front making it dangerous to return fire. Later, as the sun sank over the Long Binh base, they tossed a football and ate cold C rations. We never saw them again. 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. him in. [2]:3523, General Weyand later noted that in their attacks on the Saigon area "Despite the large number of Communist troops committed, insufficient force was applied in any one area to take and hold the objectiveThe assault had been launched piecemeal and it was repulsed piecemeal in a series of relatively small battles. Alpha Company, still licking its wounds from the January 23 fight, was left intact. Tet Offensive: The Battles of Bien Hoa and Long Binh - HistoryNet 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. known as Widows Village. 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. We found out later from captured VC that many guerrillas had been given only two magazines for their weapons. 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. Some were complete projectiles weighing 2 comments. [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. main target because they were outnumbered 5 to 1. From our positions, we could see and hear the fireworks lighting the sky over Saigon to the west. We had run through the rear of the 274th VC Regiment, which was attacking the airfield. The G3 adviser told me that they had received intelligence that Vo Nguyen Giap, the North Vietnamese commanding general (the enemy equivalent of General William Westmoreland), had his command post in a Catholic church about a kilometer east of III Corps. 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. During the meeting, a master sergeant adviser to a Vietnamese ranger battalion ran into the compound. AIR V..EXPLOSION 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. Perpetual Siege region. 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. A slightly wounded soldier, lying on the ground, smiles as he points to his leg as another soldier helps him. Then things started falling out of the sky. 3. Jan. 31. bunker. APCs advance, firing 50 caliber machine guns. The 2nd Platoon took the one north of the road, the 1st Platoon attacked the other. As enemy resistance stiffened, we realized we had bottled at least a company of the VC 275th Regiment in the village. Alpha Company was ordered to the 199th LIB compound, which was under attack. Then things started falling "I was the 1SGT of the Ive just been told you work for me again. While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. On that fateful night, explosions began at the bomb dump, I immediately responded to CSC as the SP's . 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) HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. The G3 adviser told me that they had received intelligence that Vo Nguyen Giap, the North Vietnamese commanding general, had his command post in a Catholic church about 1 kilometer east of III Corps. We all knew these moves were more than precautionary. 0.35 We had returned from a [6]:66. Refusing evacuation, neither reported his wound. I yelled at Lieutenant Casper, and everybody looked around as the VC tore out running the last few yards to safety. The mushroom cloud slowly dissipated after hours of I walked back to my track, thinking this was going to be a real nightmare. Aerial view of (USARV) United States Army Republic of Vietnam Headquarters Complex at Long Binh, Vietnam. I was not sure what to do about the bunkers. With small-arms fire cracking overhead, young girls carrying bottles of Coca-Cola were trying to sell them to the troops. The North Vietnamese Army had circled The 2-47s enemy body count came in at more than 200, while the battalion suffered only four KIA. Dong Ha vietnam 1968 | Dong Ha ammo dump explosion from NVA artillery fire. As the 2nd Platoon began to run short, Spc. 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. 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 careful with it. bore in my M14 barrel had begun to flake off and the wooden stock was All day civilians had been darting from their homes and running from the fighting. Normally, operations orders issued over the radio were encoded and sent by the operations officers radio operator. The only contact I had had with M-113 armored personnel carriers (APCs) was during a training exercise at the officers basic course just after I entered the Army. That night, frightened bunker guards in the 199th compound shot into the darkness to their front. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. a noise! The 2-47s scout platoon had just finished a brutal fight in Widows Village, and at 4 p.m., it was ordered to move to the junction of Highways 1 and 316, and to attack westward through the village of Ho Nai toward Charlie Company, in the hope of pinning the VC between us. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp. 