Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. At 0700, as daylight was breaking, my track rolled past the ARVN III Corps compound gate. 3. I walked back to my track, thinking this was going to be a real nightmare. all personnel to the flight line. As he fell, a burst of automatic weapons fire stitched the wall right where he would have been had he not fallen.. 1. 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. As we turned right onto Highway 15, an unbelievable spectacle stretched before us. My Account |
939939. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. Aerial view of Long Binh Post in Vietnam. I told the platoon leaders to prepare to dismount and to take all the ammunition and grenades they could carry. During the meeting, a master sergeant adviser to a Vietnamese ranger battalion ran into the compound. I told him that I wanted to command a company. Story Text: 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. We threw grenades over the wall behind them, but hit nothing.. Blood stains in ambulance. The attacks on Bin Ha, Bien Hoa Air Base and Long Binh Post, occurred during the early hours of 31 January 1968 and continued until 2 February 1968. Several tracks were hit by RPGs and surrounded by the enemy. Around midnight on October 29th, 1966, the Viet Cong mortared or rocketed the Long Binh Ammo Dump. Following that fight, the 2-47 was ordered south of the 9th Divisions base camp. The Vietnamese brigadier general, who was the ranking man at III Corps, drew circles around two equal-sized areas of downtown Bien Hoa. At 03:45 the unit engaged the VC/PAVN with 2 ACAVs being quickly knocked out by RPG fire. Charlie Company had reported 38 VC killed, at the cost of only 11 U.S. wounded and three APCs damaged by RPGs. As the 2/47th Infantry approached the town a Vietnamese warned that it contained many VC and the VC then launched an ambush on the column knocking out 3 ACAVs with RPGs setting off a 4-hour battle as the US forces engaged the VC position and rescued the survivors in the damaged ACAVs. 1968 - 1969, To See Lawrence's Service Battery Photos
SAIGON, South Vietnam, June 1 (Reuters)Explosions ripped through a huge ammu nition dump near here today, killing one soldier and wound ing 13. Mainly it is the story of some of the finest solders to ever wear the uniform of the U.S. Army and how they reacted not only to fierce combat, but also to the fog of war. Then things started falling
[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. During TET 1969 in front of Bunker Hill 17, VC sappers tried to penetrate our fence line. At 4 a.m., Jones ordered us to pull in our ambushes and be prepared to move, and told Charlie Companys noncombatants to report to battalion headquarters. Meanwhile, Charlie Company was ordered back to III Corps. There we would be assigned a unit we would serve with in Vietnam. After commanding 180 paratroopers, taking on four APCs and 40 troops seemed like a dreamexcept that now I was responsible for troops in combat, not training. THE EXPLOSIONS RATTLED WINDOWS IN SAIGON, ABOUT 13 MILES (20 KILOMETERS) AWAY. 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. He waved me off. The progress was slow and ammo was becoming scarce, particularly grenades, which get consumed at an enormous rate in city fighting. The 2-47 was one of several units he pulled in from the jungles to guard the Long Binh headquarters and logistical complex 15 miles northeast of Saigon. 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. Somehow the foam trucks from
I went through the quarters making sure everyone
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. There was an ammo dump explosion in 1968 also and both 1967 and 1968 are correct and were of course separate incidents. Get under! After what seemed like
Here was another sign that the situation was serious: The battalion commander personally gave out map coordinates of company objectives in the clear.Alpha Company was ordered to the 199th LIB compound, which was under attack. The VC concentrated their attack on Bunker 10 an old French concrete bunker on the eastern perimeter, hitting it with Rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and mortar fire, however the Security Police in Bunker 10 and adjacent bunkers fought back keeping the VC from penetrating far into the base. (Vietnam War period). 0.48 14. Anyone can read what you share. At least 3,000 tons of ammu nition were reportedly de stroyed in the blasts, which be gan before dawn and continued until midmorning. Now
The attacks on Bin Ha, Bien Hoa Air Base and Long Binh Post, occurred during the early hours of 31 January 1968 and continued until 2 February 1968. They ordered us to clear the VC from the houses surrounding the corps headquarters. Privacy Policy | Links
As the Hueys rockets smashed the VC strongpoint, the scouts fought their way out of the encirclement and evacuated their dead and wounded. Bill Langan, aka "Sparky" was on duty in the 573rd hanger at the Bird Cage and took the slide photo. 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.
