Big Ammunition Dump Near Saigon Hit by Blasts, https://www.nytimes.com/1973/06/02/archives/big-ammunition-dump-near-saigon-hit-by-blasts-laotian-reports.html. While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. him in. After much frequency changing, I finally got the commander of the bunker guards on the radio. 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. The 2-47s scout platoon had just finished a brutal fight in Widows Village, and at 1600 hours, it was ordered to move to the junction of Highways 1 and 316, and to attack westward through the village of Ho Nai toward Charlie Company, in the hope of pinning the VC between us. 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. After much frequency changing, I finally got the commander of the bunker guards on the radio. 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. I was not sure what to do about the bunkers we had dug. [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. We topped off our fuel tanks, replenished our ammo and continued to move toward our assigned blocking position. The recon platoon was ordered to establish a blocking position south of Long Binh on Highway 15. I was told to forget about them, which reinforced our feeling that this situation was different and that combat was certainly imminent. Aerial view of Long Binh Post in Vietnam. 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. As darkness settled in, Charlie Company was ordered to move back the way it had come, to the junction of Highways 1 and 316, where we would form a screen in front of the 199th LIB base camp. 10. It also contained tons of captured NVA ammo and guns from the A Shau Valley. I was well seasoned having been through all the scenarios that presented Activity in the area had picked up in November and more 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) I was disappointed when I received orders to join the 9th Infantry Division. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. We were in a cloud of disarray When I arrived at 9th Division in June, I was further shocked to learn that I was going to a mechanized battalion, rather than be assigned to one of the battalions in the Delta where I could use my light infantry and Ranger school experience. With a push-to-talk button stuck in the transmit position, no one could use the radio. Tower ordered Charlie Company to attack eastward to clear the village of Ho Nai, a suburb of Bien Hoa. I told the platoon leaders to prepare to dismount and to take all the ammunition and grenades they could carry. About a month earlier I had been loaned out to weld the razor There, Charlie Company soldiers joined ARVN and U.S. MACV soldiers manning the walls. carried on into that night with tracers flying everywhere. 5 Explosion at Long Binh ammunition storage facility. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. Troops opened their attacks with volleys of grenades, then charged in shooting. About Us | The chrome The armed helicopter teams had a field day shooting guerrillas trying to flee into the jungle. We had run through the rear of the 274th VC Regiment, which was attacking the airfield. 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. Officer and soldiers examine barbed wire torn apart by Vietcong who infiltrated Long Binh ammunition dump. During December we made little enemy contact, probably because the Communists were lying low preparing for Tet. 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. January 12, 1972. by: Arnold John Houchin Bin Ha, USAF 3rd Security Police Squadron 1970-1972 Phu Cat, 37th SPS; Thu Hoa, 31st SPS; . GV AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN F/G. unless they could see someone, I went to our Operations shack A slightly wounded soldier, lying on the ground, smiles as he points to his leg as another soldier helps him. Come back up on the battalion freq. I had never been so happy in my life. The 2-47s scout platoon had just finished a brutal fight in Widows Village, and at 4 p.m., it was ordered to move to the junction of Highways 1 and 316, and to attack westward through the village of Ho Nai toward Charlie Company, in the hope of pinning the VC between us. Binh Hoa Airbase was lucky they were not the At 0700, as daylight was breaking, my track rolled past the ARVN III Corps compound gate. THE EXPLOSIONS RATTLED WINDOWS IN SAIGON, ABOUT 13 MILES (20 KILOMETERS) AWAY. I called III Corps and reported that we had detained all of these people, and was told to wait until the Vietnamese National Police arrived to take charge. John Gross received the Silver Star for his actions in command of Charlie Company on the first day of the Tet Offensive. Advanced Search | TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. As we fought our way toward the scout platoon, we were blocked by two large churches that were directly across Highway 1 from each other, both occupied by the VC. They tried to make us keep our heads down so we couldn't get them with our counter-mortar fire . 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. The view is from the compound of the 20th. Soldiers of the U.S. 2nd Battalion 47th Infantry (Mechanized) and 4th Battalion 39th Infantry clearing a hamlet during the Tet Offensive in Vietnam. Several soldiers gathered in front of the track to help the wounded, and Love climbed up to man the .50-caliber. The village of Ho Nai, now a ghost town, was still smoldering. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. Website Terms & Conditions | rockets at Bien Hoa AB and Long Binh Post. U.S. troops firing small arms as they proceed across tall grass into the hamlet. VC/PAVN losses were 527 dead. 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. Kortuem! The fog of war was especially thick on the morning of January 31, 1968. Vehicles drive past on roads between the Long Binh Post area. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. 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. 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. 