I yelled at Lieutenant Casper, and everybody looked around as the VC tore out running the last few yards to safety. Charlie Company reacted quickly to reinforce Alpha, and a daylong fight ensued. 9. ruary 1968 in support of Saigon and Long Binh Post during the TET Offen- Sive. That night, frightened bunker guards in the 199th compound shot into the darkness to their front. 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. 118th during the Tet of 1968, also called the Defense of Bien His action probably saved the lives of everyone on my track. Each APC could carry almost as much ammunition as a dismounted rifle company. Bravo Company (one member of which was Spc. I called battalion headquarters and asked what to do about the bunkers. Burned out 105mm howitzer shells at ammunition dump in Bien Hoa Air Force Base, Bien Hoa in Vietnam. The combat around III Corps headquarters was intense. As the Hueys rockets smashed the VC strongpoint, the scouts fought their way out of the encirclement and evacuated their dead and wounded. The armed helicopter teams had a field day shooting guerrillas who tried to escape to the nearby jungles. In another sign that the situation was serious, the battalion commander himself gave map coordinates of company objectives in the clear. We had run through the rear of the 274th VC Regiment, which was attacking the airfield. The Long Binh ammo dump had exploded. First was sand then bigger stuff. Remembering Tet 1968 Fifty Years Ago - quanloi.org We had run through the rear of the 274th VC Regiment, which was attacking the airfield. Mainly it is the story of some of the finest solders to ever wear the uniform of the U.S. Army and how they reacted not only to fierce combat, but also to the fog of war. As he fell, a burst of automatic weapons fire stitched the wall right where he would have been had he not fallen.. Long Binh Ammo Dump Explosion, Tet, 1968 - YouTube After the fight for the churches, there occurred one of the most bizarre and inexplicable incidents of the day. July 10, 1969 - Page 3 - Brownwater Vietnam Veterans It dawned on us that the VC were throwing down their weapons, changing clothes and slipping away. 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. Aerial view of Long Binh Post in Vietnam. 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. 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. Shopping Cart | NEARER V..EXPLOSIONS CU SIGN "NO SMOKING" Helicopter gunships took off from Bien Hoa AB to investigate, but were unable to locate the force in the darkness. 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. was out of the bldgs. The 2-47s enemy body count came in at over 200, while the battalion suffered only four KIA. Jeep parked along road. It then dawned on us that the VC were throwing down their weapons, changing clothes and slipping away. yelling Kortuem! 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. [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. No answer. 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. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. (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]). into the bunkers. only be entered from off the Bien Hoa Air base and thru the gate 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. From our positions we could see and hear the celebratory fireworks lighting the sky over Saigon to the west. 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. In addition we detained more than 20 probable VC fighters dressed in civilian clothes. It also contained tons of captured NVA ammo and guns from the A Shau Valley. 2 comments. August 1966 November 1966 December 1966. In a few moments, the huge dump became a fireball, the shock of the explosion echoing over an area of 50 miles. Tet offensive attacks on Bien Hoa and Long Binh - Wikipedia The Vietnamese general and the III Corps G3 adviser, however, were not very happy when we pulled out. At 03:45 the unit engaged the VC/PAVN with 2 ACAVs being quickly knocked out by RPG fire. 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. Our arrival had canceled fears that III Corps headquarters might be overrun. Despite the confusion and wounds, our troops returned fire. At 3 a.m. on January 31, I received a call from Major Bill Jones, who had recently taken Ionoffs place as operations officer. This site requires JavaScript. We carried concertina wire, sand bags and hundreds of Claymores and trip flares to make our defensive positions practically impenetrable. [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 began detaining the well-dressed young men among the refugees. Terms & Conditions | Explosion at Long Binh ammunition storage facility. As our medics treated the wounded, I reported to the American lieutenant colonel who was the III Corps G3 adviser. 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. 0.13 ], 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. Sugar Bear Dames, as he was called by his many friends, walked down a side alley toward the highway. As I remember the Tet Offensive began in the early morning of Now someone pointed out that there were a lot of young men, all dressed in black pants and white shirts, among the refugees. On that fateful night, explosions began at the bomb dump, I immediately responded to CSC as the SP's . U.S. air strikes in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. We topped off our fuel tanks, replenished our ammo and continued to move toward our assigned blocking position. 15. 