Posted on Jul 27, 2015
50 years ago today, July 27, in sunny Vietnam-land - Where were you?
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Forty-six U.S. F-105 fighter-bombers attack the missile installation that had fired at U.S. planes on July 24.
They also attacked another missile installation 40 miles northwest of Hanoi.
One missile launcher was destroyed and another was damaged, but five U.S. planes were shot down in the effort.
On July 24, U.S. bombers on a raid over munitions manufacturing facilities at Kang Chi, 55 miles northwest of Hanoi, were fired at from an unknown launching site.
It was the first time the enemy had launched antiaircraft missiles at U.S. aircraft.
The presence of ground-to-air antiaircraft missiles represented a rapidly improving air defense capability for the North Vietnamese.
As the war progressed, North Vietnam, supplied by China and the Soviet Union, would fashion a very effective and integrated air defense system, which became a formidable challenge to American flyers conducting missions over North Vietnam.
In a meeting with President Johnson most Congressional leaders of both parties agreed with his plan to increase U.S. military forces in South Vietnam.
The exception was Senator Mike Mansfield, while publicly supporting the President said at the meeting, said, "we are going deeper into a war in which even a total victory would, in the end, be a loss to the nation."
Mansfield proposed negotiations to end the war.
They also attacked another missile installation 40 miles northwest of Hanoi.
One missile launcher was destroyed and another was damaged, but five U.S. planes were shot down in the effort.
On July 24, U.S. bombers on a raid over munitions manufacturing facilities at Kang Chi, 55 miles northwest of Hanoi, were fired at from an unknown launching site.
It was the first time the enemy had launched antiaircraft missiles at U.S. aircraft.
The presence of ground-to-air antiaircraft missiles represented a rapidly improving air defense capability for the North Vietnamese.
As the war progressed, North Vietnam, supplied by China and the Soviet Union, would fashion a very effective and integrated air defense system, which became a formidable challenge to American flyers conducting missions over North Vietnam.
In a meeting with President Johnson most Congressional leaders of both parties agreed with his plan to increase U.S. military forces in South Vietnam.
The exception was Senator Mike Mansfield, while publicly supporting the President said at the meeting, said, "we are going deeper into a war in which even a total victory would, in the end, be a loss to the nation."
Mansfield proposed negotiations to end the war.
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 5
SPC Jan Allbright, M.Sc., R.S., as always, most interesting. However, you're beginning to make me sound like a broken record regarding where I was! We lived in Jacksonville, FL and I was 16 years old. We had a week long family reunion at Atlantic Beach, FL and I was participating in summer workouts with the high school football team! Seems kind of tame compared to what was going on in Vietnam.
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SPC Jan Allbright, M.Sc., R.S.
Part of the exercise is to get the individual stories out ... my time will come :)
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Wow, great story, thanks for sharing. My grandfather was already retired back then and my Dad was in middle school and I only can read about these things in the history books.
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