The three companies formed a line almost three kilometers long, facing to the east, with their backs to the Long Binh wire. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. After all had left for the . VC/PAVN losses were 527 dead. The offensive continued until the end of the month in the North part of The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. remembered the 1SGT told him the first thing he was to get into 0.08 As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Early on January 30, we were told the Tet cease-fire was canceled, and our unit was deployed into a defensive line along the road that ran around the east side of the Long Binh base. Its predominantly Catholic population was made up of many Vietnamese who fled North Vietnam in 1954 after the Viet Minh victory. Shopping Cart | As darkness settled in, Charlie Company was ordered back to the junction of Highways 1 and 316, where we would form a screen in front of the 199th LIB base camp. 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. 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. 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. Craven and another photographer, were both wounded in the engagement.) 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. 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. Gradually, I became a mechanized soldier. Long Binh ammo dump was one of the biggest ordnance storage areas in the country. The S3 also told Charlie Companys noncombatants to report to battalion headquarters. Tower ordered Charlie Company to attack eastward to clear the village of Ho Nai, a suburb of Bien Hoa. In April 1967 I was a first lieutenant commanding a rifle company in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C. Dismounted troops of the 2nd Battalion (Mechanized), 47th Regiment, 9th Infantry Division, stay close to their M-113 armored personnel carriers (APCs) as they clear Widows Village, near Long Binh Army Post, of Viet Cong who had overrun it during the Communist 1968 Tet Offensive (National Archives). [3]:2289, The Tt ceasefire began on 29 January, but was cancelled on 30 January after the VC/PAVN prematurely launched attacks in II Corps and at 17:30 the 7th Air Force commander General William W. Momyer ordered all air bases in South Vietnam to security condition red. [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. Later, as the sun sank over the Long Binh base, they tossed a football and ate cold C rations. By July 1969 we were finally off the boats and in Dong Tam processing to head home. I was not sure what to do about the bunkers we had dug. [3]:2305 By dawn the VC/PAVN were retreating northwards pursued by helicopter gunships and at 06:15 Company C, 4/12th Infantry began moving north in pursuit, intending to pin the VC/PAVN against a force from Company B, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment which was moving south. We fired everything we had into the buildings lining the roadway and took several wounded while getting to the church. Fred Casper, one of the bravest of the brave, was killed during the May offensive at the Y Bridge in Saigon, leading from the front as was his custom. He was alive but he suffered a busted ear drum and singed hair, eye brows and arms. August 1966 November 1966 December 1966. Now commanded by a brand-new second lieutenant, the men of Alpha Company balked when they were told to move. 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. The bus ride to 90th Replacement was relatively short and everyone seemed exhausted from the long flight. 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 Vietnamese brigadier generalthe ranking man at III Corpsdrew circles on a map around two areas of downtown Bien Hoa. I had inherited the job I was to be a platoon leader again, in Charlie Company, commanded by Captain John Ionoff. [2]:3512 US losses in the fighting in the Widow's Village were three dead. 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 weapon was aimed at the newly built and painted (orange-white HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. 14. When the Tet cease-fire period began on January 28, the battalion was called back to the vicinity of Bear Cat, a base camp near Long Thanh. Fighting our way to the scout platoon, we were stopped when we came upon two large churches, straddling Highway 1, each occupied by VC. After the roadblock was cleared and communications restored, Charlie Company continued toward its objective. The progress was slow and ammo was becoming scarce, particularly grenades, which get consumed at an enormous rate in city fighting. 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. This site was called Hill 63 because there was a hill nearby that had an elevation of 63 meters on the map. around Bien Hoa Airbase and headed toward our post of Long Binh, then Tower sent Major Jones to take command, and once Alpha got moving, it did a magnificent job. Cambodian border to the South China sea was already considered a He waved me off. 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. 