Bear Taylor 
… AND A REMEMBRANCE OF VICE ADMIRAL WILLIAM P. LAWRENCE, USN (1930-2005)…
RIPPLE SALVO… #845… “KHE SAHN DECISION CALLED MILITARY”… (Reuters, 27 Jun 68)… “THE WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY, GEORGE CHRISTIAN, SAID TODAY THE ABANDONMENT OF KHES ANH WAS A MILITARY DECISION AND HAD NOT BEEN MADE BY PRESIDENT JOHNSON. Reporters had asked if Mr. Johnson had made the decision and had recalled speeches in which he spoke of Khe Sanh as a symbol of Untied States determination to carry on the war.”…. but first…
GOOD MORNING…Day EIGHT HUNDRED FORTY-FIVE of a contribution to the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War…
HEAD LINES from The New York Times on Friday, 28 June 1968…
THE WAR: Page 1: “UNITS NEAR SAIGON FIND 126 ROCKETS–3 ENEMY CACHES UNEARTHED IN DIKES OF RICE PADDIES–Clash Flares at Quangtri”… “Enough rockets to mount the war’s heaviest shelling of Saigon were found yesterday in rice paddles 13 miles northwest of the capital, a spokesman said. The rockets, 126 of them, and other munitions were unearthed by South Vietnamese infantrymen in three caches along the series of dikes. they were covered only by a thin blanket of earth….Presumably, the seizure of the munitions dealt a blow to the enemy troops in the capital district… the South Vietnamese National Police said that for the seventh successive night no rockets or mortar shells fellonSaigon…Longan and Dongha were shelled… In a clash 19 miles west of Saigon troops of the United States Ninth Infantry Division reported having killed 42 of the enemy. American losses were 11 killed in action.”… Page 2: “WEEKLY CASUALTY REPORT: The military command reported that United States combat deaths totaled 299 in the week ended last Saturday (24th). this was the lowest fatality rate since the week ended last April 20 when 287 Americans died in combat. In the latest casualty figures 1,184 Americans were wounded seriously enough to be treated in hospitals and 1,036 were less seriously wounded. The deaths brought the number of Americans killed in action since Jan. 1, 1961, to 25,367. The number seriously wounded rose to 82,972.”…
TOTAL US MILITARY DEATHS FOR WAR= 58,202 (47,378 IN COMBAT)… TOTAL WOUNDED=303,704 (HOSPITALIZED=153,329)
PEACE TALKS: Page 2: “DELEGATES IN PARIS SILENT ON 2 REPORTS”…”Neither the American nor the North Vietnamese delegations to the talks on Vietnam would comment on two interviews printed in the last 24 hours that purported to represent North Vietnam’s views. Reliable NVN sources declined to endorse either interview. The first, printed in the Far East Economic Review, the left-wing Australian journalist Wilfred Burchett said that Hanoi would be willing to accept a neutral South Vietnam that would inevitably be run by a Communist-oriented Government. The second interview was given The New York Times by David Dellinger, editor of the Liberation magazine in New York and a leader of campaigns to end the war in Vietnam.”… Page 1: “MOSCOW OFFERS TO START TALKS ON MISSILE CURB–Gromyko Tells Parliament Soviet Is Ready To Meet On 1967 Proposal–Broad Treaty Is Urged–Russian Insists It Would Limit Both Defensive and Offensive Systems”… Page 1: “U.S. ENCOURAGED BY SOVIET STAND–Expected to Seek an Early Meeting On Missiles”…
STATE DEPARTMENT. Office of Historian. Historical Document. Foreign Relations. 1964-68. Document 286. Telegram from Peace delegate #2 Cyrus Vance detailing a long conversation with the Soviet Ambassador Zorin in Paris, who suggests US unconditionally cease bombing of North Vietnam and “trust” NVN to follow with a reciprocal de-escalation move… Insight into the slow pace of diplomatic negotiations… Read at:
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d286
