Bear Taylor 
GOOD MORNING… Day NINE HUNDRED THIRTY-NINE of a return to the years of Operation Rolling Thunder, which was known only as “the air war” during the years of 1965 to 1 November 1968, when the military air forces of the United States were waging what was arguably the greatest air war in American history…
HEAD LINES from The New York Times on Monday, 30 September 1968….
THE WAR: Page 7: “ENEMY ATTACKS IN DANANG AREA–ALLIED POSTS SHELLED 2nd DAY”… “North Vietnamese troops attacked a United States Army special Forces camp and a province district headquarters south of Danang yesterday for the second consecutive day. The NVN fired 40 mortar shells into the Special Forces camp at Andus and charging behind a screen of machine-gun bullets and rocket-propelled grenades, tried to overrun an outpost of the district headquarters at Thuongduc… In action in the DMZ, American infantrymen found more than 400 North Vietnamese mortar rounds in two caches yesterday…It was the 14th consecutive day tht American troops operated in the neutralized territory long the border between North and South Vietnam… IN the outskirts of Hue, allied troops reported that 10 North Vietnamese regulars surrendered yesterday, bringing with them 13 rifles and an American made machine gun”... Page 4: “ENEMY BELIEVED FACING FOOD SHORTAGE IN VIETNAM”… “United States analysts believe that enemy troops on both sides of the demilitarized zone in Vietnam are facing food shortages as a result of a typhoon that struck early this month. Intelligence reports give evidence of widespread damage to food stocks of Vietcong and North Vietnamese fighting units and to the rice cfrops of central Vietnam due to be harvested in November. Typhoon Bess struck the northern provinces of South Vietnam, the Laos panhandle and the southern provinces of North Vietnam starting September 5. it brought the worst flooding those areas have experienced in 15 years….
HEAD LINES: “CLIFFORD DOUBTS EARLY CUTBACK IN VIETNAM FORCES– Chides Those Who Forecast Day Troops Will Return Home–secretary Terms Predictions Disservice To Our People”… “NIXON URGES FOUR STEPS TO CURB NATION’S CRIME”… Page 18: SOVIET ACTION SPURS NEW ALIGNMENTS IN BALKANS–Move Against Czechs Leads To Acts Of Cooperation–Yugoslavia, Austria, Italy and Atlanta Also Affected”… Page 34: “PRIVATE INSURANCE IS URGED AS A MEDICAID LINK–Government Panel Suggests Wider Financial Base By Using Private Carriers”… Page 32: “PUSH IS ON FOR FORTAS VOTE FOR SUPREME COURT CHIEF JUSTICE–Panel of 162 Lawyers Urges Senate To Cut Off Filibuster”… Page 40: POLITICS: “HUMPHREY CAJOLES, REBUKES AND SHOUTS AT HECKLERS UNTIL THEY ARE OUSTED–Group In Balcony Jeers Speakers Nominee Tells Protesters To Shut Up After Shouts”… “AGNEW RELAXES AFTER TV SHOW–Softens Chamberlain Talk And Apologizes”… SPORTS… YAZ and ROSE win Batting Titles…
30 SEPTEMBER 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… OGDEN STANDARD-EXAMINER (1 Oct reporting 30 Sept ops) Page 2: “AIR LOSSES…Meanwhile, American combat air losses continued. headquarters reported the loss of a fighter-bomber over North Vietnam and two helicopters over South Vietnam, all shot down by enemy ground fire. A Navy A-6 Intruder from the 7th Fleet carrier Constellation was downed Monday as American pilots flew 108 missions through moderate to heavy antiaircraft fire over North Vietnam’s southern panhandle. The Intruder, which went down about six miles below the 19th Parallel, was the 901st American warplane downed in combat in 3 and 1/2 years of bombing North Vietnam. The two crewmen are reported missing. In a delayed report command spokesman said the two Army helicopters were downed Sunday in the Mekong Delta and the northernmost 1st Corps areas.”…
VIETNAM: AIR LOSSES (Chris Hobson) There were two fixed-wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 30 September 1968…
(1) LTJG LARRY JACK VAN RENSELAAR and LT DOMENICK ANTHONY SPINELLI, flying an A-6A Intruder of the VA-196 Main Battery embarked in USS Constellation were part of a three A-6 mission to conduct night armed reconnaissance north and west of Vinh using radar to find and destroy truck traffic. When LTJG VAN RENSELAAR and LT SPINELLI observed and called the liftoff of two SAMs headed in their direction. The other two Intruder crews observed the two SAM bursts at about 5,000-feet and a subsequent explosion 20-seconds later on the ground. Coincidentally, the E-2C orbiting at sea observed the VAN RENSELEAR/SPINELLI A-6’s IFF (Identify Friend or Foe) disappear off their tracking scopes. No Voice contact or beepers were heard. SAR efforts the next day located the wreckage.
