ROLLING THUNDER REMEMBERED 6 JUNE 1968

RIPPLE SALVO… #823… FIFTY-FOUR YEARS AGO THIS DAY NAVY LT. CHARLES FREDERICK KLUSMANN, FLYING AN RF-8A OF VFP-63 EMBARKED IN USS KITTY HAWK ON A PHOTO RECCE MISSION OVER NORTHERN LAOS, WAS SHOT DOWN BY THE PATHET LAO TO BECOME THE FIRST U.S. NAVY JET LOSS AND THE FIRST AMERICAN AVIATOR POW IN THE VIETNAM WAR. HE WAS CAPTURED AND HELD FOR THREE MONTHS BY THE PATHET LAO BEFORE ESCAPING ON 30 AUGUST 1964 TO BECOME THE FIRST DOWNED AVIATOR TO ESCAPE CAPTIVITY AND RETURN TO ACTIVE DUTY AND FLY AGAIN… First in, first out…

LT KLUSMANN was awarded the DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS… “… for heroism and extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight during May and June 1964. Lieutenant Klusmann, attached to and serving with Light Photographic Squadron SIXTY-THREE, Detachment C, embarked in USS KITTY HAWK (CVA-63) had been engaged in unarmed reconnaissance flights over Laos in the Plaines des Jarres area. On 21 May 1964, his first flight into the area, his aircraft was struck by ground fire, and burned for a period of twenty-minutes. Exercising superior airmanship, he was able to return safely to the ship. On 6 June 1964, on another low-level flight, his aircraft was shot down about ten miles south of the Plaines des Jarres at noon local time. Lieutenant Klusmann ejected from his aircraft and was observed on the ground. An attempt was made to rescue him by helicopter from a clearing but as the helicopter approached the area Lieutenant Klusmann, exhibiting heroism of the highest order, waved it off. Almost immediately, he was observed to be surrounded by Pathet Lao troops. The rescue helicopter was subjected to ground fire and one of the occupants was wounded before it could depart the area. Subsequently, the Chinese Communist radio announced that the Pathet Lao had captured Lieutenant Klusmann. Lieutenant Klusmann’s unswerving devotion to duty, professional skill and courage were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.”… The details of his adventure in Laos, including his escape, are reported in a myriad of posts on the internet. Great reading. Ripple Salvo #823 posts an essay originally published in the U.S Naval Institute’s Proceedings and later in the Air Force Magazine in October 1999. This condensed version is posted here. The original was written by Navy Commander Glenn Tierney, fighter pilot. “ROBERT McNAMARA AND THE EXPENDABLE PILOT”… but first…  

Good Morning: Day EIGHT HUNDRED TWENTY-THREE of a 1000-day journal of the events and participants of a page from American History called Rolling Thunder, the air war over North Vietnam 1965-68…

HEAD LINES from THE NEW YORK TIMES on Thursday, 6 June 1968…

Page 1: “ROBERT F. KENNEDY IS DEAD–VICTIM OF ASSASSIN–SUSPECT, ARAB IMMIGRANT, ARRAIGNED–JOHNSON APPOINTS PANEL ON VIOLENCE–SURGERY IN VAIN–PRESIDENT CALLS DEATH A TRAGEDY–PROCLAIMS DAY OF MOURNING”… Page 1: “Notes on Kennedy Found in Suspects Home–Cite Necessity to Murder Senator Before June 5, Anniversary of Israeli-Arab War of June 1967″… Page 1: “FATHER OF SUSPECT SICKENED BY NEWS–Says ‘Let Them Hang Him'”…. Page 1: “SUSPECT IS SEIZED WITH GUN IN HAND–Men Wrestle Him To Table As Kennedy, Bleeding, Lies in Corner”…Page 2: James Reston…”WORLD MORALITY CRISIS–KENNEDY NEW VICTIM OF LAWLESSNESS THREATENING MODERN PUBLIC ORDER”…

