long binh ammo dump explosion 1968long binh ammo dump explosion 1968

This is the story of one rifle company, and what it faced on that decisive day. and no one was injured. VC/PAVN losses were 527 dead. [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. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Helicopter gunships took off from Bien Hoa AB to investigate, but were unable to locate the force in the darkness. and completely out of sync. As we turned to head back, a tremendous blast shook the whole city of Bien Hoa. LV DITTO Waking Dead. ruary 1968 in support of Saigon and Long Binh Post during the TET Offen- Sive. The VC had run out of ammunition and were trying to escape. My Lightboxes | The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. 10. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Now the fight was on. Soon we could hear leaders moving up and down the bunker line yelling for the guards to stop firing. We began detaining the well-dressed young men among the refugees. 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. After much frequency changing, I finally got the commander of the bunker guards on the radio. Zabecki remembers taking his place on the wall with his M-79 grenade launcher. 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. 2,400,000 pounds of 8 inch high explosive artillery projectiles. A VC guerrilla hiding behind a parked ARVN jeep had fired the rocket. Charlie Company soldiers, used to months of patrolling and fighting in the jungles, suddenly found themselves fighting house to house as their fathers had done in World War II. Our area from the License Agreement | had defended the Long Binh ammo dump and had helped in the Widow's Village fight. All I could think of to say was, Please clear that weapon!During the meeting, a master sergeant adviser to a Vietnamese ranger battalion ran into the compound. After I got the coordinates of our objective, I yelled, Crank em up! into the radio handset. front making it dangerous to return fire. Despite the confusion and wounds, our troops returned fire. Long Binh Ammo Dump October 29, 1966 . HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. 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. 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. 102 comments 105 shares. 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. 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. After the fight for the churches, there occurred one of the most bizarre and inexplicable incidents of the day. The Vietnamese brigadier generalthe ranking man at III Corpsdrew circles on a map around two areas of downtown Bien Hoa. On that fateful night, explosions began at the bomb dump, I immediately responded to CSC as the SP's . The first explosion was 2,400,000 pounds of 8 inch high explosive artillery projectiles. An accurate body count could never be compiled since so many VC bodies were dragged away or were burned in the many fires that ravaged the towns and villages. The battle proved significant, as Alphas leadership was seriously depleted immediately prior to Tet. After telling them to stop shooting Privacy Policy | Links Its predominantly Catholic population was made up of many Vietnamese who fled North Vietnam in 1954 after the Viet Minh victory. In another sign that the situation was serious, the battalion commander himself gave map coordinates of company objectives in the clear. 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. [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. [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. Bill Langan, aka "Sparky" was on duty in the 573rd hanger at the Bird Cage and took the slide photo. He wanted to borrow one of our tracks. As 1st Lt. Brice Barnes led his scouts into Ho Nai, he ran full speed into a hornets nest. During Tet 1968, the 856th Radio . Script is copyright Reuters Limited. 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. Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. In addition we detained more than 20 probable VC fighters dressed in civilian clothes. 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. As we made the turn eastward on Highway 1, the lead platoon was ambushed. [5], USAF losses were 4 killed in action with another dying of a heart attack, while 26 were wounded. January 12, 1972. by: Arnold John Houchin Bin Ha, USAF 3rd Security Police Squadron 1970-1972 Phu Cat, 37th SPS; Thu Hoa, 31st SPS; . Meanwhile, Huey gunships reported VC running from the village. known as Widows Village. Get under! After what seemed like After the cemetery had been cleared Company B, 2/3rd Infantry joined Company C, 4/12th Infantry and they made a night defensive perimeter north of Ho Nai, while the 2/47th Infantry was withdrawn to Bin Ha. Company B, 4th Battalion, 39th Infantry, which was placed under the operational control of the 2-47, made a combat air assault under fire into the middle of the Widows Village battle and fought bravely beside the Panthers all day long. 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. We began to pop hand-held flares so they could see we were there, but the shooting persisted, one round actually hitting my track. He assigned one to the airborne battalion and the other to Charlie Company. Come back up on the battalion freq.. What we came up with was a T formation. In fact, VC effectiveness was so degraded that, after 1968, they were mainly replaced on the battlefield by North Vietnamese regulars, and were never a viable force after that. 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. The North Vietnamese Army had circled 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. 