A little before noon on April 13, 1965, the Ranger was steaming in the Gulf of Tonkin when a fuel line broke, igniting and engulfing her No. 1 main machinery room in flames. All engines were ordered stopped, rendering the ship dead in the water. Several areas were evacuated due to heavy smoke and heat including the avionics shop, the sickbay on the second deck, and the area around the Warrant Officer’s mess on the third deck. The heat was so intense that the bulkhead in the No. 4 Main Machinery Room warped. Firefighting foam was used to suppress the blaze, and it was extinguished by 2:20 PM. Shortly after, the body of machinist MM3 Chester Statun was found in an upper-level compartment adjacent to the burn area. He was taken to sickbay where medical staff pronounced him dead on arrival from poisoning and asphyxiation due to inhalation of toxins from fuel oil smoke. Statun was 21 years old. In May 2015, his name was added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.
MM3 Chester Statun is buried at Holly Ridge Baptist Church Cemetery in Richland Parrish, Louisiana. He is honored on the Wall at Panel 5E, line 43.
More than 80 U.S. and South Vietnamese planes wreck the Thành Yên Bridge about 12 miles north of Đồng Hới, and two radar stations previously attacked, in North Vietnam. The bridge is about and about 55 miles north of the 17th Parallel dividing North and South Vietnam. The assaults followed a two-day respite in the air strikes against the North. The pilots, bombing North Vietnam for the 21st day since February 7, encountered no enemy aircraft and only light to moderate ground fire. All of the United States Air Force planes returned to their bases. Eight Vietnamese Skyraiders and a like number of American F-100’s attacked the 165-yard-long bridge over a stream called the Rao Nai.
American military sources said that about 100 feet of the bridge was sunk into the river. The planes, which dumped about 50 tons of bombs on the target, were supported by 12 American F-100’s and F-101’s. The two radar installations attacked today were also hit on March 31. At that time, an Air Force spokesman said that one of them, at Hòn Mát Island 15 miles off the North Vietnamese coast, had been 80 percent destroyed. Results that day on the other target, mainland radar post on the Cửa Lò River, 130 miles south of Hanoi, were called “questionable” because of low clouds. Military spokesmen described today’s bombing as “moderately successful.” The strikes were made by 15 F-105’s supported by 25 American F-100’s and F101’s.
The United States Embassy reported today that Joseph W. Grainger, an American aid official captured last August, was killed on January 12 by a Việt Cộng soldier. The statement said that the report was based upon “independent eyewitness reports of his death.” An aid mission spokesman said the embassy received the news Friday from the South Vietnamese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and now accepted the information as accurate. The United States aid mission condemned “in the strongest terms this brutal murder of an unarmed civilian weakened by hunger and unable to defend himself.” An official of the United States Operations Mission in Saigon flew to Bangkok, Thailand, yesterday to inform Mrs. Elizabeth Grainger and her four children of the report on her husband.
North Vietnam has offered a four-point formula for peace in Southeast Asia and has invited the United States to recognize that formula as the basis for an international conference. The proposal calls for the withdrawal of United States military forces from Vietnam but does not make such a withdrawal a condition of negotiations.
Several aspects of the proposed settlement contradicted President Johnson’s definition of the “essentials” of any final accord. North Vietnam called for recognition of the territorial integrity of all Vietnam. Pending peaceful reunification of North and South, it asked for a return to the “military provisions” of the 1954 Geneva accord barring foreign troops from Vietnam.
It also urged that the South Vietnamese “themselves” settle their affairs “in accordance” with the program of the Việt Cộng’s political arm, the National Liberation Front. Although officials here refused to comment immediately on the statement from Hanoi, the North Vietnamese capital, they indicated that these terms would not be acceptable even as a basis for negotiations. Analysts differed in their interpretation of the statement. All agreed that it represented a softening of conditions set forth a few days ago by the North Vietnamese President, Hồ Chí Minh. Some still saw it as essentially a “hard line,” while others thought it might represent the start of a search for ways to get into discussions.
The Hanoi policy declaration was said to have been delivered by Premier Phạm Văn Đồng to a meeting last Thursday. With time differences taken into account, this would have been düring or shortly after President Johnson’s policy address on Vietnam in Baltimore Wednesday evening. Even if the declaration was actually made then, its official distribution today was taken here to mean that North Vietnam intended it as a reply to the President’s offer of “unconditional discussions.” The Johnson Administration was still waiting this evening for a copy of the North Vietnamese text of Premier Đồng’s speech.
