Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO…#362… and A LONG HOT SUMMER… but first…
Good Morning: Day THREE HUNDRED SIXTY-TWO of a return to yesteryear and the skies over North Vietnam…
2 MARCH 1967… HEAD LINES and LEADS from The New York Times on a partly cloudy Thursday…
Page 1: “Hanoi Sees No Possibility of Peace Talks at Present”…”Premier Phan Van Dong said today that he did not think that there was any present possibility of talks between the United States and North Vietnam for peaceful solution of the war. In an interview with a correspondent from Agence France Presse the Premier said such talks did not seem likely…because the United States aggressors are continuing their escalation, thus defying public opinion and the universal conscience of the peoples…the Vietcong declared that the only choice now was to fight the Americans ‘until final victory’.”... Page 1: “Senate Pledges Johnson Support in Limiting the War”...”The Senate approved today a resolution pledging support for efforts by President Johnson and other men of good will to prevent the expansion of the Vietnam War and to reach a negotiated peace. The vote was 72-14. The resolution also pledged Congressional support for the Geneva Accords of 1954 and for the reconvening of the Geneva conference or any other meeting of nations similarly involved to bring about an honorable conclusion to the conflict. The resolution was attached to an amendment authorizing $4.5-billion in additional appropriations for waging the war. The Senate passed the bill by 89 to 2. It was the first formal policy statement on Vietnam since the Gulf of Tonkin resolution in 1964. The White House, Secretary Rusk, and Secretary McNamara were pleased with the Senate action. Senator Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania had proposed a ‘sense of congress’ that U.S. should refrain from military activity over North Vietnam and a limit of 500,000 troops unless there was a declaration of war.”…
Page 2: “Rusk and McNamara Show Accord on Vietnam”…”Secretary of State Dean Rusk and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara demonstrated agreement on military and diplomatic tactics today in a brief talk with newsmen at the White House today. Following separate public statements recently denying any disagreement about the bombing of North Vietnam, the two senior Cabinet officials joined in describing new types of military operations in both North Vietnam and South Vietnam had increased in tempo and intensity over the last two or three months. In explaining the need for action to supplement the bombing of North Vietnam McNamara said the need for action–the bad weather had reduced the number of sorties from 12,000 last September to 6,800 in January.”… Page 22: “Romney Pledges Silence on War”... “Governor George Romney said today he is keeping his peace on Vietnam to give President Johnson a free hand to end the war there. ‘I will do all I can to see that the President has the opportunity to make his proposals and methods successful. It seems to me I should refrain from saying anything that will affect the President’s effort. Romney had earlier called the Administration’s Vietnam policy ‘clumsy, ill-timed, and poorly coordinated’ and accused the President of being governed by political expediency.”… Page 22…The Defense Department “Little Box” announcing that 45 American servicemen had been Killed in Action”… (29 yesterday and 77 the day before that!!!)
Page 22: “Pentagon Distributes Film on Vietnam to Public”...”A film that the Pentagon purchased for $54,743 portrays President Ho Chi Minh of North Vietnam as a kindly smiling grandfather who plots war. It implies that the regime in Hanoi kidnaps soldiers to fight in South Vietnam. The film, which is titled: ‘Why Vietnam,” was produced in 1965 for United States servicemen. It is a black and white 32-minute film that shows well to patriotic groups.”… Page 2: “Hoffa Is Ordered to Prison”…to start serving his eight year term for jury tampering…. Page 1: “Soviet Says CIA Abuses Exchange”...”Pravda accused the CIA today of having thrown a sinister shadow over a Soviet-United States exchange program by manipulating it to send spies to the Soviet Union. Persons named by the Soviet paper have denied having anything to do with the CIA.”…
2 MARCH 1967… The President’s Daily Brief…CIA (TS sanitized)… NORTH VIETNAM: (entire page remains classified after 50 years)...SOVIET UNION:(ditto)…SINO-SOVIET RELATIONS: Moscow’s anti-Chinese campaign continues at full throttle despite the change of pace in Peking’s ‘cultural revolution.’ the Soviets are screaming as shrilly as ever about alleged Chinese interference with Soviet aid to Hanoi. Yesterday Hanoi felt obliged to deny ‘Western’ reports of such interference. Moscow, apparently determine to stir up disaffection among minorities in far-west China, is still deluging the area with broadcasts which depict, in local languages, the worst aspects of events in China.
