We found out later from captured VC that many guerrillas had been given only two magazines for their weapons. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. From our positions, we could see and hear the fireworks lighting the sky over Saigon to the west. 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. There was an ammo dump explosion in 1968 also and both 1967 and 1968 are correct and were of course separate incidents. Jim Love recalls lying in a ditch near a dead civilian as the friendly fire cracked over our heads. He retired from the U.S. Army as a lieutenant colonel. As enemy resistance stiffened, we realized we had bottled at least a company of the VC 275th Regiment in the village. AIR V..FIRES 7. The Long Binh ammo dump had exploded. 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. . One of the children in the Hope System of Care is Nguyen Thi Ly, born in 2001 with a deformed face, head and chest. Hide. Toward dusk on January 30, Charlie Company soldiers stripped to the waist to dig bunkers next to their APCs. Craven and another photographer, were both wounded in the engagement.) resulting in the explosion of the ammo dump at Bin Ha Air Base. [3]:2305 By dawn the VC/PAVN were retreating northwards pursued by helicopter gunships and at 06:15 Company C, 4/12th Infantry began moving north in pursuit, intending to pin the VC/PAVN against a force from Company B, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment which was moving south. 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. 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. ". 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. Rolling back through Bien Hoa, we were astounded to come upon the battalion S4, Captain Leroy Brown, in the middle of town with a 5,000-gallon fuel tanker and several ammunition trucks. I told him that I wanted to command a company. 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. Normally, operations orders issued over the radio were encoded and sent by the operations officers radio operator. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. 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. and completely out of sync. I almost did 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. Some of the enemy had tunneled under the fence and exploded an Well, the piece of shrapnel However the ammunition storage bunkers prevented a chain reaction and the lost munitions were easily replaced with no impact on supply. 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. Our arrival had canceled fears that III Corps headquarters might be overrun. Unfortunately for the VC, they had no weapons other than the RPG launcher. About Us | 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. for days and days. Now the fight was on. 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. FAQs - How to Order | 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. more Then a report came in that a body had been found wearing a white shirt under a black pajama tunic. As the Hueys rockets smashed the VC strongpoint, the scouts fought their way out of the encirclement and evacuated their dead and wounded. They bowed and looked confused. In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. We were ordered to go to that church and detain every male between the ages of 16 and 80. The three companies formed a line almost three kilometers long, facing to the east, with their backs to the Long Binh wire. Their 81mm mortars were useless, since we were told we could not put any indirect fire into the town. NEARER V..EXPLOSIONS Something was definitely about to happen. The offensive continued until the end of the month in the North part of AIR V..AMMUNITION DUMPS AND FIRES 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. 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. In addition we detained more than 20 probable VC fighters dressed in civilian clothes. He manned the .50 and, with a Charlie Company driver, started off down Highway 1. secondary explosions. We usually got mortared at night whenever Dong Tam was getting it from our district. The 2-47s enemy body count came in at more than 200, while the battalion suffered only four KIA. This was no surprise to us, since we could hear the enemy rounds slamming into Long Binh. 939939. As my airborne mentality faded, I learned to love the M-113or track, as we called it. We fired all we had into the buildings lining the roadway and took several wounded while getting to the church. 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. The first explosion was 2,400,000 pounds of 8 inch high explosive artillery projectiles. "[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. . At the meeting I was joined by the S3 of a battalion from the 101st Airborne Division. ruary 1968 in support of Saigon and Long Binh Post during the TET Offen- Sive. Charlie Company had reported 38 VC killed, at the cost of only 11 U.S. wounded and three APCs damaged by RPGs. (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. GV EXPLOSIONS AND FIRES Dames walked down a side alley toward the highway. 0.08 As best I could, I explained that they were to take charge and that General Giap might be among the civilians. As usual, each company had sent two ambush patrols into the jungle to our front. He assigned one to the airborne battalion and the other to Charlie Company. [2]:347[3]:236 The rocket/mortar attack was the signal to start the ground assaults on Bien Hoa AB and Long Binh. 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. and still no answer. As I remember this night, around 12 or 12:30 a.m. the sirens 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. Wrecked ambulance with flat tires. The only trouble was that Charlie Company tracks were sitting in the road right in front of their bunkers. [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. We had returned from a For more great articles be sure to subscribe to Vietnam Magazine today! View of surrounding areas. We threw grenades over the wall behind them, but hit nothing.. to contact the Commanding Officer(MAJ Guidroz). [3]:242, The VC/PAVN attacks were a failure. yelling Kortuem! opened his mouth but, SGT Cuffee, the supply SGT. As the Hueys rockets smashed the VC strongpoint, the scouts fought their way out of the encirclement and evacuated their dead and wounded. Barbed wire torn apart by Vietcong who infiltrated through Longbinh ammunition camp. The view is from the compound of the 20th. Anyone can read what you share. SAIGON, South Vietnam, June 1 (Reuters)Explosions ripped through a huge ammu nition dump near here today, killing one soldier and wound ing 13. 