long binh ammo dump explosion 1968 long binh ammo dump explosion 1968

The Commo track, C-007, nicknamed Abdula and the Rug Merchants, with Pfc (current Vietnam editor) David Zabecki behind the .50-caliber, brought up the rear. No tactic I had learned at infantry school fit that situation, so we improvised. find all the dead so the countryside smelled like a scene from The I bodies across the road began to bloat into a grotesque scene. This site requires JavaScript. Somehow the foam trucks from recoil of my M14. from Bien Hoa City. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. (National Archives), https://www.historynet.com/lt-col-john-e-gross-recalls-the-tet-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. The chrome When Lieutenant Casper jumped up, our legs became entangled and I tripped him, Ax remembers. Attacking Long THE EXPLOSIONS RATTLED WINDOWS IN SAIGON, ABOUT 13 MILES (20 KILOMETERS) AWAY. and still no answer. Big Boom! Aerial view of Long Binh Post in Vietnam. 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. Binh was a logistical mistake because the perimeter was so heavily armed He manned the .50 and, with a Charlie Company driver, started off down Highway 1. officer around. What we came up with was a T formation. 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. USAF McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II bomber aircraft drop two Mk.84 HD bombs. 939939. unless they could see someone, I went to our Operations shack Love was so startled, he didnt fire. 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. The village of Ho Nai, now a ghost town, was still smoldering. hightForP2 = 330 ], 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. We could use our tracks as a base of fire or in a blocking position as the company maneuvered dismounted. the country where resupply was easier for the enemy. 3. [2]:347 Weyand also requested the 1st Australian Task Force (1 ATF) to defend the eastern approaches to Long Binh/Bien Hoa and 1 ATF had commenced Operation Coburg on 24 January. No infantry school tactic fit the situation; improvisation became the order of the day. Satchel charges blew pallets of artillery ammunition, creating a mushroom cloud that made us think the VC had set off a tactical nuclear weapon. 4 Joseph Sugar Bear Dames returned to the tracks for more grenades. This site was called Hill 63 because there was a hill nearby that had an elevation of 63 meters on the map. About Us | I then jacked a round into my M-16 and who would you believe 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. on the water tower". Those orders were for us to clear the VC from the houses surrounding the corps headquarters. The bus ride to 90th Replacement was relatively short and everyone seemed exhausted from the long flight. 1.19 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. Unconfirmed reports reports said the blasts were the work of Vietcong sabotage teams. [2]:347, The ARVN 53rd Regional Force Battalion was responsible for security in the countryside around Bin Ha. The combat around III Corps headquarters was intense. In another sign that the situation was serious, the battalion commander himself gave map coordinates of company objectives in the clear. The combat around III Corps headquarters was intense. I realized we were driving past our objective, halted the company and called for the 2nd Platoon to find a place to turn around. introduction into country when he first came to the 118th. 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. 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. Advanced Search | Back view of jeep with open doors. 13. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp. happened to hit him just over the forehead. 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. At about 0600, Lt. Col. John Tower, the new battalion commander, called with orders. By 1968 the Bien Hoa-Long Binh complex was the largest US/South Vietnamese military base in South Vietnam. 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. 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. and the perimeter was still intact. Less has been written about the danger, turmoil, chaos, confusion, contradictions and outright lunacy that confronted individual units as they responded to VC attacks on the morning of January 31. 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. Tower sent the battalion S3, Major Jones, to take command, and once Alpha got moving, it did a magnificent job. GV EXPLOSIONS, AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN F/G. 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. I was to be a platoon leader again, in Charlie Company, commanded by Captain John Ionoff. 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. Toward dusk on January 30, Charlie Company soldiers stripped to the waist to dig bunkers next to their APCs. I assigned areas of operation to my two rifle platoons and positioned the weapons platoon inside the compound as a reserve and security force. [5], USAF losses were 4 killed in action with another dying of a heart attack, while 26 were wounded. 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. After much frequency changing, I finally got the commander of the bunker guards on the radio. GV AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN F/G. We opened up with everything we had and kept driving. the wrecker operator had to know how to weld. Sugar Bear Dames, as he was called by his many friends, walked down a side alley toward the highway. 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. At least 3,000 tons of ammu nition were reportedly de stroyed in the blasts, which be gan before dawn and continued until midmorning. During this fighting, the two platoon leaders were wounded, Lieutenant Casper in the leg and Lieutenant Jones in the foot. The bombs descend and explode near structures in grove of tress in agricultural area 30 miles southwest of Saigon on 19 August, 1968. Their 81mm mortars were useless, since we were told we could not put any indirect fire into the town. Initials PW/VS/JH/BB/ES PW/VS/JH/ES My plan was to make captain and go to Vietnam as an experienced company commander. 