Go figure... this country boy ended up being killed (along with over 58,000 other Americans) by a small mound of dirt (sand dune) lying on the side of a pierced steel planking runway in a country located over 8,500 miles away that consisted of millions upon millions of impoverished people that never did anything to us.

Vietnam War U.S. Military Fatal Casualty Statistics

But, then again, there's truth to the following:

"If you are going to kill someone, you better have a good reason for it. And if you have a good reason, then you better not play around with the killing."

- Chuck Horner, a fellow pilot of my father in the early 1960s. My father was then 1Lt. Horner's flight commander.

They were member pilots of the 492nd Tactical Fighter Squadron, 48th Tactical Fighter Wing, Lakenheath Air Force Base, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom.

"In time my bitterness changed to hatred of them—the omnipresent them—everybody above my wing, all the Fighter Headquarters from Saigon on up (and later, too, the real culprits, primarily the President and Secretary of Defense). I didn’t hate them because they were dumb, I didn’t hate them because they had spilled our blood for nothing, I hated them because of their arrogance ... because they had convinced themselves that they actually knew what they were doing and that we were too minor to understand the 'Big Picture.' I hated my own generals, because they covered up their own gutless inability to stand up to the political masters in Washington and say, 'Enough. This is bullshit. Either we fight or we go home.' I hated them because they asked me to take other people’s lives in a manner that dishonored both of us, me the killer and them the victim.

If you are going to kill someone, you better have a good reason for it. And if you have a good reason, then you better not play around with the killing. We didn’t seem to have the good reason, and we were playing around with the killing. Shame on all of us. If I had to be a killer, I wanted to know why I was killing; and the facts didn't match the rhetoric coming out of Washington.

The rhetoric was that we were there to save South Vietnam for democracy and to keep the other Southeast Asia nations from falling into Communist slavery. Okay, I will buy that. But the way we fought was so inefficient that you wondered if the rhetoric was just a front we were putting up...

Worst of all for me was coming home from the war in 1965, visiting my wife's hometown, Cresco, Iowa, and talking to the local Rotary luncheon. On the one hand, I was being told that we are out there on the frontier of freedom defending these people's interests, even eventually their freedom. On the other hand, these people had no idea what was going on in the war. They were supportive. But how much comfort can someone who is killing other humans take when the folks back home don't know what your are doing or why you are doing it?"

- "Every Man a Tiger"; General Chuck Horner (Ret.) with Tom Clancy; G. P. Putnam's Sons; 1999; Pages 96–97.

In your search for truth, keep forever vigilant and guarded against those that are prolific liars, especially politicians and the media— for many of them are as crooked as the day is long. If you haven't learned by now to question everything you are told by them, then you're a damn fool.

A liar's creed: "The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made." - Groucho Marx

Lying to the American public about the progress in the Vietnam War was the modus operandi for the both of them. Readily available material confirms this.

*Hall of Shame:
Harry S. Truman
Dwight D. Eisenhower
John F. Kennedy
Lyndon B. Johnson
Averell Harriman
Henry Cabot Lodge
Roger Hilsman
George Ball
W. W. “Walt” Rostow
General Westmoreland
Richard Nixon
Henry Kissinger
Ho Chi Minh
David Halberstam (Journalist)
Michael Forrestal

“The first 436th TFS casualty was Capt Roy Blakeley from Wink, Texas, who was lost on 22 July 1965. 1Lt Harold Alston was part of that mission, which was targeting a Viet Cong build-up west of the US Marine Corps base at Chu Lai with M117s. The flight originally included John Olson as Lead, Larry ‘Shass’ Shassetz as No 2, Seb Arriaga as No 3 and Jack Gale as No 4. Harold Alston was in the spare jet, and he recalled;

‘At the last minute Maj Arriaga took himself off the schedule and I was inserted as No 3, with Roy as spare. After takeoff “Shass” had a hung landing gear and had to return to Da Nang, so Roy scrambled in the aeroplane that I was originally scheduled to fly. He joined up with us over Chu Lai as No. 2. After two successful passes that cleaned off the external ordnance, we made our first strafing pass.

Coming off the target Roy reported that he had lost his left leading edge flap. I immediately went into afterburner and quickly joined on his left wing. I reported that when the flap separated it had hit the upper fuselage and torn off some aluminum skin, leaving a gash above the engine. Roy reported that he had lost oil pressure. Now we had a serious problem so we turned towards Chu Lai, about 20 miles away. I stayed on his wing in a close chase position so I could watch the approach better, since it would be a left turn to land on the newly constructed pierced steel planking runway at the austere Marine base that had not long been operational.

I went to Guard channel and notified Chu Lai tower of our situation. Roy’s landing pattern was excellent regarding altitude, descent rate and airspeed. I maintained my position, which was about one wingspan separation off his right side. It looked like a normal approach, but I became concerned that he had not lowered his landing gear. I told him so, thinking he was concentrating on making the landing under emergency conditions. There was no response and we were getting close to the runway. I repeatedly said, “Get the gear down Roy” but there was no response.

He made a perfect landing, except that the gear was still up. Unfortunately the bomb pylons were what touched the steel planking, causing him to swerve to the left. He went off the runway and ploughed into a small hill of sand. The aeroplane exploded into a fireball. I executed my go-around from about ten feet above the right side of the runway with a sick feeling permeating through my body. I knew immediately that I had lost my flight commander and a good friend with whom I had flown many times. Olson and Gale were spread out on the opposite side of the runway, so I quickly joined up on them and we returned to Da Nang in silence.’

The AAA damage to Blakeley’s F-104C (56-0908) after he had expended 750 rounds of 20 mm cannon fire in his strafing pass had knocked out the jet’s hydraulics, preventing landing gear extension. He was awarded the DFC [Distinguished Flying Cross] posthumously for attempting to recover the aircraft rather than ejecting and risking casualties on the ground.”

Source: “F-104 Starfighter Units in Combat”; Author: Peter E Davies; Publisher: Osprey Publishing; Publish Date:November 20, 2014.

Landing a F-104 Starfighter that hasn't been compromised as my father's was still calls for a pilot well-trained in that particular aircraft for it can be very unforgiving of mistakes. Maintaining the proper airspeed and flight attitude throughout the entire approach and landing sequence is required and that speed is—very, very fast!

Research the F-104 and you will find that many (who never flew it) put this aircraft down with claims that it was a difficult and dangerous aircraft to fly—an aircraft with unforgiving handling characteristics. Certainly, it has had an appallingly poor safety record in use with some air forces but a relatively good one in others.

However, in fairness to this aircraft, the record also reflects that the aircraft can be flown with reasonable safety if the pilots are properly trained and the aircraft is maintained and flown strictly in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations. You depart from recommend procedures and the aircraft could be terribly unforgiving with the very likely result of fatal consequences for doing so.

