Category Archives: Vietnam War

Christmas ’72 Stories: (Final) Gifts, a Tree, and a Turkey with all the Trimmings

As the story has been told – as I noted previously- the end of the war in Vietnam is considered the result of the Christmas bombing operations of Linebacker II, and so the convention of telling this story. I’ll end … Continue reading

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Forty Years Ago Tonight … Morning of 24 January onboard USS Midway inbound to Subic Bay after our eighth Line Period

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Christmas ’72 Stories: (8) “A-rab Beeper, come up voice.”

Professional history of war mostly addresses major battles, the dates, the generals, the admirals, tactics and technology, and then analysis of results, all  for obvious reasons. But significant detail is invariably lost particularly when one event leads to a most significant occurrence … Continue reading

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Christmas ’72 Stories: (7) A Gentlemen’s Gentleman

Linebacker II was halted on 29 December 1972.  The North Vietnamese agreed to come back to the negotiations in Paris. Having enjoyed Christmas, Midway left Singapore and celebrated New Years Eve at sea on the way back to the Gulf … Continue reading

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Christmas ’72 Stories: (6) “We had been there too long!”

As I write this post, it is fast approaching 0659 30 December 2012 in Hanoi – 40 years exactly from the end to Linebacker II. President Nixon’s decision – the Linebacker II campaign – in the face of world wide denunciation and in … Continue reading

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Christmas ’72 Stories: (5) What did we know? When did we know it?

Bob ‘Hippo’ Hipps (334 Tactical Fighter Squadron): The night of Dec 17, 1972 our F-4E squadron (the 334TFS had deployed from Seymour Johnson, AFB, NC — which is the only Air Force base named after a Naval Aviator) stood down … Continue reading

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Christmas ’72 Stories: (4) MiG-CAP & Roman Candles

Perspective from John Chesire – VF-151 Switchboxes – flying MiG-CAP around Haiphong. Of my nearly two years combat flying in SEA (Southeast Asia), the most spectacular and memorable sight occurred on December 20, the third and worst night of the of the … Continue reading

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Christmas ’72 Stories: (4) Snako’s Two Night LB II Hat Trick

One of the motivators for Remembered Sky is that the writing about USS Midway and her airwing/squadrons is piecemeal. Some histories and stories barely mention Midway and some have completely left her out, particularly related to Linebacker II. This despite … Continue reading

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Christmas ’72 Stories: (2) Night time in the Red River Valley

Linebacker II from 18-29 December 1972 is commonly understood as the B-52 strikes over Hanoi that brought the NVN back to the negotiating table in Paris, leading to the end of the war, a treaty- The Paris Peace Accords – … Continue reading

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Christmas ’72 Stories: (1) The “Ornaments” from Ghosts of Christmas Past

With this post I begin a multi-story process centered on Linebacker II and Christmas 1972 as part of Remembered Sky’s overall reflection on the 40th anniversary of the end of that war and USS Midway/Carrier Air Wing Five’s war cruise in the … Continue reading

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