Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #352… THIS ONE IS FOR YOU JAY GREENE... but first…
Good Morning: Day THREE HUNDRED FIFTY-TWO flashbacks to Rolling Thunder one day at a time…
20 February 1967… HEAD LINES from The New York Times on Monday full of clouds and rain…
Page 1: “Rights Unit Asks Congress to End School Bias”...”A Federal Commission urged Congress today to enact legislation that would require racial balance in all of the nation’s public schools. In a report that could have major consequences for the future of American education, the United States Commission on Civil Rights declared that Negro children had been largely untouched by compensatory programs in their own schools and would continue to suffer academically unless permitted to attend integrated schools….The Commission asked the Administration and Congress to give immediate consideration to measures that would eliminate racial isolation in public schools, North and South. The report is certain to stir wide interest among educators, social scientists and politicians.”… Page 1: “U.S. Is Considering Gasoline Imports to Cut Price Rise”... “The Government is urgently considering measures to increase imports of gasoline, thus adding to supply and helping to roll back the recent one cent-a-gallon increase.”… Page 1: “Iran Will Get Soviet Arms In A $110-Million Accord”… “Premier Amir Abbas Hoveida announced in Parliament today that Iran had signed an agreement with the Soviet Union for the purchase of $110-million worth of arms and military equipment… Under a separate agreement Iran is to receive a $280-million Soviet steel mill complex and machine tool factory in exchange for natural gas to be piped from Iran to the Soviet Union.”…
Page 1: “Saigon Reports a Major Victory Over Hanoi Units”... “South Vietnamese paratroopers reported a major victory over North Vietnamese regulars today in several hours of fighting in a broad valley 320 miles northeast of Saigon. The South Vietnamese said they had killed 538 enemy soldiers.”... Page 14: “Protest Rallies In U.S. Buoy Hanoi”... “Vietnam said today it regarded demonstrations in the United States against American policy in Vietnam proof that the Communists would win the war…The North Vietnamese ‘hailed the mounting struggle of the entire people of the United States of America against Johnson’s aggressive war in Vietnam.’…Citing recent demonstrations in the United States the Communist newspaper Nhan Dan said: ‘Justice and the Vietnamese people will certainly triumph and the United States aggressors will certainly be defeated.’…’Entering this year the movement in support of the Vietnamese people and in condemnation of the United States aggressors is seething throughout the world, including the United States especially since the renewed bombing of North Vietnam after Tet.’ The article said that from February 9 to 11 ‘over one million American Protestants, Catholics and Jews in 412 cities and states held a three-day fast to protest against the aggressive war in Vietnam.”…
U.S. State Department Office of the Historian… 20 February 1967… Document #87: “Memorandum From the President’s Special Consultant (Taylor) to President Johnson.” Two genuine opportunities to get peace negotiations were “botched,” as George C. Herring wrote in “LBJ and Vietnam: A Different Kind of War.” MARIGOLD in December 1966 and SUNFLOWER in February 1967 must rank as two of the worst State Department blunders of the Johnson years. General Maxwell Taylor, called to duty by LBJ to troubleshoot as a Special Consultant, pondered the problem, and anticipating that another opportunity to talk about peace would inevitable arise, put a paper he titled “Possible Forms of Negotiations With Hanoi” on the Presidents desk fifty years ago on this date. Worth a read since another peace initiative did come to pass at the end of the summer 1967, to be called .PENNSYLVANIA.. The document #87 is at:
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v05/d87
20 FEBRUARY 1967… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER... New York Times (21 February reporting 20 February ops) Page 1: “United States Air Force fighter-bombers attacked a North Vietnamese convoy bound for the South Monday and destroyed or damaged 62 of the supply vehicles in 10 hours of bombing and strafing. The convoy was composed of up to 80 trucks. It was the largest single bag of enemy supply vehicles claimed by the U.S. in recent months. While the weather was still poor over North Vietnam there was some improvement during the day in the southern panhandle. Navy F-8 Crusaders from the carrier Ticonderoga attacked eight cargo barges 13 miles southeast of Thanh Hoa and reported hits on 3 of the 40-foot long barges.”