On April 23, 1965, a 1st Force Recon Company patrol conducted a landing of a reconnaissance team at a small beach at the confluence of the Son Bon Tran River [Ed: probably the Thu Bồn River] in Quảng Nam Province, RVN, when it was engaged by an estimated 25 Việt Cộng enemy combatants upon insertion. The patrol was able to withdraw under fire to the LCVP landing craft, but two sailors and one Marine were killed in the action. TM3 William R. Fuhrman was the .30 caliber gunner on the boat and was credited with saving Marines’ lives at the cost of his own. EN2 Richard H. Langford kept the boat running and returned fire until he too was killed by enemy fire. He was awarded the Bronze Star for his actions. CPL Lowell H. Merrell was the only member of the seven-man recon team lost in the engagement. He was wounded by Việt Cộng rifle fire after being inserted onto a beach and was hit again as CPL Dennis Taylor carried him back to a boat. Merrell died from wounds to chest, shoulder, and leg. A Marine camp on China Beach one mile south of Marble Mountain Air Facility was named after him. He had escaped from a similar attack two days previously.
Lowell is buried at Crooked Creek Cemetery, Faxon, Benton County, Tennessee. He is honored on the Wall at Panel 1E, line 107.
More than 200 American and South Vietnamese aircraft destroyed seven bridges and two ferryboats in North Vietnam today. The strikes, after a week of frequent bombings with limited destructiveness, were part of the most concerted one-day action since February 7, when the raids began. No Vietnamese or American plane was lost during the five missions north of the 17th Parallel, which separates North and South Vietnam. The previous record for destruction of bridges was six in a day, achieved a week ago. An American military spokesman said that in the latest raids the pilots had reported the sinking of one or more spans of each bridge.
South Vietnamese pilots, flying propeller-driven A-1H Skyraider fighter-bombers, made the first strikes, destroying the only boat at the Xuân Son ferry station on the Gianh River (Sông Gianh), 30 miles north of the demilitarized border zone. Forty United States Air Force F-105 jet fighter-bombers and four Skyraiders later hit another ferryboat at Phú Quý, 90 miles southwest of Hanoi. The same Air Force planes, with Navy aircraft from carriers of the Seventh Fleet, dropped 285 tons of bombs, rockets and Bullpup missiles during the strikes.
In actions in the South, American spokesmen announced that five United States military men were killed in the last 24 hours in three incidents. Three military members of a Coast and Geodetic Survey team were killed by Việt Cộng guerrillas during a beach-surveying assignment north of the border of Quảng Ngãi Province. The men were assigned to a Seventh Fleet mission involving underwater-demolition frogmen and United States Marines. A spokesman said he could not supply further details.
An Air Force officer was killed last night in Bình Định Province when his light observation plane crashed on takeoff at Phú Cát, 270 miles northeast of Saigon. At Kiên Giang, west of Saigon, an Army Special Forces officer was killed and two enlisted men were seriously wounded by Việt Cộng fire.
The raids in North Vietnam destroyed the following bridges:
- Phúc Thiên Highway Bridge. a 140-foot-long structure 120 miles south of Hanoi.
- Lý Nhân Bridge, on Route 1, about 110 miles south of Hanoi.
- Pho Sỏn Highway Bridge across the Nghèn River (Sông Nghèn), a five-span, 360-foot steel truss bridge 150 miles south of Hanoi.
- Two bridges at Xóm Phương, across the Dinh River (Sông Dinh) just north of the demilitarized zone. One was a four-span, 213-foot bridge made of reinforced concrete. The second was a six-span, 320-foot bridge.
- Xóm Giá, about 150 miles south of Hanoi, a 250-foot-long bridge.
- Sơn Dinh Highway Bridge, across the Kiếm River, a one-lane 140-foot bridge.
South Korea suffered its first fatal combat casualty in South Vietnam yesterday when a Korean Army sergeant was killed by a Việt Cộng land mine.
