During the summer of 1964 as we prepared to return for our senior year, our world turned upside down—although we did not yet know it. While on my midshipman cruise aboard USS Bennington in the Pacific I saw messages from two American destroyers in some place called the Tonkin Gulf. The geography was strange, but the messages were troublesome.


On August 2 USS Maddox, while on an electronic intelligence-gathering mission known as a “DeSoto patrol” in the Tonkin Gulf, was fired on by North Vietnamese Swatow-type patrol boats. Maddox fired more than 180 rounds at the attackers, which were also strafed by U.S. Navy aircraft. One round hit the Maddox. 


No one aboard Maddox was aware that two nights earlier four American high-speed patrol boats, operating from Danang, participated in a South Vietnamese raid on the very islands from which the Swatow boats operated. One raid was detected before they could put their commandos ashore. With a patrol boat bearing down on them, the boats fired on the island and then made a high-speed run to the south. They were back in port by noon. The other attack went more smoothly. The South Vietnamese commandos got ashore, planted bombs, destroyed a water tower and other buildings and made good their escape.


On August 4 the Maddox, now joined by USS Turner Joy, returned to the Tonkin Gulf to complete the DeSoto patrol. They again reported being attacked by North Vietnamese patrol craft, fired on the boats and called for aerial support. Responding to the destroyers’ report, President Johnson ordered aircraft from USS Constellation and USS Ticonderoga to attack bases in North Vietnam. Lt. (j.g.) Richard C. Sather, a pilot from the Constellation, was killed when his plane was shot down some 25 miles north of the Swatow base. Lt. (j.g.) Everett Alvarez Jr. was shot down and captured. He remained a prisoner of war until February 12, 1973.


The president addressed the nation the evening of August 4, describing the reported attack and announcing the air strike. He observed that the American response “will always be measured. Its mission is peace.”


On August 7 Congress passed the Tonkin Gulf Resolution, authorizing the use of American armed forces “to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression and…to take all necessary steps…to assist any [ally] requesting assistance in defense of its freedom.” The House acted unanimously and only two members of the Senate (Gruening, D-Alaska, and Morse, D-Ore) opposed the resolution.


A subsequent investigation concluded that the second attack had never really happened, but was a misinterpretation of radar information. Others contend that the investigation was wrong. The debate continues to this day.


Regardless, the stage was set for full American intervention in the Vietnam War that affected our lives in so many ways.


Meanwhile, the world went on unaware. On August 27 the Disney film Mary Poppins premiered in Los Angeles and Lyndon Johnson was nominated for a full term by the Democratic National Convention, meeting in Atlantic City, New Jersey. 


Please send me a note about what you have been doing.


—Tom Long, 1056 Leigh Mill Road, Great Falls, VA 22066; (703) 759-4255; tomlongerols.com