3. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. and the gunner replied "VC LV WATER TRUCKS ALONG ROAD, EXPLOSION IN B/G. . Through sporadic fire, we continued northwest on Highway 15 to where it intersected Highway 1 on the western edge of Bien Hoa. The bombs descend and explode near structures in grove of tress in agricultural area 30 miles southwest of Saigon on 19 August, 1968. 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. Just then a three-man VC RPG team calmly walked across the street right in front of the damaged APC. front making it dangerous to return fire. The 2nd Platoon took the one north of the road, the 1st Platoon attacked the other. Waking Dead. Evan Ammo dump - VHFCN 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. The Vietnamese brigadier general, who was the ranking man at III Corps, drew circles around two equal-sized areas of downtown Bien Hoa. Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. We all knew that these moves were more than just precautionary. Well, the piece of shrapnel Around midnight on October 29th, 1966, the Viet Cong mortared or rocketed the Long Binh Ammo Dump. 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. It had been over two days and many of us had no sleep. At the beginning of the Tet Offensive, one rifle company was ordered to to clear the village of Ho Nai, a Bien Hoa suburb. Tet Offensive I had returned to Long Binh Post. 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. I told him that I wanted to command a company. and the perimeter was still intact. Long Binh Vietnam 1969 stock footage and images - CriticalPast The 2-47s enemy body count came in at more than 200, while the battalion suffered only four KIA. Refine Your Search Long Binh Vietnam 1968 stock footage and images - Showing 1 to 6 of 5537 results Sort by: All All Search Results Decade 1890 - 1899 (3) 1900 - 1909 (18) 1910 - 1919 (136) 1920 - 1929 (83) more Location Aalen Germany (1) Aberdeen Proving Ground Maryland USA (1) Afghanistan (2) Africa (3) more Akron Ohio USA (3) At 0700, as daylight was breaking, my track rolled past the ARVN III Corps compound gate. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. The unit left their position at Firebase Concord north of Bin Ha and moved east proceeding along trails north of Ho Nai towards the LRRP position. The probing attack units included VC sapper squads. I was well seasoned having been through all the scenarios that presented All rights reserved. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. Besides the fireworks, ARVN soldiers had linked tracer bullets together and were stitching the darkness with weaving streams of machine gun fire. CU SIGN "NO SMOKING" But their 81mm mortars were useless, since we were told we could not put any indirect fire into the town. While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. As we cleared the ambush, the column suddenly came to a halt because of some kind of block in the road; simultaneously, someone keyed the company net. 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. 1968 - 1969, To See Lawrence's Service Battery Photos The armed helicopter teams had a field day shooting guerrillas who tried to escape to the nearby jungles. 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. Satchel charges blew pallets of artillery ammunition, creating a mushroom cloud that made us think the VC had set off a tactical nuclear weapon. 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. When Lieutenant Casper jumped up, our legs became entangled and I tripped him, Ax remembers. It was 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. Long Binh Ammo Dump Explosion, Tet, 1968 - YouTube was a point where the Ho Chi Min Trail came close to the countrys West Binh Hoa Airbase was lucky they were not the History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. We suffered more wounded during the trip back to III Corps, where I was called to a meeting in the headquarters. 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. GV EXPLOSIONS, AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN F/G. 9. I went through the quarters making sure everyone He [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. LV EXPLOSION, SIGN ON BOARD "DISNEY LAND FAR EAST" 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 attacks were repulsed with the VC/PAVN suffering heavy losses, having inflicted minimal damage on the bases. The Long Binh ammo dump had exploded. 26 VC/PAVN were killed in the attack and several captured. One A-37 and 1 F-100 were destroyed while a further 17 aircraft were damaged. Bravo Company (one member of which was Spc. Advanced Search | THE EXPLOSIONS RATTLED WINDOWS IN SAIGON, ABOUT 13 MILES (20 KILOMETERS) AWAY. When the shooting started it Perpetual Siege region. 