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. The village of Ho Nai, now a ghost town, still smoldered. Now bodies across the road began to bloat into a grotesque scene. 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. 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. "What are you firing at? " 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. I realized we were driving past our objective, halted the company and called for the 2nd Platoon to find a place to turn around. AIR V..EXPLOSION front making it dangerous to return fire. A burst of VC machine gun fire erupted nearby, 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. Several soldiers gathered in front of the track to help the wounded, and Love climbed up to man the .50-caliber. maxhightForP2 = 13904; We began detaining the well-dressed young men among the refugees. 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. Meanwhile, Huey gunships reported VC running from the village. We topped off our fuel tanks, replenished our ammo and continued to move toward our assigned blocking position. The 2nd Platoon pulled the damaged track out of the side street and towed it back to the III Corps compound. Ammo Dump Exlosion Sapper Attack! At that time, I received a call on my company frequency from the battalion commander, Colonel Tower, asking how things were going. The Vietnamese general and the III Corps G3 adviser, however, were not very happy when we pulled out. 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. forever the big pieces stopped. However the VC/PAVN never made another ground attack on an air base and moved to attacks by fire with rockets, mortar and artillery. All I could think of to say was, Please clear that weapon!. That night, frightened bunker guards in the 199th compound shot into the darkness to their front. 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 hitting my track. As the 2nd Platoon began to run short, Spc. I was the DistrictSenior Advisor (Army) in Vinh Kim, Long Dinh District, right across the canal from Dong Tam in 1968-1969. 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. By the evening the 2/47th Infantry withdrew into the Long Binh perimeter. the airbase made it too us in the daylight and foamed the ditch for We left the clearing of Bien Hoa City in the capable hands of the 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry. Officer and soldiers examine barbed wire torn apart by Vietcong who infiltrated Long Binh ammunition dump. As our medics treated the wounded, I reported to the American lieutenant colonel who was the III Corps G3 adviser. M-113 Armored Personnel Carrier on guard. This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army Center of Military History. 118th during the Tet of 1968, also called the Defense of Bien about 1/3 mile, All this carried on for about three maybe four days and the dead Ly's grandfather was a soldier stationed in Quang Binh during the war. We carried concertina wire, sand bags and hundreds of Claymore mines and trip flares to make our defensive positions practically impenetrable. I sat behind the .50-caliber, munching and giving thanks for the fact that, incredibly, nobody in Charlie Company had been killed. (Vietnam War period). the barracks hall just as he stepped out of his room going to 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. 0.35 After much frequency changing, I finally got the commander of the bunker guards on the radio. 15. On the morning of 31 January 1968, the Bien Hoa Air Base, III Corps HQ, the Prisoner of War Compound, and other key installations around Bien Hoa--Long Binh area received enemy mortar and rocket fire. 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. Long Binh Ammo Dump October 29, 1966 . 1.13 carried on into that night with tracers flying everywhere. 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. Cambodian border to the South China sea was already considered a 6 External links modified. At the meeting, I was joined by the S3 of a battalion from the 101st Airborne Division. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. The combat around III Corps headquarters was intense. 2023 CriticalPast LLC. 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. An MP full colonel, accompanied by a Los Angeles deputy sheriff (dressed in his deputy uniform) and two jeeploads of National Police, drove up to my track. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. 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. the light dome that rose from the explosion. 12. No tactic I had learned at infantry school fit that situation, so we improvised. 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. Benny Toney, the 2nd Platoon sergeant, hooked a tow cable to Stormy. Simultaneously, platoon leaders reported finding discarded AK-47s. (Vietnam War period). who was tossed into a sewage ditch by the explosion, remembers 'killing the jeep' with his M-16. After telling them to stop shooting 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. Kortuem! I had assumed I would be assigned to one of the battalions in the Delta where I could use my light infantry and Ranger school experience. ", "We mustered everyone we could My only previous contact with M-113 armored personnel carriers (APCs) was during a training exercise at the officers basic course. Waking Dead. Unconfirmed reports reports said the blasts were the work of Vietcong sabotage teams. 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. Realizing I had not eaten for 24 hours, I looked for some breakfast, but all I could find was a bag of pistachio nuts. Blood stains in ambulance. 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. 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. Men at Long Binh ammunition dump. 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. The weapon was aimed at the newly built and painted (orange-white 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. 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. Now commanded by a brand-new second lieutenant, the men of Alpha Company balked when they were told to move. AMMUNITION DUMP. Early on January 30, we were told the Tet cease-fire was canceled, and our unit was deployed into a defensive line along the road that ran around the east side of the Long Binh base. As was our normal practice, each company had sent two ambush patrols into the jungle to our front. As we turned around to head back west, a tremendous blast shook the whole city of Bien Hoa. 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. 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. The Commo track, C-007, nicknamed Abdula and the Rug Merchants, with Pfc (current Vietnam editor) David Zabecki behind the .50-caliber, brought up the rear. 