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Date The attack by etc. begins _______ May 15, 1966 (I think)
It was absolute chaos. Sixty infantrymen from Prime Minister Nguyen Kao key’s Tiger Division; jeeps, tanks, and all, had just entered central Danang. The locals were locking up their shops and running frantically in different directions, trying to get as far away as possible from the infantrymen who fired their American M16 automatic rifles into the air, adding to the confusion and panic…
I hung on behind Jim Hood on our rented Honda Skyhawk motorcycle trying to escape across a wide open parade ground that just a few minutes ago was a bustling farmers market.
The stall vendors had worked at superhuman speed, gathering up their merchandise, putting it all into large sacks, whisking off their livelihood on bent shoulders, and hastily retreating in all directions.
Now, as the square emptied of people, it started to become eerily still and quiet, and Jim cut the motor and we listened feeling dangerous, off now almost empty cement parade ground and out of a hasty retreat must have done this before, because scattered that did double duty as a farmers market as
toward the rice paddy and get as far away from this urban mayhem as possible, when a crazed half-dressed VC-looking character came running up the road toward us swinging what looked like a live hand-grenade above his head. He continued to shout obscenities in Vietnamese, and I continued to repeat my mantra internally, to myself; “Oh shit we’re screwed, oh shit we’re screwed” getting louder in my mind as I watched the little Vietnamese man wearing rubber flip-flops and boxer shorts stop, out of breadth about fifty feet behind us, pull the pineapple’s pin with his teeth, and wave the green egg until Jim yelled, “Hang on!” and he floored the motorcycle and we quickly headed away from the small dangerous man, until now we were riding on the small strip of red sand and gravel with the muddy rice field below and to my left and the edge of the blacktop on my right headed against traffic. The bike’s wheels spun, throwing wet clumps of mud high up in the air behind us as the bike slid side to side over the slippery wet mud and Jim put both his boot on the ground as he fought to maintain balance while strategically bursting power to keep moving forward.
(Show what I experienced when the buffalo was breathing down my neck, literally.) Then, Jim drove the Honda up and out of the rice fields’ shallow water and onto the reddish brown dirt on the side of a blacktop road, and just as he was getting ready to jump the bike up and onto the blacktop, a grunting water buffalo showed up on the scene charging at us just feet behind me while I frantically gripped under the bottom of the seat with super adrenalized strength. I yelled at Jim to drive onto the road running parallel to the paddy. Go, Jim. Go, go, go, go!
NOTE: Then it was back to the apartment, across the street from the Buddhist temple where the action continues, culminating with Key sending 2 WWII aircraft carrier-based fighter planes.
About the conflict. Although the majority of South Vietnamese citizens were Buddhists, Vietnam was ruled and controlled by an elite Catholic minority. The government was corrupt, and President Nguyen Van Thieu and the man with all the power, Nguyen Cao Ky, etc.
Check out this link to Wikipedia’s Buddhist Uprising pages
Stan Windsor, a powerfully built ex-CIA agent who looked and was competent and very Vietnam savvy, watched over Jack twenty-four-seven, and we got a long good together. I told him about my days at the embassy, and how I quit the Foreign Service after meeting a CIA guy who quit and was selling mutual funds. (Expand on this story)
I honestly didn’t know their mission over here, or if there was a mission at all. They seemed to be on a holiday adventure living close to the edge for the thrill of it.
James Garner‘s brother
Jack Garner was, very proud to be Bret Maverick’s brother and at the same time wished he had the attention. Life just wasn’t being fair to Jack, they were out to get him, was his attitude, but he had a few bucks and knew that there were opportunities here and was going to grab them.
Birthdays,
James July 19, 2014
Jack September 19, 1926
Jack Garner |
Jim Garner
James Garner as ‘Bret Maverick’ |
‘In February 1966, Keỳ attended the Honolulu summit, where President Lyndon B. Johnson repeatedly praised him as a strong leader.[39] Kỳ’s ego was boosted by Johnson’s praise, and he left Honolulu believing that the United States would support him if he dismissed Thi. (The U.S. government is giving the green light to key to dispose of Thiu.)
key’s two A-1 Skyraider fighter-bomber aircraft
used to bomb the Buddhist temple
The next day around noon, in a small park across the street from the temple Jim and I were sitting at an almost child size blue painted wooden table with chopsticks in hand, crouched over steaming bowls of Pho Gah at the “Pho Lady’s” portable outdoor soup kitchen. When, in mid-slurp I heard the sound of fast approaching planes, and looked up to see two WWII propeller-driven fighter-bombers fly directly over the Buddhist temple, then peel off and fly away East toward the ocean.
“Holy guacamole Jim! what dd’ya think?”
“I think they were doing a quick recon and practice run for what I think is coming next.”
“And, that is? I asked, then answered my question with the obvious, “you’re right Jim, they’ll probably be back in the morning, carrying serious ordinance, and since we’re right across the street from the temple, I don’t think it’s a good idea to be here when all his goes down.
But before I could process Jim’s remark the two planes had creped lower and were heading from the ocean directly towards the Temple.
I was frozen, things happened fast and as the two planes shot across overhead miniature parachutes began falling around us, “Hey Jim, check this out”
I caught one of the tiny parachutes … the parachute’s threads all met and were tied around a large rusted bolt, and a white rolled up four by five card held shut in a rubber band, was tied to the bolt.
into the temple grounds, and spread out for blocks and blocks around us.
The future South Vietnamese prime minister and current vice president, Nguyen Cao Ky, began his rise to power as a flamboyant Spad pilot. “Never had I flown such a powerful aircraft!” he remembered of his first flight in 1964. “As I raced down the runway, the Skyraider was a tiger leaping into the sky. … It took all the strength of both arms and both legs to establish control. By the time I had stabilized aircraft altitude, I was at 12,000 feet. …The next time I took off in an A-1, I would carry a full load of bombs to drop on the enemy.”
However, the easing tensions did not last. Kỳ was still looking to make a show of force.[25] Without telling the figurehead President Thiệu or Westmoreland, Kỳ ordered General Cao Văn Viên to lead a force into Da Nang. On May 15, government Vietnamese marines and airborne units were airlifted from the capital to Da Nang. Landing at dawn, they proceeded into the city centre and captured the local ARVN headquarters.
Washington called Walt to ask for an update on the situation. According to Kỳ, the American general was “furious at an assault without warning on what he regarded as his territory.”[25] Kỳ ordered a plane to fly over the positions of the pro-Buddhist forces and drop messages threatening to liquidate them if they shot at his men. At the time the Viet Cong were quiet and did not take advantage of the situation.[25]