The FReeper Foxhole Remembers The Easter Offensive - Vietnam Spring 1972 - May 25th, 2003

http://www.afa.org/magazine/Sept1998/0998easter.html ^ | September 1998 | Walter J. Boyne

[SAMWolf]

Our Military Today
Rolling Thunder

Vietnam war veteran Bob Allen (L), from Fairfax, Virginia, slaps hands with a biker as members of 'Rolling Thunder' cross the Memorial Bridge into Washington, DC, May 25, 2003. The event has been staged as part of the Memorial Day holiday festivities for the past 16 years to bring attention to prisoners of war, and veterans listed as missing in action from the country's wars, particularly the Vietnam war. The Lincoln Memorial can be seen in background. REUTERS/Gregg Newton


Patti DeBlasis from Carlisle, Pennsylvania, slaps hands with a biker, as her son Sam watches members of 'Rolling Thunder' cross the Memorial Bridge into Washington, DC, May 25, 2003.


Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his wife Joyce, right, wave to bikers as they arrive in Washington from Arlington National Cemetery during their 'Freedom Ride' Sunday, May 25, 2003. Thousands of bikers from across the nation paid tribute to prisoners of war and missing in action during the16th Annual Rolling Thunder Memorial Day celebrations. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)


Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his wife Joyce, right, greet bikers as they arrive in Washington from Arlington National Cemetery during their 'Freedom Ride' Sunday, May 25, 2003.


Members of 'Rolling Thunder' ride past Arlington National Cemetery as they prepare to cross the Memorial Bridge into Washington DC, May 25, 2003. The event has been staged as part of the Memorial Day holiday festivities for the past 16 years to bring attention to veterans listed as missing in action and prisoner of war from the country's wars, particularly the Vietnam war. Thousands of riders participate in the ride, which stretches for miles and takes several hours to complete. REUTERS/Gregg Newton


Members of 'Rolling Thunder' wave to the crowd as they cross the Memorial Bridge into Washington DC, May 25, 2003.


Bikers arrive in Washington from Arlington National Cemetery during their 'Freedom Ride' Sunday, May 25, 2003. Thousands of bikers from across the nation paid tribute to prisoners of war and missing in action during the16th Annual Rolling Thunder Memorial Day celebrations. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)


Eddie Mudd of Springfield, Ky., pays his respects at the Vietnam Memorial in Washington Sunday, May 25, 2003. Mudd is one of the thousands of bikers from across the nation, who paid tribute to prisoners of war and missing in action during the16th Annual Rolling Thunder Memorial Day celebrations. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)


'Big' Steve Hammit, a biker from Sacramento, Calif., pays his respects to a high school friend, who died in during the Vietnam War, at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington Sunday, May 25, 2003.


Bikers pass the Lincoln Memorial as they arrive in Washington from Arlington National Cemetery during their 'Freedom Ride' Sunday, May 25, 2003. The rainy weather did not discourage the thousands of bikers from across the nation, who paid tribute to prisoners of war and missing in action during the16th Annual Rolling Thunder Memorial Day celebrations. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)


US Marine Sgt. Tim Chambers, from Oregon, salutes as bikers riding in the Memorial Day annual Ride for Freedom XVI DC(AFP/David S. Holloway)


George Capps, of Newport News, Virginia, salutes bikers riding in the Memorial Day annual Ride for Freedom XVI DC as they cross Memorial Bridge in Washington DC(AFP/David S. Holloway)

[SAMWolf]

Good afternoon, PhilDragoo.

Thanks for all the great pics of the soviet weapons the NVA used.

[PhilDragoo]

Giap, after suffering a third major battlefield fiasco, licked his wounds and waited for the right time to attack again. It came in spring 1975, when American forces had withdrawn, Nixon was no longer in the White House, and it was clear the American public no longer had the will to defend South Vietnam. Then, he attacked, and this time, without US backing, South Vietnamese military units offered scant resistance. Communist tanks finally rolled into Saigon on April 30, 1975. American airpower had been withheld, and Giap had his victory at last.

This is the last straw.

Ten years prior, LBJ lost the war when he cursed, humiliated and berated the joint chiefs who urged the bombing of Hanoi and mining of Haiphong.

There followed LBJ's obscene perversion of target lists that the Soviet Union and China not be offended.

ROE's under LBJ and Nixon allowed sanctuary in Laos, Cambodia, North Vietnam for the enemy killing 58,000 Americans and 2,000,000 Vietnamese.

The final straw is of course the removal of Nixon by a pack of partisans including Hillary Rodham.

It was Hillary Rodham who sought to strip Nixon of right to counsel--for a third-party burglary of a single file (while HRC would steal 1,000 by using her agent Livingstone and selected DFBI Freeh).

The upshot being victory for the ho's Ho.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Liked the original better but my son asked me to go with him

Well, let me know when you see it after 10 times, hahaha.

[SAMWolf]

The politicians lost the Vietnam War becasue they were afraid to do what it would take to win it. So they settled for a "let's not lose" strategy and cost American lives in a war they had no intention of winning.

[SAMWolf]

I don't think I'll get to 10 times. Maybe the original but not the sequel

[Victoria Delsoul]

Hi Phil, good to see you.

Thanks for the pics and info.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Great pics, Sam. Thank you!

[snippy_about_it]

Is this a good time to post these?

Joint Chiefs 1965

[U S Army EOD]

For those who were in SEA during the sixties, it is hard to understand what 72 was like. They threw everything at us. I can still remember when it started, no one could believe what was happening.

I had friends flying up in IC talking about tanks and APCs on the roads, some towing two to three anti aircraft guns behind them. We had no suppression for any of our aircraft against the SA7. Many of our helos were shot down as a result of this along with the FAC's. The AC130's were flying with the ramp down with the crew chiefs standing on the ramp shooting flares with a flare pistol at the SA7's in hope of diverting them. They also used SA3 Sagger wire guided missiles against us. I could write and write and write how unprepared we were for this. The logistics system broke down, everything went wrong. I think we came very close to a major defeat in 1972.

Most of the EOD detachments had been deactivated leaving my unit 99th Ord Det (EOD) working out of Long Bien and the 170th in Saigon. Of course there was the 533rd (EODC) which was the control detachment who we didn't count.

Damn what a year-----WOULDN'T HAVE MISSED IT FOR THE WORLD.

[CholeraJoe]

Thanks, snippy. Please keep me on the ping list. Also check out my revised profile.

[snippy_about_it]

I'll keep you on! I love your page. Thank you and your entire family for their service. I got a kick out of your terrorist section. lol. And of course, all your wackos...hahaha. Nice work!

[SAMWolf]

On this thread sure.

[SAMWolf]

Thanks for the insight US Army EOD. Always good to hear some personal perspectives.

[SAMWolf]

Cool! Like your "Warning"

[Iris7]

The Viet Nam war history is still very hard for me. I'll finish the intel analysis later.

Hanoi's and Moscow's strategy was to fight the war in the United States, and their strategy was successful. Nixon was indeed thrust from office as Hanoi and Moscow had planned. People in our country lacked the courage to deal with the "anti-war" movement, Hanoi's and Moscow's lackeys and foot soldiers. Those people were, and for the most part still are, our implacable enemies. So we lost. Ce est la Guerre, I guess.

Me, I will never forget nor will I ever forgive. Justice deferred would at least be justice.

[SAMWolf]

Yeah. Sorta like knowing you'll never see Bill and Hill get theirs. Frustrating as all hell.

[CholeraJoe]

I presume Sam and snippy are among the millions just like me?

[snippy_about_it]

All your convictions are belong to us!

[SAMWolf]

You got that right!