April 28: Muhammad Ali

On this date in History .... April 28, 1967:  

Muhammad Ali refuses to be inducted in the Army during the war with Vietnam, claiming religious reasons.  He said, “I ain’t got no quarrel with those Vietcong. They never called me n*****.”  

He was prosecuted for draft evasion and sentenced to five years and $10,000 but remained out of jail during the appeal. He was stripped of his title and banned from boxing for three years. 

On June 28, 1971, the Supreme Court overturned his draft evasion conviction with an 8-0 vote, saying the government had failed to properly specify why his application for conscientious objector status had been denied.

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August 7: Gulf of Tonkin Resolution signed

On this date in History..... August 7, 1964:

Congress overwhelmingly passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution (only 2 “no” Votes in the Senate; it passed the House unanimously), after U.S. boats were torpedoed in the Gulf of Tonkin (also known as the USS Maddox Incident) on August 2 and again on August 4. This gave Pres. Johnson, in his first year in office, almost unlimited power and “the right to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression."  

Johnson used this resolution as his authority to escalate U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War, and saw his popularity soar due to his “restrained handling of the crisis.”  The Johnson Administration used this Resolution as their green light to begin heavy bombing and increase troops in Vietnam.  

During the Nixon administration, the resolution was repealed, over Nixon’s objections. Realizing the need to restore limits on presidential authority to engage in war activity, Congress passed the War Powers Resolution in 1973 which requires the president to consult with Congress before engaging U.S. forces in hostile actions.

June 28: Supreme Court rules on Muhammad Ali

On this date in History ... June 28, 1971:

The Supreme Court unanimously overturned the lower courts in “Clay vs. the United States” in boxer Muhammad Ali’s (Cassius Clay) refusal to be drafted.  Clay had refused, based on his conversion to Islam, to go to Vietnam and shoot people "who never called me nigga....."

Ali would go on to become the first and only 3-time lineal World Heavyweight Champion. He won an Olympic Gold Medal in 1960 (his amateur records was 100 wins with 5 losses). Legend has it that he threw the medal in the Ohio River after being refused service in a whites-only restaurant. He was presented with a replacement medal at the 1996 Olympics, where he lit the torch to start the games.  

In 1993, the Associated Press reported that Ali was tied with Babe Ruth as the most recognized athlete, out of over 800 dead or alive athletes, in America. The study found that over 97% of Americans over 12 years of age identified both Ali and Ruth.

June 9: Johnson and the Domino Theory

On this date in History .... June 9, 1964:

Johnson ignores a CIA report that challenges the domino theory.  

The “domino theory” was a product of the Cold War and justified the U.S. involvement in helping smaller countries avoid communism. It was a belief that if one country fell to communism, then surrounding countries would “fall like dominoes”.  The CIA report stated that Cambodia would be the only country to fall immediately but even if Vietnam and Laos fell to Communism, there were enough American Allies in the Pacific to dissuade N. Vietnam and China from aggression.  

Johnson, who held strongly to the domino theory, chose to ignore this report, eventually committing over 500,000 troops to Vietnam to try to thwart the spread of Communism.

April 30: Fall of Saigon Begins

On this date in History .... 1975:

The fall of Saigon began.  

South vietnamese civilians try to climb the wall
of the U.S. Embassy in a desperate bid to board
one of the last evacuation flights out of Saigon.
Photo source: www.navymemorieshop.com

In Dec 1974 the North Vietnamese were making a rapid advancement and by early January had overtaken the capital of Phuoc Binh. Pres. Ford was unable to convince a “hostile Congress” to make good on the U.S.’s previous promise to provide aid in such a situation. When North Vietnam saw the U.S. was backing off of their earlier promise and doing nothing, they pushed forward toward Saigon, defeating the fledgling South Vietnam military at each encounter. 

The population of Saigon became a maddening mob as everyone tried to get a spot on evacuation transportation. 

(It really got to me … really … when I watched  THIS VIDEO and saw grown men shove a young woman & child out of the way as they tried to get thru the Embassy gates …. marker 0:31 thru 0:44.)

The U.S. military on board the aircraft carrier "USS Blue Ridge" pushing the helicopter into the sea off the coast of Vietnam, to make room for evacuees from Saigon. 

Photo taken April 29, 1975.

Photo source: www.namvietnews.wordpress.com 

April 28: Muhammad Ali Refuses to be Drafted

On this date in History ..... 1967:

Muhammad Ali refuses to be inducted in the Army during the war with Vietnam, claiming religious reasons.  He said, “I ain’t got no quarrel with those Vietcong. They never called me n*****.”  

