Bear Taylor 
RIPPLE SALVO… #856… IN 1969 NOVELIST FLETCHER KNEBEL WROTE A NOVEL TITLED TRESPASS. The story line imagined a radical Negro group called “Blacks of February 21st” invading the homes, families and estates of a number of America’s most wealthy and influential, then demanding the creation of a new nation for blacks-only. The new nation was to be constituted as GAMAL (Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana). The President and the Government, including the Armed Forces respond. But, not so fast, the base of American citizens and organizations for the idea is broad and the tension and outcome made the book memorable for me. Indelibly so. Novelist Knebel found his story line in the real world. In the summer of 1968 The New York Times and the entire American media headlined the building discord among American blacks that included the idea of a separate state for Negroes. The New York Times, 8 Jul 68, Front Page: “CORE DISSENTERS QUIT CONVENTION–BROOKLYN LEADERS, SETTING REVOLUTIONARY GOAL–Say 16 Chapters of CORE Have Left The Columbia, Ohio, Convention”… “…The ideological dispute was reflected to a large degree in some of the resolutions that the convention tabled. One called on CORE to endorse the idea of a nation state of Negroes within the United States. Under the resolution, the black population would establish a separate nation that would take in the states of Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida. As an alternate proposal, the resolution suggested that the Negroes consider as a national homeland ‘those areas of land contained within Southwest Africa and the Union of South Africa.'” On 9 July 1968–fifty years ago to this day–the NYT Editorial Staff responded…see RS below…
GOOD MORNING… Day EIGHT HUNDRED FIFTY-SIX of a return to the years of Rolling Thunder–the air war over North Vietnam– including the year 1968, which earned the title, THE YEAR THE DREAM DIED…. “…a time when, for many, hopes died for a better America, and for others, a new conservatism was born.”
HEAD LINES from The New York Times on Tuesday, 9 July 1968…
THE WAR: Page 1: “USE OF GAS SPRAY BY FOE REPORTED–VIETCONG ATTACK ON MILITIA POST IS DESCRIBED”… “A Government military spokesman said today that Vietcong guerrillas sprayed gas on a South Vietnmese militia post last night, causing four soldiers to vomit blood. No South Vietnamese soldiers were killed in the attack, which occurred about 50 miles northwest of Saigon. It has not established what type of gas had been sprayed, but it had been sprayed and not thrown in conventional tear-gas canisters during the rocket and rifle attack on the post…The Vietcong have made several similar attacks during the war….TWO CLASHES NEAR THE DMZ… United States Marines fought two sharp battles on the edge of the demilitarized zone yesterday while armed helicopters poured rockets and machine-gun fire into a fleet of sampans farther south. The marines said they killed 67 North Vietnamese in the two actions and that five of their own men had been killed and 17 wounded. .. A United States spokesman said that the helicopters sank four sampans and damaged 36 in a waterway 20 miles south of Danang, South Vietnam’s second largest city….In the vicinity of Saigon B-52 bombers continued to hammer the jungles, striking eight times in the last 24 hours. The bombers concentrated on the jungle approaches north and west of the city…. In the Mekong Delta Vietcong gunners downed a medical evacuation helicopter. A spokesman said that 28 bullets penetrated the tail and door section of the aircraft and three Americans were wounded…”… Page 4: “A FIGHT HARD AND WAIT APPROACH ADOPTED BY AMERICAN OFFICIALS”… “A middle-echelon official in the United States Embassy sat in a hotel room one night recently, sipping scotch and water and outlining what he would do in South Vietnam if he had power. ‘But I wouldn’t make any of the changes right away,’ the official added. ‘About the only thing we can do this year is to hurt the enemy as much as we can, and wit and see what happens in Paris and in the elections back home.’ Although this fight hard and wait’ approach is seldom described so bluntly by high level officials here, it is difficult not to get the impression that with a modification or two, it has become the overriding policy of the Americans in Vietnam.”… “One high military official said the enemy now has more than 50 battalions in the II Corps area, about 80 in the I Corps area or in striking distance in Laos and just across the demilitarized zone. More troops are in Cambodia and from Cambodia they can go either southward toward III Corps area to the north toward I Corps… OBVIOUSLY PLANNING SOMETHING…”He’s obviously planning something,; said another senior officer, ‘at times in the past couple of months, he has had his troops deployed in classic Russian attack positions–a strike force near Saigon, reserve units milling around several miles back and a secondary reserve still further away.’ When the troops are maneuvering into assault position, they join local Vietcong units and harass hamlets, villages and militia outposts.”…
Page 1: “HANOI SAID TO STRESS ROLE FOR NEW SAIGON ALLIANCE–U.S. Visitor To North Says Group Might Be Focus of a Postwar Regime”… “The highest political circles in North Vietnam are said to be putting new and special emphasis on a recently formed opposition organization, The Alliance of National, Democratic and Peace Forces, would be the central element around which, in Hanoi’s view, a postwar South Vietnamese government be formed….Richard A. Falk, Professor of International Law at Princeton University, said in an interview here today that during a recent visit to Hanoi he found North Vietnamese leaders were referring to the alliance as a third force in South Vietnamese politics between the NLF, and the regime in Saigon. Falk, a 37 year old American, a persistent critic of American intervention in Vietnam, contended that ‘it would be fantastically negligent for the United States to discount the alliance out of hand as merely another front of the ‘Front’ a view tht has been a general reaction of many American Government specialists on Vietnam. Falk was in Hanoi on 28 June.