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. In January 1968, our battalion relocated to the area between Xuan Loc and Bien Hoa, where intelligence had located a VC battalion. We had returned from a The attacks were repulsed with the VC/PAVN suffering heavy losses, having inflicted minimal damage on the bases. mortar rounds and 90 122-mm. That night, frightened bunker guards in the 199th compound shot into the darkness to their front. Casper rose from a prone position and yelled for his troops to follow him. We could use our tracks as a base of fire or in a blocking position as the company maneuvered dismounted. find all the dead so the countryside smelled like a scene from The - 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. When it went off my first thought was that it was a nuclear explosion because of the light dome that rose from the explosion. SV AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND EXPLOSION 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. Incredibly, nobody in my company had been killed the day before. In addition, we were tremendously flexible. 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. I called battalion headquarters and was told to forget about them, which reinforced our sense that combat was imminent. The offensive continued until the end of the month in the North part of rockets at Bien Hoa AB and Long Binh Post. 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. Bomb squads disarmed seven of the charges, but at 07:30 the remainder exploded with three igniting pallets of artillery shells and their Propellant bags causing a massive explosion, blast wave and mushroom cloud. Privacy Policy | Links South Vietnam: Viet Cong Explode U.s. Ammunition Dump. 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. For more great articles, subscribe to Vietnam magazine today! Bill Langan, aka "Sparky" was on duty in the 573rd hanger at the Bird Cage and took the slide photo. 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. Then I got a call from battalion commander Tower, asking how things were going. 1.19 Gradually, I became a mechanized soldier. Since I was in an airborne unit, I was sure I would go to the 173rd Airborne Brigade or the 101st Airborne Division. Rocket Attack on Dong Tam - July 10, 1969. 2,400,000 pounds of 8 inch high explosive artillery projectiles. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. Love was so startled, he didnt fire. The bombs descend and explode near structures in grove of tress in agricultural area 30 miles southwest of Saigon on 19 August, 1968. Big Ammunition Dump Near Saigon Hit by Blasts The Vietnamese brigadier general, who was the ranking man at III Corps, drew circles around two equal-sized areas of downtown Bien Hoa. I told the platoon leaders to prepare to dismount and to take all the ammunition and grenades they could carry. During this time, the battalion made only sporadic contact and suffered few casualties. Long Binh Vietnam 1969 stock footage and images - Showing 1 to 6 of 5540 results Sort by: All Decade 1890 - 1899 Location (1) Norfolk Virginia USA (2) Normandy France (12) Norman Oklahoma USA (1) (1) (1) North Carolina United States USA (2) North Chicago Illinois USA (1) North Dakota United States USA (1) North Haven Maine USA (1) North Korea (1) As the afternoon of January 30 drifted toward dusk, Charlie Company soldiers stripped to the waist and dug bunkers next to their M-113s. For additional reading, see: The Battle for Saigon, Tet 1968, by Keith Nolan; and History of the 5th Division, by Ho Son Dai and Nguyen Van Hung. The 2nd Platoon pulled the damaged track out of the side street and towed it back to the III Corps compound. 1.13 [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. I have . (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. We began detaining the well-dressed young men among the refugees. Binh Hoa Airbase was lucky they were not the 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. Charlie Company slammed into the VC before they could get their attack organized. 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. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. Army used the base as a logistics and command center. [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. We could shoot about 21 miles into Cambodia. 2. Photo Index 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. while we were gone. Alpha Company, still licking its wounds from the January 23 fight, was left intact. The weapon was aimed at the newly built and painted (orange-white 7. SP4 Lawrence Korteum Those orders were for us to clear the VC from the houses surrounding the corps headquarters. I remember one The helmet had stopped 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. This was no surprise to us, since we could plainly hear the enemy rounds slamming into Long Binh. I sat behind the .50-caliber, munching and giving thanks for the fact that, incredibly, nobody in Charlie Company had been killed. Dames killed them with a burst from his M-16 probably saving the lives of everyone on my track. My Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. resulting in the explosion of the ammo dump at Bin Ha Air Base. THE EXPLOSIONS RATTLED WINDOWS IN SAIGON, ABOUT 13 MILES (20 KILOMETERS) AWAY. [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. Waking Dead. main target because they were outnumbered 5 to 1. Fires were burning late into the afternoon. 6 comments. Its predominantly Catholic population was made up of many Vietnamese who fled North Vietnam in 1954 after the Viet Minh victory. Long Binh ammo dump was one of the Men at Long Binh ammunition dump. 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. He ignored me and proceeded to a nearby house where he and the deputy sheriff kicked in the front door. trooper was injured by a piece of shrapnel that had come down 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. Ammo Dump Explosion 18 Feb 1968 where 8 pads detonated with a total ammo value of $2,774,348: f. On 18 February 1968 at approximately 0300 an attempted penetration of the depot was. It was the first such occurrence since the ceasefire of Jan. 28. He retired from the U.S. Army as a lieutenant colonel. Elements of B Company, 2/47th Infantry (Mechanized) and C Company, 4/39th Infantry, clearing North Vietnamese Army regulars from "Widows' Village" (a hamlet of housing provided by the government of the Republic of Vietnam for widows and children of fallen ARVN soldiers). The Long Binh ammo dump had exploded. 