Furthermore you won't find many instances, if any, of F-104 pilots putting it down. Quite the contrary, they loved flying the "Silver Sliver". If you enjoyed going fast, it did not disappoint.

My father's aircraft was seriously damaged, but he managed to land it under control in a gear-up configuration. After contact was made with the runway surface, he was along for the ride. You go where it goes. And, having approximately 3,500 lbs. of fuel in the fuselage further decreased the odds of survivability upon his aircraft's exit from the runway.

Watch the video clip to get a feel for what this speed looks like as the F-104 speeds by in its approach for landing.

"Boy but it's hot here!! The humidity is high & you really sweat. I spared a flight today & the sweat ran all the way down through the crack of my a_ _!! I fly two bombing missions tomorrow, both in North Vietnam!! We dropped napalm today for the first time." - Letter from Captain Roy J. Blakeley to Johnnye Blakeley (July 4, 1965); Page One

"I flew 9,300 miles and 12 inflight refuelings getting here. Landed 3 times in route. My tail was really sore. Ha - think I will ride a transport back & sleep all the way." - Letter from Captain Roy J. Blakeley to his parents, James Louis and Violet Blakeley (July 5, 1965); Page One

Prophetically, unfortunately, he did just that.

"Life here is not too miserable. It's damned hot & you are wringing wet when you come down from a mission but the club & quarters is reasonable. Of course there is always the fear of getting shot down but that's the fortune of war. [Not something my mother would want to be reminded of, I'm sure.] We have been doing air to ground for the last two weeks & wish we would switch to escort for a while. It's hell of a lot safer!! They have lost 25 F-105's so for. They lost their 25th one last week. The bad thing is on air to ground missions we make 2 dive bomb runs & 3 strafe passes but the crazy Viet Cong don't try to hide or get into fox holes, they just shoot at you until they get shot. We pull out 2,000' higher than normal now!!" - Letter from Captain Roy J. Blakeley to Johnnye Blakeley (July 18, 1965); Page Three.

Letters and Postcards

"Tenth mission today. I was originally scheduled as spare, but at the last minute Major Eusebio Arriaga (Operations Officer) took himself off and I replaced him. The target was a VC build-up west of Chu Lai. Our bombs and strafing were good and right on the target. I don’t know how to write the rest. Roy was killed today..."

- Journal entry for combat mission on 22 July (Thursday) 1965; Harold R. Alston, 1 Lt, USAF; 436 Tactical Fighter Squadron, Da Nang Air Base, South Viet Nam

"Today is not at all like yesterday. It's wrong to walk forward and look back at the same time, but there's something the mind keeps searching for - what used to be full and joyous events are now only fragments of memories. We try to remember, but are unable to.

We keep trying to be there again and sometimes are convinced that things were better than they are now.

As for me, I long to go back before the pain and sorrow; more often than I should. I have a feeling of yearning that goes over my whole being. It's not a constant occurrence, but rather comes and goes at the most unexpected times. It seems more frequent during the times when I am feeling down.

My life has been fairly successful and I have many blessings for which I do not forget to be thankful for, but my heart has an empty space that nothing fills. There has been a void there since I was very young.

While reminiscing one day about disappointments and love-lost I told a friend that mine was the end of a Cinderella story - and my friend said 'at least you had it for a while. I have never had the things you have had. Even though you lost it - you are better for having it if only for a short while.' What can you say to that?

I have come to a point of acceptance rather than complaint - more than I have ever known before. Maybe there comes a period of time in our lives when we realize that not all our dreams will be fulfilled, but we can find happiness and comfort in the ones that did materialize. We can give thanks for those things we have and what we have accomplished rather than spend so much time dreaming of those dreams that eluded us.

I feel pleasure from a kind gesture. Earlier in my life I may have taken this more for granted - probably because as time goes by you realize how few people are kind to you; and it becomes rare and priceless - beautiful flowers, a lovely sunset, a child's laughter, and most precious of all - love of family.

Sometimes I look up at the clouds and see open spaces that seem like windows of heaven - and I wish I could just get a glimpse of my loved ones looking through this window at me. I would hope that they would know that I haven't always done things perfectly, but I know they would smile at me and say, 'I know you have tried hard under adverse circumstances and we love you for it - and, also, for your courage, determination, loyalty, love, and never giving up.''

If you do your best there's no reason to be ashamed - no apologies are in order to anyone if you have tried to do what you thought was right.

All these thoughts go through my mind - but it's not God's will for this to be possible - so the windows are empty. They're there, but they aren't looking out today."

- "Windows of Heaven"; Johnnye Ashton-Blakeley, August 15, 1991

I was showing my mother pictures one day to help with her memory recollection. One of them was of my father.
She asked: "Did he leave me?"
I answered: "No, Mother, he would have never done that. He loved you dearly. You were the love of his life."
"Where did he go?"
"He was killed in the war."
"Oh."
That seemed to satisfy her, for the time being at least.
She was thirty years old then. She's now eighty-six years old and dementia is taking its toll on her (April 2021).

AF Form 183c: "Morning Report Casualty Accounting (July 27, 1965)":

"Captain Blakeley, pilot of F-104 aircraft, at approximately 1034 hrs, 22 Jul 65, made a gear up approach at the Chu Lai USMC Airfield. He touched down at approximately 1000 feet down the runway, slid for approximately 1800 feet before going off runway where the aircraft exploded. Death was apparently instantaneous."

I believe Major Arriaga made a mistake on filling out this form regarding reporting my father's emergency landing as a "no landing".

He made the landing in a "controlled" manner. The fact that the aircraft exited the runway after skidding down it for approximately 1,800 feet does not turn it into a "no landing" to my way of thinking nor does the fact that he didn't walk away from it either—just sayin'.

The following is an excerpt from an email exchange between Harold Alston and Larry Blakeley; Thursday, September 6, 2007:

"Although your journal doesn’t mention ground fire damage I presume the damage (you) described was a direct result of same. Is that right? And, was possibly the landing gear not functioning?" (Larry)

"Larry, why the leading edge flap separated is a mystery to me. It certainly could have been enemy fire. The mission was in bright daylight and none of us saw any fire which would not be surprising considering the sun angle. I think the damage on the fuselage was from being hit by the flap. It may have caused the oil pressure problem or there were other components damaged that were not visible to me. It certainly is also possible the landing gear failed to extend because of compounded problems. Roy had no chance to go around and pull up and eject by that point.

After his tour at Da Nang, Captain Harold Alston (435th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 479th Tactical Fighter Wing) went back to Udorn Thailand after only 8 months home.

"I was then an 'experienced Captain' so I went on the advanced party before the rest of the squadron deployed.

