Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #683… “…BECAUSE WHEN A GREAT SHIP CUTS THROUGH THE SEA THE WATERS ARE STIRRED AND TROUBLED. AND OUR SHIP IS MOVING THROUGH TROUBLED NEW WATERS TOWARD NEW AND BETTER SHORES.”… but first…
Good Morning: Day SIX HUNDRED EIGHTY-THREE of a return to yester-year and the air war over North Vietnam coded Rolling Thunder…
18/19 January 1968…Humble Host is doubling up The New York Times headlines since the post for the 18th dealt with a priority tasking… First, the 18th: Page 1: “TERMS FOR PEACE INITIATIVE ARE FIRM, PRESIDENT SAYS– ENEMY MUST NOT CAPITALIZE ON A BOMBING HALT”… “President Johnson indicated tonight that he was not yet satisfied that Hanoi had met his requirements for a halt in the bombing of North Vietnam and an opening of peace talks. In his State of the Union Message, Mr. Johnson said the United States was still exploring North Vietnam’s latest overtures. ‘I will report at the earliest possible moment the results of these explorations.’ “…Page 1: “Republicans See Politics In State of Union Talk–But Democrats Call It Wise–Disappointment Voiced by Some In Finance”... “President Johnson’s State of Union Message was received by Congress in almost complete partisan spirit tonight. Democrats called it wise and practical and Republicans said it amounted to the opening of the President’s campaign for reelection. Page 1: “Johnson Budget $186-Billion–He Wants Gold Reserve Freed–Seeks an Assurance From Hanoi in Report to Nation–State of the Union Proposes Aid to Cities and Tax Surcharge”… Page 17: “Broad Middle Ground–A Confident Sounding Johnson Sets Course He Thinks Most Will Back”… Page 1: “Sihanouk Charges U.S. Reneges On Border Accord”… Page 29: “Japanese Are Routed At U.S. Base Warm-up For Arrival Of Nuclear Carrier USS Enterprise in Sasebo”... (Warm-up the water in the bath house, the Bear needs a scrub)...
GROUND WAR 18TH: Page 3: “U.S.FORCE KILLS 80 IN VIETNAM CLASH–2 Americans Are Wounded”… “Troops of the American Division killed 80 Vietcong soldiers in a clash yesterday. Two United States soldiers were wounded. The action broke out when an American reconnaissance unit encountered elements of two regional Vietcong companies and the 48th Vietcong Battalion 11 miles north-northeast of Quangngai, on the coastal plain, 335 miles northeast of Saigon…. “Westmoreland Expects Action”…General William C. Westmoreland said today that a renewal of enemy activity could be expected soon, though the enemy forces ‘seem to have temporarily run out of steam…. He believes that the next major campaign would develop in I Corps, just below the demilitarized zone, where increased signs of enemy movement have been detected lately.”…
New York Times Headlines for 19th… Page 1: “ARMS PARLEY GETS U.S.-SOVIET DRAFT FOR ATOM TREATY—-TEXT IS OFFERED AT GENEVA AFTER AN AGREEMENT ON MEANS FOR INSPECTION–JOHNSON HAILS ACCORD–CONFERENCE TO REPORT TO U.N. AFTER WEIGHING PACT TO BAN WEAPONS SPREAD”...Geneva. “The United States and the Soviet Union submitted the complete draft of a treaty to ban the spread of nuclear weapons to the United Nations disarmament conference here this afternoon. Agreement was reached only this morning on the final issue: international inspection and controls to detect any violations of the treaty’s provisions.”… Page 1: “U.S. Denies Intent To Stiffen Terms For Hanoi Talks–But North Vietnamese Aide Says Johnson’s Address Shows Aim Isn’t Peace”... “Administration officials let it be known today that their ‘San Antonio formula’ for Vietnam negotiations still stood and that President Johnson’s slightly stiffer rendering of it yesterday involved no change of terms.”… Page 1: Thant Again Urges U.S. To Halt Raids On North Vietnam”… Page 1: “Job Plan Seeks to Help 250,000-Johnson Hopes To Enlist aid of Business for Hard-Core Unemployed In 50 Cities”… Page 19: “Decline Of Rights Issue: Neither Johnson or Congress Shows Past Enthusiasm for A New Civil Rights Measure”…