1.13 Long Binh ammo dump was one of the biggest ordnance storage areas in the country. As he fell, a burst of automatic weapons fire stitched the wall right where he would have been had he not fallen.. I told him that I wanted to command a company. AIR V..AMMUNITION DUMPS AND FIRES He started 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. The battle proved significant, as Alphas leadership was seriously depleted immediately prior to Tet. We rolled through Long Binh and out the main gate, then turned onto Highway 316. 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. While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. The VC had run out of ammunition and were trying to escape. A VC guerrilla hiding behind a parked ARVN jeep had fired the rocket. The village of Ho Nai, now a ghost town, still smoldered. 118th during the Tet of 1968, also called the Defense of Bien Now commanded by a brand-new second lieutenant, the men of Alpha Company balked when they were told to move. After a eventful When we arrived, we found the churchyard packed with thousands of civilians seeking refuge. Bucks County Pennsylvania United States USA, Del Rio Texas Laughlin Air Force Base USA, Roxborough Pennsylvania United States USA, U-Tapao Royal Thai Air Force Base Thailand. from Bien Hoa City. 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. On that fateful night, explosions began at the bomb dump, I immediately responded to CSC as the SP's . We fired all we had into the buildings lining the roadway and took several wounded while getting to the church. Some of the enemy had tunneled under the fence and exploded an As the Hueys rockets smashed the VC strongpoint, the scouts fought their way out of the encirclement and evacuated their dead and wounded. After much frequency changing, I finally got the commander of the bunker guards on the radio. Each APC could carry almost as much ammunition as a dismounted rifle company. The fog of war was especially thick on the morning of January 31, 1968. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. 4 Joseph Sugar Bear Dames returned to the tracks for more grenades. [3]:220, When the Company F, 51st Infantry LRRP team reported VC/PAVN moving past their position a reaction force from Company C, 4/12th Infantry mounted on ACAVs was sent to investigate. 0.59 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. In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. Under fire, Staff Sgt. The Vietnamese brigadier general, who was the ranking man at III Corps, drew circles around two equal-sized areas of downtown Bien Hoa. and the gunner replied "VC secondary explosions. SAIGON, South Vietnam, June 1 (Reuters)Explosions ripped through a huge ammu nition dump near here today, killing one soldier and wound ing 13. Riflemen staying close behind. Meanwhile, Charlie Company was ordered back to III Corps. Bien Hoa Air Base was the largest air base in the country, home to over 500 United States Air Force (USAF) and Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) aircraft, while Long Binh Post was the US Army's largest logistics base, headquarters of II Field Force, Vietnam, the 199th Light Infantry Brigade (199th LIB) and the 12th Aviation Group and home to over 20,000 US personnel. Rambo claims that the bunker guards were MPs with the call sign of Filmy Milker. According to him, I told their commander that any fool could see that the VC did not have M-113s, and that we had 22 .50-calibers and a 106mm recoilless rifle and they, for sure, did not want us to return fire. At 03:45 the unit engaged the VC/PAVN with 2 ACAVs being quickly knocked out by RPG fire. 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. ", "Then we were all in the bunker Charlie Company slammed into the VC before they could get their attack organized. During December we made little enemy contact, probably because the Communists were lying low, preparing for Tet. Jan. 31. Shoe of soldier on ground. [6]:36 In addition airborne "rocket watch" patrols were established in the Saigon-Bien Hoa area to reduce attacks by fire. At 08:00 the VC south of the Plantation withdrew into the Widows Village. As the Hueys rockets smashed the VC strongpoint, the scouts fought their way out of the encirclement and evacuated their dead and wounded. The 2nd Platoon pulled the damaged track out of the side street and towed it back to the III Corps compound. The Long Binh ammo dump had exploded. Ly's grandfather was a soldier stationed in Quang Binh during the war. It In January 1968, our battalion relocated to the area between Xuan Loc and Bien Hoa, where intelligence had located a VC battalion. I was the DistrictSenior Advisor (Army) in Vinh Kim, Long Dinh District, right across the canal from Dong Tam in 1968-1969. All day civilians had been darting from their homes and running from the fighting. With a push-to-talk button stuck in the transmit position, no one could use the radio. 