On 30 September 1966 I became the first pilot in the Air Force to fly 100 combat missions over North VietNam. This was later recognized with a brass, engraved tray given to me by Tony LeVier, the Lockheed Test Pilot who was the first person to fly the F-104."

"Completion of 100 combat missions over North Vietnam in the F-104C at Udorn Royal Thai Air Base on 30 September 1966"- Capt Harold Alston, 435th TFS 479th TFW George AFB

Above Photo: The crowd congratulates Capt. Harold Alston for being the first pilot in the USAF to fly 100 combat missions over North Vietnam in the F-104.

Without the help of prior F-104 pilots, Gary Blake (25 Jun 1936–3 Sep 2014) and Mike Vivian, and especially Bob Irwin, the identification of the pilot sitting at that table with my father would not have happened. That man was then 1Lt Harold R. Alston. His contribution was immeasurable in telling my father's story that fateful day of July 22, 1965. I'm so thankful for that and for his contribution. His input meant so much to me; for without it, questions that remained with me for 40 years would have remained unanswered and, thus, his story would never have been known to be told in its entirety.

Subject: ID the man
From: "Harold Alston"
Date: Mon, 8 Nov 2004 15:27:02 -0700
To: larry@larryblakeley.com

Larry,

I am forwarding this suggestion from Bob Irwin to contact you regarding your father. I was flying Roy's wing on his fatal combat mission. I also was the first pilot in the squadron to visit with your mother and Roy's parents about the mission when I returned to George AFB after our tour at Da Nang. You should know, that I enjoyed Roy as my Flight Commander and had great respect for him. I deeply share your loss.

Harold Alston, Lt Col, USAF, Retired
Salt Lake City, Utah

The search for the unidentified man is here.

Honorary Bearers:

Captain Wendell Kirk (escort), George Air Force Base, Victorville, California

Colonel Darrell Stuart Cramer, Luke Air Force Base, Arizona
Before being assigned to Luke, he was commander of the 479th Tactical Fighter Wing at George Air Force Base, Victorville, California. Many times when he needed to go somewhere, he would get my father to fly him there. He didn't fly enough to kept current in the F-104.
Bio: Brigadier General Darrell Stuart Cramer Bio
Burial: Lindquists Memorial Gardens of the Wasatch, South Ogden, Weber County, Utah
(2 Mar 1922—17 Jan 2007; 84 years old)
Find A Grave Memorial

Colonel Edward P. ("Ed") McNeff, Luke Air Force Base, Arizona
Before being assigned to Luke he was operations officer for the 436th Tactical Fighter Squadron, and in April 1964 became deputy commander for operations of the 479th Tactical Fighter Wing, Victorville, California.
Bio: Major General Edward P. McNeff

Captain George F. Garey, Luke Air Force Base, Arizona
He was a fellow flight commander in the 492nd Tactical Fighter Squadron at Lakenheath Air Force Base, Suffolk, England, United Kingdom in the early 1960s. He sent me an email (Thu, 28 Jul 2005) containing the following background information:

"... Roy and I were flight commanders at Lakenheath in the 492d Tactical Fighter Squadron. He left months before I did to go to George AFB to fly the F-104, something I thought I would never have the opportunity to do. In 1963, I departed for Luke AFB to be an F-100 Instructor. Four months after arrival, a small program at George, which was training foreign fighter pilots to fly the F-104, was transferred to Luke and expanded to include the training of all German pilots who had just gotten their wings and were to fly the F-104G.

I was lucky to be able become a part of that and with a few others, soon went to George to attend some ground school training and start learning about the new plane. It had a much more advanced radar and fire control system than the model your father was flying, but otherwise, very similar. Roy took me out on the flight line one day to show me what the cockpit looked like in his version.

In 1965, we got a new group commander, newly promoted to Colonel who had just come from George. In talking with him, I learned that he had formerly been Roy's squadron commander. It was he who told me in July about the Chu Lai accident and said he was going to Texas for the funeral. He was going in a two seater TF-104G and asked me to go with him. It is noted in the Web site that we were honorary bearers. I was standing near your mother when the flight of F-104Cs from George flew over. When they lit the afterburners, she was so startled I was afraid she was going to collapse, but she managed to recover..."

- George Garey, LtCol, Ret

Death comes in ways that nobody can predict. This untimely death of my father was very difficult for me, an eleven-year-old boy that adored his father, to deal with. I was totally devastated. Making it through each and every day, for quite some time thereafter, was a chore. I was in a deep, dark place that I had never been before. From that experience I came to learn at such a young age that I was on my own—alone, not so much lonely, just—truly alone.

I quickly learned that nobody can really see the world through my eyes. At times I have tried to believe otherwise from close friends or loved ones, but I know that's simply an illusion. Expecting otherwise from them is not realistic and unfair to them. I live in my own skin only. I accept that as just the way it is—nothing more, nothing less. And by the same token, this same knowledge made me also realize that I was solely responsible for my own decisions, actions and feelings. Self-responsibility took hold on me and self-accountability came right along with it. I matured overnight—had to. There was no other choice in the matter. I became a different person, but not by choice. My youth was interrupted abruptly, never to return again.

I totally get the following.

"... we are all alone, born alone, die alone, and—in spite of True Romance magazines—we shall all someday look back on our lives and see that, in spite of our company, we were alone the whole way. I do not say lonely—at least, not all the time—but essentially, and finally, alone.

This is what makes your self-respect so important, and I don’t see how you can respect yourself if you must look in the hearts and minds of others for your happiness.

- "The Proud Highway: Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman, 1955-1967"; Hunter S. Thompson; A Ballantine Book, Published by Random House Publishing Group (1997)

If the truth be known, it took many years for me to shed my conscious grief, but every now and then, when I'm in an overly emotional way, it returns for a relatively short visit. That helps me to know, he still lives within me and I'm human.

"Larry, sometime after we moved to Texas, Grandmother Violet [Roy Blakeley's mother] drove to George AFB and went to the house we lived in and knocked on the door. The new occupants answered and she told them who she was and that her son and his family had lived there and that he had been killed in Viet Nam. She asked them if she could come in just to see the house again - they were very cordial to invite her in. She walked through as if she might find things the same; 'the way we were'. She later told me about this.

Also, the night Colonel Kramer [sic] and Dean Arriaga came to the house to tell me about Roy, Karen and Sharon were asleep and you were in Texas. I was sitting at my dresser about 11:00 P.M. when the doorbell rang. I was startled because nobody ever rang the doorbell at that time of the night. I turned the porch light on and saw them standing there and as I reached for the doorknob to open the door I said 'Oh God, please just let him be captured.' Then there would be some hope. But there was none. Colonel Kramer put his arms around me and I knew he was hurting too.

