The Final Take Off

Via Tuan Hoang

  

Story by VNAF MA MN @2005

IN MEMORY OF Lieutenant NGUYEN MANH DUNG (VNAF's 516th Fighter Squadron)
1946 - April 30, 1975

In 1970, Lt. Nguyen was assigned to the 516th Fighter Squadron, 1st Air Division in Da Nang after completing flight training in the US. He was one of the last Vietnamese fighter pilots who flew the A-37B Dragonfly to fight courageously against the advancing North Vietnamese troops (NVAs) with T-54 tanks just before Saigon was overrun.

In 1972, his A-37B was shot down by anti-aircraft fire while he provided aerial fire support to ground units (the South VN Marine). However, he managed to bail out to safety, during the NVAs Easter Offensive.

On March 28, 1975, while Da Nang air base was in chaos, he was assigned to reinforce the 6th Air Division in Pleiku and later, in Phu Cat. This air base was evacuated thereafter.

In mid-April, 1975, Lt. Nguyen's new assignment was to regroup into the 526th Fighter Squadron, 4th Air Division in Binh Thuy, Can Tho. He continued to follow orders from his superiors, and as always, flew into the hottest battle zones, to destroy the NVAs.

In April 30, 1975, at about 09:30AM - 10:00AM, he took off in his A-37B fighter from Binh Thuy air base with First Lt. Dong on his right for their last mission: Destroy the enemy's T-54 tanks that were on the way to attack Hoang Hoa Tham camp and Bay Hien. As usual, Lt. Nguyen did this in tandem with his FAC, L.19 spotter plane, the Hoa Mi 93. This plane acted as an advance scout for Lt. Nguyen's plane, spotting targets for him to bomb. Piloted by Capt. Mai Tri Dung, and First Lt. Bien, 122 OS, the Hoa Mi 93 had taken off a short time earlier from Dong Tam airport in My Tho. This was one of the last heroic missions of the South VN Air Force, which was once the fourth largest air force in the world.

After landing at Binh Thuy air base, Lt. Nguyen and Second Lt. Dong were stunned by news that Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam had surrendered bitterly. By then, the streets of Saigon, Can Tho and all of the cities of SVN, were blanketed with chaotic masses of people, all trying to find a way to escape the advancing NVAs. Lt. Nguyen then decided to take off again for the last time, with his beloved friend, the A-37B Dragonfly.

On this final flight, he ascended into the sky with a fuel tank nearing empty. Nobody has known of his fate since.

Lt. Nguyen, together with many SVN soldiers, was chosen to take a stand and defend our beloved country to the death. He and many others could have left the country and fled to Thailand, Singapore, or the Philippines, like so many did in those final days. They did not. They went above and beyond the Duty, sacrificing their lives for our country.
WE HAVE LOST YOU, LT. NGUYEN MANH DUNG; BUT WE'RE PROUD OF YOU!

Submitted and Remembered by:Proud friend: Second Lt. Huynh Bach Khoa, 516th FS, VNAF - Proud brother: Lt. Nguyen Cuong Viet, HQ 600, VN Navy (Reposted from The A-37 Association)
Some art works and photos are properties of their owners, the rest by VNAF MA MN.© Copyright 2005 vnafmamn.com.

“Who Then is Responsible for the War?”

 

I knew a Marine general at Camp Pendleton who had this on his desk  in 1998 and spoke highly of it. Probably would be verboten today.  Insanity reins.

At war’s end, Southern Unionists who looked in vain for Northern compromise to avert war rightly expected fair treatment at Washington. They were disappointed as Radical policy was treatment of the South as “conquered territory to be plundered and exploited.” General Robert E. Lee had been swept along with Virginia in 1861 and viewed the Old South as dear as what existed in 1865. He wrote that “Never, for a moment, have I regretted my course in joining the Confederacy . . . If it were to do over again, I would do just as I did before.”
Bernhard Thuersam, www.Circa1865.com   The Great American Political Divide

“Who Then is Responsible for the War?”

“Occasionally someone from the North would write and ask the General’s opinion about Southern affairs. [A former Illinois] Captain, having expressed feelings of kindness and friendship, asked General Lee to set forth the reasons which influenced him to take part with the Confederate States.

Lee replied that he had no other guide and no other object than the defense of those principles of American liberty upon which the constitutions of the several States were originally founded. “Unless they are strictly observed,” he added, “I fear there will be an end to republican government in this country.”

In this letter Lee showed a grasp of the situation. He felt he had no influence in national affairs and whatever was done must be accomplished by those who controlled the councils of the country. Only the Northern people themselves could exercise a beneficial influence.

