Gulf of Tonkin Revisited: Did China Attack the U.S.?
56Gulf of Tonkin Incident Chief Seventh Fleet investigator, Admiral “Joe” Lloyd Vasey joins (then) U.S.S. Turner Joy Radarman, Chad James, in a probing conversation with Host David Day over the 2nd day of the August, 1964 attacks on U.S. Naval vessels in the Tonkin Gulf that ultimately sparked the Vietnam war. In this most unusual discussion, the military experts , including the on-the-scene eyewitness, turn the urban legend/history on its head concluding that (1) the attacks on the Turner Joy did in fact occur; and, (2) air support from the Ticonderoga were not even airborne before the first part of the attack was over and the attacking PT boats sunk.
So why the twisted history? The “faked attack” legend?
Using a declassified communication from President Lyndon Johnson to Soviet Premier Nikita Krushchev, eyewitness Chad James explains that this August 4th, 1964 attack came not from North Vietnam, but from a PT boat base on Hainan Island, China, with a Turner Joy eyewitness topside who identified the specific craft as the (then) newst P-6 class of Chinese PT boat of the PLA Navy. It is no wonder that later (then) Vietnamese Minister of Defense, General Vo Min Giap, stated that he never authorized the 2nd attack—because the North Vietnamese did not make it. The Chinese did.
This show is the 2nd in the series and the 1st, “Gulf of Tonkin: The Record Set Straight,” can be found here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYKgqBeLcLs