Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #781 (continued)… “THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PROTESTS OF 1968 WERE ONE AMONG THE VARIOUS DEMONSTRATIONS THAT OCCURRED AROUND THE COUNTRY IN THAT YEAR. The Columbia protests erupted over the spring of that year after students discovered links between the university and the institutional apparatus supporting the United States’ involvement in the Vietnam war, as well as their concern over an allegedly segregated gymnasium to be constructed in the nearby Morningside Park. The protests resulted in the student occupation of many university buildings and the eventual violent removal of protesters by the New York City Police Department.” (Wikipedia)… but first…
Good Morning: Day SEVEN HUNDRED EIGHTY-ONE of a return to the 1960’s and 1968, which in the words of one author was, “The Year the Dream Died.”…
HEAD LINES from the OGDEN STANDARD-EXAMINER on Thursday, 25 April 1968…
Page 1: “COLUMBIA STUDENTS CONTINUE PROTEST–CLASSWORK RESUMES”… “Student demonstrators pushed their tumultuous protest at Columbia University into a third day today, demanding fellow students boycott their classes and blocking some with human barricades at three buildings. Tension rose as opponents of the protest sought to attend classes and confronted demonstrators blocking entrances to the classroom buildings. But the rest of the campus remained relatively calm as morning classes began…. Elsewhere there were these developments: About 300 Negro students at Boston University ended a daylong sit-in behind chained doors when the university president promised in work for most of their demands including expanded Negro enrollment…Students at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn., ended a similar sit-in early Wednesday when the administration agreed to meet demands for increased scholarship aid to Negro students.”… SUSPENSE IN CHICAGO–JOHNSON URGES U.S. UNITY IN NON-CANDIDATE TALK”… “President Johnson, as he makes duty calls around the nation following his dramatic withdrawal from the 1968 election, is proving to be a tantalizing candidate. Johnson made his first post-announcement political appearance at a Chicago gathering Wednesday night and, for a self-proclaimed lame duck managed to sneak suspense into his speech. The thrust of the chief executive’s remarks at a Democratic-sponsored fund raising dinner, was yet another appeal for national unity and a declaration that in the November balloting, perhaps , more than ever in the past,’we shall be choosing our future–and the future of our children,’ “… Page 3: “GUN CONTROL OKed IN COMMITTEE”… “The Senate Judiciary Committee has voted to clamp tighter restrictions on the sale of firearms, including a ban on mail order hand guns.”….
Page 1: “REDS PRESS POLISH SITE–LBJ REFUSES TO BUDGE–COMPROMISES ON PARIS APPEARS POSSIBILITY“… “High Administration officials say North Vietnam appears to be mounting a major campaign aimed at getting the United States to accept Warsaw as a site for peace talks. That was their assessment of Poland’s reported appeal to six embassies in Warsaw to exert influence in bringing preliminary peace talks on ending the Vietnam war.”…
THE WAR: Page 1: “SOUTH VIETNAMESE ADVANCE TO CUT RED SUPPLY LINES”… “South Vietnamese paratroopers have moved close to A Shau Valley to cut off North Vietnamese building up manpower and supplies there for a possible blow at Hue or other northern cities, military spokesman said today. The U.S. 1st Cavalry Division, in a directive warned its officers to expect a high level of enemy action, possibly an offensive in late April or early May in the Hue area… Amid round-the-cloud pounding of the valley by U.S. B52 bombers, nearly 2,000 South Vietnamese paratroopers launched Operation Lam Son 216 last Friday, but it was not announced until today for security reasons…. There was no mention of U.S. forces in the operation. But the valley has been subjected to relentless saturation bombing for more than three weeks by the USAF B52s, its biggest warplanes… IN OTHER DEVELOPMENTS…South Vietnamese infantry men supported by U.S. helicopters gunships reported killing 40 North Vietnamese troops along Highway 1–The Street Without Joy–east of Quang Tri City. Two U.S. helicopters crashed in the northern end of the country.”…
25 APRIL 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…The OGDEN S-E (AP/UPI) No coverage of air operations north of the DMZ… “Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There were three fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 25 April 1968…
