long binh ammo dump explosion 1968
When it went off my first thought was that it was a nuclear explosion because of the light dome that rose from the explosion. I explained to the colonel that this was not a police action, and that we werent searching houses, we were in combat. 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. Love was so startled, he didnt fire. I was told to forget about them, which reinforced our feeling that this situation was different and that combat was certainly imminent. The recon platoon was ordered to establish a blocking position south of Long Binh on Highway 15. We suffered more wounded during the trip back to III Corps, where I was called to a meeting in the headquarters. I Love was so startled, he didnt fire. We began detaining the well-dressed young men among the refugees. Craven and another photographer, were both wounded in the engagement.) 0.13 Wrecked ambulance with flat tires. Helicopter gunships took off from Bien Hoa AB to investigate, but were unable to locate the force in the darkness. 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. Most of we RAD 152 crew members arrived in-country on July 22, 1968. I operated a heavy five 10. Simultaneously, platoon leaders reported finding discarded AK-47s. In January 1968, our battalion relocated to the area between Xuan Loc and Bien Hoa, where intelligence had located a VC battalion. Tet offensive attacks on Bien Hoa and Long Binh, Tet Offensive attacks on Bien Hoa and Long Binh, United States Army Center of Military History, "Tet Offensive: The Battles of Bien Hoa and Long Binh", Video of helicopter gunships and F-100s in action at Bien Hoa AB, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tet_offensive_attacks_on_Bien_Hoa_and_Long_Binh&oldid=1086914863, Battles and operations of the Vietnam War in 1968, Battles of the Vietnam War involving the United States, Attacks on military installations in the 1960s, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the Air Force Historical Research Agency, Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the United States Army Center of Military History, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 9 May 2022, at 04:36. [2]:347, At 01:00, a 6-man LRRP from Company F, 51st Infantry Regiment spotted PAVN/VC moving through rubber trees several hundred meters to the north of Long Binh Post. As my airborne mentality faded, I learned to love the M-113or track, as we called it. From our positions, we could see and hear the fireworks lighting the sky over Saigon to the west. flight line and I was checking the bunker for anyone, I heard LV WATER TRUCKS ALONG ROAD, EXPLOSION IN B/G. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. His battalion was in heavy contact and he had several wounded rangers he needed to evacuate. As the ammo dump burst into flames, secondary explosions erupted in other storage areas, and . [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. As our medics treated the wounded, I reported to the American lieutenant colonel who was the III Corps G3 adviser. Charlie Company slammed into the VC before they could get their attack organized. Now commanded by a brand-new second lieutenant, the men of Alpha Company balked when they were told to move. Despite the confusion and wounds, our troops returned fire. Dames killed them with a burst from his M-16 probably saving the lives of everyone on my track. Aerial view of Long Binh Post in Vietnam. 0.28 He said the first thing he could remember was the However, Charlie Company slammed into the VC before they could organize their attack. into the bunkers. the bunker. 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. [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. 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. As dawn broke on February 1, it was deathly quiet. ton wrecker weighing in at 22 thousand pounds. During December we made little enemy contact, probably because the Communists were lying low, preparing for Tet. Updated 7/26/2015. [3]:242, The VC/PAVN attacks were a failure. 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. 15. Copyright Screenocean 2022 | Powered byImagen. Besides the fireworks, ARVN soldiers had linked tracer bullets together and were stitching the darkness with weaving streams of machine gun fire. There, Charlie Company soldiers joined ARVN and U.S. MACV soldiers manning the walls. 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. We found out later from captured VC that many guerrillas had been given only two magazines for their weapons. Our arrival had canceled fears that III Corps headquarters might be overrun. 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. probably one of the best deals I had been Used for because the ruary 1968 in support of Saigon and Long Binh Post during the TET Offen- Sive. The 2-47s enemy body count came in at more than 200, while the battalion suffered only four KIA. The bombs descend and explode near structures in grove of tress in agricultural area 30 miles southwest of Saigon on 19 August, 1968. We fired everything we had into the buildings lining the roadway and took several wounded while getting to the church. was a point where the Ho Chi Min Trail came close to the countrys West The village of Ho Nai, now a ghost town, was still smoldering. As we turned right onto Highway 15, an unbelievable spectacle stretched before us. Then and All of these placements were made with the wrongful assumption that the VC would attack from the jungles outside the base. We all knew these moves were more than precautionary. Flames consuming huts. officer around. We never saw them again. This article was originally published in the February 2006 issue of Vietnam Magazine. 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. Then things started falling At the meeting I was joined by the S3 of a battalion from the 101st Airborne Division. In addition, gunships killed many more as they tried to escape from the villages. He said his battalion was in heavy contact, and he had several wounded rangers he needed to evacuate. The offensive continued until the end of the month in the North part of The bus ride to 90th Replacement was relatively short and everyone seemed exhausted from the long flight. Four men were killed and more than 20 wounded, including most of the officers. The Communists were starting to carry out a plan that they had studied for a considerable period. At 0300 hours I received a call from Major Bill Jones, who had recently taken Ionoffs place as S3, stating that Bien Hoa airbase, the Long Binh facility, the II Field Force headquarters and the 199th Light Infantry Brigade (LIB) base camp were under heavy mortar and rocket attack. I called III Corps and reported that we had detained all of these people, and was told to wait until the Vietnamese National Police arrived to take charge. Specialist 4 Bill Rambo, assistant driver and .50-gunner on my command track, remembers my response to the firing as being absolutely irate. Ly's father is a bricklayer. We charged southeast down Highway 316 to the Highway 15 intersection, situated on a small hill overlooking the 90th Replacement Company. Bomb squads disarmed seven of the charges, but at 07:30 the remainder exploded with three igniting pallets of artillery shells and their Propellant bags causing a massive explosion, blast wave and mushroom cloud. Since I was in an airborne unit, I was sure I would go to the 173rd Airborne Brigade or the 101st Airborne Division. Satchel charges blew pallets of artillery ammunition, creating a mushroom cloud that made us think the VC had set off a tactical nuclear weapon. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. At 0400 Jones ordered us to pull in our ambushes and be prepared to move. Meanwhile, Charlie Company was ordered back to III Corps. The 2nd Platoon pulled the damaged track out of the side street and towed it back to the III Corps compound. 1.04 This article was written by John E. Gross and originally published in the February 2008 issue of Vietnam Magazine. During this fighting, both platoon leaders were wounded, Lieutenant Casper in the leg and Lieutenant Jones in the foot. The village of Ho Nai, now a ghost town, still smoldered. After I received the coordinates of our objective, I yelled, Crank em up! into the radio handset, and we moved out. GV EXPLOSIONS, AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN F/G. Click Here. Somehow the foam trucks from agreement was that the stockade prisoners would pitch our sandbags, help U.S. air strikes in Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Story Text: 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. My Account | The 2nd Platoon led the way under Lieutenant Fred Casper, followed by my track, then Lieutenant Howard Jones 1st Platoon and, finally, the weapons platoon under Lieutenant Don Muir. USAF McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II bomber aircraft drop two Mk.84 HD bombs. About Us | Hide. 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. Explosion at Long Binh ammunition storage facility. Then a report came in that a body had been found wearing a white shirt under a black pajama tunic. In addition, we were tremendously flexible. Several soldiers gathered in front of the track to help the wounded, and Love climbed up to man the .50-caliber. 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. As we made the turn eastward on Highway 1, the lead platoon was ambushed. bunker. The weapon was aimed at the newly built and painted (orange-white We had run through the rear of the 274th VC Regiment, which was attacking the airfield. 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. It was ", "I then went to the CP and tried 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 idea was to leave nothing the VC might use against us. As I remember the Tet Offensive began in the early morning of mortar rounds and 90 122-mm. At about 0600, Lt. Col. John Tower, the new battalion commander, called with orders. As we rolled by, we looked down into the compound and saw soldiers in khakis milling about with boarding passes in hand. We had returned from a As dawn broke, everything was deathly quiet. was his helmet and flack jacket! (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. remember being giddy and my brain was asking What is wrong with me?. They all blew up! 0.08 Perpetual Siege region. (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. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. GV AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN F/G. 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. We were west of Highway QL1 along a road named 535. I called battalion headquarters and was told to forget about them, which reinforced our sense that combat was imminent. 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. 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 battalion made only sporadic contact and suffered few casualties. The G3 adviser told me that they had received intelligence that Vo Nguyen Giap, the North Vietnamese commanding general, had his command post in a Catholic church about 1 kilometer east of III Corps. trooper was injured by a piece of shrapnel that had come down Toward dusk on January 30, Charlie Company soldiers stripped to the waist to dig bunkers next to their APCs. Casper rose from a prone position and yelled for his troops to follow him. They ordered us to clear the VC from the houses surrounding the corps headquarters. 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. We came up with a T formation. By continuing to use this site without changing your cookie settings, you agree that you are happy to accept our privacy policyand cookie policyand for us to access our cookies on your device. The first explosion was 2,400,000 pounds of 8 inch high explosive artillery projectiles. in bunker) at first light to the sound of a M-60 chattering away. He ignored me and proceeded to a nearby house where he and the deputy sheriff kicked in the front door. 3. Initials PW/VS/JH/BB/ES PW/VS/JH/ES ". HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. His action probably saved the lives of everyone on my track. As 1st Lt. Brice Barnes led his scouts into Ho Nai, he ran full speed into a hornets nest. 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.). [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. The 2nd Platoon took the one north of the road, the 1st Platoon attacked the other. 9. Vehicles drive past on roads between the Long Binh Post area. Tom Allaback. The chrome The three companies formed a line almost three kilometers long, facing to the east, with their backs to the Long Binh wire. By July 1969 we were finally off the boats and in Dong Tam processing to head home. Those orders were for us to clear the VC from the houses surrounding the corps headquarters. Charlie Companys 3rd Platoon was also detached for a security mission inside the base. 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. But no one would be leaving the country that day. This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army Center of Military History. 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. Of course you never hightForP2 = 330 The scout platoon had fought . He wanted to borrow one of our tracks. After a eventful Views of a number of huts, in the hamlet, that have not been destroyed. 2. Some of the enemy had tunneled under the fence and exploded an As 1st Lt. Brice Barnes led his scout platoon into the edge of Ho Nai, he ran full speed into a hornets nest. We fired all we had into the buildings lining the roadway and took several wounded while getting to the church. In a few moments, the huge dump became a fireball, the shock of the explosion echoing over an area of 50 miles. As time passed, I became a mechanized soldier. 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. [3]:220, When the Company F, 51st Infantry LRRP team reported VC/PAVN moving past their position a reaction force from Company C, 4/12th Infantry mounted on ACAVs was sent to investigate.
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