To Hanoi And Back: The United States Air Force And North Vietnam 1966-1973 [Illustrated Edition] by Thompson Dr Wayne;

Author:Thompson, Dr Wayne;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Normanby Press
Published: 2014-07-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eight — The Lavelle Affair

Curiosity about the attempt to rescue prisoners at Son Tay was especially strong among those who knew men imprisoned in North Vietnam. Many within the Air Force had worked with those men, and occasionally personal relationships ran back further than service together. Lt. Gen. John D. Lavelle had first met Colonel Flynn, the highest ranking prisoner, when they were boys attending the Catholic schools of Cleveland, Ohio. Lavelle was six years older and had dated Flynn's sister. But Lavelle had a still more direct connection with the raid, and the fragile character of that connection confirmed the depth to which his own career seemed to have fallen.{711}

Although Lavelle was Vice Commander in Chief of Pacific Air Forces, he was told nothing about the raid in advance or even afterward—until he watched Secretary Laird brief the nation on television. Lavelle's boss, Gen. Joseph Nazzaro, had been briefed together with key members of his staff, a group from which Lavelle was obviously excluded. During the raid, Nazzaro was away from headquarters on one of his frequent trips to see his farflung units; as usual he was accompanied by the key members of his staff. When intelligence reported a very high volume of North Vietnamese radio traffic, Lavelle tried to inform Admiral McCain, Commander in Chief, Pacific, and was finally told by one of McCain's subordinates to ignore the whole matter.{712}

After years of pressure-filled jobs of considerable importance, Lavelle found himself merely minding the store. An early attempt to make a decision while his boss was away was quickly quashed when Nazzaro returned. Yet despite a lack of authority, Lavelle was expected to remain on Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, whenever Nazzaro was off base even for a few hours. This meant that every time Lavelle wanted to leave the base, he had to ask Nazzaro for permission.{713}

Lavelle blamed his predicament on the Air Force Chief of Staff, General Ryan, with whom Lavelle had some disagreements during his previous assignment. They were very different personalities. Ryan was careful, quiet, almost taciturn. Lavelle was gregarious and impulsive.

Before his encounters with Ryan, Lavelle's impulsiveness had already caused him difficulties. As Seventeenth Air Force commander in 1967, Lavelle nearly sent his alert force at Wheelus Air Base, Libya, to intercept unidentified Algerian MiGs on their way to land at a nearby airport; any confrontation might have been explosive, because Libyans were already rioting against American support of Israel in the Six Day War. Lavelle got in trouble even for having his men start their engines, but he held them on the ground. Although his next assignment came sooner than expected, it was an important one.{714}

For nearly three years, Lavelle directed the Defense Communications Planning Group, the joint organization that had been set up in Washington to implement Secretary of Defense McNamara's plans to build a physical and electronic barrier against North Vietnamese infiltration into South Vietnam. Lavelle took over the group just before McNamara's departure and helped refo-cus the project on

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.