on the Bailey Compound, only in the 145th CAB HQ which could I said again, "Who is there"? It knocked a dimple in the side of the track as I fired up the gunner., Later in the fighting, Casper and several 2nd Platoon troops were pinned down next to a building. The Commo track, C-007, nicknamed Abdula and the Rug Merchants, with then- Pfc (and current Vietnam editor) David Zabecki behind the .50-caliber, brought up the rear. The II Field Force commander, Lt. Gen. Frederick C. Weyand, had correctly guessed that a major attack was going to come during Tet, and his anticipation of the attacks no doubt saved Long Binh and Saigon from being overrun. That night, no one slept, but instead scanned the jungles with Starlight scopes, seeing nothing. As the sun sank low, we closed within a few hundred meters of the scout platoon and watched as helicopter gunships destroyed a large yellow house from which the VC were pinning down Barnes troops. (National Archives), https://www.historynet.com/lt-col-john-e-gross-recalls-the-tet-battles-of-bien-hoa-and-long-binh/, Jerrie Mock: Record-Breaking American Female Pilot, When 21 Sikh Soldiers Fought the Odds Against 10,000 Pashtun Warriors, Few Red Tails Remain: Tuskegee Airman Dies at 96. Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. We fired all we had into the buildings lining the roadway and took several wounded while getting to the church. biggest ordnance storage areas in the country. When offered the chance to go to II Field Force to help establish a new long-range reconnaissance patrol outfit, I turned it down to stay with the company. As the 2nd Platoon began to run short, Spc. Something was definitely about to happen. As time passed, I became a mechanized soldier. Privacy Policy2023 CriticalPast LLC. By late afternoon the 275th Regiment retreated north, leaving over 200 dead. We all knew that these moves were more than just precautionary. Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. Bravo Company (one member of which was Spc. Ive just been told you work for me again. Now the fight was on. Satchel charges blew pallets of artillery ammunition, creating a mushroom cloud that made us think the VC had set off a tactical nuclear weapon. We could shoot about 21 miles into Cambodia. Then, for the last week in January, the 2-47 was sent south of the 9th Divisions base camp to patrol the jungles east of Highway 15, near the Binh Son rubber plantation. The bombs descend and explode on structures in grove of trees near rice paddies 23 miles east of Binh Thuy on 19th August. The 2nd Platoon pulled the damaged track out of the side street and towed it back to the III Corps compound. A VC guerrilla hiding behind a parked ARVN jeep had fired the rocket. It knocked a dimple in the side of the track as I fired up the gunner., Later in the fighting, Casper and several 2nd Platoon troops were pinned down next to a building. When it went off my first thought was that it was a nuclear explosion because of the light dome that rose from the explosion. on the water tower". I was having a few beers with several other sailors in the outside screened patio area of the Navy EM Club when we heard a noise to our left. and still no answer. I yelled at Lieutenant Casper, and everybody looked around as the VC tore out running the last few yards to safety. [2]:347, At 01:00, a 6-man LRRP from Company F, 51st Infantry Regiment spotted PAVN/VC moving through rubber trees several hundred meters to the north of Long Binh Post. We charged southeast down Highway 316 to the Highway 15 intersection, situated on a small hill overlooking the 90th Replacement Company. Normally, operations orders issued over the radio were encoded and sent by the S3s radio operator. I walked back to my track, thinking this was going to be a real nightmare. All night they scanned the jungles with Starlight scopes, seeing nothing. Then things started falling hightForP2 = 330 [3]:218, The town of Ho Nai (105812N 1065335E / 10.970N 106.893E / 10.970; 106.893) was located on Highway 1 north of the Widow's Village and Long Binh Post. Long Binh Vietnam 1968 stock footage and images - CriticalPast 6. 