Media Type

Audio

Physical Location

Number of Media

1

Language(s)

English

Format

Cassette

Time - Hr:Min:Sec

01:55:59

Digitized in HD?

No

General Note

[VNCA NOTE: VNCA has removed roughly nine minutes from beginning of tape, containing commercial music by The Beatles and promotion for an unrelated, upcoming radio show.] ;
[VNCA NOTE: VNCA has amplified audio for easier listening experience.]

[Side A]: WBAI Weaponry Episode discussing the Gulf of Tonkin incident with Captain John Nicholson and Doctor John Prados. Interview conducted by Tom Wisker and Jim Dingeman. ;

00:00 Vietnam war – escalation – US involvement – The Beatles – A Hard Day’s Night – August 1964 – Jim and Sybil Stockdale – In Love and War – Admiral Stockdale – bomber – A-4 - Skyhawks – pilot – Turner Joy – Maddox – North Vietnam – Sidewinder – heat-seeker – debriefing – first-hand account - communications log – cockpit radio – commodore – radio man - sonar – radar – targets – false targets – doubt – detection equipment – visual sightings – evaluation – Wednesday August 5th, 1964 – commander – skipper – insignia – junior officer – Washington – Ticonderoga – Vinh – reprisal – false pretenses – Laos – Saigon – Ambassador – A-4 attack bomber pilot – excerpt from Jim Stockdale book – retaliation strike - ;
9:01 Tell Me Why by the Beatles begins to play – ;
9:50 radio clip from 1964, muffled – ;
10:30 clip of president Johnson addressing the Gulf of Tonkin incident and America’s response – President Johnson Gulf of Tonkin speech – original broadcast clip - ; 16:15 original radio broadcast clip – destroyers – torpedo boat – Secretary of State Rusk – Dean Rusk - Ambassador Adlai Stevenson – Syracuse, New York – ;
17:40 Tom Wisker - air check – network news – August 1964 – WBAI, New York – ;
18:55 Captain John Nicholson interview – US Navy – attack pilot – Doctor John Prados –Night of August 4th, 1964 – attack squadron 144 – USS Constellation – South China Sea – The Night Had a Thousand Eyes – air intelligence – Everett Alverez – debriefing – destroyers – coordinates – A-4 Skyhawk – rockets – ordinance – torpedoes bearing – high speed movers – rolling in – hold fire – headings – Jim Stockdale – Ticonderoga – controller – radar targets – carrier – writing a report for the United Nations – retaliatory strikes – VA-144 – targets – Hon Gai – defense activity – pt boats – Lieutenant Everett Alverez – Navy pilots – flak – Alvarez is hit – 411 – eject – parachute – first POW of Vietnam war – Nicholson’s biography – Pensacola – USS Monterrey – USS Ranger – jet transition trainer – flight trainer – FJ-3 – squadron command – Monterrey – returning to Vietnam from graduate school – USS Hancock – USS Enterprise – USS Ranger – A-7 – 147 – scimitar – last cockpit assignment – A-7E training squadron - USS Enterprise – air operations - reunion with Everett Alvarez – air craft carrier – ;
46:55 John Prados segment begins – Pierce Arrow – weather during the Gulf of Tonkin incident – storm system during incident – navigating the storm during the incident – cycling aircraft after the Gulf of Tonkin – Admiral Stockdale – loiter time – ;

[Side B]: Continuation of interview with Captain John Nicholson and Doctor John Prados. Interview continues on Side B with Jim Dingeman asking questions to both guests. ;

00:50 Air operations over Laos – carriers – why there were fleet air operations over Laos – Kittyhawk – being kept in the dark – need to know – search and rescue – secret frequencies – cable – August 20th 1964 – search and rescue operations – SAR ;
3:45 Spring 1964 – Covert Operation Plan 34A – OPLAN 34-A – Secretary of Defense McNamara – Memorandum 288 – ICC – International Control Commission - J. Blair Seaborn – James Blair Seaborn – DRV – 1962 – 1962 agreement – Royal Laotian Armed Forces - escalations on both sides – 1964 – t-6 aircraft – T-28 – large scale air strikes – anti-aircraft – Pathet Lao – reconnaissance - Yankee Team operations ;
8:01 April 1964 - Souvanna Phouma – coup d’etat – Ho Chi Minh Trail - PAVN – JCS – Hainan – Kittyhawk – taskforce – Point Yankee – Yankee Station – interdiction – Hong Kong ;
10:30 escorting – A-3 aircraft ;
11:20 Chuck Klusmann – Charles Klusmann – F-8 pilot – POW – escaping captivity ;
12:20 Yankee Team strategies – anti-aircraft positions – plotting altitudes – Commander Doyle Lynn – Kittyhawk – McNamara’s meddling – South China Sea – Desert War comparisons ;
18:55 interview ends – Can’t Buy Me Love – The Beatles ;
19:55 transitions into Vietnam folk music ;
21:14 introduction to General William Westmoreland – Westmoreland biography – Westmoreland WWII military service– 9th infantry division - 34th Artillery – Presidential Unit Citation – Kasserine Pass – General Maxwell Taylor – Normandy campaign – Division Chief of Staff – Battle of the Bulge – Westmoreland military service leading to Vietnam War ;
24:24 Westmoreland interview begins – conversation with General MacArthur ;
27:37 coup – Diem – junta – General Big Minh – Duong Van Minh - Dương Văn Minh – General Harkins – coup d'état – General Khanh - Nguyễn Khánh ;
30:08 Khanh is overthrown – Harkins opinion on Diem – Henry Cabot Lodge – the political nature of the war – lack of communication – 33:15 Westmoreland’s initial impression of the ARVN – his opinion on the VC ;
36:23 the confusion about government among Vietnamese citizens ;
36:59 ARVN divisions and commanders ;
39:48 Airborne brigade – Vietnamese and American Special Forces collaboration ;
41:05 bombing campaign – retaliatory campaign against North Vietnam – the role of the Marines and the Navy ;
44:15 the development of MACV-SOG ;
46:05 Spring 1965 Pathet Lao– Plain of Jars ;
47:40 meeting with Barry Zorthian and Sir Robert Thomspon – counterinsurgency – lack of coordination ;
51:39 military politics – Maxwell Taylor – attempts at coordination ;
55:44 Westmoreland – Harkins – bombing campaign ;
58:05 Vietnamese folk music – Weaponry signoff – Tom Wisker makes a correction to airplane type – F-8 – VF51 - ;