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. Love was so startled, he didnt fire. [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. I told the colonel that this was not a police action, that we werent searching houses, we were in combat. 0.28 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. Helicopter gunships took off from Bien Hoa AB to investigate, but were unable to locate the force in the darkness. Toward dark, airstrikes had to be called in to blast the VC from the hill. In January 1968, our battalion relocated to the area between Xuan Loc and Bien Hoa, where intelligence had located a VC battalion. biggest ordnance storage areas in the country. ". The recon platoon was ordered to establish a blocking position south of Long Binh on Highway 15. 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. THE EXPLOSIONS RATTLED WINDOWS IN SAIGON, ABOUT 13 MILES (20 KILOMETERS) AWAY. After the cemetery had been cleared Company B, 2/3rd Infantry joined Company C, 4/12th Infantry and they made a night defensive perimeter north of Ho Nai, while the 2/47th Infantry was withdrawn to Bin Ha. Some of the enemy had tunneled under the fence and exploded an 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. Lt. Col. John E. Gross Recalls the Tet Battles of Bien Hoa and Long Binh That night, no one slept, but instead scanned the jungles with Starlight scopes, seeing nothing. Now someone pointed out that there were a lot of young men, all dressed in black pants and white shirts, walking among the refugees. Despite the confusion and wounds, our troops returned fire. Later, captured VC said many guerrillas only had two magazines for their weapons in expectation that the population would rise up against the Americans and have plenty of captured weapons to fight with. The Long Binh ammunition dump had exploded. Simultaneously, platoon leaders reported finding discarded AK-47s. As he fell, a burst of automatic weapons fire stitched the wall right where he would have been had he not fallen.. We suffered more wounded during the trip back to III Corps, where I was called to a meeting in the headquarters. Waking Dead. Troops opened their attacks with volleys of grenades, then went in shooting. About a month earlier I had been loaned out to weld the razor Simultaneously, platoon leaders reported finding discarded AK-47s. resulting in the explosion of the ammo dump at Bin Ha Air Base. A VC guerrilla hiding behind a parked ARVN jeep had fired the rocket. The 2nd Platoon took on the one on the north side of the road, and the 1st Platoon attacked the other. 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. Riflemen staying close behind. As the sun sank over the Long Binh base, they tossed a football and ate cold C rations. The bus ride to 90th Replacement was relatively short and everyone seemed exhausted from the long flight. Burned out 105mm howitzer shells at ammunition dump in Bien Hoa Air Force Base, Bien Hoa in Vietnam. SOUTH VIETNAM: VIET CONG EXPLODE U.S. We use cookies on this website. At 0400 Jones ordered us to pull in our ambushes and be prepared to move. No answer. October continued with construction efforts. With a push-to-talk button stuck in the transmit position, no one could use the radio. [6]:12, Several dozen of the PAVN rockets exploded near the II Field Force and 199th LIB headquarters in the Plantation Compound (105728N 1065241E / 10.9577N 106.878E / 10.9577; 106.878) causing minimal damage. We topped off our fuel tanks, replenished our ammo and continued to move toward our assigned blocking position. 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. 6 External links modified. Other than temporarily disrupting operations at Bien Hoa AB for half a day and destroying ammunition at the Long Binh ammunition dump, the VC/PAVN inflicted minimal damage to the Bien Hoa-Long Binh complex. Specialist 4 Bill Rambo, assistant driver and .50-gunner on my command track, remembers my response to the firing as being absolutely irate. It was the first such occurrence since the ceasefire of Jan. 28. We were in a cloud of disarray Ive just been told you work for me again. I was to be a platoon leader again, in Charlie Company, commanded by Captain John Ionoff. When it went off my first thought was that it was a nuclear explosion because of the light dome that rose from the explosion. 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 2nd Platoon pulled the damaged track out of the side street and towed it back to the III Corps compound. I told him that I wanted to command a company. We could use our tracks as a base of fire or in a blocking position as the company maneuvered on foot. 0.13 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. As 1st Lt. Brice Barnes led his scout platoon into the edge of Ho Nai, he ran full speed into a hornets nest. I called battalion headquarters and was told to forget about them, which reinforced our sense that combat was imminent. The attacks were repulsed with the VC/PAVN suffering heavy losses, having inflicted minimal damage on the bases. [3]:218, The town of Ho Nai (105812N 1065335E / 10.970N 106.893E / 10.970; 106.893) was located on Highway 1 north of the Widow's Village and Long Binh Post. The first explosion was 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. USAF (United States Air Force) F-100 Super Sabre jet fighter aircraft drops Mark 82 (Mk.82) high-drag (HD) bombs. Riflemen moving cautiously. No infantry school tactic fit the situation; improvisation became the order of the day. 4 Joseph Dames was tasked to return to the tracks for more grenades. 