Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #946… TWENTY-FOUR DAYS OF ROLLING THUNDER TO GO… On this historic day in 2018 with, respect to the Supreme Court, Humble Host looks back at what was on the docket of the Warren Court (Warren was held over as a Lame-Duck Chief Justice due to the withdrawal of Associate Justice Fortas’ nomination to replace Warren as Chief Justice)… but first…
GOOD MORNING… Day NINE HUNDRED FORTY-SIX of an old warrior’s 1,000 website posts to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Vietnam war and the years of Operation Rolling Thunder, 2 March 1965 to 1 November 1968 and remember especially the men who carried the war into the enemy’s homeland…
HEAD LINES from The New York Times for Monday, 7 October 1968…
THE WAR: Page 1: “MARINES RE-ENTER KHE SANH IN SWEEP–Near Danang Troops Drive to Relieve Two Outposts–Siege At One Lifted”… “Allied troops have begun a drive to relieve pressure on two harassed outposts near Danang and a sweep of the bomb-scarred mountains around the abandoned Marine garrison at Khe Sahn. Several hundred United States marines and South Vietnamese soldiers were engaged in each operation, allied military spokesman said this morning. The two outposts that have been under attack for more than a week–the Anduc Special Forces camp and the Thuongduc district headquarters–are 500 yards apart, 30 miles southwest of Danang. [South Vietnamese irregulars lifted the siege of Thuongduc Monday, sweeping out of the camp to recapture five surrounding villages without a shot. United Free International Press reported.] The information about the enemy at Khe Sanh, in the northwestern corner of South Vietnam, is not so complete. Senior marine officers say that North Vietnamese soldiers have been seen in the area and that the allied aim is to disrupt any enemy efforts to establish bases there before the northeasterly monsoon begins in earnest. There have already been several days of heavy rain in the northern provinces, but the weather will get progressively worse through the winter, sharply curtailing helicopter operations….During the 10-week siege of Khesahn earlier this year, 205 Americans were killed and 852 were wounded…. In another clash in the delta, a South Vietnamese soldiers said they opened fire on two sampans in a stream 50 miles southwest of the capital and killed 25 Vietcong.”…
PEACE TALKS: Page 5: “TOP HANOI AIDE SEES NO EARLY PEACE”… “Truong Chinh, the third-ranking man in Hanoi’s politburo has told the North Vietnamese people that the Paris talks ‘have made no progress’ and that it is illusory to hope for an early end to the war.’…”… STATE DEPARTMENT. OFFICE OF HISTORIAN. There were two telephone calls to the President on 7-Oct-68 among the Historical Documents that addressed the ongoing negotiations with North Vietnam in Paris. A short conversation between Nixon and Johnson is a succinct summary of where the talks stood as the 5 November election date approached. Nixon was hearing that the President was about to stop the bombing and wanted some assurance that there would be no cessation of the bombing without North Vietnam agreeing to (1) allow the South Vietnamese to join the conversations, (2) stop shelling the cities, and (3) clear out of the DMZ and stop infiltrating through the DMZ…LBJ assured him these were still the American requirements for a cessation. Suggest a reading of D.53 at…
https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1964-68v07/d53
HEAD LINES: Page 1: “DEMOCRATS SEEN HOLDING CONGRESS DESPITE G.O.P. GAIN–LEAD IN 221 HOUSE CONTESTS AND TRAIL IN 180, SURVEY BY TIMES INDICATES–Many Margins Narrow–Republicans, Though Behind in 17 of 34 Senate Races, Near Rivals in Ten of Them”… Page 1: “ST. LOUIS CARDS BEAT TIGERS, 10-1, LEAD SERIES 3-1″… Page 1: “NIXON DENOUNCES LAG IN INITIATIVES–In A Nationwide Address He Says America’s Revolt Is Against Bureaucracy”… Page 1: “RUSK AND GROMYKO MEET HERE AT U.N. TO WEIGH KEY ISSUES”… Page 1: “50 Horses Run Free in Brooklyn Streets After Fire Kills 54″… Page 4: “PLASTIC SURGEONS BRING JOY AT U.S. CENTER IN SAIGON”… Page 36: “SEN JACOB JAVITS, NY (R), CRITICIZES JOHNSON ON PEACE–Says He Shuns Advice To halt Bombing…”
7 OCTOBER 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…New York Times (8 Oct reporting 7 Oct ops) Page 6: “The pilot of a Navy Corsair jet (LTJG G.M. BIERY, VA-27, USS Constellation, see RTR for 6-Oct-68) was shot down over North Vietnam in one of 128 attack missions flown. He was recovered safely from the South China Sea about five miles from Vinh.”
VIETNAM: AIR LOSSES (Chris Hobson) There was one fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 7 October 1968…
(1) A C-7B Caribou of the 535th TAS and 483rd TAW out of Vung Tau crashed in South Vietnam due to pilot error. Three crewmen survived.
