15. These photos were taken from December 9, 1967 to February 1968. Something was definitely about to happen. 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. Ly's father is a bricklayer. Advanced Search | Charlie Company soldiers, used to months of patrolling and fighting in the jungles, suddenly found themselves fighting house to house as their fathers had done in World War II. While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. HANOI, North Vietnam, June 1 (Agence FrancePresse)An American major was captured last month in a Communistcon trolled area of northern Laos by Pathet Lao forces, a Laotian representative said here today. After the roadblock was cleared and communications restored, Charlie Company continued toward its objective. When we arrived, we found the churchyard packed with thousands of civilians seeking refuge. The Vietnamese brigadier generalthe ranking man at III Corpsdrew circles on a map around two areas of downtown Bien Hoa. License Agreement | We charged southeast down Highway 316 to the Highway 15 intersection, located on a small hill overlooking the 90th Replacement Company. [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. 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. 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. Seems like the fighting went on front making it dangerous to return fire. To ensure you can use all the features please enable it. danger and the probable best course of action. I was told to forget about them, which reinforced our feeling that this situation was different and that combat was certainly imminent. I had been in Vietnam about nine months. Tower ordered Charlie Company to attack eastward to clear the village of Ho Nai, a suburb of Bien Hoa. With a push-to-talk button stuck in the transmit position, no one could use the radio. Vehicles drive past on roads between the Long Binh Post 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. 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. (Vietnam War period). 11. Construction on the 24 th. 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. all personnel to the flight line. from the petroleum dump immediately next to our position. We could ride, walk or be airlifted to war, travel great distances in a short amount of time, and arrive with many times the ammunition and equipment that could be lifted in by helicopter. As best I could, I explained that they were to take charge and that General Giap might be among the civilians. In the early morning hours on 31 January, insurgent forces launched This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army Center of Military History. Shopping Cart | [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. As a result long-range reconnaissance patrols (LRRPs) from Company F, 51st Infantry Regiment were positioned north of Long Binh to detect PAVN/VC approaching the base. The first explosion was 2,400,000 pounds of 8 inch high explosive artillery projectiles. SAIGON, South Vietnam, June 1 (Reuters)Explosions ripped through a huge ammu nition dump near here today, killing one soldier and wound ing 13. 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. Dames walked down a side alley toward the highway. [2]:350, At approximately 16:45 F-100 Super Sabres of the 531st Tactical Fighter Squadron conducted a Napalm strike against a PAVN/VC company at the east end of the base runway. 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. into the bunkers. 1. The recon platoon was ordered to establish a blocking position south of Long Binh on Highway 15. wire on the top of LBJ (Long Binh Jail). The North Vietnamese Army had circled All night they scanned the jungles with Starlight scopes, seeing nothing. and the perimeter was still intact. I was the DistrictSenior Advisor (Army) in Vinh Kim, Long Dinh District, right across the canal from Dong Tam in 1968-1969. 1.13 [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. Several soldiers gathered in front of the track to help the wounded, and Love climbed up to man the .50-caliber. 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. NEARER AIR V..SMOKE Most of these photos were taken in an area a few miles north of Chu Lai and south of Hoi An. The gun-jeeps were progressively replaced by M113s and XM-706 Commando armored cars. SV AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND EXPLOSION 14. Then things started falling out of the sky. The armed helicopter teams had a field day shooting guerrillas trying to flee into the jungle. 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. 6 External links modified. We came up with a T formation. By 1968 the Bien Hoa-Long Binh complex was the largest US/South Vietnamese military base in South Vietnam. Then things started falling out of the sky. License Agreement | 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. The bus ride to 90th Replacement was relatively short and everyone seemed exhausted from the long flight. At 0400 Jones ordered us to pull in our ambushes and be prepared to move. . to contact the Commanding Officer(MAJ Guidroz). 1 comment. Smoke rises from surrounding area. Despite the confusion and wounds, our troops returned fire. [5], USAF losses were 4 killed in action with another dying of a heart attack, while 26 were wounded. The village of Ho Nai, now a ghost town, was still smoldering. Come back up on the battalion freq. I had never been so happy in my life. 6 comments. The fog of war was especially thick on the morning of January 31, 1968. Unconfirmed reports reports said the blasts were . I realized we were driving past our objective, halted the company and called for the 2nd Platoon to find a place to turn around. Tet Offensive I had returned to Long Binh Post. 