Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #759… THE TET OFFENSIVE and the SIEGE OF KHE SANH… where the allies won the battles–tactical successes–but the enemy “declared a great strategic victory”… but first…
GOOD MORNING: Day SEVEN HUNDRED FIFTY-NINE of another look at the chapter of American military history logged fifty years ago–the 40-month air war against North Vietnam called ROLLING THUNDER…
HEAD LINES from the OGDEN STANDARD-EXAMINER (AP-UPI) for Wednesday, 3 APRIL 1968…
Page 1: “HANOI AGREES TO NEGOTIATE ON CONDITIONAL PEACE MOVE–ASKS TALKS, FULL HALT IN BOMBING”… “North Vietnam responded to President Johnson.s new offer today by announcing its readiness for talks about a complete U.S. bombing halt so that peace negotiations can begin. The response, an apparent shift in Hanoi’s position, got top priority attention in Washington. However, U.S. strategists were unwilling to say immediately whether this meant the breakthrough in long-stalled efforts to get peace discussions underway. Hanoi’s announcement came in Vietnamese language radio broadcast which was picked up by U.S. monitors, translated and rushed to the White house, State Department and other key agencies.”… Page 1: “RELIEF FORCES ADVANCE ON BESIEGED KHE SANH”… “About 8,000 U.S. and South Vietnamese troops have launched a drive to lift the enemy siege of the Marine base at Khe Sanh…against little resistance the column was reported about eight miles from Khe Sanh. the relief force was expected to push through soon to the battered fortress in the northwest where 6,000 Marines and 1,900 South Vietnamese have been encircled since January by from 18,000 to 20,000 North Vietnamese regulars.”…
Page 1: “McCARTHY, NIXON SNARE WISCONSIN PRIMARY VOTE”… “Democrat Eugene McCarthy triumphant with 57 per cent of the vote in Wisconsin’s prelude to battle, turned today toward the arenas which pose the real test of his claim that he can win the White House. And richard M. Nixon added another trophy in his march toward the Republican presidential nomination.”… Page 1: “Senate Approves Tax Boost Plan”… “The Senate has voted for hiking taxes while holding down federal spending… “Page 1: “HUMPHREY AND BOBBY CONFER WITH LBJ”… “President Johnson met today for about an hour each with Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey and Senator Robert f. Kennedy, D-N.Y. The two meetings were separate and the White House had almost nothing to say about either one.”… Page 1: “Historic Buying Spree Erupts On Wall Street”… “The stock market exploded into its greatest buying surge in history as Wall Street responded bullishly today to the North Vietnam answer to the United States peace move… 10.64 million shares changed hands, the ticker was 45 minutes late and the DJ at noon was up 12.95 at 876.91.”…
3 APRIL 1968 LBJ PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT: “Today the government of North Vietnam made a statement which included the following paragraph, and I quote: ‘However, for its part, the Government of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam declare its readiness to appoint its representatives to contact the United States representative with a view of determining with the American side the unconditional cessation of the United States bombing raids and an all other acts of war against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam so that talks may start.’…Last Sunday night I expressed the position of the United States with respect to peace in Vietnam and Southeast Asia as follows: “Now, as in the past, the United States is ready to send its representatives to any forum, at any time, to discuss the means to bring this war to an end. ” Accordingly, we will establish contact with the representatives of North Vietnam. Consultations with the Government with South Vietnam and our other allies are now taking place…So that you may have as much notice as I am able to give you on another matter, I will be leaving tomorrow evening, late, for Honolulu. I will meet with certain of our representatives, American representatives from South Vietnam, for a series of meetings over the weekend in Hawaii. Thank you, very much.”…
STATE DEPARTMENT. OFFICE OF HISTORIAN. HISTORICAL DOCUMENTS. FOREIGN RELATIONS, 1964-68, VIETNAM: Three documents rate a reading. Document 176 is a summary in detail of a 1+45 minute meeting between the President and Robert Kennedy… this is a FIVE Star read…Document 177 records briefly the President’s meeting with several of his most senior advisors following the meet with RFK to discuss the Hanoi comeback to the President’s 31 March speech… FOUR Stars… Document 178 is the notes from a meeting with the senior advisors to prepare the President for his press conference…FOUR Stars… read at…
176… https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d176
177… https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d177
178… https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v06/d178
3 APRIL 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… OGDEN S-E (AP)…NO coverage of air war over the north…focus on Khe Sanh… “Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There were two fixed wing aircraft lost on 3 April 1968…
(1) MAJOR RICHARD ZOCK and A1C T.I. TILLOTSON were flying a B-57B of the 8th TBS and 35th TFW and took a 37-mm hit while making second pass on a target about 20 miles southwest of the A Shau Valley. MAJOR ZOCK was able to fly the aircraft back to Phang Rang but damage to the aircraft rendered it “damaged beyond economical repair’ and it was stricken from the rolls… Good job…
(2) CAPTAIN RONALD REUEL REXROAD and CAPTAIN JOHN CHARLES HARDY were flying an RF-4C of the 11th TRS and 432 TRW out of Udorn on a photo mission to develop targets for future operations.
