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. Tet Offensive I had returned to Long Binh Post. AIR V..EXPLOSION His two daughters, Ly's mother and her sister, are disabled. 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. 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. to check-in and see what was going on, and found myself the only agreement was that the stockade prisoners would pitch our sandbags, help 2023 CriticalPast LLC. Seems like the fighting went on At dusk, airstrikes had to be called in to blast the VC from the hill. After a eventful At 0700, as daylight was breaking, my track rolled past the ARVN III Corps compound gate. An MP full colonel, along with a deputy sheriff from Los Angeles (dressed in his deputy uniform) and two jeeploads of Vietnamese National Police, drove up to my track. Attacking Long Several soldiers gathered in front of the track to help the wounded, and Love climbed up to man the .50-caliber. According to Jones, that assault went so perfectly that it could have served as a demonstration at the infantry school. 2,400,000 pounds of 8 inch high explosive artillery projectiles. At the time of the John Gross received the Silver Star for his actions in command of Charlie Company on the first day of the Tet Offensive. remember being giddy and my brain was asking What is wrong with me?. Bomb squads disarmed seven of the charges, but at 07:30 the remainder exploded with three igniting pallets of artillery shells and their Propellant bags causing a massive explosion, blast wave and mushroom cloud. PAVN/VC losses were 137 killed and 25 captured. I told him about the order to clear an area of operations equal in size to that assigned the airborne battalion. Company E engaged the PAVN/VC supported by artillery fire killing 47 PAVN/VC. We carried concertina wire, sand bags and hundreds of Claymores and trip flares to make our defensive positions practically impenetrable. This article was originally published in the February 2006 issue of Vietnam Magazine. We fired everything we had into the buildings lining the roadway and took several wounded while getting to the church. 10. During TET 1969 in front of Bunker Hill 17, VC sappers tried to penetrate our fence line. From our positions we could see and hear the celebratory fireworks lighting the sky over Saigon to the west. Wrecked ambulance with flat tires. THE EXPLOSIONS RATTLED WINDOWS IN SAIGON, ABOUT 13 MILES (20 KILOMETERS) AWAY. This article incorporates public domain material from the .mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:#d33}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:#d33}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#3a3;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}Air Force Historical Research Agency. in bunker) at first light to the sound of a M-60 chattering away. Explosion at Long Binh ammunition storage facility. They all blew up! 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. From our positions, we could see and hear the fireworks lighting the sky over Saigon to the west. 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. 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. (National Archives), https://www.historynet.com/lt-col-john-e-gross-recalls-the-tet-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. He ignored me and went to a nearby house where he and the deputy sheriff kicked in the front door. -- color photo Near Moc Hoa. 1 comment. 2. 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. We fired all we had into the buildings lining the roadway and took several wounded while getting to the church. 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. Summary - October 1966. He wanted to borrow one of our tracks. The platoons attacked by successive bounds through the village as the tracks, forming the base of the T, gave fire support from the .50s and resupplied the troops with ammo. The S3 also told Charlie Companys noncombatants to report to battalion headquarters. convoy about two days before and were repairing anything that had failed Sergeant was already tucked under a 5 ton truck parked about 50 feet 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. By 1968 the Bien Hoa-Long Binh complex was the largest US/South Vietnamese military base in South Vietnam. the bunker. January 12, 1972. by: Arnold John Houchin Bin Ha, USAF 3rd Security Police Squadron 1970-1972 Phu Cat, 37th SPS; Thu Hoa, 31st SPS; . As usual, each company had sent two ambush patrols into the jungle to our front. During the Vietnam War, the U.S. Army used the base as a logistics and command center. This group is primarily for those Vietnam veterans who experienced the ammo dump attacks in Long Binh in 1966, '67, & '68. The churches were cleared in short order. . Bill Langan, aka "Sparky" was on duty in the 573rd hanger at the Bird Cage and took the slide photo. Something was definitely about to happen. The Communists were starting to carry out a plan that they had studied for a considerable period. As I walked around the front of a track, the .50-caliber gunner accidentally hit the trigger and pumped five rounds into the ground about three feet in front of me. As we rolled back through Bien Hoa, we were astounded to find the battalion S4, Captain Leroy Brown, in the middle of town with a 5,000-gallon fuel tanker and several ammunition trucks. Website Terms & Conditions | I was well seasoned having been through all the scenarios that presented United States officers and soldiers examine barbed wire fence where Vietcong broke through to enter Long Binh. While much has been written about Tet and the political firestorm that resulted, in the hundreds of surprise battles and skirmishes that unfolded, individual units found themselves thrust into intense danger, turmoil, chaos, confusion, contradictions and outright lunacy as they responded to Viet Cong (VC) attacks. At 7 a.m., as daylight was breaking, my track rolled past the ARVN III Corps compound gate. Four men were killed and more than 20 wounded, including most of the officers. (Vietnam War period). Not only would I not finish my command tour, but I was also being assigned to a leg division. officer around. Our arrival had canceled fears that III Corps headquarters might be overrun. Men at Long Binh ammunition dump. As my airborne mentality faded, I learned to love the M-113or track. We could haul more personal gear, live more comfortably and walk less than straight-leg troops. View of surrounding areas. In addition, we were tremendously flexible. 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. In mid-September, when Ionoff moved to battalion headquarters to become the operations officer (S3), I assumed command of Company C. In October, the 2-47 was tasked to secure engineers as they cleared Highway 1 from Xuan Loc to the II Corps boundary near Phan Thiet. Burned out 105mm howitzer shells at ammunition dump in Bien Hoa Air Force Base, Bien Hoa in Vietnam. Painting outside. 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. 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. 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). ", "Then we were all in the bunker Over the two month recovery and clearing operation, tens of thousands of these hazardous munitions were recoverd by hand, one at a time. 0.24 He retired from the U.S. Army as a lieutenant colonel. [3]:23950, In the late afternoon of 31 January after clearing the Widow's Village 2/47th Infantry advanced into Ho Nai from the south, the town appeared deserted.
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