Roy was his favorite.

I have thought so many times about the time before he left I was getting very anxious about the war and we were sitting at the dinner table one evening and he said he might go as an alternative with another squadron who was going sooner so that he could be back by Christmas. I begged him not to do that because the war might have changed by then in three months. He said, 'they just need to get the zip 4s over there.' Later I knew he was probably making light of it, but at the time I was upset and you being the serious, sensible child you always were said:

'Dad, mother doesn't want to be a young widow.'

It shocked him and he said, 'I am planning on coming back.'

I don't think I have ever told you this and I'm sure you don't remember it.

After Darrel [sic] and Dean left I asked them to call my good friend Millie Carlson who was an army nurse in World War II to stay with me. I woke the girls up and told them something awful had happened and I took them into the bed with me that night.

I remember the first thing Karen said was, 'are we still going to Texas?' We were to leave and drive the next day.

Millie insisted I take a sleeping pill and I did not want to, but I did. Afterward the room started spinning around and I got deathly ill and started throwing up.

You know I was afraid to let you go to Texas alone, but I promised him I would think about it. I took you to the bus station with a heavy heart. I was afraid for you to fly so the bus seemed safer. What an awful long trip I put you through. As we talked about it, I would not even consider it in today's times. Usually a bus driver would keep tabs on a child. When he sent Karen and Sharon to Las Vegas to visit his parents one time, I wasn't for that. He pinned their names on them with 'Captain Roy J. Blakeley's child' on the tag. They said there were some old ladies on the bus that really looked after them.

Love Mother"

- Email from Johnnye Blakeley to Larry Blakeley, dated September 12, 2004 7:50 PM

After my father was killed, we moved to Fisher County, Texas and lived with my maternal grandparents, John Lewis and Edna Ashton. John Lewis became the most important man in my life thereafter.

I became aware of the following poem, "The Bridge Builder", one day when I ran across it with some items of my mother's. She had typed the poem and below it typed the following:

"I copied this in remembrance of my Dad, John Lewis Ashton. The Bridge symbolizes all of his efforts in helping me raise my children after the death of their father, Major Roy James Blakeley, Vietnam 1965. Thank you, Daddy. You will never be forgotten for all the years you stood by us and the love you gave us. I miss you every day.

With love,

Your daughter, Johnnye Blakeley (nickname 'Easy')"

I believe some things from the heart are meant to be found. It was a short burst of her feelings of appreciation and love from a daughter to a father.

As for me, this poem written by Will Allen Dromgoole (October 26, 1860—September 1, 1934), best describes what he provided me—a roadmap to manhood. He did it well and I love him dearly for that.

This would be a good spot to make something very clear for those that aren't in the know. It is actually the spouse of fighter pilots that keep most everything in order at home. They also do most of the child-rearing. TDYs ("Temporary Duty Orders") away from home for an extended period of time can be extra stressful on everybody at home. And, furthermore, when the pilot-spouse is killed there's an additional consequence. In civilian life, you are much more likely to have continuity with your surroundings, group of friends, etc., but in military life that doesn't hold true. It's difficult enough without your entire world vanishing—overnight!

"I must say this Johnnye. You were very strong and wonderful. I just hope and pray to God if and when the time should come that I face something you did, I can only half as strong as you were." - Betty Harris, wife of Captain Walter B. ("Walt") Harris (12 Dec 1929–6 Apr 2002; 72 years old; Find A Grave Memorial)

"We thought so much of Roy - I always remember how proud he was of his pretty wife and sweet children." - Barbara Garey, wife of Captain George F. Garey

"We were so sorry to learn of Roy's death. Sorry too, that we weren't at George so we could have been with you to help if only in a small way. I always thought of Roy as a true, quiet gentleman of which there are so few. I know you had something special as you always seemed to be together. Our thoughts are with you and the children. - Nancy Tofferi, wife of Captain Charles E. ("Chuck") Tofferi (18 May 1933–20 Oct 1966; 33 years old; Find A Grave Memorial)

"I regret I didn't know Roy better; Dick had a great admiration for him - not only as a pilot, but as a man. We shall miss him." - Patty Alexander, wife of Captain James R. Alexander

"Though I did not know Roy well, knowing you and the children I can appreciate your loss. He had a marvelous reputation and will be missed by all." - Pat Nevers (21 Feb 1935–7 Feb 2001; 66 years old; Find A Grave Memorial, wife of Captain Joseph R. Nevers (25 May 1930–15 Nov 2019; 89 years old; Find A Grave Memorial)

"Our thoughts have certainly been with you since you left, especially today. At 1:30 this afternoon many of us gathered at Chapel #2 and paid tribute to your fine father and husband. The memorial service was attended by many of Roy's friends and associates. We all share your grief and sorrow and hold Roy's memory in high esteem." - Barbara Shassetz, wife of Captain Larry R. Shassetz (16 Jan 1935–17 Aug 1994; 59 years old; Find A Grave Memorial

You could live out your entire life and never achieve the sense of fellowship, love, respect, honor, trust, and devotion that these men hold for each other; or, at least, that's been my perception. It is nothing short of the highest regard one human being can have for another. I've never truly experienced this in my lifetime, but I saw it years ago. And, I believe that to be "truth" in its purest form.

For years after my father's burial, every so often, a couple of F-104's would descend from their cross country altitude, go to to visual flight rules, and absolutely "scream" over the top of our house out in the country between Rotan and Roby on Highway 77.

To this day, I have no idea who was piloting those F-104s, but most probably someone that had been to our house to visit, otherwise they would not know which farm to buzz. Those that come to mind are the same ones that flew the missing-man formation at the burial:

Captain John H. ("Jack") Gale, Jr.
(23 Jul 1930–3 Jan 2014; 83 years old);

Captain Walter B. ("Walt") Harris
(12 Dec 1929–6 Apr 2002; 72 years old);

Captain John D. Olson
(1 Oct 1935–21 May 2000; 64 years old); and

Captain Larry R. Shassetz
(16 Jan 1935–17 Aug 1994; 59 years old)

What a demonstration of respect for my father! That meant a lot to me; something I've never forgotten to this day.

They also each piloted an F-104 for the missing-man flyover at my father's burial.

The vow, "till death do us part", apparently wasn't considered "the end" for her since she never remarried. It is written that only through God's grace would this hold true for a Christian, which she is and he was too. According to the Word, it would also require mutual faith and belief for them to unite together once again. I think it's fair for me to say, "that's what she's banking on."

As to the love and devotion my mother and father had for each other; that was rock-solid. That, I know... for I saw it, felt it and remember it.

