We began detaining the well-dressed young men among the refugees. NEARER V..EXPLOSIONS 0.04 At the end of the previous day, Charlie Company had reported 38 VC killed, at the cost of only 11 U.S. wounded and three APCs damaged by RPGs. Then and We all knew that these moves were more than just precautionary. Remembering Tet 1968 Fifty Years Ago - quanloi.org We suffered more wounded during the trip back to III Corps, where I was called to a meeting in the headquarters. officer around. I told him about the order to clear an area of operations equal in size to that assigned the airborne battalion.He said: Forget that. 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. I sat behind the .50-caliber, munching and giving thanks for the fact that, incredibly, nobody in Charlie Company had been killed. Under fire, Staff Sgt. 1.13 I then jacked a round into my M-16 and who would you believe In mid-September, when Ionoff moved to battalion to become the operations officer (S3), I assumed command of Charlie Company. After telling them to stop shooting went off and all hell broke lose. The three companies formed a line almost three kilometers long, facing to the east, with their backs to the Long Binh wire. Dames killed them with a burst from his M-16 probably saving the lives of everyone on my track. maxhightForP2 = 13904; Tet offensive attacks on Bien Hoa and Long Binh, Tet Offensive attacks on Bien Hoa and Long Binh, United States Army Center of Military History, "Tet Offensive: The Battles of Bien Hoa and Long Binh", Video of helicopter gunships and F-100s in action at Bien Hoa AB, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tet_offensive_attacks_on_Bien_Hoa_and_Long_Binh&oldid=1086914863, Battles and operations of the Vietnam War in 1968, Battles of the Vietnam War involving the United States, Attacks on military installations in the 1960s, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Air Force Historical Research Agency, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the United States Army Center of Military History, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 9 May 2022, at 04:36. When I pointed out that the 101st Battalion had more than 500 troops and I had only two line platoons and fewer than 90 troops, he said, Youre mechanized, youre very strong., I told him we could not take the tracks off Highway 1 and into town because the streets and alleys were too narrow. . Consequently, I was disappointed when I received orders to join the 9th Infantry Division. I was disappointed when I received orders to join the 9th Infantry Division. 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. [5], USAF losses were 4 killed in action with another dying of a heart attack, while 26 were wounded. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. The fog of war was especially thick on the morning of January 31, 1968. Tower had called and told me Charlie Company was under the operational control of III Corps and I was to take my orders from them. 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. He manned the .50 and, with a Charlie Company driver, started off down Highway 1. 5 Explosion at Long Binh ammunition storage facility. Tower sent Major Jones to take command, and once Alpha got moving, it did a magnificent job. remember that my right shoulder and chest were black and blue from the Ly's father is a bricklayer. (Long Binh) ammunition dump. The probing attack units included VC sapper squads. Company B, 4th Battalion, 39th Infantry, which was placed under the operational control of the 2-47, made a combat air assault under fire into the middle of the Widows Village battle and fought bravely beside the Panthers all day long. 0.08 [3]:242, The VC/PAVN attacks were a failure. Love was so startled, he didnt fire. Seems like the fighting went on Meanwhile, Charlie Company was ordered back to III Corps. They bowed and looked confused. 2 comments. Destroyed and burned out ammunition pad shows burned out 105mm howitzer shells. GV EXPLOSIONS, AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN F/G. Simultaneously, platoon leaders reported finding discarded AK-47s. Our arrival had canceled fears that III Corps headquarters might be overrun. As the scouts escaped, the volume of enemy fire began to slacken, then died altogether. [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. View of surrounding areas. charred. As we turned right onto Highway 15, an unbelievable spectacle stretched before us. As the ammo dump burst into flames, secondary explosions erupted in other storage areas, and for the next three days, fires burned out of control. and the perimeter was still intact. I was not sure what to do about the bunkers we had dug. 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. In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. 1.04 U.S. military officials vVould not give the exact number of casualties for security reasons. 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. The 2nd Platoon took on the one on the north side of the road, and the 1st Platoon attacked the other. the country where resupply was easier for the enemy. it and only slightly pierced the skin a little. There was an ammo dump explosion in 1968 also and both 1967 and 1968 are correct and were of course separate incidents. 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. We began detaining the well-dressed young men among the refugees. As the Hueys rockets smashed the VC strongpoint, the scouts fought their way out of the encirclement and evacuated their dead and wounded. Click Here. As the afternoon of January 30 drifted toward dusk, Charlie Company soldiers stripped to the waist and dug bunkers next to their M-113s. ton wrecker weighing in at 22 thousand pounds. Some were complete projectiles weighing "I was the 1SGT of the Those orders were for us to clear the VC from the houses surrounding the corps headquarters. We rolled through Long Binh and out the main gate, then turned left onto Highway 316. At 7 a.m., as daylight was breaking, my track rolled past the ARVN III Corps compound gate. 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. I explained to the colonel that this was not a police action, and that we werent searching houses, we were in combat. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. I told him about the order to clear an area of operations equal in size to that assigned the airborne battalion. 