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. [7], The Tet offensive attacks and previous losses due to mortar and rocket attacks on air bases across South Vietnam led the Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Nitze on 6 March 1968 to approve the construction of 165 "Wonderarch" roofed aircraft shelters at the major air bases. He said I would have to wait. [3]:20, At 00:30 on 31 January, a patrol from Company E, 4th Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment detected a company-size PAVN/VC force approximately 10km north of Bien Hoa, moving in the direction of Bien Hoa AB. A burst of VC machine gun fire erupted nearby, 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. During the meeting, a master sergeant adviser to a Vietnamese ranger battalion ran into the compound. Under fire, Staff Sgt. Each APC could carry almost as much ammunition as a dismounted rifle company. 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. The Communists were starting to carry out a plan that they had studied for a considerable period. Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. 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. 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. (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]). GV DUMP Charlie Company was ordered to a large open field across Highway 15 from the Long Thanh airfield. Then things started falling out of the sky. He replied that I would have to wait. 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. Later, as the sun sank over the Long Binh base, they tossed a football and ate cold C rations. A soldier, who has been hit, lying prone between two other soldiers, tries to get up. Battalion policy was that we had to fill in all holes and empty our sandbags each time we left a position. Then a report came in that a body had been found wearing a white shirt under a black pajama tunic. As was our normal practice, each company had sent two ambush patrols into the jungle to our front. Meanwhile, Charlie Company was ordered back to III Corps. Love was so startled, he didnt fire. Unconfirmed reports reports said the blasts were the work of Vietcong sabotage teams. When we arrived, we found the churchyard packed with thousands of civilians. [2]:347, The ARVN 53rd Regional Force Battalion was responsible for security in the countryside around Bin Ha. My plan was to make captain and go to Vietnam as an experienced company commander. Flames consuming huts. Charlie Company reacted quickly to reinforce Alpha, and a daylong fight ensued. We were ordered to go there and detain every male between the ages of 16 and 80. He started
That night, frightened bunker guards in the 199th compound shot into the darkness to their front. 0.48 Terms & Conditions |
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. In a few moments, the huge dump became a fireball, the shock of the explosion echoing over an area of 50 miles. [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. 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. As the scouts escaped, the volume of enemy fire began to slacken, then died altogether. I called battalion headquarters and asked what to do about the bunkers. more
Charlie Company would get the mission. VC/PAVN losses were 527 dead. Soon we could hear leaders moving up and down the bunker line yelling for the guards to stop firing. in bunker) at first light to the sound of a M-60 chattering away. We topped off our fuel tanks, replenished our ammo and continued to move toward our assigned blocking position. Charlie Companys 3rd Platoon was also detached for a security mission inside the base. 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. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. 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. This site requires JavaScript. I operated a heavy five
HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. By Vietnam terms
While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. Lookout tower in the background. 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. In April 1967, I was a first lieutenant commanding a rifle company in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C. Tet Offensive I had returned to Long Binh Post. 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. Tower ordered Charlie Company to attack eastward to clear the village of Ho Nai, a Bien Hoa suburb. . When I arrived at 9th Division in June, I was further shocked to learn that I was going to a mechanized battalion, rather than be assigned to one of the battalions in the Delta where I could use my light infantry and Ranger school experience. 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. ", "Then we were all in the bunker
0.17 We topped off our fuel tanks, replenished our ammo and continued to move toward our assigned blocking position. The acting commander of the 199th LIB, Col. Frederic E. Davison, ordered three of his infantry companies operating north of Long Binh to attack the rocket launch site, while LG Weyand ordered the 9th Infantry Division to send the 1st Brigade from Bearcat Base. I said again, "Who is there"? The bombs descend and explode on structures in grove of trees near rice paddies 23 miles east of Binh Thuy on 19th August. 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. 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. We threw grenades over the wall behind them, but hit nothing.. Our arrival had canceled fears that III Corps headquarters might be overrun. His two daughters, Ly's mother and her sister, are disabled. Activity in the area had picked up in November and
OK. United States officers and soldiers examine barbed wire fence where Vietcong broke through to enter Long Binh. Long Binh Ammo Dump October 29, 1966 . Cambodian border to the South China sea was already considered a
In mid-September, when Ionoff moved to battalion to become the operations officer (S3), I assumed command of Charlie Company. (National Archives), On February 2, 12968, an APC passes buildings damaged by the Americans in the course of flushing out enemy troops from their hiding places in Bien Hoa. As you know there were no officers
The North Vietnamese Army had circled
But their 81mm mortars were useless, since we were told we could not put any indirect fire into the town. It was the first such occurrence since the ceasefire of Jan. 28. [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. I had learned no tactic at infantry school that fit the situation we were faced with, so we improvised. Over the two month recovery and clearing operation, tens of thousands of these hazardous munitions were recoverd by hand, one at a time. Specialist 4 Bill Rambo, assistant driver and .50-gunner on my command track, remembers my response to the firing as being absolutely irate. 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. Service Battery 6/27th
As we turned right onto Highway 15, an unbelievable spectacle stretched before us. Ammo Dump Exlosion Sapper Attack! However the VC/PAVN never made another ground attack on an air base and moved to attacks by fire with rockets, mortar and artillery. [5], USAF losses were 4 killed in action with another dying of a heart attack, while 26 were wounded. We could shoot about 21 miles into Cambodia. [2]:346, The US 199th LIB was responsible for security in the towns and countryside around Long Binh, while the 720th Military Police Battalion was responsible for security within the base perimeter. During this fighting, the two platoon leaders were wounded, Lieutenant Casper in the leg and Lieutenant Jones in the foot. Officer and soldiers examine barbed wire torn apart by Vietcong who infiltrated Long Binh ammunition dump. U.S. troops firing small arms as they proceed across tall grass into the hamlet. Our outfit was a
As darkness settled in, Charlie Company was ordered to move back the way it had come, to the junction of Highways 1 and 316, where we would form a screen in front of the 199th LIB base camp.