9 JULY 1968…OPERATION ROLLING THUNDER…New York Times (10 Jul reporting 9 Jul ops) Page 6: “American pilots flew 140 missions against targets in the southern part of North Vietnam. One jet, an Air Force F-4 Phantom, was shot down northwest of Dong Hoi and both crewmen were rescued.”… VIETNAM: AIR LOSSES (Chris Hobson) There were two fixed wing aircraft downed in Southeat Asia on 9 July 1968…
(1) LCOL WILLIAM A. BUICE was flying an A-1E of the 602nd ACS and 56th ACW out of Nakhon Phanom in a flight of Skyraiders on a landing area clearing mission in Northern Laos. He was hit recovering from his first diving attack by small arms fire. The aircraft burst into flames and LCOL BUICE was forced to abandon the aircraft a few miles from the target area. He was rescued by a USAF SAR helicopter. (Another account records the rescue as having been accomplished by Air America helicopters: “In 1968, Air America helicopters rescued some American pilots, such as A-1 pilots LCOL William Buice and Major Howard Jennings, with perhaps 30 total U.S. military pilots rescued in Laos and North Vietnam.” This is from an article in Air Power History (11 Nov 2016): “Supporting The Secret War: T-28s Over Laos, 1964-1973″ )…
(2) MAJOR M.K. RYAN was flying an F-100D Super Sabre of the 309th TF and 31st TFW out of Tuy Hoa on a strike mission a few miles west of Khe Sanh when hit by ground fire in the recovery from a bomb run. He was able to maneuver his faltering aircraft clear of the most hostile area before ejecting. He was rescued by a Marine helicopter…
SUMMARY OF ROLLING THUNDER LOSSES (KIA/MIA/POW) FOR 9 JULY FOR THE FOUR YEARS OF THE OPERATION OVER NORTH VIETNAM…
1965… NONE…
1966… NONE…
1967… LT CHARLES RICHARD LEE, USN… (KIA)… and … LCDR EDWARD HOLMES MARTIN, USN… (POW)…
HUMBLE HOST TAKES THIS OPPORTUNITY TO SALUTE VICE ADMIRAL EDWARD HOLMES MARTIN, USN (1931-2015). The specifics of his last flight enroute to the Hanoi Hilton was reported one year ago in Ripple Salvo #491, 9 July 2017…
AMONG THE BRAVE… CONSPICUOUS GALLANTRY AND INTREPIDITY IN ACTION… CAPTAIN EDWARD H. MARTIN, USN…
the SILVER STAR…The Citation:
“The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the SILVER STAR to CAPTAIN EDWARD HOLMES MARTIN, United States Navy, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity while interned as a Prisoner of War in North Vietnam on 15 July 1967. Captain MARTIN’s captors, completely ignoring international agreements, subjected him to extreme mental and physical cruelness in an attempt to obtain military information and false confessions for propaganda purposes. Through his resistance to those brutalities, he contributed significantly toward the eventual abandonment of harsh treatment by the North Vietnamese, which was attracting international attention. By his determination, courage, resourcefulness, and devotion, Captain MARTIN reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Naval Service and the United States Armed Forces.”…
EXTRAORDINARY ACHIEVEMENT… the DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS… 30 JUNE 1967… HAIPHONG, NORTH VIETNAM… THE CITATION:
“The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS to Commander (then Lieutenant Commander) EDWARD HOLMES MARTIN, United States Navy, for heroism and extraordinary achievement while participating in aerial flight on 30 June 1967 as a pilot of Attack Squadron THIRTY-FOUR (VA-34), embarked in USS INTREPID (CVS-11). Commander MARTIN led eight flak suppressor aircraft in support of the strike against the heavily defended petroleum product storage area seven miles southwest of Haiphong, North Vietnam. While approaching the target area, he skillfully maneuvered his aircraft through intense, accurate anti-aircraft fire and two surface-to-air missile firings maintaining flight integrity and arriving at a position from which to launch an attack. He then launched a devastating and aggressive attack against multiple gun anti-aircraft sites on a nearby hill which were directing concentrated fire into the bomber element. He scored a direct hit on one of the sites, and moments later the entire southeast face of the hill erupted in a tremendous secondary explosion, sending fireballs several hundred feet in the air. By his courageous leadership, coolness under fire, and outstanding airmanship, Commander MARTIN contributed substantially to the success of the vital mission and upheld the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.”…
