0.13 Now commanded by a brand-new second lieutenant, the men of Alpha Company balked when they were told to move. Jim Love recalls lying in a ditch near a dead civilian as the friendly fire cracked over our heads. [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. The Vietnamese general and the III Corps G3 adviser, however, were not very happy when we pulled out. GV DUMP GV EXPLOSIONS, AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN F/G. it and only slightly pierced the skin a little. The colonel explained that since we were infantry soldiers and did not know the proper method of searching a house, he and his crew had come to teach us. During December we made little enemy contact, probably because the Communists were lying low, preparing for Tet. As my airborne mentality faded, I learned to love the M-113or track, as we called it. [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. At 07:30 the VC/PAVN force stopped and made a stand in a cemetery where they continued to be hit by the gunships and the ACAVs of Company C. At 08:00 Company C was joined by a force from 2/47th Infantry and they proceeded to methodically kill all the VC/PAVN in the cemetery. Tower sent the battalion S3, Major Jones, to take command, and once Alpha got moving, it did a magnificent job. 2 comments. Ly's father is a bricklayer. My plan was to make captain and go to Vietnam as an experienced company commander. We could shoot about 21 miles into Cambodia. As we rolled by, we looked down into the compound and saw soldiers in khakis milling about with boarding passes in hand. [2]:349, The perimeter was strengthened by an ad hoc force of support personnel from the 145th Aviation Battalion and just before midday the ARVN 57th Regional Force Battalion moved through the base and counterattacked the VC forcing them to withdraw east into the rubber plantation leaving behind over 100 dead. At the time of the SV AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND EXPLOSION I sat behind the .50-caliber, munching and giving thanks for the fact that, incredibly, nobody in Charlie Company had been killed. 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. 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) The scout platoon had fought . 2. For more great articles, subscribe to Vietnam magazine today! That night, frightened bunker guards in the 199th compound shot into the darkness to their front. 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. All rights reserved. Lieutenant Barnes and one of his soldiers would be awarded Distinguished Service Crosses for their heroism that day. Now the fight was on. Over the two month recovery and clearing operation, tens of thousands of these hazardous munitions were recoverd by hand, one at a time. It dawned on us that the VC were throwing down their weapons, changing clothes and slipping away. Their 81mm mortars were useless, since we were told we could not put any indirect fire into the town. I In addition, gunships killed many more as they tried to escape from the villages. When it went off my first thought was that it was a nuclear explosion because of the light dome that rose from the explosion. In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. 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. Then a report came in that a body had been found wearing a white shirt under a black pajama tunic. This was no surprise to us, since we could hear the enemy rounds slamming into Long Binh. We began detaining the well-dressed young men among the refugees. The idea was to leave nothing the VC might use against us. Suddenly he came upon a VC RPG team drawing a bead on my command track, which was a prime target given the number of radio antennas jutting from it. When we arrived, we found the churchyard packed with thousands of civilians. out of the sky. 0.17 Satchel charges blew pallets of artillery ammunition, creating a mushroom cloud that made us think the VC had set off a tactical nuclear weapon. Benny Toney, the 2nd Platoon sergeant, hooked a tow cable to Stormy. 939939. The helmet had stopped Sappers had placed satchel charges on pallets of artillery ammunition, and the resulting mushroom cloud caused all its witnesses to think the VC had employed a tactical nuclear weapon. We threw grenades over the wall behind them, but hit nothing.. All day civilians had been darting from their homes and running from the fighting. The progress was slow and ammunition was becoming a scarce, particularly grenades, which city fighting consumes at an enormous rate. With small-arms fire cracking overhead, young girls carrying bottles of Coca-Cola were trying to sell them to the troops. and the gunner replied "VC Then I got a call from battalion commander Tower, asking how things were going. We had returned from a trooper was injured by a piece of shrapnel that had come down wire on the top of LBJ (Long Binh Jail). But their 81mm mortars were useless, since we were told we could not put any indirect fire into the town. They both hobbled through the rest of the days fighting. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. Men at Long Binh ammunition dump. 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. Get under! 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. 