Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #310… “SULLY: A GENERAL’S DECISION” …. but first…
Good Morning: Day THREE HUNDRED TEN of remembering and recognizing the events and gallantry of American fliers during the air war over North Vietnam fifty years ago…
9 JANUARY 1967… HOMETOWN HEADLINES from the New York Times on a beautiful but cold Monday in NYC…
Page 1: “Peking Reports Shanghai Strike Over Mao Policy”…”…many workers in Shanghai have gone on strike to protest Mao Tse-tung’s cultural revolution….disturbances and political resistance is widespread in China and that farmers in Chusan Islands southeast of Shanghai have joined uprisings against the Red Guards supporting Mao.”… Page 1: “Saigon Shifting To Hope of Talks”…”For the first time in the war against the Vietcong, the primary attention of this capital is beginning to swing from fighting itself on the prospect of negotiations. This shift, which involves in varying degrees the Government of Premier Nguyen Cao Ky, is evident in public statements and private conversations. It has been reported to Washington in recent weeks by the American embassy here.”... Page 6:…”Lodge Predicts Sensational Military Gains in ’67″…”Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge predicted today that allied forces would make ‘sensational military gains in South Vietnam this year.’ He also said that open negotiations to end the war probably would never take place…Ambassador Lodge appeared on a CBS TV program, ‘Lodge in Vietnam’… He said: ‘The war would most likely end with an eventual fade out by North Vietnamese and the Vietcong once the allied pacification effort had made sufficient progress to convince Hanoi ‘the jig is up.’… He also made the point that he did not expect to reach that point for years….He opposes a bombing halt.”… Page 20 (8 Jan): “Spellman On Return Gives View of U.S. Troops on Victory”…”Cardinal Spellman on his Christmas visit with the United States troops in Vietnam: ‘Victory to them does not mean the conquest of North Vietnam. Victory in their eyes does not mean the wholesale slaughter or crushing of their enemies,’ the 77-year old Archbishop of New York said of his three week journey, of which five days were spent in Vietnam… ‘Victory means convincing the enemy to come to the conference table ready to work out a just and honorable solution. The American soldiers, marines, air force men and sailors whom I met long for peace as ardently as anyone in the world. But they are determined to continue waging the battle until a peace based on justice is achieved… The five days I spent at Christmastime with our servicemen in Vietnam were an unforgettable and inspiring experience. They are there helping to defend the freedom and independence of the Vietnamese people and, incidentally, our own people against Communist aggression. They believe firmly that the cause for which they are fighting is just, and that their sacrifices are worthwhile.”…Cardinal Spellman is Military Vicar of the Armed Forces for the Roman Catholic Church of the United States.”
9 January 1967…The President’s Daily Brief…CIA (TS sanitized)…COMMUNIST CHINA: Chinese diplomats are now on their way home from at least 22 countries. Peking has not closed any of its embassies or consulates, but the exodus has left most of them with nothing but a skeleton staff. The returning diplomats are probably going to be cleansed of their dirty bourgeois thoughts and recharged with Mao. They will find China in chaos. Clashes between workers and Mao’s Red Guards are being reported from Canton in the south to Peking in the north. Now there are signs that Mao and Lin no longer have complete faith in the political loyalty of the army and public security force…. SOUTH VIETNAM: A first draft of the new constitution is to be presented to the full assembly Wednesday. It will call for a modified presidential system, with a popularly elected president and an appointed prime minister. The drafters are said to have made special efforts to put enough checks and balances to keep the president from becoming a dictator. The process is far from finished…. ISRAEL: The situation along the Syrian-Israeli frontier is looking more ominous. Tanks have exchanged fire during the past two days and this takes things a step beyond the usual sniping with smaller weapons. Thus far no Israelis have been killed, but if there are fatalities, a reprisal could be mounted with little or no warning.