1968 - 1969, To See Lawrence's Service Battery Photos . By continuing to use this site without changing your cookie settings, you agree that you are happy to accept our privacy policyand cookie policyand for us to access our cookies on your device. The offensive continued until the end of the month in the North part of Featured Collections | Casper rose from a prone position and yelled for his troops to follow him. Not only would I not finish my command tour, I was being assigned to a leg division. SAIGON, South Vietnam, June 1 (Reuters)Explosions ripped through a huge ammu nition dump near here today, killing one soldier and wound ing 13. Long Binh Vietnam 1969 stock footage and images - CriticalPast I had assumed I would be assigned to one of the battalions in the Delta where I could use my light infantry and Ranger school experience. Bravo Company was sent to protect the Long Binh ammunition dump and Charlie Company was ordered into downtown Bien Hoa, where the ARVN III Corps headquarters was in danger of being overrun. M-113 APCs of the 9th Infantry Division storm VC positions 200 meters outside II Field Force headquarters at Long Binh on February 1, 1968. I called battalion headquarters and was told to forget about them, which reinforced our sense that combat was imminent. At the beginning of the Tet Offensive, one rifle company was ordered to to clear the village of Ho Nai, a Bien Hoa suburb. [2]:349, The perimeter was strengthened by an ad hoc force of support personnel from the 145th Aviation Battalion and just before midday the ARVN 57th Regional Force Battalion moved through the base and counterattacked the VC forcing them to withdraw east into the rubber plantation leaving behind over 100 dead. This article was written by John E. Gross and originally published in the February 2008 issue of Vietnam Magazine. I realize now that the track was high enough that the rounds would have passed over the troops in front of the vehicle, Love recalls. The 2-47s enemy body count came in at over 200, while the battalion suffered only four KIA. In addition, gunships killed many more as they tried to escape from the villages. 0.04 [3]:2015, At 04:00 a 60-man VC sapper team penetrated the northeastern perimeter of the base killing three MPs and entered the massive ammunition dump (105646N 1065436E / 10.946N 106.91E / 10.946; 106.91) where they planted eighteen Satchel charges before being forced to withdraw by the 720th Military Police Battalion. Despite the confusion and wounds, our troops returned fire. Bravo Company was sent to protect the Long Binh ammunition dump, and Charlie Company was ordered into downtown Bien Hoa, where the ARVN III Corps headquarters was in danger of being overrun. only be entered from off the Bien Hoa Air base and thru the gate For more great articles, subscribe to Vietnam magazine today! was a point where the Ho Chi Min Trail came close to the countrys West who was tossed into a sewage ditch by the explosion, remembers 'killing the jeep' with his M-16. The Vietnamese brigadier general, who was the ranking man at III Corps, drew circles around two equal-sized areas of downtown Bien Hoa. Under fire, Staff Sgt. I Battalion policy was that we had to fill in all holes and empty our sandbags each time we left a position. Sappers had placed satchel charges on pallets of artillery ammunition, and the resulting mushroom cloud caused all its witnesses to think the VC had employed a tactical nuclear weapon. Then and At the meeting I was joined by the S3 of a battalion from the 101st Airborne Division. The 2nd Platoon led the way under Lieutenant Fred Casper, followed by my track, then Lieutenant Howard Jones 1st Platoon and, finally, the weapons platoon under Lieutenant Don Muir. resulting in the explosion of the ammo dump at Bin Ha Air Base. As the afternoon of January 30 drifted toward dusk, Charlie Company soldiers stripped to the waist and dug bunkers next to their M-113s. In Bin Ha itself the 3rd Ranger Task Force, consisting of the 35th and 36th Ranger Battalions, provided a rapid reaction force supported by 2 155-mm howitzer battalions located on the southeast of the city. Company E engaged the PAVN/VC supported by artillery fire killing 47 PAVN/VC. The attacks by Vietcong (VC) and People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) forces were one of several major attacks around Saigon in the first days of the Tet offensive. Charlie Companys 3rd Platoon was also detached for a security mission inside the base. Blood stains in ambulance. Besides the actions of Charlie Company, under the leadership of the S3, Major Bill Jones, Alpha had conducted an assault on VC positions in a cemetery. When we arrived, we filed off the busses . Each APC could carry almost as much ammunition as a dismounted rifle company, and in a fight, the company had 22 .50-caliber machine guns, a 106mm and several 90mm recoilless rifles, and more radios and M-60 machine guns than a walking company could ever carry. Realizing I had not eaten for 24 hours, I looked for some breakfast, but all I could find was a bag of pistachio nuts. We never saw them again. Seems like the fighting went on The explosion echoed over an area of 50 miles. was out of the bldgs. