In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

CONFLICT THE JUNIOR OFFICERS' WARDROOM BEGAN FILLING UP shortly before the screening of the evening movie aboard our aircraft carrier, U.S.S. Constellation. Pilots from our attack squadron 144, nicknamed the Roadrunners, ambled down to the forward section where our "turf" was staked out with bright orange-colored baseball caps plopped on the chairs. Already some of our guys were exchanging friendly insults with the bluecapped aviators in our sister squadron, clustered around a table in their own adjacent territory. It was Tuesday, August 4, 1964. I reached for the telephone, ringing above the din of hooting and catcalls. It was our squadron duty officer. "Nick, it's for you!" Lt. Cmdr. Nick Nicholson, our squadron operations officer, took the call without comment. But as he hung up he muttered, "Oh crap! What now?" and abruptly left the room. When the phone rang again the room was already darkened and I was munching popcorn as the credits rolled for the start of the movie. "Alvie, get dressed on the double!" Nick ordered. "AI (Air Intelligence) wants three attack pilots in full gear. We've got three planes (Skyhawk A4s) standing by. I'm taking one and I want two guys with me. You and Ronnie Boch." As Ronnie and I made for the exit I glanced back, tripping over an extended leg as I did so, but still managing to read the title of the grade B movie, The Night Has A Thousand Eyes. In the AI room they briefed us on a furious sea battle going on about 450 miles to the west. North Vietnamese torpedo boats had two of our destroyers, the U.S.S. Maddox and U.S.S. Turner Joy, under attack in the thick of a stormy night. The naval conflict was raging more than 60 miles away from the North Vietnamese coast, in the Gulf of Tonkin. 1 4 CONFLICT 5 We had cut short our shore leave in Hong Kong and were already racing towards the battle zone because two days earlier North Vietnamese boats had tried to sink the Maddox as it sailed alone in the Gulf waters. The enemy had launched torpedoes and opened fire with a machine gun in broad daylight . It seemed like a reckless act or brazen contempt for a superpower, especially as Washington explained that the Maddox had been on a routine patrol in international waters when it underwent an unprovoked attack. The stern but measured response from Washington warned of grave consequences that would follow another unprovoked attack. Nobody told us that the Joint Chiefs of Staff had ordered the Maddox to conduct electronic surveillance of special types of enemy radar in case we had to operate against North Vietnam. Nor was there a word about the Maddox steaming up and down the same route along which unmarked patrol boats from South Vietnam had sailed several nights earlier, arousing North Vietnamese radar and other defenses as the southern intruders blasted the enemy's military targets. The operation marked a heightened level of warfare between the two Vietnams. It was the first time South Vietnam had opened fire on its enemy from the sea. Approval had come from the highest political level in Washington. President Lyndon Johnson had given the go-ahead for an escalating series of highly classified covert sea and air operations. The object was to strike back against North Vietnam and make it pay a price for infiltrating men and materiel into South Vietnam. Our briefers passed on the stark facts as they knew them: North Vietnamese gunboats were trying to torpedo U.S. destroyers in international waters. They told us that other planes were standing by on the U.S.S. Ticonderoga in the South China Sea. In case they needed us, we should also stand by, prepared to launch and head to the Gulf of Tonkin. Once there, we had to check in on the ships' frequency for further guidance. "Ronnie and I have rockets. You take the flares, Alvie," said Nick, knowing that I was one of the few in our squadron who had dropped the magnesium flares at night in previous exercises. "Here we go again/' I thought as I slipped into my flight gear and remembered all the times we Navy pilots had stood by and never launched. Once we had stood by for three days, ready to bomb a target in the Plain of Jars in Laos. Then the Air Force had gone in and struck the...

Share