long binh ammo dump explosion 1968

2,400,000 pounds of 8 inch high explosive artillery projectiles. who was tossed into a sewage ditch by the explosion, remembers 'killing the jeep' with his M-16. We could use our tracks as a base of fire or in a blocking position as the company maneuvered on foot. We carried concertina wire, sand bags and hundreds of Claymore mines and trip flares to make our defensive positions practically impenetrable. After a eventful Then and Meanwhile, Huey gunships reported VC running from the village. As 1st Lt. Brice Barnes led his scout platoon into the edge of Ho Nai, he ran full speed into a hornets nest. Battalion policy was that we had to fill in all holes and empty our sandbags each time we left a position. 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. Unfortunately for the VC, they had no weapons other than the RPG launcher. As our medics treated the wounded, I reported to the American lieutenant colonel who was the III Corps G3 adviser. (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. (Note: According to Colonel Sonny Craven, then leader of a combat photo team on the scene, these combat sequences was filmed by soldiers of the 221st Signal Company [Pictorial]). The only trouble was that Charlie Company tracks were sitting in the road right in front of their bunkers. 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. After much frequency changing, I finally got the commander of the bunker guards on the radio. 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. maxhightForP2 = 13904; 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. Smoke rises from surrounding area. CU SIGN "NO SMOKING" I told him about the order to clear an area of operations equal in size to that assigned the airborne battalion. 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. At the meeting I was joined by the S3 of a battalion from the 101st Airborne Division. probably one of the best deals I had been Used for because the recoil of my M14. He said I would have to wait. Shopping Cart | Men at Long Binh ammunition dump. In January 1968, our battalion relocated to the area between Xuan Loc and Bien Hoa, where intelligence had located a VC battalion. . However the ammunition storage bunkers prevented a chain reaction and the lost munitions were easily replaced with no impact on supply. Unconfirmed reports reports said the blasts were the work of Vietcong sabotage teams. Alpha Company, still licking its wounds from the January 23 fight, was left intact. With the explosion of the entire ammunition dump imminent, and in the midst of exploding shells, fire and debris, the men of COMPANY B, . Through sporadic fire, we continued northwest on Highway 15 to where it intersected Highway 1 on the western edge of Bien Hoa. Which date was it? That night, no one slept, but instead scanned the jungles with Starlight scopes, seeing nothing. [2]:348, As the rockets hit Bien Hoa AB, 2 battalions of the VC 274th Regiment emerged from a rubber plantation 500m east of the eastern perimeter of Bien Hoa AB. The Communists were starting to carry out a plan that they had studied for a considerable period. They all blew up! At 7 a.m., as daylight was breaking, my track rolled past the ARVN III Corps compound gate. USAF (United States Air Force) F-100 Super Sabre jet fighter aircraft drops Mark 82 (Mk.82) high-drag (HD) bombs. Jim Love recalls lying in a ditch near a dead civilian as the friendly fire cracked over our heads. Through sporadic fire, we continued northwest on Highway 15 to where it intersected Highway 1 on the western edge of Bien Hoa. I have . [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. He replied that I would have to wait. Long Binh ammo dump was one of the We suffered more wounded during the trip back to III Corps, where I was called to a meeting in the headquarters. LV DITTO Shoe of soldier on ground. In April 1967 I was a first lieutenant commanding a rifle company in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C. Some VC crossed Route 316 and took up firing positions in bush at the southern perimeter of the Plantation. Page contents not supported in other languages. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. 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. 0.24 Binh Hoa Airbase was lucky they were not the Then a report came in that a body had been found wearing a white shirt under a black pajama tunic. During the last week of January, the battalion patrolled the jungles east of Highway 15, near the Binh Son rubber plantation. to contact the Commanding Officer(MAJ Guidroz). I yelled at Lieutenant Casper and everybody looked around as the VC tore out running the last few yards to safety. 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. 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. With a push-to-talk button stuck in the transmit position, no one could use the radio. Tower ordered Charlie Company to attack eastward to clear the village of Ho Nai, a suburb of Bien Hoa. Just then a three-man VC RPG team calmly walked across the street right in front of the damaged APC. 9. 