PEACE TALKS: Page 1: “HANOI INSISTS U.S. HALT ITS BOMBING–AIDES CALL TALKS RESPONSE TO JOHNSON–SUSPICION VOICED OF A PLOT AGAINST KENNEDY”… “North Vietnamese negotiators contended today that Hanoi had responded to President Johnson’s restriction of American air attacks on the north by entering official talks here. They asserted the next move, a total halt in bombing was up to the United States. The North Vietnam argument, put forth in the seventh negotiating session between the two sides since May 13, produced one of the sharpest exchanges since the Vietnam talks began here in Paris….The North Vietnamese made no comment on the shooting of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, but circles close to the delegation voiced suspicions in private, asking if the attack was not part of a conspiracy by the Johnson Administration…. Near the end of the session Hanoi’s chief representative Xuan Thuy, leaned across the table and asked the American delegation bluntly: ‘When will the United States unconditionally cease the bombing and all other acts of war against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam so that other questions can be asked?’ In response, W. Averell Harriman, the chief American delegate, shot a question back at the North Vietnamese side: ‘I ask you, Excellency, whether you are prepared to discuss forthwith the matters related to the bombing question?’ … The only encouraging development for American negotiators today was the North Vietnamese willingness to take another 15-minute coffee break.”…

THE WAR: Page 5: “ENEMY SHELLS STILL RAIN ON KHE SANH”… “Although two months have passed since the siege of the Marine combat base at Khe Sanh was broken, it is still a fearsome place of exploding shells and death…On a recent day more than 100 rounds smashed into Khe Sanh forcing marines to dive for shelter…’The North Vietnamese still want Khe Sanh and we are still trying to keep them from getting it, ‘ said Brigadier General Carl W. Hoffman, commander of an expanded Marine force that has replaced the battered battalions that defended the base during the three-month siege….The general said that in the last six weeks the marines had killed about 1,300 North Vietnamese regulars within a four mile radius of Khe Sanh… One marine said: ‘I don’t even go outside my bunker unless I have to. You can get hurt out there.'”… IN SAIGON: STREET FIGHTING EASES– But Vietcong Continue Their Mortar Attacks at Night”… Elsewhere in South Vietnam, 53 North Vietnamese soldiers were reported killed during two ambushes of a United States army convoy traveling between Pleiku and Dakto in the Central Highlands. American losses were two killed.”

6 JUNE 1968: PRESIDENT’S DAILY BRIEF (CIA): SOUTH VIETNAM: The new Saigon chief of police is proving himself and leading from the field. Police morale is good. FRANCE: Postal and transport workers are expected to return to work today. IRAN-SAUDI ARABIA: The Shah and Faisal met briefly in Jidda on Monday. The meeting was cordial. Each ruler presented his case on territorial disputes and median line question–who gets what oil in the Persian Gulf. No solid agreements reached… INDONESIA: Communist guerrilla activity is of growing concern to Suharto…guerrillas are raiding small outposts and assassinating village officials…. YUGOSLAVIA: The student unrest which began earlier this week in Belgrade is spreading to other cities. It also is developing anti-regime overtones. Tuesday night demonstrations broke out in Sarajevo.. ARABS-ISRAEL: King Husayn of Jordan told Ambassador Symmes yesterday that the Soviet Ambassador to Jordan has warned that Israel plans to occupy Jordanian territory. The Soviet ambassador claimed his information came from good sources. Similar warnings to the Arabs last year helped precipitate the events that culminated in the June war. Such warnings also play on fears already high in Jordan….

6 JUNE 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (7 June reporting 6 June ops)… Page 1: “In North Vietnam American pilots flew 130 missions through broken clouds against supply lines, storage areas and antiaircraft positions. Navy pilots concentrated on river traffic and reported having sunk or severely damaged 57 craft they described as supply boats…  Also. On 5 June American warplanes flew 119 missions against targets north of the demilitarized zone…

VIETNAM: AIR LOSSES (Chris Hobson) There were two fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 6 June 1968…

