Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #836… THIS WEEK FIFTY YEARS AGO The New York Times’ JAMES RESTON wrote a piece he titled, “HANOI’S TRAGIC MISCALCULATION.” Here’s a taste of it: “One of the surprising things of the last few weeks has been the movement of public opinion in the United States. No doubt the sentiment of most American people is for peace, but the pressure on the Government to settle at any price has let up. Letters on the war to newspapers, to the State and Defense Departments, and to the Presidential candidates have been reduced from a torrent to a trickle”…. Why? Reston has the answer and Humble Host has a Salvo… but first…
GOOD MORNING… Day EIGHT HUNDRED THIRTY-SIX of thinking about the lost opportunities to put the history of the Vietnam war on a different course and a more satisfactory outcome for the United States of America… just thinking…
HEAD LINES from The New York Times, “The Gray Lady” (“All the news that’s fit to print”), on Wednesday, 19 June 1968…
THE WAR: “Page 1: “HELICOPTERS SEEN NEAR BUFFER ZONE THIRD DAY IN ROW”… “Aircraft suspected of being North Vietnamese helicopters have been sighted over the demilitarized zone for the third day in a row, a United States military spokesman said last night. As on the previous day the aircraft were observed on radar in darkness…it was not possible to confirm the sightings visually. The latest aircraft reports came on a day when a total of 120 North Vietnamese and Vietcong soldiers surrendered in a Saigon suburb where street fighting has flared for more than a month. The group surrendered after two clashes northeast of the center of Saigon during which 47 of the enemy were killed. After retreating into a cemetery the enemy troops were surrounded by South Vietnamese marines. An attempt to break out of the cemetery failed, and the enemy soldiers laid down their arms and surrendered….AT KHE SANH: …United States Marines turned back an early morning attack south of the Khe Sanh outpost yesterday and fought until the afternoon. They killed 128 North Vietnamese regulars and lost 11 men dead and 30 wounded. Three days earlier the marines killed 186 enemy soldiers in the same area…”
PEACE TALKS: Page 1: “BROOKE BIDS HANOI EASE PARIS STAND–SENATOR DISCERNS MOUNTING PRESSURE ON U.S. TO WIDEN WAR IF TALKS ARE STALLED”… “Senator Edward W. Brooke of Massachusetts warned today that pressure was mounting for a renewed expansion of the war in North Vietnam if North Vietnam’s negotiators did not show more flexibility in the Paris talks with the United States. Administration officials cited the speech by Senator Brooke as a useful warning, particularly amid reports that North Vietnamese helicopters might have entered the air war over the demilitarized zone… Page 5: “U.N.’S THANT PREDICTS A LONG DEADLOCK IN VIETNAM TALKS”… “…because both sides hope for military victory.”…
Page 1: “SENATE UNIT VOTES FOR BAN ON SALES OF RIFLES BY MAIL–Republicans Switch Spurs Hope For the Passage of The Administration Bill–Johnson Praises Move–He asks Judiciary Panel To Send Legislation To Floor For Immediate Action”… Page 1: “McCARTHY DELEGATES WIN MAJORITY OF RACES HERE (NY)–WAR ISSUE IS CITED–Humphrey Forces See Gains Of At Least 15 Delegates In state”… Page 1: JAMES EARL RAY’S LAWYER WINS DELAY TO JUNE 27–Judge Grants Plea for Time To Study Data–Suspect’s Security Guard Is Again Heavy”… Page 9: “SOVIET MARSHALL ASSURES CZECHS–Exercises Are Limited”… “The Soviet commander of Warsaw Pact forces has said that maneuvers this month in Czechoslovakia would involve only command staffs of the various services.”… Page 1: “22 Mayors Back Today’s March In Washington”…
19 JUNE 1968… THE PRESIDENT’S DAILY BRIEF (CIA TS/SI)…NORTH VIETNAM: Moscow has authoritatively reiterated its full support for Hanoi at the Paris talks. An unsigned editorial article in the 17 June issue of Pravda states that Moscow stands behind Hanoi’s demand for “an end to the bombing and other US acts of war against the North,” and charges that the US is blocking progress at Paris by putting forward proposals for “reciprocity and de-escalation” on the part of North Vietnam. The piece concludes by alleging that a peaceful solution to the war is available if only Washington will match Hanoi’s good will with concrete action…. AIR RAID ALERTS…North Vietnam is keeping its population on the alert against a possible resumption of air attacks north of the 20th parallel. According to press reports, ar raid alarms went off in the capital area on Monday for the first time in months….
