Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #656… LBJ at Korat: “The spirit of America is not to be read on placards and posters…No man can come here for even a short period and shake your hand or look you in the eye and have the slightest bit of doubt for a moment that America is going to be firm and that America is going to stay faithful throughout the course until an honorable peace is secured.”
Good Morning: Day SIX HUNDRED FIFTY-SIX of a long look-back to the days of Rolling Thunder and dive bombing…
23 DECEMBER 1967… HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a windy and chilly Saturday in NYC…
Page 1: “President Visits Base in Vietnam After Thai Stop (Korat) –Tells Soldiers (and Airmen) at Cam Ranh Bay Enemy Knows He Has Met His Master In The Field–Talks With Wounded–Rome Prepares For Arrival of Johnson Although His Plans Not Divulged”… “President Johnson dropped in again on U.S. Troops in South Vietnam today to bring them a Christmas greeting and the promise that the people back home ‘shall not fail you.’ For the record time in 14 months, the President took advantage of his travels near the war zone to slip into this largest and most secure of American bases in a still insecure land.”… Page 1: “U.S. Pounds Demilitarized Zone To Bar Offensive–Concentrates Land, Air and Seapower to Thwart Any North Vietnam Drive”... “…against enemy positions in and around the demilitarized zone today, seeking to block and plans for what Hanoi calls the winter-spring offensive. About 1,000 marines, some landed by boat and others by helicopter, searched for enemy troops along the cost of Quangngai Province, which adjoins the buffer area astride the border of North and /South Vietnam. Four marines were killed and nine were wounded in an exchange of shots with some entrenched enemy soldiers at the outset of the sweep yesterday. Enemy losses were undetermined. United States B-52 Superfortresses (?) staged saturation raids on artillery positions and suspected troop concentrations within the Demilitarized Zone. American intelligence officials estimated that North Vietnamese army units poised along the frontier might total 35,000 to 40,000 men. The bombers concentrated on a point seven miles northwest of the Marine outpost at Conthien. The bombings followed B-52 raids Wednesday night and yesterday, the first of which drew fire from a surface-to-air missile site secretly emplaced about 10 miles north of DMZ. The United States authorities said the missiles missed and that other planes destroyed the site. Navy fighter-bombers launched from carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin attacked suspected surface-to-air missile sites 25 miles above the buffer region. Other planes attacked an enemy artillery base 10 miles northwest of Giolinh, at the eastern end of a line of Marine outposts overlooked the border territory.”…
Page 3: “To Talk or Not to Talk–Johnson and Thieu Still Disagree Despite Report They Ended Rife”... “The Asian diplomat smiled, ‘Yes,’ he said,’ it is politics to know how to interview without appearing to know how to intervene without appearing to intervene too much.’ the diplomatic principle he suggested is inherent in the massive intervention in the war in Vietnam and Washington’s fastidious attention and sensitivity to every detail of that conflict. But rarely is it pointed up so obviously as in the Saigon Government’s reaction to President Johnson’s public encouragement of informal talks ‘with representatives of the National Liberation Front. Saigon, already edgy about recent official American statements about the Front and vague possibilities of a post war coalition balked at Mr. Johnson’s suggestion.”… Page 4. “FULBRIGHT CONFIRMS SENATE PANEL IS STUDYING 1964 GULF OF TONKIN INCIDENTS”… “Senator J.W. Fulbright, in a statement confirmed today that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff was inquiring into the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin incidents ‘to clear up uncertainties’ about reported encounters between United States destroyers and North Vietnamese torpedo boats. The Defense Department issued a statement emphasizing that the evidence that two American destroyers were attacked by North Vietnamese torpedo boats was ‘conclusive.’ …’any suggestion that the August 1964 attacks on U.S. destroyers in the Tonkin Gulf did not occur is contrary to the known facts,’ the Pentagon statement said.’… The Fulbright statement had the effect of bringing into the open doubts that have been expressed privately for several months by some Foreign Relations Committee members of the Gulf of Tonkin incidents.”…. Page 6: “Dick Gregory Says Here (in NYC) He’ll Continue Anti-War Fast Until January”… Page 24: “Romney In Jordan, Visits Arab Camps”…”…crossed into Jordan from Israel today in his world tour. He will meet with King Hussein…next on itinerary–Thailand…candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination…’I have come here to look, listen and learn.’ “….
