Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2019 i Vietnam

Autrefois, les bodybuilders de compétition avaient l’habitude de prolonger leur entraînement en exécutant quelques poses. C’est une excellente manière d’effectuer une contraction musculaire isométrique, qui gorge la zone de sang riche en nutriments. En accentuant ainsi la congestion, on permet au processus de récupération de démarrer. Consacrez cinq minutes à contracter les muscles que vous venez de faire travailler. Scott Anderson Green Valley, Ariz. Cunningham’s “My Lai’s Ghostly Footprints” reminded Vietnam veterans once again of America’s most documented atrocity of the Vietnam War. Calley’s infantry platoon entered the hamlet of My Lai, rounded up between 300 and 500 unarmed civilians, put them in a ditch and gunned them down. It is the only reported American atrocity of the Vietnam War, and Calley’s name is most remembered of all infantry officers…

Two U.S Air Force F-102 Delta Daggers from the 509th Fighter Interceptor Squadron were escorting an EB-66C radar-jamming aircraft over the Laotian border, about 90 miles southwest of Hanoi on Feb. 3, 1968, when flight leader Maj. A. L. Lomax got a report from his wingman, 1st Lt. Wallace Wiggins. The lieutenant’s aircraft was acting abnormally. Lomax took a look and was shocked to see part of a Soviet-made R-3S air-to-air missile embedded in the aft fuselage of Wiggins’ F-102. As the two Delta Daggers beat a hasty retreat home, Lomax spotted a pair of North Vietnamese MiG-21s behind them. He turned and fired three AIM-4 Falcon missiles—without effect. He then saw his wingman’s jet engulfed in flames, likely the result of the original missile strike. Wiggins was killed in…

In September 1964, I began a journey that was to be my life’s adventure. I was hired as a pilot with Air America, the CIA’s secret airline, working on its clandestine operations in Southeast Asia. It was the world of spooks, covert air ops and adventure. Air America’s pilots were shadow people. The airline’s schedules and operations were irregular and unknown. I was 27 and had already been a pilot for more than half of my life when I left my home in Detroit for the wild escapades that awaited in Southeast Asia. After orientation in Taipei, Taiwan, and a stint flying big DC-6 transport planes out of Tachikawa, Japan, I was sent to Saigon. When I arrived in March 1965, the war was revving up, and Vietnam provided the…

In February 1972, I joined the 18th Division of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam as a U.S. Army adviser with the 48th Infantry Regiment. Over the next six months, I served alongside South Vietnamese soldiers from the 18th Division who joined forces with the ARNV 5th Division in the desperate battle of An Loc, a city about 65 miles north of Saigon, attacked during the North Vietnamese Army’s 1972 Easter Offensive. During the battle grossly outnumbered and encircled ARVN troops held out against repeated tank and human wave attacks from three NVA divisions. By the end of the summer, the South Vietnamese, supported by massive U.S. air power, prevailed and repulsed the enemy assault. They had won a great victory, and I was glad to have been a…

BLUE WATER NAVY VETS WIN AGENT ORANGE BENEFITS CASE A federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., ruled in a 9-2 vote on Jan. 29 that tens of thousands of “blue water” sailors are eligible for benefits linked to exposure to Agent Orange, sprayed across South Vietnam to kill vegetation that fed or hid communist troops and a source of serious health problems for many veterans. Troops who served on the ground or on inland “brown water” rivers are presumed to have been in contact with Agent Orange in terms of eligibility for disability benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs to cover related illnesses and don’t have to prove exposure. Navy veterans who served on “blue water” oceangoing ships claim they also deserve that presumption because sailors on ships anchored…

In September 2014 I made the first of three trips to Vietnam. I was writing a book to tell the story of Americans who fought in the war. I had interviewed many veterans who served, and now I wanted to walk some of the ground marked by major American combat. Traveling with a small group along the canals and waterways of the Mekong Delta, I began to understand what men meant when they called it a scary place. We also spent several days in what had been called I Corps, the military’s designation for South Vietnam’s northern region, where we visited battle sites at obscure places like Needlepoint, The Rockpile and Mutter’s Ridge, as well as the more wellknown Khe Sanh and Hue. Then four of us set out from…

On April 16, 1961, six F-100D Super Sabres deployed to Thailand’s Don Muang Air Field, initiating the fighter-bomber’s 10-year deployment to Indochina. The plane was North American Aviation’s successor to its F-86 Sabre, famous for its exploits in the Korean War. The F-100, first flown in 1953, underwent many modifications. The F-100D, which entered service in September 1956, featured an enlarged wing and vertical stabilizer that provided better control at high speed, an autopilot, improved radio equipment and in-flight refueling capability. The jet also had additional flaps on the rear edge of the wing that increased stability and lowered the accident rate. The F-100D was the first fighter to incorporate a “buddy-store” refueling system, enabling it to refuel other F-100s in flight. In its early combat missions, the F-100 escorted…

Sometimes a rumor can take on a life of its own. Such was the case with the North Vietnamese Air Force’s “Col. Tomb,” a mythical ace with 13 victories who met his fate in the dogfight that made U.S. Lt. Randall “Duke” Cunningham and his radar intercept officer, Lt. j.g. William Driscoll, the first American aces of the war. Over the years it has become apparent that Col. Tomb was a creation of overeager U.S. intelligence analysts. “Tomb” (or alternatively, “Toon”) is not even a Vietnamese name, a telling clue that a radio operator may have misheard the moniker. Certainly, if the Burmese-sounding Tomb/Toon had been identified by this name via intercepted radio traffic, the information would likely have been classified “top secret,” only adding to the mystery and rumor-mongering.…

