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. checkered) water tower by the main gate. 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. 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. 11. The village of Ho Nai, now a ghost town, still smoldered. August 1966 November 1966 December 1966. the barracks hall just as he stepped out of his room going to [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. 5. AIR V..AMMUNITION DUMPS AND FIRES 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) 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. Despite the confusion and wounds, our troops returned fire. I went through the quarters making sure everyone Over the two month recovery and clearing operation, tens of thousands of these hazardous munitions were recoverd by hand, one at a time. Charlie Company reacted quickly to reinforce Alpha, and a daylong fight ensued. Flames consuming huts. Now License Agreement | Big Boom! . 13. who was tossed into a sewage ditch by the explosion, remembers 'killing the jeep' with his M-16. 118th during the Tet of 1968, also called the Defense of Bien Riflemen staying close behind. rockets at Bien Hoa AB and Long Binh Post. 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. 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. 0.48 [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. 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. [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. Just then a three-man VC RPG team calmly walked across the street right in front of the damaged APC. GV EXPLOSIONS, AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN F/G. 0.35 Attacking Long [2]:3512 US losses in the fighting in the Widow's Village were three dead. 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. The Vietnamese brigadier generalthe ranking man at III Corpsdrew circles on a map around two areas of downtown Bien Hoa. Soon we could hear leaders moving up and down the bunker line yelling for the guards to stop firing. Charlie Company had reported 38 VC killed, at the cost of only 11 U.S. wounded and three APCs damaged by RPGs. 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. A few minutes later, a jeep drove up carrying two extremely frightened white-shirted policemen. 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. 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. 6 External links modified. After much frequency changing, I finally got the commander of the bunker guards on the radio. "I was the 1SGT of the and still no answer. 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. 10. In Bin Ha itself the 3rd Ranger Task Force, consisting of the 35th and 36th Ranger Battalions, provided a rapid reaction force supported by 2 155-mm howitzer battalions located on the southeast of the city. By late afternoon the 275th Regiment retreated north, leaving over 200 dead. [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. I yelled at Lieutenant Casper and everybody looked around as the VC tore out running the last few yards to safety. Sand bags near barbed wire fence. Long Binh ammo dump was one of the biggest ordnance storage areas in the country. I told him that I wanted to command a company. [2]:347, The ARVN 53rd Regional Force Battalion was responsible for security in the countryside around Bin Ha. Rambo claims that the bunker guards were MPs with the call sign of Filmy Milker. According to him, I told their commander 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. "What are you firing at? " 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. I had learned no tactic at infantry school that fit the situation we were faced with, so we improvised. It was the first such occurrence since the ceasefire of Jan. 28. Waking Dead. At the meeting, I was joined by the S3 of a battalion from the 101st Airborne Division. We topped off our fuel tanks, replenished our ammo and continued to move toward our assigned blocking position. He waved me off. 1.13 It had been over two days and many of us had no sleep. Construction on the 24 th. With a push-to-talk button stuck in the transmit position, no one could use the radio. I told the colonel that this was not a police action, that we werent searching houses, we were in combat. 0.28 The remains of a stack of over 15,000 high explosive 155mm artillery projectiles after the VC attack on February 4. (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. Forget that, he said. 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 best I could, I explained that they were to take charge and that General Giap might be among the civilians. Then a report came in that a body had been found wearing a white shirt under a black pajama tunic. After the battles for the churches, there occurred one of the most bizarre incidents of the day. the country where resupply was easier for the enemy. They all blew up! known as Widows Village. Mainly it is the story of some of the finest solders to ever wear the uniform of the U.S. Army and how they reacted not only to fierce combat, but also to the fog of war. sixteen guns stationed next to the western border of Vietnam. 