"Don't know when I'm going to get promoted. Supposed to be today but who knows." - Captain Roy J. Blakeley
Source: Letter from Captain Roy J. Blakeley to his brother, Captain David C. Blakeley, U.S. Army (July 16, 1965

As fate would have it, "close, but no cigar" to hand out by the Major; for according to the regs, advancement of officers who are selected for promotion, but die before they can pinned for their new rank, may be promoted posthumously to a higher grade. But, there's a downside. Such promotions do not affect any benefits or entitlements due the next of kin. So, that's exactly what happened.

"... Zeb [Major Eusebio Arriaga, Commander] put me, Walt and Larry and Olson in for a medal."

The following F-104 Starfighter pilots flew in this engagement:

Captain Roy J. Blakeley (AFSN 45482A);
Captain Walter B. Harris (AFSN A02228133);
Captain Larry R. Shassetz (AFSN A03066266); and
Captain John D. Olson (AFSN A03065381).

Nothing came of Arriaga's supposedly submittal of a recommendation of air medals for that engagement; or at least, as to my father's involvement in that engagement.

"Flew my 10th combat mission - 10 miles off the end of the runway!! Viet Cong had just finished ambushing a convoy and we were diverted from our original target. Caught about 200 Viet Cong in the open and really 'ate' them up. The Marines were taking out casualties & we were striking over their heads. The Marines really appreciated the quick response to their call for 'AIR.' The Zip 4's were there immediately!!"
Source: Letter from Roy J. Blakeley to his brother, David C. Blakeley (July 16, 1965)

"The 15th I flew a mission and we lucked out and caught a bunch of Viet Cong out in the open after they had ambushed an American convoy and we killed 175 and Zeb put me, Walt and Larry and Olson in for a medal!! How about that!! We have been doing air to ground for the last two weeks & wish we would switch to escort for a while. It's hell of a lot safer!! The bad thing is on air to ground missions we make 2 dive bomb runs & 3 strafe passes but the crazy Viet Cong don't try to hide or get into fox holes, they just shoot at you until they get shot. We pull out 2,000' higher than normal now!!"
Source: Letter from Roy J. Blakeley to Johnnye Blakeley (July 18, 1965)

"Flew a mission yesterday in support of an Army unit which had been attacked and we were credited with getting 'quite a few' enemy types & they are putting me and 3 members of my flight in for an air medal.""
Source: Letter from Roy J. Blakeley to his father and mother-in-law, John Lewis and Edna Ashton (July 16, 1965)

"Daddy flew a mission yesterday and they are putting me in for a medal for it."
Source: Letter from Roy J. Blakeley to Larry J. Blakeley (July 16, 1965)

The following is an excerpt from an email exchange between Harold Alston and Larry Blakeley; Thursday, September 6, 2007:

"Didn’t fly today. I was spare for the flight, but was not needed. The boys got in a really good one. They caught a whole battalion of VC in their black pajama uniforms and really clobbered them. They used bombs (750 pound GP) and strafed them as they ran around in the open. The Forward Air Controller said the VC were really hurt. Must have killed a bunch. It was only 10 miles from the runway. I could watch the fighters as they made their attacks. I really would like to have been on this mission. Scheduled tomorrow though."

- Harold R. Alston, 1 Lt, USAF; 436 Tactical Fighter Squadron, Da Nang Air Base, South Viet Nam;
(Journal) Entry for 15 July 1965, Thursday

Nguyen Ai Quoc: Just an unemployed communist with nothing else to do. I wouldn't trust a man that can't even decide what name he wants to use for himself. Throughout his entire life he ensured his atrocities against his own people were, and still are, hidden. Make no mistake about it, he was no different than any other communist leader. Control, violence and murder are their modus operandi; without which they are powerless. In this case, all of these were used against his own people on a massive scale. Much blood is on his hands, figuratively speaking, for he didn't have the guts to murder anybody himself. He promised the poor, uneducated peasantry a utopia that still hasn't come to fruition.

Communist Congress of Marseille: Nguyen Aïn Nu'C [Nguyen Ai Quoc] Indo-Chinese delegate (December 26, 1921); Meurisse News Agency; National Library of France, as the Indochinese delegate to the French Communist Congress in Marseilles.

By 1919, Ho Chi Minh was living in Paris, France. He was a staunch communist and member of Vladimir Lenin's Communist, or Third, International organization (referred to as the "Comintern"), which was a leftist group of socialists that rejected both nationalism and pacifism. Their stated purpose was the promotion of world revolution through civil war, not civil peace. Their propaganda machine focused on using violence, if necessary. Their model of revolution was based on Lenin's Bolshevik revolution, which seized power in Russia. The Comintern functioned chiefly as an organ of the Soviets' push to control the entire international communist movement.

By 1920 he became one of the founding members of the French Communist Party. By 1925 he's in Southern China, the perennial safe haven for fellow Vietnamese communist revolutionaries, rabble-rousing to provoke socialist revolution in China.

Figure 1. Tonkin and North Annam population density, 1943
Source: “Causes and Consequences of the Great Vietnam Famine, 1944–1945”; Gregg Huff, The Economic History Review; Volume 72, Issue 1; First published: 31 July 2018

The Great Vietnam Famine (1944–1945) was triggered by a catastrophic fall in food availability due to typhoons, abnormally high rainfall, and flooding in the coastal provinces of northern Vietnam, Tonkin being the northern region and the two North Annam provinces of Than Hoa and Nghe An, during the three months before the November 1944 rice harvest. The bitterly cold winter weather made matters even worse for these poor people. No less than one million men, women and children died from starvation over a five-month period. Historians still disagree on the number of people that died, but it was very bad. The great majority of these poor peasants depended on their labor to trade for rice. They were landless and living on the edge of survival. No work, no pay, no food.

“… famine and its traumatic social and political impact enabled the Indochinese Communist Party to mobilize mass peasant support that was essential to the August 1945 revolution which brought the Viet Minh and Ho Chi Minh to power. Aided by good harvests, communist campaigns to organize labour and plant all available land helped to prevent a repeat of famine, thereby contributing to the new regime’s legitimacy.

In Vietnam, the landless and those dependent on wage labour were by far the most likely to be among the famine dead. Although famine occurred largely in the countryside, many of its victims died in Hanoi or Haiphong, having walked to these cities in the hope of finding food.

Those lacking food in the countryside tried to eat anything: paddy husks, roots of banana trees, clover, tree bark. People walked from the countryside in ‘unending lines together with their whole families’ along the ‘starvation roads’ that led to the provincial towns and cities. Many died along the roads. Others stopped occasionally to close the eyes of the dead or to pick up a piece of rag left on bodies. Enough people succeeded in walking to urban areas for reports to record that ‘tens of thousands of rural folk [wandered] the streets, begging pitifully, often clad in nothing but straw matting’.