On April 23, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson appealed for a “Many Flags” initiative to support the embattled Republic of Vietnam. Nearly 40 countries provided some form of material support, but five contributed thousands of troops. The largest was the Republic of Korea, which committed 320,000 army, navy, marine and air force personnel from September 1964 to March 1973. The South Koreans lost 5,099 dead and 10,962 wounded. Australia sent advisers to Saigon as early as 1962 and in1965 added the 1st Australian Task Force. A destroyer and an air force squadron also assisted. The Australian presence, totaling 60,000 troops, ended in March 1973, with 521 killed and 3,000 wounded. New Zealand sent 3,890 troops between 1964 and December 1972, with 41 killed and 187 wounded. Thailand, besides providing bases…

The inscription on the white marble headstone of Lt. Cmdr. Frederick Peter Crosby, whose remains were buried in Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego on Memorial Day weekend in 2017, reads simply: “NOW HE IS HOME.” Crosby was home 52 years after being shot down over North Vietnam and listed as dead but also considered missing in action because his remains had not been recovered. On a beautiful Sunday morning along the rolling hillside of Fort Rosecrans overlooking San Diego Bay, Crosby was given a funeral with full military honors attended by no less than 300 people. Many were friends who came to support the family, but others were paying their respects to a decorated Navy pilot killed while serving his country. Following an emotional 40-minute ceremony that included…

Charles S. Kettles, a helicopter pilot who received the Medal of Honor for saving the lives of 40 soldiers and four of his own crew members, died at age 89 on Jan. 21 in Ypsilanti, Michigan. He originally received the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions in South Vietnam on May 15, 1967, but the commendation was upgraded in 2016 and presented to him by President Barack Obama. Kettles led a flight of six UH-1D Iroquois “Huey” helicopters to evacuate wounded troops from an American position during a battle at Duc Pho in the northern part of South Vietnam. Kettles was drafted at 21 and attended Officer Candidate School. After receiving his commission, he completed the Army Aviation School and did tours in Korea, Japan and Thailand. He continued his…

The 3rd Battalion of the 187th Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division, came onto Dong Ap Bia, a mountain in northern South Vietnam, the morning of May 10, 1969. Most of the men were veterans of other assaults and this one, in the A Shau Valley near the Laotian border, seemed no different at first—except for its scale. John Snyder of Bravo Company recalled that this was “the biggest movement of troops I had ever experienced and the most helicopters I’d ever seen in one spot….you knew something big was happening but you didn’t know exactly what you were getting into—other than we already knew the A Shau was bad.” That suggested the approaching battle was not likely to be a “normal” engagement. At least this was not a hot landing—no…

On the last full day of his country’s existence, South Vietnamese air force Maj. Buang-Ly stole a tiny twoseat airplane. He helped his wife and their five children, ages 14 months to 6 years, into the back seat and storage area before climbing into the pilot’s seat. They took off and headed out to sea while enemy groundfire zipped past them. It was April 29, 1975, and chaos had enveloped the nation. Two years earlier, the 1973 Paris peace agreement had theoretically ended the war, but after American combat forces left the country, the North Vietnamese took the opportunity to press their new strategic advantage. The long war between North and South Vietnam paused only briefly before ferocious fighting resumed. In early 1975 the North Vietnamese Army seized key bases…

NORTH VIETNAMESE BRIDGE TOOK SEVEN YEARS TO DESTROY The road and railway bridge at Thanh Hoa south of Hanoi spanned the Ma River and was a vital link in the movement of communist troops and supplies. For the better part of a decade, U.S. Navy, Marine and Air Force aviators braved the flak-filled skies over North Vietnam on missions to destroy the 56-foot-wide bridge, christened the “Dragon’s Jaw” by locals, and sever that link. Dragon’s Jaw: An Epic Story of Courage and Tenacity in Vietnam, by New York Times bestselling author Stephen Coonts and noted aviation historian Barrett Tillman, chronicles that epic campaign, whose early failures became a symbol of North Vietnamese resolve and resistance to American air power. Originally built by the French during the colonial period, the bridge…

FRIDAY, MAY 24 5 p.m. Blessing of the Bikes, Washington National Cathedral. 9 p.m. Candlelight Vigil, Vietnam Veterans Memorial. SATURDAY, MAY 25 9 a.m.- 9 p.m. Thunder Alley open. The official vendor site for Rolling Thunder XXXII is on 22nd Street and Constitution Avenue Northwest. Rolling Thunder patches, pins, T-shirts and leather goods are on sale, along with food and drink. SUNDAY, MAY 26 6 a.m. Reveille wake-up call for all riders taking part in the Rolling Thunder XXXII First Amendment Demonstration Run. Bikers rally in the North and South Pentagon parking lots at 7 a.m. for a noon departure. 9 a.m. Thunder Alley opens. 12 noon Rolling Thunder XXXII First Amendment Demonstration Run. Bikes leave the North Pentagon parking lot to begin their run through the National Mall area.…