- 6 hours ago
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00:03It staggers the imagination, the sheer volume of high explosives dropped in the Vietnam War.
00:00:14American warplanes delivered almost seven and a half million tons of bombs,
00:00:19more than three times our total for all of World War II.
00:00:26The helicopter came of age as a military machine.
00:00:30Thousands of helicopters ripping the jungle apart,
00:00:33hunting for an enemy who remained, for the most part, invisible.
00:00:38Aircraft carriers circled offshore, hurling fighter bombers into the sky.
00:00:43Giant B-52s delivered a devastating payload.
00:00:47They left the earth below marked like a moonscape.
00:00:50Seven and a half million tons.
00:00:53And the enemy fought on.
00:00:55The Vietnam War was a textbook study in the uses and limitations of air power.
00:01:01Oh, thank you.
00:01:19Thank you, God.
00:01:19We're waiting for a few seconds.
00:01:19Do you, please?
00:01:31Yourwain physiology Cat is, yes?
00:01:47The American Air War in Vietnam dates back to 1954, when Communist forces overran the French at Dien Bien Phu.
00:01:55When the French pulled out, Americans took over the training of South Vietnamese Air Force pilots.
00:02:01By 1961, American pilots were flying combat missions, but only if a South Vietnamese also was aboard.
00:02:09By 1965, that restriction had ended.
00:02:12American jets began flying regular missions, attacking enemy strongholds in South Vietnam.
00:02:18You will see the Air War as it was reported at the time by CBS News camera crews and correspondents.
00:02:25One of them, as it happened, was this correspondent.
00:02:30This is Lieutenant Colonel Dan Farr of Los Angeles, commander of the 8th Fighter Bomb Squadron here at Da Nang
00:02:37Air Base.
00:02:38A squadron equipped with B-57s. The British call them Canberra jets.
00:02:43We're using them very effectively here in this war in Vietnam to dive bomb the Viet Cong in these jungles
00:02:50beyond Da Nang here.
00:02:52Colonel, what's our mission we're about to embark on?
00:02:54Well, our mission today, sir, is to report down to the site of the ambush 70 miles south of here,
00:03:00an attempt to kill the VC that perpetrated the ambush and that are still in the area back in the
00:03:07hills.
00:03:35The area we're going to bomb is only about two miles.
00:03:37About 70 miles from Da Nang Air Base, but it's a long 70 miles out there to where the war
00:03:44is being fought.
00:03:46That's forward air controller.
00:03:48He's up there on a small plane flying low and spotting the Viet Cong.
00:03:52I see a white plume of smoke. The colonel has just advised me that that is our target area right
00:04:00over there.
00:04:01And now we're making our pass, and we're beginning to go down.
00:04:06We're heading down towards that area.
00:04:12One, two, three, four, we dropped our bombs, and now a tremendous g-load as we pull out of that
00:04:17dive.
00:04:18And, oh, I know something of what those astronauts must go through.
00:04:22Wow.
00:04:24And here we go into a steep left bank with some more g-force there.
00:04:28Oh, boy.
00:04:31That g-force. I've got to ask the colonel the first chance I get.
00:04:34He's a little busy right now what that g-force is.
00:04:37We dropped our bombs. It looks to me as if just to the right, which would be a little bit
00:04:44to the east of the earlier B-57 bombs,
00:04:47and it would appear to me we must have been just about on that smoke plume.
00:04:53We're now flying almost wingtip to wingtip to our 6-1, our flight leader,
00:04:58and we can see right in the cockpit of his plane. This is a very close formation.
00:05:03And, as Colonel Farr says now, we're heading home.
00:05:11One measure of the air war was the number of sorties flown.
00:05:15A sortie is one mission by one airplane or helicopter.
00:05:19In the course of the Vietnam War, American aircraft flew almost 14 million sorties.
00:05:26These were some of the warplanes used.
00:05:29Phantom.
00:05:32Corsair.
00:05:34Intruder.
00:05:37F-111.
00:05:39Thunder Chief.
00:05:42B-52.
00:05:45Skyhawk.
00:05:48And Puff the Magic Dragon.
00:05:52Also known as Spooky.
00:05:54A transport plane equipped with three Gatling guns, each capable of firing 6,000 rounds a minute.
00:06:02It flew at night to avoid ground fire, but carried flares to light up enemy positions.
00:06:08Puff was especially valuable in defending bases against nighttime attack.
00:06:12A terrifying barrage of fire also was provided by helicopter gunships.
00:06:18One day in 1967, Bruce Morton went along on a helicopter mission.
00:06:22Yeah, we're taking fire out of there.
00:06:26Below is the Iron Triangle, a free strike zone.
00:06:29Anything unusual down there is a target.
00:06:38About 1,500 feet, the gunships are out of effective rifle range.
00:06:43Sometimes they attack from there.
00:06:44More often, they roar in a foot or two over the trees, dodging and twisting to avoid return fire, the
00:06:51most spectacular roller coaster in the world.
00:06:54The guns go off with a sound like a thousand rifles echoing in a small room.
00:07:03Those are rockets hitting, leaving their gray smoke trails behind them.
00:07:28Most of the targets are anonymous, like these.
00:07:31The thousands of rounds are aimed at map coordinates or a landscape feature, a hillside, a few houses.
00:07:38The pilots see their tracers going in.
00:07:40Sometimes they see the enemies coming back.
00:07:43They seldom see people.
00:07:49After a short run that seems long, the firing stops.
00:07:53Down below, nothing moves.
00:07:55Anything living is hiding.
00:07:57Aboard the gunship, the noise of the motor, which was loud, seems almost quiet.
00:08:06Another weapon was Agent Orange, a chemical defoliant sprayed from airplanes to destroy the jungle below and deny the enemy
00:08:13some of his hiding places.
00:08:15The chemical also was used to destroy enemy food crops.
00:08:19More than 80,000 tons of these chemicals were dropped on Vietnam.
00:08:24They produced a continuing controversy.
00:08:27All the profits went to die.
00:08:29All the profits went to die.
00:08:32Thousands of American soldiers were exposed to Agent Orange.
00:08:36Many of those later developed cancer or other disorders and believed that Agent Orange was the cause.
00:08:41A class action suit against the manufacturers were settled out of court for 180 million dollars.
00:08:49The effect on Vietnam's trees was easier to measure.
00:08:53Five and a half million acres of forest were partly destroyed.
00:08:57An area about the same as the state of Massachusetts.
00:09:02The air war took shape in South Vietnam, but it soon involved all of Indochina.
00:09:08Raids on North Vietnam began in 1964 as occasional reprisals for enemy attacks.
00:09:14The next year, 1965, a continuing bombing of North Vietnam began.
00:09:19It was called Operation Rolling Thunder, and it was the subject of fierce debate.
00:09:25Military leaders have been urging massive raids on North Vietnam.
00:09:29Air Force General Curtis LeMay suggested we bomb that country back into the Stone Age.
00:09:35But civilian leaders, including President Johnson, decided to escalate very gradually.
00:09:40They feared that all-out bombing might bring Russia or China into the war.
00:09:44So the targets were carefully controlled by Washington.
00:09:48Bill Stout observed how it all worked in 1967.
00:09:52At that point, Rolling Thunder was two years old.
00:09:57This is the center of the target selection process, Pacific Headquarters, in Hawaii.
00:10:02For these men, the working book of the air war is a thick volume of rules and permissible targets
00:10:06drawn up by the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Washington.
00:10:09The commanders in Vietnam, of the 7th Air Force and the Navy carriers at sea,
00:10:14send here their proposals for new targets or changes or concentrations of attack
00:10:19to meet tactical moves by the North Vietnamese.
00:10:22These target officers in Hawaii may drop some of the suggestions from the field
00:10:26or add proposals of their own, then forward the whole package to the Joint Chiefs in Washington.