9 JANUARY 1967…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER… New York Times (10 Jan reporting 9 Jan ops). Page 3: “In the air war over North Vietnam, bad weather hampered American fighter-bomber pilots. However, Air Force F-105 Thunderchiefs destroyed a radar site 50 miles northwest of Hanoi and damaged another 80 miles northwest of the capital city.”... Also reported: “7 Die In Downing of AC-47″…”…about 315 miles northwest of Saigon, enemy ground fire downed an AC-47. All seven crewmen were killed in the crash, which was the second loss of a “puff” in the Vietnam fighting. These aircraft have been credited with having saved dozens of Vietnamese villages from being overrun in night fighting with the Vietcong…B-52 bombers again attacked in Binhduong province, bringing to 10 the number of raids…against Vietcong base camps …30 to 45 miles northwest of Saigon…” … “Vietnam: Air Losses (Hobson) There was one fixed wing aircraft downed in Southeast Asia on 9 January 1967…
(1) CAPTAIN CHARLES WILSON ROBERTSON, 1LT JAMES DONALD GOODMAN, MAJOR JOSEPH E. WILKINSON, SSGT RAYMOND MEDINA, SSGT CECIL TRUMAN THOMPSON, A1C DANA RICHARD KELLER and A1C LONNY LEROY MITZEL were flying an AC-47 “Spooky” gunship of the 4th ACS and 14th ACW out of Nha Trang and detached to Danang on a mission that ended in their deaths on the night of 8-9 January 1967–Killed in Action. Chris Hobson’s report: “The ‘Spooky ‘ gunship was one of the most important assets for defense of friendly troops and villages at night. However, it was slow and relatively easy to track as it left a circular wake of tracer as it orbited the target and so it was vulnerable. On the night of the 8th a gunship was assigned a target near Duc Pho close to the coast, about 30 miles south of Quang Ngai. As it approached the target the AC-47 was hit in the mid-fuselage by automatic weapons fire. Burning furiously, the aircraft quickly became uncontrollable and crashed near the target killing the crew.”… Fifty years ago seven brave American warriors perished forever… gone, but not forgotten… They rest in peace, duty done.
RIPPLE SALVO… #310… Yesterday’s Salvo, “The Four Points,” concluded with the following paragraph…
“The Vietnam riddle remained unsolved for another five years, during which the ‘four points’ remained the ‘conditions for a valid settlement.’ The Vietnam war of attrition–ADHERENCE TO ‘A STRATEGY OF DEFEAT’– continued unabated until the ‘big stick’ of American power was fearlessly, boldly and powerfully applied to do what it takes to win wars–the application of overwhelming, brutal, killing power. A great example of an exit strategy that we all know works. And if our policy and decision makers can’t live with brutal killing, then we should stay home. War is a killing business, and wars of attrition are suicide. Nobody wins.”…
To reinforce my position–that is, as John Negroponte, Henry Kissinger’s deputy said at the time (Jan 1973): “We bombed the North Vietnamese into accepting our concessions.”– I encourage a viewing or two of an outstanding short documentary titled, “Sully: A General’s Decision.” This 38-minute film is the work of the son of BGEN Glenn Sullivan who commanded the B-52s operating out of U-tapao, Thailand during Linebacker II. The testimony of several Linebacker II warriors who were there and a few of the POWs who saw it from below are included in this informative and captivating documentary that is a tribute to a General who stood up and got counted when it was called for. It is this stand to do what is right even when it hurts that gives this film another lesson from the disaster of the Vietnam war. In yesterday’s Ripple Salvo I made mention of the times on targets that the North Vietnamese gunners “could set their watches by” as indicative of the predictability of our tactics. (Doctor Pepper 10-2-4 Alpha Strikes)…”Sully” provides a textbook example of staff rigidity… watch on– and see what you think. While you at it, raise your glass on high for the Linebacker and Linebacker II warriors who “provided the crowning blow that got us out of Vietnam,” as one survivor said. Another called Linebacker II “the sledgehammer that should have been used in 1964.” … Then thank and toast the 43 who were killed and 49 taken prisoner as 16 Buffs went down while boldly applying the “big stick” that got ‘er done… oohrah…
Linebacker operations involved the entire inventory of offensive air power in the Pacific theater, including nearly 2,000 tactical aircraft from the Air Force, Navy and Marines. What was different from all previous operations over North Vietnam was the unleashed power of more than 200 B-52s. They made a difference! All the difference!!
“Sully” is available on line at: https://vimeo.com/channels/peachtreefilms/195186849
Linebacker in 20 pages is at: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Linebacker_II
CAG’S QUOTES for 9 January: DAVID LLOYD GEORGE: “War is an art, proficiency in which depends more on experience than on study, and more on natural aptitude and judgement than on either.”… PATTON: “The only way for a soldier to die is by the last bullet of the last battle of his last war.”
Lest we forget… Bear -14–