SUMMARY OF ROLLING THUNDER LOSSES (KIA/MIA/POW) FOR THE FOUR 7 OCTOBER DATES OF THE FOUR YEARS OF THE OPERATION OVER NORTH VIETNAM…
1965, 1966, 1968… NONE…
1967… LT DAVID LAWTON HODGES, USN… (KIA)… and… MAJOR IVAN DALE APPLEBY, USAF… (KIA)… and… CAPTAIN WILLIAM RENWICK AUSTIN, USAF…(POW)… and…MAJOR WAYNE EUGENE FULLAM, USAF… (KIA)… (Refer to RTR Archives for 7 October 1967 –Ripple Salvo #580– for story on each)…
When MAJOR WILLIAM R. AUSTIN, II was released from captivity on 14 March 1973 he was asked to comment on his POW experience for authors Captain and Mr. Frederic A. Wyatt (USNR) and inclusion in their book WE CAME HOME. Included in WILLIAM AUSTIN’s forthright comments:
“Confidence–That’s what kept me going while I was in prison. Confidence in God, country, family, fellow man, and self gave me the extra strength to keep going when things really got tough. I knew God was always there, and that He would answer my prayers if I made them reasonable. I prayed for strength to go on, and guidance in helping me use my ability to outwit the enemy. After thinking about Christ’s Crucifixion, I couldn’t bring myself to ask God, ‘Why me?’ or ask God to free me. God was there, and that’s a large part of why I’m here. Good old United States of America! I knew it was backing me up and trying to do what was right, and if I did my part I would be back to freedom someday.
“I was confident that Myrtle would raise the children and take care of everything at home as near as possible to the way we would have done together. Also, I knew she would support me as she always had, and that our children would follow her example. I was sure my family, church, community and friends were behind me with prayers and other support. I had confidence in myself that I could survive and overcome almost anything with a team like that to help. Sure enough, the whole team was there–God, country, family, friends.”… oohrah
There is a great recent (29-June-2018) feature article by Ken Scar, Clemson University Relations, on COLONEL AUSTIN
RIPPLE SALVO… #946… THE OGDEN STANDARD-EXAMINER (UPI), 5 Oct 68, page 8: “1968-1969 SESSION OF THE SUPREME COURT”…
“The Supreme Court opens its 1968-69 term Monday (7-Oct-68) with a calendar of business reflecting the deep national anxiety over Vietnam, race relations, demonstrations, property, and the generation gap. The court is ignoring precedence by hearing an opening-day plea to put president candidate George C. Wallace on the November 5 ballot in Ohio. The former Alabama governor is challenging a lower court decision relegating him to write-in status on grounds that Ohio election law requirements place independent candidates at a disadvantage.
WORK ON BACKLOG
“After hearing arguments in the Wallace case and a similar case brought by the Socialist Labor Party, the justices will retire to their oak-panelled conference room to vote. They will work the rest of the week in conference on a staggering backlog of petitions which have piled up during the summer. Every year the court’s workload gets heavier. Last term 2,971 cases were cleared. On Monday, October 14, the court will dispose of several hundred petitions, agreeing to hear some and rejecting others. It then will call the first of the two dozen or so cases to be argued in the October session, a legal controversy over FBI eavesdropping.
“Among the first items scheduled for conference week is a series of reprieves from Vietnam service granted by Justice William O. Douglas to several groups of Army reservists. The reservists are attacking the legality of their call-up under a 1965 law which allows the president to order any reserve unit to active duty for two years. Some of the men were ready to board planes for the Far East when word came of Douglas’ action taken at his remote vacation retreat in Goose Prairie, Washington. The court itself must now determine whether to continue the reprieve so that the legal questions may be ruled on finally. The men contend that their contract with the government contemplated active duty only in the event of a declared war or a declared national emergency.
“A Vietnam issue highlighting the feud between the Justice Department and Selective Service Director Lewis B. Hershey was accepted for review last term. It concerns the action of some local draft boards in reclassifying war protesters as ‘delinquents’ and ordering their induction. The department has told the court that these boards, encouraged by Hershey, have been using the draft machinery to punish protesters illegally and probably unconstitutionally.
SPECIFIC CASE
“The specific case up for argument concerns a Cheyenne, Wyoming, theological student James J Oestereich, who was ordered to report for military service after he turned in his draft card at a demonstration by several hundred persons at the Justice Department here in Washington in 1967. Oestereich’s situation gives the case a special twist, since the law exempts from the draft all students preparing for the ministry. According to the department, Oestereich in these circumstances may sue now for a determination of his status instead of waiting until he is actually in uniform or until he is prosecuted for refusing induction.
“Lawsuits relating to Vietnam also overlap race relations and free speech. Some Negro registrants from New York and San Francisco are challenging the whole concept of student deferments. Former heavyweight champion Cassius Clay, a Negro, who was sentenced to five years in jail for refusing to submit to induction, claims he should have been exempted as a ‘minister of the nation of Islam.’ He also contends that he was discriminated against because no Negroes served on the state or local boards which processed his case.
“Free speech issues were raised by a war protester who had trouble with the police while distributing literature in the Port Authority bus terminal in New York City. Two lower courts have ordered the authority to permit distribution of pamphlets subject to regulation. Another anti-Vietnam war group won a ruling from a three-judge federal court in Waco, Texas, that the state’s disturbing-the-peace statute is an unconstitutional infringement on free speech….this panel… held that the law gives authorities too much enforcement power.”… End quote…
RTR Quote for 7 Oct: President and Nixon telecon 7-Oct-68: NIXON: “Well, the others involved (in the peace talks) the fact that both Harriman and Vance were pushing for a bombing pause. He said that is not true–that Vance had been rushed back here.”… PRESIDENT: “Well, Dick, I think this is true. I think this is true. I think everybody is pushing for a bombing pause. I think you are. I think I am. I think everybody is.”…
Lest we forget… Bear