President Johnson is sending Henry Cabot Lodge to consult with six friendly governments in Asia and the South Pacific on the situation in Vietnam. Mr. Lodge, a Republican, was Ambassador to South Vietnam from August, 1963, to June, 1964. Earlier this year he was named an informal consultant on Vietnam policy by Mr. Johnson. The White House press secretary, George E. Reedy, said today that Mr. Lodge would visit Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea as the President’s personal representative. Mr. Reedy said Mr. Lodge would leave “sometime after the middle of the week” after calling on Mr. Johnson at the White House.
Britain has replied sharply to Communist China’s refusal to accept a visit from Patrick Gordon Walker, former Foreign Secretary, on his tour of the Far East.
The government of Prime Minister Wilson survived the latest vote of no confidence in the British House of Commons, by a vote of 290 for and 316 against, a slimmer majority than the previous attempt.
President Sukarno and Ellsworth Bunker, who is here as a special envoy of President Johnson, held their fourth meeting today to discuss the deterioration in relations between the United States and Indonesia. President Sukarno said after the hour and 50-minute meeting at the Presidential palace here that he and Mr. Bunker would consult again tomorrow evening. Mr. Bunker is to leave for Washington Thursday to report to President Johnson.
President Sukarno and Premier Kim Il Sung of North Korea opened formal talks today at President Sukarno’s Suburban Bogor Palace. President Sukarno said a Joint statement would be issued Thursday. He did not mention the subject of the talks.
The United States and a number of Western European countries were reported today to have turned down in effect Ghana’s requests for hundreds of millions of dollars in emergency loans to ease her deficit in international payments.
The State Department disclosed today that the United States was discussing the sale or gift of arms to five Middle East nations — Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia.
Premier Fidel Castro’s Government announced today it had agreed in principle with the Soviet Union on the development of some Cuban industries. The announcement came amid renewed speculation on the future of Ernesto Che Guevara, the Minister of Industry and a key figure in the Castro regime.
The last resident of the remote village of Colette di Usseux, located in the Piedmontese Alps of Italy, was found dead. Battista Jannin, 50, had watched all of the residents move away from the location because of its bitter winter cold, impoverished farmlands and the threat of avalanches, and had committed suicide with a gunshot.
A grenade was hurled toward Niger’s President Hamani Diori today. It failed to injure him but killed a child and wounded at least three members of a visiting football team from Mali.
French President de Gaulle’s Government has again applied the brakes on progress toward supranationalism in the European Common Market.
The West German cruise ship MV Bremerhaven capsized and sank at the harbor for which it was named, Bremerhaven, where it was being overhauled. At the time, the only persons on the ship were three night watchmen, who were all able to escape uninjured.
The remains of Lady Anne Mowbray, the 15th-century infant duchess whose coffin was unearthed in the East End of London in December, will be reinterred in Westminster Abbey.
The U.S. House of Representatives voted 367 to 29 to approve the proposed 25th Amendment to the Constitution, dealing with procedures for filling a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, and for allowing an acting president if the President was under a disability. The U.S. Senate had approved a similar motion, 72–0. Opposing the amendment were 21 Democrats and eight Republicans. Nevada would, on February 10, 1967, become the 38th state to ratify the amendment, which would be certified on February 23.
The Senate Foreign Relations Committee neared approval of a proposal to set a two-year deadline for the administration to revise its foreign aid program.
A Senate committee chairman said he will push for a law to forbid government agencies from opening first-class mail without a legitimate search warrant.
In Selma, Alabama, a Dallas County grand jury indicted three Selma white men today on a charge of murder in the slaying of the Rev. James J. Reeb, a white minister from) Boston. The three are William S. Hoggle, 37 years old; his brother, Namon O’Neal Hoggle, 30, and Elmer L. Cook, 42. A fourth man, R. B. Kelly, 30, also of Selma, had been arrested with the three after Mr. Reeb and two other white ministers were beaten here following a civil rights demonstration on March 9. The four men were charged with murder after the clergyman died of a skull fracture two days later. Mr. Kelly was not indicted today. Police officials said shortly after the assault that Mr. Kelly had signed a statement. It was reliably reported today that this statement did not incriminate him but did place the four arrested men at the scene of the beating.
The three indicted men were arrested for the second time shortly after the jury returned its indictments. They were released after posting $10,000 bonds. The first arrests had come on charges brought by the city police. The second resulted from the indictments in a state court. Circuit Court officials said the case would be placed on the docket for the trial term that starts May 10 but that the heavy criminal case load would probably require a postponement of the trial until October. The four men also have been accused, on federal charges, of conspiring to violate the right of the three clergymen to exercise their constitutional rights.
