In 1968, a group of black inmates were fed up with their treatment and the war. Citation Nr: 0307323 Decision Date: 04/16/03 Archive Date: 04/24/03 DOCKET NO. . About 11:30 p.m., the gunship was diverted from patrol over the village of Lai Kai, north of Long Binh. Dad wanted to be buried standing up. Terms & Conditions | History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. Large images may take a few minutes to appear. Amazingly five or six Viet Cong actually did sneak into the compound, but, luckily or unluckily for my sake, depending on the outcome, not in my area. On 19 February, a defector surrendered to Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) forces and revealed a large VC force would attack key installations in the Saigon area to include Long Binh Post.Unfortunately, the reporting was delayed and did not reach Long Binh until the morning of 22 February 1969, the day the defector . U.S. Navy Douglas A-4E Skyhawks from Attack Squadrons VA-163 Saints and VA-164 Ghost Riders attack the Phuong Dinh railroad bypass bridge, 10 kilometers north of Thanh Hoe, North Vietnam, on September 10, 1967. This was teh first time the M551 Sheridan was in action in the Blackhorse Regiment. This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Marine Corps. Brigadier General Francis J. Roberts addresses troops. See Long Binh photos and images from satellite below, explore the aerial photographs of Long Binh in Vietnam. Textual Records: Correspondence and daily journal, 1972-73. Under Col. Robert Smoker, Task Force 99s new commander, the unit will continue to try to cut through red tape and field new systems quickly. All was relatively quiet until approximately 11:30 p.m., when suddenly a string of 82 mm mortar rounds marched directly across our end of the headquarters complex. The Tet lunar new year of 1968the one history remembershad seen large-scale coordinated attacks on cities, provincial capitals, and bases all over South Vietnam. These units made occasional contact, often with PAVN or VC who fought stubbornly from trenches and spider holes. More recently, Enlisted Heritage Hall obtained a surplus C-47 and converted it to a mock-up of an AC-47, with the colors and markings that Spooky 71 bore in February 1969. Thus, my daily mission (with the aid of my eight-man crew) was to account for all the ammunition in South Vietnam, at least every round not yet in the hands of the fighting troops. Week of December 12-18, 2021: Heroism Amidst an Ambush, December 17, 1968. DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press. Tet 1969 refers to the attacks mounted by the People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and Viet Cong (VC) in February 1969 in South Vietnam during the Vietnam War, one year after the original Tet Offensive. On 29 October the Viet Cong attacked the South Vietnamese district capital of Loc Ninh, ran up the flag of the National Liberation Front, and tried to hold the city. Answer (1 of 6): Now I can answer that from a very odd perspective. Even in the navigation compartment the flash lit up the inside of the aircraft like daylight. [1], In the early morning hours of 26 February, a force of approximately 400 men from the VC 275th Regiment, 5th Division, had infiltrated into the tiny village of Thai Hiep on the outskirts of Bien Hoa. We're weird, he said. Then came a sound akin to that of large paper sacks tearing, as AH-1 Cobra helicopter gunships began strafing the battlefield with 7.62 mm minigun bullets fired at the rate of about 4,000 rounds per minute. Soldiers counting the notes. There was also a Vietnamese liaison officer. We had no bunkers. On top of that came the domino theory of 1954, invented by then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Soon we received word that every spare man was to report for perimeter duty, and within minutes my entire crew had been spirited away, leaving me to fend for myself. Since my finger was through the safety pin ring the safety pin was pulled.. It would light up, oh, about half a mile, a good area, quite brightly, Levitow said. It was nothing like what I saw in my imagination or what is shown in movie theaters or on television. "6 To Face Murder Charges for G.I.'s Riot in Prison." New York Times, October 1, 1968, p. 3. F-100C Super Sabre 54-1956 120 TFS, 35 TFW, USAF . The series of assaults met heavy resistance by the battalion of PAVN who had turned the villagers sandbagged shelters into a series of well-fortified defensive positions. The idea seemed absurd! He was filling in for a loadmaster who had taken his place when he was sick. This article was written by John E. Gross and originally published in the February 2008 issue of Vietnam Magazine. Ni bt nht; Gn y; Gi. 1 minigun and a jumble of spilled ammunition. It includes footage shot between 17 Feb and 24 Feb 1969. Soldiers walk around outside the headquarters. Nothing was more effective than a gunship in breaking up such attacks. Copyright 2023. The Army always tries to capitalize on a soldiers individual strengths. The two huge U.S. bases dripped firepowerdozens of batteries of field artillery, large calibers and small, rows and rows of helicopter gunships and jet fighters loaded to the gills with the most lethal ordnance the world has ever seen, dozens of M113 armored personnel carriers with powerful .50-caliber machine guns manned by surly military police, and, of course, hundreds of trigger-happy clerks and truck drivers, not necessarily eager, but most definitely ready, for action. It was modified from the C-47 transport aircraft, plenty of which were available. One of the MP ambush squads held a position within a kilometer of the VC stronghold. If it ignited, it would quickly fill the aircraft with toxic smoke, incapacitating the entire crew. Banned from the Long Binh O'Club: The Club was a . It was full until ruptured in the battle. Later I learned that we were attacked by the 274th Regiment, 5th Viet Cong Division, which was repulsed by the firepower of the 720th Military Police Battalion, the 18th Military Police Brigade and helicopter gunships from the 145th Aviation Battalion, 1st Aviation Brigade. The nomination package included statements from Carpenter and most of the crew. The three guns were mounted in window ports, just forward of the open cargo door. 44th Medical Brigade Headquarters Long Binh 1969.jpeg 2,079 1,716; 209 KB. Unfortunately, the reporting was delayed and did not reach Long Binh until the morning of 22 February 1969, the day the defector warned the attacks were set to begin. 