long binh ammo dump explosion 1968 long binh ammo dump explosion 1968

I had assumed I would be assigned to one of the battalions in the Delta where I could use my light infantry and Ranger school experience. With the explosion of the entire ammunition dump imminent, and in the midst of exploding shells, fire and debris, the men of COMPANY B, . Helicopter gunships took off from Bien Hoa AB to investigate, but were unable to locate the force in the darkness. Featured Collections | While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. After I received the coordinates of our objective, I yelled, Crank em up! into the radio handset, and we moved out. The first explosion was 2,400,000 pounds of 8 inch high explosive artillery projectiles. on the Bailey Compound, only in the 145th CAB HQ which could I have . At the beginning of the Tet Offensive, one rifle company was ordered to to clear the village of Ho Nai, a Bien Hoa suburb. wire on the top of LBJ (Long Binh Jail). Blood stains in ambulance. The scout platoon had fought valiantly all day long in Widows Village and in Ho Nai. Shoe of soldier on ground. 4 "Late in the war" 1 comment. The S3 also told Charlie Companys noncombatants to report to battalion headquarters. M-117 bombs explode near and on road on wooden slopes near river north of Pleiku near Dak To, on 18 August, 1968. I was to be a platoon leader again, in Charlie Company, commanded by Captain John Ionoff. ordnance pad in the huge ammo dump. I was disappointed when I received orders to join the 9th Infantry Division. Big Boom! went off and all hell broke lose. An eyewitness account of the battle for control of Bien Hoa and Long Binh on the first day of the 1968 Tet Offensive. Lieutenant Barnes and one of his soldiers would be awarded Distinguished Service Crosses for their heroism that day. As was our normal practice, each company had sent two ambush patrols into the jungle to our front. When I pointed out that the 101st Battalion had more than 500 troops and I had only two line platoons and less than 90 troops, he said, Youre mechanized, youre very strong.. While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. sixteen guns stationed next to the western border of Vietnam. Simultaneously, platoon leaders reported finding discarded AK-47s. 4 Joseph Dames was tasked to return to the tracks for more grenades. When we arrived, we found the churchyard packed with thousands of civilians seeking refuge. We all knew these moves were more than precautionary. Not only would I not finish my command tour, but I was also being assigned to a leg division. As our medics treated the wounded, I reported to the American lieutenant colonel who was the III Corps G3 adviser. Somehow the foam trucks from happened to hit him just over the forehead. Painting outside. 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. 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. 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. 5 Explosion at Long Binh ammunition storage facility. 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. In addition, gunships killed many more as they tried to escape from the villages. The 2nd Platoon pulled the damaged track out of the side street and towed it back to the III Corps compound. Service Battery that supplied ordnance to the big guns in our battalion. During December we made little enemy contact, probably because the Communists were lying low, preparing for Tet. 6 External links modified. It also contained tons of captured NVA ammo and guns from the A Shau Valley. Ive just been told you work for me again. At that time, I received a call on my company frequency from the battalion commander, Colonel Tower, asking how things were going. The first explosion was We opened up with everything we had and kept driving. 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) United States officers and soldiers examine barbed wire fence where Vietcong broke through to enter Long Binh. He assigned one to the airborne battalion and the other to Charlie Company. He ignored me and proceeded to a nearby house where he and the deputy sheriff kicked in the front door. As the ammo dump burst into flames, secondary explosions erupted in other storage areas, and for the next three days, fires burned out of control. 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. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. ], The Laotian representative said six members of the Meo special forces were also cap tured with the American on May 7 in Xieng Khouang Province near the North Vietnamese bor der. I told the platoon leaders to prepare to dismount and to take all the ammunition and grenades they could carry. During TET 1969 in front of Bunker Hill 17, VC sappers tried to penetrate our fence line. [3]:2289, The Tt ceasefire began on 29 January, but was cancelled on 30 January after the VC/PAVN prematurely launched attacks in II Corps and at 17:30 the 7th Air Force commander General William W. Momyer ordered all air bases in South Vietnam to security condition red. [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. went off my first thought was that it was a nuclear explosion because of When it went off my first thought was that it was a nuclear explosion because of the light dome that rose from the explosion. The progress was slow and ammo was becoming scarce, particularly grenades, which get consumed at an enormous rate in city fighting. Long Binh Ammo Dump October 29, 1966 . This article was originally published in the February 2006 issue of Vietnam Magazine. 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. I had no way of knowing who it was with no light in the Realizing we were driving past our objective, I halted the company and called for the 2nd Platoon to find a place to turn around. 