoi to avoid a major food crisis this year… ISRAEL-SYRIA: The Syrians–badly split among themselves–today canceled a fourth meeting with the Israelis to discuss border problems. This could well mean that the talks are finished. Border incidents meanwhile have started up again… (Humble Host note: recall that in June 1967 War erupted)…
16 FEBRUARY 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times…Vietnam coverage limited to South Vietnam operations… Page 3: “Nine Copters Shot Down”…”Nine United States helicopters were shot down while assisting south Vietnamese troops battling Vietcong guerrillas in the Mekong River Delta in a 24-hour period–331 ot the enemy were killed.”… (There was a lot of flying from Yankee Station: I flew #31 and dropped 6 MK-81 ladyfingers where “Devastate Delta” told me.)… “Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson) there was one fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 16 February 1967…
(1) COLONEL F.C. BUZZE was flying an F-100D of the 309th TFS and 31st TFW out of Tuy Hoa on a strike in southern Laos truck park and was hit by ground fire on his first strafing pass and forced to eject immediately in very close proximity to the truck park. He was rescued by an Air Force HH-3… This was the second F-100D from the 309th lost in two days…
RIPPLE SALVO… #348… Secretary McNamara held a press conference in the Pentagon on 16 February 1967. NYT Page 1:
“McNamara Says Strikes in North Accomplish Aims”... “Defense Secretary Robert S. McNamara said today that the bombing of military targets in North Vietnam, resumed Monday after a pause of nearly six days, was achieving most of its objectives. But he reiterated what the Administration leaders have been saying since the bombing started two years ago: that the bombing in itself could not win the war and that the war must be won in South Vietnam. This point was interpreted by Pentagon officials as an attempt on the Secretary’s part to hold off military men and Congressmen who have urged a sharp expansion of the bombing effort…Various ranking military officers have been privately urging the Administration to step up the bombing markedly to include defense industries, airfields, power plants and harbor facilities at Haiphong. Earlier this week Representative Mendell Rivers, Democrat from South Carolina, Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, declared: ‘There can be no question that the North Vietnamese took full advantage of the truce period to resupply their distribution points in North Vietnam. We should not only resume the bombings. We should triple them.’
“McNamara said in a far reaching news conference, that the enemy build-up in South Vietnam seemed to level off over the last six months, that North Vietnam had been forced to divert 300,000 people to repair bomb damaged bridges, railroads and supply areas and centers, and that bombing has raised morale in South Vietnam.
“After reviewing the objectives of the air strikes Mr. McNamara quickly added: ‘I don’t believe the bombing of the North, by itself, will cause the political leaders in Hanoi to cease their activities in South Vietnam. although the bombing has not forced political leaders of North Vietnam to stop trying to subvert the South,’ he said, ‘Its impact can be judged in part by the great efforts of North Vietnam to force us to stop bombing.’ “…
“In other comments Mr. McNamara said: ‘Aircraft producers continued to outstrip losses. While 2,272 American planes and 937 helicopters have been lost since 1 July 1965, 3,207 planes and 987 helicopters have been manufactured during the same period.’... ‘The Administration was purposely keeping down production of replacement aircraft and ammunition of all categories below normal peacetime inventories so that when the war ended the U.S. could cut back defense production gradually rather than precipitously.’…”
CAG’s QUOTES: FRED THE GREAT: “Enthusiasm alone will not win battles, but will exert powerful influence toward victory.”… PATTON: “Battle is the most magnificent competition in which a human being can indulge. It brings out all that is best; it removes all that is base.”… oohrah
Lest we forget… Bear
