We suffered more wounded during the trip back to III Corps, where I was called to a meeting in the headquarters. When the G3 adviser told me to lend the rangers a track, I told the sergeant that the M-113 was not a tank and to be extremely careful with it. We began to pop hand-held flares so they could see we were there, but the shooting persisted, one round actually hitting my track. 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. trooper was injured by a piece of shrapnel that had come down Cambodian border to the South China sea was already considered a 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. View of surrounding areas. 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. 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. Then a report came in that a body had been found wearing a white shirt under a black pajama tunic. PAVN/VC losses were 137 killed and 25 captured. When I arrived at 9th Division in June, I was shocked to learn that I was going to a mechanized battalion. For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Vietnam Magazine today! Construction on the 24 th. the wrecker operator had to know how to weld. The village of Ho Nai, now a ghost town, still smoldered. (Note: According to Colonel Sonny Craven, then leader of a combat photo team on the scene, these combat sequences was filmed by soldiers of the 221st Signal Company [Pictorial]). 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. I sounded off, "who is there"? As I remember this night, around 12 or 12:30 a.m. the sirens In addition, we were tremendously flexible. I realized we were driving past our objective, halted the company and called for the 2nd Platoon to find a place to turn around. We began detaining the well-dressed young men among the refugees. Set. [2]:347[3]:225, At 03:00, the PAVN 84A Artillery Regiment began a barrage of approximately 100 82-mm. 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. GV EXPLOSIONS AND FIRES As my airborne mentality faded, I learned to love the M-113or track, as we called it. 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 in the pre-dawn gloom, with small-arms fire cracking overhead, I was amazed to see young girls carrying bottles of Coca-Cola, trying to sell them to the troops. We opened up with everything we had and kept driving. maxhightForP2 = 13904; He said his battalion was in heavy contact, and he had several wounded rangers he needed to evacuate. We rolled through Long Binh and out the main gate, then turned left onto Highway 316. Charlie Companys 3rd Platoon was also detached for a security mission inside the base. When Lieutenant Casper jumped up, our legs became entangled and I tripped him, Ax remembers. I called III Corps and reported that we had detained all of these people, and was told to wait until the Vietnamese National Police arrived to take charge. Tower sent Major Jones to take command, and once Alpha got moving, it did a magnificent job. The 2-47s enemy body count came in at more than 200, while the battalion suffered only four KIA. only be entered from off the Bien Hoa Air base and thru the gate 5. As enemy resistance stiffened, we realized we had bottled at least a company of the VC 275th Regiment in the village. 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. At about 0600, Lt. Col. John Tower, the new battalion commander, called with orders. This was no surprise to us, since we could hear the enemy rounds slamming into Long Binh. According to him, I told him that any fool could see that the VC did not have M-113s, and that we had 22 .50-calibers and a 106mm recoilless rifle and they, for sure, did not want us to return fire. He ignored me and proceeded to a nearby house where he and the deputy sheriff kicked in the front door. bunker. 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 bombs descend and explode near structures in grove of tress in agricultural area 30 miles southwest of Saigon on 19 August, 1968. [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. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. ordnance pad in the huge ammo dump. 2 comments. The VC who had fired the RPG slipped away, but Pfc Jim Love, who was tossed into a sewage ditch by the explosion, remembers killing the jeep with his M-16. After the cemetery had been cleared Company B, 2/3rd Infantry joined Company C, 4/12th Infantry and they made a night defensive perimeter north of Ho Nai, while the 2/47th Infantry was withdrawn to Bin Ha. 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. 0.08 Activity in the area had picked up in November and Aerial view of Long Binh Post in Vietnam. 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. An MP full colonel, along with a deputy sheriff from Los Angeles (dressed in his deputy uniform) and two jeeploads of Vietnamese National Police, drove up to my track. From our positions we could see and hear the celebratory fireworks lighting the sky over Saigon to the west. When the shooting started it it and only slightly pierced the skin a little. Besides the fireworks, ARVN soldiers had linked tracer bullets together and were stitching the darkness with weaving streams of machine gun fire. We never saw them again. who was tossed into a sewage ditch by the explosion, remembers 'killing the jeep' with his M-16. There, Charlie Company soldiers joined ARVN and U.S. MACV soldiers manning the walls. The churches were cleared in short order. Script is copyright Reuters Limited. Our arrival had canceled fears that III Corps headquarters might be overrun. Flames consuming huts. II Field Force commander LG Frederick C. Weyand had also ordered the 9th Infantry Division to be prepared to send its 1st Brigade from Bearcat Base 16km south of Long Binh to Bien Hoa-Long Binh in the event of an attack. They all blew up! 