Despite the confusion and wounds, our troops returned fire. EXPLOSIONS IN DISTANCE When we arrived, we found the churchyard packed with thousands of civilians. from the petroleum dump immediately next to our position. January 12, 1972. by: Arnold John Houchin Bin Ha, USAF 3rd Security Police Squadron 1970-1972 Phu Cat, 37th SPS; Thu Hoa, 31st SPS; . 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. to check-in and see what was going on, and found myself the only had defended the Long Binh ammo dump and had helped in the Widow's Village fight. 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. "I was the 1SGT of the The scout platoon had fought valiantly all day long in Widows Village and in Ho Nai. Dressed as travelers returning to ancestral homes for the Tet holiday, the guerrillas had quietly drifted into their urban assembly areas and put together their weapons. [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. 0.13 Long Binh Ammo Dump Explosion, Tet, 1968 - YouTube bodies across the road began to bloat into a grotesque scene. At about 6 a.m., Lt. Col. John Tower, the new battalion commander, called with orders. All day civilians had been darting from their homes and running from the fighting. [3]:2015, At 04:00 a 60-man VC sapper team penetrated the northeastern perimeter of the base killing three MPs and entered the massive ammunition dump (105646N 1065436E / 10.946N 106.91E / 10.946; 106.91) where they planted eighteen Satchel charges before being forced to withdraw by the 720th Military Police Battalion. We charged southeast down Highway 316 to the Highway 15 intersection, located on a small hill overlooking the 90th Replacement Company. Just then a three-man VC RPG team calmly walked across the street right in front of the damaged APC. officer around. He said his battalion was in heavy contact, and he had several wounded rangers he needed to evacuate. In addition we detained more than 20 probable VC fighters dressed in civilian clothes. Soon we could hear leaders moving up and down the bunker line yelling for the guards to stop firing. We were ordered to go there and detain every male between the ages of 16 and 80. . 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. I then jacked a round into my M-16 and who would you believe 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. USAF (United States Air Force) F-100 Super Sabre jet fighter aircraft drops Mark 82 (Mk.82) high-drag (HD) bombs. 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 threw grenades over the wall behind them, but hit nothing.. My only previous contact with M-113 armored personnel carriers (APCs) was during a training exercise at the officers basic course. I sat behind the .50-caliber, munching and giving thanks for the fact that, incredibly, nobody in Charlie Company had been killed. 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. Toggle the table of contents Talk: Long Bnh, Bin Ha. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. He waved me off. M-113 Armored Personnel Carrier on guard. Sand bags near barbed wire fence. The weapon was aimed at the newly built and painted (orange-white We were west of Highway QL1 along a road named 535. 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. door at the petroleum dump ruptured and fuel flowed down the ditch in and still no answer. Vietnam War-Stories.com: Sapper Attack, Ammo Dump Explosion, Bin Ha Under fire, Staff Sgt. At the time of 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. Construction on the 24 th. During the meeting, a master sergeant adviser to a Vietnamese ranger battalion ran into the compound. By late afternoon the 275th Regiment retreated north, leaving over 200 dead. Now someone pointed out that there were a lot of young men, all dressed in black pants and white shirts, walking among the refugees. Destroyed and burned out ammunition pad shows burned out 105mm howitzer shells. At the meeting, I was joined by the S3 of a battalion from the 101st Airborne Division. 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. Vehicles drive past on roads between the Long Binh Post area. Over the two month recovery and clearing operation, tens of thousands of these hazardous munitions were recoverd by hand, one at a time. They both hobbled through the rest of the days fighting. Now commanded by a brand-new second lieutenant, the men of Alpha Company balked when they were told to move. GV EXPLOSIONS AND FIRES 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. In addition we detained more than 20 probable VC fighters dressed in civilian clothes. 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. We all knew that these moves were more than just precautionary. During the last week of January, the battalion patrolled the jungles east of Highway 15, near the Binh Son rubber plantation. U.S. air strikes in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. 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. Powerful Explosion In Ammunition Dump Rocks S. Viet Nam Madera The fog of war was especially thick on the morning of January 31, 1968. An eyewitness account of the battle for control of Bien Hoa and Long Binh on the first day of the 1968 Tet Offensive. As enemy resistance stiffened, we realized we had bottled at least a company of the VC 275th Regiment in the village. Artillery We had returned from a He ignored me and proceeded to a nearby house where he and the deputy sheriff kicked in the front door. 13. I almost did The explosion echoed over an area of 50 miles. We began detaining the well-dressed young men among the refugees. 6. As he fell, a burst of automatic weapons fire stitched the wall right where he would have been had he not fallen.. [2]:346, The US 199th LIB was responsible for security in the towns and countryside around Long Binh, while the 720th Military Police Battalion was responsible for security within the base perimeter. 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. Forget that, he said. He said I would have to wait. LV EXPLOSIONS (Vietnam War period). 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. I said again, "Who is there"? Alpha Company, still licking its wounds from the January 23 fight, was left intact. 