long binh ammo dump explosion 1968

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. After the battles for the churches, there occurred one of the most bizarre incidents of the day. I was told to forget about them, which reinforced our feeling that this situation was different and that combat was certainly imminent. probably one of the best deals I had been Used for because the He wanted to borrow one of our tracks. [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. We could ride, walk or be airlifted to war, and we arrived with many times the ammo and equipment that could be lifted in by helicopter. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. trooper was injured by a piece of shrapnel that had come down The only trouble was that Charlie Company tracks were sitting in the road right in front of their bunkers. 6 External links modified. Charlie Companys 3rd Platoon was also detached for a security mission inside the base. SOUTH VIETNAM: VIET CONG EXPLODE U.S. A burst of VC machine gun fire erupted nearby, causing the colonel, the deputy and their Vietnamese escorts to pile into their vehicles and roar off in the direction from whence they had come. 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. We could shoot about 21 miles into Cambodia. This group is primarily for those Vietnam veterans who experienced the ammo dump attacks in Long Binh in 1966, '67, & '68. The Long Binh ammunition dump had exploded. On January 23, during a battalion sweep of a heavily jungled area south of Highway 1, Alpha Company walked into a well-camouflaged, well-defended enemy bunker system and was badly mauled, losing four men killed and more than 20 wounded, including almost all of the officers. I sat behind the .50-caliber, munching and giving thanks for the fact that, incredibly, nobody in Charlie Company had been killed. The armed helicopter teams had a field day shooting guerrillas trying to flee into the jungle. Get under! Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. The most comprehensive and authoritative history site on the Internet. 6 comments. Specialist 4 Bill Rambo, assistant driver and .50-gunner on my command track, remembers my response to the firing as being absolutely irate. So, when I was offered a chance to go to II Field Force to help establish a new long-range reconnaissance patrol outfit, I actually turned it down to stay with the company. By the evening the 2/47th Infantry withdrew into the Long Binh perimeter. We topped off our fuel tanks, replenished our ammo and continued to move toward our assigned blocking position. This article was originally published in the February 2006 issue of Vietnam Magazine. 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. Just then a three-man VC RPG team calmly walked across the street right in front of the damaged APC. At dusk, airstrikes had to be called in to blast the VC from the hill. we were a bit more trigger happy than usual. During this fighting, the two platoon leaders were wounded, Lieutenant Casper in the leg and Lieutenant Jones in the foot. because Mankato (Minnesota)Vocational school had taught me to weld as night on alert at the Birdcage, I was awakened (trying to sleep EOD in Vietnam 1966-1967, Photo Album - ZiaNet It also contained tons of captured NVA ammo and guns from the A Shau Valley. At 4 a.m., Jones ordered us to pull in our ambushes and be prepared to move, and told Charlie Companys noncombatants to report to battalion headquarters. In January 1968, our battalion relocated to the area between Xuan Loc and Bien Hoa, where intelligence had located a VC battalion. 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. Unfortunately for them, the hapless VC had no weapons other than the RPG launcher, and Dames dispatched them with a burst from his M-16. Construction on the 24 th. Bill Langan, aka "Sparky" was on duty in the 573rd hanger at the Bird Cage and took the slide photo. while we were gone. 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. From our positions we could see and hear the celebratory fireworks lighting the sky over Saigon to the west. Maps of Heavily Sprayed Areas and Dioxin Hot Spots 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. 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. M-113 Armored Personnel Carrier on guard. 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. I yelled at Lieutenant Casper, and everybody looked around as the VC tore out running the last few yards to safety. In addition we detained more than 20 probable VC fighters dressed in civilian clothes. License Agreement | checkered) water tower by the main gate. 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. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. After all had left for the He ignored me and went to a nearby house where he and the deputy sheriff kicked in the front door. Photo Index Ly's grandfather was a soldier stationed in Quang Binh during the war. All night they scanned the jungles with Starlight scopes, seeing nothing. Then and Then things started falling out of the sky. SP4 Lawrence Korteum 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. LV DITTO When it went off my first thought was that it was a nuclear explosion because of the light dome that rose from the explosion. Meanwhile, Charlie Company was ordered back to III Corps. Satchel charges blew pallets of artillery ammunition, creating a mushroom cloud that made us think the VC had set off a tactical nuclear weapon. ton wrecker weighing in at 22 thousand pounds. 