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. remember being giddy and my brain was asking What is wrong with me?. Tower had called and told me that Charlie Company was under the operational control of III Corps and I was to take my orders from them. [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. from the petroleum dump immediately next to our position. Tower ordered Charlie Company to attack eastward to clear the village of Ho Nai, a suburb of Bien Hoa. As best I could, I explained that they were to take charge and that General Giap might be among the civilians. As the afternoon of January 30 drifted toward dusk, Charlie Company soldiers stripped to the waist and dug bunkers next to their M-113s. During Tet 1968, the 856th Radio . Fighting our way to the scout platoon, we were stopped when we came upon two large churches, straddling Highway 1, each occupied by VC. Aerial view of (USARV) United States Army Republic of Vietnam Headquarters Complex at Long Binh, Vietnam. Even though it was about 6-8 miles away to the NE of Bien Hoa, it was plainly visible . After we finished clearing the area around the compound and as our wounded were being dusted off, I received an absolutely incredible order from III Corps. [3]:242, The VC/PAVN attacks were a failure. At the meeting I was joined by the S3 of a battalion from the 101st Airborne Division. His action probably saved the lives of everyone on my track. We never saw them again. 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. 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. Specialist 4 Bill Rambo, assistant driver and .50-gunner on my command track, remembers my response to the firing as being absolutely irate. 14. 2 comments. After the battles for the churches, there occurred one of the most bizarre incidents of the day. 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. HANOI, North Vietnam, June 1 (Agence FrancePresse)An American major was captured last month in a Communistcon trolled area of northern Laos by Pathet Lao forces, a Laotian representative said here today. Each APC could carry almost as much ammunition as a dismounted rifle company, and in a fight, the company had 22 .50-caliber machine guns, a 106mm and several 90mm recoilless rifles, and more radios and M-60 machine guns than a walking company could ever carry. on the Bailey Compound, only in the 145th CAB HQ which could I have . 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. By continuing to use this site without changing your cookie settings, you agree that you are happy to accept our privacy policyand cookie policyand for us to access our cookies on your device. Explosion at Long Binh ammunition storage facility. 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. As time passed, I became a mechanized soldier. 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. At the headquarters of the 2nd Battalion (Mechanized), 47th Infantry (2-47), nicknamed the Panthers, the commander, Lt. Col. Arthur Moreland, asked me what job I wanted. 118th during the Tet of 1968, also called the Defense of Bien They both hobbled through the rest of the days fighting. Troops opened their attacks with volleys of grenades, then charged in shooting. During December we made little enemy contact, probably because the Communists were lying low preparing for Tet. It involved transfer of powder projectiles and fuses enough to keep As our medics treated the wounded, I reported to the American lieutenant colonel who was the III Corps G3 adviser. First was sand then bigger stuff. Since I was in an airborne unit, I was sure I would go to the 173rd Airborne Brigade or the 101st Airborne Division. License Agreement | Tower ordered Charlie Company to attack eastward to clear the village of Ho Nai, a Bien Hoa suburb. For more great articles, subscribe to Vietnam magazine today! 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. We topped off our fuel tanks, replenished our ammo and continued to move toward our assigned blocking position. on the water tower". So, when I was offered a chance to go to II Field Force to help establish a new long-range reconnaissance patrol outfit, I actually turned it down to stay with the company. 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. As enemy resistance stiffened, we realized we had bottled at least a company of the VC 275th Regiment in the village. 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. 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. January 12, 1972. by: Arnold John Houchin Bin Ha, USAF 3rd Security Police Squadron 1970-1972 Phu Cat, 37th SPS; Thu Hoa, 31st SPS; . History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. 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. - The Communists were starting to carry out a plan that they had studied for a considerable period. On that fateful night, explosions began at the bomb dump, I immediately responded to CSC as the SP's . We could shoot about 21 miles into Cambodia. Several M 113 armored personnel carriers (APCs) are seen accompanying the troops. SAIGON, South Vietnam, June 1 (Reuters)Explosions ripped through a huge ammu nition dump near here today, killing one soldier and wound ing 13. from Bien Hoa City. They had been told that the population would rise up against the Americans and that there would be plenty of captured U.S. weapons to fight with. As we made the turn eastward on Highway 1, the lead platoon was ambushed. GV AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN F/G. [6]:66. Then things started falling out of the sky. A VC guerrilla hiding behind a parked ARVN jeep had fired the rocket. My Lightboxes | 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. During this fighting, both platoon leaders were wounded, Lieutenant Casper in the leg and Lieutenant Jones in the foot. 