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. Now someone pointed out that there were a lot of young men, all dressed in black pants and white shirts, among the refugees. [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. unless they could see someone, I went to our Operations shack Tet Offensive I had returned to Long Binh Post. The mushroom cloud slowly dissipated after hours of Destroyed and burned out ammunition pad shows burned out 105mm howitzer shells. When we arrived, we filed off the busses . The combat around III Corps headquarters was intense. more In addition we detained more than 20 probable VC fighters dressed in civilian clothes. He wanted to borrow one of our tracks. We were west of Highway QL1 along a road named 535. As he fell, a burst of automatic weapons fire stitched the wall right where he would have been had he not fallen.. We never saw them again. 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. 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. Toward dusk on January 30, Charlie Company soldiers stripped to the waist to dig bunkers next to their APCs. The battle was significant, since Alphas leadership was seriously depleted during the days immediately prior to Tet. Wrecked ambulance with flat tires. 6 External links modified. Our outfit was a 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. I told the colonel that this was not a police action, that we werent searching houses, we were in combat. View of surrounding areas. The 2-47 was one of several units he pulled in from the jungles to guard the Long Binh headquarters and logistical complex 15 miles northeast of Saigon. It then dawned on us that the VC were throwing down their weapons, changing clothes and slipping away. There was much OK. Since I was in an airborne unit, it seemed certain that I would go to the 173rd Airborne Brigade or the 101st Airborne Division. As my airborne mentality faded, I learned to love the M-113or track, as we called it. In addition, we were tremendously flexible. Although initially surprised, U.S. forces had reacted quickly. [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. The first explosion was 2,400,000 pounds of 8 inch high explosive artillery projectiles. Alpha Company, still licking its wounds from the January 23 fight, was left intact. Their 81mm mortars were useless, since we were told we could not put any indirect fire into the town. As the 2nd Platoon began to run short, Spc. Our arrival had canceled fears that III Corps headquarters might be overrun. AIR V..FIRES opened his mouth but, SGT Cuffee, the supply SGT. Troops opened their attacks with volleys of grenades, then went in shooting. Lieutenant Barnes and one of his soldiers would be awarded Distinguished Service Crosses for their heroism that day. But no one would be leaving the country that day. Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. Realizing we were driving past our objective, I halted the company and called for the 2nd Platoon to find a place to turn around. The bus ride to 90th Replacement was relatively short and everyone seemed exhausted from the long flight. 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. [3]:242, The VC/PAVN attacks were a failure. As we rolled by, we looked down into the compound and saw soldiers in khakis milling about with boarding passes in hand. The Vietnamese brigadier general, who was the ranking man at III Corps, drew circles around two equal-sized areas of downtown Bien Hoa. Charlie Company slammed into the VC before they could get their attack organized. ", "I then went to the CP and tried The recon platoon was ordered to establish a blocking position south of Long Binh on Highway 15. As he fell, a burst of automatic weapons fire stitched the wall right where he would have been had he not fallen. (Casper, one of the bravest of the brave, died during the May offensive in Saigon, leading from the front.). At about 0600, Lt. Col. John Tower, the new battalion commander, called with orders. Several tracks were hit by RPGs and surrounded by the enemy. yelling Kortuem! Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. 5 Explosion at Long Binh ammunition storage facility. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp. He assigned one to the airborne battalion and the other to Charlie Company. We all knew these moves were more than precautionary. But their 81mm mortars were useless, since we were told we could not put any indirect fire into the town. and no one was injured. I called battalion headquarters and was told to forget about them, which reinforced our sense that combat was imminent. We charged southeast down Highway 316 to the Highway 15 intersection, situated on a small hill overlooking the 90th Replacement Company. 