No Time Limit

Hundreds of nervous cops jammed Saigon's Tan Son Nhut airport as a U.S. Air Force jetliner swept in under fighter escort. As the plane swung sharply to a halt, out stepped the new U.S. ambassador, General Maxwell D. Taylor, fresh in shining sharkskin and a bright resolve. The Viet Cong had sworn to kill him, and indeed a terrorist carrying a homemade grenade in a loaf of bread had been captured just yards from the U.S. embassy the day before. But Max Taylor figured to stick around a while --at least until after the U.S. election.

"I'm here to assure you of our unstinting support," he told the Vietnamese officials who greeted him. "There is no time limit in that commitment."

Dawn Rise. To South Viet Nam's leaders, this must have come as a pleasant surprise. Only eight months ago, General Taylor and Defense Secretary Robert McNamara had been talking of withdrawing all U.S. troops by 1965. This served only to inspire the Viet Cong, hardly helped morale in Saigon.

From the very start, Taylor set a no-nonsense pace. He huddled immediately with U.S. Forces Commander Lieut. General William Westmoreland.

Wasted on the new arrival were the talents of former Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge's superb cook "Can," for Taylor eats quickly and sparingly, scheduled "working lunches" for weeks ahead. Accompanied by Deputy Ambassador U. Alexis Johnson, also newly arrived, Taylor embarked on a series of meetings, briefing and protocol sessions on his first day. He was up with the dawn next morning to pay a call on goateed Premier Nguyen Khanh.

Then he flew off to the seaside town of Da Nang to celebrate South Viet Nam's Air Force Day. Trim F-1OOs lined the runway as several score of Vietnamese pilots plus three U.S. aviators were decorated with the Medal of Gallantry with Gold Wings. At the nearby base hospital, Taylor passed out Purple Hearts to two wounded Americans and stopped to chat with a sergeant who had jumped with him over Normandy on D-day 20 years ago.

Phosphorus Barrage. From the 16,000 U.S. military men stationed in South Viet Nam, Taylor demanded an increased effort. "We're already aiding the Vietnamese in a thousand and one ways," he told them. "But let's not be satisfied when it might prove that the thousand and second way is the decisive one." Just how seriously that exhortation was taken was proved during one of three Viet Cong raids last week on U.S. Special Forces camps. When two Viet Cong battalions hit the camp near Nam Dong with a predawn barrage of white phosphorus mortar shells, U.S. Master Sergeant Gabriel Alamo and an Australian warrant officer fought their way to a weapons pit, fired parachute flares that illuminated the whole battle area--themselves included. They kept the flares burning even as the Viet Cong zeroed in on them. When the shooting stopped, Alamo, the Australian and 48 defenders were dead. But so were 107 Viet Cong raiders.

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