Artillery
Charlie Company reacted quickly to reinforce Alpha, and a daylong fight ensued. 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. Love was so startled, he didnt fire. As dawn broke, everything was deathly quiet. In addition, gunships killed many more as they tried to escape from the villages. The II Field Force commander, Lt. Gen. Frederick C. Weyand, had correctly predicted a major attack during Tet, and his anticipation no doubt saved Long Binh and Saigon from being overrun. By Vietnam terms
This group is primarily for those Vietnam veterans who experienced the ammo dump attacks in Long Binh in 1966, '67, & '68. yelling Kortuem! from Bien Hoa City. (Vietnam War period). The VC attacks on Bien Hoa and the Long Binh complex were abject failures, due in part to the fact that on January 31, 1968, they had run into the Panthers of the 2nd Battalion (Mechanized), 47th Infantry. OK. The battle proved significant, as Alphas leadership was seriously depleted immediately prior to Tet. Riflemen staying close behind. 118th during the Tet of 1968, also called the Defense of Bien
I have . Now commanded by a brand-new second lieutenant, the men of Alpha Company balked when they were told to move. 1 comment. I jumped down and ran from track to track, pounding on the sides and yelling, Check your handsets! As I ran back through the weapons platoon, I came upon an unbelievable sight. While much has been written about Tet and the political firestorm that resulted, in the hundreds of surprise battles and skirmishes that unfolded, individual units found themselves thrust into intense danger, turmoil, chaos, confusion, contradictions and outright lunacy as they responded to Viet Cong (VC) attacks. With a push-to-talk button stuck in the transmit position, no one could use the radio. Chu Lai and LZ Baldy Photos. This was no surprise to us, since we could plainly hear the enemy rounds slamming into Long Binh. That night, frightened bunker guards in the 199th compound shot into the darkness to their front. The 2nd Platoon took the one north of the road, the 1st Platoon attacked the other. All day civilians had been darting from their homes and running from the fighting. I dismounted the platoons and placed them on line on each side of the road: the second on the left, or north, and the first on the right, or south. Summary - October 1966. They had been told that the population would rise up against the Americans and that there would be plenty of captured U.S. weapons to fight with. [3]:2204, On 1 February Company B, 2/3rd Infantry, Company C, 4/12th Infantry and elements of 2/47th Infantry swept Ho Nai finding only dead VC/PAVN and civilians who had been murdered by the VC or killed in the fighting in the town. At 08:00 the VC south of the Plantation withdrew into the Widows Village. The 2-47s scout platoon had just finished a brutal fight in Widows Village, and at 1600 hours, it was ordered to move to the junction of Highways 1 and 316, and to attack westward through the village of Ho Nai toward Charlie Company, in the hope of pinning the VC between us. When it went off my first thought was that it was a nuclear explosion because of the light dome that rose from the explosion. to check-in and see what was going on, and found myself the only
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. I explained to the colonel that this was not a police action, and that we werent searching houses, we were in combat. We began to pop hand-held flares so they could see we were there, but the shooting persisted, one round actually hitting my track. As enemy resistance stiffened, we realized we had bottled at least a company of the VC 275th Regiment in the village. During this fighting, the two platoon leaders were wounded, Lieutenant Casper in the leg and Lieutenant Jones in the foot. Over the two month recovery and clearing operation, tens of thousands of these hazardous munitions were recoverd by hand, one at a time. Elements of B Company, 2/47th Infantry (Mechanized) and C Company, 4/39th Infantry, clearing North Vietnamese Army regulars from "Widows' Village" (a hamlet of housing provided by the government of the Republic of Vietnam for widows and children of fallen ARVN soldiers). After we finished clearing the area around the compound and as our wounded were being dusted off, I received an absolutely incredible order from III Corps. Not only would I not finish my command tour, I was being assigned to a leg division. [3]:2289, The Tt ceasefire began on 29 January, but was cancelled on 30 January after the VC/PAVN prematurely launched attacks in II Corps and at 17:30 the 7th Air Force commander General William W. Momyer ordered all air bases in South Vietnam to security condition red. At 0400 Jones ordered us to pull in our ambushes and be prepared to move. After I received the coordinates of our objective, I yelled, Crank em up! into the radio handset, and we moved out. Long Binh Ammo Dump October 29, 1966 . 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. We suffered more wounded during the trip back to III Corps, where I was called to a meeting in the headquarters. 4 Joseph Sugar Bear Dames returned to the tracks for more grenades. We packed up all of our gear, rolled up our concertina wire and waited. During December we made little enemy contact, probably because the Communists were lying low, preparing for Tet. He said the first thing he could remember was the
Binh Hoa Airbase was lucky they were not the
Troops opened their attacks with volleys of grenades, then charged in shooting. (Vietnam War period). Several soldiers gathered in front of the track to help the wounded, and Love climbed up to man the .50-caliber. [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. As the sun sank over the Long Binh base, they tossed a football and ate cold C rations. At about 6 a.m., Lt. Col. John Tower, the new battalion commander, called with orders. Which date was it? LONG BINH, South Viet Nam (UPII A thunderous explosion that shook the heart of Saigon 11 miles away ripped through a U.S. ammunition depot tonight and wounded a handful of Americans. Some of the enemy had tunneled under the fence and exploded an