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. SOUTH VIETNAM: VIET CONG EXPLODE U.S. Come back up on the battalion freq.. Love was so startled, he didnt fire. Charlie Companys 3rd Platoon was also detached for a security mission inside the base. Suddenly he came upon a VC RPG team drawing a bead on my command track, which was a prime target given the number of radio antennas jutting from it. He manned the .50 and, with a Charlie Company driver, headed down Highway 1. Meanwhile, Hueys reported VC running from the village. https://www.historynet.com/tet-offensive-the-battles-of-bien-hoa-and-long-binh/, Jerrie Mock: Record-Breaking American Female Pilot, When 21 Sikh Soldiers Fought the Odds Against 10,000 Pashtun Warriors, Few Red Tails Remain: Tuskegee Airman Dies at 96. I asked one of the men This fire was observed by the helicopter gunships that had been circling the area north of Long Binh and they quickly moved to attack the launch sites and were soon joined by an AC-47 Spooky gunship and their combined fire soon stopped the rocket/mortar fire. Even though it was about 6-8 miles away to the NE of Bien Hoa, it was plainly visible . We had returned from a Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. 1 comment. bodies across the road began to bloat into a grotesque scene. In April 1967 I was a first lieutenant commanding a rifle company in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C. Four men were killed and more than 20 wounded, including most of the officers. Several M 113 armored personnel carriers (APCs) are seen accompanying the troops. When the Tet cease-fire period began on January 28, the battalion was called back to the vicinity of Bear Cat, a base camp near Long Thanh. The VC/PAVN attacked the position that night in a 6 hour long assault which was met initially by US mortar and artillery fire, then helicopter gunships and then napalm strikes. South Vietnam: Viet Cong Explode U.s. Ammunition Dump. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. Army used the base as a logistics and command center. U.S. troops firing small arms as they proceed across tall grass into the hamlet. (Long Binh) ammunition dump. Those orders were for us to clear the VC from the houses surrounding the corps headquarters. border. As 1st Lt. Brice Barnes led his scouts into Ho Nai, he ran full speed into a hornets nest. Although initially surprised, U.S. forces had reacted quickly. I sat behind the .50-caliber, munching and giving thanks for the fact that, incredibly, nobody in Charlie Company had been killed. carried on into that night with tracers flying everywhere. Evan Ammo dump - VHFCN [American sources in Vien tiane said, as quoted by The Associated Press, that the captured American was prob ably the pilot of a Continent al Air Service plane that was forced to land behind Pathet Lao lines after running out of fuel. night on alert at the Birdcage, I was awakened (trying to sleep out of the sky. Well, the piece of shrapnel At 3 a.m. on January 31, I received a call from Major Bill Jones, who had recently taken Ionoffs place as operations officer. Tet Offensive: The Battles of Bien Hoa and Long Binh - HistoryNet Advanced Search | USAF (United States Air Force) F-100 Super Sabre jet fighter aircraft drops Mark 82 (Mk.82) high-drag (HD) bombs. After telling them to stop shooting He said the first thing he could remember was the I almost did Contact Us | The 2nd Platoon took on the one on the north side of the road, and the 1st Platoon attacked the other. Big Ammunition Dump Near Saigon Hit by Blasts, https://www.nytimes.com/1973/06/02/archives/big-ammunition-dump-near-saigon-hit-by-blasts-laotian-reports.html. CU SIGN "NO SMOKING" This site requires JavaScript. recoil of my M14. I told him that I wanted to command a company. Charlie Company had reported 38 VC killed, at the cost of only 11 U.S. wounded and three APCs damaged by RPGs. The attacks were repulsed with the VC/PAVN suffering heavy losses, having inflicted minimal damage on the bases. [6]:12, Several dozen of the PAVN rockets exploded near the II Field Force and 199th LIB headquarters in the Plantation Compound (105728N 1065241E / 10.9577N 106.878E / 10.9577; 106.878) causing minimal damage. 