0.48 No infantry school tactic fit the situation; improvisation became the order of the day. No answer. This was no surprise to us, since we could hear the enemy rounds slamming into Long Binh. They all blew up! AIR V..EXPLOSION The village of Ho Nai, now a ghost town, was still smoldering. When I arrived at 9th Division in June, I was shocked to learn that I was going to a mechanized battalion. For more great articles, subscribe to Vietnam magazine today! The unit left their position at Firebase Concord north of Bin Ha and moved east proceeding along trails north of Ho Nai towards the LRRP position. the light dome that rose from the explosion. AIR V..FIRES and no one was injured. In January 1968, our battalion relocated to the area between Xuan Loc and Bien Hoa, where intelligence had located a VC battalion. My Lightboxes | 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, I came upon an unbelievable sight. Even though it was about 6-8 miles away to the NE of Bien Hoa, it was plainly visible . During December we made little enemy contact, probably because the Communists were lying low preparing for Tet. 1.04 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. The chrome When it went off my first thought was that it was a nuclear explosion because of the light dome that rose from the explosion. At 08:00 the VC south of the Plantation withdrew into the Widows Village. We threw grenades over the wall behind them, but hit nothing.. 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 the 2nd Platoon began to run short, Spc. Realizing I had not eaten for 24 hours, I looked for some breakfast, but all I could find was a bag of pistachio nuts. Smoke rises from surrounding area. (Long Binh) ammunition dump. Then things started falling I yelled at Lieutenant Casper, and everybody looked around as the VC tore out running the last few yards to safety. We fired everything we had into the buildings lining the roadway and took several wounded while getting to the church. My plan was to make captain and go to Vietnam as an experienced company commander. Tower ordered Charlie Company to attack eastward to clear the village of Ho Nai, a suburb of Bien Hoa. Hide. 4 Joseph Sugar Bear Dames returned to the tracks for more grenades. When the Tet cease-fire period began on January 28, the battalion was called back to the vicinity of Bear Cat, and Charlie Company was ordered to a large open field across Highway 15 from the Long Tan airfield. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. Soon we could hear leaders moving up and down the bunker line yelling for the guards to stop firing. 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. [5], USAF losses were 4 killed in action with another dying of a heart attack, while 26 were wounded. His battalion was in heavy contact and he had several wounded rangers he needed to evacuate. unless they could see someone, I went to our Operations shack As we turned around to head back west, a tremendous blast shook the whole city of Bien Hoa. We came up with a T formation. 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. [2]:347[3]:225, At 03:00, the PAVN 84A Artillery Regiment began a barrage of approximately 100 82-mm. Get under! 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. (Vietnam War period). I then jacked a round into my M-16 and who would you believe At 03:45 the unit engaged the VC/PAVN with 2 ACAVs being quickly knocked out by RPG fire. Several soldiers gathered in front of the track to help the wounded, and Love climbed up to man the .50-caliber. Bill Langan, aka "Sparky" was on duty in the 573rd hanger at the Bird Cage and took the slide photo. Come back up on the battalion freq. I had never been so happy in my life. 1 comment. About 30 minutes later, the track came back with only the driver, who reported the ranger sergeant had been killed and that it had been impossible to evacuate the wounded. 11. 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. (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. After a eventful However, Charlie Company slammed into the VC before they could organize their attack. Aerial view of (USARV) United States Army Republic of Vietnam Headquarters Complex at Long Binh, Vietnam. 3. During this time, the battalion made only sporadic contact and suffered few casualties. I Sergeant was already tucked under a 5 ton truck parked about 50 feet secondary explosions. 0.08 I called battalion headquarters and was told to forget about them, which reinforced our sense that combat was imminent. Ripped apart barbed wire. Activity in the area had picked up in November and The 2nd Platoon pulled the damaged track out of the side street and towed it back to the III Corps compound. Love was so startled, he didnt fire. bodies across the road began to bloat into a grotesque scene. to check-in and see what was going on, and found myself the only 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. 26 VC/PAVN were killed in the attack and several captured. At about 0600, Lt. Col. John Tower, the new battalion commander, called with orders. Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. The remains of a stack of over 15,000 high explosive 155mm artillery projectiles after the VC attack on February 4. [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. We packed up all of our gear, rolled up our concertina wire and waited. As 1st Lt. Brice Barnes led his scouts into Ho Nai, he ran full speed into a hornets nest. As we rolled back through Bien Hoa, we were astounded to find the battalion S4, Captain Leroy Brown, in the middle of town with a 5,000-gallon fuel tanker and several ammunition trucks. Now the fight was on. 6. Occasionally the digitization process introduces transcription errors or other problems; we are continuing to work to improve these archived versions. carried on into that night with tracers flying everywhere. Normally, operations orders issued over the radio were encoded and sent by the S3s radio operator. Destroyed and burned out ammunition pad shows burned out 105mm howitzer shells. This is the airstrike on snipers at the 195th AHC perimeter and the Long Binh ammo dump explosion set off by sappers the morning of the 1968 Tet offensive with sound effects added. On that fateful night, explosions began at the bomb dump, I immediately responded to CSC as the SP's . and still no answer. Back view of jeep with open doors. We carried concertina wire, sand bags and hundreds of Claymore mines and trip flares to make our defensive positions practically impenetrable. 5. Toward dusk on January 30, Charlie Company soldiers stripped to the waist to dig bunkers next to their APCs. 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. 