Gulf of Tonkin incident revisited

Wings of Gold, Fall 1998 by Johnson, Gregory

Two months before the Tonkin incident, a communications center on Hon Me Island off the Haiphong coast was targeted for destruction by SOG. This was the most far-reaching mission to date using the boats. The Navy had simultaneously scheduled a DeSoto mission into the same area to survey and measure coastal radar coverage capabilities of the North Vietnamese. These patrols were scheduled to take place in international waters. SOG received assurance the Navy patrols would remain clear of the strike mission. The mission crossed the DMZ before dark. Once in the Gulf, the boats went out of their way to avoid contact with DeSoto patrols. The trip inbound to the target was uneventful until the boats neared the island, at which point they were fired upon, the first time a SOG unit had been shot at prior to hitting the beach.

The rules of engagement stated that if fired upon, the troops were to be withdrawn. The troops had not actually debarked, so the boat crews fired their 75mm recoilless guns and deck mortars to cover a successful withdrawal. The firing continued until all ammunition was expended. U-2 over-fly pictures the following day indicated that substantial damage had been registered on Hon Me. A follow-on mission, on a radar station just north of the DMZ, was conducted the next night. U-2 photos verified this second mission was a success. But It was during this mission the alleged Gulf of Tonkin incident took place. It would appear the North Vietnamese, still stinging from RVN activities conducted the previous night, sent out their patrol boats. The DeSoto patrol, having been shifted to the north could have encountered the Swatass by coincidence.

Johnson related that after the August 2nd incident, Secretary of State Dean Rusk sent a memo to Ambassador Maxwell Taylor noting: "We believe that present OPLAN 34-A activities are beginning to rattle Hanoi."

Still, Allied leaders were frustrated by the choke-hold the administration held on senior military commanders in-country. Johnson remembered an encounter with GEN William C. Westmoreland on Christmas Day, 1964. He had just briefed the general and his Chief of Staff, BGEN Richard Stillwell, on a successful SOG mission the evening before, Westmoreland (in private) told Johnson: "Colonel, I want to congratulate you and the men in SOG. You are the only people who seem to be successful out here. I can't do anything -- even move a battalion from one part of town to another -- without Washington's approval! "

Accusations that President Lyndon Johnson lied in order to justify escalation of U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War are unjustified. Nevertheless, among certain historical revisionists, the hypothesis of a nonexistent Gulf of Tonkin incident remains. COL Johnson's account appears to support the contrary.

He said, "I personally believe the incident was the result of a chance encounter."

Mr. Robert L. Jackson visited Hanoi in 1988 as part of a delegation lead by the late Congressman Mickey Leland. With respect to the idea the incident was fabricated, Jackson noted, "Somebody forgot to tell the Vietnamese the incident never happened. To the contrary, Vietnam appears to be rather proud of the attack and features it prominently in a display at its war memorial museum in Hanoi."