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. For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Vietnam Magazine today! Hoa. One A-37 and 1 F-100 were destroyed while a further 17 aircraft were damaged. This site was called Hill 63 because there was a hill nearby that had an elevation of 63 meters on the map. The ARVN general and III Corps G3 adviser, however, were not happy when we pulled out. In a few moments, the huge dump became a fireball, the shock of the explosion echoing over an area of 50 miles. 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. 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. During Tet 1968, the 856th Radio . [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. [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. and no one was injured. 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. We usually got mortared at night whenever Dong Tam was getting it from our district. I assigned areas of operation to my two rifle platoons and positioned the weapons platoon inside the compound as a reserve and security force. 1 comment. After telling them to stop shooting As the Hueys rockets smashed the VC strongpoint, the scouts fought their way out of the encirclement and evacuated their dead and wounded. Company B, 2nd Battalion, 39th Infantry Regiment had arrived by helicopter from Bearcat and joined up with 2/47th Infantry to sweep the Widows Village. about 1/3 mile, All this carried on for about three maybe four days and the dead Fighting our way to the scout platoon, we were stopped when we came upon two large churches, straddling Highway 1, each occupied by VC. 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. 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. 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. The probing attack units included VC sapper squads. 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. The 2-47s enemy body count came in at more than 200, while the battalion suffered only four KIA. 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. 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. 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. Dames walked down a side alley toward the highway. [3]:20, At 00:30 on 31 January, a patrol from Company E, 4th Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment detected a company-size PAVN/VC force approximately 10km north of Bien Hoa, moving in the direction of Bien Hoa AB. At the time of the Which date was it? All day civilians had been darting from their homes and running from the fighting. A VC guerrilla hiding behind a parked ARVN jeep had fired the rocket. As dawn broke on February 1, it was deathly quiet. Charlie Company slammed into the VC before they could get their attack organized. The battle was significant, since Alphas leadership was seriously depleted during the days immediately prior to Tet. Specialist 4 Bill Rambo, assistant driver and .50-gunner on my command track, remembers my response to the firing as being absolutely irate. all personnel to the flight line. M-117 bombs explode near and on road on wooden slopes near river north of Pleiku near Dak To, on 18 August, 1968. 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. Terms & Conditions | During the Vietnam War, the U.S. Army used the base as a logistics and command center. . In January 1968, our battalion relocated to the area between Xuan Loc and Bien Hoa, where intelligence had located a VC battalion. The only trouble was that Charlie Company tracks were sitting in the road right in front of their bunkers. In addition, gunships killed many more as they tried to escape from the villages. 0.48 (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. 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. The idea was to leave nothing the VC might use against us. As we made the turn eastward on Highway 1, the lead platoon was ambushed. [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. Later, as the sun sank over the Long Binh base, they tossed a football and ate cold C rations. I have . Aerial view of (USARV) United States Army Republic of Vietnam Headquarters Complex at Long Binh, Vietnam. Service Battery that supplied ordnance to the big guns in our battalion. An eyewitness account of the battle for control of Bien Hoa and Long Binh on the first day of the 1968 Tet Offensive. 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. ", "I then went to the CP and tried AIR V..AMMUNITION DUMPS AND FIRES Unconfirmed reports reports said the blasts were the work of Vietcong sabotage teams. Some were complete projectiles weighing Since I was in an airborne unit, it seemed certain that I would go to the 173rd Airborne Brigade or the 101st Airborne Division. 0.35 "What are you firing at? " 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. I told the platoon leaders to prepare to dismount and to take all the ammunition and grenades they could carry. We packed up our gear, rolled up our wire and waited. The bombs descend and explode near structures in grove of tress in agricultural area 30 miles southwest of Saigon on 19 August, 1968. Aerial view of Long Binh Post in Vietnam. As I remember the Tet Offensive began in the early morning of 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. CRITICALPAST.COM: (Vietnam War period). 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. 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. It had been over two days and many of us had no sleep. a noise! Get under! We were ordered to go there and detain every male between the ages of 16 and 80. 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. I then jacked a round into my M-16 and who would you believe 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. He retired from the U.S. Army as a lieutenant colonel. 