Page 1: “CRONYISM SCORED ON SUPREME COURT CHOICES–JOHNSON ASSAILED IN THE SENATE FOR NAMING TWO OLD FRIENDS–FILIBUSTER PLAN GAINS”… “… Senate Republicans promised a filibuster, if necessary to block the confirmation of Associate Justice Abe Fortas as Chief Justice and Federal Judge Homer Thornberry of Texas as Associate Justice. Justice Fortas and Judge Thornberry are two of President Johnson’s oldest and closest friends. The President nominated yesterday Justice Fortas to succeed Chief Justice Earl Warren, who is retiring, and Judge Thornberry to succeed Justice Fortas as Associate Justice. A group of 18 Republicans laid plans for a filibuster…” Page 1: “FRANCE SEES DISCRIMINATION IN U.S. TRADE RETALIATION”… Page 1: “JOHNSON SUBMITS PLAN FOR VOTING FOR 18-YEAR-OLDS–Sends Congress Amendment To Assure Nation’s Youth That They are To Be Trusted”… Page 1: “SENATE PANEL DELAYS ACTION ON GUN CURBS UNTIL JULY 9–Move Seen as Victory For Opponents Of Stiff Controls–Tydings of Maryland Leading Figure–Calls Vote real Defeat”… Page 1: “JAMES EARL RAY TELLS COURT HE IS NOT GUILTY IN DR. KING DEATH–U.S. Says At London Hearing His Fingerprints Were On The Rifle and Binoculars–Extradition Case is On–Detective Asserts Suspect Said After Arrest, ‘God I Feel So Trapped.'” …Page 2: “UNIVERSITY CAMPUS LEADERS TO REFUSE DRAFT–1000 FOES OF WAR IN VIETNAM SIGN STUDENT GROUP PLEDGE”…
28 JUNE 1968…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER the air war over North Vietnam…New York Times (29 Jun reporting 28 Jun ops) Page 2: “In other air action, American pilots flew 138 missions over the southern part of North Vietnam. No aircraft were reported lost. Ten boats, six antiaircraft sites, 13 trucks and a number of bridges and highways were reported destroyed in the air attacks.”…VIETNAM: AIR LOSSES (Chris Hobson) There was one fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 28 June 1968…
(1) MAJOR PAUL FREDERICK JOHNS was flying an A-1H of the 6th ACS and 14th ACW out of Pleiku on an armed reconnoissance mission southeast of the A Shau Valley and was downed by ground fire attacking a truck with napalm. He failed to abandon the aircraft before it crashed. Major Johns was listed as missing in action for the duration of the war during which he was promoted to Colonel. Unfortunately, he remains missing and his status had been changed to presumed killed in action and the search for his remains apparently continues…he has been left behind for fifty years. He is remembered on this 50th anniversary of his final flight with respect and admiration for his sacrifice and his families endurance over five decades awaiting a return of his remains…
SUMMARY OF ROLLING THUNDER LOSSES (KIA/MIA/POW) ON 28 JUNE FOR THE FOUR YEARS OF THE OPERATION OVER NORTH VIETNAM…
1965… NONE…
1966… NONE…
1967… COMMANDER WILLIAM P. LAWRENCE, USN… (POW)… and… LTJG JAMES W. BAILEY, USN… (POW)…
1968… NONE…
Humble Host notes the 51st anniversary of Vice Admiral Lawrence’s date with destiny and his North Vietnamese captors, along with about 600 other Rolling Thunder warriors in the prison hostel labeled Hanoi Hilton. For the duration of more than five years of torture, beatings, solitary confinement, and a full array of inhumane treatment by the North Vietnamese, Vice Admiral Lawrence was firm in his resistance to his captors to establish a standard of conduct that won him the admiration of his fellow prisoners. One came away convinced that then Commander Lawrence was ‘the greatest man I’ve ever known…” …Vice Admiral Lawrence was indeed a giant of a man and Humble Host treasures our shared memories as Tailhookers… Rest in Peace dear friend and mentor…
RIPPLE SALVO… #845… NYT, 28-JUN-68, Page 2, by Gene Roberts:
“DECISION TO ABANDON KHE SANH EXPLAINED–U.S. Aides Say Position Is No Longer So Valuable On War”…
“When an enemy force estimated at two divisions began closing in on the Marine combat base at Khe Sanh 5 1/2 months ago, the United States military command decided that the little known outpost was far too important to lose. It set in motion one of history’s most intensive aerial bombardments and rushed 4,000 men to help the defending Marine battalion. For ten weeks the allied force endured a daily barrage of enemy rockets and artillery shells and defending planes pounded the area with 220 million pounds of bombs. The enemy assault never came. Then, this week, with no more advance warning that it gave when it rushed reinforcements to Khe Sanh, the military began dismantling bunkers and blowing up trenches as part of a plan to abandon the base.
QUESTIONS RAISED IN SAIGON…
“Why, if Khe Sanh was worth defending earlier this year at such a heavy cost, is the military abandoning it now?…Does the decision have major strategic implications? And does it mean that the allies are conceding the northernmost corner of South Vietnam, where Khe Sanh is situated, to the enemy?