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. 856th RRD-Defending Long Binh - ASA LIVES Toward dusk on January 30, Charlie Company soldiers stripped to the waist to dig bunkers next to their APCs. He retired from the U.S. Army as a lieutenant colonel. I was to be a platoon leader again, in Charlie Company, commanded by Captain John Ionoff. As dawn broke on February 1, it was deathly quiet. Big Boom! They bowed and looked confused. Views of a number of huts, in the hamlet, that have not been destroyed. From our positions we could see and hear the celebratory fireworks lighting the sky over Saigon to the west. Bin Ha Air Base: Memories of Bin Ha, TET 1969, by Larry - VSPA The 2nd Platoon pulled the damaged track out of the side street and towed it back to the III Corps compound. ordnance pad in the huge ammo dump. Soldiers of the U.S. 2nd Battalion 47th Infantry (Mechanized) and 4th Battalion 39th Infantry clearing a hamlet during the Tet Offensive in Vietnam. Most of we RAD 152 crew members arrived in-country on July 22, 1968. During the last week of January, the battalion patrolled the jungles east of Highway 15, near the Binh Son rubber plantation. Satchel charges blew pallets of artillery ammunition, creating a mushroom cloud that made us think the VC had set off a tactical nuclear weapon. My But no one would be leaving the country that day. In mid-September, when Ionoff moved to battalion to become the operations officer (S3), I assumed command of Charlie Company. I yelled at Lieutenant Casper, and everybody looked around as the VC tore out running the last few yards to safety. I then jacked a round into my M-16 and who would you believe He wanted to borrow one of our tracks. [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. I told him that I wanted to command a company. 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. the wrecker operator had to know how to weld. That night, frightened bunker guards in the 199th compound shot into the darkness to their front. Get under! We could use our tracks as a base of fire or in a blocking position as the company maneuvered on foot. the barracks hall just as he stepped out of his room going to He read a memorandum charging that 100 days after the signing of the Vientiane ceasefire accords, the seven men had been planning to take command of groups of saboteurs recently infiltrated into the area., See the article in its original context from. Long Binh ammo dump was one of the Binh was a logistical mistake because the perimeter was so heavily armed 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. As we rolled by, we looked down into the compound and saw soldiers in khakis, boarding passes in hand, milling about. As the ammo dump burst into flames, secondary explosions erupted in other storage areas, and . Our arrival had canceled fears that III Corps headquarters might be overrun. 13. We were in a cloud of disarray [American sources in Vien tiane said, as quoted by The Associated Press, that the captured American was prob ably the pilot of a Continent al Air Service plane that was forced to land behind Pathet Lao lines after running out of fuel. LV DITTO 0.08 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. 0.54 Copyright Screenocean 2022 | Powered byImagen. https://www.historynet.com/tet-offensive-the-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. EXPLOSIONS IN DISTANCE [2]:347[3]:225, At 03:00, the PAVN 84A Artillery Regiment began a barrage of approximately 100 82-mm. Charlie Company had reported 38 VC killed, at the cost of only 11 U.S. wounded and three APCs damaged by RPGs. The explosion echoed over an area of 50 miles. 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. 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. I told the platoon leaders to prepare to dismount and to take all the ammunition and grenades they could carry. around Bien Hoa Airbase and headed toward our post of Long Binh, then We usually got mortared at night whenever Dong Tam was getting it from our district. The first explosion was 2,400,000 pounds of 8 inch high explosive artillery projectiles. [6]:36 In addition airborne "rocket watch" patrols were established in the Saigon-Bien Hoa area to reduce attacks by fire. The battle proved significant, as Alphas leadership was seriously depleted immediately prior to Tet. Website Terms & Conditions | As dawn broke, everything was deathly quiet. About a month earlier I had been loaned out to weld the razor Privacy Policy2023 CriticalPast LLC. I was told to forget about them, which reinforced our feeling that this situation was different and that combat was certainly imminent. A burst of VC machine gun fire erupted nearby, 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. Summary - October 1966 known as Widows Village. Toggle the table of contents Talk: Long Bnh, Bin Ha. (Vietnam War period). A great deal has been written about the battles of Tet 1968 and the political firestorm that resulted from them. I said again, "Who is there"? Under fire, Staff Sgt. 