He was prosecuted for draft evasion and sentenced to five years and $10,000 but remained out of jail during the appeal. He was stripped of his title and banned from boxing for three years. 

On June 28, 1971, the Supreme Court overturned his draft evasion conviction with an 8-0 vote, saying the government had failed to properly specify why his application for conscientious objector status had been denied.  

February 24: John Levitow, MOH

On this date in History .... 1969:

After a North Vietnamese mortar shells rocks their Douglas AC-47 gunship, Airman First Class John L. Levitow throws himself on an activated, smoking magnesium flare, drags himself and the flare to the open cargo door, and tosses it out of the aircraft just before it ignites.

For saving his fellow crewmembers and the gunship, Airman Levitow was later awarded the Medal of Honor. He was one of only two enlisted airmen to win the Medal of Honor for service in Vietnam and was one of only five enlisted airmen ever to win the medal.

He was on his 180^th combat mission and was just filling in for a loadmaster who was sick that night.

January 22: LBJ Dies

On this date in History .... 1973:

Former President Lyndon Baines Johnson dies at the age of 64. 

Johnson’s pre-political career was that of a high school teacher of debate and public policy. He was the first president to appoint an African-American, Thurgood Marshall, to the Supreme Court. 

Johnson had wanted to “carve out a legacy as the creator of a Great Society” but had to live with the disappointment that his social programs were overshadowed by his escalation of the Vietnam War. 

Johnson had always said the “…when the Great Society dies, I’ll die, too.” As he watched Nixon’s second inaugural, on Jan 20^th, he heard many of his social programs being dismantled.  The next day, he watched Nixon announce the cease fire in Vietnam, something that Johnson had been unable to achieve.  The following day, Johnson died of a heart attack.

December 30: Col. Robert Howard, Medal of Honor

On this date in History .... 1968:

Col. Robert Howard

Robert Howard’s action merited the award of the Congressional Medal of Honor while on a rescue mission in Cambodia searching for missing soldier Robert Scherdi.

 

Howard was nominated for the Medal of Honor 3 times, but the rules dictate it can only be awarded once.  In a 54 month period he was wounded 14 times, received eight Purple Hears and four Bronze Stars. He was a Ranger and a Green Beret, Special Forces. He served over 50 years and retired a full colonel.

 

During the rescue mission, Howard was wounded and his gun destroyed but he crawled to his wounded commander to administer 1^st aid.  An enemy bullet then hit an ammunition pack Howard was carrying, detonating several rounds of ammo. Severely wounded, he began dragging other wounded soldiers to safety.

 

For 3-1/2 hrs, he and his men held off the enemy until helicopters could get in to rescue. Even then, Howard made sure his men were loaded up first and he did not leave the “bullet swept landing zone until all were aboard safely.”

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December 18: Nixon Christmas Bombs Vietnam

On this date in History .... 1972:

Nixon announces the starts of “Christmas Bombing” of Vietnam. 

The peace talks had broken down just a few days earlier and Nixon began the bombing to stop the stalemate in the talks process.  North Vietnam was bombed for two weeks, dropping 20,000 tons of bombs on Hanoi and Haiphong. 

The bombing stopped on December 29 when the Vietnamese agreed to come back to the table.  A few weeks later, a peace agreement was signed.

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December 5: 1st Vietnam Medal of Honor

On this date in History .... 1964:

Capt. Roger Donlon became the first Vietnam soldier and the first member of Special Forces to receive the Medal of Honor for his actions on July 6th 1964.

The Special Forces commander single-handed killed a 3-man enemy team during a surprise attack in which he and his troops were outnumbered three-to-one and resulted in 55 killed with 65 wounded. When he was hit in his stomach, he stuffed a shirt into the wound, tightened his belt, and refused medical care, even though he was wounded a total of four times during the fie-hour battle, while he dragged other wounded men out of danger  and hauled supplies to the gunners as they defended their position for the long five hours. 

When Pres. Johnson  gave Donlon the medal, Donlon had the nine remaining members of his Special Forces team with him.  He told Johnson, “The medal belongs to them, too."

Donlon was the eighth of ten children.  His father and all four of his brothers served in the military. He attended West Point for two years, eventually becoming a Special Forces officer of the Green Berets.

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the wound, tightened his belt, and refused medical care while he dragged other wounded men out of danger and hauled supplies to the gunners as they defended their position for five hours. When Pres. Johnson gave Donlon the medal, Donlon had the nine remaining members of his Special Forces team with him. He told Johnson, "The medal belongs to them, too."