Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #741… ALL HANDS ON DECK. TELEGRAMS. MEMORANDUM. STUDIES. REPORTS. LETTERS. TELEPHONE CALLS. BRIEFINGS. MEETINGS. MEETING NOTES. BRAINSTORMING. BOGSAT. What’s going on?… A MAJOR COURSE CHANGE… but first…
Good Morning: Day SEVEN HUNDRED FORTY-ONE of remembering the events and participants who wrote the history of the times fifty years ago during the Vietnam war…
HEAD LINES from The New York Times on Saturday 16 March 1968…
GROUND WAR & KHE SANH: Page 1: “ALLIED UNITS OPEN THE BIGGEST DRIVE OF THE VIETNAM WAR–50,000 Men Seek to Capture Or Destroy Enemy Forces Believed Near Saigon”... “The Allied forces announced yesterday that they had begun the largest offensive operations of the war in an effort to capture of destroy the 8,000 to 10,000 enemy troops believed to be near Saigon. More than 50 battalions of United States and South Vietnamese soldiers–plus air artillery and national police support units–have been committed to the maneuver, which will extend from Saigon to the Cambodian border. It adds up to a force of about 50,000 men… There has been an eagerness to respond to the enemy’s Tet Offensive with a major offensive of our own,’ a command spokesman said, ‘and this is a major one.’ The operation began last Monday. Thus far the units in the operation report that they have killed 296 of the enemy and captured many weapons and large supplies of ammunition. Eleven United States servicemen have been killed and 115 wounded. Air Force fighter-bombers are supporting the operation. A spokesman said: ‘The purpose of this is to catch the enemy, and barring this, to drive him as far way from Saigon as possible.’…”
Page 1: “63% Of Protestants In U.S. Disapprove Johnson War Policy”… Page 14: “Johnson Margin In New Hampshire Primary Cut to 230 Votes–Narrow Victory in Combined NH Totals”... Senator Eugene J. McCarthy came within 230 votes of out polling President Johnson in the New Hampshire Presidential primary Tuesday, official returns showed today.”… Page 15: “EISENHOWER BACKS COURSE OF WAR–Says ‘We’re On The Right Track'”... “Former President Dwight D. Eisenhower voiced his support today for both the course of the war in Vietnam and of Congress’s action on the gold problem. At a news conference in Indio, Cal. the former President was asked about Presidential primary developments. He avoided any expression of partiality among Republican possibilities…. On the Vietnam war: ‘Things are not the same as when I was ordered to land in Europe and destroy Hitler’s forces. We’re not trying to destroy the North Vietnamese. We’re trying to make it too expensive for them to dominate South Vietnam by force. I’m in favor of doing something with more strength. I don’t know just what. Westmoreland is a splendid soldier. they should give him and his people what they want and need. I’d say we’re on the right track now. I say when you get into a war, you should win as quick as you can, because your losses become a function of the duration of the war. I believe when you get in war, get everything you need and win it. I don’t think we’re in a stalemate in Vietnam. We had quite a battle in Europe in 1944-45–the Bulge. At my headquarters we got pretty scared–when we got the papers from the United States three weeks later. But then the battle was over.’…
Page 1: “BANK CHIEFS MEET TODAY–MAY URGE 2 GOLD PRICES–BRITAIN’S BROWN QUITS POST–ITALY BACKS PLAN–GERMAN SUPPORT SEEN”… “Central bank chiefs from six European countries converged on Washington today for a two-day weekend meeting that could settle the fate of the hitherto successful postwar international money system. As they arrived President Johnson was still undecided on whether to make a major pronouncement on the world money turmoil, reflected in panic-level buying of gold abroad”…
Page 1: “ROBERT KENNEDY DECIDES TO RUN–WILL DISCUSS PLANS TODAY–MAY ENTER THE PRIMARIES–News Parley Set–New Yorker Weighs Contest In Oregon and California”… Page 1: “Johnson Supported By Democratic Party Chairman”… Page 1: “New McCarthy Bid–He Plans A Review After California–Wisconsin Drive Begins”… Page 15: “Nixon Accuses Administration Of Causing Gold Stampede”… Page 15: “Senate Ethics Panel Presents Code To Halt Abuses”…
16 MARCH 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times/AP no coverage ops in the North…”Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There were four fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 16 March 1968…