4. hightForP2 = 330 to contact the Commanding Officer(MAJ Guidroz). SAIGON, South Vietnam, June 1 (Reuters)Explosions ripped through a huge ammu nition dump near here today, killing one soldier and wound ing 13. Satchel charges blew pallets of artillery ammunition, creating a mushroom cloud that made us think the VC had set off a tactical nuclear weapon. It involved transfer of powder projectiles and fuses enough to keep When we arrived, we found the churchyard packed with thousands of civilians seeking refuge. The churches were cleared in short order. 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. 1. Most of we RAD 152 crew members arrived in-country on July 22, 1968. I had inherited the job remember being giddy and my brain was asking What is wrong with me?. danger and the probable best course of action. As we rolled by, we looked down into the compound and saw soldiers in khakis milling about with boarding passes in hand. 11. In fact, VC effectiveness was so degraded that, after 1968, they were mainly replaced on the battlefield by North Vietnamese regulars, and were never a viable force after that. He assigned one to the airborne battalion and the other to Charlie Company. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. At about 0600, Lt. Col. John Tower, the new battalion commander, called with orders. Casper rose from the prone position and yelled for his troops to follow him. LV EXPLOSIONS [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. a noise! VC/PAVN losses were 527 dead. As our medics treated the wounded, I reported to the American lieutenant colonel who was the III Corps G3 adviser. 5. 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. The Vietnamese brigadier generalthe ranking man at III Corpsdrew circles on a map around two areas of downtown Bien Hoa. Despite the confusion and wounds, our troops returned fire. had defended the Long Binh ammo dump and had helped in the Widow's Village fight. Several soldiers gathered in front of the track to help the wounded, and Love climbed up to man the .50-caliber. It had been over two days and many of us had no sleep. F-100 Super Sabre and F-4 Phantom II drop Mark 82 bombs in Vietnam during U.S. air strikes. By Vietnam terms Long Binh ammo dump was one of the biggest ordnance storage areas in the country. Hide. The 2nd Platoon, under Lieutenant Fred Casper, led the way, followed by my track, then Lieutenant Howard Jones 1st Platoon and, finally, the weapons platoon under Lieutenant Don Muir. 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 2-47 was one of several units General Weyand pulled in from the jungles to guard the Long Binh headquarters and logistical complex 15 miles northeast of Saigon. [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. Copyright Screenocean 2022 | Powered byImagen. [2]:3512 US losses in the fighting in the Widow's Village were three dead. M-113 APCs of the 9th Infantry Division storm VC positions 200 meters outside II Field Force headquarters at Long Binh on February 1, 1968. At dawn on 2 February the US counted approximately 50 VC/PAVN dead in the area and captured 3 VC. Normally, operations orders issued over the radio were encoded and sent by the operations officers radio operator. Set. "What are you firing at? " Ive just been told you work for me again. 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. (Vietnam War period). Bin Ha Air Base: Memories of Bin Ha, TET 1969, by Larry - VSPA Aerial view of (USARV) United States Army Republic of Vietnam Headquarters Complex at Long Binh, Vietnam. Jim Love recalls lying in a ditch near a dead civilian as the friendly fire cracked over our heads. We never saw them again. 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. recoil of my M14. They bowed and looked confused. M-117 bombs explode near and on road on wooden slopes near river north of Pleiku near Dak To, on 18 August, 1968. Simultaneously, platoon leaders reported finding discarded AK-47s. The 2nd Platoon took on the one on the north side of the road, and the 1st Platoon attacked the other. Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. 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. VC informants inside the base had provided detailed information as to the base layout and defenses. But their 81mm mortars were useless, since we were told we could not put any indirect fire into the town. Meanwhile, Charlie Company was ordered back to III Corps. Tet Offensive I had returned to Long Binh Post. Updated 7/26/2015. Then a report came in that a body had been found wearing a white shirt under a black pajama tunic. 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. Meanwhile, Huey gunships reported VC running from the village. At 0700, as daylight was breaking, my track rolled past the ARVN III Corps compound gate. convoy about two days before and were repairing anything that had failed Company E engaged the PAVN/VC supported by artillery fire killing 47 PAVN/VC. As we turned to head back, a tremendous blast shook the whole city of Bien Hoa. At dusk, airstrikes had to be called in to blast the VC from the hill. 0.08 They ordered us to clear the VC from the houses surrounding the corps headquarters. 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 would get the mission. The explosion echoed over an area of 50 miles. In command for five months, I had been assured that I would be leading the company for one year, which suited me fine. The 2nd Platoon led the way under Lieutenant Fred Casper, followed by my track, then Lieutenant Howard Jones 1st Platoon and, finally, the weapons platoon under Lieutenant Don Muir.