The limited numbers of aircraft available and the technical shortcomings or unsuitability of the United States planes used in Vietnam are causing increasing worry among military officers. Several manufacturers — Douglas, Northrup and others — have received indications that they may be called upon to initiate or to speed up production of some military types. Aircraft losses are slowly increasing in Vietnam as air operations are intensified, it is pointed out. Limited numbers of replacements are available for the newest and most modern types. Production lines are small for a few types, nonexistent for others.
To replace the losses, two squadrons of B-57 light bombers, totaling 24 planes, have been transferred from Air National Guard units to the Air Force. The Air National Guard has also been called upon to supplement the Military Air Transport Service to a greater degree than normally. Forty-six additional overseas transport flights were flown by Air National Guard planes in March alone. Helicopters and light aircraft have been transferred from United States forces in Europe and this country to Vietnam to provide replacements and to increase helicopter strength there. A screening of skilled mechanics and other aircraft maintenance personnel has been underway for some time to provide for the increasing needs in Vietnam.
Chinese Communist leaders can be counted among the most careful students of public opinion in the United States. Their propaganda reveals a special awareness of American comment on Vietnam.
In a speech before the American Society of International Law, Secretary of State Rusk attacks the “gullibility of educated men and the stubborn disregard of plain facts by men who are supposed to be helping our young to learn”; this in reference to the growing number of academics who are criticizing the bombing raids but not the violence perpetrated by the Communists.
The State Department said today that it was stepping up its program of sending speakers to colleges and private groups throughout the nation to explain the Administration’s policy in Vietnam.
More than 1,000 students of Rutgers University expressed sentiment for and against the Administration’s policy in Vietnam as they turned out this morning for an eight-hour “teach-in.”
The Johnson Administration showed a growing interest today in the possibilities of arranging an international conference on Cambodia, at which Vietnam could be discussed informally with the Communist countries. Officials indicated that Washington would send representatives to such a conference if Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, and South Vietnam could agree to keep their regional and border problems from confusing the meeting. Patrick Gordon Walker, the former British Foreign Secretary, is in Southeast Asia testing the diplomatic ground for talks.
In Moscow, the Soviet Government proclaimed continued interest in talks on Cambodia, and South Vietnam declared that it was willing to participate even if North Vietnam was represented. Communist China assailed this week’s Honolulu conference of United States milltary leaders, United Press International reported.
North Vietnam is prepared to enter peace talks without the prior withdrawal of U.S. forces from South Vietnam if a U.S.-initiated cease-fire can first be established, Pakistani officials are reported to have said.
President de Gaulle emphasized today his hostility to United States policy in Vietnam by withdrawing French units from the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization’s naval maneuvers. The withdrawal was disclosed amid a mounting chorus of assertions of French independence within Western alliances. Coming from Gaullist politicians and newspapers, these have encouraged the belief that General de Gaulle is considering a further reduction of French cooperation in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
France, in the opinion of a number of allied diplomats. is rapidly becoming a nominal member of both NATO and SEATO. Operation Seahorse, designed to test the naval preparedness of the powers in the Southeast Asian alliance, is to be held in the China Sea from May 1 to May 24. The participating powers will be the United States, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Thailand. Pakistan announced earlier that she would not take part. The French view was that participation in the war games would create the impression in Southeast Asia and in Peking that France associated herself with the American policy in the area.
General de Gaulle’s first move away from the SEATO partnership was his decision last week to send an observer rather than Foreign Minister Maurice Couve de Murville to the ministerial meeting of the alliance in London early next month. There is a strong possibility, diplomats said, that the general will follow these two actions with formal disassociation from the Southeast Asian alliance. This step will probably be taken, the sources said, if the United States tries to extract from the SEATO conference a statement of support for United States policy in Vietnam.
Roger Seydoux, French representative at the United Nations, indicated there that France leaned toward the Soviet position that only the Security Council could assess for peace-keeping operations.