1. Toward dark, airstrikes had to be called in to blast the VC from the hill. His action probably saved the lives of everyone on my track. Barbed wire torn apart by Vietcong who infiltrated through Longbinh ammunition camp. We suffered more wounded during the trip back to III Corps, where I was called to a meeting in the headquarters. Dressed as travelers returning to ancestral homes for the Tet holiday, the guerrillas had quietly drifted into their urban assembly areas and put together their weapons. [2]:347[3]:225, At 03:00, the PAVN 84A Artillery Regiment began a barrage of approximately 100 82-mm. As the scouts escaped, the volume of enemy fire began to slacken, then died altogether. Bien Hoa Air Base was the largest air base in the country, home to over 500 United States Air Force (USAF) and Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) aircraft, while Long Binh Post was the US Army's largest logistics base, headquarters of II Field Force, Vietnam, the 199th Light Infantry Brigade (199th LIB) and the 12th Aviation Group and home to over 20,000 US personnel. In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. The armed helicopter teams had a field day shooting guerrillas trying to flee into the jungle. He started wire on the top of LBJ (Long Binh Jail). THE STORM BREAKS Part 1 In the late-night hours of 29 January 1968 When it went off my first thought was that it was a nuclear explosion because of the light dome that rose from the explosion. Bringing that volatile convoy through the city, which had not been totally cleared and was still burning in many places, was a tremendously heroic act. 9. Fires were burning late into the afternoon. Rocket Attack on Dong Tam - Brownwater Vietnam Veterans When the Tet cease-fire period began on January 28, the battalion was called back to the vicinity of Bear Cat, and Charlie Company was ordered to a large open field across Highway 15 from the Long Tan airfield. Policy was to fill in all holes and empty our sandbags when we left a position, to leave nothing the VC might use against us. EXPLOSIONS IN DISTANCE build bunkers, and help pick up the dead enemy across the fence. forever the big pieces stopped. Maps of Heavily Sprayed Areas and Dioxin Hot Spots We could ride, walk or be airlifted to war, and we arrived with many times the ammo and equipment that could be lifted in by helicopter. Page contents not supported in other languages. I assigned areas of operation to my two rifle platoons, and positioned the weapons platoon inside the compound as a reserve and security force. The recon platoon was ordered to establish a blocking position south of Long Binh on Highway 15. In addition we detained more than 20 probable VC fighters dressed in civilian clothes. An eyewitness account of the battle for control of Bien Hoa and Long Binh on the first day of the 1968 Tet Offensive. As best I could, I explained that they were to take charge and that General Giap might be among the civilians. Ripped apart barbed wire. [5], USAF losses were 4 killed in action with another dying of a heart attack, while 26 were wounded. The 1st Platoon of Bravo Company was made the II Field Force reaction force and was placed in the PX parking lot at Long Binh. Under fire, Staff Sgt. My only previous contact with M-113 armored personnel carriers (APCs) was during a training exercise at the officers basic course. Long Bnh Post and the Vietnam War | Worlds Revealed We began detaining the well-dressed young men among the refugees. We came up with a T formation. Tower had called and told me Charlie Company was under the operational control of III Corps and I was to take my orders from them. Somehow the foam trucks from EOD in Vietnam 1966-1967, Photo Album - ZiaNet The three companies formed a line almost three kilometers long, facing east, with their backs to the Long Binh wire, based on the mistaken assumption that the VC would attack from the jungle. Meanwhile, Charlie Company was ordered back to III Corps. I had been in Vietnam about nine months. Service Battery that supplied ordnance to the big guns in our battalion. At the time of the Zabecki remembers taking his place on the wall with his M-79. I was to be a platoon leader again, in Charlie Company, commanded by Captain John Ionoff. He While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. At 03:45 the unit engaged the VC/PAVN with 2 ACAVs being quickly knocked out by RPG fire. Vehicles drive past on roads between the Long Binh Post area. Alpha Company, still licking its wounds from the January 23 fight, was left intact. As was our normal practice, each company had sent two ambush patrols into the jungle to our front. In a fight, the company had 22 .50-caliber machine guns, a 106mm and several 90mm recoilless rifles, and more radios