This is the story of one rifle company, and what it faced on that decisive day. With a push-to-talk button stuck in the transmit position, no one could use the radio. His battalion was in heavy contact and he had several wounded rangers he needed to evacuate. wire on the top of LBJ (Long Binh Jail). Something was definitely about to happen. Ly's grandfather was a soldier stationed in Quang Binh during the war. 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. 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. with no lights waiting for the attack to lift so we could get
PAVN/VC losses were 137 killed and 25 captured. 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. 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. and still no answer. Forget that, he said. 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. 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. . 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. USAF (United States Air Force) F-100 Super Sabre jet fighter aircraft drops Mark 82 (Mk.82) high-drag (HD) bombs. Smoke rises from surrounding area. Satchel charges blew pallets of artillery ammunition, creating a mushroom cloud that made us think the VC had set off a tactical nuclear weapon. Under fire, Staff Sgt. An MP full colonel, accompanied by a Los Angeles deputy sheriff (dressed in his deputy uniform) and two jeeploads of National Police, drove up to my track. It also contained tons of captured NVA ammo and guns from the A Shau Valley. I yelled at Lieutenant Casper, and everybody looked around as the VC tore out running the last few yards to safety. 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. border. 1.19 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. Shoe of soldier on ground. All I could think of to say was, Please clear that weapon!During the meeting, a master sergeant adviser to a Vietnamese ranger battalion ran into the compound. opened his mouth but, SGT Cuffee, the supply SGT. I was to be a platoon leader again, in Charlie Company, commanded by Captain John Ionoff. As the Hueys rockets smashed the VC strongpoint, the scouts fought their way out of the encirclement and evacuated their dead and wounded. For more great articles, subscribe to Vietnam magazine today! Casper rose from a prone position and yelled for his troops to follow him. I remember telling him that if the shooting persisted, or if they hit one of my troops, I wouldnt be responsible if my troops shot back. In addition we detained more than 20 probable VC fighters dressed in civilian clothes. I had learned no tactic at infantry school that fit the situation we were faced with, so we improvised. As the afternoon of January 30 drifted toward dusk, Charlie Company soldiers stripped to the waist and dug bunkers next to their M-113s. At that moment, a burst of VC machine gun fire erupted, causing the colonel, the deputy and their Vietnamese escorts to pile into their vehicles and roar off in the direction from whence they had come. Unfortunately for the VC, they had no weapons other than the RPG launcher. F-100 Super Sabre and F-4 Phantom II drop Mark 82 bombs in Vietnam during U.S. air strikes. I was the DistrictSenior Advisor (Army) in Vinh Kim, Long Dinh District, right across the canal from Dong Tam in 1968-1969. ", "Then we were all in the bunker
officer around. The only contact I had had with M-113 armored personnel carriers (APCs) was during a training exercise at the officers basic course just after I entered the Army. Some were complete projectiles weighing
The 2-47s enemy body count came in at over 200, while the battalion suffered only four KIA. Fighting our way to the scout platoon, we were stopped when we came upon two large churches, straddling Highway 1, each occupied by VC. I almost did
I called III Corps to report that we had detained all of these people, and was told to wait for the Vietnamese National Police to take charge. The churches were cleared in short order. 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. Refusing evacuation, neither reported his wound. secondary explosions. A few minutes later, a jeep drove up carrying two extremely frightened white-shirted policemen. By 1968 the Bien Hoa-Long Binh complex was the largest US/South Vietnamese military base in South Vietnam. I realized we were driving past our objective, halted the company and called for the 2nd Platoon to find a place to turn around. At 7 a.m., as daylight was breaking, my track rolled past the ARVN III Corps compound gate. more that happened that night. The attacks were repulsed with the VC/PAVN suffering heavy losses, having inflicted minimal damage on the bases. Charlie Company quickly reinforced Alpha, and a daylong fight ensued. The first explosion was 2,400,000 pounds of 8 inch high explosive artillery projectiles. went off and all hell broke lose. I said again, "Who is there"? Soldiers of the U.S. 2nd Battalion 47th Infantry (Mechanized) and 4th Battalion 39th Infantry clearing a hamlet during the Tet Offensive in Vietnam. Just then a three-man VC RPG team calmly walked across the street right in front of the damaged APC. 6 External links modified. Toward dusk on January 30, Charlie Company soldiers stripped to the waist to dig bunkers next to their APCs. We packed up our gear, rolled up our wire and waited. 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. We had returned from a
charred. (Vietnam War period). Meanwhile, Huey gunships reported VC running from the village. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. [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. Charlie Companys 3rd Platoon was also detached for a security mission inside the base. In January 1968, our battalion relocated to the area between Xuan Loc and Bien Hoa, where intelligence had located a VC battalion.