GROUND WAR 19TH: Page 1: “MARINES KILL 162 NEAR BUFFER ZONE–FIGHTING RAGES FOR 6-HOURS TWO MILES FROM CONTHIEN–U.S. LOSS PUT AT 8″… “United States marines killed 162 enemy troops in a fierce six-hour fight near the DMZ yesterday. Eight marines of the Fourth Marine Regiment were killed and 39 wounded in the fight two miles northeast of Conthien. Military officials here have expressed concern recently that enemy forces were being built-up in that area and in nearby Laos for a major offensive…. Yesterday the United States command reported that U.S. and South Vietnamese casualties rose last week while enemy losses declined. The command reported that 278 Americans and 257 South Vietnamese had been killed while 2,216 of the enemy died. In the previous week 184 Americans, 163 South Vietnamese and 19 other allies other allied troops were killed while the enemy lost 3,033. The headquarters also reported today that 5,249 Vietcong and North Vietnamese had been killed since New Year’s Eve. IN THE SAME PERIOD (17 days), 1,001 AMERICANS, SOUTH VIETNAMESE AND ALLIED TROOPS WERE REPORTED KILLED…. The U.S. military command said total American casualties since January 1, 1961 were 16,459 killed (42,000 more will die before this war is over!!!)… Wounded total: 102,197…and 968 are missing…. of the wounded 47,929 had not required hospitalization…
17/18/19 January 1968… A FEW ITEMS FROM THE PRESIDENT’S DAILY BRIEF…NORTH VIETNAM: (17th) NVN Reflections of US Political Attitudes on the War: The US is being made the ogre on talks issue. NVN and its European bloc allies continue to stress the importance of Foreign Minister Trinh’s offer of talks with the US in return for an end to the bombing. This propaganda is keyed to the theme that the US is rejecting peace overtures (Humble Host note: NVN knows that they are about to come across all borders from the sanctuaries of Cambodia, Laos, and North Vietnam to execute their Tet offensive. The peace talk is a sham to deceive the US. It worked: we were surprised and knocked back on our heels in the January 28 attacks.)… NVN Reaction to War: The Vietnamese continually voice their pride in their nation, it is history of resisting aggression, and in the fact that it is now defeating the most powerful nation on earth. Workers, however, have tended to become corrupted by the war and are engaging in petty theft and black marketeering. Primary effort is given to keeping safe and alive…American leaflet drops on how to build small bomb shelters were picked up and used extensively. (Humble Host notes that this might be the next step in raising morale on the Hawaiian Islands…”Your country loves you–here’s how to build a shelter,”)… In private, some of the Vietnamese voice sentiments about peace, the happiness it would bring, and the horror of the air raids…In spite of deep longing for peace and considerable depression over economic difficulties and personal hardships, no one contemplates even for a moment trying to do anything against the will of the government. A fatalistic attitude, “as if the war were a flood or a hurricane to be survived,” seemed to be quite common…. PDB 18TH: NVN: Hanoi’s man in Paris Mai Van Bo expanded on Foreign Minister Thrinh’s 29 December “will talk” statement that raised world hopes for the start of talks. He said negotiations could begin a “suitable time” after a bombing halt… PDB 19TH: LAOS: Souvanna is keeping cool, but even he is not yet aware of the extent of government losses at Nam Bac. So far, only about a third of the troops that had been defending the town have drifted back to government positions. The losses in military equipment are probably considerable….
STATE DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF HISTORIAN, HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS, FOREIGN AFFAIRS, VIETNAM 1964-68. Four documents from the period 17-19 Jan 1968 are of interest. Document 14 is a telegram from Ambassador Bunker to SecState, his 35th weekly report. He says Tet is coming and the SVN government is worried that US will make a deal that will unilaterally result in a communist turnover of SVN…. Document 17 is a memo from one of his “Special Consultants” who has an idea for turning off the critics of the President who contend the President is “too cautious.”... Document 19 is a very long memo (35 paras) from the CIA responds to the President’s request for an estimate of Hanoi’s options going forward. They respond with 3 options: (1) what they might do if they are pessimistic about their chances; (2) if they are optimistic about their situation; and (3) a third option that presupposes “increased pessimism and continuing confidence”… A very interesting CIA analysis that goes awry two weeks later with the NVN Tet offensive on the 28th… Document 20 is a memo for the record that summarizes a conversation between General Goodpaster and General Eisenhower that is worth a scan…two old warriors on the sidelines… Read at…
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d14
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d17
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d19
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d20
