Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #705… Associated Press, Feb. 6–“Attack and counterattack widened across South Vietnam today…Large sections of Saigon and Hue lay in smoldering ruins, and columns of smoke rose as South Vietnamese dive bombers, U.S. helicopter gunships, artillery and tanks blasted away at Communist troops in scattered sections.”…continued below…
Good Morning: Day SEVEN HUNDRED FIVE of a return to the “year the dream died” and the events and heroes of fifty years ago in the air over Vietnam…
8 FEBRUARY 1968… HEAD LINES from The New York Times on a Thursday that promises heavy snow today and tonight. Also, a few of the head lines from 7 February that Humble Host begged off on yesterday…
TET OFFENSIVE: Feb. 7: page 1: “FOE USING TANKS FIRST TIME MAULS OUTPOST NEAR DMZ–5 of 9 Soviet-Built Vehicles Reported Destroyed in Raid On Camp Near Khesanh–Base May Be Overrun–Allied Defenders, Put at 500, Call for Artillery On Their Position”… “Saigon Infiltration Rising–Marines Advance On Hue–Tension In Capital Is High–14 More Blocks Taken”… “Kontum Expels Invading Forces–Significant Victory Is Seen After Week’s Battle”… “Carrier Shifting From Korea Post–Order To Enterprise Is Said To Be Gesture To Aid Talks To Free Pueblo And Crew”…
Feb. 8: Page 1: “Allied Post Falls To Tank Assault Near Buffer Zone–North Vietnamese Overrun Langvei Camp--Khesanh Outpost is Attacked–Saigon Fighting Slows–Search for Enemy Holdouts Goes On In Cholon Section and Center of Hue.”… “Latest Soviet Tanks Used By Enemy Near Khesanh”… Page 1: “76 SAID TO ESCAPE”… “South Vietnamese headquarters in Saigon reporting the loss of the Langvei amp, said 76 allied soldiers, including 12 Americans had escape to Khesanh…The camp was under siege for 18 hours and 316 defenders, most of them civilian irregulars, were killed wounded or missing….The United States Command said that 24,662 enemy soldiers had been killed in nine days of fighting throughout South Vietnam. On the allied side, 2,043 men including 703 Americans were reported killed. The wounded included 3,729 Americans, 4,493 South Vietnamese and 154 other allied soldiers.”...”General Cites Foe’s Losses”…“The General in charge of United States troops in the Central Highlands estimated today that more than half of the enemy involved in the widespread fighting last week in his area had been destroyed. The officer, Lieutenant General William Rosson…said that of the total enemy force of 8,000 men who made 14 powerful attack, 4,661 had been killed and 599 captured. By contrast, the General said, casualties among allied troops were 460 killed and 1,553 wounded, including 90 United States soldiers were killed and 430 Americans wounded.”… Page 14: “Pentagon Identifies War Dead (98)”…
Feb. 8: Page 1: “President Urges Concerted Drive To Combat Crime–Message To Congress Calls For Placing Major Burden On State and Local Level–Attorney General Ramsey Clark gets A New Role–To Act As Principal Coordinator of The Federal Program”… Page 1: “Johnson Widens Narcotic Fight–Merges Two Agencies For Curb On Dangerous Drugs”… Page 1: “Defense Department Bars Role In Paris Air Show During 1969″… Page 15: “Two U.S. Statements On Pueblo Studied At U.N.–Diplomats Can See No Real Discrepancy In Accounts By Goldberg and McNamara”... “An apparent discrepancy between Arthur J. Goldberg’s account to the Security Council of the seizure of the United States vessel Pueblo by North Korea and statement on the same subject by Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara is being studied as the United Nations.”… Page 30: “Dr. King Expects Self-Interest of Whites to Help Campaign”… “The Reverend Dr. Marin Luther King, Jr said today that he was relying on the ‘self-interest’ of white Americans, particularly in the nation’s suburbs, to convince Congress that it must adopt a $10-billion-a-year program providing jobs or income for the urban poor. Dr. King plans a prolonged demonstration by several thousand poor persons here to press Congress for action. He acknowledged for the first time today that he did not expect the demonstrators alone to have much impact on the Congress. To save their cities as well as their souls from ‘going up in flames,’ and thus inviting ‘a right-wing takeover and fascist state’ that would be required to restore order, Dr. King said that the country’s white majority must recognize that ‘our summers of riots are caused by our winters of delay.’...’White Americans cannot see the cities die because that is where they make their money,’ Dr. King declared. ‘They may live in the suburbs, but as a matter of self-interest we believe they will not allow the cities to go up in flames.’ “…