The Egyptian press, signaling the end of Cairo’s 16-month-old policy of pursuing Arab harmony and cooperation, lashed out today at the proposal by Tunisia’s President, Habib Bourguiba, for Arab coexistence and negotiations with Israel. An editorial in the authoritative newspaper Al Ahram, believed to reflect the views of President Gamal Abdel Nasser, said Mr. Bourguiba’s declarations “would not allow the U.A.R.” to take part in any further Arab leaders’ meetings with the Tunisian President. It accused Mr. Bourguiba of “moving within the lines of a plan laid down by the Western imperialist powers in a conspiracy against the entire Arab destiny.” “Shut up, Bourguiba,” was the blunt comment of the newspaper Al Akhbar.
A Beirut newspaper published a cartoon today showing President Bourguiba of Tunisia as Judas walking away with 30 pieces of silver while Palestine dies on the cross.
The United Arab Republic has halted its arms shipments to Congolese rebels for fear that Egyptian weapons will fall into the hands of Premier Moise Tshombe’s troops, reliable sources reported today.
The Soviet Union launched its first communications satellite, Molniya 1, which relayed the signal to show “a documentary film of the life of Pacific fishermen”, for about three hours. The Moscow reporter for The New York Times noted the next day that the telecast began at 9:00 in the morning Moscow time (4:00 in the afternoon in Vladivostok) and that, since television programming was normally not shown until the afternoon, “virtually no home television viewer” in Moscow had a set turned on to see the first broadcast. The satellite was put into an elliptical polar orbit, reaching its apogee of 24,000 miles (39,000 km) above Earth twice a day, over Soviet territory and over North America; 16 more of the Molniya series would be launched into polar orbit over the next six years, until the implementation of the Molniya II series in 1971.
The Soviet Union has bought a $17,000 Lincoln Continental executive limousine in the name of the Foreign Minister, Andrei A. Gromyko. The car, almost 20 feet long, has among its other features television facilities.
A United States Army veteran who wants to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the linkup of American and Soviet troops in Germany was blocked today by East German Communist officials.
Portuguese Government censors today authorized publication of a manifesto by the Social Democratic Opposition challenging Premier Antonio de Oliveira Salazar to a “valiant fight” in this year’s legislative elections.
An insurgent among Canadian Tories asserted today that Western Canadians are growing weary of national divisiveness and want to move ahead under a strong central government that embraces French-speaking Quebec.
The Secretary General, U Thant, has appealed to South Africa to permit young South Africans to study abroad as “United Nations Scholars.” He was understood to have made his request at a private meeting today with Matthys I. Botha, South Africa’s chief delegate.
Cuba’s Government-controlled press hinted today that enemies of the state were trying to sabotage the sugar harvest by setting fire to canefields.
Sheik Othman Shariff, Tanzania’s Ambassador to the United States, was reported today to have been arrested during a visit to Zanzibar and sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. preached his message of civil rights to a rain-soaked throng today on Boston Common, where American patriots have marched and gathered for three centuries. Protected from an increasing drizzle by an umbrella held by an aide, the Black leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference said in measured pulpit tones that Americans “must not become a nation of onlookers” in the battle against segregation. The police estimated the crowd at about 20,000 persons. The spectators jammed a semicircular area of folding chairs and wooden benches around a bandstand. The Boston Common ceremony followed a three-mile protest march from the heavily Black section of Roxbury in a chilly east wind. As the rain increased, some of the crowd ran to marquees on nearby Tremont Street for protection. But most of them stood throughout Dr. King’s 25-minute speech.
At the end, Dr. King was driven to City Hall for a talk with Mayor John F. Collins. The march and the session with Mayor Collins both were more than two hours behind schedule. As a result, Dr. King had to rush from City Hall to catch a plane, ending his two-day visit. Before departing, he left the impression that Boston would serve as a Northern laboratory for civil rights in the coming summer. The Rev. Virgil A. Wood, president of the Massachusetts unit of Dr. King’s conference, said the march had been delayed by a turnout far beyond expectations. He estimated the crowd at 50,000.