[Lee did not view the right of secession as legitimate, and] admitted that the Southern people generally believed in the right, but, as for himself, he did not. [British historian Herbert C. Saunders wrote after interviewing Lee that] “This right he told me he always held a constitutional right . . . As to the policy of Secession on the part of the South, he was at first distinctly opposed to it and not until Lincoln issued a proclamation for 75,000 men to invade the South, which he deemed so clearly unconstitutional, that he had then no longer any doubt what course his loyalty to the Constitution and to his State required him to take.”

[A few months later, British historian] Lord Acton, wrote Lee and asked his opinion on the questions at issue. The General’s answer is comprehensive and abounds in historical references . . . It calls attention to the [secession] attitude of New England in 1814 and to the Harford Convention.

“The South has contended only for the supremacy of the Constitution,” the Acton letter reads, “and the just administration of the laws made in pursuance of it. Virginia, to the last, made great effort to save the Union, and urged harmony and compromise.” After quoting [Stephen A.] Douglas, to the effect that the Southern members would have accepted the Crittenden Compromise, in order to avert civil strife, but that the Republican party refused this offer, the letter asks, “Who then is responsible for the war?”

(Robert E. Lee, a Biography, Robert W. Winston, William Morrow & Company, 1934, excerpts pp. 390-394)

Huckabee: Mueller’s investigation needs to be investigated after FBI agent fired

Via Billy

 

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R) is calling for an investigation into special counsel Robert Mueller's ongoing Russia probe.

 

"There needs to be an investigation of the investigation," Huckabee said Sunday on Fox News.

He said that if the investigation into the president and his former campaign aides stemmed from the allegations detailed in the unverified "Steele dossier," then that is "entrapment."

 More @ The Hill

Laura Ingraham: Democrats OK with killings like Kate Steinle if it ultimately leads to racial “demographic changes” that favor liberal agenda.

Via Billy

 Truth hurts

In response to undocumented immigrant Jose Ines Garcia Zarate being acquitted for his role in the highly-publicized shooting of Kate Steinle, Fox News host Laura Ingraham claimed Democrats are okay with killings like this and other crimes if it ultimately leads to a racial “demographic changes” that favor the liberal agenda.

Ingraham made the following comments while appearing on the weekend show Watters World:

More @ Mediaite

Rising German nationalist party elects leaders amid protests

Via Billy

Members of a rising nationalist party in Germany elected their leadership Saturday at a convention in the city of Hannover that was overshadowed by protests.

Joerg Meuthen was re-elected as chairman at the first full party congress since the Alternative for Germany, known as AfD, won seats in the national parliament for the first time.

Alexander Gauland, one of the party's parliamentary leaders and a power within AfD, was elected as co-chair.

More @ Yahoo

Trump reloads on FBI's Clinton email probe, after reports of 'tainted' anti-Trump agent

 Via Billy

President Trump suggested Sunday that news reports about an FBI agent on the agency’s Hillary Clinton email investigation who also opposed Trump explains why the Clinton case was closed without criminal charges.

“Report: ‘ANTI-TRUMP FBI AGENT LED CLINTON EMAIL PROBE’ Now it all starts to make sense!” Trump said in one of three tweets Sunday on the issue.

The office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller confirmed with Fox News on Saturday that agent Peter Strzok had been removed from Mueller’s investigation into Russia collusion after the Justice Department’s inspector general started examining Strzok's electronic messages with a colleague, which reportedly included ones that were anti-Trump and pro-Hillary Clinton.

More @ Fox

Ravens, NFL scramble as fans stay home

Via Billy

It seems paradoxical: The Ravens, who have sold out every home game since they arrived in Baltimore in 1996, are advertising tickets for Sunday’s contest at M&T Bank Stadium.

But this is where the Ravens find themselves in 2017: Contemplating the prospect of empty seats, and appealing to fans to “Win Together. Purchase your tickets today!” even as the team is contending for what would be its first playoff berth since 2014.

Thousands of fans are trying to resell their tickets to the sold-out game Sunday against the Detroit Lions at 71,000-seat M&T Bank Stadium via Ticketmaster, the team’s official resale outlet, or StubHub. Seats were available this week in almost every section; an $80 ticket for an upper end zone seat could be had for as little as $29.

Every week, some ticket holders must miss the game. But the NFL is laboring across the board this season to maintain its fan base and minimize no-shows. It’s not just the Ravens. Television ratings are down league-wide and empty seats can be seen at many games.

More @ The Baltimore Sun

New documents reveal FBI's Clinton cover-up

Via Billy

In Washington, the ostensible story is rarely the real story. We know, for example, that former President Clinton engineered a meeting with President Obama’s attorney general, Loretta Lynch, on the tarmac of the Phoenix Airport on June 27, 2016.