… in the chaos of events surrounding the coup de main, the Vietminh and their operatives in Tonkin (North Vietnam) organized raiding parties and led them against French and Japanese rice stocks. The rulers had been stockpiling rice it seems while the peasants starved to death in the streets. The tables were turned and the peasants seized larges caches of rice. The Vietminh were seen as a revolutionary force for good by the people. They would maintain that aura for decades to come, but it may have begun here.

So too, in Vietnam, famine enabled the Viet Minh to organize peasant support for revolution. This article has shown that the 1944–5 Vietnam famine was triggered by a catastrophic fall in food availability due to typhoons, abnormally high rainfall, and flooding. Fact does not, however, necessarily assume primacy in shaping historical narrative. Weather is far too neutral an occurrence for a revolutionary movement like the Viet Minh to cite as the cause for what remains the greatest disaster in modern Vietnamese history. It was far better to attribute responsibility, as now unshakeably enshrined in carefully state-constructed historical memory, to the French colonialists and Japanese fascists."

Source: “Causes and Consequences of the Great Vietnam Famine, 1944–1945”; Gregg Huff, The Economic History Review; Volume 72, Issue 1; First published: 31 July 2018

Transcription:
"January 24, 1944

MEMORANDUM FOR THE SECRETARY OF STATE

I saw Halifax last week and told him quite frankly that it was perfectly true that I had, for over a year, expressed the opinion that Indo-China should not go back to France but that it should be administered by an international trusteeship. France has had the country — thirty million inhabitants for nearly one hundred years, and the people are worse off than they were at the beginning.

As a matter of interest, I am wholeheartedly supported in this view by Generalissimo Chlang Kai-shek and by Marshal Stalin. I see no reason to play in with the British Foreign Office in this matter. The only reason they seem to oppose it is that they fear the effect it would have on their own possessions and those of the Dutch. They have never liked the idea of trusteeship because it is, in some instances, aimed at future independence. This is true in the case of Indo-China.

Each case must, of course, stand on its own feet, but the case of Indo-China is perfectly clear. France has milked it for one hundred years. The people of Indo-China are entitled to something better than that.
F.D.R."

But, then, on the other hand, in actuality the following became U.S. policy:

“Ultimately, U.S. policy was governed neither by the principles of the Atlantic Charter, nor by the President's anti-colonialism, but by the dictates of military strategy, and by British intransigence on the colonial issue. The United States, concentrating its forces against Japan, accepted British military primacy in Southeast Asia, and divided Indochina at 16th parallel between the British and the Chinese for the purposes of occupation. U.S. commanders serving with the British and Chinese, while instructed to avoid ostensible alignment with the French, were permitted to conduct operations in Indochina which did not detract from the campaign against Japan. Consistent with F.D.R.’s guidance, the U.S. did provide modest aid to French--and Viet Minh--resistance forces in Vietnam after March, 1945, but refused to provide shipping to move Free French troops there. Pressed by both the British and the French for clarification of U.S. intentions regarding the political status of Indochina, F.D.R. maintained that ‘it is a matter for postwar.’

The President's trusteeship concept foundered as early as March 1943, when the U.S. discovered that the British, concerned over possible prejudice to Commonwealth policy, proved to be unwilling to join in any declaration on trusteeships, and indeed any statement endorsing national independence which went beyond the Atlantic Charter's vague ‘respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live.’ So sensitive were the British on this point that the Dumbarton Oaks Conference of 1944, at which the blueprint for the postwar international system was negotiated, skirted the colonial issue, and avoided trusteeships altogether. At each key decisional point at which the President could have influenced the course of events toward trusteeship -- in relations with the U.K., in casting the United Nations Charter, in instructions to allied commanders -- he declined to do so; hence, despite his lip service to trusteeship and anti-colonialism, F.D.R. in fact assigned to Indochina a status correlative to Burma, Malaya, Singapore and Indonesia: free territory to be reconquered and returned to its former owners. Non-intervention by the U.S. on behalf of the Vietnamese was tantamount to acceptance of the French return. On April 3, 1945, with President Roosevelt's approval, Secretary of State Stettinius issued a statement that, as a result of the Yalta talks, the U.S. would look to trusteeship as a postwar arrangement only for ‘territories taken from the enemy, and for ‘territories as might voluntarily be placed under trusteeship.’ By context, and by the Secretary of State's subsequent interpretation, Indochina fell into the latter category. Trusteeship status for Indochina became, then, a matter for French determination.

Shortly following President Truman’s entry into office, the U. S. assured France that it had never questioned, ‘even by implication, French sovereignty over Indo-China.’ The U.S. policy was to press France for progressive measures in Indochina, but to expect France to decide when its peoples would be ready for independence; ‘such decisions would preclude the establishment of a trusteeship in Indochina except with the consent of the French Government.’ These guidelines, established by June, 1945 -- before the end of the war -- remained fundamental to U.S. policy.” Source: "The Pentagon Papers"(Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force, [Part I] Vietnam and the U.S., 1940-1950; Page A-2,3)

It's of no wonder why Ho Chi Minh reportedly made the following remark decades later. Pointing out what seemed to him an inconsistency in American thinking, he wondered how the Americans as a colonial people who had gained their independence in a revolution, could fight to suppress the independence of another colonial people. Ho stated, "I think I know the American people, and I don't understand how they support their involvement in this war. Is the Statue of Liberty standing on her head?" Ironically, the statue was, in fact, a gift from the French people.

On February 2, 1946 Foreign Service officer, George F. Kennan (February 16, 1904 – March 17, 2005) sent a telegram to the State Department that's been referred to as The Long Telegram while he was Chargé d’Affaires in Moscow. More than anyone else at the time, he had direct knowledge of what he considered to be Stalin's foreign policy plans. In an 8,000-word telegram, he gave advise on the aggressive nature of Stalin’s post-war foreign policy and how the United States should formulate its own foreign policy to counter-act Soviet actions in Europe and elsewhere. Truman took it and ran with it carte blanche without regard to whether a particular country was actually a pawn of the Soviet Union or China.