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. Even though it was about 6-8 miles away to the NE of Bien Hoa, it was plainly visible . Casper rose from a prone position and yelled for his troops to follow him. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. A VC guerrilla hiding behind a parked ARVN jeep had fired the rocket. As we rolled back through Bien Hoa, we were astounded to find the battalion S4, Captain Leroy Brown, in the middle of town with a 5,000-gallon fuel tanker and several ammunition trucks. 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. The churches were cleared in short order. 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. Troops opened their attacks with volleys of grenades, then went in shooting. I was not sure what to do about the bunkers. Craven and another photographer, were both wounded in the engagement.) History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. (Vietnam War period). Although initially surprised, U.S. forces had reacted quickly and, despite what was reported in the press, American and ARVN forces handed the VC a devastating defeat during Tet. As 1st Lt. Brice Barnes led his scout platoon into the edge of Ho Nai, he ran full speed into a hornets nest. I was never so happy in my life. Just then a three-man VC RPG team calmly walked across the street right in front of the damaged APC. build bunkers, and help pick up the dead enemy across the fence. Bravo Company (one member of which was Spc. (Vietnam War period). No answer. At the headquarters of the 2nd Battalion (Mechanized), 47th Infantry (2-47), nicknamed the Panthers, the commander, Lt. Col. Arthur Moreland, asked me what job I wanted. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. NEARER V..EXPLOSIONS "[3]:205, The Tet offensive attacks on Bien Hoa AB and Tan Son Nhut Air Base slowly led to an improvement in air base defense across South Vietnam, with improved bunkers and heavier defensive armament including 0.50 cal machine guns, M67 recoilless rifles and M29 mortars. By the evening the 2/47th Infantry withdrew into the Long Binh perimeter. When it went off my first thought was that it was a nuclear explosion because of the light dome that rose from the explosion. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. At the time of the 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. we were a bit more trigger happy than usual. I went through the quarters making sure everyone because Mankato (Minnesota)Vocational school had taught me to weld as We were west of Highway QL1 along a road named 535. Long Binh ammo dump was one of the There we would be assigned a unit we would serve with in Vietnam. We were ordered to go there and detain every male between the ages of 16 and 80. 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. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. Get under! After what seemed like on the Bailey Compound, only in the 145th CAB HQ which could As we turned right onto Highway 15, an unbelievable spectacle stretched before us. 5 Explosion at Long Binh ammunition storage facility. 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. After the battles for the churches, there occurred one of the most bizarre incidents of the day. 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. was a point where the Ho Chi Min Trail came close to the countrys West 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. . 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. carried on into that night with tracers flying everywhere. In April 1967, I was a first lieutenant commanding a rifle company in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C. ], The Laotian representative said six members of the Meo special forces were also cap tured with the American on May 7 in Xieng Khouang Province near the North Vietnamese bor der. [3]:220, When the Company F, 51st Infantry LRRP team reported VC/PAVN moving past their position a reaction force from Company C, 4/12th Infantry mounted on ACAVs was sent to investigate. First was sand then bigger stuff. 11K views 9 years ago This is a brief clip of the ammo dump explosion at Long Binh, Vietnam, taken the morning of the Tet offensive, 1968. During the last week of January, the battalion patrolled the jungles east of Highway 15, near the Binh Son rubber plantation. About 30 minutes later, the track came back with only the driver, who reported the ranger sergeant had been killed and that it had been impossible to evacuate the wounded. Some VC crossed Route 316 and took up firing positions in bush at the southern perimeter of the Plantation. Tower ordered Charlie Company to attack eastward to clear the village of Ho Nai, a suburb of Bien Hoa. Long Binh Ammo Dump October 29, 1966 . Meanwhile, Charlie Company was ordered back to III Corps. I told him that I wanted to command a company. License Agreement | remembered the 1SGT told him the first thing he was to get into I walked back to my track, thinking this was going to be a real nightmare. 