From the S&S archives:
GIs cheer LBJ at Vietnam base

CAM RANH BAY, Vietnam — The GIs got a lift from President Johnson's second secret trip Saturday to South Vietnam. They showed their pleasure, and he beamed.

Cheers that punctuated the President's speech and a rousing hip-hip-hooray for the commander in chief at the end left little doubt that the fighting men assembled at Cam Ranh welcomed his Christmas-season visit.

Speaking at the airfield alongside the bay, with jets flying security overhead, the President — bareheaded, in slacks and a khaki shirt — told 2.450 American servicemen assembled from all over the country that this was a time of grave challenge.

"You've met that test, there is no doubt of that," Johnson said. "And the last thing I can bring to you is the promise that your fellow Americans will meet it too. We shall not fail you. What you have done will not have been done in vain."

The President's blue and white jet slipped into Cam Ranh after a brief flight from Korat, Thailand, where Johnson had spent the night at an American-built air base and delivered a similar message to fighter-bomber pilots making the hazardous raids on North Vietnam.

An hour and 45 minutes later he took off for Karachi, Pakistan, on another leg of a round-the-world trip which began with the flight to Australia to pay tribute to the late Prime Minister Harold E. Holt.

The tightest security cloaked Johnson's arrival at Cam Ranh, as it had in October, 1966, when he took advantage of the Manila summit conference for his first secret trip to this base on the South China Sea. Johnson's jet was well outside the war zone before the news was released.

Cam Ranh had been chosen by the U.S. commander, Gen. William C. Westmoreland, as the safest base for the President to visit.

As it was, the President moved in and out without a bobble. Even some of the servicemen assembled at Cam Ranh did not know what they were there for until Johnson appeared.

A composite combat unit had been made up of all American groups in Vietnam — Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and Coast Guard. In addition, 16 men were there for decorations. Some were in combat when they got the word Friday to board planes for Cam Ranh.

In combat uniforms, helmets perched forward and M16 rifles shouldered, they were formed in ranks on the concrete apron when the commander in chief stepped into the bright morning sun, a light breeze fluttering his thinning gray hair.

The President set out at a whirlwind pace. He sped immediately to a nearby hospital, held a brief meeting with Westmoreland, Ambassador Ellsworth Bunker and other leaders, then returned to the airfield for the open-air speech and decoration ceremonies.

Meeting with his top commanders, all of whom he decorated, Johnson was beaming confidence.

"We are proud that you are doing the job that you are doing," he told them. "We know that no military force is better than the man at the top, and we have great respect and every confidence in Gen. Westmoreland."

He added: "I wish I had things in as good shape at home as you have here."

Johnson said his goal was "peace with honor," but extended no hope that this was near.

In his speech to the troops he touched on the same theme. .

"I wish I could have brought you, too, some sign that the struggle will soon be over," Johnson said. But he offered no such sign.

Before Johnson spoke, Westmoreland shouted for the men to break ranks and close in around the truck-trailer where a speaker's stand had been set up for the President. They did so happily and cheered Johnson repeatedly.

At the end of his speech a booming voice rose from the rear ranks: "Three cheers for the President of the United States."

The chorus of hip-hip-hooray thundered into the air, to the visible pleasure of the President.

Westmoreland, Deputy Commander Gen. Creighton Abrams Jr., and others received Distinguished Service Medals. The Medal of Freedom went to Bunker and to his senior deputies, Robert W. Komer and Eugene M. Locke.

Johnson had a special word of praise for Gen. William Momyer, the Air Force commander in Vietnam.

"This is the guy who paves the way and who saves you fellows a lot of problems," Johnson told the troops about Momyer in an obvious reference to U.S. bombing policy. The men cheered.