long binh ammo dump explosion 1968

I told the platoon leaders to prepare to dismount and to take all the ammunition and grenades they could carry. He manned the .50 and, with a Charlie Company driver, headed down Highway 1. There, Charlie Company soldiers joined ARVN and U.S. MACV soldiers manning the walls. sixteen guns stationed next to the western border of Vietnam. Benny Toney, the 2nd Platoon sergeant, hooked a tow cable to Stormy. According to Jones, that assault went so perfectly that it could have served as a demonstration at the infantry school. It was the first such occurrence since the ceasefire of Jan. 28. 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. In a few moments, the huge dump became a fireball, the shock of the explosion echoing over an area of 50 miles. Toward dark, airstrikes had to be called in to blast the VC from the hill. 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. 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 . At about 0600, Lt. Col. John Tower, the new battalion commander, called with orders. Soon we could hear leaders moving up and down the bunker line yelling for the guards to stop firing. My Lightboxes | John Gross received the Silver Star for his actions in command of Charlie Company on the first day of the Tet Offensive. resulting in the explosion of the ammo dump at Bin Ha Air Base. Photo Index My only previous contact with M-113 armored personnel carriers (APCs) was during a training exercise at the officers basic course. 0.08 Long Binh ammo dump was one of the biggest ordnance storage areas in the country. the wrecker operator had to know how to weld. more I was disappointed when I received orders to join the 9th Infantry Division. 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. and completely out of sync. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. USAF (United States Air Force) F-100 Super Sabre jet fighter aircraft drops Mark 82 (Mk.82) high-drag (HD) bombs. I called battalion headquarters and was told to forget about them, which reinforced our sense that combat was imminent. The combat around III Corps headquarters was intense. 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 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. As the scouts escaped, the volume of enemy fire began to slacken, then died altogether. At 0400 Jones ordered us to pull in our ambushes and be prepared to move. 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. I assigned areas of operation to my two rifle platoons and positioned the weapons platoon inside the compound as a reserve and security force. We charged southeast down Highway 316 to the Highway 15 intersection, located on a small hill overlooking the 90th Replacement Company. Long Binh ammo dump was one of the biggest ordnance storage areas in the country. This was no surprise to us, since we could plainly hear the enemy rounds slamming into Long Binh. The 2nd Platoon, under Lieutenant Fred Casper, led the way, followed by my track, then Lieutenant Howard Jones 1st Platoon and, finally, the weapons platoon under Lieutenant Don Muir. . danger and the probable best course of action. Normally, operations orders issued over the radio were encoded and sent by the operations officers radio operator. AIR V..FIRES 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. As we turned right onto Highway 15, an unbelievable spectacle stretched before us. I had no way of knowing who it was with no light in the He assigned one to the airborne battalion and the other to Charlie Company. They bowed and looked confused. 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. [3]:2289, The Tt ceasefire began on 29 January, but was cancelled on 30 January after the VC/PAVN prematurely launched attacks in II Corps and at 17:30 the 7th Air Force commander General William W. Momyer ordered all air bases in South Vietnam to security condition red. Meanwhile, Charlie Company was ordered back to III Corps. Casper rose from a prone position and yelled for his troops to follow him. Long Binh Vietnam 1969 stock footage and images - Showing 1 to 6 of 5540 results Sort by: All Decade 1890 - 1899 Location (1) Norfolk Virginia USA (2) Normandy France (12) Norman Oklahoma USA (1) (1) (1) North Carolina United States USA (2) North Chicago Illinois USA (1) North Dakota United States USA (1) North Haven Maine USA (1) North Korea (1) Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. We rolled through Long Binh and out the main gate, then turned onto Highway 316. Officer and soldiers examine barbed wire torn apart by Vietcong who infiltrated Long Binh ammunition dump. 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. The battle was significant, since Alphas leadership was seriously depleted during the days immediately prior to Tet. Most of these photos were taken in an area a few miles north of Chu Lai and south of Hoi An. Ammo Dump Exlosion Sapper Attack! We came up with a T formation. 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. In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. Set. Company E engaged the PAVN/VC supported by artillery fire killing 47 PAVN/VC. Then a report came in that a body had been found wearing a white shirt under a black pajama tunic. 2,400,000 pounds of 8 inch high explosive artillery projectiles. As the afternoon of January 30 drifted toward dusk, Charlie Company soldiers stripped to the waist and dug bunkers next to their M-113s. The attacks were repulsed with the VC/PAVN suffering heavy losses, having inflicted minimal damage on the bases. Which date was it? Copyright Screenocean 2022 | Powered byImagen. 