19 JUNE 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (20 Jun reporting 19 Jun ops) “…a Navy F-4 Phantom jet fighter-bomber was brought down by ground fire in North Vietnam.”… And what a story that was, and Chris Hobson told it this way in VIETNAM: AIR LOSSES…
(1) LCDR JOHN W. HOLZCLAW and LCDR JOHN A. “Zeke” BURNS were flying an F-4J of the VF-33 Tarsiers embarked in USS America…
“As night fell a pair of Phantoms started an armed reconnaissance mission with an A-6C Intruder looking for trucks on the roads north of Vinh. The aircraft received a SAM warning and LCDR HOLZCLAW jinked to evade two missiles but his aircraft was hit by a third SA-2 at altitude of 2,600 feet. The Phantom starboard wing was blown off and both crew ejected near the village of Van Tap, 20 miles northwest of Vinh. This was the first aircraft lost to an SA-2 SAM in almost four months.The two airmen landed in rice paddies between two villages and made their way slowly to a dense forested hillside to hide and hopefully await rescue.
“An SH-2 Seasprite flown by LT CLYDE E. LASSEN with LTJG C.I. COOK, AE2 B.B. DALLAS and ADJ3 D. WEST of Detachment 104 of HC-1 based on destroyer USS Preble. LT LASSEN made a daring flight into North Vietnam in total darkness over unfamiliar terrain. The helicopter was shot at by ground fire, including two SAMs, but eventually LT LASSEN located the burning wreckage of the Phantom. LT LASSEN landed in a rice paddy about 600 feet from the downed airmen but had to lift off again when enemy troops opened fire on the helicopter as it sat on the ground. A flight of Navy aircraft arrived and started to drop flares so LT LASSEN attempted to pick up the survivors from among the tall trees in the forest. As the rescue sling was being lowered the flares went out and the helicopter hit a tree in the pitch dark.
“Despite the damage to the helicopter, LT LASSEN made several passes over the downed airmen so that his door gunner could fire at enemy troops approaching the survivors position. Eventually LCDRs HOLZCLAW and BURNS made it down to the flat rice paddies and LT LASSEN made another landing, but the airmen were too far away and the helicopter again came under fire, so LT LASSEN took off, circled and landed for a third time, closer to the survivors. Another SAM was fired as the helicopter was about to touch down, and enemy troops could be heard crashing through the jungle trying to reach the survivors before they could get to the helicopter. For three minutes the helicopter sat in the rice paddy while LCDRs HOLZCLAW and BURNS struggled their way through the mud and vegetation to reach the Seasprite.
“Under fire from three sides, LT LASSEN took off as soon as the men were aboard after a total of 56 minutes over North Vietnam and 45 minutes under fire. The helicopter was fired on by AAA as it crossed the coast and the side door was torn off during evasive maneuvers. Short of fuel and his helicopter heavily damaged, LT LASSEN headed for the nearest ship and landed on the destroyer USS Jouett with only five minutes of fuel remaining. For his outstanding effort to complete the rescue, one of the most daring and successful flight rescues of the war, LT LASSEN was awarded the MEDAL OF HONOR at the White House on 19 January 1969.”… oohrah++
SUMMARY OF ROLLING THUNDER LOSSES (KIA/MIA/POW) ON 19 JUNE FOR THE FOUR YEARS OF THE OPERATION OVER NORTH VIETNAM…
1965… CAPTAIN CHARLES KENNEDY LOVELACE, USAF… (KIA) Buried in Arlington… and … CAPTAIN WILLIAM EDWARD CORDERO, USAF… (KIA) buried in Arlington…
1966… NONE…
1967… NONE…
1968… NONE… (Thanks to Lt Lassen and his SH-2 Crew)…
Humble Host flew #191 and #192. #191 was another very dark nite armed recce with flares and MK-82s with wingman. Started at Ha Tinh south of Vinh and went southwest to Happy Valley. No truck lights, so on reverse course put out flares over Highway 15 and with nothing but road under the flares put our 12 500-pounders on the road for decent BDA of two or three big holes… No opposition noted. Night CCA approach through cloud layer and trap. #192 was a group grope of eight A-4s led by VA-56 to hit a bridge northwest of Vinh. Rolled in next to last and enjoyed the sights–bombs all over the bridge and puffs of 37/57 all around. My look back over my shoulder to watch my hits is a permanent memory. At this stage in the deployment everybody was a good bomber and the hits on this strike were all on the bridge– score it gone. Of note: within about eight hours, at least six SAMs were fired at the HOLTZCLAW/BURNS F-4 and LASSEN SH-2 just a few miles further west of the bridge that was..