00:10:31The Chiefs run the final screening, ruling out some targets perhaps,
00:10:35adding some of their own or checking others for White House approval.
00:10:38The list then returns here, where the target selection officers blend the orders from Washington
00:10:43with intelligence from Vietnam, reports from flyers, and photos from reconnaissance planes.
00:10:49The war is plotted here, in the hills above Honolulu, and it is here the strike orders are drawn.
00:11:00There may be further refinement of the target list at Task Force 77, the powerful Navy strike group in the
00:11:06Gulf of Tonkin.
00:11:07The big punch of the force is delivered by air, by the planes of the carriers.
00:11:11There were three in the Gulf when this report was made a few days ago, the Kitty Hawk, Coral Sea,
00:11:17and Ticonderoga.
00:11:18Their fighters, bombers, and reconnaissance planes account for half of all the missions into North Vietnam.
00:11:24They go hurtling down the deck all day and into the night, the carriers recovering some planes at the same
00:11:30time others are being launched.
00:11:31The task force also has cruisers and destroyers, some patrolling the coastline, and supply and support vessels too.
00:11:44There are nearly 5,000 men on each carrier, all straining to give one flyer at a time a view
00:11:51like this of a single target in North Vietnam.
00:11:55These strike films provided by the Navy give some slight idea of what it's like.
00:11:59Targets that would be hard to find even without the missiles and anti-aircraft fire.
00:12:04The North Vietnamese are often ingenious.
00:12:06In one of these strikes, Admiral Richardson and his flyers found a whole string of railroad cars that had been
00:12:12passed over.
00:12:13The Vietnamese had painted two parallel lines on top of the cars so that a whole freight train looked like
00:12:18a stretch of empty track.
00:12:19But when the strike photos were studied on the Kitty Hawk, the experts looked beyond the rooftop paint job.
00:12:25The flyers went back and blasted the train.
00:12:30The big air base at Da Nang in South Vietnam is shared by the Marines, but they fly very few
00:12:35missions to the North.
00:12:36Here, that part of the war is almost entirely Air Force.
00:12:39Shortly before the recent truce, CBS News went to Da Nang to cover a single mission over North Vietnam.
00:12:45It's here the decisions made in Honolulu and at the Pentagon finally are translated into men and machines, into rockets
00:12:51and bombs.
00:12:52Bomb tonnage figures are classified, but it's believed the total dropped on the North has been running at the rate
00:12:57of about a quarter million tons a year.
00:12:59Impressive, but far less than a single atomic bomb.
00:13:02On this mission, there were F-105 fighter bombers that usually operate from bases outside Vietnam.
00:13:10There were also F-4 Phantoms scheduled to fly escort in case MiGs went up to challenge the bombers.
00:13:17These are among the most complex and sophisticated aircraft in the world, but they're flown by men and men need
00:13:25instructions.
00:13:27Good morning, gentlemen. Your target for this afternoon, as advertised, is the Mo Trang Railroad Bridge, North Vietnam.
00:13:34The geographical coordinates are 2-1-3-0, 3-0 North, 1-0-6-0-7-5-0 East.
00:13:46The target itself is an unserviceable railroad bridge under construction.
00:13:51It is considered to be probably deck type with three spans, 280-foot single track.
00:13:57There are two concrete piers and two concrete abutments that have been complete.
00:14:02You route into the target from Da Nang through standard refueling over the Gulf of Tonkin.
00:14:08Coasting in on the island point, as shown, staying well clear of the Communist-Chinese border.
00:14:14You will then ingress just north of the FLAC area, as shown outlined in black.
00:14:20These are very heavy AAA, 3757, and 85 100-millimeter anti-aircraft sites.
00:14:28You will also notice that you are staying just north of the surface-to-air missile range, as outlined in
00:14:34red.
00:14:34Very heavy activity can be expected in the target area.
00:14:39Activity also has been very heavy.
00:14:41These two sites just northeast of Hai Phong.
00:14:45Coming in, you will then enter the SAM envelope.
00:14:49Passing north of Kep airfield, you can expect a defensive reaction from the MiG force located at Kep.
00:14:57Through your pop-up point, down into your target, at which time you will enter, again, the heavy FLAC area.
00:15:03Out the reverse route, and back down to your post-strike refueling.
00:15:10If you are hit, gentlemen, by any type of defenses, your best chance of rescue is provided out in the
00:15:18Gulf of Tonkin.
00:15:20Try and stay with your aircraft as long as possible.
00:15:23Make sure you do clear the shoreline.
00:15:25Give the Jolly Greens and the rest of the SAR people a good chance to pick you up off the
00:15:30shore.
00:15:31If you're down close to shore, you can expect a heavy defensive reaction from shore batteries.
00:15:36The fighter pilots have heard about the target, how to get in and get back.
00:15:40Then they gather in a squadron briefing to talk about tactics over the target.
00:15:44The flight leader today is Colonel Don Stanfield.
00:15:49Call the SAM to me with a standard call, otter flight, SAM, 11 o'clock.
00:15:58As soon as I pick it up, I'll watch it through the windscreen.
00:16:02If the SAM doesn't move in any direction, we know it has been guided to our formation.
00:16:09If it moves a little to the left or the right or around from its original position, we know it's
00:16:14generally not headed towards our flight.
00:16:17In which case, we'll disregard it, not execute a break, just keep our eyes on it.
00:16:26If I think it's going to engage our flight, I will call a SAM break, otter flight, break now.
00:16:35We will take our aircraft down and take them down fast.
00:16:41As soon as the SAM has passed us, we'll continue our maneuver on back up, back into our cover mission
00:16:49for the strike aircraft.
00:16:52In the personal equipment room, just in case they fail to outrun the enemy,
00:16:56much of their preparation is designed for survival, just in case a plane goes down.
00:17:02Everything from fishing kits to signal radios and sidearms.
00:17:07The last piece of gear on the way out the door is the helmet, a custom fit, and each man
00:17:13checks to make sure he gets his own.
00:17:24The men are ready, the planes are ready, but the Motrang Bridge is not.
00:17:29The word from the weatherman is that the primary target is socked in.
00:17:33A cloud layer so low that to fly beneath it would mean murderous small arms and anti-aircraft fire.
00:17:39While above the clouds, radar-guided SAMs could close in and the flyers might not see them until too late.
00:17:52Around the secondary target, no MiGs are expected, so the Phantoms are stripped of most of their armament and loaded
00:17:59with bombs.
00:18:00On the secondary, instead of flying escort, they will work as bombers too.
00:18:11The bombs are given their fuses right here on the flight line, a short walk from headquarters.
00:18:15But airmen say it is not as touchy as it looks to a civilian.
00:18:19The bombs and other weapons are not fully armed, cocked, and ready to go until the red arming tags are
00:18:25removed at the far end of the runway.
00:18:33The Da Nang Tower is one of the busiest in the world.
00:18:36Under the rules of U.S. partnership in this war, the man in charge of the tower is a Vietnamese.
00:18:48They're cleared for takeoff, and three and a half or four hours after the start of the briefing, they leave
00:18:54on time and head north.
00:19:13In two and a half hours, they will be back. Hopefully, all of them will be back.
00:19:30After refueling, the planes move off in close formation into North Vietnam.
00:19:35Several planes on this mission carried cameras, as they often do for intelligence purposes, to show target areas and the
00:19:41damage done by the raids.
00:19:43This is only part of the film. Some of it was seen by intelligence officers as classified material, and therefore
00:19:49not released for this report.
00:20:18It's hypnoticURE, ì—…
00:20:30Two and a half hours after takeoff, almost to the minute, they return to Da Nang.
00:20:35The men on the flight line and in the fueling area stand much the same vigil as their predecessors did
00:20:40in World War II and even World War I.