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. SAIGON, South Vietnam, June 1 (Reuters)Explosions ripped through a huge ammu nition dump near here today, killing one soldier and wound ing 13. 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. Dames walked down a side alley toward the highway. My Account | The progress was slow and ammo was becoming scarce, particularly grenades, which get consumed at an enormous rate in city fighting. agreement was that the stockade prisoners would pitch our sandbags, help 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. for days and days. About 30 minutes later, the track was back with only the driver, who reported the ranger sergeant had been killed and that it had been impossible to get the wounded. That night, no one slept, but instead scanned the jungles with Starlight scopes, seeing nothing. Our area from the 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. Under fire, Staff Sgt. As you know there were no officers A soldier, who has been hit, lying prone between two other soldiers, tries to get up. He assigned one to the airborne battalion and the other to Charlie Company. I was to be a platoon leader again, in Charlie Company, commanded by Captain John Ionoff. Unfortunately for the VC, they had no weapons other than the RPG launcher. Lieutenant Barnes and one of his soldiers would be awarded Distinguished Service Crosses for their heroism that day. Refusing evacuation, neither reported his wound. The first explosion was 2,400,000 pounds of 8 inch high explosive artillery projectiles. FAQs - How to Order | Hide. 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. CU SIGN "NO SMOKING" So, when I was offered a chance to go to II Field Force to help establish a new long-range reconnaissance patrol outfit, I actually turned it down to stay with the company. happened to hit him just over the forehead. 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. [2]:350, With the base returned to full operation, that afternoon C130s landed the 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment to help ARVN forces fighting the VC in Bin Ha city. Jeep parked along road. 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. 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. As we rolled by, we looked down into the compound and saw soldiers in khakis, boarding passes in hand, milling about. This article was written by John E. Gross and originally published in the February 2008 issue of Vietnam Magazine. At 0400 Jones ordered us to pull in our ambushes and be prepared to move. 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. Incredibly, nobody in my company had been killed the day before. Tet Offensive I had returned to Long Binh Post. Another VC battalion infiltrated near the area of the 3rd Ordnance (Long Binh) ammunition dump [and] in a few moments, the huge dump became a fireball. As the scouts escaped, the volume of enemy fire began to slacken, then died altogether. As the afternoon of January 30 drifted toward dusk, Charlie Company soldiers stripped to the waist and dug bunkers next to their M-113s. An accurate body count could never be compiled since so many VC bodies were dragged away or were burned in the many fires in the towns and villages. After all had left for the He replied that I would have to wait. 118th during the Tet of 1968, also called the Defense of Bien At about 6 a.m., Lt. Col. John Tower, the new battalion commander, called with orders. resulting in the explosion of the ammo dump at Bin Ha Air Base. After telling them to stop shooting In addition to the US bases, the city of Bin Ha was the headquarters of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) III Corps and home to a large prisoner of war camp. I remember one Benny Toney, the 2nd Platoon sergeant, hooked a tow cable to Stormy. With the explosion of the entire ammunition dump imminent, and in the midst of exploding shells, fire and debris, the men of COMPANY B, . As we turned around to head back west, a tremendous blast shook the whole city of Bien Hoa. Refine Your Search Long Binh Vietnam 1968 stock footage and images - Showing 1 to 6 of 5537 results Sort by: All All Search Results Decade 1890 - 1899 (3) 1900 - 1909 (18) 1910 - 1919 (136) 1920 - 1929 (83) more Location Aalen Germany (1) Aberdeen Proving Ground Maryland USA (1) Afghanistan (2) Africa (3) more Akron Ohio USA (3) But their 81mm mortars were useless, since we were told we could not put any indirect fire into the town. [6]:66. But no one would be leaving the country that day. Painting outside. Satchel charges blew pallets of artillery ammunition, creating a mushroom cloud that made us think the VC had set off a tactical nuclear weapon. After the roadblock was cleared and communications restored, Charlie Company continued toward its objective. unless they could see someone, I went to our Operations shack Rocket Attack on Dong Tam - July 10, 1969. Our outfit was a The colonel explained that since we were infantry soldiers and did not know the proper method of searching a house, he and his crew had come to teach us. The Long Binh ammunition dump had exploded. night on alert at the Birdcage, I was awakened (trying to sleep Wrecked ambulance with flat tires. Then a report came in that a body had been found wearing a white shirt under a black pajama tunic. (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. The ammunition dump contained high explosives like: C-4, artillery rounds, mortar rounds, aerial flares, 50 caliber rounds, M-60 machine gun rounds, and aerial rockets for the Huey Cobra and gunships. 