8 FEBRUARY 1968… OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times, Page 9: “Hanoi Asserts U.S. Suffered Big Loss”… “…The Vietcong offensive and the start of the fourth year’s bombing or North Vietnam by United States planes were the two main subjects of the Hanoi press. ‘This offensive has enabled the whole world to see the very obvious situation of defeat of the American aggressors as well as the pitiful impotence of their army, and the decomposition of the puppet administration and army–that is to say, the failure of the neo-colonialist war,’ Nhan Dan said. ‘despite the air raids, our support for the front line has increased daily, our communications have remained opened in all circumstances, our economic and defense strength has increased daily, our building of socialism continues its advance.’ “… (there were no other mentions of the air war in the north)…
“Vietnam: Air Losses” (Chris Hobson) There were two fixed wing aircraft lost in Southeast Asia on 8 February 1968…
(1) MAJOR ROBERT GRANTHAN LAPHAM was flying an A-1H of the 1st ACS and 56th ACW out of Nakhon Phanom in support of the defensive operations at Khesanh and was killed attacking enemy armor. Hobson tells the story: “the pressure on Khesanh continued despite almost continuous strikes by B-52 and tactical aircraft. A new and worrying development was the employment of tanks by the North Vietnamese. Three tanks had been seen near the recently captured Special Forces camp at Langvie, about five miles southwest of Khesanh and practically on the border with Laos. Major Lapham along with three other Skyraider pilots fought through the intense anti-aircraft fire to attack the tanks with napalm. On the second pass, Major Lapham’s aircraft was hit by ground fire and crashed before the pilot could escape. Major Lapham was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for his courage in the face of huge odds.”….. Humble Host was unable to find a copy of the Silver Star citation but the following makes clear the unsurpassed courage MAJOR LAPHAM applied in his ferocious attack on the enemy tanks in contact with allied troops…
“MAJOR ROBERT LAPHAM was awarded a SILVER STAR for one of the most important bombing attacks of the war. Despite heavy enemy ground fire he successfully broke a heavy siege upon U.S. troops near the demilitarized zone. He is believed to have died in the mission when the A-1E Skyraider he was piloting apparently was hit and exploded with half-load of bombs aboard…” MAJOR LAPHAM was listed as missing in action until his remains were recovered in November 2005 and identified in July 2006…. MAJOR LAPHAM was killed in action in deadly combat in the middle of a great battle. He died a warrior’s death and is remembered with admiration and respect on the 50th anniversary of his last flight.
(2) CAPTAIN TRACEY K. DORSETT and CAPTAIN JOHN A. CORDER were flying an F-4D on a wing strike on Phuc Yen airfield just north of Hanoi and came home the hard way. Chris Hobson tells the story: “The recent success that the MiGs had been having was a cause of great concern to the planners as well as the airmen who had to run the gauntlet. In an effort to subdue the Vietnam People’s Air Force. Phuc Yen airfield, one of the main MiG bases, was attacked on the 8th. Antiaircraft fire hit one of the two bombers as it swept across the field at 500-feet to deliver its weapons on target.. CAPTAIN DORSETT and CAPTAIN CORDER pulled off target with the port engine winding down and on fire. they flew back towards Thailand but they were forced to eject over Laos about 30 miles west of Sam Neua. Both were picked up by Air Force HH-3E with minor injuries.”
The four intrepid aviators in the pair of Phantoms from the 555th TFS and 8th TFW out of Ubon were: CAPTAIN DORSETT and CAPTAIN CORDER in the battle damaged Phantom, and MAJOR LARRY D. ARMSTRONG and FIRST LIEUTENANT JAMES H. HALL in the lead aircraft. All four aviators were awarded the AIR FORCE CROSS with similar citations to that of MAJOR ARMSTRONG.