18/19 JANUARY 1968 OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (20 Jan reporting 17/18 Jan ops) Page 1: “In the air war in North Vietnam three more American planes were reported lost and a MIG-17 fighter plane was shot down by a United States fighter north of Hanoi. Two Air Force Phantoms were reported lost in unknown circumstances near the power plant at Bacgiang, 28 miles northeast of Hanoi during an attack on the plant. All four crewmen were listed as missing. The remaining plane, a Phantom, was downed Tuesday in the southern part of Vietnam. One of the two crewmen was rescued. The losses raise to 790 the total of United States planes reported downed in the North. The MIG was the 105th shot down by United States planes in aerial battles. Clearing weather permitted American pilots to attack north of Hanoi for the first time since January 6.”… New York Times 18th, Page 3: “In the air war, the pilot of an Air Force F-4 was credited with probably having destroyed a MIG-21 while flying protective cover for fighter-bombers near Hanoi.”… Page 3: “Hanoi Tallies 1967 Raids”… “Hanoi underwent 384 air alerts in 1967, official figures for the year show. The capital’s anti-air defenses are credited with having downed 176 United States aircraft, a sixth of the total of 1,067 reported shot down in and around North Vietnam during the year.”…
18/19 JANUARY 1968… “Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson): There were four fixed wing aircraft downed in Southeast Asia on 18 January and no aircraft were lost on 19 January 1968… Four warriors were killed-in-action and four others were downed and captured…
(1) LTJG WARREN WILLIAM BOLES and LTJG RONALD ROEBRICH were flying an F-4B of the VF-114 Aardvarks embarked in USS Kitty Hawk on a BARCAP mission over the Gulf and were requested to identify a surface contact. The pair of young aviators penetrated the layers of clouds about 45 miles east of Thanh Hoa for a low ID pass on the contact. The aircrew reported the contact to be a cargo vessel with their last transmission. It is presumed that they flew into to the water at the point where a SAR helicopter found a fuel slick and bits of debris…. So young… and gone, fifty years ago this day about 45 miles east of Thanh Hoa… remembered, but left behind…
(2) MAJOR HOBART McKINLEY WALLACE, USMC and CAPTAIN PATRICK PETER MURRAY, USMC were flying an A-6A of the VMA(AW)-533 Nighthawks and MAG-12 out of Chu Lai on a night strike deep into the Red river Valley 20 miles northwest of Hanoi at Vinh Yen and failed to return from the mission. It is presumed that they made the target before vanishing– no radio calls, no beepers, no wreckage… MAJOR BOLES and CAPTAIN MURRAY rest in peace, together, where they fell on the attack in the enemy’s heartland 50 years ago… remembered, but left behind…
(3) and (4) MAJOR KENNETH A. SIMONET and 1LT WAYNE OGDEN SMITH were flying an F-4D of the 455th TFS and 8th TFW out of Ubon in company with CAPTAIN ROBERT BRUCE HINCKLEY and 1LT ROBERT CAMPBELL JONES in a second 455th TFS F-4 as part of a wing strike on the Bac Giang thermal power plant 20 miles northeast of Hanoi. The strike group was met in the target area by a covey of MIGs. MAJOR SIMONET maneuvered to fire at and down a MIG-17, but in the process was downed by another MIG. MAJOR SIMONET and 1LT SMITH ejected and came down in very hostile territory. They were immediately captured and imprisoned as POWs for the duration of the war. A few minutes later a MIG-17 downed CAPTAIN HINCKLEY and 1LT JONES. They also ejected and landed safely, but were immediately captured and interned with their two squadron mates. All four were released from prison in March 1973…
AMONG THE BRAVE… MAJOR KENNETH A. SIMONET… The SILVER STAR with Oak Leaf Cluster, the LEGION OF MERIT with Oak Leaf Cluster, the DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS with Oak Leaf Cluster, the BRONZE STAR with a Combar V, and the Prisoner of War Medal…oohrah… the SILVER STAR citation for his 18 January 1968 mission…
“MAJOR KENNETH A. SIMONET distinguished himself by gallantry in connection with military operations against an opposing armed force as an F-4D Aircraft Commander over North Vietnam on 18 January 1968. On that date, MAJOR SIMONET delivered his ordnance on an important strategic target in the face of intense antiaircraft fire, tracking surface-to-air missiles, and attacking hostile aircraft. With exceptional boldness and courage, MAJOR SIMONET then engaged the hostile aircraft in close air-to-air combat. As a result of MAJOR SIMONET’s efforts, his target was heavily damaged and one hostile aircraft was shot down. By his gallantry and devotion to duty MAJOR SIMONET has reflected great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.”