2 MARCH 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (3 Mar reporting 2 Mar ops) Page 12: “In the air war in the North Navy pilots again struck with 1000-pound bombs the Hon Gai thermal power plant 26 miles northeast of Hanoi and destroyed 30 to 50 barges in another attack. Other raids were staged against lines of communication and supply dumps, but continued poor weather limited the number of missions flown. Meteorologists forecast a gradual improvement in weather this month as the monsoon wanes in the North leading to the resumption of full offensive operations by May, which is generally the best flying month of the year.”… “Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson) There were no fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 2 March 1967….
RIPPLE SALVO… #362… “The Long Hot Summer of 1967–Both in the States and in the skies over North Vietnam”... For the next ten months Rolling Thunder Remembered will tell a story of America inflamed on the home front while a ferocious war is fought in Vietnam including a battle royal over North Vietnam. Every day– a story unto itself… At home the strategy of civil disobedience to change government policy was taken to a new level that summer. In the process, the factions of determined protesters found each other and formed coalitions of causes to create demonstrations and mobilized dissent that so divided the nation that there are many who have concluded that the damage to the unity of the nation done in 1967 is irreparable and is root to the divisions of today, fifty years later.
OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER will reach its zenith in intensity and ferocity in the middle months of 1967. American fighter-bombers will penetrate history’s greatest defenses to make North Vietnam pay dearly for defying the vaunted American power projection forces, which were unfortunately applied in pusillanimous fashion. The NVN defenses would down more than 300 attacking aircraft as they absorbed the best we had the resolve to apply. Here is a preview of the battle over North Vietnam in the last ten months of 1967…
(A paragraph from a CHECO Report) “The influx of Soviet and Chinese technology and technical expertise helped North Vietnam to develop by the end of 1966 one of the most sophisticated air defense systems in the world. The three air defense weapon systems (SAM, MIG, and AAA) were enhanced with a growing complex of radar installations that provided earlier warning and guidance for the fire systems. The Democratic Republic of Vietnam also took advantage of the political climate in Washington by housing most of the expensive air defense systems within areas that the United States would not bomb because of the concentration of civilians…”
North Vietnam would fire an average of 300 SAMs per month for the last ten months of 1967 (Mar thru Dec) and down a total of 56 aircraft; engage attacking aircraft with MIGs a total of 84 times and down 25 American aircraft; and employ an average of 8,500 mobile AAA guns from about 35,000 different revetted sites to down 221 aircraft. Month by month for 1967 breakdown…
March: 158 SAMs fired, 3 kills; MiG kills=0; and, 21 A/C downed by AAA. Tot: 24
April: 246 SAMs fired, 5 kills; MiG kills=7; and, 17 A/C downed by AAA. Tot: 29
May: 431 SAMs fired, 9 kills; MiG kills=2; and, 29 A/C downed by AAA. Tot: 40
June: 205 SAMs fired, 2 kills; MiG kills=1; and, 24 A/C downed by AAA. Tot: 27
July: 298 SAMs fired, 6 kills; MiG kills=0; and, 31 A/C downed by AAA. Tot: 37
August: 441 SAMs fired, 8 kills; MiG kills=2; and, 29 A/C downed by AAA. Tot: 39
September: 169 SAMs fired, 2 kills; MiG kills=1; and 13 A/C downed by AAA. Tot: 16
October: 582 SAMs fired, 8 kills; MiG kills=3; and 28 A/C downed by AAA. Tot: 39
November: 349 SAMs fired, 11 kills; MiG kills=6; and 18 A/C downed by AAA. Tot: 35
December: 246 SAMs fired, 2 kills; MiG kills=3; and 11 A/C downed by AAA. Tot: 16
Total SAMS fired=3,125 with 56 kills
Total MIG engagements 84 with 25 kills
Total A/C downed by AAA=221
Total American A/C lost Mar-Dec 1967 =302
In the final ten months of Rolling Thunder in 1968 (1 Jan- 1 Nov) American losses will be: 646 SAMs fired with 12 kills; 70 MiG engagements with 16 losses; and 88 A/C downed by AAA. Total losses=116 A/C… Total aircraft lost 1 March 1967 to 1 November 1968: 418... Rolling Thunder Remembered will retell every one of these fifty-year old war stories as they unfold… That’s the plan …
CAG’s QUOTES for 2 March: VON MOLTKE: “He who would be successful in war must obtain from books only a trained mind.”…PATTON: “Any man who thinks he is so all-important, already isn’t.”…
Lest we forget… Bear.
