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.). During Tet 1968, the 856th Radio . At 3 a.m. on January 31, I received a call from Major Bill Jones, who had recently taken Ionoffs place as operations officer. The 2nd Platoon pulled the damaged track out of the side street and towed it back to the III Corps compound. This group is primarily for those Vietnam veterans who experienced the ammo dump attacks in Long Binh in 1966, '67, & '68. 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. As enemy resistance stiffened, we realized we had bottled at least a company of the VC 275th Regiment in the village. After the roadblock was cleared and communications restored, Charlie Company continued toward its objective. Zabecki remembers taking his place on the wall with his M-79 grenade launcher. Here was another sign that the situation was serious: The battalion commander personally gave out map coordinates of company objectives in the clear.Alpha Company was ordered to the 199th LIB compound, which was under attack. Sugar Bear Dames, as he was called by his many friends, walked down a side alley toward the highway. The armed helicopter teams had a field day shooting guerrillas who tried to escape to the nearby jungles. Their 81mm mortars were useless, since we were told we could not put any indirect fire into the town. The idea was to leave nothing the VC might use against us. [2]:352[3]:2067, At approximately 05:30, the 2nd Battalion, 47th Infantry Regiment, mounted on M113 Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicles (ACAVs) coming from Bearcat approached the Plantation from the southwest and formed a skirmish line to engage the VC, while helicopter gunships from the 3rd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment swept in to rocket and machine gun the VC positions. 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. [3]:2015, At 04:00 a 60-man VC sapper team penetrated the northeastern perimeter of the base killing three MPs and entered the massive ammunition dump (105646N 1065436E / 10.946N 106.91E / 10.946; 106.91) where they planted eighteen Satchel charges before being forced to withdraw by the 720th Military Police Battalion. Incredibly, nobody in my company had been killed the day before. 0.42 He assigned one to the airborne battalion and the other to Charlie Company. on the Bailey Compound, only in the 145th CAB HQ which could "[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. (Vietnam War period). NEARER AIR V..SMOKE I We had run through the rear of the 274th VC Regiment, which was attacking the airfield. 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. At 03:45 the unit engaged the VC/PAVN with 2 ACAVs being quickly knocked out by RPG fire. The combat around III Corps headquarters was intense. went off my first thought was that it was a nuclear explosion because of ruary 1968 in support of Saigon and Long Binh Post during the TET Offen- Sive. 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. Set. We came up with a T formation. From our positions, we could see and hear the fireworks lighting the sky over Saigon to the west. They ordered us to clear the VC from the houses surrounding the corps headquarters. 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. The explosion echoed over an area of 50 miles. The churches were cleared in short order. He retired from the U.S. Army as a lieutenant colonel. Satchel charges blew pallets of artillery ammunition, creating a mushroom cloud that made us think the VC had set off a tactical nuclear weapon. Unconfirmed reports reports said the blasts were . At that time, I received a call on my company frequency from the battalion commander, Colonel Tower, asking how things were going. introduction into country when he first came to the 118th. Perpetual Siege region. 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. Back view of jeep with open doors. the light dome that rose from the explosion. I went through the quarters making sure everyone The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. 3 Merge Long Binh Jail into Long Binh. Then and We could use our tracks as a base of fire or in a blocking position as the company maneuvered on foot. [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. happened to hit him just over the forehead. Casper rose from the prone position and yelled for his troops to follow him. These photos were taken from December 9, 1967 to February 1968. At the meeting I was joined by the S3 of a battalion from the 101st Airborne Division. recoil of my M14. Vehicles drive past on roads between the Long Binh Post area. who was tossed into a sewage ditch by the explosion, remembers 'killing the jeep' with his M-16. His battalion was in heavy contact and he had several wounded rangers he needed to evacuate. Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. The 2nd Platoon took on the one on the north side of the road, and the 1st Platoon attacked the other. GV DUMP hightForP2 = 330 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. One of the children in the Hope System of Care is Nguyen Thi Ly, born in 2001 with a deformed face, head and chest. 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. All night he stared at the body, which had one arm grotesquely sticking in the air, and wondered why nobody had taken the gold wristwatch off the arm. We opened up with everything we had and kept driving. 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. As we made the turn eastward on Highway 1, the lead platoon was ambushed. 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. The Long Binh ammo dump had exploded. The first explosion was 2,400,000 pounds of 8 inch high explosive artillery projectiles. From our positions we could see and hear the celebratory fireworks lighting the sky over Saigon to the west. LV WATER TRUCKS ALONG ROAD, EXPLOSION IN B/G. Wrecked ambulance with flat tires. 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. Of course you never [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. Lieutenant Barnes and one of his soldiers would be awarded Distinguished Service Crosses for their heroism that day. 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. Hoa. Sand bags near barbed wire fence. Ive just been told you work for me again. When Lieutenant Casper jumped up, our legs became entangled and I tripped him, Ax remembers. 