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. During this fighting, both platoon leaders were wounded, Lieutenant Casper in the leg and Lieutenant Jones in the foot. We began to pop hand-held flares so they could see we were there, but the shooting persisted, one round actually hitting my track. Our arrival had canceled fears that III Corps headquarters might be overrun. [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. Tower ordered Charlie Company to attack eastward to clear the village of Ho Nai, a Bien Hoa suburb. Meanwhile, Hueys reported VC running from the village. We opened up with everything we had and kept driving. Each APC could carry almost as much ammunition as a dismounted rifle company. Toward dark, airstrikes had to be called in to blast the VC from the hill. introduction into country when he first came to the 118th. License Agreement | As the sun sank over the Long Binh base, they tossed a football and ate cold C rations. - 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. [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. Destroyed and burned out ammunition pad shows burned out 105mm howitzer shells. LV EXPLOSIONS As we turned around to head back west, a tremendous blast shook the whole city of Bien Hoa. I told him that I wanted to command a company. Charlie Company quickly reinforced Alpha, and a daylong fight ensued. The gun-jeeps were progressively replaced by M113s and XM-706 Commando armored cars. 26 VC/PAVN were killed in the attack and several captured. I called battalion headquarters and asked what to do about the bunkers. I realize now that the track was high enough that the rounds would have passed over the troops in front of the vehicle, Love recalls. border. Charlie Company would get the mission. After a eventful Meanwhile, Charlie Company was ordered back to III Corps. As best I could, I explained that they were to take charge and that General Giap might be among the civilians. (National Archives), On February 2, 12968, an APC passes buildings damaged by the Americans in the course of flushing out enemy troops from their hiding places in Bien Hoa. I realized we were driving past our objective, halted the company and called for the 2nd Platoon to find a place to turn around. Around midnight on October 29th, 1966, the Viet Cong mortared or rocketed the Long Binh Ammo Dump. [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. His battalion was in heavy contact and he had several wounded rangers he needed to evacuate. 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 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. the wrecker operator had to know how to weld. Listening to the scouts desperate fight on the radio, Charlie Company attacked with renewed vigor as we tried to get to Barnes and his men. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. It involved transfer of powder projectiles and fuses enough to keep 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. Casper rose from a prone position and yelled for his troops to follow him. went off my first thought was that it was a nuclear explosion because of The mushroom cloud slowly dissipated after hours of Jan. 31. (Vietnam War period). 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. Bien Hoa Air Base was the largest air base in the country, home to over 500 United States Air Force (USAF) and Republic of Vietnam Air Force (RVNAF) aircraft, while Long Binh Post was the US Army's largest logistics base, headquarters of II Field Force, Vietnam, the 199th Light Infantry Brigade (199th LIB) and the 12th Aviation Group and home to over 20,000 US personnel. Barbed wire torn apart by Vietcong who infiltrated through Longbinh ammunition camp. As we rolled by, we looked down into the compound and saw soldiers in khakis, boarding passes in hand, milling about. Sergeant was already tucked under a 5 ton truck parked about 50 feet The scout platoon had fought valiantly all day long in Widows Village and in Ho Nai. I had learned no tactic at infantry school that fit the situation we were faced with, so we improvised. One of the children in the Hope System of Care is Nguyen Thi Ly, born in 2001 with a deformed face, head and chest. As 1st Lt. Brice Barnes led his scout platoon into the edge of Ho Nai, he ran full speed into a hornets nest. Alpha Company, still licking its wounds from the January 23 fight, was left intact. 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. Painting outside. I told him we couldnt take the tracks off Highway 1 into town because the streets were too narrow. One reference claims that 4 February 1967 was the date, and another claims that 28 March was the date. We rolled through Long Binh and out the main gate, then turned onto Highway 316. All rights reserved. He assigned one to the airborne battalion and the other to Charlie Company. Unfortunately for the VC, they had no weapons other than the RPG launcher. remember being giddy and my brain was asking What is wrong with me?. This article was written by John E. Gross and originally published in the February 2008 issue of Vietnam Magazine. At least 3,000 tons of ammu nition were reportedly de stroyed in the blasts, which be gan before dawn and continued until midmorning. Their 81mm mortars were useless, since we were told we could not put any indirect fire into the town. The combat around III Corps headquarters was intense. "[3]:205, The Tet offensive attacks on Bien Hoa AB and Tan Son Nhut Air Base slowly led to an improvement in air base defense across South Vietnam, with improved bunkers and heavier defensive armament including 0.50 cal machine guns, M67 recoilless rifles and M29 mortars. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. 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 Long Binh ammo dump had exploded. I was not sure what to do about the bunkers. Then a report came in that a body had been found wearing a white shirt under a black pajama tunic. Unconfirmed reports reports said the blasts were . He wanted to borrow one of our tracks. 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. ", "Then we were all in the bunker All day civilians had been darting from their homes and running from the fighting. LV WATER TRUCKS ALONG ROAD, EXPLOSION IN B/G. Now someone pointed out that there were a lot of young men, all dressed in black pants and white shirts, walking among the refugees. 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.