Did it hurt in Japan?

Could it really have hurt in Vietnam?

Tactical Nukes

If we consider our own advice: "Don't bunch up - one round will get you all", then we'd realize that tactical nukes would not have helped.

Politically and morally, nukes are for "in extremis" use. Militarily, since the NVA did not "bunch up", they would not have served. It was rare when we could catch them in the open in significant numbers, and even then, not in the numbers/size/mass where nukes would offer an advantage. Further, there would be a long time lag for command authorization for release on any target.

The use on Japan was justified and necessary. As proven by the losses at Pelelieu, Iwo, and Okinawa, and with Japan showing no evidence of backing off even after the defeat of Germany, a necessary invasion of Japan itself would have cost a million or more of us, and millions of them.

What should have worked in Vietnam was cutting off their lines of supply at the source rather than trying to disrupt them somewhere along the line on jungle trails.

If LBJ had mined Haiphong Harbor, as Nixon later did, and if North Vietnam's entry points (sea and rail) had been interdicted (blockaded) early on, then we might have weakened the flow enough to find, fix, and destroy them.

A little political pressure on the non-involved nations who were supplying them would have helped too.

Could it have hurt more than Japan?

Good question, Allan.
I have pondered it more than once as the Viet Nam/Nuke discussions have been around for years. Politically we were FAR more concerned than we should have been about everything we did in RVN. Would this have brought down the house?? Maybe so, especially if Nixon had done it instead of Johnson!
Semper Fi
Joe

I spent a good deal of time at Khe Sanh and we were very concerned about how these nuclear strikes would effect the air and water around the base. We drew our water directly from the river running along the perimeter and had no other water source.

To most of us these rumors were just that RUMORS and now to see the official report actually released goes to show how close they came to using nuclear weapons. Many of us believed that they were going to be used only after we had been overrun and those lucky enough to survive would just have to deal with the nuclear fallout.

Did it hurt in Japan?

Could it really have hurt in Vietnam?

Good point Allan (or is it Alan? I can never remember)
I've always felt we missed an opportunity by not using a tactical nuke or 2 in certain circumstances. One that comes to the top of my head of course is Chosin. Only one other country had nukes at the time I believe, and it's my humble opinion that it would have brought a swift culmination to that war, as well as provided a real deterrence to aggression for many decades. By the time Vietnam rolled around, it was assumed by much of the world that we no longer had the guts to use our nuclear arsenal. Had we used a tactical nuke in Korea, it would have remained clear to Hanoi that we had both the capability and the determination to use them when needed. As the Vietnam War progressed, Hanoi came to believe we (politicians) were operating with the minimum force needed to keep from losing, rather than prosecuting the war fully in an effort to win. Now, it's been over 50yrs since we used one in combat, & the whole world now believes as Hanoi did in the 60's.

Khe Sanh Nukes

George:
Thanks for opening this post. It has been a major concern of mine for quite some time but thought it to "Political" to bring up.

Late in 1969 I was sent to Anniston, Alabama to go the new Chemical, Biological, Radiological Officers school. I was one of only 2 Marines in the class. I was assigned to the 4th class I believe. Most of the stuff was secret or top secret but I remember, very clearly, some discussions about Bubonic plague or "Black Death" and the possible use of it at Khe Sanh. I remembered flying there (in 1968) and picking up NVA dead that had the tell tale "Black" tint to their skin. Because it was classified I never brought it up but there may be others that noticed the "Black" tinge to the NVA dead at the time. Supposedly, bubonic plague may have been used to help break the siege and with the proliferation of rats in that area it would be a very smart move with an "Out". "The rats carried it in". This was much better than the tell tale Mushroom Cloud of a Nuke.

Anybody else hear or know anything relative???

Semper Fidelis,
Jack "The Screw" Warner

NBC School

Hey Jack,
Was the other Marine Sgt. Warren McDonald? Mac, a good friend ret'd as a Gy.Sgt., was the Marine Corps NBC NCO for most of his last two enlistments.
Semper Fi
Joe

From my understanding of TNW from NBC school, the terrain was not conducive for use in the areas that they would have been used.

The U.S. had (has?) TNW warheads in the 1 to 3 KT range that could (can?) be delivered by 155 howitzers.

The problem is that with narrow and windey canyons/valleys the blast radius (that is what does the damage, the nuclear part is just to provide the big bang in a "small" package) would have been so limited that the resulting effect would not have reduced the ability of the NVA to continue operating with any significant affect.

The ONLY result of TNW use in 'Nam would have been the political ramifications throughout the world. Not to mention the backlash within the States.

We all came home to enough of that as it was.
🙁

NBC SCHOOL

Joe:

No, wasn't Mac. This was officer only school. 1st. Lt. Berry was the other Marine.

They had some very nasty stuff at Ft. McClellan and now they are trying to get rid of it.

Semper Fi,
Jack

RATS infected with bubonic plague

We never did get rid of those critters. When the B-52 strikes left large numbers of NVA dead around the base perimeter, the rats began feeding on the decaying corpses. A major panic took place when the doctors at Charlie Med identified rats infected with bubonic plague and began giving booster shots to large numbers of Marines. Most of my men and I braved the hazardous trek across the runway to get our booster injections.

Source:

http://www.war-stories.com/khesanh-05.htm

Stars and Stripes 17 Mar 68 & the plague

17Mar68-Medics Declare War On Village's Plague

DA NANG, Vietnam (ISO) - It's a different war, fought by an American medical team. It's the war against plague in Lang Cau - village.

A Preventative Medicine Team (PMT) from the 1st Marine Div. flew to the peaceful village in an effort to stop the spreading bubonic plague reported there.

The reported death of five villagers and many ill citizens alerted Hospitalman 2.C Ron Shedivy of Combined Action Platoon-9 located near Lang Cau.

Shedivy relayed the information to the 1st Marine Div. Civil affairs section. Their office arranged to heli-lift a PMT and consulting doctor. Navy Lt. Bruce Batchelor from 1st Medical Bn., in the area.

The local dispensary was designated as the inoculation center.

Soon hundreds of Vietnamese began to crowd the dispensary, and corpsmen worked feverishly to inoculate them.

With the process under way, Batchelor and Vietnamese -speaking Shedivy started making house calls to reach villagers too seriously ill to visit the aid station. Some 30 plague cases were treated by house calls.

The PMT entomologist, Lt. (j.g.) Lance Scholdt, accompanied the doctor and corpsman. His job was to spray insecticide in the infected homes. Later, he set traps for the large, flea-bearing rats in an effort to determine the cause of the outbreak.

A specific request came from a group of village nuns who had medicine at their school but no way of knowing what it was for. Shedivy translated the instructions.

As the day drew to a close, a count of inoculations was taken. The anti-plague serum had been given to 2,827 villagers. The next day, 2,373 were inoculated for a total of 5,200 out of the estimated 6,000 villagers.

Source; Stars and Stripes 17 March 1968