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. After a eventful AIR V..EXPLOSION The gun-jeeps were progressively replaced by M113s and XM-706 Commando armored cars. ", "We mustered everyone we could As our medics treated the wounded, I reported to the American lieutenant colonel who was the III Corps G3 adviser. Updated 7/26/2015. During the last week of January, the battalion patrolled the jungles east of Highway 15, near the Binh Son rubber plantation. Unfortunately for the VC, they had no weapons other than the RPG launcher. 12. The three companies formed a line almost three kilometers long, facing to the east, with their backs to the Long Binh wire. 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. 0.59 Benny Toney, the 2nd Platoon sergeant, hooked a tow cable to Stormy. Simultaneously, platoon leaders reported finding discarded AK-47s. We carried concertina wire, sand bags and hundreds of Claymores and trip flares to make our defensive positions practically impenetrable. The two of them refused evacuation and neither reported his wound. known as Widows Village. . 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. He assigned one to the airborne battalion and the other to Charlie Company. -- color photo Near Moc Hoa. A force from Company C, 2/3rd Infantry mounted on ACAVs was sent north from Ho Nai and pinned the VC/PAVN in a crossfire. Soon we could hear leaders moving up and down the bunker line yelling for the guards to stop firing. The 2-47s enemy body count came in at more than 200, while the battalion suffered only four KIA. [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. Copyright Screenocean 2022 | Powered byImagen. The first explosion was Long Binh Ammo Dump October 29, 1966 . 0.28 Several soldiers gathered in front of the track to help the wounded, and Love climbed up to man the .50-caliber. [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. At least 3,000 tons of ammu nition were reportedly de stroyed in the blasts, which be gan before dawn and continued until midmorning. 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. That night, frightened bunker guards in the 199th compound shot into the darkness to their front. They bowed and looked confused. 13. 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. Click Here. Alpha Company was ordered to the 199th LIB compound, which was under attack. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. 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. with no lights waiting for the attack to lift so we could get 4 Joseph Dames was tasked to return to the tracks for more grenades. I told him about the order to clear an area of operations equal in size to that assigned the airborne battalion.He said: Forget that. U.S. troops firing small arms as they proceed across tall grass into the hamlet. Smoke rises from surrounding area. By Vietnam terms Several soldiers gathered in front of the track to help the wounded, and Love climbed up to man the .50-caliber. When I arrived at the 2nd Battalion (Mechanized), 47th Infantry, nicknamed the Panthers, Lt. Col. Arthur Moreland, the commander, asked me what job I wanted. We use cookies on this website. I was disappointed when I received orders to join the 9th Infantry Division. GV EXPLOSIONS, AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN F/G. Bravo Company (one member of which was Spc. The remains of a stack of over 15,000 high explosive 155mm artillery projectiles after the VC attack on February 4. On January 23, during a battalion sweep through heavy jungle south of Highway 1, Alpha Company walked into a camouflaged, well-defended enemy bunker system and was badly mauled. Tower ordered Charlie Company to attack eastward to clear the village of Ho Nai, a Bien Hoa suburb. Rocket Attack on Dong Tam - July 10, 1969. To ensure you can use all the features please enable it. My plan was to make captain and go to Vietnam as an experienced company commander. 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. Advanced Search | (Vietnam War period). 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. I was well seasoned having been through all the scenarios that presented There we would be assigned a unit we would serve with in Vietnam. and no one was injured. 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. There was much I called III Corps and reported that we had detained all of these people, and was told to wait until the Vietnamese National Police arrived to take charge. In mid-September, when Ionoff moved to battalion to become the operations officer (S3), I assumed command of Charlie Company. bore in my M14 barrel had begun to flake off and the wooden stock was The II Field Force commander, Lt. Gen. Frederick C. Weyand, had correctly guessed that a major attack was going to come during Tet, and his anticipation of the attacks no doubt saved Long Binh and Saigon from being overrun. The bus ride to 90th Replacement was relatively short and everyone seemed exhausted from the long flight. In Bin Ha itself the 3rd Ranger Task Force, consisting of the 35th and 36th Ranger Battalions, provided a rapid reaction force supported by 2 155-mm howitzer battalions located on the southeast of the city. [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. Love was so startled, he didnt fire. ton wrecker weighing in at 22 thousand pounds. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The armed helicopter teams had a field day shooting guerrillas trying to flee into the jungle. As the C-23 track Stormy, which was in the lead, turned into a side street, an RPG slammed into its front, smashing the radiator and wounding several soldiers. He said his battalion was in heavy contact, and he had several wounded rangers he needed to evacuate. Despite the confusion and wounds, our troops returned fire. 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. Bill Langan, aka "Sparky" was on duty in the 573rd hanger at the Bird Cage and took the slide photo. the wrecker operator had to know how to weld. EXPLOSIONS IN DISTANCE 200 pounds. 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 recon platoon was ordered to establish a blocking position south of Long Binh on Highway 15.