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. I then jacked a round into my M-16 and who would you believe 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. . Unconfirmed reports reports said the blasts were . When it went off my first thought was that it was a nuclear explosion because of the light dome that rose from the explosion. The bombs descend and explode near structures in grove of tress in agricultural area 30 miles southwest of Saigon on 19 August, 1968. The churches were cleared in short order. The North Vietnamese Army had circled He started He wanted to borrow one of our tracks. About Us | After the roadblock was cleared and communications restored, Charlie Company continued toward its objective. The Communists were starting to carry out a plan that they had studied for a considerable period. 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. 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. F-100 Super Sabre and F-4 Phantom II drop Mark 82 bombs in Vietnam during U.S. air strikes. PDF Scanned Document - United States Army 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. It involved transfer of powder projectiles and fuses enough to keep 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. On that fateful night, explosions began at the bomb dump, I immediately responded to CSC as the SP's . He said the first thing he could remember was the while we were gone. (Long Binh) ammunition dump. The first explosion was Blood stains in ambulance. Rocket Attack on Dong Tam - Brownwater Vietnam Veterans I was not sure what to do about the bunkers. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. The explosions at Long Binh, 15 miles northeast of Sia gon rattled windows and shook doors here in the capital. 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. We threw grenades over the wall behind them, but hit nothing.. more that happened that night. PAVN/VC losses were 137 killed and 25 captured. [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. Benny Toney, the 2nd Platoon sergeant, hooked a tow cable to Stormy. happened to hit him just over the forehead. 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. As was our normal practice, each company had sent two ambush patrols into the jungle to our front. Later, as the sun sank over the Long Binh base, they tossed a football and ate cold C rations. Advanced Search | First was sand then bigger stuff. During December we made little enemy contact, probably because the Communists were lying low, preparing for Tet. 14. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. In April 1967, I was a first lieutenant commanding a rifle company in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C. Gradually, I became a mechanized soldier. Initials PW/VS/JH/BB/ES PW/VS/JH/ES 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. Despite the confusion and wounds, our troops returned fire. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. During TET 1969 in front of Bunker Hill 17, VC sappers tried to penetrate our fence line. 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. South Vietnam: Viet Cong Explode U.s. Ammunition Dump. At about 6 a.m., Lt. Col. John Tower, the new battalion commander, called with orders. [3]:2501, On the evening of 1 February 3 platoons from Company C, 4/12th Infantry and 2 platoons from Company D, 17th Cavalry Regiment were ordered 2km north of Ho Nai to establish an outer defense against any renewed VC/PAVN attack. In addition we detained more than 20 probable VC fighters dressed in civilian clothes. 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. Long Binh ammo dump was one of the 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. StoriesPage6 - 118th AHC 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. Aerial view of Long Binh Post in Vietnam. Aerial view of Long Binh Post in Vietnam. NEARER V..EXPLOSIONS Incredibly, nobody in my company had been killed the day before. GV DUMP Tet Offensive I had returned to Long Binh Post. We charged southeast down Highway 316 to the Highway 15 intersection, situated on a small hill overlooking the 90th Replacement Company. We began to pop hand-held flares so they could see we were there, but the shooting persisted, one round actually hitting my track. 0.59 Shopping Cart | Less has been written about the danger, turmoil, chaos, confusion, contradictions and outright lunacy that confronted individual units as they responded to VC attacks on the morning of January 31. ruary 1968 in support of Saigon and Long Binh Post during the TET Offen- Sive. Under fire, Staff Sgt. At the meeting, I was joined by the S3 of a battalion from the 101st Airborne Division. 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. These photos were taken from December 9, 1967 to February 1968. Sugar Bear Dames, as he was called by his many friends, walked down a side alley toward the highway. 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. and still no answer. [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. I had been in Vietnam about nine months. By July 1969 we were finally off the boats and in Dong Tam processing to head home. The 2nd Platoon pulled the damaged track out of the side street and towed it back to the III Corps compound. [2]:350, At approximately 16:45 F-100 Super Sabres of the 531st Tactical Fighter Squadron conducted a Napalm strike against a PAVN/VC company at the east end of the base runway. The scout platoon had fought . We were west of Highway QL1 along a road named 535. [6]:12, Several dozen of the PAVN rockets exploded near the II Field Force and 199th LIB headquarters in the Plantation Compound (105728N 1065241E / 10.9577N 106.878E / 10.9577; 106.878) causing minimal damage. We suffered more wounded during the trip back to III Corps, where I was called to a meeting in the headquarters. night on alert at the Birdcage, I was awakened (trying to sleep 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. Most of we RAD 152 crew members arrived in-country on July 22, 1968. [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. When we arrived, we found the churchyard packed with thousands of civilians seeking refuge. By the evening the 2/47th Infantry withdrew into the Long Binh perimeter. 