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. Soon we could hear leaders moving up and down the bunker line yelling for the guards to stop firing. As the sun sank over the Long Binh base, they tossed a football and ate cold C rations. In January 1968, our battalion relocated to the area between Xuan Loc and Bien Hoa, where intelligence had located a VC battalion. F-100 Super Sabre and F-4 Phantom II drop Mark 82 bombs in Vietnam during U.S. air strikes. I had been in Vietnam about nine months. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. This site was called Hill 63 because there was a hill nearby that had an elevation of 63 meters on the map. mortar rounds and 90 122-mm. 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. 3 Merge Long Binh Jail into Long Binh. Long Binh ammo dump was one of the biggest ordnance storage areas in the country. Troops opened their attacks with volleys of grenades, then went in shooting. As my airborne mentality faded, I learned to love the M-113or track, as we called it. Now commanded by a brand-new second lieutenant, the men of Alpha Company balked when they were told to move. maxhightForP2 = 13904; Flames consuming huts. 0.13 USAF McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II bomber aircraft drop two Mk.84 HD bombs. 10. Jan. 31. bunker. After we finished clearing the area around the compound and as our wounded were being dusted off, I received an absolutely incredible order from III Corps. him in. 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. Remembering Tet 1968 Fifty Years Ago - quanloi.org 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. build bunkers, and help pick up the dead enemy across the fence. Terms & Conditions | The recon platoon was ordered to establish a blocking position south of Long Binh on Highway 15. Tom Allaback. [3]:2204, On 1 February Company B, 2/3rd Infantry, Company C, 4/12th Infantry and elements of 2/47th Infantry swept Ho Nai finding only dead VC/PAVN and civilians who had been murdered by the VC or killed in the fighting in the town. Set. [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. I told him about the order to clear an area of operations equal in size to that assigned the airborne battalion. 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. At that time, I received a call on my company frequency from the battalion commander, Colonel Tower, asking how things were going. Alpha Company, still licking its wounds from the January 23 fight, was left intact. But no one would be leaving the country that day. I told the colonel that this was not a police action, that we werent searching houses, we were in combat. [2]:3512 US losses in the fighting in the Widow's Village were three dead. the light dome that rose from the explosion. [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. I was having a few beers with several other sailors in the outside screened patio area of the Navy EM Club when we heard a noise to our left. Barbed wire torn apart by Vietcong who infiltrated through Longbinh ammunition camp. Just then a three-man VC RPG team calmly walked across the street right in front of the damaged APC. I assigned areas of operation to my two rifle platoons and positioned the weapons platoon inside the compound as a reserve and security force. After I received the coordinates of our objective, I yelled, Crank em up! into the radio handset, and we moved out. Seems like the fighting went on find all the dead so the countryside smelled like a scene from The In addition we detained more than 20 probable VC fighters dressed in civilian clothes. Click Here. Sergeant John Ax, squad leader of 1st Squad, 2nd Platoon, recalls what the fighting near III Corps was like: An RPG hit Shocker, the C-21 track, in the side; but it must have been a glancing blow, because it did not explode. For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Vietnam Magazine today! My Account | He manned the .50 and, with a Charlie Company driver, headed down Highway 1. Some of the enemy had tunneled under the fence and exploded an An eyewitness account of the battle for control of Bien Hoa and Long Binh on the first day of the 1968 Tet Offensive. Following that fight, the 2-47 was ordered south of the 9th Divisions base camp. 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. trooper was injured by a piece of shrapnel that had come down 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. View of surrounding areas. 12. Through sporadic fire, we continued northwest on Highway 15 to where it intersected Highway 1 on the western edge of Bien Hoa. A few minutes later, a jeep drove up carrying two extremely frightened white-shirted policemen. Powerful Explosion In Ammunition Dump Rocks S. Viet Nam Madera