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. II Field Force commander LG Frederick C. Weyand had also ordered the 9th Infantry Division to be prepared to send its 1st Brigade from Bearcat Base 16km south of Long Binh to Bien Hoa-Long Binh in the event of an attack. A great deal has been written about the battles of Tet 1968 and the political firestorm that resulted from them. [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. wire on the top of LBJ (Long Binh Jail). At the time of the 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. secondary explosions. 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.. 0.17 We came up with a T formation. During this time, the battalion made only sporadic contact and suffered few casualties. Kortuem! I was disappointed when I received orders to join the 9th Infantry Division. Lookout tower in the background. Meanwhile, Hueys reported VC running from the village. Privacy Policy | Links EXPLOSIONS IN DISTANCE went off my first thought was that it was a nuclear explosion because of Ly's grandfather was a soldier stationed in Quang Binh during the war. 0.22 Our outfit was a Long Binh ammo dump was one of the Ive just been told you work for me again. He replied that I would have to wait. 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. Remembering Tet 1968 Fifty Years Ago - quanloi.org Love was so startled, he didnt fire. Sergeant was already tucked under a 5 ton truck parked about 50 feet As the sun sank over the Long Binh base, they tossed a football and ate cold C rations. was his helmet and flack jacket! Ripped apart barbed wire. Jim Love recalls lying in a ditch near a dead civilian as the friendly fire cracked over our heads. 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. CU SIGN "NO SMOKING" Sugar Bear Dames, as he was called by his many friends, walked down a side alley toward the highway. 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. The weapon was aimed at the newly built and painted (orange-white with no lights waiting for the attack to lift so we could get As dawn broke, everything was deathly quiet. I had no way of knowing who it was with no light in the Get under! After what seemed like Rocket Attack on Dong Tam - July 10, 1969. Despite the confusion and wounds, our troops returned fire. Set. THE STORM BREAKS Part 1 In the late-night hours of 29 January 1968 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. An eyewitness account of the battle for control of Bien Hoa and Long Binh on the first day of the 1968 Tet Offensive. August 1966 November 1966 December 1966. Soldiers of the U.S. 2nd Battalion 47th Infantry (Mechanized) and 4th Battalion 39th Infantry clearing a hamlet during the Tet Offensive in Vietnam. GV AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN F/G. Alpha Company, still licking its wounds from the January 23 fight, was left intact. As you know there were no officers About Us | 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. 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. 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 . 13. was a point where the Ho Chi Min Trail came close to the countrys West 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. 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 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, 47th Infantry. Benny Toney, the 2nd Platoon sergeant, hooked a tow cable to Stormy. Unfortunately for the VC, they had no weapons other than the RPG launcher. We had run through the rear of the 274th VC Regiment, which was attacking the airfield. 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. 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. He assigned one to the airborne battalion and the other to Charlie Company. I assigned areas of operation to my two rifle platoons, and positioned the weapons platoon inside the compound as a reserve and security force. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. 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. 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. Dames walked down a side alley toward the highway. In addition, gunships killed many more as they tried to escape from the villages. On that fateful night, explosions began at the bomb dump, I immediately responded to CSC as the SP's . One reference claims that 4 February 1967 was the date, and another claims that 28 March was the date. 0.04 The idea was to leave nothing the VC might use against us. Lieutenant Barnes and one of his soldiers would be awarded Distinguished Service Crosses for their heroism that day. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. 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. 