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. SAIGON, South Vietnam, June 1 (Reuters)Explosions ripped through a huge ammu nition dump near here today, killing one soldier and wound ing 13. Perpetual Siege region. Now someone pointed out that there were a lot of young men, all dressed in black pants and white shirts, among the refugees. AIR V..AMMUNITION DUMPS AND FIRES He 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. Several of his tracks were hit by RPGs and surrounded by the enemy. No answer. 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. By late afternoon the 275th Regiment retreated north, leaving over 200 dead. Satchel charges blew pallets of artillery ammunition, creating a mushroom cloud that made us think the VC had set off a tactical nuclear weapon. about 1/3 mile, All this carried on for about three maybe four days and the dead I told him we couldnt take the tracks off Highway 1 into town because the streets were too narrow. John Gross received the Silver Star for his actions in command of Charlie Company on the first day of the Tet Offensive. It Aerial view of (USARV) United States Army Republic of Vietnam Headquarters Complex at Long Binh, Vietnam. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. The recon platoon was ordered to establish a blocking position south of Long Binh on Highway 15. During December we made little enemy contact, probably because the Communists were lying low preparing for Tet. The idea was to leave nothing the VC might use against us. That night, frightened bunker guards in the 199th compound shot into the darkness to their front. We had run through the rear of the 274th VC Regiment, which was attacking the airfield. Alpha Company, still licking its wounds from the January 23 fight, was left intact. About Us | A few minutes later, a jeep drove up carrying two extremely frightened white-shirted policemen. happened to hit him just over the forehead. This group is primarily for those Vietnam veterans who experienced the ammo dump attacks in Long Binh in 1966, '67, & '68. 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. The 2-47s enemy body count came in at over 200, while the battalion suffered only four KIA. 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. 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. Long Binh ammo dump was one of the biggest ordnance storage areas in the country. As our medics treated the wounded, I reported to the American lieutenant colonel who was the III Corps G3 adviser. By some veterans' accounts, it had the unofficial name "Long Binh Junction." In 1968, the base fell under attack during the Tet Offensive, and the Viet Cong assault force was repelled by American troops. the bunker. 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. Normally, operations orders issued over the radio were encoded and sent by the S3s radio operator. and the gunner replied "VC As enemy resistance stiffened, we realized we had bottled at least a company of the VC 275th Regiment in the village. ", "Then we were all in the bunker During TET 1969 in front of Bunker Hill 17, VC sappers tried to penetrate our fence line. South Vietnam: Viet Cong Explode U.s. Ammunition Dump. Binh was a logistical mistake because the perimeter was so heavily armed Ripped apart barbed wire. 3. Photo Index . 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. 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. Burned out 105mm howitzer shells at ammunition dump in Bien Hoa Air Force Base, Bien Hoa in Vietnam. 3 Merge Long Binh Jail into Long Binh. This is the story of one rifle company, and what it faced on that decisive day. 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. We fired everything we had into the buildings lining the roadway and took several wounded while getting to the church. Long Binh Vietnam 1968 stock footage and images - CriticalPast 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. Alpha Company was ordered to the 199th LIB compound, which was under attack. Sugar Bear Dames, as he was called by his many friends, walked down a side alley toward the highway. The gun-jeeps were progressively replaced by M113s and XM-706 Commando armored cars. 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. 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. Now commanded by a brand-new second lieutenant, the men of Alpha Company balked when they were told to move. SOUTH VIETNAM: VIET CONG EXPLODE U.S. Big Ammunition Dump Near Saigon Hit by Blasts, https://www.nytimes.com/1973/06/02/archives/big-ammunition-dump-near-saigon-hit-by-blasts-laotian-reports.html. convoy about two days before and were repairing anything that had failed We never saw them again. I had been in Vietnam about nine months. Rocket Attack on Dong Tam - July 10, 1969. 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. These photos were taken from December 9, 1967 to February 1968. 102 comments 105 shares. 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. Several soldiers gathered in front of the track to help the wounded, and Love climbed up to man the .50-caliber. He manned the .50 and, with a Charlie Company driver, headed down Highway 1. We could shoot about 21 miles into Cambodia. ordnance pad in the huge ammo dump. An eyewitness account of the battle for control of Bien Hoa and Long Binh on the first day of the 1968 Tet Offensive. As we cleared the ambush, the column suddenly came to a halt because of some kind of block in the road; simultaneously, someone keyed the company net. After the fight for the churches, there occurred one of the most bizarre and inexplicable incidents of the day. As we turned around to head back west, a tremendous blast shook the whole city of Bien Hoa. He assigned one to the airborne battalion and the other to Charlie Company. sixteen guns stationed next to the western border of Vietnam. [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. border. 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. main target because they were outnumbered 5 to 1. Featured Collections | 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. After much frequency changing, I finally got the commander of the bunker guards on the radio. him in. 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.

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