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. This was no surprise to us, since we could plainly hear the enemy rounds slamming into Long Binh. At 7 a.m., as daylight was breaking, my track rolled past the ARVN III Corps compound gate. 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) 6. 1.13 Lieutenant Barnes and one of his soldiers would be awarded Distinguished Service Crosses for their heroism that day. His two daughters, Ly's mother and her sister, are disabled. About 30 minutes later, the track was back with only the driver, who reported the ranger sergeant had been killed and that it had been impossible to get the wounded. There was much During December we made little enemy contact, probably because the Communists were lying low preparing for Tet. Simultaneously, platoon leaders reported finding discarded AK-47s. We could use our tracks as a base of fire or in a blocking position as the company maneuvered dismounted. A great deal has been written about the battles of Tet 1968 and the political firestorm that resulted from them. During this fighting, both platoon leaders were wounded, Lieutenant Casper in the leg and Lieutenant Jones in the foot. AIR V..EXPLOSION SOUTH VIETNAM: VIET CONG EXPLODE U.S. Several of his tracks were hit by RPGs and surrounded by the enemy. 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. 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. I had been in command for five months and had been assured that I would be in command for one year, which suited me fine. This site requires JavaScript. Normally, operations orders issued over the radio were encoded and sent by the S3s radio operator. 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. Some of the enemy had tunneled under the fence and exploded an 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. It dawned on us that the VC were throwing down their weapons, changing clothes and slipping away. [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. A soldier, who has been hit, lying prone between two other soldiers, tries to get up. The Commo track, C-007, nicknamed Abdula and the Rug Merchants, with then- Pfc (and current Vietnam editor) David Zabecki behind the .50-caliber, brought up the rear. 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). a noise! Several soldiers gathered in front of the track to help the wounded, and Love climbed up to man the .50-caliber. We fired all we had into the buildings lining the roadway and took several wounded while getting to the church. An eyewitness account of the battle for control of Bien Hoa and Long Binh on the first day of the 1968 Tet Offensive. Construction on the 24 th. We were west of Highway QL1 along a road named 535. In January 1968, our battalion relocated to the area between Xuan Loc and Bien Hoa, where intelligence had located a VC battalion. forever the big pieces stopped. Alpha Company, still licking its wounds from the January 23 fight, was left intact. The bombs descend and explode on structures in grove of trees near rice paddies 23 miles east of Binh Thuy on 19th August. Most of these photos were taken in an area a few miles north of Chu Lai and south of Hoi An. from the petroleum dump immediately next to our position. When Lieutenant Casper jumped up, our legs became entangled and I tripped him, Ax remembers. 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. Satchel charges blew pallets of artillery ammunition, creating a mushroom cloud that made us think the VC had set off a tactical nuclear weapon. 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. An eyewitness account of the battle for control of Bien Hoa and Long Binh on the first day of the 1968 Tet Offensive. probably one of the best deals I had been Used for because the 2 comments. I sat behind the .50-caliber, munching and giving thanks for the fact that, incredibly, nobody in Charlie Company had been killed. Charlie Company quickly reinforced Alpha, and a daylong fight ensued. hightForP2 = 330 Benny Toney, the 2nd Platoon sergeant, hooked a tow cable to Stormy. Fires were burning late into the afternoon. For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Vietnam Magazine today! As the afternoon of January 30 drifted toward dusk, Charlie Company soldiers stripped to the waist and dug bunkers next to their M-113s. ordnance pad in the huge ammo dump. Hide. Casper rose from the prone position and yelled for his troops to follow him. There we would be assigned a unit we would serve with in Vietnam. [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. The fog of war was especially thick on the morning of January 31, 1968. With a push-to-talk button stuck in the transmit position, no one could use the radio. Binh Hoa Airbase was lucky they were not the Under fire, Staff Sgt. Charlie Companys 3rd Platoon was also detached for a security mission inside the base. The attacks were repulsed with the VC/PAVN suffering heavy losses, having inflicted minimal damage on the bases. Fred Casper, one of the bravest of the brave, was killed during the May offensive at the Y Bridge in Saigon, leading from the front as was his custom. 