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. I was never so happy in my life. 0.28 all personnel to the flight line. Officers and soldiers examine barbed wire fence where Vietcong broke through to enter Longbinh ammunition dump. I asked one of the men Hide. 12. After much frequency changing, I finally got the commander of the bunker guards on the radio. The 2nd Platoon took the one north of the road, the 1st Platoon attacked the other. The churches were cleared in short order. Wrecked ambulance with flat tires. 2023 CriticalPast LLC. Now someone pointed out that there were a lot of young men, all dressed in black pants and white shirts, walking among the refugees. Website Terms & Conditions | 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. 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. . What we came up with was a T formation. Tower ordered Charlie Company to attack eastward to clear the village of Ho Nai, a Bien Hoa suburb. 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. Normally, operations orders issued over the radio were encoded and sent by the operations officers radio operator. As was our normal practice, each company had sent two ambush patrols into the jungle to our front. However the VC/PAVN never made another ground attack on an air base and moved to attacks by fire with rockets, mortar and artillery. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. The attacks on Bin Ha, Bien Hoa Air Base and Long Binh Post, occurred during the early hours of 31 January 1968 and continued until 2 February 1968. The S3 also told Charlie Companys noncombatants to report to battalion headquarters. and no one was injured. [3]:242, The VC/PAVN attacks were a failure. I told him that I wanted to command a company. He stated 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. Then and [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. The offensive continued until the end of the month in the North part of This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army Center of Military History. Flames consuming huts. It had been over two days and many of us had no sleep. 0.42 The 2nd Platoon pulled the damaged track out of the side street and towed it back to the III Corps compound. Come back up on the battalion freq.. When the G3 adviser told me to lend the rangers a track, I told the sergeant that the M-113 was not a tank and to be careful with it. I was not sure what to do about the bunkers. [3]:220, When the Company F, 51st Infantry LRRP team reported VC/PAVN moving past their position a reaction force from Company C, 4/12th Infantry mounted on ACAVs was sent to investigate. [2]:350, With the base returned to full operation, that afternoon C130s landed the 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Regiment to help ARVN forces fighting the VC in Bin Ha city. ordnance pad in the huge ammo dump. Charlie Company quickly reinforced Alpha, and a daylong fight ensued. Soon we could hear leaders moving up and down the bunker line yelling for the guards to stop firing. At 4 a.m., Jones ordered us to pull in our ambushes and be prepared to move, and told Charlie Companys noncombatants to report to battalion headquarters. him in. Ripped apart barbed wire. The 2-47 was one of several units he pulled in from the jungles to guard the Long Binh headquarters and logistical complex 15 miles northeast of Saigon. 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. 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. He retired from the U.S. Army as a lieutenant colonel. Our arrival had canceled fears that III Corps headquarters might be overrun. 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. 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. 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. As best I could, I explained that they were to take charge and that General Giap might be among the civilians. 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. Come back up on the battalion freq. I had never been so happy in my life. The 2-47s enemy body count came in at more than 200, while the battalion suffered only four KIA. Despite the confusion and wounds, our troops returned fire. [4], The 179th Military Intelligence Detachment of the 199th LIB had been gathering intelligence on a pending attack on Long Binh for several weeks before the attacks based on human intelligence and ground radar. It 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. 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. I walked back to my track, thinking this was going to be a real nightmare. GV AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN F/G. the wrecker operator had to know how to weld. U.S. air strikes in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. [2]:347[3]:225, At 03:00, the PAVN 84A Artillery Regiment began a barrage of approximately 100 82-mm. 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. As enemy resistance stiffened, we realized we had bottled at least a company of the VC 275th Regiment in the village. This fire was observed by the helicopter gunships that had been circling the area north of Long Binh and they quickly moved to attack the launch sites and were soon joined by an AC-47 Spooky gunship and their combined fire soon stopped the rocket/mortar fire. [2]:347, At 01:00, a 6-man LRRP from Company F, 51st Infantry Regiment spotted PAVN/VC moving through rubber trees several hundred meters to the north of Long Binh Post. A slightly wounded soldier, lying on the ground, smiles as he points to his leg as another soldier helps him. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. The three companies formed a line almost three kilometers long, facing to the east, with their backs to the Long Binh wire. He ignored me and went to a nearby house where he and the deputy sheriff kicked in the front door. The bombs descend and explode near structures in grove of tress in agricultural area 30 miles southwest of Saigon on 19 August, 1968. When it Later, captured VC said many guerrillas only had two magazines for their weapons in expectation that the population would rise up against the Americans and have plenty of captured weapons to fight with. 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. 1.19 As the Hueys rockets smashed the VC strongpoint, the scouts fought their way out of the encirclement and evacuated their dead and wounded. After much frequency changing, I finally got the commander of the bunker guards on the radio. Several M 113 armored personnel carriers (APCs) are seen accompanying the troops. 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. It was the first such occurrence since the ceasefire of Jan. 28. He assigned one to the airborne battalion and the other to Charlie Company. 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. He started Service Battery that supplied ordnance to the big guns in our battalion. 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. door at the petroleum dump ruptured and fuel flowed down the ditch in 9. 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. After telling them to stop shooting LV WATER TRUCKS ALONG ROAD, EXPLOSION IN B/G. We began detaining the well-dressed young men among the refugees. One reference claims that 4 February 1967 was the date, and another claims that 28 March was the date. Consequently, I was disappointed when I received orders to join the 9th Infantry Division. We found out later from captured VC that many guerrillas had been given only two magazines for their weapons. Back view of jeep with open doors. I yelled at Lieutenant Casper and everybody looked around as the VC tore out running the last few yards to safety. [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. [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. In April 1967 I was a first lieutenant commanding a rifle company in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C. The attacks on Bin Ha, Bien Hoa Air Base and Long Binh Post, occurred during the early hours of 31 January 1968 and continued until 2 February 1968. 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. 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. 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. was a point where the Ho Chi Min Trail came close to the countrys West 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. SAIGON, South Vietnam, June 1 (Reuters)Explosions ripped through a huge ammu nition dump near here today, killing one soldier and wound ing 13. During December we made little enemy contact, probably because the Communists were lying low preparing for Tet. Well, the piece of shrapnel We suffered more wounded during the trip back to III Corps, where I was called to a meeting in the headquarters. carried on into that night with tracers flying everywhere. Specialist 4 Bill Rambo, assistant driver and .50-gunner on my command track, remembers my response to the firing as being absolutely irate. USAF (United States Air Force) F-100 Super Sabre jet fighter aircraft drops Mark 82 (Mk.82) high-drag (HD) bombs. 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, I came upon an unbelievable sight. In another sign that the situation was serious, the battalion commander himself gave map coordinates of company objectives in the clear. 118th during the Tet of 1968, also called the Defense of Bien 0.35 Toward dusk on January 30, Charlie Company soldiers stripped to the waist to dig bunkers next to their APCs. We never saw them again. the airbase made it too us in the daylight and foamed the ditch for bore in my M14 barrel had begun to flake off and the wooden stock was Riflemen moving cautiously. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. Normally, operations orders issued over the radio were encoded and sent by the S3s radio operator. They ordered us to clear the VC from the houses surrounding the corps headquarters. known as Widows Village. a noise! 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. In the early morning hours on 31 January, insurgent forces launched 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. I assigned areas of operation to my two rifle platoons, and positioned the weapons platoon inside the compound as a reserve and security force. Our outfit was a 10. (Vietnam War period). Following that fight, the 2-47 was ordered south of the 9th Divisions base camp. U.S. troops firing small arms as they proceed across tall grass into the hamlet. As we made the turn eastward on Highway 1, the lead platoon was ambushed. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. I was to be a platoon leader again, in Charlie Company, commanded by Captain John Ionoff. who was tossed into a sewage ditch by the explosion, remembers 'killing the jeep' with his M-16. Page contents not supported in other languages. Sand bags near barbed wire fence. 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. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp.
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