In a preliminary speech from a bandstand on the Common, Mr. Wood read part of a statement he said would be presented to Mayor Collins. He said the Mayor would be told that “since you refused to come to our ‘disaster area’ known as Roxbury and tour the community and seek the conditions when we invited you in the past to come, we come to you this time. The next time you had better come to us.” But Dr. King adopted a milder tone. Asking why civil rights workers had staged a march here, he asserted:
“I come not to condemn but to encourage. I would be dishonest to say Boston is Birmingham or that Massachusetts is a Mississippi. But it would be irresponsible for me to deny the crippling poverty and the injustices that exist in some sections of the community.” The march had been scheduled to start from Carter Playground, a children’s recreation area in Roxbury, at 9:30 AM. But Dr. King arrived more than an hour late. He explained that he had been “conferring with several leaders.” By that time, several thousand enthusiastic marchers swarmed around Dr. King’s car, and he remained inside until the crowd dispersed enough to let him emerge about 11:30 AM. There were no incidents along the line of march, which was well covered by several hundred policemen.
After the speeches, Dr. King and about 15 of his followers conferred for about 50 minutes with the Mayor. Mr. Wood said the Mayor had been presented a “bill of particulars” on Black grievances and that the Boston group would return in a week to talk further. Mr. Wood said that housing. unemployment and welfare had been discussed and that Mayor Collins had promised “he would work diligently on them.” Mayor Collins said, “I certainly enjoyed the opportunity to talk with Dr. King. He is a pleasant and articulate gentleman.” Of the bill of particulars, Mayor Collins said, “I am going to read them and do what I can.”
Mike Mansfield, the Senate majority leader, urged today the elimination of the poll-tax ban written into President Johnson’s right-to-vote bill. Senator Mansfield said that the provision might be unconstitutional. The Montana Democrat thus sided with the Senate Republican leader, Everett McKinley Dirksen of Illinois, who helped write the original measure. The disputed provision would outlaw poll taxes as a requirement for voters in state and local elections. A constitutional amendment already bans the poll tax in federal elections but poll taxes are a requirement for voting in state and local elections in Texas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Virginia.
Senator Philip A. Hart, Michigan Democrat, floor manager of the bill, insists that the poll-tax provision is constitutional. But Senator Mansfield told newsmen that he thought it should be removed from the bill because Attorney General Nicholas deB. Katzenbach “has indicated its constitutionality is very, very doubtful.” Clarence Mitchell, the Washington director of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, wrote to President Johnson asking him to help keep the poll-tax provision in the bill. The poll-tax ban, which Mr. Johnson did not propose, was added to the bill by Senators in the Judiciary Committee.. A similar provision was written into the House version of the measure by a Judiciary subcommittee. The House bill now is before the full Judiciary Committee.
Senator Dirksen said that unless the poll-tax amendment was erased, he doubted that Senate leaders could muster the two-thirds majority it would take to shut off a Southern filibuster. Senator Mansfield said he hoped it would not be necessary to invoke the Senate rule on debate limitation. The basic terms of the legislation would eliminate literacy tests and authorize Federal registration of voters in wide areas of the South.
The Senate’s newest member, Donald S. Russell of South Carolina, was sworn in today. Senator Russell, who resigned as Governor early this week to fill the vacancy created by the death of Senator Olin D. Johnston, quickly identified himself with the Southern bloc when he told reporters that he was opposed to the voting rights bill in general. Senator Russell is a Democrat.
“It is clear that hundreds of thousands of Blacks continue to be denied the legal and moral right of qualified citizens to vote.” Senator Jacob K. Javits, New York Republican, told the Senate. “The fact is that the Congress is under a duty to act,” he said.
Policemen fired pistol shots over the heads of rowdy students today to break up a civil rights demonstration at Alabama State College. Although rocks and bottles were thrown, no one was injured in the outburst, which involved about 300 students at the predominantly Black college. Thirty officers rushed to the school at the request of college officials. A student identified as the leader of the protest was arrested. The students said they were protesting the suspension of nine students who took part in an earlier protest rally. Much of the anger was directed at Dr. Levi Watkins, the college president, who has refused to allow students to participate in racial demonstrations. Some students have accused him of being “an Uncle Tom.”
