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Fighting our way to the scout platoon, we were stopped when we came upon two large churches, straddling Highway 1, each occupied by VC. My plan was to make captain and go to Vietnam as an experienced company commander. Lieutenant Barnes and one of his soldiers would be awarded Distinguished Service Crosses for their heroism that day. When the Tet cease-fire period began on January 28, the battalion was called back to the vicinity of Bear Cat, and Charlie Company was ordered to a large open field across Highway 15 from the Long Tan airfield. find all the dead so the countryside smelled like a scene from The 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. During this fighting, both platoon leaders were wounded, Lieutenant Casper in the leg and Lieutenant Jones in the foot. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. The remains of a stack of over 15,000 high explosive 155mm artillery projectiles after the VC attack on February 4. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. remember being giddy and my brain was asking What is wrong with me?. (Vietnam War period). Explosion at Long Binh ammunition storage facility. I told him we couldnt take the tracks off Highway 1 into town because the streets were too narrow. The action occurs January 31st, 1968 (on "Tet", the Vietnamese Lunar New Year holiday). Despite the confusion and wounds, our troops returned fire. At the meeting I was joined by the S3 of a battalion from the 101st Airborne Division. The progress was slow and ammo was becoming scarce, particularly grenades, which get consumed at an enormous rate in city fighting. They bowed and looked confused. It then dawned on us that the VC were throwing down their weapons, changing clothes and slipping away. After telling them to stop shooting The Long Binh ammunition dump had exploded. They all blew up! Satchel charges blew pallets of artillery ammunition, creating a mushroom cloud that made us think the VC had set off a tactical nuclear weapon. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. 26 VC/PAVN were killed in the attack and several captured. Since I was in an airborne unit, it seemed certain that I would go to the 173rd Airborne Brigade or the 101st Airborne Division. 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 extremely careful with it. Contact Us | Dames walked down a side alley toward the highway. He ignored me and went to a nearby house where he and the deputy sheriff kicked in the front door. The 2-47 was one of several units General Weyand pulled in from the jungles to guard the Long Binh headquarters and logistical complex 15 miles northeast of Saigon. in bunker) at first light to the sound of a M-60 chattering away. NEARER V..EXPLOSIONS Views of a number of huts, in the hamlet, that have not been destroyed. The combat around III Corps headquarters was intense. 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. All of these placements were made with the wrongful assumption that the VC would attack from the jungles outside the base. As best I could, I explained that they were to take charge and that General Giap might be among the civilians. 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. Around midnight on October 29th, 1966, the Viet Cong mortared or rocketed the Long Binh Ammo Dump. 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. I remember one 0.42 The scout platoon had fought . Just then a three-man VC RPG team calmly walked across the street right in front of the damaged APC. In October, the 2-47 was given the mission of securing engineers as they cleared Highway 1 from Xuan Loc to the II Corps boundary near Phan Thiet. He wanted to borrow one of our tracks. It dawned on us that the VC were throwing down their weapons, changing clothes and slipping away. As the 2nd Platoon began to run short, Spc. In a few moments, the huge dump became a fireball, the shock of the explosion echoing over an area of 50 miles. I sounded off, "who is there"? As the scouts escaped, the volume of enemy fire began to slacken, then died altogether. Privacy Policy | Links October continued with construction efforts. 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. 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. I called battalion headquarters and asked what to do about the bunkers. resulting in the explosion of the ammo dump at Bin Ha Air Base. had defended the Long Binh ammo dump and had helped in the Widow's Village fight. It also contained tons of captured NVA ammo and guns from the A Shau Valley. Sergeant was already tucked under a 5 ton truck parked about 50 feet Somehow the foam trucks from [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. 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. That night, no one slept, but instead scanned the jungles with Starlight scopes, seeing nothing. First was sand then bigger stuff. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. When we arrived, we found the churchyard packed with thousands of civilians. When it went off my first thought was that it was a nuclear explosion because of the light dome that rose from the explosion. 9. from the petroleum dump immediately next to our position. 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. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. Some of the enemy had tunneled under the fence and exploded an Satchel charges blew pallets of artillery ammunition, creating a mushroom cloud that made us think the VC had set off a tactical nuclear weapon. charred. We threw grenades over the wall behind them, but hit nothing.. 200 pounds. VC/PAVN losses were 527 dead. M-113 APCs of the 9th Infantry Division storm VC positions 200 meters outside II Field Force headquarters at Long Binh on February 1, 1968. He ignored me and proceeded to a nearby house where he and the deputy sheriff kicked in the front door. As 1st Lt. Brice Barnes led his scout platoon into the edge of Ho Nai, he ran full speed into a hornets nest. Shoe of soldier on ground. THE EXPLOSIONS RATTLED WINDOWS IN SAIGON, ABOUT 13 MILES (20 KILOMETERS) AWAY. 0.24 mortar rounds and 90 122-mm. on the water tower". GV EXPLOSIONS, AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN F/G. 6 comments. Perpetual Siege region. Waking Dead. 