00:20:43They have no radio communication. They count the planes as they come in.
00:21:05The Phantom leader, Colonel Stanfield, is the first on the ground.
00:21:09He's 45 years old. He flew in the China-Burma-India theater during World War II and flew again in
00:21:15Korea.
00:21:15He tells his men to keep working every minute they're in the air, looking for Sams, looking for MiGs.
00:21:21Keep turning your heads, he tells them, adding that he wants them to come back from every mission as soaked
00:21:27in sweat as he is.
00:21:53Their exuberance is genuine, partly pride in the job they've done, partly relief.
00:21:58It's been a good day. No one was hit. They all came back.
00:22:04That's the most sophisticated defense area that I think any military forces have ever been forced to face.
00:22:13And if it's bad now, imagine what it will be six months from now, then a year from now.
00:22:19They keep building on it. It is a very sophisticated defense, and it will get tougher.
00:22:25And your operations will have to be tailored to it.
00:22:28I've heard some of the pilots say that it's worse around Hanoi than Berlin was in World War II.
00:22:35What do you think of that?
00:22:36Well, some days, some days our people go in and there appears to be light to moderate flack.
00:22:45And there are other days in which the air turns brown.
00:22:51Operation Rolling Thunder was a high-risk occupation.
00:22:54North Vietnam's air defenses became increasingly effective, using weapons provided by China and Russia.
00:23:01The surface-to-air missiles, SAMs, could sometimes be avoided and sometimes not.
00:23:08Many pilots who survived became prisoners of war, captured and often beaten by the people they had just been bombing.
00:23:14Then they were taken to prisons where most were brutalized again.
00:23:20Some pilots were luckier.
00:23:22On this day in 1967, a warplane landed on the carrier Intrepid with part of one wing missing.
00:23:29Did the enemy throw up much resistance today?
00:23:32Very heavy. Some of the heaviest I've ever seen.
00:23:34We had surfaced air missiles, heavy anti-aircraft fire, and there were MiGs in the area, although we did not
00:23:40see any.
00:23:41I was hit in the wing.
00:23:42I understand your planes have been hit before.
00:23:45Yes, I've been lucky. I've been hit seven times.
00:23:48I was shot down once, managed to make it over the water, injected, picked up safely.
00:24:04Some of the bombs were dropped on Hanoi, the North Vietnamese capital.
00:24:08What you are seeing is part of a giant civil defense program.
00:24:12All over the city, little one-person bomb shelters had been constructed.
00:24:16In case of an air raid alert, people ran to the nearest shelter and waited to pull the concrete lids
00:24:22over their heads.
00:24:23These scenes were filmed during a visit to Hanoi by CBS News correspondent Charles Collingwood.
00:24:29The making of the concrete tubes for these one-man shelters is a major industry in North Vietnam.
00:24:35There must be millions of them.
00:24:37The government puts them in public places, but a householder is expected to buy his own.
00:24:43They cost seven dong, or about two dollars at the official rate.
00:24:46The government takes a loss because they cost 15 dong, or about four dollars and a quarter, to make.
00:24:54There are so many of these individual shelters sunk into the ground that, at least in Hanoi, which has been
00:25:00little bombed,
00:25:01their open holes probably constitute a greater accident hazard than the bombs that do fall.
00:25:06On that same visit in 1968, Collingwood found North Vietnam coping with another result of the air war.
00:25:16In Hanoi, the great steel Dumer Bridge across the Red River, which connects Hanoi with almost everywhere else,
00:25:24has been cut by American bombs.
00:25:26This is U.S. Air Force film.
00:25:28For some reason, the North Vietnamese won't let you film the broken bridge.
00:25:34But they did let us show, for the first time, how they've managed to span the river in spite of
00:25:40the damage to the Dumer Bridge.
00:25:43They've rigged a pontoon bridge.
00:25:45By day, this bridge is dismantled.
00:25:48The pontoons moored and camouflaged beside the riverbank.
00:25:52Then, in the late afternoon, when they think the danger of bombing has become less acute,
00:25:57they tow the pontoons up and put them into place.
00:26:00It takes an hour and a half from the time the sections leave the riverbank until the bridge is assembled.
00:26:08They put it together and take it apart like this every day.
00:26:14As soon as the pieces are joined, the traffic begins to flow.
00:26:19First, the pedestrians, walking quickly because they're only given so much time to get across.
00:26:42After the pedestrians, the vehicles, mostly military, mostly Russian-made, many of them new.
00:26:50Some from China, Czechoslovakia, and Poland, as well as from Russia.
00:26:55Some going back to the days of the French occupation.
00:27:00The traffic is one way.
00:27:02It goes in one direction for a while, and then one line is halted,
00:27:06and another crosses the river in the other direction.
00:27:09These are going south in convoys toward the battlefront.
00:27:12There are also two or three other pontoon bridges across the Red River for pedestrians and bicycles.
00:27:19But this main one is for the heavy traffic.
00:27:23The trucks cross in each direction all night long.
00:27:27Then at dawn, they take the bridge apart for the day.
00:27:31The target selection process imposed on Operation Rolling Thunder
00:27:35was designed in part to minimize civilian casualties.
00:27:39But inevitably, civilians were wounded or killed in the raids on the north.
00:27:45Charles Collingwood was taken to a village five miles outside Hanoi
00:27:48where the North Vietnamese said American jets had dropped 45 bombs.
00:27:53The villagers watched silently as Collingwood filmed his report.
00:27:58The work of rebuilding the village of Conway has already begun.
00:28:03The neighbors have all joined together and brought in building materials
00:28:09to rebuild the houses that have been damaged.
00:28:12Just over here from where I'm standing stood the house of Mr. Hull,
00:28:18who himself was very badly wounded, lost one leg, still has an arm and a cast.
00:28:25He also lost three of his children in the bombing of February 29th.
00:28:31His wife spoke to me about it.
00:28:35And we found two of them died in the center.
00:28:42And I could not find the third one.
00:28:46And at last, I found just a part of his body.
00:28:53In that rate, in that attack, three of my children was killed.
00:29:03They are 11 years old, 7 years old, and 5 years old.
00:29:11Operation Rolling Thunder ended in 1968 as President Johnson first curtailed
00:29:16and then ended altogether the bombing of North Vietnam.
00:29:19But eventually, as we will see, heavy bombing of the North would be resumed under President Richard Nixon.
00:29:26Both during the war and since, there's been much debate about the effectiveness of the air war in the North.
00:29:32Many in the military felt we had pulled our punches,
00:29:34that if we had gone all out early in the war, we could have ensured victory.
00:29:39They argued that the gradual buildup imposed by President Johnson
00:29:43gave North Vietnam precious time to disperse its industries and build up its air defenses.
00:29:49Others felt, however, that no amount of bombing would have brought North Vietnam to its knees
00:29:54and that heavier bombing, especially involving civilian losses,
00:29:58might only have hardened their determination to fight on.
00:30:02That argument may never be resolved.
00:30:04There's simply no way of proving either side.
00:30:06The air war also poured destruction on two of Vietnam's neighbors, Laos and Cambodia,
00:30:12where the targets included communist strongholds and infiltration routes.
00:30:17President Nixon began a secret bombing of Cambodia in 1969,
00:30:22ordered a brief invasion of that country in 1970,
00:30:24and continued the pressure thereafter.
00:30:27Morton Dean reported one example.
00:30:31These men are commuters.
00:30:33Every day, they commute to work across the border to Cambodia.
00:30:37The total number of U.S. helicopter missions into Cambodia is a military secret,
00:30:43although it is known that more than 10,000 sorties were flown across the border in the last month alone.
00:30:50We go out and we look for activity in the form of trails, bunkers, pooches, bicycles, vehicles,
00:31:01anything that would indicate the presence of NVA units.