5 Explosion at Long Binh ammunition storage facility. We were ordered to go to that church and detain every male between the ages of 16 and 80. On January 23, during a battalion sweep of a heavily jungled area south of Highway 1, Alpha Company walked into a well-camouflaged, well-defended enemy bunker system and was badly mauled, losing four men killed and more than 20 wounded, including almost all of the officers. That night, frightened bunker guards in the 199th compound shot into the darkness to their front. Following that fight, the 2-47 was ordered south of the 9th Divisions base camp. Lieutenant Barnes and one of his soldiers would be awarded Distinguished Service Crosses for their heroism that day. Updated 7/26/2015. 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. We rolled through Long Binh and out the main gate, then turned left onto Highway 316. 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. Soon we could hear leaders moving up and down the bunker line yelling for the guards to stop firing. [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. 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. Featured Collections | 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. Perpetual Siege region. Charlie Companys 3rd Platoon was also detached for a security mission inside the base. During December we made little enemy contact, probably because the Communists were lying low preparing for Tet. 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. 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. We charged southeast down Highway 316 to the Highway 15 intersection, situated on a small hill overlooking the 90th Replacement Company. Our arrival had canceled fears that III Corps headquarters might be overrun. the bunker. He replied that I would have to wait. Charlie Company would get the mission. It As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. After much frequency changing, I finally got the commander of the bunker guards on the radio. 4 "Late in the war" 1 comment. They both hobbled through the rest of the days fighting. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. [2]:347 Within Bien Hoa AB, the USAF 3rd Security Police Squadron was responsible for security manning bunkers and operating mobile patrols within the base perimeter. 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) Tet Offensive I had returned to Long Binh Post. It dawned on us that the VC were throwing down their weapons, changing clothes and slipping away. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. Charlie Company quickly reinforced Alpha, and a daylong fight ensued. The action occurs January 31st, 1968 (on "Tet", the Vietnamese Lunar New Year holiday). The helmet had stopped There, Charlie Company soldiers joined ARVN and U.S. MACV soldiers manning the walls. 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. My only previous contact with M-113 armored personnel carriers (APCs) was during a training exercise at the officers basic course. 5. AIR V..FIRES In addition, we were tremendously flexible. 0.08 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. on the Bailey Compound, only in the 145th CAB HQ which could [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. 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. At the meeting I was joined by the S3 of a battalion from the 101st Airborne Division. Alpha Company, still licking its wounds from the January 23 fight, was left intact. Burned out 105mm howitzer shells at ammunition dump in Bien Hoa Air Force Base, Bien Hoa in Vietnam. "What are you firing at? " He said the first thing he could remember was the 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. Many of the enlisted personnel with medical MOSs work two to three days per week at the 93 rd Evacuation Hospital, then came back to the 24 th to work on the various construction projects. [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. After all had left for the 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. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. 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. Benny Toney, the 2nd Platoon sergeant, hooked a tow cable to Stormy. My Lightboxes | Satchel charges blew pallets of artillery ammunition, creating a mushroom cloud that made us think the VC had set off a tactical nuclear weapon. (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Normally, operations orders issued over the radio were encoded and sent by the S3s radio operator. I 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. We packed up all of our gear, rolled up our concertina wire and waited. Soldiers of the U.S. 2nd Battalion 47th Infantry (Mechanized) and 4th Battalion 39th Infantry clearing a hamlet during the Tet Offensive in Vietnam. FAQs - How to Order | As the ammo dump burst into flames, secondary explosions erupted in other storage areas, and . As usual, each company had sent two ambush patrols into the jungle to our front. SV AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND EXPLOSION . and the gunner replied "VC LV EXPLOSIONS 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. Most of we RAD 152 crew members arrived in-country on July 22, 1968. I called battalion headquarters and asked what to do about the bunkers. Tower sent Major Jones to take command, and once Alpha got moving, it did a magnificent job. NEARER AIR V..SMOKE ton wrecker weighing in at 22 thousand pounds. This group is primarily for those Vietnam veterans who experienced the ammo dump attacks in Long Binh in 1966, '67, & '68.