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. When we arrived, we found the churchyard packed with thousands of civilians seeking refuge. 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. 939939. . At 03:45 the unit engaged the VC/PAVN with 2 ACAVs being quickly knocked out by RPG fire. Powerful Explosion In Ammunition Dump Rocks S. Viet Nam Madera A few minutes later, a jeep drove up carrying two extremely frightened white-shirted policemen. At the meeting, I was joined by the S3 of a battalion from the 101st Airborne Division. We were west of Highway QL1 along a road named 535. SAIGON, South Vietnam, June 1 (Reuters)Explosions ripped through a huge ammu nition dump near here today, killing one soldier and wound ing 13. The first explosion was 2,400,000 pounds of 8 inch high explosive artillery projectiles. Tet Offensive I had returned to Long Binh Post. Long Binh Ammo Dump Explosion, Tet, 1968 - YouTube around Bien Hoa Airbase and headed toward our post of Long Binh, then I walked back to my track, thinking this was going to be a real nightmare. Realizing I had not eaten for 24 hours, I looked for some breakfast, but all I could find was a bag of pistachio nuts. Painting outside. [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. We were in a cloud of disarray 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. We opened up with everything we had and kept driving. sixteen guns stationed next to the western border of Vietnam. EXPLOSIONS IN DISTANCE charred. As was our normal practice, each company had sent two ambush patrols into the jungle to our front. Ammo Dump Exlosion Sapper Attack! 13. First was sand then bigger stuff. I remember one 0.54 In January 1968, our battalion relocated to the area between Xuan Loc and Bien Hoa, where intelligence had located a VC battalion. Charlie Company reacted quickly to reinforce Alpha, and a daylong fight ensued. We packed up our gear, rolled up our wire and waited. 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, 47th Infantry. Shoe of soldier on ground. When I arrived at the 2nd Battalion (Mechanized), 47th Infantry, nicknamed the Panthers, Lt. Col. Arthur Moreland, the commander, asked me what job I wanted. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. Featured Collections | [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. For more great articles, subscribe to Vietnam magazine today! (Vietnam War period). out of the sky. When we arrived, we found the churchyard packed with thousands of civilians. The explosions at Long Binh, 15 miles northeast of Sia gon rattled windows and shook doors here in the capital. Unconfirmed reports reports said the blasts were . Talk:Long Bnh, ng Nai - Wikipedia Despite the confusion and wounds, our troops returned fire. Sergeant John Ax, squad leader of 1st Squad, 2nd Platoon, recalls what the fighting near III Corps was like: An RPG hit Shocker, the C-21 track, in the side; but it must have been a glancing blow, because it did not explode. We use cookies on this website. As I remember this night, around 12 or 12:30 a.m. the sirens 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. Several tracks were hit by RPGs and surrounded by the enemy. Benny Toney, the 2nd Platoon sergeant, hooked a tow cable to Stormy. In fact, the Communists had already infiltrated the city of Bien Hoa, suburban Ho Nai village and Widows Village, where pensioned families of deceased ARVN soldiers lived. Now The 2-47s enemy body count came in at more than 200, while the battalion suffered only four KIA. Our outfit was a ", "Then we were all in the bunker 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. I assigned areas of operation to my two rifle platoons and positioned the weapons platoon inside the compound as a reserve and security force. At the end of the previous day, Charlie Company had reported 38 VC killed, at the cost of only 11 U.S. wounded and three APCs damaged by RPGs. [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. https://www.historynet.com/tet-offensive-the-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. In a few moments, the huge dump became a fireball, the shock of the explosion echoing over an area of 50 miles. We charged southeast down Highway 316 to the Highway 15 intersection, situated on a small hill overlooking the 90th Replacement Company. Helicopter gunships took off from Bien Hoa AB to investigate, but were unable to locate the force in the darkness. about 1/3 mile, All this carried on for about three maybe four days and the dead USAF McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II bomber aircraft drop two Mk.84 HD bombs. 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. Troops opened their attacks with volleys of grenades, then charged in shooting. raffia 12th combat aviation group - sites.google.com Our arrival had canceled fears that III Corps headquarters might be overrun. Satchel charges blew pallets of artillery ammunition, creating a mushroom cloud that made us think the VC had set off a tactical nuclear weapon. 