News stories from Sunday June 11, 1972
Summaries of the stories the major media outlets considered to be of particular importance on this date:
- More than 200 bodies have been recovered so far in a flood which swept over Rapid City, South Dakota. Hundreds more are missing and thousands are homeless. Heavy rains fell on Friday night, the Canyon Lake Dam burst, and a flood followed. Senator George McGovern visited Rapid City in his home state, and said that the destruction and desolation are incomprehensible.
A 20 foot wide, five foot deep creek swelled to a depth of 30 feet and became half a mile wide. Damage is estimated at $120 million. A Civil Defense command post has been set up in the courthouse basement. Computers are being used to list persons who are still missing, and those reported to be safe. Radio stations are remaining on the air around the clock, broadcasting requests for information.
[NBC] - General John Lavelle, once the head of the 7th Air Force, was responsible for combat missions in southeast Asia. He was relieved of command in March and retired at a lower rank. The New York Times reports that those actions were taken was because he ordered bombing attacks in North Vietnam which had not been authorized. From January to March of 1972, U.S. bombing of North Vietnam was limited to "protective reaction strikes". General Lavelle was ordering full-scale bombing in violation of guidelines.
The House Armed Services Committee is beginning an inquiry into Lavelle's case at the suggestion of Rep. Otis Pike, himself a former Marine pilot. Pike says that the truth about the case should be made public, and he thinks that General Lavelle may be a scapegoat. But what he was doing might have prevented North Vietnam's offensive, had it been continued. Some believe that Lavelle was disobeying orders with the consent of his immediate superiors, including General Creighton Abrams.
[NBC] - U.S. bombers destroyed a hydroelectric plant near Hanoi. [NBC]
- South Vietnamese troops have cleared Highway 1 from Saigon to the Cambodian border. Convoys of supplies are now travelling via Highway 1 to ARVN soldiers who are guarding the Cambodian border. Communists had cut the road by occupying small towns along the highway, such as Trang Bang. The South Vietnamese used bombs and artillery to drive the Communists out; Trang Bang was heavily damaged, but the villagers are now reassembling their lives. [NBC]
- Newsweek magazine reports that a pacification operation in Vietnam in 1968 was conducted by the American 9th division in the Viet Cong stronghold of Kien Hoa province in the Mekong Delta. A reporter claims that the operation killed 5,000 civilians. [NBC]
- Henry Kissinger met with the Japanese Foreign Minister and told him that the U.S. will spring no more surprises on Japan, like President Nixon's visit to China. [NBC]
- Cuban Premier Fidel Castro is visiting Poland. Castro has been welcomed warmly there, and reports that he is suffering from a heart ailment appear to be highly exaggerated. Despite U.S. visits to China and Russia, Castro continues his hard line against America, especially regarding the Vietnam war. Castro said that he has not considered the possibility of President Nixon visiting Cuba, and stated that he will not be invited to do so. Castro will visit East Germany and Czechoslovakia next, then on to Russia for talks with Communist party chief Brezhnev and Premier Kosygin. [NBC]
- In Belfast, Northern Ireland, British troops exchanged fire with gunmen in Catholic and Protestant neighborhoods. [NBC]
- Colonel Kaddafi, the leader of Libya, said that guns, money and volunteers are being sent to the Irish Republican Army. [NBC]
- In Wankie, Rhodesia, 5,000 people attended a memorial service for the 426 coal miners who were killed in a mine explosion last week. [NBC]
- In Jerusalem, the Israeli Transport Minister reported a warning that a German anarchist group plans to hijack a Swiss Air flight to Israel, and will blow up the plane unless the lone surviving Japanese gunman in the Tel Aviv airport massacre is released. The Japanese terrorists were trained and paid by Palestinian commandos who want the territory which was seized by Israel during the Six-Day War to be returned. Yesterday was the fifth anniversary of that war and Israel is reluctant to give up any land that it captured. Israeli leaders say that the Gaza Strip will never be given back. Israel is also reluctant to pull back from borders like the Suez Canal which are easily defended, unlike the old borders. Cairo is within quick striking distance of Israeli jets, but Tel Aviv is too far for most Egyptian planes. Even though Israelis are outnumbered and outgunned numerically, the new borders help even the score. [NBC]