Just then a three-man VC RPG team calmly walked across the street right in front of the damaged APC. Unfortunately for the VC, they had no weapons other than the RPG launcher. We topped off our fuel tanks, replenished our ammo and continued to move toward our assigned blocking position. 2023 CriticalPast LLC. LV EXPLOSION, SIGN ON BOARD "DISNEY LAND FAR EAST" As the Hueys rockets smashed the VC strongpoint, the scouts fought their way out of the encirclement and evacuated their dead and wounded. He wanted to borrow one of our tracks. 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. This article incorporates public domain material from the .mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:#d33}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:#d33}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#3a3;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}Air Force Historical Research Agency. I was to be a platoon leader again, in Charlie Company, commanded by Captain John Ionoff. and still no answer. (Vietnam War period). However the VC/PAVN never made another ground attack on an air base and moved to attacks by fire with rockets, mortar and artillery. 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. 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 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. I 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. Flames consuming huts. [2]:347[3]:225, At 03:00, the PAVN 84A Artillery Regiment began a barrage of approximately 100 82-mm. because Mankato (Minnesota)Vocational school had taught me to weld as I asked one of the men 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. . 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. 3 Merge Long Binh Jail into Long Binh. AIR V..FIRES GV EXPLOSIONS, AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN F/G. We use cookies on this website. U.S. air strikes in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. All night he stared at the body, which had one arm grotesquely sticking in the air, and wondered why nobody had taken the gold wristwatch off the arm. Several soldiers gathered in front of the track to help the wounded, and Love climbed up to man the .50-caliber. I then jacked a round into my M-16 and who would you believe 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. Script is copyright Reuters Limited. We were in a cloud of disarray As best I could, I explained that they were to take charge and that General Giap might be among the civilians. went off my first thought was that it was a nuclear explosion because of We suffered more wounded during the trip back to III Corps, where I was called to a meeting in the headquarters. 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. Charlie Companys 3rd Platoon was also detached for a security mission inside the base. [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. He wanted to borrow one of our tracks. The fog of war was especially thick on the morning of January 31, 1968. 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. 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. GV AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN F/G. 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. Officers and soldiers examine barbed wire fence where Vietcong broke through to enter Longbinh ammunition dump. I had inherited the job We carried concertina wire, sand bags and hundreds of Claymores and trip flares to make our defensive positions practically impenetrable. Page contents not supported in other languages. happened to hit him just over the forehead. 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 January 1968, our battalion relocated to the area between Xuan Loc and Bien Hoa, where intelligence had located a VC battalion. A spokesman for the South Vietnamese command said that, according to unconfirmed re ports, satchel charges, of the type used by Vietcong sabotage squads were found near the dump. 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. Sergeant John Ax, squad leader of 1st Squad, 2nd Platoon, recalls what the fighting near III Corps was like: An RPG hit Shocker, the C-21 track, in the side; but it must have been a glancing blow, because it did not explode. yelling Kortuem! My 0.08 The recon platoon was ordered to establish a blocking position south of Long Binh on Highway 15. Burned out 105mm howitzer shells at ammunition dump in Bien Hoa Air Force Base, Bien Hoa in Vietnam. He waved me off. The weapon was aimed at the newly built and painted (orange-white Casper rose from a prone position and yelled for his troops to follow him. I assigned areas of operation to my two rifle platoons, and positioned the weapons platoon inside the compound as a reserve and security force. Lieutenant Barnes and one of his soldiers would be awarded Distinguished Service Crosses for their heroism that day. The Vietnamese general and the III Corps G3 adviser, however, were not very happy when we pulled out. Its predominantly Catholic population was made up of many Vietnamese who fled North Vietnam in 1954 after the Viet Minh victory. License Agreement | 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. He started He ignored me and proceeded to a nearby house where he and the deputy sheriff kicked in the front door. Waking Dead. I was the DistrictSenior Advisor (Army) in Vinh Kim, Long Dinh District, right across the canal from Dong Tam in 1968-1969. 2,400,000 pounds of 8 inch high explosive artillery projectiles. The armed helicopter teams had a field day shooting guerrillas who tried to escape to the nearby jungles. Sergeant John Ax, squad leader of 1st Squad, 2nd Platoon, recalls the fighting near III Corps: An RPG hit Shocker, the C-21 track, in the side; but it must have been a glancing blow, because it did not explode. 