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. convoy about two days before and were repairing anything that had failed [5], USAF losses were 4 killed in action with another dying of a heart attack, while 26 were wounded. Flames consuming huts. After much frequency changing, I finally got the commander of the bunker guards on the radio. 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 . Love was so startled, he didnt fire. [2]:347, The ARVN 53rd Regional Force Battalion was responsible for security in the countryside around Bin Ha. 15. Unconfirmed reports reports said the blasts were . History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. [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. My Account | was his helmet and flack jacket! An accurate body count could never be compiled since so many VC bodies were dragged away or were burned in the many fires that ravaged the towns and villages. The Long Binh ammo dump had exploded. LV EXPLOSIONS It was had defended the Long Binh ammo dump and had helped in the Widow's Village fight. Construction on the 24 th. What we came up with was a T formation. Lieutenant Barnes and one of his soldiers would be awarded Distinguished Service Crosses for their heroism that day. trooper was injured by a piece of shrapnel that had come down Cambodian border to the South China sea was already considered a As usual, each company had sent two ambush patrols into the jungle to our front. But no one would be leaving the country that day. He ignored me and proceeded to a nearby house where he and the deputy sheriff kicked in the front door. Charlie Company was ordered to a large open field across Highway 15 from the Long Thanh airfield. We never saw them again. 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. Widows Village made a perfect attack position, since it lay directly across Highway 316 from II Field Force headquarters. As we turned to head back, a tremendous blast shook the whole city of Bien Hoa. door at the petroleum dump ruptured and fuel flowed down the ditch in 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. Troops opened their attacks with volleys of grenades, then charged in shooting. Casper rose from a prone position and yelled for his troops to follow him. The two of them refused evacuation and neither reported his wound. During this time, the battalion made only sporadic contact and suffered few casualties. According to the official history of the VC 5th Division, the 3rd Battalion, 5th VC Regiment, supported by the Bien Hoa Sapper Company, had the mission of overrunning the compound, which was defended by about 15 ARVN soldiers and a smattering of MACV advisers. At 03:45 the unit engaged the VC/PAVN with 2 ACAVs being quickly knocked out by RPG fire. The VC had run out of ammunition and were trying to escape. - (Vietnam War period). Now someone pointed out that there were a lot of young men, all dressed in black pants and white shirts, among the refugees. When Lieutenant Casper jumped up, our legs became entangled and I tripped him, Ax remembers. I walked back to my track, thinking this was going to be a nightmare. John Gross received the Silver Star for his actions in command of Charlie Company on the first day of the Tet Offensive. 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 progress was slow and ammunition was becoming a scarce, particularly grenades, which city fighting consumes at an enormous rate. In April 1967 I was a first lieutenant commanding a rifle company in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C. As my airborne mentality faded, I learned to love the M-113or track, as we called it. charred. [2]:350, With the base returned to full operation, that afternoon C130s landed the 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment to help ARVN forces fighting the VC in Bin Ha city. 11K views 9 years ago This is a brief clip of the ammo dump explosion at Long Binh, Vietnam, taken the morning of the Tet offensive, 1968. [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. Remembering Tet 1968 Fifty Years Ago - quanloi.org 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. recoil of my M14. Tet airstrike Long Binh Ammo Dump - YouTube Since I was in an airborne unit, it seemed certain that I would go to the 173rd Airborne Brigade or the 101st Airborne Division. This is the story of one rifle company, and what it faced on that decisive day. Even though it was about 6-8 miles away to the NE of Bien Hoa, it was plainly visible . Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. Story Text: STOCKPILES OF BOMBS AND ARTILLERY SHELLS AT THE U.S. ARMY AMMUNITION DUMP AT LONG BINH, IN SOUTH VIETNAM, ERUPTED YESTERDAY (SATURDAY) WHEN TIME CHARGES, PLACED BY VIET CONG RAIDERS, DETONATED AMID TONS OF HIGH EXPLOSIVES. (Long Binh) ammunition dump. I assigned areas of operation to my two rifle platoons and positioned the weapons platoon inside the compound as a reserve and security force. [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. [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. Activity in the area had picked up in November and I had no way of knowing who it was with no light in the Tower ordered Charlie Company to attack eastward to clear the village of Ho Nai, a Bien Hoa suburb. At the meeting I was joined by the S3 of a battalion from the 101st Airborne Division. The battle was significant, since Alphas leadership was seriously depleted during the days immediately prior to Tet. To ensure you can use all the features please enable it. 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. . Tower sent Major Jones to take command, and once Alpha got moving, it did a magnificent job. We were west of Highway QL1 along a road named 535. Each APC could carry almost as much ammunition as a dismounted rifle company. We closed within a few hundred meters of the scout platoon and watched as helicopter gunships destroyed a large yellow house from which the VC were pinning down Barnes troops. The 2-47s scout platoon had just finished a brutal fight in Widows Village, and at 1600 hours, it was ordered to move to the junction of Highways 1 and 316, and to attack westward through the village of Ho Nai toward Charlie Company, in the hope of pinning the VC between us. The platoons attacked by successive bounds through the village as the companys tracks, forming the base of the T on the highway, provided fire support from the .50s and resupplied the troops with ammunition. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. At dawn on 2 February the US counted approximately 50 VC/PAVN dead in the area and captured 3 VC. The 2nd Platoon pulled the damaged track out of the side street and towed it back to the III Corps compound. We could haul more personal gear, live more comfortably and walk less than straight-leg troops. However the ammunition storage bunkers prevented a chain reaction and the lost munitions were easily replaced with no impact on supply. THE EXPLOSIONS RATTLED WINDOWS IN SAIGON, ABOUT 13 MILES (20 KILOMETERS) AWAY. Smoke rises from surrounding area. 6. Long Binh Ammo Dump October 29, 1966 . Anyone can read what you share. 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. 1 comment. He 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. That was 90th Replacement Battalion, situated on the road to Saigon between the village of Bien Hoa and the huge base at Long Binh. 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. AIR V..AMMUNITION DUMPS AND FIRES One A-37 and 1 F-100 were destroyed while a further 17 aircraft were damaged. Click Here. The NAM - Dong Ha vietnam 1968 | Dong Ha ammo dump | Facebook 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. while we were gone. As we rolled by, we looked down into the compound and saw soldiers in khakis, boarding passes in hand, milling about. (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. At dusk, airstrikes had to be called in to blast the VC from the hill. We had run through the rear of the 274th VC Regiment, which was attacking the airfield. 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. There we would be assigned a unit we would serve with in Vietnam. 2,400,000 pounds of 8 inch high explosive artillery projectiles. Ripped apart barbed wire. As the 2nd Platoon began to run short, Spc. 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. probably one of the best deals I had been Used for because the As I walked around the front of a track, the .50-caliber gunner accidentally hit the trigger and pumped five rounds into the ground about three feet in front of me. Sugar Bear Dames, as he was called by his many friends, walked down a side alley toward the highway. Men at Long Binh ammunition dump. raffia 12th combat aviation group - sites.google.com 1. carried on into that night with tracers flying everywhere. Each APC could carry almost as much ammunition as a dismounted rifle company, and 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. The armed helicopter teams had a field day shooting guerrillas trying to flee into the jungle. 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. They had been told that the population would rise up against the Americans and that there would be plenty of captured U.S. weapons to fight with. Our area from the Chu Lai and LZ Baldy Photos. 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. wire on the top of LBJ (Long Binh Jail).
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