00:31:05And, of course, we draw a lot of fire that way, and that's how we locate their positions.
00:31:10Is it kind of a risky thing, locating the enemy by drawing his fire?
00:31:15I suppose you could say it that way, but it's our job.
00:31:19And I'm going to call Max now. Come on out.
00:31:22Roger.
00:31:22On a typical mission, a Cobra gunship flies shotgun overhead,
00:31:28while a smaller chopper with two men aboard scouts the terrain below.
00:31:33Yeah, we got bunkers.
00:31:36One, two, three, four, five.
00:31:38Five bunker openings here.
00:31:43We can call that an arty.
00:31:45We're within range, and we're in the fire.
00:31:54I'm going to put some more 60 in the hooch here.
00:31:56Go ahead.
00:32:06Oh, there's a guy down there in the hooch.
00:32:08One right on the door.
00:32:19We got a fire on that one there.
00:32:21I think there's a tunnel complex under this, too.
00:32:23I see a lot of openings in the ground.
00:32:27When more firepower is called for, it is the Cobra's time to uncoil.
00:32:32What's supposed to be down there?
00:32:35I don't know, but whatever it is, it's not too friendly.
00:32:38Filmed on another mission over Cambodia,
00:32:40the Cobra unleashes rockets and showers of flechettes,
00:32:44thousands of tiny nails.
00:32:46No nails will do a trick on you.
00:32:49Bad one.
00:32:50Every mission is monitored back at the base
00:32:53in the Tactical Operations Center.
00:32:55We took about four tracer rounds of 51 cal,
00:32:59which I guess would mean a total of 15 or 20 rounds.
00:33:01That's Captain Al Seidel reporting
00:33:04that on this mission he has taken fire.
00:33:06However, he was not hit and is returning to base.
00:33:12There's a confirmed 51 cal position,
00:33:14and that means they're there,
00:33:15and we've nailed them down to a grid square.
00:33:18But that means probably a main force element
00:33:20because they're the only people that have 51s.
00:33:24The next team out there will avoid the grid square
00:33:26but try to draw some fire out of it
00:33:29and pinpoint the location of it.
00:33:31Once that's done, then air and artillery take over.
00:33:34Ten minutes later, Seidel relaxes with a game of trippage
00:33:38on the front porch of the bunkhouse
00:33:40the crews call Tobacco Road.
00:33:48Suddenly, the card game is interrupted
00:33:50by a sound that no one at Kwanloi likes to hear.
00:34:09Seidel knew what he was talking about.
00:34:11The next team did draw a fire from that position
00:34:14and a scout chopper has just been shot down.
00:34:17The siren has mobilized the whole base
00:34:19for the rescue effort.
00:34:23The rescue effort progresses swiftly,
00:34:26but not swiftly enough to satisfy a concerned officer
00:34:29who circles the crash site
00:34:30in a command and control helicopter.
00:34:48He is angry.
00:34:50While gunships have converged on the scene
00:34:52to secure the area,
00:34:54the sling, the helicopter that will lift out
00:34:56the down chopper, has not yet arrived.
00:34:58Don't give me a roger.
00:35:00Send somebody with two legs down there
00:35:02and tell those people to get on this helicopter.
00:35:07The crewmen have been picked up.
00:35:09They are unhurt.
00:35:11Their rescue was a carefully coordinated team effort
00:35:13all the way.
00:35:15It hit the oil cooler, went through there.
00:35:18There was oil all over the place.
00:35:21It started, I had an engine oil bypass,
00:35:23got the caution light, and it started going up.
00:35:26And, uh, got up to about 140, I think,
00:35:30before we could find an area to put it down in.
00:35:32It was a real bad area.
00:35:33No structure.
00:35:35Well, like I said, I only saw that,
00:35:37I only saw that one area.
00:35:38I don't know how bad it was hit
00:35:39because we took off.
00:35:40They came in and picked us up.
00:35:44Fun and games.
00:35:45As you may recall,
00:35:47that report mentioned helicopters
00:35:48firing thousands of tiny nails
00:35:50at enemy positions.
00:35:52What sorts of weapons were these?
00:35:55Correspondent Dean decided to find out.
00:35:59The nails, or flechettes,
00:36:02as the manufacturer has labeled them,
00:36:04are carried aloft in these rockets
00:36:06by a Cobra gunship,
00:36:08each rocket packed with more than 2,000 nails,
00:36:11one of the deadliest anti-personnel weapons
00:36:14now in use.
00:36:15Ten rockets will carry almost as many nails
00:36:18as used to build a typical
00:36:20three-bedroom ranch house with garage.
00:36:22The payload of two rockets
00:36:24can tattoo an area
00:36:26the size of a football field,
00:36:28probably wounding or killing
00:36:29everyone in the area.
00:36:33This is the delivery system
00:36:35for the flechettes for the nails.
00:36:37Right.
00:36:39Now, the entire basic round
00:36:41consists of the motor,
00:36:43which is forward of the fins,
00:36:44to this particular point.
00:36:47from the dark portion
00:36:49up to this point
00:36:50is comprised of the nails
00:36:52and the charge that pushes the nails
00:36:55out of the tube
00:36:56when it does fire.
00:36:58When it fires,
00:36:59this cone moves off
00:37:01and the nails will disperse out
00:37:04into a pattern.
00:37:05Now, the nails are all
00:37:07packed very tightly in there.
00:37:08Maybe you could show us
00:37:09just what they look like.
00:37:19Now, that's one row of nails.
00:37:23There's about six rows
00:37:24up through this particular warhead.
00:37:27Now, this is the red dye
00:37:29we see when the nails are fired.
00:37:31Right.
00:37:31What purpose does the dye serve?
00:37:33The only purpose I know of
00:37:35is just so that they can tell
00:37:36that it has expended
00:37:38out the nose
00:37:38of the particular carrier here.
00:37:47Correspondents are not permitted
00:37:48to fly actual combat missions
00:37:50in the gunship,
00:37:51but we were able to join
00:37:52Captain Bill Bunton
00:37:53on a maintenance run
00:37:54to check his weapons systems
00:37:56in a free fire zone.
00:38:00Captain, what type of targets
00:38:02do you prefer to use
00:38:03your nails against?
00:38:05We prefer to use
00:38:06against enemy personnel
00:38:07in the open
00:38:08is the most effective.
00:38:10We also like to use them
00:38:11against the enemy
00:38:12in trees
00:38:13because the nails
00:38:14will penetrate the trees
00:38:15all the way to the ground
00:38:16where our other rockets
00:38:17go off in the top of the tree.
00:38:18A number of empty ammunition crates
00:38:21have been dumped
00:38:22into the area
00:38:23and Captain Button
00:38:24will be firing at them.
00:38:28Okay, we're making
00:38:29a very steep descent now,
00:38:31heading right down
00:38:32onto the target area.
00:38:35The first two rockets
00:38:36puffs of red smoke.
00:38:38Another set of rockets.
00:38:41They're firing up in pairs.
00:38:442,200 nails in each rocket.
00:38:46Now we're pulling away
00:38:47from the target area.
00:38:49And you can see
00:38:51plumes of dust and smoke
00:38:53where the nails have impacted.
00:38:56Often the nails
00:38:57will knife right through the target,
00:38:58although at certain angles
00:39:00they do have a tendency
00:39:01to tumble immediately on impact.
00:39:04And after piercing the skin,
00:39:05a tumbling nail
00:39:06can cause a gaping wound.
00:39:08Bill, it looks as if
00:39:09this strip was the strip
00:39:11facing the chopper
00:39:13as we came in on it.
00:39:14And how many hits
00:39:16do you have here?
