The Vietnam War, This Week,
Vietnam War Weekly Front Pages
20 June 1965 – 26 June 1965
The News-Herald, Franklin/Oil City PA
“Down with the Americans.”
*****
A new military government formally took over control of South Vietnam with a pledge to prosecute the war against the Communists until victory was achieved. The commander of the Vietnamese air force was installed as premier and a major general as chairman of the military junta at a time of increased fighting on the ground and in the air.
A US Marine was killed and three others wounded in a close-quarters battle with Viet Cong around the ruins of an abandoned church about 10 miles west of the big US air base at Da Nang. The Marine spokesman said four dead Communists were found on the battlefield and a fifth Viet Cong was critically wounded and captured. The clash was touched off when the guerrillas opened fire from the church. The Marines stormed the Red positions with hand grenades. In other ground action two US Marines were killed when their Jeep hit a land mine 8½ miles west of Da Nang. A spokesman said they were en route to reestablish communication with an artillery reconnaissance party which was having radio difficulties. US Air Force jets bombed military barracks northwest of Hanoi and barely 80 miles from the border of Communist China. The raid was the deepest penetration of the war. A US military spokesman said 41 jets hit the Communist barracks at Son La, 120 miles west northwest of Hanoi and 80 miles south of the town of Lao Cai on the border of Vietnam and China. Other planes hit the Ban Nuoc Chiu ammunition depot 70 miles northwest of Hanoi. At week’s end, the Communists resumed their monsoon offensive with two major attacks. Government losses were heavy. No Americans were lost in the attacks but Communist terrorism and other incidents had taken a toll of 20 American lives in the past 24 hours. Five of the deaths came Saturday when a tank carrying US Marines near Da Nang fell into 12 feet of water.
The Communist Chinese premier ridiculed the British Commonwealth proposal for a peace mission in Vietnam and said it was doomed to “ignominious failure.” He said that because Britain supported US policy in Vietnam the mission was just a “maneuver in support of the US peace talk hoax.” The presence of Communist Viet Cong representatives at peace talks on Vietnam would be no barrier to discussions, according to a White House aide. Speaking Monday night in a televised debate with critics of the Johnson administration’s policy in the war in Vietnam, he said the United States would be willing to negotiate with the Viet Cong if they were part of the North Vietnamese delegation.
Debate on US policy in Vietnam was re-opened on Thursday with one senator calling for a new congressional mandate and another urging a United Nations peace offensive. A Republican senator proposed a new resolution of congressional support for President Johnson similar to the declaration by Congress last August, giving approval for all necessary measures to repel any armed attack on US forces. Another senator, a Democrat, proposed the UN role. In a prepared speech, he called for UN intervention in Vietnam peace negotiations, direct dealings with the Viet Cong, and free elections in South Vietnam. On Friday President Johnson made a calm and reasoned plea for the United Nations to try to bring the Communists to the conference table to end the war in Vietnam. Johnson said that every effort by this country and others to negotiate an end to the bloody southeast Asian struggle had been “blocked by willful aggressors contemptuous of the opinion and will of mankind.”
Shouting his defiance of the United States, a Viet Cong terrorist was executed in a public square for trying to blow up an American officers’ barracks last March. “Down with the Americans” were his last words. A demolition specialist in the Viet Cong special activity squad was shot to death in front of Saigon’s public market by a 12-man military police firing squad. “Long live Ho Chi Minh. Down with the Americans,” the blindfolded man yelled before the volley of shots rang out.
On Friday, Communist terrorists exploded two bombs at a floating Saigon restaurant crowded with American and Vietnamese. Casualties were heavy. First reports said at least six persons were killed and a score wounded in the twin blasts. The dead were believed to include Americans. Women and children were among the casualties.
(Photo courtesy newspapers.com, Franklin/Oil City News-Herald)