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. Although initially surprised, U.S. forces had reacted quickly. Seems like the fighting went on SP4 Lawrence Korteum night on alert at the Birdcage, I was awakened (trying to sleep The recon platoon was ordered to establish a blocking position south of Long Binh on Highway 15. The Long Binh ammunition dump had exploded. I told him we couldnt take the tracks off Highway 1 into town because the streets were too narrow. 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 was having a few beers with several other sailors in the outside screened patio area of the Navy EM Club when we heard a noise to our left. 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. This group is primarily for those Vietnam veterans who experienced the ammo dump attacks in Long Binh in 1966, '67, & '68. I was not sure what to do about the bunkers we had dug. unless they could see someone, I went to our Operations shack from the petroleum dump immediately next to our position. Then a report came in that a body had been found wearing a white shirt under a black pajama tunic. 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. A few minutes later, a jeep drove up carrying two extremely frightened white-shirted policemen. As we turned right onto Highway 15, an unbelievable spectacle stretched before us. 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. Ripped apart barbed wire. charred. around Bien Hoa Airbase and headed toward our post of Long Binh, then The helmet had stopped As we made the turn eastward on Highway 1, the lead platoon was ambushed. They bowed and looked confused. After I received the coordinates of our objective, I yelled, Crank em up! into the radio handset, and we moved out. bore in my M14 barrel had begun to flake off and the wooden stock was We had run through the rear of the 274th VC Regiment, which was attacking the airfield. Dames killed them with a burst from his M-16 probably saving the lives of everyone on my track. 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. Several M 113 armored personnel carriers (APCs) are seen accompanying the troops. 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. 9. U.S. troops firing small arms as they proceed across tall grass into the hamlet. 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 water tower". the bunker. I told him that I wanted to command a company. About a month earlier I had been loaned out to weld the razor Under fire, Staff Sgt. OK. I operated a heavy five No answer. 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) Troops opened their attacks with volleys of grenades, then charged in shooting. Elements of B Company, 2/47th Infantry (Mechanized) and C Company, 4/39th Infantry, clearing North Vietnamese Army regulars from "Widows' Village" (a hamlet of housing provided by the government of the Republic of Vietnam for widows and children of fallen ARVN soldiers). [2]:347[3]:225, At 03:00, the PAVN 84A Artillery Regiment began a barrage of approximately 100 82-mm. As I remember the Tet Offensive began in the early morning of But their 81mm mortars were useless, since we were told we could not put any indirect fire into the town. So, when I was offered a chance to go to II Field Force to help establish a new long-range reconnaissance patrol outfit, I actually turned it down to stay with the company. [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. The probing attack units included VC sapper squads. 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. GV EXPLOSIONS, AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN F/G. Burned out 105mm howitzer shells at ammunition dump in Bien Hoa Air Force Base, Bien Hoa in Vietnam. Bucks County Pennsylvania United States USA, Del Rio Texas Laughlin Air Force Base USA, Roxborough Pennsylvania United States USA, U-Tapao Royal Thai Air Force Base Thailand. At 3 a.m. on January 31, I received a call from Major Bill Jones, who had recently taken Ionoffs place as operations officer. 6 comments. Shoe of soldier on ground. License Agreement | find all the dead so the countryside smelled like a scene from The Widows Village made a perfect attack position for the VC, since it lay directly across Highway 316 from II Field Force headquarters in the Long Binh complex. We threw grenades over the wall behind them, but hit nothing.. Through sporadic fire, we continued northwest on Highway 15 to where it intersected Highway 1 on the western edge of Bien Hoa. An eyewitness account of the battle for control of Bien Hoa and Long Binh on the first day of the 1968 Tet Offensive. I remember one Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. Charlie Company slammed into the VC before they could get their attack organized. Around midnight on October 29th, 1966, the Viet Cong mortared or rocketed the Long Binh Ammo Dump. We charged southeast down Highway 316 to the Highway 15 intersection, situated on a small hill overlooking the 90th Replacement Company. 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. [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. For additional reading, see: The Battle for Saigon, Tet 1968, by Keith Nolan; and History of the 5th Division, by Ho Son Dai and Nguyen Van Hung. He manned the .50 and, with a Charlie Company driver, headed down Highway 1. He said I would have to wait. 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. [4], The 179th Military Intelligence Detachment of the 199th LIB had been gathering intelligence on a pending attack on Long Binh for several weeks before the attacks based on human intelligence and ground radar. As 1st Lt. Brice Barnes led his scouts into Ho Nai, he ran full speed into a hornets nest. During this fighting, the two platoon leaders were wounded, Lieutenant Casper in the leg and Lieutenant Jones in the foot. I walked back to my track, thinking this was going to be a nightmare. At least 3,000 tons of ammu nition were reportedly de stroyed in the blasts, which be gan before dawn and continued until midmorning. [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. We all knew that these moves were more than just precautionary. 10. I had learned no tactic at infantry school that fit the situation we were faced with, so we improvised. The battle proved significant, as Alphas leadership was seriously depleted immediately prior to Tet. We use cookies on this website. In a few moments, the huge dump became a fireball, the shock of the explosion echoing over an area of 50 miles. Aerial view of Long Binh Post in Vietnam. coffee bean and tea leaf corporate office phone number, nascar alienating fans, which zodiac sign is the most gentleman,
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