Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #427… and the “Memorandum of the Month for May 1967”– a must read for Graduate students of Operation Rolling Thunder (RTR-401). Take notes, this will be on the final exam… but first…
Good Morning: Day FOUR HUNDRED TWENTY-SEVEN of a return to the air war over North Vietnam…
6 May 1967…HEADLINES and leads from The New York Times on a cloudy, wet Saturday in NYC…
Page 1: “U.S. Marines Seize 3rd Hill In Vietnam 12-Day Push”... “Weary and grimy United States Marines today secured the last major height commanding the isolated airstrip and valley of Khe Sanh. Nearly half the Americans here were killed or wounded in the 12-day campaign–160 killed in action an 746 were wounded.”… Page 2: “Marine Goals in Battle”...”Military sources here view the battle in the hills near Khe Sanh as essentially an effort to destroy the two and possibly three North Vietnamese regiments involved. The war they say is a battle of attrition in which the long-range aim is to grind the enemy down though combat. Since the North Vietnamese have been willing to stand and fight this time, American commanders have seized the opportunity to join battle in an effort to wipe out the units in front of them as they have when on other occasions smaller forces were involved. The assumption is over an extended period of time the enemy will either withdraw from South Vietnam or accept a settlement there on terms favorable to the United States.”….
Page 1: “Punishment of Draft Foes Urged By Some In House”...”Members of the House Armed Services Committee demanded today that the Justice Department disregard the first amendment right of free speech and prosecute those who urged young men to defy the draft law. ‘Let’s forget about the First Amendment,’ Representative F. Edward Hebert, Democrat of Louisiana told Attorney General Fred Vinson in loud voice during hearings on the draft. ‘I know this would be rescinded by the Supreme Court. But at least an effort should be made. It would show the people that the Justice Department and Congress were trying to cleanup a rat infested area.’ Mr. Hebert was backed in his questioning by Representative Mendell Rivers, South Carolina, the Chairman, and Representative Alton Lennon, North Carolina. No one on the committee took issue with Mr. Herbert, but Mr. Vinson said: ‘I am a firm believer in the First Amendment.’ The committee is conducting hearings on proposed revisions of the draft law. For the last two days members have expressed less concern over the alleged inequities of the law than in punishing those who either evaded or encouraged others to. The members specifically mentioned the Negro civil rights leaders Stokely Carmichael and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.”
Page 2: “Premier Nguyen Cao Ky Says South Vietnam Needs More Allied Troops”...”The United States has 440,000 troops in South Vietnam, but Ky said it is very hard to predict how many troops would be needed. A few months ago, he added, ‘I mentioned that it depended entirely on how big the number of new units coming from the north. If they send to the South 10 to 15 divisions then we need more.’ The number of North Vietnamese troops in South Vietnam has not been determined.”… Page 3: “Attack On British Freighter Denied”...”United States State Department: ‘There was no deliberate United States attack on the Dartford. Any such damage was most likely caused by antiaircraft fire.’ Dartford: a small cargo vessel out of Hong Kong…and sailing under a Communist China charter.”… Page 3: “Charge At War Crimes Trial Is Denied By United States”… “The Defense Department again acknowledged today that fragmentation bombs had been dropped on North Vietnam but denied that they were directed at civilians…the statements came in response to reports of criticism of the American air attacks on North Vietnam at the so-called International war crimes tribunal in Stockholm.”…
Sports: “Damascus 2-1 Favorite in Kentucky Derby today in field of 14. Other favorites: Diplomat Way, Successor, Reason to Hail, and Ruken…Arnie Palmer shot a 66 to take the lead in Houston. Middlecoff, Nicklaus and Geiberger assessed a 2-stroke penalty, each, for slow play. “It was the most drastic action of its kind ever meted out to professionals on the golf circuit. They finished 30-minutes behind the group ahead and were timed at 4-hours, 18-minutes for the 18 holes. Al Geiberger called it ‘an unfortunate pairing.’ “…