23 December 1967…The President’s Daily Brief… VIETNAM: The Vietnamese Communists apparently are taking a cautious approach toward President Johnson’s television remarks about possible South Vietnamese contacts with the National Liberation Front. There has as yet been no official comment from either Hanoi or the Liberation Front. …the Front’s position on 20 December: “We do not intend in any way to ease the position of Saigon puppets or to help the American imperialists solve their problems.”… NORTH VIETNAM: Hanoi and the UN: Hanoi’s adamant opposition to any UN involvement in the settlement of the Vietnam problem was underscored recently in an effort to get the message across directly to diplomatic missions in the capital. The North Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs called in selected heads of Diplomatic missions and reiterated that the UN has no jurisdiction and that settlement must be on the basis of the Geneva agreements and the program of the Liberation Front….
23 DECEMBER 1967…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (24 Dec reporting 23 Dec ops) Page 1: “The air war in the North was curtailed, mostly due to cloudy weather, with American pilots flying 72 missions. On Clear days they fly about 175 missions. Spokesmen said that on Friday two Navy planes–an A-4 Skyhawk and an A-7 Corsair–were shot down by ground fire in North Vietnam. Both pilots are listed s missing. This raised to 769 the number of planes downed in North Vietnam. It was the first time that one of the new A-7 Corsairs had been reported shot down. (These losses were reported by Hobson on 22 December and posted in RTR yesterday)… “Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There were no fixed wing aircraft losses in Southeast Asia on 23 December 1967…
President Johnson’s Visit with the troops at Korat 23-24 December 1967. From the compilation of Howie Plunkett “34TFS/F-105 History“… “President Lyndon B. Johnson visited (the 388th TFW at) Korat RTAFB the evening of 23-24 December. The Commander-in-Chief spent the night at the base and made a pre-dawn address to base personnel. He presented medals to six (eight) pilots from Thailand based wings. More than 5,000 personnel gathered for the speech at the base flight line. The President arrived from funeral services (on 21 December) for Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt) on the first leg of an around-the-world tour….. A new and as yet unoccupied dormitory helped to house the presidential entourage of about 300, including some seventy-five reporters. George Christian, the President’s press secretary, told reporters that for security reasons they could not file stories until after the president left early in the morning. But the Thai press broke the story, and reporters spent all night using telephones and typewriters at wing headquarters.”
(Webmaster note: Prime Minister of Australia Harold Holt disappeared on 17 December 1967 while swimming in the ocean at Cheviot Beach, Victoria, Australia. There is lots of conjecture and many conspiracy theories surrounding his disappearance)
“President Johnson arrived at Korat at 1010 PM Friday 23 December. That night he met in the Officer’s Club with General Momyer, 7th Air Force Commander, and pilots who briefed him on their missions. F-105 pilots speaking were Captain Dennis Jarvi from the 469TFS, who described the recent raid (on 14 December) in which he participated against the Paul Doumer bridge. Major Michael S. Muskat a veteran of 25 combat missions briefed the President on the anti-aircraft defenses and SAM suppression missions flown by his squadron, the 44th TFS. Captain John H. Schaub, also from the 469th, briefed on the role of the mission commander, including overall planning and execution of a combat strike. Captain Schaub had flown 83 combat missions and served as mission commander on several occasions. When asked by General Momyer for an opinion of the value of the bombing and its effect on the abilities of the North Vietnamese to sustain their aggression in the South, Captain Irving E. LeVine from the 34th TFS, who had flown 82 combat missions, outlined the tremendous destructive power being unleashed on key communist targets by Air Force strikes. Many years later when shown his description of the event LeVine commented: “B.S. I never said anything like that.’ “
President Johnson also greeted Captain Douglas A. Beyer, 34th TFS from Sequin, Texas, who had flown 60 combat missions and had attended Southwest Texas State College, the same school from which President had graduated in 1930. Captain Byer had graduated from the school in 1950.