“The President of the United States takes pleasure in presenting the AIR FORCE CROSS to LARRY D. ARMSTRONG, Major, United States Air Force for EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM in connection with military operations against an opposing armed force as an F-4D Aircraft Commander in the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, Ubon Royal Thai Air Base, Thailand, SEVENTH Air Force, in action in Southeast Asia on 8 February 1968. On that date, MAJOR ARMSTRONG led two aircraft against one of the largest, most important, and most heavily defended airfields in North Vietnam. Despite inclement weather, MAJOR ARMSTRONG descended to extremely low altitude for a visual, high-speed run across the airfield. Although faced with a barrage of withering antiaircraft artillery fire, MAJOR ARMSTRONG resolutely and skillfully pressed his attack against the target, damaging and destroying several aircraft on the ground. when the lead crew was finally forced to eject over hostile territory, MAJOR ARMSTONG remained in top cover and directed the rescue effort, which expeditiously recovered the two downed airmen. As a result of his actions, MAJOR ARMSTRONG was successful in neutralizing a threat to Free World forces in Southeast Asia. Through his EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM, superb airmanship, and aggressiveness in the face of hostile forces, MAJOR ARMSTRONG reflected the highest credit upon himself and the United States Air Force.”…
On 8 February 1968 four Phantom flyers executed as bold a strike as any flown in Rolling Thunder… AIR FORCE CROSSES all around!!!… oohrah
RIPPLE SALVO… #705… New York Times, 7 February 1968, Page 46: …James Reston: “Washington: The Flies That Captured the Flypaper”…
” Washington, Feb. 6–‘Attack and counterattack widened across South Vietnam today,’The Associated reported. ‘Large sections of Saigon and Hue lay in smoldering ruins, and columns of smoke rose as South Vietnamese dive bombers, U.S. helicopter gunships, artillery and tanks blasted away at Communist troops in scattered sections.’ This is a teeming city of three million people. ‘Tens of thousands of terrified civilians streamed from shacks and huts in Saigon with what meager belongings they could carry. Already nearly 200,000 refugees are reported, 58,000 in Saigon and its suburbs, and the total is expected to double or triple when all reports are in….’
THE DILEMMA
“Here is the dilemma of our military strategy of victory. How do we win by military force without destroying what we are trying to save? The battle is so fierce and the situation so solemn that the impulse to rally round is very strong, but the mind boggles at the paradox of tearing apart what we have undertaken to defend.
A MORAL PROBLEM
“This, of course, has been the moral and strategic problem from the beginning: How to save South Vietnam without wrecking it. The Vietcong have made clear from the start that they would risk anything, destroy anything, and kill anybody, even if they inherited nothing but the wreckage. But what of us?
“It is not our country. Somewhere there must be a line beyond which the killing and suffering, not only on our side, but on the side of the Vietnamese, overreach any attainable end, but there is evidence here that the Johnson Administration sees the futile brutality of these recent days in this light.
“In the bitter propaganda of the war, the official line here is that everything happens for the best. The communiques sound more and more like a TV singing commercial: ‘We’re winning, we’re winning,’ they cry just like the Sunoco Sunny dollars jingle. Death has now become the official measure of success. General Westmoreland sends a message of congratulations to his troops. They have killed more of the enemy in the last week he says (21,330), than the United States has lost in the entire war (16,000). He warns of a ‘second wave’ of enemy attacks on the cities, but our victory ‘may measurably shorten the war.’ The White House press secretary balks at drawing the same conclusion on his own. His name is Christian.
“It would be reassuring to feel at this solemn moment that all this human carnage is really bringing us to an end worthy of the means employed, or even that we are getting an honest official appraisal of our predicament, but this city is seething with doubt and even the Administration itself is racked by suppressed dissent.
“Is the President worried about how his State of the Union message will be received? His staff obliges by organizing official cheer leaders in the House of Representatives. Is he concerned about the reaction to recent events in Vietnam and Korea? Secretaries Rusk and McNamara go on ‘Meet the Pres’ to calm things down, but not before the Administration approves of the questioners.
“Is the President apprehensive about the coming battle at Khesanh? Never mind, he has requested and received a written assurance from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff that the Marines and Army will hold. ‘I don’t want any damned Dienbienphu,'” he says.
THE CENTRAL QUESTION
“War is a corrupting business–always has been–and this one is no exception. But it is important to decontaminate the propaganda. No doubt the allied victories are true. No doubt the civilian casualties are alarmingly high, though they are not mentioned.
“But the destruction goes on. We are the flies that captured the flypaper. We are stuck with our concept of a military victory, and the main question goes unanswered: What is the end that justifies this slaughter? How will we save Vietnam if we destroy it in the battle?”…
RTR Quote for 8 February: THOMAS JEFFERSON, Letter 1794: “War is as much a punishment to the punisher as to the sufferer.”…
Lest we forget… Bear