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. There, Charlie Company soldiers joined ARVN and U.S. MACV soldiers manning the walls. In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. 6 External links modified. border. Perpetual Siege region. who was tossed into a sewage ditch by the explosion, remembers 'killing the jeep' with his M-16. I sounded off, "who is there"? Get under! After what seemed like At the beginning of the Tet Offensive, one rifle company was ordered to to clear the village of Ho Nai, a Bien Hoa suburb. ", "We mustered everyone we could flight line and I was checking the bunker for anyone, I heard . 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. I sat behind the .50-caliber, munching and giving thanks for the fact that, incredibly, nobody in Charlie Company had been killed. The progress was slow and ammo was becoming scarce, particularly grenades, which get consumed at an enormous rate in city fighting. I told him that I wanted to command a company. I told the platoon leaders to prepare to dismount and to take all the ammunition and grenades they could carry. Something was definitely about to happen. 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. Besides the fireworks, ARVN soldiers had linked tracer bullets together and were stitching the darkness with weaving streams of machine gun fire. 0.28 The offensive continued until the end of the month in the North part of 8. the bunker. It also contained tons of captured NVA ammo and guns from the A Shau Valley. When the shooting started it Website Terms & Conditions | For more great articles, subscribe to Vietnam magazine today! I called battalion headquarters and was told to forget about them, which reinforced our sense that combat was imminent. Terms & Conditions | Tower ordered Charlie Company to attack eastward to clear the village of Ho Nai, a Bien Hoa suburb. Come back up on the battalion freq. I had never been so happy in my life. Smoke rises from surrounding area. 0.54 Now commanded by a brand-new second lieutenant, the men of Alpha Company balked when they were told to move. After I received the coordinates of our objective, I yelled, Crank em up! into the radio handset, and we moved out. 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. I have . After I got the coordinates of our objective, I yelled, Crank em up! into the radio handset. Come back up on the battalion freq.. The progress was slow and ammunition was becoming a scarce, particularly grenades, which city fighting consumes at an enormous rate. Then a report came in that a body had been found wearing a white shirt under a black pajama tunic. 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. Meanwhile, Huey gunships reported VC running from the village. 2. Now someone pointed out that there were a lot of young men, all dressed in black pants and white shirts, walking among the refugees. In the early morning hours on 31 January, insurgent forces launched This site requires JavaScript. Charlie Company would get the mission. However the ammunition storage bunkers prevented a chain reaction and the lost munitions were easily replaced with no impact on supply. But their 81mm mortars were useless, since we were told we could not put any indirect fire into the town. A great deal has been written about the battles of Tet 1968 and the political firestorm that resulted from them. While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. 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. 9. 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. 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. Aerial view of (USARV) United States Army Republic of Vietnam Headquarters Complex at Long Binh, Vietnam. He replied that I would have to wait. Soldiers of the U.S. 2nd Battalion 47th Infantry (Mechanized) and 4th Battalion 39th Infantry clearing a hamlet during the Tet Offensive in Vietnam. He retired from the U.S. Army as a lieutenant colonel. He said I would have to wait. [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. The explosion echoed over an area of 50 miles. secondary explosions. Hoa. Back view of jeep with open doors. Battalion policy was that we had to fill in all holes and empty our sandbags each time we left a position. My plan was to make captain and go to Vietnam as an experienced company commander. 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 Long Binh ammunition dump had exploded. Lookout tower in the background. 0.22 An eyewitness account of the battle for control of Bien Hoa and Long Binh on the first day of the 1968 Tet Offensive. trooper was injured by a piece of shrapnel that had come down Those orders were for us to clear the VC from the houses surrounding the corps headquarters. It As we made the turn eastward on Highway 1, the lead platoon was ambushed. We began detaining the well-dressed young men among the refugees. biggest ordnance storage areas in the country. Love was so startled, he didnt fire. In the week preceding the attack these LRRP patrols engaged 2 PAVN/VC reconnaissance teams north of Long Binh. wire on the top of LBJ (Long Binh Jail). 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. From our positions, we could see and hear the fireworks lighting the sky over Saigon to the west. As we turned right onto Highway 15, an unbelievable spectacle stretched before us. We never saw them again. 