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. on the Bailey Compound, only in the 145th CAB HQ which could We began to pop hand-held flares so they could see we were there, but the shooting persisted, one round actually hitting my track. Sugar Bear Dames, as he was called by his many friends, walked down a side alley toward the highway. FAQs - How to Order | The gun-jeeps were progressively replaced by M113s and XM-706 Commando armored cars. was a point where the Ho Chi Min Trail came close to the countrys West As we turned to head back, a tremendous blast shook the whole city of Bien Hoa. The attacks were repulsed with the VC/PAVN suffering heavy losses, having inflicted minimal damage on the bases. Come back up on the battalion freq. I had never been so happy in my life. The armed helicopter teams had a field day shooting guerrillas trying to flee into the jungle. In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. build bunkers, and help pick up the dead enemy across the fence. The VC concentrated their attack on Bunker 10 an old French concrete bunker on the eastern perimeter, hitting it with Rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) and mortar fire, however the Security Police in Bunker 10 and adjacent bunkers fought back keeping the VC from penetrating far into the base. At 08:00 the VC south of the Plantation withdrew into the Widows Village. 0.22 We came up with a T formation. My plan was to make captain and go to Vietnam as an experienced company commander. The bus ride to 90th Replacement was relatively short and everyone seemed exhausted from the long flight. 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. Toggle the table of contents Talk: Long Bnh, Bin Ha. The 1st Platoon of Bravo Company was made the II Field Force reaction force and was placed in the PX parking lot at Long Binh. 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. 1.19 opened his mouth but, SGT Cuffee, the supply SGT. We packed up our gear, rolled up our wire and waited. In January 1968, our battalion relocated to the area between Xuan Loc and Bien Hoa, where intelligence had located a VC battalion. the bunker. 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. GV DUMP We charged southeast down Highway 316 to the Highway 15 intersection, located on a small hill overlooking the 90th Replacement Company. They ordered us to clear the VC from the houses surrounding the corps headquarters. 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. bunker. 0.54 5. Charlie Company had reported 38 VC killed, at the cost of only 11 U.S. wounded and three APCs damaged by RPGs. Page contents not supported in other languages. 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. A few minutes later, a jeep drove up carrying two extremely frightened white-shirted policemen. The recon platoon was ordered to establish a blocking position south of Long Binh on Highway 15. "I was the 1SGT of the I told him that I wanted to command a company. He waved me off. Refusing evacuation, neither reported his wound. Normally, operations orders issued over the radio were encoded and sent by the operations officers radio operator. The village of Ho Nai, now a ghost town, was still smoldering. He replied that I would have to wait. Alpha Company, still licking its wounds from the January 23 fight, was left intact. I was not sure what to do about the bunkers we had dug. Long Binh ammo dump was one of the Bomb squads disarmed seven of the charges, but at 07:30 the remainder exploded with three igniting pallets of artillery shells and their Propellant bags causing a massive explosion, blast wave and mushroom cloud. From our positions we could see and hear the celebratory fireworks lighting the sky over Saigon to the west. As enemy resistance stiffened, we realized we had bottled at least a company of the VC 275th Regiment in the village. By the evening the 2/47th Infantry withdrew into the Long Binh perimeter. The 2nd Platoon took the one north of the road, the 1st Platoon attacked the other. With a push-to-talk button stuck in the transmit position, no one could use the radio. 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. We charged southeast down Highway 316 to the Highway 15 intersection, situated on a small hill overlooking the 90th Replacement Company. rockets at Bien Hoa AB and Long Binh Post. He The view is from the compound of the 20th. CRITICALPAST.COM: His action probably saved 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. As enemy resistance stiffened, we realized we had bottled at least a company of the VC 275th Regiment in the village. . Jan. 31. 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. Simultaneously, platoon leaders reported finding discarded AK-47s. As was our normal practice, each company had sent two ambush patrols into the jungle to our front. In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. For more great articles, subscribe to Vietnam magazine today! As we turned around to head back west, a tremendous blast shook the whole city of Bien Hoa. At 0400 Jones ordered us to pull in our ambushes and be prepared to move. Fires were burning late into the afternoon. Aerial view of Long Binh Post in Vietnam. Privacy Policy2023 CriticalPast LLC. In addition we detained more than 20 probable VC fighters dressed in civilian clothes. The only trouble was that Charlie Company tracks were sitting in the road right in front of their bunkers. 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 scout platoon had fought valiantly all day long in Widows Village and in Ho Nai. 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. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. We carried concertina wire, sand bags and hundreds of Claymore mines and trip flares to make our defensive positions practically impenetrable. checkered) water tower by the main gate. only be entered from off the Bien Hoa Air base and thru the gate [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. [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. He assigned one to the airborne battalion and the other to Charlie Company. 