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 careful with it. As the Hueys rockets smashed the VC strongpoint, the scouts fought their way out of the encirclement and evacuated their dead and wounded. Around midnight on October 29th, 1966, the Viet Cong mortared or rocketed the Long Binh Ammo Dump. him in. 7. Our arrival had canceled fears that III Corps headquarters might be overrun. As the afternoon of January 30 drifted toward dusk, Charlie Company soldiers stripped to the waist and dug bunkers next to their M-113s. A VC guerrilla hiding behind a parked ARVN jeep had fired the rocket. He assigned one to the airborne battalion and the other to Charlie Company. 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. Tet offensive attacks on Bien Hoa and Long Binh - Wikipedia Through sporadic fire, we continued northwest on Highway 15 to where it intersected Highway 1 on the western edge of Bien Hoa. 0.42 the wrecker operator had to know how to weld. U.S. troops firing small arms as they proceed across tall grass into the hamlet. In April 1967 I was a first lieutenant commanding a rifle company in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C. When Lieutenant Casper jumped up, our legs became entangled and I tripped him, Ax remembers. 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. M-117 bombs explode near and on road on wooden slopes near river north of Pleiku near Dak To, on 18 August, 1968. Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. October continued with construction efforts. HANOI, North Vietnam, June 1 (Agence FrancePresse)An American major was captured last month in a Communistcon trolled area of northern Laos by Pathet Lao forces, a Laotian representative said here today. AMMUNITION DUMP. Many of the enlisted personnel with medical MOSs work two to three days per week at the 93 rd Evacuation Hospital, then came back to the 24 th to work on the various construction projects. Tet of 1968 - 118th AHC all personnel to the flight line. We began to pop hand-held flares so they could see we were there, but the shooting persisted, one round actually hitting my track. With the explosion of the entire ammunition dump imminent, and in the midst of exploding shells, fire and debris, the men of COMPANY B, . Incredibly, nobody in my company had been killed the day before. 1 comment. He started ruary 1968 in support of Saigon and Long Binh Post during the TET Offen- Sive. Meanwhile, Charlie Company was ordered back to III Corps. Ammo Dump Exlosion Sapper Attack! The churches were cleared in short order. more Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. I was to be a platoon leader again, in Charlie Company, commanded by Captain John Ionoff. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. 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. About two days later one the huge fuel bags next 1.19 charred. I had inherited the job Binh Hoa Airbase was lucky they were not the Then and When Lieutenant Casper jumped up, our legs became entangled and I tripped him, Ax remembers. Dames walked down a side alley toward the highway. The village of Ho Nai, now a ghost town, was still smoldering. What we came up with was a T formation. 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. [3]:23950, In the late afternoon of 31 January after clearing the Widow's Village 2/47th Infantry advanced into Ho Nai from the south, the town appeared deserted. A few minutes later, a jeep drove up carrying two extremely frightened white-shirted policemen. Flames consuming huts. [3]:2501, On the evening of 1 February 3 platoons from Company C, 4/12th Infantry and 2 platoons from Company D, 17th Cavalry Regiment were ordered 2km north of Ho Nai to establish an outer defense against any renewed VC/PAVN attack. The bus ride to 90th Replacement was relatively short and everyone seemed exhausted from the long flight. I was never so happy in my life. 8. After much frequency changing, I finally got the commander of the bunker guards on the radio. Talk:Long Bnh, ng Nai - Wikipedia Refusing evacuation, neither reported his wound. SAIGON, South Vietnam, June 1 (Reuters)Explosions ripped through a huge ammu nition dump near here today, killing one soldier and wound ing 13. Binh was a logistical mistake because the perimeter was so heavily armed THE EXPLOSIONS RATTLED WINDOWS IN SAIGON, ABOUT 13 MILES (20 KILOMETERS) AWAY. Alpha Company, still licking its wounds from the January 23 fight, was left intact. 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. Four men were killed and more than 20 wounded, including most of the officers. Rocket Attack on Dong Tam - Brownwater Vietnam Veterans front making it dangerous to return fire. However the ammunition storage bunkers prevented a chain reaction and the lost munitions were easily replaced with no impact on supply. As the scouts escaped, the volume of enemy fire began to slacken, then died altogether. Casper rose from the prone position and yelled for his troops to follow him. Now 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. All I could think of to say was, Please clear that weapon!. The bombs descend and explode on structures in grove of trees near rice paddies 23 miles east of Binh Thuy on 19th August. Love was so startled, he didnt fire. because Mankato (Minnesota)Vocational school had taught me to weld as 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. There we would be assigned a unit we would serve with in Vietnam. I asked one of the men 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. GV EXPLOSIONS, AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN F/G. I was disappointed when I received orders to join the 9th Infantry Division. [2]:347, The ARVN 53rd Regional Force Battalion was responsible for security in the countryside around Bin Ha. [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. Those orders were for us to clear the VC from the houses surrounding the corps headquarters. The battle was significant, since Alphas leadership was seriously depleted during the days immediately prior to Tet. That was 90th Replacement Battalion, situated on the road to Saigon between the village of Bien Hoa and the huge base at Long Binh. We all knew these moves were more than precautionary. It involved transfer of powder projectiles and fuses enough to keep Service Battery that supplied ordnance to the big guns in our battalion. 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.

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