That’s the official story, replete with the charming and intentionally disarming detail that all they talked about was their grandchildren. It was just coincidental, don’t you know, that at the time the FBI was looking into Hillary Clinton’s use of a “personal” email server to send, receive and store classified information.

And it was also simply coincidental that just a few days later, the director of the FBI – who served under Attorney General Lynch – announced that he wouldn’t recommend a prosecution of Hillary Clinton.

Richard Nixon must be rolling over in his grave.

More @ Fox

Council of Economic Advisers Chairman Says Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Will Help Solve Stagnant Wage Problem

Via Billy

Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers Kevin Hassett said the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act may be able to help solve the problem of stagnant wage growth in the United States.

Speaking at a Cato Institute event on Thursday, Hassett said tax reform could lead to about $4,000 in higher wages for a typical family in America.

"The economy up until this year has been very much disappointing, and if you look at real wage growth, it's been as bad as you've ever seen in the recovery," Hassett said. "We found a really interesting disconnect that is this: Historically if profits go up then wages go up and if profits go down then wages go down. The correlation is really almost perfect but the link between profit growth and wage growth has just disconnected."

More @ The Washington Free Beacon

Trump to Pull U.S. From U.N. Migration Compact

The Trump Administration announced plans to pull the U.S. out of a United Nations pact on the handling of migrant and refugee situations. The announcement came from the U.S. mission to the United Nations. U.S. officials said the program is “inconsistent” with American policies. “Today, the US Mission to the United Nations informed the UN Secretary-General that the United States is ending its participation in the Global Compact on Migration,” U.S. officials said in a report from AFP.

Officials stated that the New York Declaration, a non-binding political declaration unanimously approved in a non-binding resolution in September 2016, “contains numerous provisions that are inconsistent with U.S. immigration and refugee policies and the Trump Administration’s immigration principles.”

More @ Breitbart

Matt Drudge zings Mueller probe: 'What is the punishment when the FBI lies to us?'

 

Matt Drudge, editor and founder of the Internet news powerhouse Drudge Report, put the special counsel probe on notice Saturday.

In a flurry of tweets, stark against an otherwise empty Twitter page (Drudge has a habit of deleting his prior tweets), the influential but reclusive conservative figure painted Robert Mueller and his Russia inquiry team as a farce.

"Mueller’s secretive grand jury made up of residence from DC, where 91% voted for Hillary...," he began, referring to the grand jury Mueller put together to investigate possible collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.

More @ Washington Examiner

Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey: Michael Flynn plea means 'not very much else there'

Via Billy

Former Attorney Gen. Michael Mukasey said the guilty plea from former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn signals that perhaps there were no severe crimes committed by the Trump campaign.

In an interview on ABC's "This Week," Mukasey, who was appointed by President George W. Bush, said the plea, which was announced Friday by special investigator Robert Mueller, should tamp down speculations about collusion with Russia.

"What I made of it is a lot of the heavy breathing and a lot of the speculation is completely unwarranted," he said. "That plea agreement does not, to me, indicate that there’s very much else there."

More @ Washington Examiner

LEACH, STEVEN

On the USS Constellation late in 1968, a catapult crewman gives the signal that an A-6 is ready to launch. A centerline D-704 refueling store augmented the four drop tanks beneath the wings. The D-704’s propeller, driven by wind in flight, powered a motor that extended and retracted its refueling hose. 

 

Earlier this year:  Steve was my first cousin and flew 120 missions over north Vietnam.  His solution to our border problem was Claymores.:)

 

 LEACH, Steven Ralph, 74, of New Market, Tenn., passed away suddenly on May 21, 2017 in Knoxville, Tenn. Former places of residence include Richmond, Va.; Metuchen, N.J.; Fort Smith, Ark.; Laguna Niguel, Calif.; and Raleigh, N.C. 

 

He was born January 26, 1943 in San Diego, Calif. to Colonel Ralph D. Leach (USMC) and Elizabeth Townsend Leach. In 1950, the family relocated from an avocado farm in El Cajon, Calif. to Richmond, Va. Steven was an alumnus of Bullis Preparatory School in Potomac, Md., where he excelled in athletics. He went on to graduate from the United States Military Academy at West Point, with the commission of Second Lieutenant in Marine Corps Aviation. He served in Vietnam as a Marine A-6 Intruder bombardier navigator and rose to the rank of Captain. He flew 181 missions in Vietnam and won several medals for his service.

 

More @ Richmond Times-Dispatch