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. ", "We mustered everyone we could LV EXPLOSIONS 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. 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. 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 . I walked back to my track, thinking this was going to be a nightmare. The churches were cleared in short order. During the last week of January, the battalion patrolled the jungles east of Highway 15, near the Binh Son rubber plantation. 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. But no one would be leaving the country that day. went off and all hell broke lose. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. I had inherited the job border. 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. Love was so startled, he didnt fire. Tower ordered Charlie Company to attack eastward to clear the village of Ho Nai, a Bien Hoa suburb. At 03:45 the unit engaged the VC/PAVN with 2 ACAVs being quickly knocked out by RPG fire. 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. 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. What we came up with was a T formation. Under fire, Staff Sgt. Tom Allaback. After I received the coordinates of our objective, I yelled, Crank em up! into the radio handset, and we moved out. 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. 4. Casper rose from a prone position and yelled for his troops to follow him. 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. ", "I then went to the CP and tried Now commanded by a brand-new second lieutenant, the men of Alpha Company balked when they were told to move. 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. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. 13. View of surrounding areas. 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. bore in my M14 barrel had begun to flake off and the wooden stock was AIR V..AMMUNITION DUMPS AND FIRES 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. 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. The explosions at Long Binh, 15 miles northeast of Sia gon rattled windows and shook doors here in the capital. About a month earlier I had been loaned out to weld the razor 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. It had been over two days and many of us had no sleep. We had run through the rear of the 274th VC Regiment, which was attacking the airfield. introduction into country when he first came to the 118th. Smoke rises from surrounding area. Shopping Cart | (Long Binh) ammunition dump. Those orders were for us to clear the VC from the houses surrounding the corps headquarters. After all had left for the Several soldiers gathered in front of the track to help the wounded, and Love climbed up to man the .50-caliber. 0.08 As I remember the Tet Offensive began in the early morning of My only previous contact with M-113 armored personnel carriers (APCs) was during a training exercise at the officers basic course. LV DITTO During December we made little enemy contact, probably because the Communists were lying low preparing for Tet. him in. Ripped apart barbed wire. 2023 CriticalPast LLC. front making it dangerous to return fire. 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. There was an ammo dump explosion in 1968 also and both 1967 and 1968 are correct and were of course separate incidents. The armed helicopter teams had a field day shooting guerrillas who tried to escape to the nearby jungles. 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) AIR V..FIRES SP4 Lawrence Korteum [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. It was the first such occurrence since the ceasefire of Jan. 28. When it went off my first thought was that it was a nuclear explosion because of the light dome that rose from the explosion. . I was never so happy in my life. January 12, 1972. by: Arnold John Houchin Bin Ha, USAF 3rd Security Police Squadron 1970-1972 Phu Cat, 37th SPS; Thu Hoa, 31st SPS; . Under fire, Staff Sgt. 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. (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. He assigned one to the airborne battalion and the other to Charlie Company. 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. [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. 2. while we were gone. I was disappointed when I received orders to join the 9th Infantry Division. As my airborne mentality faded, I learned to love the M-113or track, as we called it. 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. 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. Benny Toney, the 2nd Platoon sergeant, hooked a tow cable to Stormy. Soon we could hear leaders moving up and down the bunker line yelling for the guards to stop firing. 5 Explosion at Long Binh ammunition storage facility. After the roadblock was cleared and communications restored, Charlie Company continued toward its objective. United States officers and soldiers examine barbed wire fence where Vietcong broke through to enter Long Binh. The VC had run out of ammunition and were trying to escape. When we arrived, we filed off the busses . As the ammo dump burst into flames, secondary explosions erupted in other storage areas, and for the next three days, fires burned out of control. At 7 a.m., as daylight was breaking, my track rolled past the ARVN III Corps compound gate. These photos were taken from December 9, 1967 to February 1968. With small-arms fire cracking overhead, young girls carrying bottles of Coca-Cola were trying to sell them to the troops. As dawn broke, everything was deathly quiet. Set. Specialist 4 Bill Rambo, assistant driver and .50-gunner on my command track, remembers my response to the firing as being absolutely irate. Several M 113 armored personnel carriers (APCs) are seen accompanying the troops. 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. We could use our tracks as a base of fire or in a blocking position as the company maneuvered on foot. But no one would be leaving the country that day. 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. 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)