The remains of Captain Hardy were recovered by Navy personnel in April 1968. CAPTAIN REXROAD remains where he fell fifty years ago in the service of our country…glory gained, duty done…
On this day 50 years ago Humble Host flew #131, a Steel Tiger flight of four to work with a FAC under the Hillsboro umbrella. Hit FAC smoke on an “artillery site” northwest of Khe Sanh. 5 MK-82s x 4 on the target in good weather (about as described in the Task Force Omega report)….
RIPPLE SALVO… #759… From the history of “THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF and THE WAR IN VIETNAM, 1960-1968, Part 3,” Chapter 10: The Tet Offensive… While the Tet Offensive attacks on the cities of South Vietnam in February and March of 1968 ran their course, the siege of Khe Sanh moved toward an anticlimactic conclusion….
“During February, the North Vietnamese kept up pressure on the base. Using tank for the first time in the war, they overran the nearby Special Forces camp at Lang Vei and once again (without tanks) unsuccessfully assaulted a Marine outpost. They repeatedly attacked the positions on the base perimeter of the garrison’s lone ARVN Ranger battalion, but each time the South Vietnamese, aided by US supporting fires, drove them off. The North Vietnamese bombarded the base daily. On 23 February, the crescendo of the attack of fire, they struck Khe Sanh with more than 1,300 rocket, artillery, and mortar rounds. The Americans responded with a much heavier rain of bombs and shells on enemy positions, turning the landscape around the Khe Sanh into a barren expanse of craters. Even under the heaviest bombardment, fixed wing aircraft and helicopters kept ammunition and rations coming in to the base and took the wounded out. During March, the enemy pressure on Khe Sanh slackened, as the besieging North Vietnamese divisions gradually slipped away. During the first part of April, US Army and Marine forces, in OPERATION PEGASUS, re-established ground contact with Khe Sanh, although sporadic fighting continued around the base. From the US perspective at least, OPERATION PEGASUS brought a successful end to the battle for Khe Sanh.
“… In mid-February General Westmoreland announced his intention to replace MACV Forward with a Provisional Corps Vietnam (Prov Corps), under General Cushman’s operational control, which would direct combat operations in Thua Thieu and Quang Tri, the two most northern provinces of I Corps. The corps went into operation on 10 March under command of Lieutenant General William B. Rosson, USA.
“By the time the Prov Corps went into operation and Khe Sanh was relieved, the great enemy offensive had ended. The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers who had invaded the cities were dead or had fallen back into the countryside, harried on their way by allied counterattacks. Relief and reconstruction operations were underway in battle damaged areas of South Vietnam. Pushed by Ambassador Komer, territorial forces and civilian pacification teams were moving out into the countryside, where they exploited the military power vacuum left by Viet Cong units that had gone to the cities and not returned. President Thieu’s government had responded to the crisis with energy that impressed its American sponsors; and the ARVN for the most part, had fought creditably. In both cities and countryside there were signs of increased popular support for the Saigon government and declining belief in Viet Cong claims of legitimacy and victory.
“On the ground in South Vietnam, the allies thus could view the outcome of the Tet offensive as a tactical success for themselves. On the larger stage, however, the enemy had good reason to call the General Offensive/General Uprising ‘a great strategic victory.’ In the United States, the offensive profoundly shocked both officialdom and the public–an effect intensified by graphic and frantic media coverage of the fighting and destruction. Television images of wrecked buildings, corpses in city streets, and haggard Marines cowering under artillery fire at Khe Sanh left an impression that optimistic reports from MACV and the US Embassy in Saigon could not eradicate. Military men had been perfectly aware that the enemy possessed the capability to attack on a large-scale if he were willing to pay the price. The administration had known since late 1967 that a big offensive was likely, but it did nothing to prepare the American people for this eventuality. When the attack came, it appeared to many Americans in and outside of government that previous optimistic progress appraisals had been wholly erroneous. The enemy seemed to be growing stronger rather than weaker, a hydra-headed monster invulnerable to military defeat. Whether the leaders in Hanoi had included influencing US opinion among the objectives for their attack is doubtful. But there could be no doubt whatever that, in this realm, they had attained unqualified success, to a degree exceeding their fondest hopes.”… End quote…
Fifty Years Ago this day the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. was in the last hours of his life. Humble Host references two articles available on the internet for your perusal if you have a few minutes to prepare for what was an earthshaking event in world history. On the morning of 3 April 1968 the clock was ticking for Dr. King… Here are two accounts of those last hours:
(1) “Six : 01: Martin Luther King, Jr. — The last 32 Hours”…
http://601.commercialappeal.com/
(2) “Cries and Whispers”…The New York Times…
RTR Quote for 3 April: SUN TZU, The Art of War; “Invincibility lies in the defense; the possibility for victory in the attack.”…
Lest we forget… Bear…