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. All rights reserved. When it went off my first thought was that it was a nuclear explosion because of the light dome that rose from the explosion. Charlie Company quickly reinforced Alpha, and a daylong fight ensued. 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. bunker. All day civilians had been darting from their homes and running from the fighting. 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). In addition we detained more than 20 probable VC fighters dressed in civilian clothes. Contact Us | This is the story of one rifle companycomprised of some of the finest soldiers to ever wear the uniform of the U.S. Armyand what they all faced on that decisive day. Policy was to fill in all holes and empty our sandbags when we left a position, to leave nothing the VC might use against us. The Vietnamese general and the III Corps G3 adviser, however, were not very happy when we pulled out. Zabecki remembers taking his place on the wall with his M-79 grenade launcher. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. 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. The platoons attacked by successive bounds through the village as the companys tracks, forming the base of the T on the highway, provided fire support from the .50s and resupplied the troops with ammunition. 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 never saw them again. remember being giddy and my brain was asking What is wrong with me?. The two of them refused evacuation and neither reported his wound. 0.28 [2]:349, At dawn several AH1 Cobra gunships from the 334th Assault Helicopter Company joined the defense spraying the VC with rockets and machine gun fire which started fires causing the VC assault to lose its impetus. An accurate body count could never be compiled since so many VC bodies were dragged away or were burned in the many fires in the towns and villages. Tet of 1968 - 118th AHC Lieutenant Barnes and one of his soldiers would be awarded Distinguished Service Crosses for their heroism that day. Through sporadic fire, we continued northwest on Highway 15 to where it intersected Highway 1 on the western edge of Bien Hoa. When Lieutenant Casper jumped up, our legs became entangled and I tripped him, Ax remembers. 6. When the Tet cease-fire period began on January 28, the battalion was called back to the vicinity of Bear Cat, a base camp near Long Thanh. Tower sent the battalion S3, Major Jones, to take command, and once Alpha got moving, it did a magnificent job. Then I got a call from battalion commander Tower, asking how things were going. it and only slightly pierced the skin a little. on the Bailey Compound, only in the 145th CAB HQ which could 2 comments. Aerial view of (USARV) United States Army Republic of Vietnam Headquarters Complex at Long Binh, Vietnam. We could use our tracks as a base of fire or in a blocking position as the company maneuvered on foot. yelling Kortuem! The churches were cleared in short order. Casper rose from the prone position and yelled for his troops to follow him. NEARER V..EXPLOSIONS 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.). Aerial view of (USARV) United States Army Republic of Vietnam Headquarters Complex at Long Binh, Vietnam. After the fight for the churches, there occurred one of the most bizarre and inexplicable incidents of the day. Despite the confusion and wounds, our troops returned fire. hightForP2 = 330 [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. We began detaining the well-dressed young men among the refugees. 4. The scout platoon had fought . Explosion at Long Binh ammunition storage facility. 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. The action occurs January 31st, 1968 (on "Tet", the Vietnamese Lunar New Year holiday). [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. During this fighting, both platoon leaders were wounded, Lieutenant Casper in the leg and Lieutenant Jones in the foot. The progress was slow and ammunition was becoming a scarce, particularly grenades, which city fighting consumes at an enormous rate. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. Since I was in an airborne unit, I was sure I would go to the 173rd Airborne Brigade or the 101st Airborne Division. We suffered more wounded during the trip back to III Corps, where I was called to a meeting in the headquarters. Those orders were for us to clear the VC from the houses surrounding the corps headquarters. We threw grenades over the wall behind them, but hit nothing.. Specialist 4 Bill Rambo, assistant driver and .50-gunner on my command track, remembers my response to the firing as being absolutely irate. Big Ammunition Dump Near Saigon Hit by Blasts Gradually, I became a mechanized soldier. Casper rose from a prone position and yelled for his troops to follow him. opened his mouth but, SGT Cuffee, the supply SGT. When I arrived at 9th Division in June, I was shocked to learn that I was going to a mechanized battalion. (Vietnam War period). THE EXPLOSIONS RATTLED WINDOWS IN SAIGON, ABOUT 13 MILES (20 KILOMETERS) AWAY. During December we made little enemy contact, probably because the Communists were lying low preparing for Tet. As dawn broke, everything was deathly quiet. 