AMONG THE BRAVE… CAPTAIN WAYNE OGDEN SMITH… The SILVER STAR with Oak Leaf Cluster, the LEGION OF MERIT (POW), the DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS with Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster and the POW Medal… CAPTAIN SMITH’s SILVER STAR citation is similar to that of MAJOR SIMONET…
AMONG THE BRAVE… CAPTAIN ROBERT BRUCE HINCKLEY… The SILVER STAR…three awards of the LEGION OF MERIT and the POW Medal… The citation for CAPTAIN HINCKLEY’s SILVER STAR is similar to other members of the flight…
AMONG THE BRAVE… FIRST LIEUTENANT ROBERT G. JONES… The SILVER STAR, the LEGION OF MERIT (POW), the BRONZE STAR with Oak Leaf Cluster, the AIR MEDAL with Silver Oak Leaf Cluster and two Bronze Oak Leaf Clusters, and the POW Medal… 1LT JONES citation for the SILVER MEDAL is similar to that of Major Simonet.
RIPPLE SALVO… #683… New York Times 19 January 1968, page 46:
James Reston: WASHINGTON: “WHY, THE RESTLESSNESS?”…
” ‘Americans are prosperous as have never been in recorded history,’ President Johnson said in his State of the Union address., ‘yet there is in the land a certain restlessness–a questioning.’ It is interesting that the President describes the present mood of the nation in such terms and seemed puzzled about it. The annual production is now about $800-billion, he said. Most Americans could see around them the evidence of growing abundance: higher pay checks, humming factories, new cars moving down new highways, a new college founded every week, more and more new homes equipped with more than seventy million TV sets.
“‘Why, then, this restlessness?’ he asked and he answered with a metaphor: ‘Because when a great ship cuts through the sea, the waters are stirred and troubled. And our ship is moving–moving through troubled new waters toward new and better shores.’ There is, of course, something to this and yet surely it underestimates the deep spiritual bewilderment among our people today. There is a vast disorder in our affairs, and part of it is due, no doubt, as the President indicated, in the cruel distribution of wealth and sacrifice, but the ‘restlessness’ and ‘questioning’ are not only over our finances, but over our public purposes and priorities.
“This is a divided nation today not alone over economic but over fundamental moral questions. The President is not hearing all these mutinous cries below decks because he has the ship moving, but many people think he has it moving in the wrong direction–not toward ‘new and better shore’ but toward the rocks.
CAUSES AND EFFECTS…
“This is why his address aroused so little enthusiasm. For he did not give us an accurate picture of the state of the nation. He emphasized our prosperity and this is precisely the point about our present restlessness. For we have come to see the prosperity is not after all, the goal in ‘the pursuit of happiness’ and that after all the boasts of 83 months of economic boom something is still wrong even with the economy.
“Mr. Johnson dealt in his address primarily with the effects of the war and racial rebellion and not with the causes. His new emphasis was on crime and lawlessness, on more bombs and more cops, and ‘the San Antonio formula’ for peace. And it should be said in passing that the Republican Congressional leaders were no better, for their emphasis was merely on budget cuts and cops..
THE NEW SWITCH…
“It is increasingly apparent her that the Administration had decided that it is both good policy and good politics to accept the challenge of the war demonstrators and the race marchers and to divert attention as much as possible from the war front abroad and the war front at home. The President and his aides did not have to hold their nominating convention in the slums of Chicago where demonstrators are almost unavoidable. Nor did they have to indict Dr. Spock, the Rev, William Sloane Coffin of Yale and the opponents of the military draft. But they took the chance of confrontations would be popular with a majority of the people, and their estimate was probably right.
“Nothing in the State of the Union message moved the Congress to shouts of applause accept the President’s promise to deal with the lawlessness in the cities, and to do so with all the modern techniques at his disposal, which probably means not only more riot-control machinery, but more electronic bugging as well.
“It was peace at home rather than peace in Vietnam, that united the Congress, and nobody will deny crime and drugs are a problem, requiring stern measures. Still, even with more bombs and cops and electronic snooping, the causes of the war and the rebellion will remain, and the country will still be listening for a voice that can unite the people for purposes they respect.
POLITICS AS USUAL…
“For the leaders of men are not merely the makers of laws or the mathematicians of the gross national product. They are the custodians of the nation’s ideals and of its enduring faith. On this level, Mr. Johnson’s speech was something less than a triumph. It was a good political road map for 1968, but it did nothing to remove the restlessness it deplored.”…
RTR Quote for 19 January: WALTER LIPPMAN, Washington Post 1966: “Revolutions are always the work of a conscious minority.”…
Lest we forget… Bear