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. Which date was it? ruary 1968 in support of Saigon and Long Binh Post during the TET Offen- Sive. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. He stated that Bien Hoa airbase, the Long Binh facility, the II Field Force headquarters and the 199th Light Infantry Brigade (LIB) base camp were under heavy mortar and rocket attack. border. LV EXPLOSIONS Attacking Long We carried concertina wire, sand bags and hundreds of Claymore mines and trip flares to make our defensive positions practically impenetrable. Then I got a call from battalion commander Tower, asking how things were going. Four men were killed and more than 20 wounded, including most of the officers. Terms & Conditions | I Simultaneously, platoon leaders reported finding discarded AK-47s. Service Battery 6/27th 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. That night, frightened bunker guards in the 199th compound shot into the darkness to their front. USAF McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II bomber aircraft drop two Mk.84 HD bombs. With small-arms fire cracking overhead, young girls carrying bottles of Coca-Cola were trying to sell them to the troops. more Featured Collections | During December we made little enemy contact, probably because the Communists were lying low, preparing for Tet. As the C-23 track Stormy, which was in the lead, turned into a side street, an RPG slammed into its front, smashing the radiator and wounding several soldiers. was out of the bldgs. After the fight for the churches, there occurred one of the most bizarre and inexplicable incidents of the day. 12. [3]:2305 By dawn the VC/PAVN were retreating northwards pursued by helicopter gunships and at 06:15 Company C, 4/12th Infantry began moving north in pursuit, intending to pin the VC/PAVN against a force from Company B, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment which was moving south. There, Charlie Company soldiers joined ARVN and U.S. MACV soldiers manning the walls. Other than temporarily disrupting operations at Bien Hoa AB for half a day and destroying ammunition at the Long Binh ammunition dump, the VC/PAVN inflicted minimal damage to the Bien Hoa-Long Binh complex. 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. Simultaneously, platoon leaders reported finding discarded AK-47s. One of the children in the Hope System of Care is Nguyen Thi Ly, born in 2001 with a deformed face, head and chest. [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. 6. As usual, each company had sent two ambush patrols into the jungle to our front. Hoa. They ordered us to clear the VC from the houses surrounding the corps headquarters. The action occurs January 31st, 1968 (on "Tet", the Vietnamese Lunar New Year holiday). 1 comment. The 2nd Platoon took on the one on the north side of the road, and the 1st Platoon attacked the other. As the 2nd Platoon began to run short, Spc. The chrome No tactic I had learned at infantry school fit that situation, so we improvised. I had been in Vietnam about nine months. Listening to the scouts desperate fight on the radio, Charlie Company attacked with renewed vigor as we tried to get to Barnes and his men. We could haul more personal gear, live more comfortably and walk less than straight-leg troops. The armed helicopter teams had a field day shooting guerrillas who tried to escape to the nearby jungles. On January 23, during a battalion sweep of a heavily jungled area south of Highway 1, Alpha Company walked into a well-camouflaged, well-defended enemy bunker system and was badly mauled, losing four men killed and more than 20 wounded, including almost all of the officers. As we fought our way toward the scout platoon, we were blocked by two large churches that were directly across Highway 1 from each other, both occupied by the VC. 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. [2]:3512 US losses in the fighting in the Widow's Village were three dead. We had run through the rear of the 274th VC Regiment, which was attacking the airfield. Well, the piece of shrapnel hightForP2 = 330 At the meeting I was joined by the S3 of a battalion from the 101st Airborne Division. As we made the turn eastward on Highway 1, the lead platoon was ambushed. all personnel to the flight line. As dawn broke, everything was deathly quiet. Troops opened their attacks with volleys of grenades, then charged in shooting. NEARER AIR V..SMOKE A few minutes later, a jeep drove up carrying two extremely frightened white-shirted policemen. F-100 Super Sabre and F-4 Phantom II drop Mark 82 bombs in Vietnam during U.S. air strikes. 1.13 In addition, gunships killed many more as they tried to escape from the villages. (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. By late afternoon the 275th Regiment retreated north, leaving over 200 dead. U.S. troops firing small arms as they proceed across tall grass into the hamlet. As the ammo dump burst into flames, secondary explosions erupted in other storage areas, and . October continued with construction efforts. forever the big pieces stopped. I walked back to my track, thinking this was going to be a nightmare. Copyright Screenocean 2022 | Powered byImagen. [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.

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