(1) LTCOL H.D. SHULTZ was flying an A-1J of the 602nd TFS and 56th ACW on a night strike mission over the Ho Chi Minh Trail when downed by 37mm AAA. He was on a bomb run on trucks when hit. The aircraft was on fire and LTCOL SHULTZ immediately ejected in the proximity of his target and the enemy. He evaded successfully until rescued. LTCOL HAROLD D. SHULTZ was awarded the Silver Star for his intrepid performance while serving with the 6th Air Commando Squadron on 13 April 1968. “On that date, Colonel Shulz provide air cover during the rescue of a downed crew member. Due to the mountainous terrain and low clouds it was necessary that Colonel Shultz repeatedly expose himself to intense hostile ground fire in order to protect the downed crew member and rescue helicopter. His courage in the face of extremely adverse conditions and complete disregard for his own safety were the deciding factors in his successful rescue. By his gallantry and devotion to duty, Colonel Shultz has reflected great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.” A few weeks after he was downed, evaded capture and was rescued, Colonel Shulz was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for flights on May 20 and 21. “On those dates, Colonel Shultz led and directed combat support missions which resulted in the rescue of a trapped and surrounded friendly ground force. Despite intense and accurate hostile fire directed against the fighters in his own flight delivered their ordnance with extreme accuracy within twenty-meters of the friendly force in order to suppress hostile ground fire. Because of Colonel Shultz’ initiative, aggressiveness and leadership, the fleet of friendly helicopters was able to successfully complete the rescue of the trapped ground force. The professional competence, aerial skill,and devotion to duty displayed by Colonel Shultz reflected great credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.”… oohrah…
(2) MAJOR ALBERT COOK MITCHELL and 1LT GREGORY JOHN CROSSMAN were flying an F-4D of ther 497th TFS and 8th TFW with a division of Phantoms on an armed recce in Route Package I, 20 miles northwest of Dong Hoi when downed by ground fire. They were attacking a convoy of trucks and their aircraft never recovered from the dive. There were no chutes, no beepers and no voice communications with the two bold aviators. Fifty years ago this day MAJOR MITCHELL and LT CROSSMAN perished and rest where they fell. Their bodies have not been found…left behind…but remembered… with somber ans sympathetic thoughts for their families…
(3) MAJOR BILLY R. GIVENS was flying an F-105D of the 34th TFS and 388th TFW out of Korat and crashed while maneuvering to land upon return from a strike mission. LGEN Sam Armstrong commented on this tragedy in his memoirs. “One day I was sitting in the command post working on my next assignment (he had completed his 100th counter and was headed home) when I heard an explosion out on the runway. I raced out to see the flame and smoke coming from the approach end of the runway. I later learned that the pilot who was killed in this crash was Major Billy Givens. It was his 98th mission. He was sent around by the tower for some traffic concern and this apparently upset him. He used his afterburner to do the closed pattern and was very tight on his downwind. As he tried to horse his F-105D around the base leg, he pulled it into a high-speed stall and the aircraft impacted the far side of the runway at a high sink rate…”… The flying trade is unforgiving of human error, even as “to err is human.”… Major GIVENS was killed on his last flight fifty years ago today…
SUMMARY OF ROLLING THUNDER LOSSES (KIA/MIA/POW) ON 25 APRIL FOR THE FOUR YEARS OF THE OPERATION…
1965… None
1966 … CAPTAIN WARREN LEROY ANDERSON (KIA) and 1LT JAMES HALE TUCKER (KIA)…
1967… 1LT ROBERT LARRY WESKAMP (KIA)…. LT CHARLES DAVID STACKHOUSE, USN (KIA)…
1968… MAJOR ALBERT COOK MITCHELL (KIA) and 1LT GREGORY JOHN CROSSMAN (KIA)… MAJOR BILLY R. GIVENS (KIA) …
RIPPLE SALVO… #781… THE COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PROTESTS… Humble Host puts the home front in focus and includes this event for its historic value in influencing not just the Vietnam war, but the transformation of American education and politics. The nation’s colleges and universities of the 1960s were the incubator for the boomer generation and liberal and progressive thought dominated with immediate and lasting effect. At Columbia one of the loudest and most radical leaders was MARK RUDD. Rudd is quoted in The New York Times as an Op-Ed contributor on 22 April 2018… a few days ago. Quote: “I do not regret what we did that spring; I hope that young people today can draw inspiration as they design protests around gun control, mass incarceration, racist policing and climate change. But in doing so, it’s imperative they learn from our mistakes as well.”… Columbia University will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1968 Uprising over a three-day period in May 2018… The following is a post reporting the 40th reunion of the landmark event called “The Columbia ’68 Protests”
“On April 23, 1968, Columbia University students began a nonviolent occupation of campus buildings that lasted nearly a week. Students and community supporters called for the University to cut its ties to research for the war in Vietnam and to end construction of a gym in Morningside Park. After negotiations failed, the administration sent in the police, injuring many and arresting over 700, triggering a campus-wide strike that shut down the university.