“These questions were being asked repeatedly in Saigon today. And the military command, having pondered for weeks whether to abandon the outpost, was ready with not one but many reasons for its decision. ‘One of the major points to keep in mind is that the military situation around Khe Sanh has changed drastically since the first two or three months of this year,’ a general who serves on the command staff in Saigon said. ‘And when the situation changes, you ought to change your tactics. He said that in January, Khe Sanh was at the ‘crossroads’ of several key enemy infiltration routes into South Vietnam from North Vietnam and Laos. But in the past first months, he continued, the enemy has opened up still more routes. As a result Khe Sanh was no longer as valuable as it once was in trying to check infiltration, he said.
‘MOBILE OFFENSIVE’ FAVORED’…
“Now that the number of routes has increased, according to this general, the best way to cope with infiltration is with a ‘mobile defense’–that is, several battalions that move from route to route in an attempt to find and destroy the enemy. ‘This wasn’t possible until recently because we just didn’t have the manpower for it in I Corps (the five northernmost provinces of South Vietnam),’ he went on. ‘But we’ve got a lot more men up there now. We’ve sent in two extra Army Divisions, one additional Marine regiment and a Korean Marine brigade since January.’
“The general also said that it ‘doesn’t make sense’ to tie up a Marine battalion in defending Khe Sanh in order to use it as a supply center for servicing mobile troops. He said that this function could be taken over by other installations in the general area–such as Camp Stud, which, unlike Khe Sanh, is beyond the 17-mile range of the enemy artillery in the demilitarized zone at the border between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. ‘Or, if we need to,’ the general went on, ‘we can set up temporary base camps wherever we need them.’
BASE WAS ‘IN THE WAY’…
“We certainly aren’t abandoning the northernmost corner of Vietnam to the enemy in leaving Khe Sanh,’ the general said. “We can defend it better with mobile operations than we can by staying on at Khe Sanh. Khe Sanh was in the way. It was tying us down.’ Another high military official said that even if Khe Sanh had not been considered important in January, it would have been difficult to withdraw with two divisions in the area. ‘They could have moved and hit us as we were withdrawing,’ he said. ‘We would have been very vulnerable.’
“The United States command was also concerned in January about the psychological effects on a withdrawal. Most of the leading American generals felt that world opinion would have considered it a sign of weakness and collapse if Khe Sanh were abandoned under siege. But once the siege was lifted, these same generals saw no reason for staying.
SOME OFFICERS DELIGHTED…
“Not a few military officials are delighted. They say that the terrain at Khe Sanh is not ideally suited for a combat base. It is in a valley, which makes it vulnerable to artillery and mortar attack once the enemy sizes the high ground. ‘I don’t think we ever really planned to have a base in the first place,’ a colonel said. ‘In the beginning, we just had a small Special Forces camp there, and then the marines came in. After that, the enemy surrounded it, we responded, and all of a sudden we had five to six thousand men there.’ The colonel was asked if he believed that the command was wrong in defending Khe Sanh, as critics in Congress and in the public in general were suggesting at the height of the siege in February and March.
‘Hell, no,’ the colonel said. ‘We killed many, many more of their troops than we lost ourself. We showed them that if we wanted to hold Khe Sanh we could do it.’
CASUALTY ESTIMATES VARY…
“While the command has American casualties at 800 wounded and evacuated during the siege estimates of enemy casualties have varied widely. The command now places the ‘body count’ at 2,500, although General William Westmoreland, the former commanding general here, once estimated that 15,000 had been killed. Officials were asked if this month’s departure of General Westmoreland, who ordered the defense of Khe Sanh in January, had everything to do with the decision to abandon it. Several said it did not. “Several weeks before he left, he asked General Cushman (Lieut. Gen. Robert Cushman, the Marine commander in the I Corps area) to study the Khe Sanh situation,’ a general said. ‘Cushman’s recommendation was accepted.’
“Many Marine officers have contended from the start that they should not be tied to ‘static defense’ positions such as Khe Sanh, but should instead be free to pursue the enemy without having many permanent base camps to protect. While the Marines appear to have won their way at Khe Sanh, one Army official said it was not likely that the allies would abandon the seven other installations within the range of enemy artillery in the demilitarized zone. He said that most of them were on high ground that the command would not want to turn over to the enemy. ‘Khe Sanh was always different,’ he said. ‘It was an exception.’… “…. End Gene Roberts…
TOMORROW: “Hanoi Ridicules U.S. Over Khe Sanh–Spokesman In Paris Asserts Withdrawal From Base Is ‘Gravest Defeat’ of War”…
RTR Quote for 28 June: VICE ADMIRAL BILL LAWRENCE: “Bravery is not the absence of fear; it’s the ability to keep going in the presence of fear. Never give up.”… oohrah….
Lest we forget… Bear