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. Refusing evacuation, neither reported his wound. [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 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. All night they scanned the jungles with Starlight scopes, seeing nothing. At 0300 hours I received a call from Major Bill Jones, who had recently taken Ionoffs place as S3, stating 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. Privacy Policy | Links It then dawned on us that the VC were throwing down their weapons, changing clothes and slipping away. I explained to the colonel that this was not a police action, and that we werent searching houses, we were in combat. "[3]:205, The Tet offensive attacks on Bien Hoa AB and Tan Son Nhut Air Base slowly led to an improvement in air base defense across South Vietnam, with improved bunkers and heavier defensive armament including 0.50 cal machine guns, M67 recoilless rifles and M29 mortars. 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. Rolling back through Bien Hoa, we were astounded to come upon the battalion S4, Captain Leroy Brown, in the middle of town with a 5,000-gallon fuel tanker and several ammunition trucks. We threw grenades over the wall behind them, but hit nothing.. I called battalion headquarters and asked what to do about the bunkers. At the beginning of the Tet Offensive, one rifle company was ordered to to clear the village of Ho Nai, a Bien Hoa suburb. Toward dark, airstrikes had to be called in to blast the VC from the hill. Normally, operations orders issued over the radio were encoded and sent by the S3s radio operator. ", "I then went to the CP and tried 0.42 Jeep parked along road. Featured Collections | Tower ordered Charlie Company to attack eastward to clear the village of Ho Nai, a Bien Hoa suburb. U.S. air strikes in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Even though it was about 6-8 miles away to the NE of Bien Hoa, it was plainly visible . charred. Perpetual Siege region. His action probably saved the lives of everyone on my track. That night, no one slept, but instead scanned the jungles with Starlight scopes, seeing nothing. Troops opened their attacks with volleys of grenades, then went in shooting. Dames walked down a side alley toward the highway. Although initially surprised, U.S. forces had reacted quickly. I said again, "Who is there"? [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. But no one would be leaving the country that day. I realized we were driving past our objective, halted the company and called for the 2nd Platoon to find a place to turn around. When I pointed out that the 101st Battalion had more than 500 troops and I had only two line platoons and less than 90 troops, he said, Youre mechanized, youre very strong.. Sand bags near barbed wire fence. Benny Toney, the 2nd Platoon sergeant, hooked a tow cable to Stormy. The 2nd Platoon took on the one on the north side of the road, and the 1st Platoon attacked the other. At dawn on 2 February the US counted approximately 50 VC/PAVN dead in the area and captured 3 VC. To ensure you can use all the features please enable it. Get under! The Long Binh ammo dump had exploded. He assigned one to the airborne battalion and the other to Charlie Company. 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. Some VC crossed Route 316 and took up firing positions in bush at the southern perimeter of the Plantation. During this time, the battalion made only sporadic contact and suffered few casualties. Several of his tracks were hit by RPGs and surrounded by the enemy. In mid-September, when Ionoff moved to battalion to become the operations officer (S3), I assumed command of Charlie Company. That night, frightened bunker guards in the 199th compound shot into the darkness to their front. With a push-to-talk button stuck in the transmit position, no one could use the radio. 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. 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. Listening to the scouts desperate fight on the radio, Charlie Company attacked with renewed vigor as we tried to get to Barnes and his men. At 0400 Jones ordered us to pull in our ambushes and be prepared to move. bunker. At that time, I received a call on my company frequency from the battalion commander, Colonel Tower, asking how things were going. But no one would be leaving the country that day. [2]:347[3]:236 The rocket/mortar attack was the signal to start the ground assaults on Bien Hoa AB and Long Binh. The chrome It knocked a dimple in the side of the track as I fired up the gunner., Later in the fighting, Casper and several 2nd Platoon troops were pinned down next to a building. The progress was slow and ammunition was becoming a scarce, particularly grenades, which city fighting consumes at an enormous rate. 0.48 12. Construction on the 24 th. Views of a number of huts, in the hamlet, that have not been destroyed. -- color photo Near Moc Hoa. That night, frightened bunker guards in the 199th compound shot into the darkness to their front. 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. What we came up with was a T formation. remember being giddy and my brain was asking What is wrong with me?. The helmet had stopped Long Binh ammo dump was one of the A soldier, who has been hit, lying prone between two other soldiers, tries to get up. Meanwhile, Hueys reported VC running from the village. Click Here. The recon platoon was ordered to establish a blocking position south of Long Binh on Highway 15. For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Vietnam Magazine today! 