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. [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. I have . 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. I sounded off, "who is there"? GV AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN F/G. 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. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. Aerial view of (USARV) United States Army Republic of Vietnam Headquarters Complex at Long Binh, Vietnam. known as Widows Village. [7], The Tet offensive attacks and previous losses due to mortar and rocket attacks on air bases across South Vietnam led the Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Nitze on 6 March 1968 to approve the construction of 165 "Wonderarch" roofed aircraft shelters at the major air bases. 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 (Mechanized), 47th Infantry. Now the fight was on. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine 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. EXPLOSIONS IN DISTANCE Tower ordered Charlie Company to attack eastward to clear the village of Ho Nai, a Bien Hoa suburb. The scout platoon had fought valiantly all day long in Widows Village and in Ho Nai. The VC had run out of ammunition and were trying to escape. As the 2nd Platoon began to run short, Spc. As we turned right onto Highway 15, an unbelievable spectacle stretched before us. I had learned no tactic at infantry school that fit the situation we were faced with, so we improvised. He waved me off. probably one of the best deals I had been Used for because the The 2nd Platoon led the way under Lieutenant Fred Casper, followed by my track, then Lieutenant Howard Jones 1st Platoon and, finally, the weapons platoon under Lieutenant Don Muir. With a push-to-talk button stuck in the transmit position, no one could use the radio. The probing attack units included VC sapper squads. Tet offensive attacks on Bien Hoa and Long Binh, Tet Offensive attacks on Bien Hoa and Long Binh, United States Army Center of Military History, "Tet Offensive: The Battles of Bien Hoa and Long Binh", Video of helicopter gunships and F-100s in action at Bien Hoa AB, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tet_offensive_attacks_on_Bien_Hoa_and_Long_Binh&oldid=1086914863, Battles and operations of the Vietnam War in 1968, Battles of the Vietnam War involving the United States, Attacks on military installations in the 1960s, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Air Force Historical Research Agency, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the United States Army Center of Military History, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 9 May 2022, at 04:36. After a eventful [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. Vietnam War-Stories.com: Sapper Attack, Ammo Dump Explosion, Bin Ha During Tet 1968, the 856th Radio . A soldier, who has been hit, lying prone between two other soldiers, tries to get up. Shoe of soldier on ground. 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.. 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. The battalion made only sporadic contact and suffered few casualties. 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. At the meeting I was joined by the S3 of a battalion from the 101st Airborne Division. Love was so startled, he didnt fire. At the end of the previous day, Charlie Company had reported 38 VC killed, at the cost of only 11 U.S. wounded and three APCs damaged by RPGs. Consequently, I was disappointed when I received orders to join the 9th Infantry Division. [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. Tet airstrike Long Binh Ammo Dump - YouTube [6]:36 In addition airborne "rocket watch" patrols were established in the Saigon-Bien Hoa area to reduce attacks by fire. 102 comments 105 shares. 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. Long Binh Vietnam 1969 stock footage and images - CriticalPast He retired from the U.S. Army as a lieutenant colonel. Views of a number of huts, in the hamlet, that have not been destroyed. "What are you firing at? " During the meeting, a master sergeant adviser to a Vietnamese ranger battalion ran into the compound. Unfortunately for the VC, they had no weapons other than the RPG launcher. At that moment, a burst of VC machine gun fire erupted, 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. Barbed wire torn apart by Vietcong who infiltrated through Longbinh ammunition camp. The recon platoon was ordered to establish a blocking position south of Long Binh on Highway 15. As you know there were no officers Several M 113 armored personnel carriers (APCs) are seen accompanying the troops. U.S. troops firing small arms as they proceed across tall grass into the hamlet. One of the children in the Hope System of Care is Nguyen Thi Ly, born in 2001 with a deformed face, head and chest. This site was called Hill 63 because there was a hill nearby that had an elevation of 63 meters on the map. 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. 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.

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