… also on Page 1: “U.S. Will Step Up Raids on Missiles In North Vietnam“… “Pentagon sources said today that the United States is planning to step-up the war against surface-to-air missiles in North Vietnam. They said that to carry out increased attacks more Shrike missiles would be shipped to the war and additional aircraft will be equipped to carry them over the North. The Shrikes which use the enemy’s radar as a guide, will be used in a concerted effort to try to neutralize what some specialists call one of the tightest air defenses ever installed anywhere. Government analysts say there are now 120 to 150 SAM launchers in North Vietnam, about 6,500 anti-aircraft guns, approximately 1200 of which employ radar-directed fire, and an uncounted number of small-caliber machine guns that are also used for air defense. Soviet surface-to-air missiles were introduced in 1965 several months after the United States started regular bombing of military targets in North Vietnam. Since that time about 1,500 SAMs have been fired but they are credited with the destruction of only 31 aircraft. The SAMs do force attacking aircraft to lower altitudes where the anti-aircraft guns are effective. To date the United States has lost a total of 475 planes over North Vietnam.”…
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Hobson) There was one fixed wing aircraft lost on 20 February 1967…
(1) MAJOR RUSSELL CLEMENSELL GOODMAN and ENSIGN GARY LYNN THORNTON were flying an F-4B of the VF-96 Fighting Falcons embarked in USS Enterprise on a strike on a railway siding eight miles south of Than Hoa and were downed by AAA. Here is how Chris Hobson reported the loss; (page 89)…
“As the section of F-4Bs approached the Thien Lin Dong they popped up to 11,000-feet to commence their dive to drop Mk-82 bombs on the railway trucks that were sitting on the siding. As MAJOR GOODMAN and ENSIGN THORNTON started to pull out of their dive the aircraft was hit by an anti-aircraft shell, which struck the Phantom’s nose and almost certainly injured the pilot. ENSIGN THORNTON ejected but there was no sign of MAJOR GOODMAN, who probably died in the crash. One report claims the aircraft was hit by a SAM but the official Navy report states the aircraft was hit by AAA. MAJOR GOODMAN was a USAF pilot who was serving on board Enterprise on an exchange posting with the Navy. GARY THORNTON was released on 4 March 1973, the last airman to serve a full six years as a POW. He reported that MAJOR GOODMAN had been hit and did not escape from the aircraft.”…
RIPPLE SALVO… #352… There was a full scale effort to rescue the two downed VF-96 aviators– GOODMAN and THORNTON. I was a part of it, along with my VA-113 Battlecry wingman LTJG JAY GREENE…
This one is for you, Jay…
Late in the afternoon of 20 February 1967, 50 years ago today, I was launched from Enterprise in the lead of a four plane division of Battlecry A-4s with a group of strike aircraft to stream attacks on the bridges of Tam Da north of Vinh. We were flying A-4Cs with a single center line fuel tank and AIM-12Cs, big Bullpups, on either wing. We were last in the stream of strikers and I setup an orbit off the coast of Vinh to meet our target time. While in the orbit the VF-96 F-4B Phantom was downed and the call went out for aircraft with ordnance to check in for RESCAP assignments. I detached my second section who were light on fuel to press on to Tam Da and I set out with my wingman LTJG JAY GREENE on a vector from “Overpass” for the crash site, about eight miles south of Thanh Hoa. As I approached the area the RESCAP was canceled– no contact with either down pilot and the opposition was heating up. And Battlecry flight was down to 3200-pounds of fuel and two big Bullpups. What now? Too far –60 miles– to the bridges of Tam Da. Then came a Shazam moment!!! There I was — we were, Jay and me– right over the Thanh Hoa Bridge. Why not? “Jay, arm up. We are taking a shot at the big bridge at 11-o’clock. Take a little separation and follow me…”
There wasn’t an attack pilot in the world who didn’t know all there was to know about the Thanh Hoa Railroad and Highway Bridge over the wide Song Ma river about three miles north of the city of Thanh Hao, third largest city in North Vietnam. The bridge had a name: “Ham Rong,”– the Dragon’s Jaw. And legend had it that the stubborn 540-foot, two steel truss span monster resting on massive piers, center and both ends, was unsinkable. In fact, the word was that the world was held together by the Dragon’s Jaw and if it could be dropped, the world would snap apart…
The attempts to knock it down were endless.Two epic strikes by the Air Force made history. In March of 1965 the Air Force sent a strike group of 79 aircraft– 16 F-105s each with a pair of small Bullpups (AGM-12B) and 30 F-105s loaded with 300 750-pound bombs. Fifteen Flak suppressors supported the attacking aircraft. When the smoke cleared from dozens of observed hits on and about the bridge and the approaches, the Dragon’s Jaw was still spanning the Song Ma. A second maximum effort that made the history books was the C-130 “Project Carolina Moon” executed on the night of 30 May 1966 and again on the night of 31 May/1 June. No joy. In fact, eight more brave Americans perished in the attempt. In one six-month period in 1965 19 pilots went down giving it a try. During the war 104 Rolling Thunder warriors would die trying.