“Forty-years later, participants in the protests organized a conference about the events of 1968 and about war, racism, sexism, and the role of universities. This web site is an outgrowth of that conference. It makes the proceedings of that conference and other material on the strike available to the public for non-commercial use. Our goal is to provide a repository for our experiences of the history of Columbia 1968 and to create a source of reflection and discussion of the events an issues of that time and how they relate to today.
“Years like 1968 don’t come around very often. Hope and horror ricocheted around the world in mind-bending fury. The year began with the election of Alexander Dubcek in Czechoslovakia, marking the beginning of a thaw that came to be known as Prague Spring. It was followed three weeks later by the Tet offensive in Vietnam, which suddenly made the mighty U.S. vulnerable. A week after that, three black students were killed by police during a protest against a segregated bowling alley in Orangeburg, S.C. In early March, Senator Eugene McCarthy, who called for a negotiate end to the war, came close to beating President Johnson in the New Hampshire primary. Before the month was out, Senator Robert Kennedy had thrown his hat in the ring, the My Lai massacre had occurred, and Johnson had announced he would not seek another term. A few days later, in early April, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, and 60 cities erupted in grief and rage. The year was less than a quarter gone.
“At Columbia, as elsewhere, students were reeling. A memorial service for King was disrupted in protest against Columbia’s plans to build a gymnasium on public park land that offered only limited backdoor access to residents of nearby Harlem. An official of the Selective Service System was hit by a lemon meringue pie during a talk on campus, a protest against the draft and the university’s involvement with the Institute for Defense Analyses, which did weapons research for the war in Vietnam.
“On April 23 several hundred students gathered at the sundial on the Columbia campus to protest the war and the gym led by Student Afro-American Society (SAS) and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS). some went to Morningside Park, where they tore down a fence around the gymnasium construction site and battled with police. Then they and other protesters marched into Hamilton Hall, Columbia’s main undergraduate classroom building, occupied its lobby, and prevented the dean of the college from leaving his office. By morning, African-American students continued to occupy Hamilton, while other Columbia and Barnard students, mostly white took over President Grayson Kirk’s office in Low Library. Soon student protesters took over three other buildings–Fayerweather, mathematics, and Avery.
“For six days, while demonstrations for and against the occupation roiled the campus, faculty members attempted to mediate. But to no avail. The stumbling block: a demand for amnesty for the protester that the administration was unwilling to accept. In the early morning hours of April 30, Kirk summoned the New York City Police, who entered the occupied buildings, beat many of the demonstrators, as well as bystanders and faculty members, and arrested more than 700. The building occupation was over, but the outrage was just starting to build, Thousands of students and faculty, many radicalized by the police action, went on strike, effectively shutting down the university for the rest of the semester.
“The gym was never built in Morningside Park, and Columbia’s weapons research contract was terminated. But the implications of the 1968 occupation and strike went far beyond those two demands. In the wake of Columbia’s protest, campuses around the world, from Paris and Prague to Tokyo and Mexico City. The social framework–institutions that excluded minorities, political parties that disenfranchised voters, a government that wage an unpopular war–seemed to be coming apart. Hopes were soon dashed. Before the year was out, Kennedy was assassinated. Prague Spring was crushed by Soviet tanks, the Chicago police violently beat protesters at the Democratic Convention, and Richard Nixon was elected President.
“On the 40th anniversary of the Columbia protests, alumni from around the county joined with current students, faculty, and community members to reexamine those historic events and their legacy. The three-day conference, which was held April 24-27, was part reunion, part reflection, and part reaching out to current students in an inter-generational dialogue about issues of race and war that still very much haunt America. participation, including scholars and civists, addressed such questions as the ethics of violent protest, the nature of academic freedom, and the consequences of 1968, from the emergence of the feminist movement to the creation of ethnic studies, programs and the mainstreaming of the counterculture. A special event was a dramatic presentation by many of the people involved in 1968–a living history of the occupation and strike. The 40th anniversary conference was both painful and joyful–fitting for a commemoration of 1968–and a unique encounter between generations. One of the last activities of the conference was a tree planting sponsored by Friends of Morningside Park and other community groups at the site in Morningside Park where the gym was to have been constructed.”…
RTR quote for 25 April: MARK RUDD: “In popular memory, the Columbia protests were a high point of the campus movement against the Vietnam War, and a mile marker in its radicalization.”…
Lest we forget… Bear
