Long Binh ammo dump was one of the 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. We could haul more personal gear, live more comfortably and walk less than straight-leg troops. 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. [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. The bus ride to 90th Replacement was relatively short and everyone seemed exhausted from the long flight. . remember that my right shoulder and chest were black and blue from the [2]:3523, General Weyand later noted that in their attacks on the Saigon area "Despite the large number of Communist troops committed, insufficient force was applied in any one area to take and hold the objectiveThe assault had been launched piecemeal and it was repulsed piecemeal in a series of relatively small battles. During this time, the battalion made only sporadic contact and suffered few casualties. Sand bags near barbed wire fence. Toward dusk on January 30, Charlie Company soldiers stripped to the waist to dig bunkers next to their APCs. Tet offensive attacks on Bien Hoa and Long Binh - Wikipedia Our area from the We charged southeast down Highway 316 to the Highway 15 intersection, situated on a small hill overlooking the 90th Replacement Company. 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. Jeep parked along road. Soon we could hear leaders moving up and down the bunker line yelling for the guards to stop firing. 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. 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. 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. known as Widows Village. raffia 12th combat aviation group - sites.google.com I yelled at Lieutenant Casper, and everybody looked around as the VC tore out running the last few yards to safety. night on alert at the Birdcage, I was awakened (trying to sleep It was 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. 2,400,000 pounds of 8 inch high explosive artillery projectiles. 0.54 One reference claims that 4 February 1967 was the date, and another claims that 28 March was the date. Click Here. we were a bit more trigger happy than usual. But their 81mm mortars were useless, since we were told we could not put any indirect fire into the town. [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. Meanwhile, Hueys reported VC running from the village. probably one of the best deals I had been Used for because the In addition we detained more than 20 probable VC fighters dressed in civilian clothes. My plan was to make captain and go to Vietnam as an experienced company commander. As we turned right onto Highway 15, an unbelievable spectacle stretched before us. 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. The first explosion was 2,400,000 pounds of 8 inch high explosive artillery projectiles. Then a report came in that a body had been found wearing a white shirt under a black pajama tunic. Troops opened their attacks with volleys of grenades, then charged in shooting. Normally, operations orders issued over the radio were encoded and sent by the S3s radio operator. 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. ", "We mustered everyone we could All I could think of to say was, Please clear that weapon!. He was alive but he suffered a busted ear drum and singed hair, eye brows and arms. Craven and another photographer, were both wounded in the engagement.) At the meeting, I was joined by the S3 of a battalion from the 101st Airborne Division. Just then a three-man VC RPG team calmly walked across the street right in front of the damaged APC. The Vietnamese brigadier generalthe ranking man at III Corpsdrew circles on a map around two areas of downtown Bien Hoa. That night, frightened bunker guards in the 199th compound shot into the darkness to their front. Advanced Search | 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) Toggle the table of contents Talk: Long Bnh, Bin Ha. Back view of jeep with open doors. At 0700, as daylight was breaking, my track rolled past the ARVN III Corps compound gate. Long Binh, again (Feb. 1967). while we were gone. Vehicles drive past on roads between the Long Binh Post area. At 0400 Jones ordered us to pull in our ambushes and be prepared to move. We all knew these moves were more than precautionary. He wanted to borrow one of our tracks. I operated a heavy five During December we made little enemy contact, probably because the Communists were lying low, preparing for Tet. But no one would be leaving the country that day. unless they could see someone, I went to our Operations shack Under fire, Staff Sgt. I told the platoon leaders to prepare to dismount and to take all the ammunition and grenades they could carry. 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 EXPLOSIONS RATTLED WINDOWS IN SAIGON, ABOUT 13 MILES (20 KILOMETERS) AWAY. 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. There was much Men at Long Binh ammunition dump. 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. Somehow the foam trucks 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. Several of his tracks were hit by RPGs and surrounded by the enemy. (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. As he fell, a burst of automatic weapons fire stitched the wall right where he would have been had he not fallen.. Around midnight on October 29th, 1966, the Viet Cong mortared or rocketed the Long Binh Ammo Dump. From our positions, we could see and hear the fireworks lighting the sky over Saigon to the west. Of course you never All day civilians had been darting from their homes and running from the fighting. was a point where the Ho Chi Min Trail came close to the countrys West 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. Their 81mm mortars were useless, since we were told we could not put any indirect fire into the town. He waved me off. [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. I said again, "Who is there"? THE STORM BREAKS Part 1 In the late-night hours of 29 January 1968 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. There was an ammo dump explosion in 1968 also and both 1967 and 1968 are correct and were of course separate incidents. After I received the coordinates of our objective, I yelled, Crank em up! into the radio handset, and we moved out. As I remember this night, around 12 or 12:30 a.m. the sirens At dusk, airstrikes had to be called in to blast the VC from the hill. [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. Then things started falling History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. Long Binh Ammo Dump Explosion, Tet, 1968 - YouTube In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. He ignored me and proceeded to a nearby house where he and the deputy sheriff kicked in the front door. I explained to the colonel that this was not a police action, and that we werent searching houses, we were in combat. We rolled through Long Binh and out the main gate, then turned onto Highway 316. The VC had run out of ammunition and were trying to escape. Several M 113 armored personnel carriers (APCs) are seen accompanying the troops. We began detaining the well-dressed young men among the refugees. Ly's father is a bricklayer. VC informants inside the base had provided detailed information as to the base layout and defenses. out of the sky. The scout platoon had fought . From our positions we could see and hear the celebratory fireworks lighting the sky over Saigon to the west. That night, frightened bunker guards in the 199th compound shot into the darkness to their front. Not only would I not finish my command tour, but I was also being assigned to a leg division. He waved me off. main target because they were outnumbered 5 to 1. Construction on the 24 th. It was the first such occurrence since the ceasefire of Jan. 28. Long Binh Ammo Dump - '67 & '68 | Facebook Bin Ha Air Base: Memories of Bin Ha, TET 1969, by Larry - VSPA [2]:352[3]:2067, At approximately 05:30, the 2nd Battalion, 47th Infantry Regiment, mounted on M113 Armored Cavalry Assault Vehicles (ACAVs) coming from Bearcat approached the Plantation from the southwest and formed a skirmish line to engage the VC, while helicopter gunships from the 3rd Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment swept in to rocket and machine gun the VC positions.