(1) CAPTAIN E.E. KIRKPATRICK and MAJOR DAVID JAMES GUNSTER and (2) MAJOR RANDOLPH LEE NUNN were flying A-1E aircraft of the 1st ACS and 56th ACW out of Nakhon Phanom on an Igloo White sensor seeding mission and suffered a midair collision at 4,500-feet just south of the demilitarized zone about 8 miles north of Khe Sanh. Both aircraft crashed and only MAJOR KIRKPATRICK was able to eject. He was recovered, badly injured, by an Air Force helicopter. MAJORs GUNSTER and NUNN were killed in action while flying formation, a skill mastered every flight in tactical aviation, but fraught with deadly consequences for a moment of inattention… And a very solemn day for the mates of 1st ACS 50 year ago today…

SUMMARY OF ROLLING THUNDER LOSSES (KIA/MIA/POW) ON 6 JUNE FOR THE FOUR YEARS OF THE OPERATION IN THE SKIES OF NORTH VIETNAM…

1965… NONE…

1966… NONE…

1967… NONE…

1968… NONE… oohrah…

Humble Host flew #178. Led a section for a night dive bombing armed recce with 6 MK-82s load each. Lots of clouds. Vectored to a lucrative target north of Dong Hoi in RP-I and put our bombs on a few burning trucks from a previous flight. Angry gunners put up more ordnance than we put on the trucks and Highway 1. Got credit for three more trucks… Weather at ship real testy… All fun by day, all work and sweaty paws at night…

RIPPLE SALVO… #823… “ROBERT McNAMARA AND THE EXPENDABLE PILOT” by Commander Gene Tierney, USN…

“It was a quiet Sunday afternoon in Hawaii on 5 June 1964…. I was the assistant current air operations (Navy, J-3115) on the staff of the Commander-in-Chief, Pacific (CinCPac). Admiral Harry D. Felt…. My four-digit designator put me well down on the totem pole. As one of the few Navy pilots on the staff with any recent fleet experience, however, I wound up in the middle of things when the air war in Southeast Asia expanded…

“After many months of indecision, on 23 May 1964 the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) finally authorized the Navy to conduct low-altitude photographic reconnaissance flights over the Plaine des Jarres (in Laos). Within days, Photographic Squadron (VFP-63) pilots began flying missions from the USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63), which was operating from Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin. Along with the authorization came orders that the unarmed RF-8 Crusader planes were to operate without armed escorts–even though the practice had been standard operating procedure since World War II….

“The potential problems with the flights were their frequency and Times Over Target (TOT), which were specified by the Secretary of Defense. For these missions, the TOTs were specified as every other day at 1 P.M. (Laotian time). Anyone could see that such a pattern created a built-in opportunity for the Pathet Lao to spring an ambush….

“The telephone in my quarters rang late on that Sunday afternoon: ‘You asked me to call you whenever we had a problem with one of your projects (meaning overt and covert aerial reconnaissance). We have a bad one,’ said Army Master Sergeant Duncan, in charge of communications in the CinCPac Command Center. I automatically assumed that we had lost a Navy photo plane and pilot in the Plaine des Jarres: That day’s TOT had been about an hour earlier. Duncan confirmed my fears: The pilot had been shot down and the escort pilot had seen him moving about (on the ground). The Combat Air Patrol (ResCAP) from the ship had launched, he added quickly, but had been recalled because the ‘word’ had come down that there was to be ‘no round-eye’ (American) effort to rescue the pilot. I could not believe it. We had two Air America helicopters stationed on a hill about 20 miles away, on alert for just this purpose….

“The ridiculous aspect of the order was that there were no other forces available… For all practical purposes, at this point the photo pilot had been abandoned by the government that had sent him in harm’s way.  I called the JCS on secure telephone and spoke with the Army brigadier general who was the duty flag-officer. He confirmed the order. When I literally demanded to know who had issued such an order, he said he was not sure. I respectfully suggested that he find out as soon as possible and we would be calling him back, also ASAP. As I dropped the secure phone, I called my immediate boss, Marine Brigadier General George Bowman, our J-3/Operations officer, but he was not at home. To hell with this, I said to myself, and I called Admiral Felt on his private line at his quarters in Makalapa, just down the hill; I was bypassing at least three other senior flag officers. The line was not secure, so I told him briefly that we had a serious problem in the Plaine des Jarres. ‘I’m on my way,’ he replied.