VICE ADMIRAL MARTIN served as the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Naval Aviation and as Commander SIXTH FLEET before retiring in 1989. Other awards included two NAVY DISTINGUISHED SERVICE MEDALS and two awards of the Legion of Merit, one with the Valor distinguishing device. Ed Martin was a Happy Warrior and the epitome of a gentleman as well as a fearless light attack tailhooker and attack carrier skipper. He is remembered here in RTR with great admiration…
1968… NONE…
RIPPLE SALVO… #856… One of the lessons of Vietnam for appropriate and urgent application in our country today, is the axiom that a nation divided against itself cannot stand. In the 1960s the United States was too fractured on the home front to come together to win the Vietnam war. Our enemies used those deficiencies in our national resolve to their advantage and prevailed. Humble Host recognizes the return of catastrophic cracking in American unity that bodes ill for success in present and future foreign and domestic policy. The NYT Opinion Editorial, ONE NATION–OR TWO? provides a prose picture of the state of the nation while Rolling Thunder was carrying the Vietnam war into North Vietnam on 9 July 1968… I quote…
“Divisiveness is plaguing the efforts of Negro organizations and weakening the drives to improve conditions in black communities through self-help and pressure. A vivid example was provided by the CORE convention that began with a rational effort to bring together Negro leaders of different viewpoint, and ended up with a split in CORE itself. The same disunity sparked bitter battles a few days earlier at the convention of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
“Competition for individual power plays a role in the fission process, but there is a more general ideological issue that is increasingly polarizing the articulate leadership elements among the country’s black people. Simply stated the issue is whether there should be one United States, or two successor states–one black and one white.Typical of the dream of the separatists was the resolution proposed–but not adopted–at the CORE meeting for the formation of a black nation embracing twelve of the present states from Maryland to Florida. Black power for persons of view means black sovereignty and political independence.
“For all the vigorous language that he used in the speech to the CORE meeting last weekend, the head of the National Urban League, Whitney M. Young, Jr., was basically stating their anti-separatist position. He made plain his opposition to the white racists and the black ideological revolutionists who, in curious union, ‘would send us back to Africa or establish a more formal American apartheid.’ Mr. Young wants a United United States, but one in which the black people of the ghetto control their own destinies and fight for greater equality by use of the same type of political and econ0mic power other minority groups have employed in the past.
“The dreams of separatists are fantasies.’The great majority of American black people want neither to go back to Africa nor to be herded onto a separate black reservation that might call itself a nation but would have neither the trained human nor the capital resources to be a strong, prosperous modern state.
“But this is the age of nationalism, of ever more strident assertions of separate group identity–From French Canada to Slovakia to the Naga tribesmen of India. Separation could become a major and damaging political current among Negroes if large numbers of them give up hope in the dream of achieving full and equal American citizenship.
“It would be naive to suppose that complete integration can be soon accomplished. But even while progress is made toward that goal, it is essential that Negroes and whites work together to meet the concrete immediate need of most American blacks: better education, better housing, more and better jobs, and a more influential voice in deciding their own and the nation’s future.” End NYT OpEd of 50 years ago…
RTR quote for 9 July: DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR., 16 August 1967. “Where Do We Go from Here?” Sermon: “…as we talk about ‘Where do we go from here?’ that we must honestly face the fact that the movement must address itself to the question of restructuring the whole of American society. There are forty million poor people here, and one day we must ask the question, ‘Why are there forty million poor people in America? And when we begin to ask that question, you are raising a question about the economic system, about a broader distribution of wealth. When you ask that question you begin to question the capitalistic economy. And I am simply saying that more and more, we have got to ask questions about the whole society.”…
Lest we forget… Bear