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. 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. 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 had been in Vietnam about nine months. They both hobbled through the rest of the days fighting. The fog of war was especially thick on the morning of January 31, 1968. This site requires JavaScript. After I got the coordinates of our objective, I yelled, Crank em up! into the radio handset. The II Field Force commander, Lt. Gen. Frederick C. Weyand, had correctly predicted a major attack during Tet, and his anticipation no doubt saved Long Binh and Saigon from being overrun. 6 comments. 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. The bus ride to 90th Replacement was relatively short and everyone seemed exhausted from the long flight. All day civilians had been darting from their homes and running from the fighting. 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. The Vietnamese general and the III Corps G3 adviser, however, were not very happy when we pulled out. As the 2nd Platoon began to run short, Spc. As we made the turn eastward on Highway 1, the lead platoon was ambushed. Painting outside. It also contained tons of captured NVA ammo and guns from the A Shau Valley. At about 0600, Lt. Col. John Tower, the new battalion commander, called with orders. A force from Company C, 2/3rd Infantry mounted on ACAVs was sent north from Ho Nai and pinned the VC/PAVN in a crossfire. As I remember this night, around 12 or 12:30 a.m. the sirens I had inherited the job We packed up our gear, rolled up our wire and waited. At 07:30 the VC/PAVN force stopped and made a stand in a cemetery where they continued to be hit by the gunships and the ACAVs of Company C. At 08:00 Company C was joined by a force from 2/47th Infantry and they proceeded to methodically kill all the VC/PAVN in the cemetery. door at the petroleum dump ruptured and fuel flowed down the ditch in Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. Lieutenant Barnes and one of his soldiers would be awarded Distinguished Service Crosses for their heroism that day. There was an ammo dump explosion in 1968 also and both 1967 and 1968 are correct and were of course separate incidents. As enemy resistance stiffened, we realized we had bottled at least a company of the VC 275th Regiment in the village. He replied that I would have to wait. biggest ordnance storage areas in the country. Now someone pointed out that there were a lot of young men, all dressed in black pants and white shirts, among the refugees. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. Alpha Company, still licking its wounds from the January 23 fight, was left intact. Script is copyright Reuters Limited. Under fire, Staff Sgt. find all the dead so the countryside smelled like a scene from The [3]:242, The VC/PAVN attacks were a failure. One A-37 and 1 F-100 were destroyed while a further 17 aircraft were damaged. USAF (United States Air Force) F-100 Super Sabre jet fighter aircraft drops Mark 82 (Mk.82) high-drag (HD) bombs. Men at Long Binh ammunition dump. 8. 1 comment. By the evening the 2/47th Infantry withdrew into the Long Binh perimeter. We could use our tracks as a base of fire or in a blocking position as the company maneuvered on foot. 0.08 Hide. Aerial view of Long Binh Post in Vietnam. We came up with a T formation. Dismounted troops of the 2nd Battalion (Mechanized), 47th Regiment, 9th Infantry Division, stay close to their M-113 armored personnel carriers (APCs) as they clear Widows Village, near Long Binh Army Post, of Viet Cong who had overrun it during the Communist 1968 Tet Offensive (National Archives). An MP full colonel, along with a deputy sheriff from Los Angeles (dressed in his deputy uniform) and two jeeploads of Vietnamese National Police, drove up to my track. I remember one Toward dark, airstrikes had to be called in to blast the VC from the hill. The Vietnamese brigadier general, who was the ranking man at III Corps, drew circles around two equal-sized areas of downtown Bien Hoa. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. As we turned around to head back west, a tremendous blast shook the whole city of Bien Hoa. 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. 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 . We threw grenades over the wall behind them, but hit nothing.. secondary explosions. He retired from the U.S. Army as a lieutenant colonel. According to the official history of the VC 5th Division, the 3rd Battalion, 5th VC Regiment, supported by the Bien Hoa Sapper Company, had the mission of overrunning the compound, which was defended by about 15 ARVN soldiers and a smattering of MACV advisers. 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. -- color photo Near Moc Hoa. ton wrecker weighing in at 22 thousand pounds. 200 pounds.

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