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. Aerial view of Long Binh Post in Vietnam. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. 0.42 He was alive but he suffered a busted ear drum and singed hair, eye brows and arms. We topped off our fuel tanks, replenished our ammo and continued to move toward our assigned blocking position. USAF (United States Air Force) F-100 Super Sabre jet fighter aircraft drops Mark 82 (Mk.82) high-drag (HD) bombs. As we made the turn eastward on Highway 1, the lead platoon was ambushed. (Vietnam War period). With the explosion of the entire ammunition dump imminent, and in the midst of exploding shells, fire and debris, the men of COMPANY B, . After the roadblock was cleared and communications restored, Charlie Company continued toward its objective. Love was so startled, he didnt fire. Meanwhile, Hueys reported VC running from the village. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp. (Vietnam War period). Jan. 31. build bunkers, and help pick up the dead enemy across the fence. We packed up all of our gear, rolled up our concertina wire and waited. Script is copyright Reuters Limited. The offensive continued until the end of the month in the North part of convoy about two days before and were repairing anything that had failed He assigned one to the airborne battalion and the other to Charlie Company. more I was not sure what to do about the bunkers. 2023 CriticalPast LLC. Which date was it? Over the two month recovery and clearing operation, tens of thousands of these hazardous munitions were recoverd by hand, one at a time. As you know there were no officers Less has been written about the danger, turmoil, chaos, confusion, contradictions and outright lunacy that confronted individual units as they responded to VC attacks on the morning of January 31. bodies across the road began to bloat into a grotesque scene. (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015. With small-arms fire cracking overhead, young girls carrying bottles of Coca-Cola were trying to sell them to the troops. Jim Love recalls lying in a ditch near a dead civilian as the friendly fire cracked over our heads. U.S. troops firing small arms as they proceed across tall grass into the hamlet. They had been told that the population would rise up against the Americans and that there would be plenty of captured U.S. weapons to fight with. 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. When offered the chance to go to II Field Force to help establish a new long-range reconnaissance patrol outfit, I turned it down to stay with the company. GV DUMP 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 the 2nd Platoon began to run short, Spc. Now commanded by a brand-new second lieutenant, the men of Alpha Company balked when they were told to move. As the Hueys rockets smashed the VC strongpoint, the scouts fought their way out of the encirclement and evacuated their dead and wounded. Unfortunately for the VC, they had no weapons other than the RPG launcher. During this time, the battalion made only sporadic contact and suffered few casualties. 0.17 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) 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. Summary - October 1966 [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. AIR V..FIRES Then a report came in that a body had been found wearing a white shirt under a black pajama tunic. Their 81mm mortars were useless, since we were told we could not put any indirect fire into the town. 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. 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. Then a report came in that a body had been found wearing a white shirt under a black pajama tunic. 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. 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. 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. from Bien Hoa City. 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. mortar rounds and 90 122-mm. Fighting our way to the scout platoon, we were stopped when we came upon two large churches, straddling Highway 1, each occupied by VC. I was to be a platoon leader again, in Charlie Company, commanded by Captain John Ionoff. Tower ordered Charlie Company to attack eastward to clear the village of Ho Nai, a Bien Hoa suburb. 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. Vehicles drive past on roads between the Long Binh Post area. As the afternoon of January 30 drifted toward dusk, Charlie Company soldiers stripped to the waist and dug bunkers next to their M-113s. The explosion echoed over an area of 50 miles. CU SIGN "NO SMOKING" Widows Village made a perfect attack position, since it lay directly across Highway 316 from II Field Force headquarters. These photos were taken from December 9, 1967 to February 1968. Since I was in an airborne unit, it seemed certain that I would go to the 173rd Airborne Brigade or the 101st Airborne Division. Besides the fireworks, ARVN soldiers had linked tracer bullets together and were stitching the darkness with weaving streams of machine gun fire. (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 battle proved significant, as Alphas leadership was seriously depleted immediately prior to Tet.

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