The Vietnam War, This Week, The Times, Gettysburg PA
Vietnam War Weekly Front Pages
1 March 1965 – 7 March 1965
The Times, Gettysburg PA
“I was better equipped in World War II”
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B-57 airstrikes against the Communist Viet Cong had been halted in the Mekong Delta area after the American bombers accidentally killed four South Vietnamese troops and wounded 15. Officers said the error resulted from poor liaison between ground and air units. Under the system of communication between ground advisors and planes, it takes about three minutes to call off an airstrike, they said. Government forces with US helicopter support continued a ground-sea-air offensive in the Delta area 150 miles southeast of Saigon. A large communist force was believed to have been operating in the area. There were no reports of damage to the Viet Cong, but government forces came under heavy mortar fire Monday morning. Two soldiers were killed and 18 others wounded. The ground operation was launched over the weekend when two battalions of paratroops were flown to the front in 137 helicopters. It was the biggest lift of the war. Government forces fanning out through the region reported no major contact with the Communists, but the area was heavily mined and there was some sniper fire.
On Tuesday more than 160 Vietnamese and American Air Force planes hammered military installations in North Vietnam in the heaviest raid to date. Officials in Saigon estimated that 70 to 90 per cent of the installations, a port and ammunitions depot, were destroyed. More than three of the planes were shot down, but officials refused to say exactly how many. The next day more than 30 US Air Force jets flew a mystery strike from Da Nang airbase. It was believed they hit at Communist positions in Laos. Officials at Da Nang, 100 miles south of the border with North Vietnam, would not disclose the targets of the strike. A high Vietnamese source said the strike was against Communist targets either in Laos or North Vietnam. He said regular attacks against Communist targets in both countries could be expected in the future.
US forces pressed a search for an American pilot missing since his jet fighter-bomber was shot down during the raid on Quang Khe. The pilot was flying an F-100 assigned to knocking out Communist anti-aircraft batteries prior to bomb runs by Vietnamese Skyraiders. He was seen bailing out over a wooded area and was presumed to reach the ground safely. He had not been heard from since and was the only American casualty that has been reported from the raid. American helicopters and amphibious planes rescued four other American pilots and one Vietnamese that were shot down during the raids Tuesday on the Quang Khe naval base and Xom Bang munitions depot.
On Friday reinforcements were airlifted into a major battle zone 40 miles southwest of Da Nang while a large-scale attempt to engage the Communists 50 miles east of Saigon ended in a complete failure. Military sources of Da Nang said nearly a battalion of Vietnamese Rangers were flown to help out government units under heavy attack from at least two Viet Cong battalions. One source said all the Vietnamese units, totaling more than three battalions, were in difficulty. An almost complete lack of hard facts on the battle indicated a degree of confusion among Vietnamese forces caught in the area. One American, a special forces enlisted man, was shot in the stomach while accompanying his troops on a combat patrol in the Viet An area south of Da Nang. He was evacuated to a hospital at Nha Trang and reported in serious condition.
Mock bombing runs over Saigon by Air Force Skyraiders stirred rumors of a coup and bolstered reports of possible anti-American demonstrations during the weekend. Saigon police had gone on full alert after receiving reports that some neutralist groups would stage demonstrations. None had developed by evening. Some officials felt Air Force pilots may have spotted a force of Marines detailed to a downtown park in case of a demonstration and sounded a coup alarm.
American servicemen in South Vietnam were voicing new complaints of ammunition shortages, shoddy weapons, and lack of equipment. They said some of the equipment is available on the Saigon black market. “I was better equipped in World War II” said a grizzled US Army engineer, holding up a World War I pistol belt and some rusty cartridge magazines. Four weeks before the secret Senate hearing in Washington upheld the critical report of a US captain, later killed by the Vietcong, that US arms issued to a Vietnamese battalion had been poorly maintained. The new round of complaints came from US Army, Navy, Marines, and Air Force advisors.
(Photo courtesy newspapers.com, Gettysburg Times)