Transcription:
"HANOI FEBRUARY 28 1946
TELEGRAM
PRESIDENT HO CHI MINH VIETNAM DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC HANOI
TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WASHINGTON D.C.
ON BEHALF OF VIETNAM GOVERNMENT AND PEOPLE I BEG TO INFORM YOU THAT IN COURSE OF CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN VIETNAM GOVERNMENT AND FRENCH REPRESENTATIVES THE LATTER REQUIRE THE SECESSION OF COCHINCHINA AND THE RETURN OF FRENCH TROOPS IN HANOI STOP MEANWHILE FRENCH POPULATION AND TROOPS ARE MAKING ACTIVE PREPARATIONS FOR A COUP DE MAIN IN HANOI AND FOR MILITARY AGGRESSION STOP I THEREFORE MOST EARNESTLY APPEAL TO YOU PERSONALLY AND TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE TO INTERFERE URGENTLY IN SUPPORT OF OUR INDEPENDENCE AND HELP MAKING THE NEGOTIATIONS MORE IN KEEPING WITH THE PRINCIPLES OF THE ATLANTIC AND SAN FRANCISCO CHARTERS
RESPECTFULLY
HO CHI MINH"
(signed)

Following the end of World War II, Ho Chi Minh reached out to President Truman for support in ending French rule in Vietnam. In the above telegram, Ho Chi Minh references both the Atlantic and San Francisco charters as a basis for his claims. The Atlantic Charter was drawn up in 1941 following the outbreak of World War II by the U.S. and England and the San Francisco Charter references the document that created the United Nations (UN Charter).

Interestingly, the third paragraph in the Atlantic Charter states the following:

"Third, they respect the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live; and they wish to see sovereign rights and self-government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them."

Ho Chi Minh, President of the Republic of Vietnam, is received by Georges Bidault, French Prime Minister, during an official visit to discuss future relations between France and Indo-China (July 2, 1946).

Ho Chi Minh cautioned the French in 1946: "You can kill 10 of my men for every one I kill of yours, yet even at those odds, you will lose and I will win." But their over-estimation of their military superiority blinded them to taking him seriously. That was a very costly mistake by the French. They should have listened and taken this man seriously.

To counteract Truman's perceived "world-wide threat" of the wild-fire spread of communism, Truman adopted the containment policy. In March 1947, Truman outlined this view more definitively in a speech to Congress. The contents of this speech later became known as the ‘Truman Doctrine’, which became the official declaration of the Cold War:

“At the present moment in world history, nearly every nation must choose between alternative ways of life. The choice is too often not a free one. One way of life is based upon the will of the majority and is distinguished by free institutions, free elections, freedom of speech and religion… The second way of life is based upon terror and oppression, a controlled press and radio, fixed elections and suppression of personal freedoms. I believe that it must be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or outside pressures. I believe that we must assist free peoples to work out their own destinies in their own way.”

Truman clearly was talking out of both sides of his mouth. On the one hand, Vietnam would fit into this category, but then on the other hand, he ends up supporting French imperialism.

Would President Kennedy have fallen into the Vietnam quagmire just as Johnson did? No one can be sure, but I would like to believe that he would have avoided Johnson's massive commitment -- even though he had the same advisors as Johnson and the same desire to prevent some sort of paranoid, global-wide spread of communism, the so-called "Domino Theory", a term coined by President Eisenhower in a press conference given on April 7, 1954 wherein he used the words, "falling domino". Those words were used to describe what was believed would happen if the first country, or “domino", in Southeast Asia fell because of communist action against non-communist governments.  The claim was that other countries would follow suit one-by-one like a stack of dominoes until such time that all others in that region of the world became communist societies.

The theory worked as intended upon the American people. The fear injected into society greatly alarmed Americans and this led them to approve the commitment of hundreds of thousands of troops to prevent Communist North Vietnam from conquering South Vietnam, at least long enough for the death of over 58,000 Americans. And, let's not forget our tens of thousands of disabled veterans that have struggled all their lives since.

No, this doesn't apply only to the Americans, but rather, in this instance, to the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong too. It's called politically-motivated psychological indoctrination, a duping of the sheep by the powers-to-be. It works every time, as history shows.

"We got around to the subject of war again and I said that, contrary to his attitude, I did not think that the common people are very thankful for leaders who bring them war and destruction.

'Why, of course, the people don’t want war,' Goering shrugged. 'Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship.'

'There is one difference,' I pointed out. 'In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars.'

'Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.'"

Source: Interview exchange between prison psychologist, Gustave Gilbert and Hermann Göring, Adolf Hitler’s ruthless right-hand man, during the Nuremburg trials of Nazi war criminals; "Nuremburg Diary"; G. M. Gilbert; Farrar, Straus and Company, 1947; Pages 278-279.

On June 11, 1963, Thich Quang Duc, a 66-year-old Buddhist monk, made the method of protest through self-immolation famous by, in this case, setting himself on fire.

He simply sat calmly in the lotus position in the middle of a downtown Saigon intersection, had another monk douse him with a flameable liquid, lit his own match, dropped it in his lap, and up in flames he went, all the while moving mala beads through his fingers and chanting until the fire consumed him and his body fell over.

Okay, that's a very bizarre, out-there thing, self-immolation, for anyone to do, but with him being a Buddhist, that takes it up to the top of the notch altogether on the extremism scale. I suppose it's considered to be within the ethics boundary since it's not a taboo violent act or even suicide according to the Buddhists that look favorably upon this. They consider it an act of courage. It seems to me to be somewhat selfish, drawing attention to oneself in the name of self-sacrifice instead of devoting one's time and energy to help solve grievances. Oh, well, he'll be reincarnated, an opportunity for a do-over remains an option on the next go-around.

So, what was he protesting in the first place? Some people claim he was protesting against the Vietnam War, but that's not true at all. Was it the alleged discrimination against Buddhists by the Vietnamese government at that time, under the Catholic leader Ngo Dinh Diem?

If that was the case, it seems to me that this monk's fire-show was somewhat premature considering it had only been four weeks since the manifesto of grievances was finalized and delivered.

One could deduce from his extreme act was that what actually earned Quang Duc his fame was not so much the cause he supported, but rather the act with which he supported it.

His performance was designed for maximum publicity, with journalists being alerted beforehand. The timing was ripe for having a dramatic impact on a huge audience, which it did. Technologies for the rapid transmission and cheap reproduction of images ensured that. It was a great propaganda item for the Chinese and North Vietnamese. They simply labeled it as a Buddhist priest burned himself to death in protest of U.S. imperialism and its meddling in Vietnam's affairs. Great opportunity for bringing in more Viet Cong recruits to the cause it seems to me. If the monk had of gone to North Vietnam and tried that, his fiery protest wouldn't have been in the news at all. It also certainly put Vietnam on the map for those that had no clue where Vietnam was located beforehand.

The Buddhists had issued a list of five demands they wanted from the government as follows:

1. To request that the Government of the Republic of Vietnam permanently retract the official cable repressing the Buddhist religious flag.

2. To request that Buddhists be allowed to enjoy a special regime such as that allowed to Catholics according to Decree 10.2 

3. To request the government to stop arrests and terrorization of Buddhist followers.

4. To request that Buddhist bonzes and faithful be allowed freedom to preach and observe their religion.

5. To request that the government make worthwhile compensation for those innocent persons who were killed [in a protest in Hue the month before], and mete out proper punishment to the instigators of the murders.