The violence lasted only about three minutes, but it coincided with Parents Day on the campus. Some of the parents urged the students to end the demonstration. Many of the rocks and bottles that were thrown came from students in the rear ranks. Those in front began screaming when the objects fell on them. One student leader, Doug McCan, leaped atop a parked car and lectured the crowd. “Students have to fight their battles with love and peace,” he said. “We can’t fight these policemen and their pistols with rocks and bottles. They have other policemen and other pistols and submachine guns and tear gas.”
In Washington, D.C., two policemen were attacked and beaten early today when a crowd attempted to free two men who had been arrested.
The nation’s 11 major steel companies and the United Steel-workers Union resumed negotiating today in efforts to reach a temporary agreement that would prevent a nation-wide strike on May 1. Sunday was set up as the target date for settling the steel labor contract dispute by U.S. mediator William E. Simpkin in an effort to avert the threatened strike.
President Johnson is expected to send to Congress next week a package of labor bills that will leave unions and employers plenty of room to bargain.
Mississippi River floodwaters threatened a record crest at Dubuque, Iowa, and the Weather Bureau in a special bulletin termed the situation critical. Flood waters of the Mississippi apparently reached a crest today at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, and rolled on toward sections of Illinois, Iowa and Missouri.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit refused today to delay a sanity hearing for Jack L. Ruby in Texas courts.
Lockheed delivered its first C-141A Starlifter cargo aircraft after nearly two years of testing and certification. The first of the massive cargo planes was deployed at Travis Air Force Base in California for the 44th Air Transport Squadron of the U.S. Air Force Military Airlift Command.
“I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)” single released by the Four Tops (Billboard Song of the Year, 1965).
With the Boston Celtics’ K. C. Jones doing a fine defensive job on the Lakers’ Jerry West, the Celtics sped to a 112–99 NBA playoff win before 15,217 fans at the Sports Arena. The victory gave Boston a 3–1 edge in the best-of-seven series.
Major League Baseball:
At Candlestick Park, the New York Mets score 2 runs in the 8th and 4 in the 9th to send the game into extra innings. The Mets will prevail in 11 innings, winning the contest 9–8.
Curt Flood slammed a homer and a two-run single tonight in leading the St. Louis Cardinals to a 6–3 victory over the Cincinnati Reds.
Johnny Podres pitching for the first time in almost a year, hurled a four-hitter tonight as the Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Philadelphia Phillies, 4–0.
Rusty Staub’s two-out single in the 12th inning scored Al Spangler tonight and gave the Houston Astros a 4–3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates. The triumph was the Astros’ first in their new domed stadium.
Robin Roberts drove in three runs tonight with a bases-loaded double in the second inning and pitched the Baltimore Orioles to a 4–2 victory over the Boston Red Sox.
The Minnesota Twins scored two runs in the 10th inning tonight and defeated the Detroit Tigers. 8–6.
Danny Cater’s two-run homer capped a three-run sixth inning tonight that carried the Chicago White Sox to a 5–3 victory over the Washington Senators.
Boston Red Sox 2, Baltimore Orioles 4
St. Louis Cardinals 6, Cincinnati Reds 3
Kansas City Athletics 2, Cleveland Indians 6
Minnesota Twins 8, Detroit Tigers 6
Pittsburgh Pirates 3, Houston Astros 4
Philadelphia Phillies 0, Los Angeles Dodgers 4
New York Mets 9, San Francisco Giants 8
Chicago White Sox 5, Washington Senators 3
The stock market moved ahead haltingly, posting still another new record. Trading was active.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 916.41 (+1.35)
Born:
Maria Leonor “Leni” Robredo [née Gerona], Vice President of the Philippines (2016–2022), in Naga, Camarines Sur, Philippines.
Donna Weinbrecht, American skier (Olympic gold medal, women’s moguls freestyle, 1992), in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Died:
George Adamski, 74, bestselling American author of Flying Saucers Have Landed and Flying Saucers Farewell.
History Diaries 