00:39:17It looks like
00:39:18we've got one that hit here,
00:39:20one here,
00:39:21one in here,
00:39:22one in there,
00:39:24another one down here,
00:39:25and another one here,
00:39:27and another one down in here.
00:39:29It hit it pretty good
00:39:31along that side there.
00:39:32Think that's pretty good shooting?
00:39:34Yeah, I'm satisfied with it.
00:39:39Nails are also used
00:39:41in artillery rounds
00:39:42called beehives
00:39:43and in shotgun shells,
00:39:45which are especially effective
00:39:47in response to a roadside ambush.
00:39:49In a war where
00:39:50Allied troops use laser beams
00:39:52to locate their targets,
00:39:54scopes that permit them
00:39:55to see in the darkness of night,
00:39:57computers to guide
00:39:58their jet bombers.
00:40:00It is rather unusual
00:40:01to find that nails,
00:40:03inexpensive,
00:40:04not quite an inch
00:40:05and a half long,
00:40:06something you could
00:40:07hang a picture on,
00:40:08are such an important part
00:40:10of the U.S. arsenal.
00:40:12Those nails may have been
00:40:13one of the strangest weapons
00:40:15in Vietnam,
00:40:16but they were only one part
00:40:17of a huge arsenal
00:40:19of destruction.
00:40:20Robert Shackney
00:40:21was shown some other examples.
00:40:23Here you see what we call
00:40:26a CBU dispenser.
00:40:28The bomblet itself
00:40:29and this large dispenser
00:40:32is filled with approximately
00:40:34400 smaller bomblets
00:40:35that weigh approximately
00:40:36three pounds each.
00:40:38This particular item,
00:40:40as you see it here,
00:40:40is not dispensed
00:40:42from the aircraft
00:40:42or it doesn't fall off
00:40:43the aircraft like a bomb does.
00:40:45It distributes
00:40:48these smaller bomblets
00:40:49that are contained inside of it
00:40:50out behind the aircraft.
00:40:52This is a 1,000-pound bomb
00:40:53and it happens to be
00:40:54the largest piece of ordnance
00:40:55the F-100 carries.
00:40:56This bomb,
00:40:57the general purpose
00:40:58high-explosive,
00:40:59is very effective
00:41:00especially if we use
00:41:01a delayed fuse on it.
00:41:02It penetrates about
00:41:038 to 10 feet
00:41:04into the ground
00:41:05and makes a tremendous crater
00:41:07of this particular bomb
00:41:09about 50 feet across at times
00:41:10if it goes off
00:41:11and it will, of course,
00:41:12obliterate any of the enemy's bunkers
00:41:14or his heavily defended areas.
00:41:16This is the napalm bomb
00:41:18that we use to very effectively
00:41:21over here
00:41:21because it does get down
00:41:22into some of the bunkers
00:41:23that we do not actually destroy.
00:41:25It's a firebomb,
00:41:27you might say.
00:41:27The heart of this firebomb,
00:41:29the napalm itself,
00:41:30is a mixture of gasoline
00:41:32and a thickening agent
00:41:33that forms a jelly
00:41:34which will stick
00:41:35to anything it touches.
00:41:37When this bomb explodes,
00:41:38the napalm will be ignited
00:41:40and splashed for 100 feet
00:41:41in every direction,
00:41:42burning with a fierce heat
00:41:44of 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit.
00:41:46It was and is
00:41:48a terrifying weapon.
00:41:52Though much of the air war
00:41:54was geared to destruction,
00:41:55some of the most dangerous missions
00:41:57were dedicated to saving lives.
00:41:59These were the medevac helicopters,
00:42:02rescuing wounded G.I.s
00:42:04from the battlefield,
00:42:05often spelling the difference
00:42:06between life and death.
00:42:08John Lawrence reported
00:42:09one such story
00:42:10in South Vietnam
00:42:11where a soldier
00:42:12had been left for dead
00:42:13for 24 hours.
00:42:18It was mid-afternoon
00:42:19when Alpha Company
00:42:20went back to the battlefield
00:42:21to find its dead.
00:42:23A soldier shouts
00:42:24that he has found
00:42:25an American body.
00:42:27Then, unbelieving,
00:42:28he cries out,
00:42:29he's alive.
00:42:31He's alive, sir.
00:42:32Come on.
00:42:33Come on, lay him right there.
00:42:34Lay him right there.
00:42:35Down!
00:42:38I couldn't let him back there.
00:42:40In fact, PFC Steve Hamlin
00:42:42of Lamont, California
00:42:43is just barely alive,
00:42:45a bullet wound in his head.
00:42:48A buddy had seen him shot
00:42:50the day before
00:42:50and reported him dead.
00:42:52Mostly he's gone.
00:42:54Hamlin was new to Alpha Company
00:42:56and few of the other men
00:42:57knew much about him.
00:42:58Someone said he had just
00:43:00had a birthday,
00:43:01his 18th.
00:43:02I think we said
00:43:02we're stuck at...
00:43:04Now begins a desperate
00:43:06and dramatic effort
00:43:07to keep him alive.
00:43:08The first responsibility
00:43:10belongs to the young medic,
00:43:12Specialist 5,
00:43:13Jasper Pasalaqua.
00:43:14Doc, you think he...
00:43:15Give me off.
00:43:16You think you can save him?
00:43:17I think he'll make it all right.
00:43:19He'll live.
00:43:19He'll make it all right.
00:43:21803, this is Crossback 5.
00:43:22I have a patient for you.
00:43:24Do you know about
00:43:25where we were located yesterday?
00:43:27One second medevac.
00:43:28Purple smoke marks
00:43:29the landing zone
00:43:30as the medevac helicopter
00:43:31arrives a few minutes later.
00:43:33This is Alpha Company's
00:43:34last look at the new PFC
00:43:36so few of the men
00:43:37ever got to know.
00:43:48A nearby field hospital
00:43:50is the first stop
00:43:51for PFC Hamlin.
00:43:55He's rushed inside
00:43:56for immediate blood transfusions,
00:43:58the first prescription
00:43:59for saving a life.
00:44:01Although he is still unconscious,
00:44:03the patient's pulse is steady
00:44:05and his heart beats strong.
00:44:06The doctors decide
00:44:08to send him south
00:44:09to a bigger hospital
00:44:10with better facilities.
00:44:21This is the patient's second stop
00:44:23at the 85th evacuation hospital
00:44:25at Queen Yon.
00:44:27It has now been three days
00:44:28since he was wounded,
00:44:30two days since undergoing
00:44:31major surgery.
00:44:33His doctor is neurosurgeon
00:44:34Robert Fitzgerald.
00:44:36Doctor, how's the patient doing?
00:44:38I think we must be very cautious
00:44:41at this time
00:44:41in estimating his prognosis.
00:44:44Certainly he has had
00:44:45a very serious injury.
00:44:47However, he has survived this far
00:44:50and things do appear
00:44:52to be looking up
00:44:53a little bit for him.
00:44:54For the third time
00:44:55in three days,
00:44:56Hamlin is moved.
00:44:57This time to the airport
00:44:59for a flight from Vietnam
00:45:00to the Philippines
00:45:01and the huge hospital
00:45:03at Clark Air Force Base.
00:45:06This is the face
00:45:08of the young PFC
00:45:09who has been unconscious
00:45:10since he was shot
00:45:11and unaware
00:45:12of the fantastic effort
00:45:14to keep him alive.
00:45:18A few months later,
00:45:19Private Hamlin was recovering
00:45:20at Letterman Army Hospital
00:45:22in San Francisco.
00:45:23He talked with correspondent
00:45:25Harry Arrow.
00:45:26What do you hope to do
00:45:27after you get home
00:45:28and after you get okay?
00:45:32Well, I was thinking about
00:45:36after I get
00:45:39get these plates
00:45:41put in my head
00:45:42going back over to Vietnam.