The following is quote from the POWNETWORK account of the loss… I quote…
“An A-6 jet plane was shot down near the 19th parallel on September 30, 1968. The pilot was trying to make it to the coast when it crashed on land. This aircraft was downed over Nghe An Province and the fate of the crew was not mentioned. Although emergency signals were heard, search and rescue was negative. Both men were classified Missing in Action, and their families were given little hope. A Radio Hanoi broadcast on October 1, 19687 was received which alluded to the shooting down of an A-6 jet plane on September 30, 1968. This aircraft was downed over Nghe An Province and the fate of the crew was not mentioned. Spinelli and Van Renselaar were not among the 591 American POWs returned at the end of the war. Their families were told the returning POWs had no information about the men.
“In early 1987, Diane Van Renselaar called Raye (Spinelli) with the news that the two men had been maintained in Category I, indicating CONFIRMED enemy knowledge. Diane had never been told this, nor had Raye. The two wives decided to review their husband’s files for information. Raye found that Spinelli had been identified by a Navy pilot held prisoner in Hanoi and that Spinelli’s photograph had been positively identified by the CIA as a prisoner. Diane found that both men had been included on a 1986 negotiation list. Both families feel their men had been captured– and they lied to us.
“The Van Renselaar and Spinelli families continue to press for answers, with limited success. Diane Van Renselaar said, ‘All POW/MIA families have the right to know the complete truth. If they are alive, we have a right to know. If they are dead, we must be told. Why has information been withheld from us? If they are dead, we must be told. Why has information been withheld from us? Why is it still being withheld? What are they afraid of?”… End quote…
LCDR VAN RENSELAAR’s remains were returned to the United States in 1989 without explanation. “Spike” Spinelli rests in peace where God only knows. He is classified as “XX” (Presumptive Finding of Death)…LEFT BEHIND, but not forgotten…
(2) CAPTAIN CLIFFORD WAYNE FIESZEL and MAJOR HOWARD HORTON SMITH were flying an F-105F Wild Weasel of the 333rd TFS and 355th TFW out of Takhli when downed by North Vietnamese AAA five miles west of Dong Hoi while attacking a SAM site. Their wingman had been hit earlier and had turned east to get clear of the hostile area and, as a consequence did not observe CAPTAIN FIESZEL and MAJOR SMITH after they rolled in on the target. It was presumed that they went down in the target area where a beeper was heard for 24 hours after the loss. Radio Hanoi broadcast the following day that two aircraft had been downed and that one pilot had been captured. Nothing more was heard of either CAPTAIN FIESZEL or MAJOR SMITH and they were presumed Killed In Action. Both men are now listed in the status of “XX” (Presumptive Finding of Death)… That is the short version of the story. Read the full Task Force Omega report on CAPTAIN FIESZEL and MAJOR SMITH.
Humble Host– I have been emersed in the Fate of Rolling Thunder warriors for the last 2 1/2 years. Never have I come across a more open case of unresolved fate. At least one of these guys was alive on the ground, but neither has been accounted for. SOMEBODY WAS LEFT BEHIND…
RTR Quote for 30 September: Task Force Omega: “Fighter pilots in Vietnam and Laos were called upon to fly in many dangerous circumstances and they were prepared to be wounded, killed or captured. Ii probably never occurred to them that they could be abandoned by the country they so proudly deserved.”….
WHERE ARE COMMANDER SPINELLI, LCOL FIESZEL and COLONEL SMITH???
Lest we forget…. Bear