On 20 February 1967 there were 12-37/57mm confirmed sites; 4-85mm confirmed sites; 3 confirmed AW sites; 5-confirmed Firecan sites; and, 7 confirmed SA-2 sites within 15 miles of the Thanh Hoa Bridge…
“Jay, follow me…” I rolled in from 14,000-feet, put out my speed brakes the way we had trained on the ranges back home–I’ll never do that again– and came roaring down the chute at a steady 300-knots and tracking the “Big Pup” to the center of the bridge as if it was just me and the Dragon. From 10,000 down to recovery at about 4,000 the orange balls were coming at me in numbers too many to count and the little white puffs of 37mm were blossoming between me and the parasite flare on the back of the Bullpup as it tracked into the bridge on my up=down, right-left commands… Then the glorious hit on the Bridge–and the sudden realization that I was in a whole lot of trouble–4,000 feet, speed brakes coming in and 300 knots to start a climb out of hostile country… The orange balls were still sailing by me as I climbed back up to 18,000 for a second go. Then I thought about my wingman…”Jay, get out of here.”… All I heard was “Roger, that”… As I hit 18,000-feet and turned back to the target for a second shot I saw Jay’s Bullpup hit the western end of the bridge… and I rolled in, speed brakes in, and let Bullpup #2 go at 15,000-feet, which is a tough shot since the weapon starts to slow and sink in the last few seconds of a long flight. I held a steady up command and got the weapon to hit just short of the bridge on the eastern approach. I held my dive for a bit to watch the fireball roll into the open mouth of the Dragon’s Jaw… I recovered at about 5,000 feet with good speed and a clean, light aircraft and held my breath as I thought: “He who fights and runs away gets to fight another day.”… Feet Wet, Jay on board…damn I felt great…
Back aboard ship, I was confronted by my squadron commanding officer with one question, “Did you drop the bridge?” My response: “No, sir, but we banged it up real good.” To which, he scolded,”It was a vainglorious thing you did.”… He who fights and runs away lives to fight another day. It was a great two points toward an Air Medal flight I wouldn’t trade for any flight in my log book. And the beautiful thing is, my valiant wingman, Jay Greene, aviator extraordinaire, says the same thing. The reason? A man has to know his limits, as Clint Eastwood would say.
On 20 February 1967, fifty years ago this day, Jay and I explored, conquered and set new personal limits on our courage and character. We put fear aside, faced the danger, overcame same, did what we were trained to do, and came home to get ready to do it all over again a couple of hundred times. That was ROLLING THUNDER and every day for a thousand days hundreds of Navy and Air Force aviators, who carried the Vietnam war into the heartland of our nation’s enemies, set and reset new personal limits on their courage and character.
Vainglorious? “Excessive or ostentatious pride, especially in one’s own achievement. Vain display.”… So be it!! Attack, attack, attack… oohrah…
CAG’s QUOTES for 20 February 1967: PLUTARCH: “An army of deer commanded by a lion is more feared than an army of lions commanded by a deer.”… PATTON: “There are all kinds of low class slime who are trying, and will continue, to wreck this country from the inside.”…
Lest we forget… Bear