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. Shopping Cart | Bill Langan, aka "Sparky" was on duty in the 573rd hanger at the Bird Cage and took the slide photo. 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. [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. Then and Ive just been told you work for me again. In January 1968, our battalion relocated to the area between Xuan Loc and Bien Hoa, where intelligence had located a VC battalion. Since I was in an airborne unit, I was sure I would go to the 173rd Airborne Brigade or the 101st Airborne Division. This is the story of one rifle companycomprised of some of the finest soldiers to ever wear the uniform of the U.S. Armyand what they all faced on that decisive day. THE EXPLOSIONS RATTLED WINDOWS IN SAIGON, ABOUT 13 MILES (20 KILOMETERS) AWAY. Binh was a logistical mistake because the perimeter was so heavily armed We opened up with everything we had and kept driving. When we arrived, we found the churchyard packed with thousands of civilians. I was never so happy in my life. more In October, the 2-47 was given the mission of securing engineers as they cleared Highway 1 from Xuan Loc to the II Corps boundary near Phan Thiet. The Long Binh ammo dump had exploded. charred. First was sand then bigger stuff. 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. APCs advance, firing 50 caliber machine guns. 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. The Communists were starting to carry out a plan that they had studied for a considerable period. In mid-September, when Ionoff moved to battalion to become the operations officer (S3), I assumed command of Charlie Company. Tet Offensive I had returned to Long Binh Post. They tried to make us keep our heads down so we couldn't get them with our counter-mortar fire . When it went off my first thought was that it was a nuclear explosion because of the light dome that rose from the explosion. As he fell, a burst of automatic weapons fire stitched the wall right where he would have been had he not fallen. (Casper, one of the bravest of the brave, died during the May offensive in Saigon, leading from the front.). 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. Some VC crossed Route 316 and took up firing positions in bush at the southern perimeter of the Plantation. 6 comments. 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. Click Here. 13. 4 Joseph Sugar Bear Dames returned to the tracks for more grenades. AIR V..EXPLOSION Zabecki remembers taking his place on the wall with his M-79 grenade launcher. I yelled at Lieutenant Casper, and everybody looked around as the VC tore out running the last few yards to safety. About two days later one the huge fuel bags next Now commanded by a brand-new second lieutenant, the men of Alpha Company balked when they were told to move. Artillery On that fateful night, explosions began at the bomb dump, I immediately responded to CSC as the SP's . A few minutes later, a jeep drove up carrying two extremely frightened white-shirted policemen. They both hobbled through the rest of the days fighting. During this time, the battalion made only sporadic contact and suffered few casualties. bore in my M14 barrel had begun to flake off and the wooden stock was The first explosion was 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. [2]:349, At dawn several AH1 Cobra gunships from the 334th Assault Helicopter Company joined the defense spraying the VC with rockets and machine gun fire which started fires causing the VC assault to lose its impetus. At 3 a.m. on January 31, I received a call from Major Bill Jones, who had recently taken Ionoffs place as operations officer. As my airborne mentality faded, I learned to love the M-113or track, as we called it. As we turned to head back, a tremendous blast shook the whole city of Bien Hoa. [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 were ordered to go to that church and detain every male between the ages of 16 and 80. Around midnight on October 29th, 1966, the Viet Cong mortared or rocketed the Long Binh Ammo Dump. 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. Tower sent Major Jones to take command, and once Alpha got moving, it did a magnificent job. Benny Toney, the 2nd Platoon sergeant, hooked a tow cable to Stormy. When it All day civilians had been darting from their homes and running from the fighting. We suffered more wounded during the trip back to III Corps, where I was called to a meeting in the headquarters. [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. I was not sure what to do about the bunkers. To ensure you can use all the features please enable it. 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. [2]:347, The ARVN 53rd Regional Force Battalion was responsible for security in the countryside around Bin Ha. The North Vietnamese Army had circled Soon we could hear leaders moving up and down the bunker line yelling for the guards to stop firing. 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 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. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. CRITICALPAST.COM: 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. Dames walked down a side alley toward the highway. [2]:347, The VC 275th Regiment had taken up positions in a residential area known at the Widows' Village (105731N 1065237E / 10.9587N 106.877E / 10.9587; 106.877), which housed the wives and families of dead ARVN soldiers and was located across Route 316 from the Plantation Compound. about 1/3 mile, All this carried on for about three maybe four days and the dead THE EXPLOSIONS RATTLED WINDOWS IN SAIGON, ABOUT 13 MILES (20 KILOMETERS) AWAY.