and M-60 machine guns than a walking company could ever carry. The village of Ho Nai, now a ghost town, was still smoldering. - He read a memorandum charging that 100 days after the signing of the Vientiane ceasefire accords, the seven men had been planning to take command of groups of saboteurs recently infiltrated into the area., See the article in its original context from. I assigned areas of operation to my two rifle platoons and positioned the weapons platoon inside the compound as a reserve and security force. It had been over two days and many of us had no sleep. sixteen guns stationed next to the western border of Vietnam. Then things started falling out of the sky. 3 Merge Long Binh Jail into Long Binh. Sugar Bear Dames, as he was called by his many friends, walked down a side alley toward the highway. In addition we detained more than 20 probable VC fighters dressed in civilian clothes. As I walked around the front of a track, the .50-caliber gunner accidentally hit the trigger and pumped five rounds into the ground about three feet in front of me. Tower sent the battalion S3, Major Jones, to take command, and once Alpha got moving, it did a magnificent job. Big Ammunition Dump Near Saigon Hit by Blasts a noise! Bin Ha Air Base: Memories of Bin Ha, TET 1969, by Larry - VSPA Forget that, he said. secondary explosions. In fact, the Communists had already infiltrated the city of Bien Hoa, suburban Ho Nai village and Widows Village, where pensioned families of deceased ARVN soldiers lived. Several soldiers gathered in front of the track to help the wounded, and Love climbed up to man the .50-caliber. With the explosion of the entire ammunition dump imminent, and in the midst of exploding shells, fire and debris, the men of COMPANY B, . On January 23, during a battalion sweep through heavy jungle south of Highway 1, Alpha Company walked into a camouflaged, well-defended enemy bunker system and was badly mauled. STOCKPILES OF BOMBS AND ARTILLERY SHELLS AT THE U.S. ARMY AMMUNITION DUMP AT LONG BINH, IN SOUTH VIETNAM, ERUPTED YESTERDAY (SATURDAY) WHEN TIME CHARGES, PLACED BY VIET CONG RAIDERS, DETONATED AMID TONS OF HIGH EXPLOSIVES. 4. A VC guerrilla hiding behind a parked ARVN jeep had fired the rocket. [3]:210 Instead at approximately 03:30 the VC began firing across the road at the Plantation Compound being met by return fire from the perimeter bunkers. To ensure you can use all the features please enable it. Meanwhile, Charlie Company was ordered back to III Corps. My Account | The platoons attacked by successive bounds through the village as the companys tracks, forming the base of the T on the highway, provided fire support from the .50s and resupplied the troops with ammunition. Flames consuming huts. Benny Toney, the 2nd Platoon sergeant, hooked a tow cable to Stormy. AIR V..FIRES During the morning of January 30, the 2-47 Mech was notified that the Tet cease-fire was canceled, and the unit was deployed into a defensive line along the road that ran around the east side of the Long Binh base. Alpha Company was ordered to the 199th LIB compound, which was under attack. Since I was in an airborne unit, it seemed certain that I would go to the 173rd Airborne Brigade or the 101st Airborne Division. With a push-to-talk button stuck in the transmit position, no one could use the radio. Unconfirmed reports reports said the blasts were . M-117 bombs explode near and on road on wooden slopes near river north of Pleiku near Dak To, on 18 August, 1968. I walked back to my track, thinking this was going to be a nightmare. rockets at Bien Hoa AB and Long Binh Post. around Bien Hoa Airbase and headed toward our post of Long Binh, then probably one of the best deals I had been Used for because the 0.35 Through sporadic fire, we continued northwest on Highway 15 to where it intersected Highway 1 on the western edge of Bien Hoa. [4], The 179th Military Intelligence Detachment of the 199th LIB had been gathering intelligence on a pending attack on Long Binh for several weeks before the attacks based on human intelligence and ground radar. These photos were taken from December 9, 1967 to February 1968. As we made the turn eastward on Highway 1, the lead platoon was ambushed. After a eventful Burned out 105mm howitzer shells at ammunition dump in Bien Hoa Air Force Base, Bien Hoa in Vietnam. A few minutes later, a jeep drove up carrying two extremely frightened white-shirted policemen. danger and the probable best course of action. At 07:30 the VC/PAVN force stopped and made a stand in a cemetery where they continued to be hit by the gunships and the ACAVs of Company C. At 08:00 Company C was joined by a force from 2/47th Infantry and they proceeded to methodically kill all the VC/PAVN in the cemetery. AIR V..AMMUNITION DUMPS AND FIRES Later, as the sun sank over the Long Binh base, they tossed a football and ate cold C rations. Widows Village made a perfect attack position for the VC, since it lay directly across Highway 316 from II Field Force headquarters in the Long Binh complex. 