The FReeper Foxhole Remembers Operation Linebacker II - DEC 19th, 2002

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/ops/linebacker-2.htm ^

[Light Speed]

Misty...the painting is called "Showtime"...an F4J Phantom flown by Aces LT Com. Randy "Duke" Cunningham and his RIO .LT(jg)Willie "Irish" Driscoll.
from carrier USS Constellation...Gulf of Tonkin[Hey where have we seen that name before?]

another print called Showtime by Robert Taylor

[sistergoldenhair]

Western Civilization Military History ping list

Include me , please.

[farmfriend]

While I am not one to toss a friend overboard, this is a request I think I could live with.

[sistergoldenhair]

Another wonderful thread.

[PhilDragoo]

The Joint Chiefs wanted to do this in 1965, but were prevented by LBJ.

Proceedings for May 1996 carries a four-page narrative "The Day It Became the Longest War" by Lieutenant General Charles G. Cooper, U.S. Marine Corps (Retired).

Army General Harold Johnson; Air Force General John McConnell; Chairman, Army General Earle Wheeler; Navy Admiral David McDonald; Marine Corps General Wallace Greene "considered a massive air attack against Hanoi to be the quickest way to end the Vietnam War. In a private November meeting with them, President Lydon B. Johnson disagreed--strongly."

Seven years prior to Linebacker II, the Joint Chiefs were allowed fifteen minutes and forced to remain standing as LBJ listened--then cursed them and humiliated them.

The author was present at the meeting: "Normally, memories are dimmed by time--but not this one. My memory of Lyndon Johnson on that day remains crystal clear. . . .he whirled to face them and exploded. . . I almost dropped the map. He screamed obscenities, he cursed them personally, he ridiculed them for coming to his office with their 'military advice.' Noting that it was he who was carrying the weight of the free world on his shoulders, he called them filthy names--sh__heads, dumbsh__s, pompous assh___s--and used 'the F-word' as an adjective more freely than a Marine at boot camp. He then accused them of trying to pass the buck for World War III to him. It was unnerving. It was degrading."

And this account is not from a Sunday School teacher or a soccer mom, but from the Marine aide holding the map as the Joint Chiefs tried to persuade the commander in chief to bomb Hanoi and mine Haiphong.

There followed the years of sanitized target lists described in Flight of the Intruder by Stephen Coonts.

LBJ, in my view, blew trillions on his "War on Poverty", as a thinly-disguised vote-buying scheme, at the cost of the strategic picture, and the unnecessary deaths of tens of thousands better than he.

It has been remarked by North Vietnamese officials since the war, that they marveled in wonder at the fear of U.S. leaders that it would involve the Soviet Union and China in a major confrontation.

What folly borne of reliance on game-playing wonder boys like Robert Strange McNamara instead of the military leaders whose profession is to win wars.

Now we are engaged in a conflict more on the Patton principle that war is not about dying for your country, but making the other fellow die for his.

God Speed the Finest Fighting Force on Earth, and do bring Saddam's head home in a jar.

[Alberta's Child]

Great post, Sam. 26 aircraft in a 12-day period sounds like a substantial loss, doesn't it?

[SAMWolf]

The USAAF lost 60 in one day at Schweinfurt.

[MistyCA]

Wow! Hiya, Mayor!

[MistyCA]

Hi, Gail! How are you doing today?

[MistyCA]

That is an awesome painting! I have one similar...

[MistyCA]

LOL. Yes, I think I could too. :)

[MistyCA]

Thank you for your post, and all the posts you do. It is very much appreciated.

[SAMWolf]

Still in front line service as a major component of our strategic bomber forces, the Boeing B-52 was built before most of its crewmembers were even born. The first flight of the YB-52 prototype was April 15, 1952, and the production that followed reflected a continued development of the massive bomber. Boeing's B-52 Stratofortress became the core of the modern Strategic Air Command. While the aircraft changed little visually, many significant modifications and improvements were made in the design: greater power, redesigned flight controls, improved avionics and countermeasures, not to mention airframe life extension programs.

[Alberta's Child]

Yeah, but I thought aircraft losses were far less common in the age of modern warfare where jets fly higher and faster, have electronic countermeasures like radar-jamming, etc.

[MistyCA]

The Spitfire

[Alberta's Child]

I've heard first-hand stories from someone who says that Lyndon Johnson was just about the lowest-class piece of sh!t ever to live within 100 miles of Washington D.C.

[SAMWolf]

They should have been but the Vietnamese SAM defenses where some of the best there were at that time and they had plenty of them.

[Light Speed]

There are so many excellent artists out there.
The ones I enjoy spend long hours talking with veterans before painting...some keep in touch over a space of a year..in order that every little nuance is captured.
You can tell when you see these prints...there's power and influence with them.
There's a print..have had the hardest time finding it...should have saved the first time.
A Mom is holding her little girl..who is touching the wall at the Vietnam memorial.
The husband is touching his little girl from the beyond....just a powerfull print.

[MistyCA]

Beautiful. Here's another

[MistyCA]

Good to see you. :)