(1) CAPTAIN G.L. POST was flying an F-8E of the VMFA(AW)-235 Death Angels and MAG-11 out of Danang and providing close air support for Marines in contact with the enemy. On his second attack he was hit by small arms fire and rapidly losing fuel, he was forced to eject a few minutes later over the Gulf where he was rescued by a Navy helicopter to fly and fight again…
(2) 1LT ALBERT A. ENGLEHARDT was a Nail FAC flying an O-2A of the 23rd TASS and 504th TASG out of Nakhon Phanom and providing control in the area of Khe Sanh when he went down and perished in silence about 10 miles northwest of the Marine garrison. Sadly, neither of the lists of warriors killed in action for “bodies recovered” and “bodies not recovered” list 1LT ENGLEHARDT. The young warrior disappeared 50 years ago this day and apparently remains where he fell to be left behind… WHY?…
(3) An AC-47 Spooky Gunship delivered to the Army Air Corps in 1944 was destroyed by Vietcong attack on the airfield at Binh Thuy. The venerable bird was assigned to the 14th ACW…
(4) LCDR EDWIN ARTHUR SHUMAN and LCDR DALE WALTER DOSS were flying an A-6A of the VA-35 Black Panthers embarked in USS Enterprise on a night low-level, all-weather strike on the railroad yard at Khe Nu. As the Intruder passed a few miles north of Hanoi at 200-feet it was hit by anti-aircraft that shattered the aircraft windscreen. The disoriented aviators were forced to eject and were quickly captured as Hanoi radio reported to the world. Five years later LCDR SHUMAN and LCDR DOSS were released and returned to active Navy duty where both served with distinction as commanding officers before retiring in the rank of Captain.
CAPTAIN Ned SHUMAN’s awards included the SILVER STAR, Legion of Merit with Valor V, three awards of the Distinguished Flying Cross, two awards of the Bronze Star with Valor V, two awards of the Purple Heart and an Air Medal. He was shot down on his 17th mission. Ned passed away in December 2013.
CAPTAIN Dale DOSS’s awards include two awards of the SILVER STAR, the Legion of Merit with Valor V, three awards of the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star with Valor V, five awards of the Air Medal, two awards of the Purple Heart, and two awards of the Navy Commendation Medal with Valor V.
To honor these two old Enterprise shipmates I include in this post the SILVER STAR citation for Dale DOSS’s second award, earned for his courageous and intrepid conduct of duty as a Prisoner of War. A similar citation accompanied Ned Shuman’s SILVER STAR…
AMONG THE BRAVE… CONSPICUOUS GALLANTRY AND INTREPIDITY… LIEUTENANT COMMANDER DALE W. DOSS, USN…
“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while interned as a Prisoner of War in North Vietnam in November 1968, his captors completely ignoring international agreements, subjected him to extreme mental and physical cruelties in an attempt to obtain military information and false confessions for propaganda purposed. Through his resistance to those brutalities, he contributed significantly toward the eventual abandonment of harsh treatment by the North Vietnamese, which was attracting international attention. By his determination, courage, resourcefulness and devotion to duty, he reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Naval Service and the United States Armed Forces.”…. oohrah…
Humble Host notes that the Navy A-6 Intruder warriors carried the brunt of Rolling Thunder operations in Route Package 4,5, and 6 during the Northeast Monsoon. Every night a total of 24 strike sorties were flown from the two big-deck carriers at Yankee Station. In the first three weeks of the Enterprise cruise, VA-35 lost four aircraft and three crews of the bravest of the brave. On the evening of 16 March 1968, 50 years ago, by chance, I had dirty-shirt (flight suit) chow at the table with Ned and Dale, and the other VA-35 aviators, who were waiting for dark to go put 18 to 22 MK-82s each on their respective targets. There were four A-6 sorties on the Shuman/Doss cycle. I had just returned from a late afternoon run to Steel Tiger (my #123) to put my 5 Mk-82s under FAC (Nail?) control on “supplies” in some trees alongside Highway 9 west of Khe Sanh. The Intruder guys were laughing and scratching at dinner, but everybody at the table knew a serious night of hard and risky business lay ahead for the VA-35 Black Panthers. What has stuck with me for 50 years about that scene was the banter about having seconds on ice cream “since it may be the last ice cream we get for a few years.” For Ned and Dale it turned out to be a prophetic five years between scoops of vanilla.