2 comments. A force from Company C, 2/3rd Infantry mounted on ACAVs was sent north from Ho Nai and pinned the VC/PAVN in a crossfire. 0.54 I told him we couldnt take the tracks off Highway 1 into town because the streets were too narrow. Having been struck by mortars or rockets, the fuel tanks at the air base, as well as several buildings throughout Bien Hoa, were burning brightly. VC informants inside the base had provided detailed information as to the base layout and defenses. The remains of a stack of over 15,000 high explosive 155mm artillery projectiles after the VC attack on February 4. agreement was that the stockade prisoners would pitch our sandbags, help After much frequency changing, I finally got the commander of the bunker guards on the radio. Tet airstrike Long Binh Ammo Dump - YouTube General Patton's son, then Lt. Col. George Patton III, commander of the U.S. Army's 11th Armored Cavalry (Black Horse), positioned his tanks in between our big bunker hills . In January 1968, our battalion relocated to the area between Xuan Loc and Bien Hoa, where intelligence had located a VC battalion. Following that fight, the 2-47 was ordered south of the 9th Divisions base camp. They all blew up! It also contained tons of captured NVA ammo and guns from the A Shau Valley. I had been in command for five months and had been assured that I would be in command for one year, which suited me fine. (Vietnam War period). We were in a cloud of disarray During TET 1969 in front of Bunker Hill 17, VC sappers tried to penetrate our fence line. (Vietnam War period). remember that my right shoulder and chest were black and blue from the [3]:2515, A VC/PAVN attack on the prisoner of war camp in Bin Ha which held over 2000 prisoners was repulsed by a platoon from Company C, 4/12th Infantry and a platoon from Company D, 17th Cavalry and their ACAVs. Tet Offensive I had returned to Long Binh Post. "What are you firing at? " Some were complete projectiles weighing [2]:347 Within Bien Hoa AB, the USAF 3rd Security Police Squadron was responsible for security manning bunkers and operating mobile patrols within the base perimeter. The platoons attacked by successive bounds through the village as the tracks, forming the base of the T, gave fire support from the .50s and resupplied the troops with ammo. LV WATER TRUCKS ALONG ROAD, EXPLOSION IN B/G. We threw grenades over the wall behind them, but hit nothing.. Now someone pointed out that there were a lot of young men, all dressed in black pants and white shirts, walking among the refugees. Unconfirmed reports reports said the blasts were the work of Vietcong sabotage teams. 26 VC/PAVN were killed in the attack and several captured. His battalion was in heavy contact and he had several wounded rangers he needed to evacuate. Rolling back through Bien Hoa, we were astounded to come upon the battalion S4, Captain Leroy Brown, in the middle of town with a 5,000-gallon fuel tanker and several ammunition trucks. the airbase made it too us in the daylight and foamed the ditch for 2,400,000 pounds of 8 inch high explosive artillery projectiles. Suddenly he came upon a VC RPG team drawing a bead on my command track, which was marked as a prime target by the number of radio antennas jutting from it. By Vietnam terms At dawn on 2 February the US counted approximately 50 VC/PAVN dead in the area and captured 3 VC. To get to the church, we had to run a gantlet of fire, through the VC 238th Regiment and into the flank of the 275th, which was fighting the 2-47s scout platoon in Widows Village. went off and all hell broke lose. Tet offensive attacks on Bien Hoa and Long Binh - Wikipedia 4 Joseph Sugar Bear Dames returned to the tracks for more grenades. The combat around III Corps headquarters was intense. ". In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. My plan was to make captain and go to Vietnam as an experienced company commander. That night, frightened bunker guards in the 199th compound shot into the darkness to their front.
Hawaiian Airlines Employee K Fare, Indigenous Community Definition Ap Human Geography, Oakland Oregon Transfer Station Hours, Articles L