00:45:45Going back to Vietnam?
00:45:47What for?
00:45:49So I can get a Viet Cong
00:45:51in my sights,
00:45:52in my rifle sights.
00:45:56The Vietnam War
00:45:57was the first war
00:45:58in which helicopters
00:45:59were used extensively
00:46:00to rescue the wounded.
00:46:02Countless American fighting men
00:46:03survived because of these efforts.
00:46:08But the larger air war,
00:46:09the war of rockets
00:46:10and bullets and bombs,
00:46:12continued with a vengeance.
00:46:22One of the biggest targets
00:46:23of the Vietnam Air War
00:46:25was Laos.
00:46:25It was second only to South Vietnam
00:46:27and tonnage dropped.
00:46:29The bombing of Laos
00:46:30was two and a half times
00:46:31that of North Vietnam.
00:46:33Some of the raids
00:46:34were aimed at communist insurgents
00:46:36and others at the
00:46:37Ho Chi Minh Trail,
00:46:39the system of roads
00:46:40that the enemy used
00:46:41to carry men and supplies
00:46:42to the South.
00:46:43That campaign expanded
00:46:45in 1968
00:46:46after the bombing
00:46:47of North Vietnam
00:46:48was halted.
00:46:49Many of the war planes
00:46:50were reassigned
00:46:51to missions over Laos.
00:46:52When South Vietnamese troops
00:46:54invaded Laos in 1971,
00:46:56American planes provided
00:46:58air support.
00:46:59And the pilots were convinced
00:47:00they made a big difference.
00:47:02It's not the only answer.
00:47:04That's pretty evident,
00:47:06but it hurts them.
00:47:08You know that that's
00:47:09ammunition
00:47:10and storage supplies
00:47:12and gasoline
00:47:13that are going off
00:47:14down there.
00:47:15They're enjoyable missions
00:47:16because you're helping
00:47:17friendlies.
00:47:20You can see results
00:47:21of what you're doing.
00:47:24You can hear results.
00:47:25Maybe a couple days later
00:47:26in the paper,
00:47:27you may even read results
00:47:28of what you're doing,
00:47:29and that's always gratifying.
00:47:31To know that there are
00:47:32friendly people down there
00:47:33that are getting shot up
00:47:34and to know that we're
00:47:35helping them,
00:47:37it's satisfying.
00:47:41The pilots were taking fire
00:47:43in Laos,
00:47:44but they said that wasn't
00:47:45the toughest part
00:47:46of the mission.
00:47:46The toughest part
00:47:48was landing back
00:47:48on the carrier.
00:47:50Some days,
00:47:51that was more of a problem
00:47:52than others.
00:47:53You've got two carriers
00:47:54out here on station.
00:47:56On a busy day,
00:47:57on occasion,
00:47:58does a pilot somehow,
00:47:59sometimes land
00:48:01on the wrong carrier?
00:48:10It's been known to happen.
00:48:13People you know
00:48:13are very close to you.
00:48:16Maybe you can see me
00:48:17blushing,
00:48:17but it's happened before,
00:48:21and I did it once.
00:48:24There's been a lot of guys
00:48:25doing it,
00:48:25but I'm not going to be
00:48:27the first to do it twice,
00:48:27I'll tell you that.
00:48:33Many of the land-based missions
00:48:35were launched
00:48:36from bases in Thailand.
00:48:38They were not widely
00:48:39publicized at the time
00:48:40because Thailand
00:48:41officially was neutral,
00:48:42but the bases were there
00:48:44and busy,
00:48:45as Phil Jones
00:48:46discovered in 1971.
00:48:49Utapau is the home
00:48:50of the B-52s
00:48:51in Southeast Asia,
00:48:53the planes that were
00:48:54originally built
00:48:55to carry atomic bombs,
00:48:57now outfitted
00:48:58with more than 21 tons
00:49:00of conventional bombs.
00:49:03American reporters
00:49:04are not permitted
00:49:05to film air bases
00:49:06in Thailand,
00:49:08primarily because
00:49:09the American government
00:49:10does not want
00:49:11the vast installations
00:49:13publicized.
00:49:14So,
00:49:15these scenes
00:49:15were filmed
00:49:16surreptitiously,
00:49:18the giant B-52s
00:49:20in their revetments.
00:49:21It is almost
00:49:23a cliché now
00:49:24that the air war
00:49:25is an impersonal war.
00:49:28The men
00:49:28who drop the bombs
00:49:30rarely see their targets
00:49:31or the results
00:49:33of their bombs.
00:49:34This is especially true
00:49:36of the men
00:49:36who fly in the B-52s.
00:49:39We talked with
00:49:40some of these crewmen
00:49:41as they relaxed
00:49:42off base
00:49:43just a few hours
00:49:44after a mission.
00:49:45They are professionals
00:49:47with no qualms
00:49:49about their job.
00:49:50They are convinced
00:49:51it is right
00:49:52and necessary.
00:49:53I feel that it
00:49:54does a lot of good.
00:49:56They, uh,
00:49:59I feel that they,
00:50:00uh,
00:50:02that the bombing
00:50:03doesn't kill
00:50:03any more than
00:50:04is necessary
00:50:06to, uh,
00:50:07to accomplish a mission.
00:50:11Without the air war
00:50:12and without the bombs
00:50:14being dropped,
00:50:16the communists
00:50:17would probably
00:50:18eat us alive
00:50:20down there.
00:50:20And it's either
00:50:21them or us
00:50:22the way I feel
00:50:23about it.
00:50:24If the war
00:50:25wasn't, uh,
00:50:28wasn't being fought
00:50:29here, it'd be
00:50:29fought somewhere else.
00:50:31You really think
00:50:31the bombs then
00:50:32are keeping
00:50:32the communists away?
00:50:34It is that important?
00:50:35Well, I can't say
00:50:36it's keeping them away.
00:50:38It's keeping them
00:50:38beat back
00:50:39to where they should be.
00:50:41Do you think
00:50:41it's effective?
00:50:42Of course it's
00:50:43affecting.
00:50:45Or they wouldn't
00:50:46be doing it.
00:50:49Yuta Powell
00:50:50was one of five
00:50:51bases used by
00:50:52the Americans
00:50:52in Thailand.
00:50:54Correspondent Jones
00:50:55visited the others
00:50:56also, including
00:50:57one of the most
00:50:58secret, the base
00:50:59at Nac-Con-Fanon,
00:51:00often called
00:51:01simply NKP.
00:51:02This is the heart
00:51:05of the electronic
00:51:06war against
00:51:07the Ho Chi Minh
00:51:08Trail.
00:51:08There is a forest
00:51:10of antennas
00:51:11collecting information
00:51:12on enemy movements
00:51:13along the
00:51:14infiltration routes
00:51:15in Laos
00:51:16and Cambodia.
00:51:18Battery-operated
00:51:19sensors have been
00:51:20dropped along
00:51:21the trail,
00:51:21and they can
00:51:23pick up the
00:51:23sounds or
00:51:24ground vibrations
00:51:25caused by
00:51:26the enemy
00:51:26movements.
00:51:28These signals
00:51:28are then sent
00:51:29by radio
00:51:30listening aircraft
00:51:31overhead,
00:51:32and relayed
00:51:33to this
00:51:33secret installation
00:51:35where some
00:51:36of the largest
00:51:37computers in the
00:51:38world sort out
00:51:39the signals
00:51:39and feed the
00:51:41information to
00:51:42target analysts.
00:51:43As one expert
00:51:44has described it,
00:51:46we have wired
00:51:46the Ho Chi Minh
00:51:47Trail like a
00:51:48pinball machine,
00:51:49and every night
00:51:50we plug it in.