The points mentioned above express the most ardent hopes of Buddhist bonzes and followers in the entire country. We are prepared to make sacrifices until such time as the reasonable aspirations mentioned above are realized.

Buddhist Year 2307

Hue, 10 May 1963

Source:
"118. Manifesto of Vietnamese Buddhist Clergy and Faithful"; Foreign Relations of The United States, 1961–1963, Volume III, Vietnam, January–August 1963; Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute; United States Department of State; Washington, D.C.; May 10, 1963.

Source of Images: Hillsman Cable State-Saigon Cable 243; 8/24/1963; SOC 14-1 S Viet, 8/1/63; Central Foreign Policy Files, 1963; General Records of the Department of State, Record Group 59; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. via Archives education division DocsTeach, a product of the National Archives.

Excerpt:
"... Diem must be given chance to rid himself of Nhu and his coterie and replace them with best military and political personalities available. If, in spite of all of your efforts, Diem remains obdurate and refuses, then we must face the possibility that Diem himself cannot be preserved... We must at same time also tell key military leaders that US would find it impossible to continue support GVN militarily and economically unless above steps are taken immediately which we recognize requires removal of the Nhus from the scene. We wish give Diem reasonable opportunity to remove Nhus, but if he remains obdurate, then we are prepared to accept the obvious implication that we can no longer support Diem . You may also tell appropriate military commanders we will give them direct support in any interim period of breakdown central government mechanism. ... Concurrently with above, Ambassador and country team should urgently examine all possible alternative leadership and make detailed plans as to how we might bring about Diem’s replacement if this should become necessary. ... You will understand that we cannot from Washington give you detailed instructions as to how this operation should proceed, but you will also know we will back you to the hilt on actions you take to achieve our objectives. 

Source: 281. Telegram From the Department of State to the Embassy in Vietnam; Foreign Relations of The United States, 1961–1963, Volume III, Vietnam, January–August 1963; Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute; United States Department of State; Washington, D.C.; August 24, 1963, 9:36 p.m.

"JFK Was More Inclined toward Regime Change than Earlier Believed
Newly Released JFK Tape and President's Intelligence Checklists Fill in Gaps in Record
South Vietnamese Leader's Notes Published for First Time, Written Hours before Assassination
Washington, DC, November 1, 2020—President John F. Kennedy was more disposed to support the removal of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem in late 1963 than previously appeared to be the case, according to a recently released White House tape and transcript. The ouster of Diem in a military coup that would have major implications for American policy and growing involvement in the country happened 57 years ago today. Even now the views of Kennedy and some of his top aides about the advisability of a coup specifically have been shrouded by an incomplete documentary record that has led scholars to focus more on the attitudes of subordinates. Today, the National Security Archive is posting for the first time materials from U.S. and Vietnamese archives that open the window into this pivotal event a little bit wider."

"Among the findings from the present posting or from our several Diem E-books taken together are the following:

1. President John F. Kennedy was more disposed, than previously understood, to support actions that might change the leadership in South Vietnam.

2. Kennedy was personally aware of the pro-Diem views of Frederick E. Nolting, Lodge’s predecessor as ambassador, strengthening the impression that he included Nolting in White House deliberations—and personally engaged him in colloquy about Saigon events—partly to build a case that all sides in this debate had been heard.

3. White House conversations took place without any principal figures changing their minds about the Saigon situation.

4. When South Vietnamese military officers renewed their contacts with CIA operatives in early October, the Vietnamese immediately raised the option of assassination.

5. Vietnamese figure Ngo Dinh Nhu, brother of leader Diem, remained the prime target of American maneuvers. Nhu’s attempts to fend off criticism or ingratiate himself with Washington failed."

Source: New Light in a Dark Corner: Evidence on the Diem Coup in South Vietnam, November 1963; Edited by John Prados and Luke A. Nichter; National Security Archive; The George Washington University, Washington, D.C.; Briefing Book #730; Published: November 1, 2020.

Further Related Material:
"III. The Coup Against the Diem Government, October 23-November 2, 1963: Differing Interpretations of U.S. Policy Toward Coup Plotting, Efforts To Obtain Information on a Potential Coup, Lodge-Diem Discussions, U.S. Assessments of a Coup, The Coup, The Deaths of Nhu and Diem"; Foreign Relations of The United States, 1961–1963, Volume IV, Vietnam, August–December 1963; Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute; United States Department of State; Washington, D.C.

President Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother and political adviser, Ngo Dinh Nhu were both horrifically assassinated on November 2, 1963 by Major Nguyen Von Nhung, aide de camp to Major General Duong Van Minh while in transit to the headquarters of the Army General Staff in an armored personnel carrier. What will most probably never be established conclusively just who ordered their execution.

Here, you've got a man that has been an invaluable ally in the fight against the spread of communism, kept this country together under the most difficult of circumstances over a nine-year period and you not only want to replace him in the middle of the game, but allow him to be assassinated too on the U.S.'s watch? This clearly fits the classic case of "something is rotten in the state of Denmark" if there ever was one.

"... contains new details about the South Vietnamese generals' decision to assassinate Diem that contradict a conclusion of the coup’s history written by the CIA station in Saigon. The majority of the generals, said the CIA at the time, 'desired President Diem to have honorable retirement from the political scene in South Vietnam and exile'. According to a newly declassified portion of the 49-page document written by the CIA’s Inspector General, an unidentified field-grade South Vietnamese officer who provided the CIA station with pictures of the bloodied bodies of Diem and his brother and advisor, Ngo Dinh Nhu, said that 'most of the generals favored their immediate execution': The ultimate decision was to kill them. A Captain Nhung was designated as executioner."
Source:
"Report reveals deeper CIA role in 1963 Vietnam coup and Diem’s assassination"; William J. Rust, IntelNews.org; April 30, 2018.

Transcription:

Washington

October 11, 1963.

TO
Secretary of State
Secretary of Defense
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

SUBJECT
South Vietnam

At a meeting on October 5, 1963, the President considered the recommendations contained in the report of Secretary McNamara and General Taylor on their mission to South Vietnam.

The President approved the military recommendations contained in Section I B (1-3) of the report, but directed that no formal announcement be made of the implementation of plans to withdraw 1,000 U.S. military personnel by the end of 1963.

After discussion of the remaining recommendations of the report, the President approved an instruction to Ambassador Lodge which is set forth in State Department telegram No. 534 to Saigon.

McGeorge Bundy

Copy Furnished:
Director of Central Intelligence
Administrator, Agency for International Development

cc:
Mr. Bundy
Mr. Forrestal
Mr. Johnson
NSC Files

Source:
"National Security Action Memoranda [NSAM]: NSAM 263, South Vietnam"; Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files; John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum; October 11, 1963.