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. When we arrived, we found the churchyard packed with thousands of civilians. -- color photo Near Moc Hoa. As we turned to head back, a tremendous blast shook the whole city of Bien Hoa. During December we made little enemy contact, probably because the Communists were lying low, preparing for Tet. All I could think of to say was, Please clear that weapon!. One reference claims that 4 February 1967 was the date, and another claims that 28 March was the date. went off my first thought was that it was a nuclear explosion because of [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. In another sign that the situation was serious, the battalion commander himself gave map coordinates of company objectives in the clear. VC/PAVN losses were 527 dead. 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. 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. (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 weapon was aimed at the newly built and painted (orange-white only be entered from off the Bien Hoa Air base and thru the gate Sergeant was already tucked under a 5 ton truck parked about 50 feet Fires were burning late into the afternoon. [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. Barbed wire torn apart by Vietcong who infiltrated through Longbinh ammunition camp. 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. At that time, I received a call on my company frequency from the battalion commander, Colonel Tower, asking how things were going. We were west of Highway QL1 along a road named 535. 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]: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. We topped off our fuel tanks, replenished our ammo and continued to move toward our assigned blocking position. The 2-47s enemy body count came in at more than 200, while the battalion suffered only four KIA. This is the airstrike on snipers at the 195th AHC perimeter and the Long Binh ammo dump explosion set off by sappers the morning of the 1968 Tet offensive with sound effects added. Charlie Company soldiers, used to months of patrolling and fighting in the jungles, suddenly found themselves fighting house to house as their fathers had done in World War II. As was our normal practice, each company had sent two ambush patrols into the jungle to our front. Dong Ha vietnam 1968 | Dong Ha ammo dump explosion from NVA artillery fire. [6]:36 In addition airborne "rocket watch" patrols were established in the Saigon-Bien Hoa area to reduce attacks by fire. 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. . [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. A slightly wounded soldier, lying on the ground, smiles as he points to his leg as another soldier helps him. I sounded off, "who is there"? 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. I told the platoon leaders to prepare to dismount and to take all the ammunition and grenades they could carry. No infantry school tactic fit the situation; improvisation became the order of the day. Copyright Screenocean 2022 | Powered byImagen. 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. We found out later from captured VC that many guerrillas had been given only two magazines for their weapons. (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]). The bombs descend and explode on structures in grove of trees near rice paddies 23 miles east of Binh Thuy on 19th August. I went through the quarters making sure everyone During this fighting, the two platoon leaders were wounded, Lieutenant Casper in the leg and Lieutenant Jones in the foot. Less has been written about the danger, turmoil, chaos, confusion, contradictions and outright lunacy that confronted individual units as they responded to VC attacks on the morning of January 31. The mushroom cloud slowly dissipated after hours of Realizing we were driving past our objective, I halted the company and called for the 2nd Platoon to find a place to turn around. (Long Binh) ammunition dump. bore in my M14 barrel had begun to flake off and the wooden stock was 0.48 About a month earlier I had been loaned out to weld the razor 4 and future U.S. senator from Nebraska Chuck Hagel) had defended the Long Binh ammo dump and had helped in the Widows Village fight. Click Here. Tower ordered Charlie Company to attack eastward to clear the village of Ho Nai, a Bien Hoa suburb. 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 . Most of we RAD 152 crew members arrived in-country on July 22, 1968. Featured Collections | USAF (United States Air Force) F-100 Super Sabre jet fighter aircraft drops Mark 82 (Mk.82) high-drag (HD) bombs. Now 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. Specialist 4 Bill Rambo, assistant driver and .50-gunner on my command track, remembers my response to the firing as being absolutely irate. AIR V..FIRES Just then a three-man VC RPG team calmly walked across the street right in front of the damaged APC. Updated 7/26/2015. As dawn broke on February 1, it was deathly quiet. As my airborne mentality faded, I learned to love the M-113or track. We could haul more personal gear, live more comfortably and walk less than straight-leg troops. (Vietnam War period). The armed helicopter teams had a field day shooting guerrillas who tried to escape to the nearby jungles. Riflemen staying close behind. a noise! 