When we arrived, we found the churchyard packed with thousands of civilians. He said his battalion was in heavy contact, and he had several wounded rangers he needed to evacuate. We packed up our gear, rolled up our wire and waited. As he fell, a burst of automatic weapons fire stitched the wall right where he would have been had he not fallen. (Casper, one of the bravest of the brave, died during the May offensive in Saigon, leading from the front.). [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. 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. About Us | 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. yelling Kortuem! 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. Privacy Policy2023 CriticalPast LLC. Alpha Company, still licking its wounds from the January 23 fight, was left intact. The recon platoon was ordered to establish a blocking position south of Long Binh on Highway 15. Seems like the fighting went on Unconfirmed reports reports said the blasts were the work of Vietcong sabotage teams. I told the platoon leaders to prepare to dismount and to take all the ammunition and grenades they could carry. Initials PW/VS/JH/BB/ES PW/VS/JH/ES the bunker. out of the sky. 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. This is the story of one rifle company, and what it faced on that decisive day. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. 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. In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. Then things started falling out of the sky. Binh Hoa Airbase was lucky they were not the [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. 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. . Activity in the area had picked up in November and Advanced Search | We suffered more wounded during the trip back to III Corps, where I was called to a meeting in the headquarters. Contact Us | Normally, operations orders issued over the radio were encoded and sent by the S3s radio operator. 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. Bringing that volatile convoy through the city, which had not been totally cleared and was still burning in many places, was a tremendously heroic act. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. Army used the base as a logistics and command center. 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. (Vietnam War period). During this fighting, the two platoon leaders were wounded, Lieutenant Casper in the leg and Lieutenant Jones in the foot. As we rolled by, we looked down into the compound and saw soldiers in khakis, boarding passes in hand, milling about. 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. Unfortunately for them, the hapless VC had no weapons other than the RPG launcher, and Dames dispatched them with a burst from his M-16. We came up with a T formation. During December we made little enemy contact, probably because the Communists were lying low, preparing for Tet. I asked one of the men We usually got mortared at night whenever Dong Tam was getting it from our district. All day civilians had been darting from their homes and running from the fighting. We left the clearing of Bien Hoa City in the capable hands of the 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry. [6]:36 In addition airborne "rocket watch" patrols were established in the Saigon-Bien Hoa area to reduce attacks by fire. (Vietnam War period). Ly's grandfather was a soldier stationed in Quang Binh during the war. The idea was to leave nothing the VC might use against us. "[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. the light dome that rose from the explosion. He assigned one to the airborne battalion and the other to Charlie Company. Most of we RAD 152 crew members arrived in-country on July 22, 1968. Updated 7/26/2015. We began to pop hand-held flares so they could see we were there, but the shooting persisted, one round hitting my track. The three companies formed a line almost three kilometers long, facing east, with their backs to the Long Binh wire, based on the mistaken assumption that the VC would attack from the jungle. To get to the church, we had to run a gantlet of fire, through the VC 238th Regiment and into the flank of the 275th, which was fighting the 2-47s scout platoon in Widows Village. 1 comment. AIR V..FIRES Then things started falling out of the sky. From our positions, we could see and hear the fireworks lighting the sky over Saigon to the west. GV EXPLOSIONS AND FIRES This was no surprise to us, since we could plainly hear the enemy rounds slamming into Long Binh. Just then a three-man VC RPG team calmly walked across the street right in front of the damaged APC. 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 08:00 the VC south of the Plantation withdrew into the Widows Village. No tactic I had learned at infantry school fit that situation, so we improvised. was a point where the Ho Chi Min Trail came close to the countrys West The battle was significant, since Alphas leadership was seriously depleted during the days immediately prior to Tet. 2. I called III Corps to report that we had detained all of these people, and was told to wait for the Vietnamese National Police to take charge. Of course you never Besides the fireworks, ARVN soldiers had linked tracer bullets together and were stitching the darkness with weaving streams of machine gun fire. Sergeant was already tucked under a 5 ton truck parked about 50 feet 118th during the Tet of 1968, also called the Defense of Bien Lookout tower in the background. Some VC crossed Route 316 and took up firing positions in bush at the southern perimeter of the Plantation. Casper rose from a prone position and yelled for his troops to follow him. But no one would be leaving the country that day. The VC who had fired the RPG slipped away, but Pfc Jim Love, who was tossed into a sewage ditch by the explosion, remembers killing the jeep with his M-16. 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. 6 External links modified. 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. They bowed and looked confused. As enemy resistance stiffened, we realized we had bottled at least a company of the VC 275th Regiment in the village. I operated a heavy five remember being giddy and my brain was asking What is wrong with me?. 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. During this fighting, both platoon leaders were wounded, Lieutenant Casper in the leg and Lieutenant Jones in the foot. I told the platoon leaders to prepare to dismount and to take all the ammunition and grenades they could carry. 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. USAF (United States Air Force) F-100 Super Sabre jet fighter aircraft drops Mark 82 (Mk.82) high-drag (HD) bombs. January 12, 1972. by: Arnold John Houchin Bin Ha, USAF 3rd Security Police Squadron 1970-1972 Phu Cat, 37th SPS; Thu Hoa, 31st SPS; . 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. Over the two month recovery and clearing operation, tens of thousands of these hazardous munitions were recoverd by hand, one at a time. When it On the morning of 31 January 1968, the Bien Hoa Air Base, III Corps HQ, the Prisoner of War Compound, and other key installations around Bien Hoa--Long Binh area received enemy mortar and rocket fire. But no one would be leaving the country that day. [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. License Agreement | We rolled through Long Binh and out the main gate, then turned onto Highway 316. 4 Joseph Dames was tasked to return to the tracks for more grenades. 8. Charlie Company slammed into the VC before they could get their attack organized. Benny Toney, the 2nd Platoon sergeant, hooked a tow cable to Stormy. August 1966 November 1966 December 1966. Tower sent Major Jones to take command, and once Alpha got moving, it did a magnificent job. 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. We could ride, walk or be airlifted to war, travel great distances in a short amount of time, and arrive with many times the ammunition and equipment that could be lifted in by helicopter. The Communists were starting to carry out a plan that they had studied for a considerable period. 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. checkered) water tower by the main gate. Just then a three-man VC RPG team calmly walked across the street right in front of the damaged APC. We suffered more wounded during the trip back to III Corps, where I was called to a meeting in the headquarters. Smoke rises from surrounding area. Specialist 4 Bill Rambo, assistant driver and .50-gunner on my command track, remembers my response to the firing as being absolutely irate.
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