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. 15. Elements of B Company, 2/47th Infantry (Mechanized) and C Company, 4/39th Infantry, clearing North Vietnamese Army regulars from "Widows' Village" (a hamlet of housing provided by the government of the Republic of Vietnam for widows and children of fallen ARVN soldiers). 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. According to the VC 5th Division official history, the 3rd Battalion, 5th VC Regiment was supported by the Bien Hoa Sapper Company; its mission was to overrun the compound, which was defended by about 15 ARVN soldiers and a smattering of MACV advisers. Zabecki remembers taking his place on the wall with his M-79 grenade launcher. 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 realized we were driving past our objective, halted the company and called for the 2nd Platoon to find a place to turn around. They both hobbled through the rest of the days fighting. 9. Charlie Companys 3rd Platoon was also detached for a security mission inside the base. In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. 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. In addition we detained more than 20 probable VC fighters dressed in civilian clothes. I went through the quarters making sure everyone As dawn broke on February 1, it was deathly quiet. 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. Flames consuming huts. (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]). M-113 APCs of the 9th Infantry Division storm VC positions 200 meters outside II Field Force headquarters at Long Binh on February 1, 1968. GV EXPLOSIONS, AMERICAN SOLDIERS IN F/G. To ensure you can use all the features please enable it. The scout platoon had fought . This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army Center of Military History. Views of a number of huts, in the hamlet, that have not been destroyed. (Vietnam War period). Four men were killed and more than 20 wounded, including most of the officers. It then dawned on us that the VC were throwing down their weapons, changing clothes and slipping away. The armed helicopter teams had a field day shooting guerrillas trying to flee into the jungle. We left the clearing of Bien Hoa City in the capable hands of the 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. I walked back to my track, thinking this was going to be a real nightmare. Casper rose from a prone position and yelled for his troops to follow him. who was tossed into a sewage ditch by the explosion, remembers 'killing the jeep' with his M-16. My plan was to make captain and go to Vietnam as an experienced company commander. THE EXPLOSIONS RATTLED WINDOWS IN SAIGON, ABOUT 13 MILES (20 KILOMETERS) AWAY. We had run through the rear of the 274th VC Regiment, which was attacking the airfield. Refusing evacuation, neither reported his wound. Troops opened their attacks with volleys of grenades, then went in shooting. In January 1968, our battalion relocated to the area between Xuan Loc and Bien Hoa, where intelligence had located a VC battalion. 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. Soon we could hear leaders moving up and down the bunker line yelling for the guards to stop firing. 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. 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. I was to be a platoon leader again, in Charlie Company, commanded by Captain John Ionoff. As I remember the Tet Offensive began in the early morning of I realize now that the track was high enough that the rounds would have passed over the troops in front of the vehicle, Love recalls. 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. 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. 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. 0.04 All rights reserved. Incredibly, nobody in my company had been killed the day before. I was told to forget about them, which reinforced our feeling that this situation was different and that combat was certainly imminent. I assigned areas of operation to my two rifle platoons, and positioned the weapons platoon inside the compound as a reserve and security force. As 1st Lt. Brice Barnes led his scout platoon into the edge of Ho Nai, he ran full speed into a hornets nest. Alpha Company, still licking its wounds from the January 23 fight, was left intact. 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. There was an ammo dump explosion in 1968 also and both 1967 and 1968 are correct and were of course separate incidents. As I remember this night, around 12 or 12:30 a.m. the sirens We fired all we had into the buildings lining the roadway and took several wounded while getting to the church. As the scouts escaped, the volume of enemy fire began to slacken, then died altogether. In April 1967 I was a first lieutenant commanding a rifle company in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C. Seems like the fighting went on I was having a few beers with several other sailors in the outside screened patio area of the Navy EM Club when we heard a noise to our left. 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. We usually got mortared at night whenever Dong Tam was getting it from our district. The only trouble was that Charlie Company tracks were sitting in the road right in front of their bunkers. Long Binh, again (Feb. 1967). In another sign that the situation was serious, the battalion commander himself gave map coordinates of company objectives in the clear. With small-arms fire cracking overhead, young girls carrying bottles of Coca-Cola were trying to sell them to the troops. THE EXPLOSIONS RATTLED WINDOWS IN SAIGON, ABOUT 13 MILES (20 KILOMETERS) AWAY. The idea was to leave nothing the VC might use against us. [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. I told him about the order to clear an area of operations equal in size to that assigned the airborne battalion. As the scouts escaped, the volume of enemy fire began to slacken, then died altogether. I operated a heavy five Toward dark, airstrikes had to be called in to blast the VC from the hill. I almost did At the headquarters of the 2nd Battalion (Mechanized), 47th Infantry (2-47), nicknamed the Panthers, the commander, Lt. Col. Arthur Moreland, asked me what job I wanted.