Major Spence M. ‘Sam” Armstrong from the 34th TFS attended the President’s talk at the Officer’s Club and documented his observations in his memoirs. “President Johnson visited us just before Christmas. We had only 12 hours warning. Since Colonel Burdett had been shot down in November the Air Force had sent a senior Colonel from Okinawa, Col Neil Graham. He was all excited about the visit and worked hard to see that we presented a good image to LBJ. The most obvious thing was to remove some embarrassing things from the club. Some artisans in the Philippines made a good living carving large wings from mahogany. They changed the middle part of the wings to designate pilot, navigator, etc. But some time earlier, a pilot from Korat had ordered a wings with an Edsel grill in the center and it was proudly displayed in the bar where the pilots recognized this as an indictment of Secretary Robert S. McNamara. This had to be removed for the time being, but I’m not sure LBJ would have understood the significance.
“He gave a speech to all of the pilots at the club that night and a speech to all Korat folks plus Camp Friendship the next morning at 5:00A.M. before he departed. I don’t remember what he had to say except he didn’t understand what we going through and he looked awfully tired…. The President was quartered in a series of trailers–his trailer was number one. The trailer had two bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen. The President’s large double bed filled one of the small bedrooms. Early the next morning the President was up and dressed by 5:00A.M.– in khaki shirt and pants and battle jacket. Walt Rostow and William Bundy came in the trailer briefly and the President greeted them and suggested they leave and find a way to get him into Karachi without the press finding out prior to arrival. In the dark of the early morn… “The President with General Momyer traveled by car to a flightline hangar where on a stage he presented awards to eight pilots… Silver Stars: Captain William Griger and Captain Donald Miles. DFCs: Major Myron Savage; Major Winford Bazelli; Major James Bassett; Major LLoyd Boothby; 1LT John Putnam: and, 1LT George Mc Kinney. After presenting the awards the President gave a short speech..(.see Ripple Salvo below).. At 5:41 the President departed Korat for… Cam Ranh Bay…
RIPPLE SALVO… #656… From the President’s Daily Diary: December 23,1967…
“After presenting the awards, President Johnson spoke to a crowd gathered in the pre-dawn darkness near the revetted F-105 parking stalls. ‘In the history of air power, no such difficult set of tasks has ever been assigned as those assigned to you…Guerrilla combat provides no easy targets and that is why aggressors here–as elsewhere–have been tempted to choose guerrilla targets as the means of their aggression. Yet here, for the first time, air power is actually depriving the aggressor of his advantage…Air power is denying access to cheap success or to ultimate victory… and no man can come here for even a short period and shake your hand or look you in the eye, and have the slightest bit of doubt for a moment that America is going to hold firm and America is going to sty faithful throughout the course–until an honorable peace is secured. God keep you, every one of you–and we shall always be deeply in your debt. Thank you, and good morning.’ “
Wayne Thompson’s “To Hanoi and Back” (page 113) includes the LBJ visit and speech at Korat and a few additional lines that rate inclusion here. “President Johnson had heard a great deal from Senator Symington and others about pilot frustration with trivial targets and overly restrictive rules of engagement. In recent months Johnson had given these pilots better targets, including the Paul Doumer Bridge that they had just struck again. Now he gave them a pep talk. ‘Guerrilla combat provides no easy targets,’ he explained. But a few airmen were ‘pinning down’ more than a half a million North Vietnamese trying to keep the transportation routes open. He praised the discipline, restraint, and steadfastness of Americans in uniform. At times he seemed to be giving himself a pep talk too. ‘The spirit of America is not be read on the placards or posters,’ he declared.
“The Korat speech marked the apex of good feeling between President Johnson and the military. Since the Stennis Hearings in August, he had approved some long-sought targets and shown Secretary of Defense McNamara the door.”…Thompson
RTR Quote for 23 December: WM. LLOYD GARRISON, Salutatory of the Liberator: “I am in earnest–I will not equivocate–I will not excuse–I will not retreat a single inch and I WILL BE HEARD.”…
Lest we forget… Bear