4. Meanwhile, Charlie Company was ordered back to III Corps. At about 6 a.m., Lt. Col. John Tower, the new battalion commander, called with orders. with no lights waiting for the attack to lift so we could get (Vietnam War period). officer around. A VC commander captured later in the battle revealed that his orders were only to start the attack after several hundred rockets had hit the Plantation, but as the rocket sites had been neutralized before the rocket threshold was reached, the ground assault on the Plantation never began. We charged southeast down Highway 316 to the Highway 15 intersection, located on a small hill overlooking the 90th Replacement Company. was a point where the Ho Chi Min Trail came close to the countrys West We began detaining the well-dressed young men among the refugees. As the 2nd Platoon began to run short, Spc. 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. His two daughters, Ly's mother and her sister, are disabled. According to him, I told him that any fool could see that the VC did not have M-113s, and that we had 22 .50-calibers and a 106mm recoilless rifle and they, for sure, did not want us to return fire. However the ammunition storage bunkers prevented a chain reaction and the lost munitions were easily replaced with no impact on supply. I had been in command for five months and had been assured that I would be in command for one year, which suited me fine. As the C-23 track in the lead, Stormy, turned into a side street, a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) slammed into its front, smashing the radiator and wounding several soldiers. sixteen guns stationed next to the western border of Vietnam. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. At the meeting I was joined by the S3 of a battalion from the 101st Airborne Division. Now someone pointed out that there were a lot of young men, all dressed in black pants and white shirts, among the refugees. The village of Ho Nai, now a ghost town, was still smoldering. known as Widows Village. This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army Center of Military History. wire on the top of LBJ (Long Binh Jail). Through sporadic fire, we continued northwest on Highway 15 to where it intersected Highway 1 on the western edge of Bien Hoa. When Lieutenant Casper jumped up, our legs became entangled and I tripped him, Ax remembers. 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 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. 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. We topped off our fuel tanks, replenished our ammo and continued to move toward our assigned blocking position. Advanced Search | 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. 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. "What are you firing at? " I remember one 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. GV EXPLOSIONS, AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN F/G. Realizing I had not eaten for 24 hours, I looked for some breakfast, but all I could find was a bag of pistachio nuts. Now someone pointed out that there were a lot of young men, all dressed in black pants and white shirts, walking among the refugees. . 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. As darkness settled in, Charlie Company was ordered to move back the way it had come, to the junction of Highways 1 and 316, where we would form a screen in front of the 199th LIB base camp. agreement was that the stockade prisoners would pitch our sandbags, help LV EXPLOSION, SIGN ON BOARD "DISNEY LAND FAR EAST" THE EXPLOSIONS RATTLED WINDOWS IN SAIGON, ABOUT 13 MILES (20 KILOMETERS) AWAY. 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. The bombs descend and explode on structures in grove of trees near rice paddies 23 miles east of Binh Thuy on 19th August. When it went off my first thought was that it was a nuclear explosion because of the light dome that rose from the explosion. No answer. I told the platoon leaders to prepare to dismount and to take all the ammunition and grenades they could carry. The 2nd Platoon took the one north of the road, the 1st Platoon attacked the other. 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. During this fighting, both platoon leaders were wounded, Lieutenant Casper in the leg and Lieutenant Jones in the foot. [3]:2501, On the evening of 1 February 3 platoons from Company C, 4/12th Infantry and 2 platoons from Company D, 17th Cavalry Regiment were ordered 2km north of Ho Nai to establish an outer defense against any renewed VC/PAVN attack. Most of these photos were taken in an area a few miles north of Chu Lai and south of Hoi An. 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. We all knew these moves were more than precautionary. These photos were taken from December 9, 1967 to February 1968. We carried concertina wire, sand bags and hundreds of Claymores and trip flares to make our defensive positions practically impenetrable.

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