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. When Lieutenant Casper jumped up, our legs became entangled and I tripped him, Ax remembers. Long Binh ammo dump was one of the biggest ordnance storage areas in the country. Over the two month recovery and clearing operation, tens of thousands of these hazardous munitions were recoverd by hand, one at a time. The battle proved significant, as Alphas leadership was seriously depleted immediately prior to Tet. Troops opened their attacks with volleys of grenades, then charged in shooting. Here was another sign that the situation was serious: The battalion commander personally gave out map coordinates of company objectives in the clear.Alpha Company was ordered to the 199th LIB compound, which was under attack. Ly's father is a bricklayer. Satchel charges blew pallets of artillery ammunition, creating a mushroom cloud that made us think the VC had set off a tactical nuclear weapon. door at the petroleum dump ruptured and fuel flowed down the ditch in My Lightboxes | This is the story of one rifle company, and what it faced on that decisive day. Fighting our way to the scout platoon, we were stopped when we came upon two large churches, straddling Highway 1, each occupied by VC. The scout platoon had fought . First was sand then bigger stuff. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. rockets at Bien Hoa AB and Long Binh Post. 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. The progress was slow and ammunition was becoming a scarce, particularly grenades, which city fighting consumes at an enormous rate. 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. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. I was disappointed when I received orders to join the 9th Infantry Division. 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. Ive just been told you work for me again. Service Battery that supplied ordnance to the big guns in our battalion. front making it dangerous to return fire. 118th during the Tet of 1968, also called the Defense of Bien Charlie Company reacted quickly to reinforce Alpha, and a daylong fight ensued. Charlie Companys 3rd Platoon was also detached for a security mission inside the base. The Long Binh ammo dump had exploded. Helicopter gunships took off from Bien Hoa AB to investigate, but were unable to locate the force in the darkness. But no one would be leaving the country that day. Forget that, he said. main target because they were outnumbered 5 to 1. Ammo Dump Explosion 18 Feb 1968 where 8 pads detonated with a total ammo value of $2,774,348: f. On 18 February 1968 at approximately 0300 an attempted penetration of the depot was. 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 explained to the colonel that this was not a police action, and that we werent searching houses, we were in combat. As enemy resistance stiffened, we realized we had bottled at least a company of the VC 275th Regiment in the village. The first explosion was 2,400,000 pounds of 8 inch high explosive artillery projectiles. more that happened that night. Click Here. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. Soon we could hear leaders moving up and down the bunker line yelling for the guards to stop firing. agreement was that the stockade prisoners would pitch our sandbags, help Officers and soldiers examine barbed wire fence where Vietcong broke through to enter Longbinh ammunition dump. Privacy Policy2023 CriticalPast LLC. As the Hueys rockets smashed the VC strongpoint, the scouts fought their way out of the encirclement and evacuated their dead and wounded. When it to check-in and see what was going on, and found myself the only I was not sure what to do about the bunkers. Now commanded by a brand-new second lieutenant, the men of Alpha Company balked when they were told to move. 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. trooper was injured by a piece of shrapnel that had come down GV DUMP It dawned on us that the VC were throwing down their weapons, changing clothes and slipping away. The Commo track, C-007, nicknamed Abdula and the Rug Merchants, with then- Pfc (and current Vietnam editor) David Zabecki behind the .50-caliber, brought up the rear. 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. around Bien Hoa Airbase and headed toward our post of Long Binh, then 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. 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. "What are you firing at? " AIR V..AMMUNITION DUMPS AND FIRES ordnance pad in the huge ammo dump. 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 threw grenades over the wall behind them, but hit nothing.. I sat behind the .50-caliber, munching and giving thanks for the fact that, incredibly, nobody in Charlie Company had been killed. Big Ammunition Dump Near Saigon Hit by Blasts, https://www.nytimes.com/1973/06/02/archives/big-ammunition-dump-near-saigon-hit-by-blasts-laotian-reports.html. VC/PAVN losses were 527 dead. [2]:347, The VC 275th Regiment had taken up positions in a residential area known at the Widows' Village (105731N 1065237E / 10.9587N 106.877E / 10.9587; 106.877), which housed the wives and families of dead ARVN soldiers and was located across Route 316 from the Plantation Compound. We were ordered to go to that church and detain every male between the ages of 16 and 80. A slightly wounded soldier, lying on the ground, smiles as he points to his leg as another soldier helps him. Some of the enemy had tunneled under the fence and exploded an Simultaneously, platoon leaders reported finding discarded AK-47s. 