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. Toward dusk on January 30, Charlie Company soldiers stripped to the waist to dig bunkers next to their APCs. With a push-to-talk button stuck in the transmit position, no one could use the radio. Big Boom! We fired everything we had into the buildings lining the roadway and took several wounded while getting to the church. The 2-47s enemy body count came in at over 200, while the battalion suffered only four KIA. Wrecked ambulance with flat tires. Charlie Company reacted quickly to reinforce Alpha, and a daylong fight ensued. Early on January 30, we were told the Tet cease-fire was canceled, and our unit was deployed into a defensive line along the road that ran around the east side of the Long Binh base. In addition, we were tremendously flexible. 4 "Late in the war" 1 comment. The scout platoon had fought valiantly all day long in Widows Village and in Ho Nai. The probing attack units included VC sapper squads. At dusk, airstrikes had to be called in to blast the VC from the hill. Under fire, Staff Sgt. M-117 bombs explode near and on road on wooden slopes near river north of Pleiku near Dak To, on 18 August, 1968. LV EXPLOSIONS 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. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. Summary - October 1966. Ammo Dump Exlosion Sapper Attack! Despite the confusion and wounds, our troops returned fire. As the 2nd Platoon began to run short, Spc. the bunker. LV WATER TRUCKS ALONG ROAD, EXPLOSION IN B/G. Charlie Company had reported 38 VC killed, at the cost of only 11 U.S. wounded and three APCs damaged by RPGs. 1.04 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. [3]:23950, In the late afternoon of 31 January after clearing the Widow's Village 2/47th Infantry advanced into Ho Nai from the south, the town appeared deserted. him in. 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 first explosion was 2,400,000 pounds of 8 inch high explosive artillery projectiles. A few minutes later, a jeep drove up carrying two extremely frightened white-shirted policemen. As you know there were no officers At 7 a.m., as daylight was breaking, my track rolled past the ARVN III Corps compound gate. During this time, the battalion made only sporadic contact and suffered few casualties. I was disappointed when I received orders to join the 9th Infantry Division. After the roadblock was cleared and communications restored, Charlie Company continued toward its objective. As darkness settled in, Charlie Company was ordered back to the junction of Highways 1 and 316, where we would form a screen in front of the 199th LIB base camp. Following that fight, the 2-47 was ordered south of the 9th Divisions base camp. Flames illuminated the clouds, forming an eerie glow; flares hung in the sky and helicopter gunships crossed back and forth firing red streams of tracers into the city. According to the VC 5th Division official history, the 3rd Battalion, 5th VC Regiment was supported by the Bien Hoa Sapper Company; its mission was to overrun the compound, which was defended by about 15 ARVN soldiers and a smattering of MACV advisers. When I arrived at the 2nd Battalion (Mechanized), 47th Infantry, nicknamed the Panthers, Lt. Col. Arthur Moreland, the commander, asked me what job I wanted. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. Zabecki remembers taking his place on the wall with his M-79 grenade launcher. 6. When it The VC had run out of ammunition and were trying to escape. I operated a heavy five It also contained tons of captured NVA ammo and guns from the A Shau Valley. That was 90th Replacement Battalion, situated on the road to Saigon between the village of Bien Hoa and the huge base at Long Binh. For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Vietnam Magazine today! in bunker) at first light to the sound of a M-60 chattering away. sixteen guns stationed next to the western border of Vietnam. Alpha Company, still licking its wounds from the January 23 fight, was left intact. The 2nd Platoon took on the one on the north side of the road, and the 1st Platoon attacked the other. 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. They ordered us to clear the VC from the houses surrounding the corps headquarters. The remains of a stack of over 15,000 high explosive 155mm artillery projectiles after the VC attack on February 4. We had run through the rear of the 274th VC Regiment, which was attacking the airfield. Several of his tracks were hit by RPGs and surrounded by the enemy. After a eventful All day civilians had been darting from their homes and running from the fighting. ton wrecker weighing in at 22 thousand pounds. I was to be a platoon leader again, in Charlie Company, commanded by Captain John Ionoff. There we would be assigned a unit we would serve with in Vietnam. [2]:348, As the rockets hit Bien Hoa AB, 2 battalions of the VC 274th Regiment emerged from a rubber plantation 500m east of the eastern perimeter of Bien Hoa AB. We rolled through Long Binh and out the main gate, then turned left onto Highway 316. to check-in and see what was going on, and found myself the only Normally, operations orders issued over the radio were encoded and sent by the S3s radio operator. Those orders were for us to clear the VC from the houses surrounding the corps headquarters. Alpha Company, still licking its wounds from the January 23 fight, was left intact. Helicopter gunships took off from Bien Hoa AB to investigate, but were unable to locate the force in the darkness. Company B, 2nd Battalion, 39th Infantry Regiment had arrived by helicopter from Bearcat and joined up with 2/47th Infantry to sweep the Widows Village. the country where resupply was easier for the enemy. We carried concertina wire, sand bags and hundreds of Claymores and trip flares to make our defensive positions practically impenetrable. It had been over two days and many of us had no sleep. 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.