00:51:52Delivery systems
00:51:53are also
00:51:54increasingly complex.
00:51:56Some bombs
00:51:56are now guided
00:51:57by television
00:51:58or laser beams,
00:51:59and the Air Force
00:52:01officials say
00:52:02increased accuracy
00:52:03is definitely
00:52:04hurting the enemy.
00:52:07Udorn,
00:52:08also near the
00:52:09Laos border,
00:52:10just an 18-minute
00:52:11flight from
00:52:12North Vietnam.
00:52:13It is in practice
00:52:15the control point
00:52:16for the Indochina
00:52:17Air War.
00:52:19These are the
00:52:20F-4 Phantoms
00:52:21taking off
00:52:21on a bombing
00:52:22mission.
00:52:23We saw,
00:52:24but were unable
00:52:25to film,
00:52:26enormous amounts
00:52:27of war supplies
00:52:28at Udorn.
00:52:29C-141 jet freighters
00:52:32are in and out
00:52:32all the time,
00:52:34hauling the supplies
00:52:35to some secret
00:52:36destination.
00:52:37Not all the supplies
00:52:39are for American
00:52:40planes.
00:52:41These T-28 prop
00:52:43fighters have
00:52:43Laotian markings.
00:52:45A Laotian pilot
00:52:46told us his Air Force
00:52:48comes to Udorn
00:52:49almost every day
00:52:50for maintenance
00:52:51and supplies,
00:52:52including bombs.
00:52:54And many of the
00:52:55airplanes have
00:52:56no markings,
00:52:57for Udorn
00:52:58is the center
00:52:59for many of the
00:53:00secret intelligence
00:53:01operations by the
00:53:02CIA.
00:53:03You will notice
00:53:04this C-130
00:53:06transport has
00:53:07its tail markings
00:53:08concealed.
00:53:10Another busy base
00:53:11is Uban,
00:53:12located near
00:53:13the Laos-Cambodia
00:53:14border.
00:53:16It is the source
00:53:17of most F-4
00:53:18activity against
00:53:19Cambodia.
00:53:22And due west
00:53:23of Uban
00:53:24is Karat.
00:53:26It once launched
00:53:27much of the bombing
00:53:28of North Vietnam.
00:53:29It still has
00:53:30a squadron
00:53:31of F-105s
00:53:32and it is also
00:53:33base for the
00:53:34super-constellation
00:53:35radar planes,
00:53:37which are vital
00:53:37to the electronic
00:53:38war.
00:53:40There are
00:53:40EB-66s,
00:53:42said to be
00:53:42radar-jamming
00:53:43planes,
00:53:44capable of
00:53:45jamming radar
00:53:46which controls
00:53:47enemy anti-aircraft
00:53:48guns and missiles.
00:53:52The giant
00:53:52B-52 bombers
00:53:54also flew
00:53:54from Guam.
00:53:56Correspondent
00:53:56Jones went
00:53:57there too
00:53:57and found
00:53:58the bomber
00:53:59crews working
00:53:59around the
00:54:00clock.
00:54:03Do you ever
00:54:03think about
00:54:04what those
00:54:05bombs are going
00:54:05to do,
00:54:06the damage
00:54:06they're going
00:54:06to cause?
00:54:07No,
00:54:08because we
00:54:08never see the
00:54:08damage really
00:54:09and there's
00:54:09nothing for us
00:54:10to think about.
00:54:11If you do,
00:54:11you go crazy
00:54:12thinking about
00:54:12bombs,
00:54:13what they're
00:54:13going to do,
00:54:13kill people,
00:54:14blow up trees,
00:54:15monkeys,
00:54:15bananas,
00:54:16what not.
00:54:19Do you ever
00:54:20think about
00:54:21civilians,
00:54:22innocent civilians
00:54:22being killed
00:54:23by those bombs?
00:54:24Well,
00:54:25they tell us
00:54:25they're bombing
00:54:26the Ho Chi Minh
00:54:26trail and
00:54:27they say
00:54:27there's Charlie
00:54:28and so
00:54:29there's no
00:54:29innocent people
00:54:30there.
00:54:31So,
00:54:32what can we do?
00:54:34Five,
00:54:35four,
00:54:36three,
00:54:37two,
00:54:38one,
00:54:39now,
00:54:400730 Zulu,
00:54:411730 local.
00:54:41The pre-flight
00:54:42briefing,
00:54:43routine and
00:54:44technical,
00:54:45with only the
00:54:46words from
00:54:46the chaplain
00:54:47reminding them
00:54:48of what they
00:54:49are about to
00:54:50do.
00:54:51Our Father
00:54:52in heaven,
00:54:53we know that
00:54:54war is hell
00:54:55and our
00:54:56profession is
00:54:57peace.
00:54:59May our
00:55:00concern this
00:55:01evening be
00:55:03to bring about
00:55:04that peace.
00:55:05May we be
00:55:06concerned not
00:55:07only for our
00:55:08own personal
00:55:08safety but
00:55:09that of the
00:55:10complete cell.
00:55:13We are
00:55:13willing,
00:55:14able,
00:55:15and ready
00:55:16to work as
00:55:18a team
00:55:18under your
00:55:19guidance
00:55:19for a
00:55:20peace.
00:55:21Protect us
00:55:22while we
00:55:23are away
00:55:23and bring us
00:55:25safely back
00:55:26to our
00:55:26families.
00:55:28We ask
00:55:28this because
00:55:29of your
00:55:30past goodness
00:55:31to us.
00:55:32Amen.
00:55:34The mission
00:55:35is launched.
00:55:36It's called
00:55:37a cell
00:55:37consisting of
00:55:39three airplanes.
00:55:40Watching as
00:55:41the heavy bombers
00:55:42fly off
00:55:43this Russian
00:55:44trawler.
00:55:49Today's target,
00:55:50enemy troops
00:55:50and tanks
00:55:51around Pleiku
00:55:52in South
00:55:53Vietnam's
00:55:54central highlands.
00:55:55Well, it
00:55:55means a long,
00:55:56long day
00:55:57in the neighborhood
00:55:58of maybe 17
00:55:59hours.
00:56:03And for a
00:56:05short period
00:56:05of time with
00:56:06the refueling
00:56:07and the radio
00:56:09calls and so
00:56:10forth until we
00:56:10get to the
00:56:11target, it's
00:56:11fairly busy
00:56:14and often
00:56:15quite interesting.
00:56:17From my
00:56:18standpoint, being a
00:56:19navigator, it's a lot
00:56:20of work, a lot of
00:56:22navigation involved
00:56:23and of course
00:56:24timing has to be
00:56:25just right.
00:56:26Of course, that's
00:56:27my job and
00:56:29we're supposed to
00:56:30be professionals
00:56:31and I enjoy it.
00:56:32Of course, I don't
00:56:33like being away
00:56:33from home, but
00:56:36it's a job and
00:56:37they send you to
00:56:37do it, so we
00:56:38try to do the
00:56:38best we can.
00:56:40At first, it
00:56:42kind of bothered
00:56:42me and I
00:56:44wondered if I
00:56:44was really doing
00:56:45the right thing.
00:56:47But now I just
00:56:48wonder that if
00:56:49there are any
00:56:50friendlies in the
00:56:50area and I can
00:56:52only hope that
00:56:52they're all out
00:56:53and the target
00:56:55that we happen
00:56:55to be striking
00:56:56is what we're
00:56:57going after and
00:57:00I believe that
00:57:02we are doing
00:57:02the right thing.
00:57:12I've talked
00:57:12to a couple
00:57:13of these marines
00:57:14that have been
00:57:15on the ground
00:57:15that we saved
00:57:16down there at
00:57:18Con 10,
00:57:20Kaysan.