RIPPLE SALVO… #741… The heat in the White House kitchen was nothing compared to the Oval Office. The heat was on the build in mid-March 1968. The Tet Offensive had been an unexpected setback, the political season was underway and the criticism of the President’s Vietnam policy was under fire from every quarter. Bobby Kennedy decided he wanted to be President after all, and it was all LBJ could do to hold his own against McCarthy in the New Hampshire primary. Bad tea leaves all around. Dr. King was planning and rehearsing the “poor people’s march,” the world’s monetary system was failing, the North Koreans held 82 Navy hostages and an old intelligence ship they had grabbed when the world’s greatest power wasn’t looking. LBJ had had enough. He went to General Quarters and the tempo of ops 24/7 in March 1968 became a study in crisis management of the first order. The State Department’s Office of the Historian collection of Historical Documents concerning Vietnam for March 1968 provides the course material for that study. Six documents dated 16 March record the frenzy that occupied the White House on that date and the last weeks of March leading up to the President’s speech to the nation and the world on 31 March. Read these, or at least peruse them, as a lesson in what goes on beyond those closed doors in every crisis managed by the President’s men and women through the decades.
Document 132 is a telegram from Rusk to Bunker in Saigon giving him a heads up on the need for a few things to happen in South Vietnam by Thieu and Ky that the President will be able to point to as good news in “The Speech” on 31 March…
Document 133 is a letter from deputy Secretary of Defense begging off testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Confesses that he would have a hard time defending the option to proceed ahead–more troops and stepped up bombing (maybe even mining Haiphong). Nitze is for change. Back off some or all bombing to get Hanoi to do something to deescalate the fighting as the first step to negotiations.
Document 134 is a response to 132 from Bunker to Rusk outlining a menu of initiatives underway and planned to support the evolving new course that the President will take to the American public on 31 March…
Document 135 is a telegram to the President who was in Texas. Rostow, the loyal man-Friday has develop a “tasker” for the President to charge Dean Acheson as Chairman of an independent advisory group to weigh in on. The President is casting a wide net for ides and opinions looking for a course that will meet the expectations of all parties. Impossible? LBJ was trying… The Rostow draft directive is a great piece of staff work…
Document 136 is a lengthy telegram from CJCS Wheeler to COMUSMACV Westmoreland in Saigon keeping him up to speed on what is happening in the ongoing General Quarters, this is no drill, in Washington…
Document 137 is a telegram from Rusk to Bunker that asks for inputs from Saigon on late additions, options to the developing final product.
Humble Host passes these documents on in full realization that nobody has time or incentive to read all this stuff. But this is a fleeting opportunity to be a fly-on-the-wall in the White House during a major drill. This one was in 1968 and Top Secret then, but unclas now. It is the next best thing to understanding what is going on in the Trump White House and Administration as they deal with Iran, Russia, China, North Korea, draining the swamp, Mueller and the enemy within… read at… please note that after you get 132 on your scope all you need to do to get to the next document is touch the faint “carrot” in the right margin area to get the next document in order…
132: https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d132
133: https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d133
134: https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d134
135: https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d135
136: https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d136
137: https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d137
RTR Quote for 16 March: SUN TZU: “Come like the wind, go like the lightning.”…
Lest we forget… Bear