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. We fired everything we had into the buildings lining the roadway and took several wounded while getting to the church. This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army Center of Military History. As we rolled by, we looked down into the compound and saw soldiers in khakis milling about with boarding passes in hand. rockets at Bien Hoa AB and Long Binh Post. 2. Service Battery 6/27th Charlie Companys 3rd Platoon was also detached for a security mission inside the base. bunker. Relevant to these events; post recollections and descriptions, questions,. Service Battery that supplied ordnance to the big guns in our battalion. The platoons attacked by successive bounds through the village as the companys tracks, forming the base of the T on the highway, provided fire support from the .50s and resupplied the troops with ammunition. Those orders were for us to clear the VC from the houses surrounding the corps headquarters. Privacy Policy2023 CriticalPast LLC. Back view of jeep with open doors. It then dawned on us that the VC were throwing down their weapons, changing clothes and slipping away. As enemy resistance stiffened, we realized we had bottled at least a company of the VC 275th Regiment in the village. GV DUMP Widows Village made a perfect attack position, since it lay directly across Highway 316 from II Field Force headquarters. 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. Kortuem! I told the platoon leaders to prepare to dismount and to take all the ammunition and grenades they could carry. [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. Long Binh ammo dump was one of the biggest ordnance storage areas in the country. M-113 Armored Personnel Carrier on guard. We were ordered to go to that church and detain every male between the ages of 16 and 80. officer around. In mid-September, when Ionoff moved to battalion to become the operations officer (S3), I assumed command of Charlie Company. [3]:242, The VC/PAVN attacks were a failure. OK. Shopping Cart | For more great articles, subscribe to Vietnam magazine today! (Note: According to Colonel Sonny Craven, then leader of a combat photo team on the scene, these combat sequences was filmed by soldiers of the 221st Signal Company [Pictorial]). I then jacked a round into my M-16 and who would you believe 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. on the Bailey Compound, only in the 145th CAB HQ which could I told him that I wanted to command a company. 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. Shoe of soldier on ground. When we arrived, we found the churchyard packed with thousands of civilians. Our arrival had canceled fears that III Corps headquarters might be overrun. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. Dames walked down a side alley toward the highway. Jeep parked along road. One reference claims that 4 February 1967 was the date, and another claims that 28 March was the date. 12. My Account | Our arrival had canceled fears that III Corps headquarters might be overrun. We were in a cloud of disarray During the Vietnam War, the U.S. Army used the base as a logistics and command center. At about 0600, Lt. Col. John Tower, the new battalion commander, called with orders. In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. and the perimeter was still intact. He said I would have to wait. I told the platoon leaders to prepare to dismount and to take all the ammunition and grenades they could carry. 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. Summary - October 1966. The battalion made only sporadic contact and suffered few casualties. There was an ammo dump explosion in 1968 also and both 1967 and 1968 are correct and were of course separate incidents. I told him about the order to clear an area of operations equal in size to that assigned the airborne battalion. I explained to the colonel that this was not a police action, and that we werent searching houses, we were in combat. I was the DistrictSenior Advisor (Army) in Vinh Kim, Long Dinh District, right across the canal from Dong Tam in 1968-1969. However, Charlie Company slammed into the VC before they could organize their attack. They tried to make us keep our heads down so we couldn't get them with our counter-mortar fire . on the water tower". - But no one would be leaving the country that day. We found out later from captured VC that many guerrillas had been given only two magazines for their weapons. CU SIGN "NO SMOKING" We never saw them again. I remember one During TET 1969 in front of Bunker Hill 17, VC sappers tried to penetrate our fence line. During December we made little enemy contact, probably because the Communists were lying low, preparing for Tet. Soon we could hear leaders moving up and down the bunker line yelling for the guards to stop firing. 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. I assigned areas of operation to my two rifle platoons, and positioned the weapons platoon inside the compound as a reserve and security force. When the shooting started it 6 External links modified. Charlie Company would get the mission. 26 VC/PAVN were killed in the attack and several captured. 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. 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. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. 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. After commanding 180 paratroopers, taking on four APCs and 40 troops seemed like a dreamexcept that now I was responsible for troops in combat, not training. His battalion was in heavy contact and he had several wounded rangers he needed to evacuate. NEARER AIR V..SMOKE In addition, gunships killed many more as they tried to escape from the villages. A spokesman for the South Vietnamese command said that, according to unconfirmed re ports, satchel charges, of the type used by Vietcong sabotage squads were found near the dump. Riflemen moving cautiously. GV AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN F/G. 0.54 SP4 Lawrence Korteum Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. Under fire, Staff Sgt.
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