because Mankato (Minnesota)Vocational school had taught me to weld as
Just then a three-man VC RPG team calmly walked across the street right in front of the damaged APC. 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. U.S. air strikes in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. 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. Each APC could carry almost as much ammunition as a dismounted rifle company. 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. out of the sky. Soon we could hear leaders moving up and down the bunker line yelling for the guards to stop firing. hightForP2 = 330
In April 1967, I was a first lieutenant commanding a rifle company in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C. The S3 also told Charlie Companys noncombatants to report to battalion headquarters. August 1966 November 1966 December 1966. The combat around III Corps headquarters was intense. I almost did
However the VC/PAVN never made another ground attack on an air base and moved to attacks by fire with rockets, mortar and artillery. Dames killed them with a burst from his M-16 probably saving the lives of everyone on my track. 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. . Binh Hoa Airbase was lucky they were not the
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"What are you firing at? " 11K views 9 years ago This is a brief clip of the ammo dump explosion at Long Binh, Vietnam, taken the morning of the Tet offensive, 1968. Troops opened their attacks with volleys of grenades, then charged in shooting. 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. Several M 113 armored personnel carriers (APCs) are seen accompanying the troops. We threw grenades over the wall behind them, but hit nothing.. Construction on the 24 th. We could use our tracks as a base of fire or in a blocking position as the company maneuvered dismounted. M-117 bombs explode near and on road on wooden slopes near river north of Pleiku near Dak To, on 18 August, 1968. 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. Alpha Company, still licking its wounds from the January 23 fight, was left intact. 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. Bravo Company was sent to protect the Long Binh ammunition dump, and Charlie Company was ordered into downtown Bien Hoa, where the ARVN III Corps headquarters was in danger of being overrun. That was 90th Replacement Battalion, situated on the road to Saigon between the village of Bien Hoa and the huge base at Long Binh. 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. 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. Incredibly, nobody in my company had been killed the day before. had defended the Long Binh ammo dump and had helped in the Widow's Village fight. Four men were killed and more than 20 wounded, including most of the officers. 2 comments. 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. As enemy resistance stiffened, we realized we had bottled at least a company of the VC 275th Regiment in the village. 0.24 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. I went through the quarters making sure everyone
Widows Village made a perfect attack position, since it lay directly across Highway 316 from II Field Force headquarters. Another VC battalion infiltrated near the area of the 3rd Ordnance (Long Binh) ammunition dump [and] in a few moments, the huge dump became a fireball. Sergeant was already tucked under a 5 ton truck parked about 50 feet
The scout platoon had fought . We closed within a few hundred meters of the scout platoon and watched as helicopter gunships destroyed a large yellow house from which the VC were pinning down Barnes troops. He replied that I would have to wait. The only trouble was that Charlie Company tracks were sitting in the road right in front of their bunkers. charred. As we turned right onto Highway 15, an unbelievable spectacle stretched before us. The battle was significant, since Alphas leadership was seriously depleted during the days immediately prior to Tet. 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. By 1968 the Bien Hoa-Long Binh complex was the largest US/South Vietnamese military base in South Vietnam. I said again, "Who is there"? Advanced Search |
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. About two days later one the huge fuel bags next
About a month earlier I had been loaned out to weld the razor
Long Binh ammo dump was one of the biggest ordnance storage areas in the country. The G3 adviser told me that they had received intelligence that Vo Nguyen Giap, the North Vietnamese commanding general (the enemy equivalent of General William Westmoreland), had his command post in a Catholic church about a kilometer east of III Corps. It knocked a dimple in the side of the track as I fired up the gunner., Later in the fighting, Casper and several 2nd Platoon troops were pinned down next to a building. 0.54 -
Lieutenant Barnes and one of his soldiers would be awarded Distinguished Service Crosses for their heroism that day. was a point where the Ho Chi Min Trail came close to the countrys West
We topped off our fuel tanks, replenished our ammo and continued to move toward our assigned blocking position. the barracks hall just as he stepped out of his room going to
The Vietnamese general and the III Corps G3 adviser, however, were not very happy when we pulled out. The helmet had stopped
Several soldiers gathered in front of the track to help the wounded, and Love climbed up to man the .50-caliber. 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. As the sun sank low, we closed within a few hundred meters of the scout platoon and watched as helicopter gunships destroyed a large yellow house from which the VC were pinning down Barnes troops. Their 81mm mortars were useless, since we were told we could not put any indirect fire into the town. The only contact I had had with M-113 armored personnel carriers (APCs) was during a training exercise at the officers basic course just after I entered the Army. 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. Casper rose from a prone position and yelled for his troops to follow him. find all the dead so the countryside smelled like a scene from The
ton wrecker weighing in at 22 thousand pounds. the airbase made it too us in the daylight and foamed the ditch for
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. In command for five months, I had been assured that I would be leading the company for one year, which suited me fine. The village of Ho Nai, now a ghost town, was still smoldering. In addition to the US bases, the city of Bin Ha was the headquarters of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) III Corps and home to a large prisoner of war camp. As we turned to head back, a tremendous blast shook the whole city of Bien Hoa. As we rolled back through Bien Hoa, we were astounded to find the battalion S4, Captain Leroy Brown, in the middle of town with a 5,000-gallon fuel tanker and several ammunition trucks. As our medics treated the wounded, I reported to the American lieutenant colonel who was the III Corps G3 adviser. The VC/PAVN attacked the position that night in a 6 hour long assault which was met initially by US mortar and artillery fire, then helicopter gunships and then napalm strikes. 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. 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. 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. [2]:347 Within Bien Hoa AB, the USAF 3rd Security Police Squadron was responsible for security manning bunkers and operating mobile patrols within the base perimeter. Chu Lai and LZ Baldy Photos. Toggle the table of contents Talk: Long Bnh, Bin Ha. 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. In April 1967 I was a first lieutenant commanding a rifle company in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C. In January 1968, our battalion relocated to the area between Xuan Loc and Bien Hoa, where intelligence had located a VC battalion. Ripped apart barbed wire. As we turned around to head back west, a tremendous blast shook the whole city of Bien Hoa. The Vietnamese brigadier generalthe ranking man at III Corpsdrew circles on a map around two areas of downtown Bien Hoa. 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) Now
In addition, we were tremendously flexible. 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. The bombs descend and explode near structures in grove of tress in agricultural area 30 miles southwest of Saigon on 19 August, 1968. I told him that I wanted to command a company. Lookout tower in the background. All rights reserved. The recon platoon was ordered to establish a blocking position south of Long Binh on Highway 15. I called battalion headquarters and asked what to do about the bunkers.
ruary 1968 in support of Saigon and Long Binh Post during the TET Offen- Sive. Views of a number of huts, in the hamlet, that have not been destroyed. and completely out of sync. 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. Aerial view of (USARV) United States Army Republic of Vietnam Headquarters Complex at Long Binh, Vietnam. Specialist 4 Bill Rambo, assistant driver and .50-gunner on my command track, remembers my response to the firing as being absolutely irate. Smoke rises from surrounding area. [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. Not only would I not finish my command tour, but I was also being assigned to a leg division. Back view of jeep with open doors. [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. We were in a cloud of disarray
When I arrived at 9th Division in June, I was shocked to learn that I was going to a mechanized battalion. 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. Get under! Privacy Policy2023 CriticalPast LLC. As the sun sank over the Long Binh base, they tossed a football and ate cold C rations. VC/PAVN losses were 527 dead. 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. They all blew up! 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. Sugar Bear Dames, as he was called by his many friends, walked down a side alley toward the highway. I had inherited the job
(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.