6 MAY 1967…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…New York Times (7 May reporting 6 May ops)… Page 1: “Hanoi Displays Three Downed Pilots of U.S.Bombers” (Picture on page 1 of 1LT Jams Richard Shively, LCOL Gordon A. Larson, and LCOL James Lundberg Hughes)...”Three United States pilots shot down over the Hanoi area were put on display here (Hanoi) today. The three captured airmen, described by the North Vietnamese as Thunderchief pilots, were presented to newsmen at the International Press club. They each appeared under flood lights for about five minutes. They were identified… All three were rounded up by workers, militiamen and soldiers to cries ‘Hands Up’, the Tass Agency reported from Hanoi. It said the Americans had been led through angry shouting crowds to the news conference. An American spokesman in Saigon said three Thai-based Thunderchiefs had been downed Friday on a heavy strike six miles east of Hanoi and the pilots were reported missing. One prisoner identified as Colonel Larson showed wounds to his face and head and appeared to have a back injury. The prisoner identified as Lieutenant Shively, tall and blond, appeared unharmed. Describing the raids yesterday the official press report said this morning the bombs had fallen on a southern sector within the city limits. The Hanoi radio asserted that heavily populated districts and industrial installations in the very heart of the city had been hit in a new and serious escalation of the air war.’ “…
Page 4: “Three United States Planes Were Downed During a 30-minute Raid”… “A correspondent of Agence France-Presse saw one Thunderchief fighter-bomber explode over the city’s center before the pilot could bailout. Polish officers of the International Control Commission told of watching three American planes come down in flames. They said a first fighter-bomber wing (several aircraft) roared over head at 1,500-feet at about 4:30 PM. Unusually heavy antiaircraft fire opened. Nurses hurried off to take shelter, carrying five wounded children. Correspondents had never seen aircraft so low over North Vietnam. One raider exploded above as his wing (the rest of the flight) plunged toward targets (Hadong) to the south. In a flash the aircraft was reduced to a dozen metal fragments spinning around a flaming ball.”
Page 4: “Plane Losses at 553”... “Three United States Air Force fighter-bombers were shot down yesterday during new raids in the outskirts of Hanoi. The losses bring to 553 the toll of United States warplanes lost over the North since the air war began there in February 1965. They were lost on a raid at the Yenvien rail yards six miles east-northeast from Hanoi. At the same time, other Thunderchiefs bombed Army barracks at Hadong four miles southwest of the city.” (bear#67#68bargesSongCa)
“Vietnam:Air Losses” (Hobson) One fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 6 May 1967…
(1) LTJG ROBERT EARL WIDEMAN was flying an A-4E of the VA-93 Blue Blazers embarked in USS Hancock on an armed reconnaissance mission in Route Package III and was hit by ground fire attacking barges with rockets about 30 miles south of Thanh Hoa. His aircraft was uncontrollable almost immediately forcing him to eject amid small villages. He was captured and interned as a POW until released in March 1973.
RIPPLE SALVO… #427… STATE DEPARTMENT, Office of the Historian, FRUS, 1964-1968, Volume V, Vietnam, 1967…Document #162. Memorandum From the President’s Special Assistant (Rostow) to President Johnson… Washington, May 6, 1967, 3 p.m.
Humble Host most strongly recommends you take time to read this one. The President was on vacation at “The Ranch” on the Pedernales from May 4-8. A muster of the “Lunch Bunch” and many others was scheduled for the day of his return to Washington. The meat in this memo is attributed to Secretary of Defense McNamara. Document 162 is Walt Rostow’s HowGozIt summary (agenda?) for the President and a wide range of attendees at the meeting on the 8th. It is also a superb three pages of information that goes a long way to explaining what the Lunch Bunch and others in Washington were thinking in May 1967 at a cross-roads and another decision point. Rostow provides a snapshot of where the fight stands as of 6 May and what the options are for moving on…
“Essentially there are three strategies we might pursue in bombing the North. I shall try to assess in each case the advantages and the risks.”
A. Closing the top of the funnel…
B. Attacking what is inside the funnel… and
C. Concentration in Route Packages 1 and 2… ) … Read the memorandum at:
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v05/d162
CAG’S QUOTES for May 6: MAO TSE-TUNG: “Fight no battle unprepared, fight no battle you are not sure of winning.”… PATTON: “Hold them by the nose (attrition warfare), and kick ’em in the arse” (flankem’ with tactical air)…
Less we forget…. Bear