0.28 Consequently, I was disappointed when I received orders to join the 9th Infantry Division. PDF Scanned Document - United States Army Big Ammunition Dump Near Saigon Hit by Blasts "I was the 1SGT of the to check-in and see what was going on, and found myself the only Satchel charges blew pallets of artillery ammunition, creating a mushroom cloud that made us think the VC had set off a tactical nuclear weapon. At that time, I received a call on my company frequency from the battalion commander, Colonel Tower, asking how things were going. Maps of Heavily Sprayed Areas and Dioxin Hot Spots The churches were cleared in short order. By Vietnam terms Then a report came in that a body had been found wearing a white shirt under a black pajama tunic. Several soldiers gathered in front of the track to help the wounded, and Love climbed up to man the .50-caliber. As the 2nd Platoon began to run short, Spc. He The helmet had stopped We never saw them again. 118th during the Tet of 1968, also called the Defense of Bien Just then a three-man VC RPG team calmly walked across the street right in front of the damaged APC. In the week preceding the attack these LRRP patrols engaged 2 PAVN/VC reconnaissance teams north of Long Binh. "What are you firing at? " As the Hueys rockets smashed the VC strongpoint, the scouts fought their way out of the encirclement and evacuated their dead and wounded. We threw grenades over the wall behind them, but hit nothing.. while we were gone. to contact the Commanding Officer(MAJ Guidroz). 0.24 The combat around III Corps headquarters was intense. John Gross received the Silver Star for his actions in command of Charlie Company on the first day of the Tet Offensive. 11. Alpha Company, still licking its wounds from the January 23 fight, was left intact. Website Terms & Conditions | Then I got a call from battalion commander Tower, asking how things were going. When it went off my first thought was that it was a nuclear explosion because of the light dome that rose from the explosion. When I arrived at 9th Division in June, I was further shocked to learn that I was going to a mechanized battalion, rather than be assigned to one of the battalions in the Delta where I could use my light infantry and Ranger school experience. 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. Specialist 4 Bill Rambo, assistant driver and .50-gunner on my command track, remembers my response to the firing as being absolutely irate. CRITICALPAST.COM: 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. The Communists were starting to carry out a plan that they had studied for a considerable period. As the 2/47th Infantry approached the town a Vietnamese warned that it contained many VC and the VC then launched an ambush on the column knocking out 3 ACAVs with RPGs setting off a 4-hour battle as the US forces engaged the VC position and rescued the survivors in the damaged ACAVs. At 08:00 the VC south of the Plantation withdrew into the Widows Village. Soon we could hear leaders moving up and down the bunker line yelling for the guards to stop firing. I told him that I wanted to command a company. I realized we were driving past our objective, halted the company and called for the 2nd Platoon to find a place to turn around. The progress was slow and ammunition was becoming a scarce, particularly grenades, which city fighting consumes at an enormous rate. SAIGON, South Vietnam, June 1 (Reuters)Explosions ripped through a huge ammu nition dump near here today, killing one soldier and wound ing 13. Destroyed and burned out ammunition pad shows burned out 105mm howitzer shells. Despite the confusion and wounds, our troops returned fire. By the evening the 2/47th Infantry withdrew into the Long Binh perimeter. introduction into country when he first came to the 118th. All day civilians had been darting from their homes and running from the fighting. Unconfirmed reports reports said the blasts were . The gun-jeeps were progressively replaced by M113s and XM-706 Commando armored cars. After all had left for the 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. 15. the barracks hall just as he stepped out of his room going to was out of the bldgs. At the meeting, I was joined by the S3 of a battalion from the 101st Airborne Division. 4 Joseph Dames was tasked to return to the tracks for more grenades. Service Battery that supplied ordnance to the big guns in our battalion. Fighting our way to the scout platoon, we were stopped when we came upon two large churches, straddling Highway 1, each occupied by VC. 3 Merge Long Binh Jail into Long Binh. Fires were burning late into the afternoon. Script is copyright Reuters Limited. Simultaneously, platoon leaders reported finding discarded AK-47s. 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. Toward dark, airstrikes had to be called in to blast the VC from the hill. hightForP2 = 330 I was well seasoned having been through all the scenarios that presented Aerial view of (USARV) United States Army Republic of Vietnam Headquarters Complex at Long Binh, Vietnam. [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. 5 Explosion at Long Binh ammunition storage facility. At about 0600, Lt. Col. John Tower, the new battalion commander, called with orders. checkered) water tower by the main gate. 7. The churches were cleared in short order. Riflemen moving cautiously. 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. No answer.

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