00:57:21They came back,
00:57:22I've talked to
00:57:22them in these
00:57:22ambulatory cases
00:57:23down here in the
00:57:24hospital and they
00:57:24said, you guys
00:57:25are the greatest
00:57:25in the world.
00:57:28and I really
00:57:30think we're
00:57:31doing a good
00:57:31job.
00:57:33The B-52s would
00:57:35be featured in
00:57:36the last big
00:57:36chapter of the
00:57:37Vietnam Air War.
00:57:39In 1972, when
00:57:41the communists
00:57:41launched a big
00:57:42spring offensive,
00:57:43President Nixon
00:57:44resumed heavy
00:57:45bombing of North
00:57:46Vietnam, sending
00:57:47B-52s for the
00:57:48first time over
00:57:49Hanoi and its
00:57:50port of Haiphong.
00:57:52He also ordered
00:57:53the mining of
00:57:54Haiphong Harbor.
00:57:54The bombing was
00:57:56halted a few
00:57:56months later when
00:57:57peace talks appeared
00:57:58to be making
00:57:59progress.
00:57:59But when the
00:58:00talks bogged
00:58:01down in December,
00:58:02the President
00:58:03ordered the
00:58:03largest airstrikes
00:58:05of the world,
00:58:06raids that would
00:58:06go down in
00:58:07history as the
00:58:08Christmas bombings.
00:58:10They were costly
00:58:11to both sides.
00:58:14Last night,
00:58:15a U.S.
00:58:16Air Force B-52
00:58:19crashed approximately
00:58:2130 miles northwest
00:58:23of Hanoi, after
00:58:25sustaining battle
00:58:26damage over North
00:58:27Vietnam.
00:58:28The six crew
00:58:29members are
00:58:30missing.
00:58:32Fifteen B-52s were
00:58:34shot down, along
00:58:35with 11 other
00:58:36American war
00:58:36planes.
00:58:37North Vietnamese
00:58:38officials proudly
00:58:39displayed the
00:58:40wreckage.
00:58:41But American
00:58:42planes succeeded in
00:58:43dropping 40,000
00:58:45tons of bombs
00:58:46around Hanoi and
00:58:47Haiphong.
00:58:48Again, many of
00:58:49the B-52s flew
00:58:50from Yutupau in
00:58:51Thailand.
00:58:52As it happened,
00:58:53Bob Hope was
00:58:54also there conducting
00:58:55a Christmas show
00:58:56for the troops.
00:58:59Yes, sir, this is
00:59:00the home of the
00:59:00B-52s, sometimes
00:59:01known as Buff, big,
00:59:03ugly, friendly
00:59:04fella.
00:59:07Especially when
00:59:08it's not dropping
00:59:08an egg roll on
00:59:09you.
00:59:14Television cameras
00:59:15were allowed to
00:59:16film the B-52
00:59:17crew watching the
00:59:18Christmas show, but
00:59:19were not allowed to
00:59:20interview them about
00:59:21the renewed bombing
00:59:22of the North.
00:59:23Off-camera, many
00:59:24flyers seemed to
00:59:25approve the heavy
00:59:26air strikes.
00:59:27We should have done
00:59:28it six years ago,
00:59:29said one.
00:59:30The designated
00:59:31targets were military
00:59:32targets, and most of
00:59:33the bombing was
00:59:34accurate.
00:59:35But there were
00:59:36exceptions, and the
00:59:37world took notice.
00:59:38A Swedish reporter,
00:59:40Erik Eriksson,
00:59:41described some of
00:59:42the damage.
00:59:45This is Hanoi, a
00:59:46little more than a
00:59:47week after the
00:59:48heavy aerial attacks
00:59:49carried out by B-52s
00:59:51and fighter bombers.
00:59:52I was here in
00:59:53Hanoi two months
00:59:54ago.
00:59:55When I returned here
00:59:56a few days ago, it
00:59:58was not the same
00:59:59Hanoi I saw.
01:00:01Parts of this city
01:00:02do not longer exist.
01:00:04This is one of the
01:00:05bombed areas, the
01:00:07living quarters along
01:00:08the Kam Tien street.
01:00:10I was told that
01:00:11215 people were
01:00:13killed here.
01:00:14I have been in this
01:00:15area before, and I
01:00:16have never been able
01:00:17to see anything that
01:00:19could be described as
01:00:20a military target.
01:00:21One of the residents
01:00:22of this area is
01:00:24Mrs. Le Kim Wan.
01:00:27She says, Bombs fell
01:00:30right on the house
01:00:31where eight members
01:00:33of my family were,
01:00:34and they were all
01:00:35killed.
01:00:36This is the
01:00:37Bak Mai hospital
01:00:38in Hanoi.
01:00:40It used to be the
01:00:40biggest hospital in
01:00:41North Vietnam.
01:00:42It was bombed on
01:00:44December the 22nd,
01:00:46early in the morning.
01:00:47Today, more than
01:00:48two weeks after the
01:00:50bombings, the staff
01:00:51are working here
01:00:53to clear up among
01:00:55the ruins, there is
01:00:56no doubt that this
01:00:57hospital does not
01:00:59function as a
01:01:00hospital any longer.
01:01:02This is Erik Eriksson
01:01:04of Swedish television
01:01:05reporting for CBS
01:01:06News.
01:01:09The Bak Mai hospital
01:01:11was situated near an
01:01:12airfield, a military
01:01:14target.
01:01:15Some of the bombs
01:01:16went astray.
01:01:17The Christmas bombings
01:01:18may have accomplished
01:01:19their purpose.
01:01:20North Vietnam agreed
01:01:21to return to the
01:01:22conference table.
01:01:23A ceasefire agreement
01:01:25was signed in
01:01:26January 1973, and
01:01:28American troops were
01:01:29withdrawn from Vietnam.
01:01:31The peace would not
01:01:32endure, but the war
01:01:33would now be
01:01:34Vietnamese, not
01:01:35ours.
01:01:36The air war in
01:01:37Vietnam was waged
01:01:38at a terrible cost.
01:01:40Almost 8,000 planes
01:01:42and helicopters were
01:01:43destroyed.
01:01:44More than 8,000
01:01:46airmen were killed
01:01:47in combat.
01:01:48But what did the
01:01:49air war accomplish?
01:01:50For one thing, it
01:01:51bought us time.
01:01:52Without air power, the
01:01:54Vietnam War might very
01:01:55well have been lost in
01:01:56the 1960s.
01:01:58Air power was
01:02:00literally a lifesaver
01:02:01when used to support
01:02:02beleaguered troops on
01:02:03the ground.
01:02:04The enemy was decimated
01:02:05when he chose to fight
01:02:06in large units, as he
01:02:08did, for example, at
01:02:09Quezon in 1968.
01:02:11But air power was not
01:02:12well-suited to fight a
01:02:14guerrilla war.
01:02:15A tremendous amount of
01:02:16fire from the sky was
01:02:17rained upon an enemy who
01:02:19was most of the time
01:02:20invisible, mobile, and
01:02:22traveling in small units.
01:02:24Some critics describe
01:02:25this part of the air war
01:02:26as using a sledgehammer
01:02:28to kill a knack.
01:02:30With all of the bombs
01:02:32we dropped, with all the
01:02:33sophisticated weapons we
01:02:35brought into play, with
01:02:36all the fighters and
01:02:38bombers and gunships, with
01:02:40all the billions of
01:02:41dollars we spent on the
01:02:42air war, the Ho Chi
01:02:44Min trail remained busy,
01:02:46men and supplies moving
01:02:48south. The air war punished
01:02:50the enemy, but it did not
01:02:52defeat him.
01:02:53This is Walter Cronkite,
01:02:55and this has been another
01:02:56in a continuing series of
01:02:58videocassettes on the
01:02:59Vietnam War.
01:03:28book.
01:03:42anthony
Comments