175. Editorial Note
On March 2 the first Rolling Thunder mission to get off the ground (Rolling Thunder V) was carried out by 104 U.S. Air Force B–57’s, F-100’s, and F-105’s and 19 South Vietnamese Skyraiders against the Xom Bang ammunition depot just north of the DMZ and the Quang Khe naval base. Six of the U.S. aircraft were downed by anti-aircraft fire. Five of the six pilots were rescued.
No announcement was made in Washington or Saigon concerning the air attack. For text of a statement of March 4 by the Soviet Government protesting the air strike, which Foreign Minister Gromyko presented to Ambassador Kohler in Moscow, see American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1965, pages 841–842.