“Less than ten minutes later, the JCS brigadier general was telling the admiral that the order had come from the Secretary of Defense himself. (before he called the JCS, Admiral Felt had instructed me to pick up a second secure phone and admonished me: ‘You listen; you do not speak.’)…Admiral Felt spoke quietly: ‘General, get me the Secretary of Defense on this line immediately.’…. Several minutes later, sounding very wide awake, and almost jovial, Robert McNamara came on the line and asked Admiral Felt the reason for the call. Admiral Felt was never one to mince words. ‘Mr. Secretary, I have just been told that you are aware that we just had a Navy photo pilot shot down in the Plaine des Jarres and that an order had been issued by your office that there was to be no ’round-eye’ effort to rescue the pilot. Is that correct?’ ‘That is correct, Admiral,’ McNamara answered. At this point Admiral Felt interrupted him: ‘May I ask by whose authority this order was issued?’ “The recommendation came from State,’ McNamara replied, ‘and the Secretary of State and I discussed it and agreed that this is the best course of action.’

“Admiral Felt turned slightly to look at me…. He spoke again, very quietly but in a short clipped tone that I had never heard him use before. ‘Mr. Secretary, that is not a decision that can be made by the Secretary of State or the Secretary of Defense. The decision to rescue this pilot or not to rescue him can be made only by the Commander-in-Chief of the United States armed forces, and I am asking you to put me through to the Commander-in-Chief–now, sir.’

“After a few seconds McNamara started almost mumbling; he didn’t argue the point, or refuse the request, but he made a big point that it was very late and that the President had just retired after a long evening…. Again, Admiral Felt quietly repeated his previous statement word-for-word… McNamara without another word on the subject, said, ‘All right, I will ring the President.’ Within seconds President Johnson came on the line… ‘Good Morning, Admiral Felt, what can I do for you?’  ‘Mr. President, we just had a Navy photo pilot shot down over the Plaine des Jarres in northern Laos, but the Navy and Air America rescue effort has been called off by the Secretary of Defense on the recommendation of the Secretary of State. I just spoke to the Secretary of Defense and told him that this is a critical military decision that cannot be made by the Secretary of Defense or Secretary of State, but one that can be made only by the Commander-in-Chief of the United States armed forces, and I am asking your permission to go in and rescue this pilot.’ Without hesitation, President Johnson came back, ‘Well, I’ll be damned. Of course, go in and get him–and let me know how it comes out.'”…

“Note: The unfortunate Navy photo pilot was Lieutenant Charles F. Klusmann. He was not rescued but was captured. It was several hours before Air America helicopter crews reached the scene. Heavy ground fire drove off the lead aircraft; Klusmann waved off the second helo because it too, was flying into an ambush. The Kitty Hawk’s ResCAP never did show up; they had been recalled. The author writes that, in all probability, they would have neutralized the area by the time the helicopters arrived and the Air America crews would have been able to make the pickup.”

Humble Host makes this testimony part of this Rolling Thunder journal to reinforce the opinion that McNamara and Rusk did in fact consider American pilots expendable. There is an old Navy tailhooker saw that goes: “Better dead than look bad.” I suspect that at Foggy Bottom in Washington on the wall behind Secretary Rusk’s desk was a sign that said: “Better Rolling Thunder pilots dead than State Department look bad.”… The first person testimony of Commander Tierney adds credence to the confession of Secretary Rusk that he tipped target information to the North Vietnamese so that enemy civilians could be removed from the location of scheduled Rolling Thunder targets. The welfare of Rolling Thunder air crews was well down Secretary Rusk’s list of priorities, if in fact aviator lives were a consideration at all: They were expendable.

RTR quote for 6 JUNE: ROBERT F. KENNEDY a few days before he was gunned down: “Risk is part of a man’s life.” And then quoted from an Edith Hamilton essay on Aeschylus: ‘Man is not made for safe havens.’…”…

Lest We Forget…     Bear