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) 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. We left the clearing of Bien Hoa City in the capable hands of the 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry. Then a report came in that a body had been found wearing a white shirt under a black pajama tunic. By Vietnam terms In January 1968, our battalion relocated to the area between Xuan Loc and Bien Hoa, where intelligence had located a VC battalion. GV AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN F/G. known as Widows Village. The explosions at Long Binh, 15 miles northeast of Sia gon rattled windows and shook doors here in the capital. U.S. military officials vVould not give the exact number of casualties for security reasons. Charlie Company quickly reinforced Alpha, and a daylong fight ensued. The gun-jeeps were progressively replaced by M113s and XM-706 Commando armored cars. [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. Not only would I not finish my command tour, but I was also being assigned to a leg division. An eyewitness account of the battle for control of Bien Hoa and Long Binh on the first day of the 1968 Tet Offensive. No answer. His action probably saved the lives of everyone on my track. into the bunkers. 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. Company B, 4th Battalion, 39th Infantry, which was placed under the operational control of the 2-47, made a combat air assault under fire into the middle of the Widows Village battle and fought bravely beside the Panthers all day long. I We were in a cloud of disarray I was well seasoned having been through all the scenarios that presented The S3 also told Charlie Companys noncombatants to report to battalion headquarters. for days and days. 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. II Field Force commander LG Frederick C. Weyand had also ordered the 9th Infantry Division to be prepared to send its 1st Brigade from Bearcat Base 16km south of Long Binh to Bien Hoa-Long Binh in the event of an attack. [3]:2204, On 1 February Company B, 2/3rd Infantry, Company C, 4/12th Infantry and elements of 2/47th Infantry swept Ho Nai finding only dead VC/PAVN and civilians who had been murdered by the VC or killed in the fighting in the town. [2]:347, The ARVN 53rd Regional Force Battalion was responsible for security in the countryside around Bin Ha. a noise! I remember one (Vietnam War period). Tower sent the battalion S3, Major Jones, to take command, and once Alpha got moving, it did a magnificent job. him in. 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 . The 2nd Platoon took the one north of the road, the 1st Platoon attacked the other. The explosion echoed over an area of 50 miles. 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. I told the platoon leaders to prepare to dismount and to take all the ammunition and grenades they could carry. 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. As we made the turn eastward on Highway 1, the lead platoon was ambushed. 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. Copyright Screenocean 2022 | Powered byImagen. 14. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. Specialist 4 Bill Rambo, assistant driver and .50-gunner on my command track, remembers my response to the firing as being absolutely irate. 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. secondary explosions. When we arrived, we found the churchyard packed with thousands of civilians. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. F-100 Super Sabre and F-4 Phantom II drop Mark 82 bombs in Vietnam during U.S. air strikes. Despite the confusion and wounds, our troops returned fire. After the roadblock was cleared and communications restored, Charlie Company continued toward its objective. 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. hightForP2 = 330 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. This site was called Hill 63 because there was a hill nearby that had an elevation of 63 meters on the map. A few minutes later, a jeep drove up carrying two extremely frightened white-shirted policemen. 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. 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. Benny Toney, the 2nd Platoon sergeant, hooked a tow cable to Stormy. As usual, each company had sent two ambush patrols into the jungle to our front. Refusing evacuation, neither reported his wound. 0.08 At about 6 a.m., Lt. Col. John Tower, the new battalion commander, called with orders. The ammunition dump contained high explosives like: C-4, artillery rounds, mortar rounds, aerial flares, 50 caliber rounds, M-60 machine gun rounds, and aerial rockets for the Huey Cobra and gunships.

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