| |
N0KFQ > TODAY 12.05.14 16:33l 49 Lines 2174 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 20210_N0KFQ
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - May 12
Path: IZ3LSV<I3LUG<IW8PGT<HB9ON<IW2OHX<IW0QNL<VE2PKT<VK2DOT<ZS0MEE<N9PMO<
N0KFQ
Sent: 140512/1451Z 20210@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.60
May 12, 1975:
American ship Mayaguez seized
The American freighter Mayaguez is captured by communist
government forces in Cambodia, setting off an international
incident. The U.S. response to the affair indicated that the
wounds of the Vietnam War still ran deep.
On May 12, 1975, the U.S. freighter Mayaguez and its 39-man crew
was captured by gunboats of the Cambodian navy. Cambodia had
fallen to communist insurgents, the Khmer Rouge, in April 1973.
The Cambodian authorities imprisoned the American crew, pending
an investigation of the ship and why it had sailed into waters
claimed by Cambodia. The response of the United States government
was quick. President Gerald Ford called the Cambodian seizure of
the Mayaguez an "act of piracy" and promised swift action to
rescue the captured Americans.
In part, Ford's aggressive attitude to the incident was a
by-product of the American failure in Vietnam. In January 1973,
U.S. forces had withdrawn from South Vietnam, ending years of a
bloody and inconclusive attempt to forestall communist rule of
that nation. In the time since the U.S. withdrawal, a number of
conservative politicians and intellectuals in the United States
had begun to question America's "credibility" in the
international field, suggesting that the country's loss of will
in Vietnam now encouraged enemies around the world to challenge
America with seeming impunity. The Cambodian seizure of the
Mayaguez appeared to be just such a challenge.
On May 14, President Ford ordered the bombing of the Cambodian
port where the gunboats had come from and sent Marines to attack
the island of Koh Tang, where the prisoners were being held.
Unfortunately, the military action was probably unnecessary. The
Cambodian government was already in the process of releasing the
crew of the Mayaguez and the ship. Forty-one Americans died, most
of them in an accidental explosion during the attack. Most
Americans, however, cheered the action as evidence that the
United States was once again willing to use military might to
slap down potential enemies.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: kohiggs@gmail.com
Using Outpost Ver 2.8.0 c42
Read previous mail | Read next mail
| |