RIPPLE SALVO… #836… NYT, 14 JUNE 68, PAGE 46: “NEW YORK: HANOI’S TRAGIC MISCALCULATION”…
“The Vietnam war is now going through a bloody and tragic phase. In an effort to put pressure on the United States to accept their peace terms in Paris, the North Vietnamese have stepped up the fighting in both I Corps area and the highlands of II Corp[s nd launched a campaign of terror against the civilian population of Saigon. The cost in human life has been appalling and the political gains have been nil. In the month of May alone the enemy lost 26,000 lives (mostly Vietcong, not North Vietnamese). By forcing the battle, the Vietcong and the North Vietnamese have been killing Americans at the rate of about 500 a week. They are losing ten men to every one of ours.
THE ROCKETS…
“Meanwhile, they have bombarded Saigon with 122-mm rockets for 24 out of the last 39 days. These rockets, which are over six feet long, have a range of almost seven miles. They are fired from concealed positions all around the South Vietnamese capital nd have already killed 132 civilians and wounded more than 1,000. Yet in thee last seven weeks they have not hit a single military target and they have only killed one American soldier.
“The brutality and stupidity of this latest offensive are fairly obvious. It has a certain propaganda advantage. It demonstrate that the United States and the Arvin (South Vietnamese) troops cannot prevent these portable rocket-launching devices from hitting the capital, but aside from this it is not only failing to achieve its peace objectives but weakening Hanoi’s position in the United States and elsewhere…..
CHANGING OPINION… lead paragraph of this post… then…
“Senator Eugene McCarthy said here this week that while he thought this sentiment of the American people was now for ‘withdrawal,’ he was getting very few letters on the topic and even the ‘peace candidates’ in the election campaign have not been talking much about Vietnam. The reasons for this are fairly obvious. President Johnson’s speech on March 31, limiting the bombing of North Vietnam and withdrawing from the election, seems to have satisfied most people that he was genuinely seeking peace on honorable terms. On this point he got much of the unity he requested.
“Meanwhile, the murders of Martin Luther King and Senator Robert Kennedy turned the mind of the country from violence in Vietnam to violence at home, and even the increase in American casualties in the last seven weeks has not resulted in any pressure on Washington to make concessions to the enemy.
THE BEST LAID PLANS…
“On the contrary, the indiscriminate rocketing of Saigon is beginning to have precisely the opposite effect in the United States from what Hanoi intended. It is putting the peace advocates in the United States on the defensive and strengthening h\those who want to answer the Vietcong offensive on Saigon with a renewal of American bombing of North Vietnam, including Hanoi and Haiphong.
“This the U.S. Government does not want to do. It wants to restrict the bombing even further, if Hanoi will agree to any reduction in the level of combat. It wants to keep the Paris peace talks going, and preferably to move on to substantive proposals for reducing the fighting and a cease-fire and it is still privately working for the support of the Soviet Union on this procedure.
“The Johnson Administration has taken a decision not to increase the size of its forces in Vietnam. It has speeded up the training and arming of the South Vietnamese Army, over half of which is now equipped with the M-16 rifle, and it is confident that this army will be able to play a larger role in dealing with the enemy, which not only rep;laced the 26,000 dead last month but sent 29,000 new m,en into the South.
“This infiltration and the escalation of the war, however, are a factor on the peace talks. They are not only breaking the spirit of accommodation and adding greatly to the bloodshed, but hardening the American negotiating position, which is precisely the opposite of what Hanoi intended.”… End Reston Quote…
SALVO… In mid-June 1968 our side had all they needed to know to understand that the North Vietnamese had no intention of settling the war by anything less than an American withdrawal from South Vietnam. When they were talking peace in Paris while fighting and chose to escalate the war by attacking civilians in Saigon, our Lame-Duck President had the opportunity to execute the same devastating offense–no holds barred– that Nixon did in 1972. In fact, the weather for maximum advantage was on our side and we would have had more than three months of 24-7 maximum effort to finish the job. Our forces were at maximum on the ground and our air forces were poised for a maximum surge–for example, USS Enterprise could have been extended for the duration of the flying season and with their relief in the theater we were capable of putting five vice three carrier air wings over the North every day for sixty days, if necessary. The B-52s were going full-bore and the new Air Force F-4 Phantoms were coming on-line by the hundreds every month. The American public was prepared to accept that the North Vietnamese had no interest in peace, just more war. The rocket assault on the civilians of Saigon was a cause for war. The Joint Chiefs were recommending all-ahead-full, but the new Secretary of Defense was in all-stop. Opportunity was lost and the peace talks fizzled, the fighting escalated, and another 33,000 American boys and men were doomed. He who hesitates is lost… Fortune favors the bold… Just thinking… What do you think?…
Lest we forget… Bear…