This case will be submitted to a federal grand jury when one is empaneled for this district. Mr. Reeb, 38 years old, a Unitarian, and the two other ministers had gone to Selma to aid the Blacks’ drive for voting rights. The Dallas County grand jury deliberated for four hours after Circuit Court Judge James A. Hare delivered a 50-minute speech in which he blamed civil rights groups and the Departments of Justice and Defense for the recent racial turmoil in Selma. He told the jurymen to ignore the “national notoriety” of the Reeb case and indict “if you have reasonable cause to believe the crime was committed as charged and that the accused committed it.” “You are the keepers of the conscience of Dallas County.” Judge Hare said. “Your oath of office is the only criterion for any action you may take.”
It took the judge only seven minutes to deliver this part of the charge. He spoke for 42 minutes on the ordeal he said Selma had suffered at the hands of civil rights groups with the advance knowledge and cooperation of the federal government. Judge Hare told the jurors that “early in September, 1963, before the first racial demonstrations on September 16, there was credible evidence before you that the 101st Airborne division at Fort Campbell. Kentucky, had been briefed for a military air drop of paratroopers into the Selma area.”
A fire last night destroyed a tiny Black church in a sparsely settled area 12 miles northwest of Brandon, Mississippi, the Rankin County seat. Six members of the church sought to register as voters yesterday.
The Stanford University chapter of Sigma Chi fraternity has pledged a Black man to membership and has been suspended by the national organization. Chapter members say they will resist the order.
Lawrence Bradford, Jr., a 16-year-old high school student from New York, broke an unwritten rule that had prevailed for 176 years, becoming the first African-American to serve as a page boy in the United States Congress. Bradford was appointed by Republican U.S. Senator Jacob K. Javits of New York, with the backing of Senate Republican Leader Everett Dirksen.
The federal government opened the way for a possible showdown with Governor George C. Wallace of Alabama by granting antipoverty funds to biracial groups in Birmingham and three other cities in that state.
President Johnson’s proposal to bar state anti-union shop laws, often referred to as right-to-work laws, is now in deep trouble as a result of the Electrical Workers Union vote-counting scandal.
Richard Eugene Hickock and Perry Edward Smith were hanged in Lansing, Kansas early today for the 1959 murders of a west Kansas farm family of four.
The entire upper Mississippi area braced for record 27-foot flood crests due Friday, which are expected to cause new misery in the ravaged area.
Record Mississippi River flood waters poured into St. Paul today, sub-merging the downtown Holman Airport and closing Union Station.
President Johnson will view flooded and tornado-stricken regions of the Middle West tomorrow.
As workers in six states cleared debris left by Sunday’s tornadoes, the death toll rose to 248, with injured numbered in the thousands and property loss in millions.
New computations of lunar motion by scientists of Columbia University and International Business Machines Corporation allow prediction of the moon’s position at any moment with an error of only a few feet.
Needing to come up with a song to reflect the new title of their upcoming film, formerly called “Eight Arms To Hold You”, The Beatles recorded the song “Help!”
7th Grammy Awards: “The Girl From Ipanema”, The Beatles win.
Major League Baseball:
At Crosley Field, Reds rookie Tony Perez connect for his first homer, a grand slam off Braves hurler Denny LeMaster, to help the Reds win, 8–3.
At Dodger Stadium, Ralph Terry sets down the Angels on 4 hits and the Indians win, 7–1. The Tribe does their scoring against three of the four California pitchers, including Dick Wantz in his only Major League appearance. The 25–year-old will be dead in a month from a brain tumor. Wantz had a 2–7 record as a reliever for Hawaii in the Pacific Coast League last year, but had a strong spring showing.
Dick Wantz, a relief pitcher, played his first (and only) major league baseball game, coming in during the 8th inning for the Los Angeles Angels during their 7–1 loss on Opening Day to the visiting Cleveland Indians. During his time on the mound, Wantz struck out two players and allowed 3 hits and 2 runs. Wantz was suffering from regular headaches; after being placed on the disabled list on May 8 in Los Angeles, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor and died on May 13, the night after surgery and exactly a month after his major league appearance.
Chicago White Sox 5, Baltimore Orioles 3
Cleveland Indians 7, California Angels 1
St. Louis Cardinals 1, Chicago Cubs 3
Milwaukee Braves 3, Cincinnati Reds 8
Detroit Tigers 11, Kansas City Athletics 4
San Francisco Giants 2, Pittsburgh Pirates 5
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 908.01 (+1.65)
Born:
Quinn Early, NFL wide receiver (San Diego Chargers, New Orleans Saints, Buffalo Bills, New York Jets), in West Hempstead, New York.
John Butler, NFL defensive back (San Francisco 49ers), in San Diego, California.
Jeff DeWillis, MLB catcher (Toronto Blue Jays), in Houston, Texas.
Patricio Pouchulu, Argentine architect; in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
History Diaries 