472.6.8 Records of the U.S. Army Central Finance and Accounting Office, Vietnam. Spooky 71 had gone as far as it was going. On December 1, 1969 at 8:13 P.M. EST my birthday was randomly drawn as Number 36 for the draft in the first National Lottery . This attack was going to be a big one.. The last pocket along the An Tan ridgeline proved more difficult and Company L, 3/7 Marines suffered numerous casualties forcing it to withdraw. His grieving son had no option but to file away those unanswered questions forever. The threat of communism was pounded into our heads all through elementary and high school at Rock Valley, Iowa. [4]:99, The PAVN/VC attacks on Da Nang were a failure resulting in more than 500 dead. "Riot at Long Binh Stockade Attributed to Racial Acts." New York Times, September 4, 1968, p. 38. Near Saigon, the VC made attacks on Long Binh and Bien Hoa. Edward Fuzie, the flight engineer] were knocked to the floor and the flare was knocked out of my hands. Ambush at Ap Nhi. Poor guys; they didn't stand a chance. Some speculate that the attacks were mounted to test the will of the new U.S. President Richard Nixon who retaliated by secretly bombing PAVN/VC sanctuaries in Cambodia the following month. John L. Levitow. If your URL is correct, you'll see an image preview here. This region includes ten provinces: Binh Duong, Binh Hyua, Binh Long, Binh Tuy, Hau Nghia, Long An, Long Kahnh, Phuoc Long, Phuac Tuy Tay Ninh. The intense heat of the flare would burn rapidly through the aluminum floor of the cargo bay and drop on the empennage control cables, destroying them and causing the aircraft to go out of control. As Ole-Luk-Oie, the pen name for British officer Ernest Swinton, wrote in the 1915 book. Spookys operators had successfully resisted pressure to change the call sign. In my case it was my unusual ability to count. Three B Company ambush squads were positioned along the eastern end of the TAOR on the "Finger Of Land," and a reinforced squad of twelve MP's, including two Scout Dog handlers from the 212th MP Company, were positioned on Hill-15 along the Buong River. Aviation gas was leaking from the fuel lines on the right side, and that wasnt all. The loadmaster on Spooky 71 was A1C John L. Levitow, 23, from Glastonbury, Conn. It was presented in ceremonies in February 2002 by his son to CMSgt. Viet Cong attack on Tan Son Nhut Air Base (1966) Part of the Vietnam War: Date: 4-5 December 1966: Location: Tan Son Nhut Air Base, South Vietnam. A soldier counts his notes at the typist's desk. And yet there was nobody, absolutely nobody, visible out there. He delivered the keynote address. He worked in "The Iron Triangle" included Phu loi, Ton sahn Nut, and Long B. The occupants were helplessly slammed against the floor and fuselage like so many rag dolls., At that moment, a loud explosion was heard and a bright flash filled the aircraft, said Maj. William P. Platt, the navigator. This was a bit disconcerting. Ahead of the release of Pentagons 2024 budget release in the coming weeks, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin touted major investments by the DOD across a broad array of portfolios, including the nuclear triad, space, and next-generation fighter aircraftwhile promising once-in-a-generation expenditures for shipyards and munitions manufacturing in particular. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. center, as they run down Route 1 near Trang Bang after an aerial napalm attack on suspected Viet Cong hiding places on June 8, 1972. ARVN casualties were 10 killed and 100 wounded and one US Army photographer was killed. Thus, Spooky 71 was leaking two highly inflammable substances. Troops lined up on a field. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Nowhere, however, is Levitows memory recalled more vividly than at the Enlisted Heritage Research Institute at the Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy at Maxwell AFB, Gunter Annex, Ala. Levitow willed his Medal of Honor to the Enlisted Heritage Hall there. At approximately 3:30 a.m. on Feb. 23, the battle gradually died out. Facebook. I was a ticket office supervisor with several Vietnamese and Chinese-Vietnamese women reservations/ticket agents. It led the way for the more powerful AC-119 and AC-130 gunships that came later. . Tran Van Thiet, 19, had been left behind. After the massive casualties it suffered during the vicious battles in 1966 and 1967, and especially due to the division's disastrous . . Long Binh/Bien Hoa; Da Nang; References; External links; Most attacks centered on military targets near Saigon and Da Nang and were quickly beaten off. After years of Army training one cannot help but itch for a shot at the enemy, especially when all the advantages are on ones own side. We heard later that the VC who attacked were trained as something akin to Peace Corps workers in North Vietnam, but when they arrived in South Vietnam, they met with a VC commander who told them that there was only one more small pocket of corrupt "fat desk soldiers" to root out in order to rid South Vietnam completely of U.S. soldiers. Video TikTok t Thnh Long Jr (@thlongjr): "Bn tng xem qua v phim attack on Titan bao gi cha? #anime #attackontitan". They tell me I ended up jumping on it, finally getting control and dragging myself and the flare back to the rear cargo door which was open and just managed to push it outside the door as it ejected and ignited simultaneously., Later, the citation to accompany the Medal of Honor put it this way: Unable to grasp the rolling flare with his hands, he threw himself bodily upon the burning flare. Scenes of Viet Cong bodies around the perimeter of the base.Please Note! Privacy Policy | Links Note the attacking Skyhawk in the lower right and one directly left of the explosions on the bridge. The 199th later became known as the "Redcatchers" for its mission objectiveto seek out and destroy Communist cadres in Vietnam. Stacks of 155mm artillery shells are loaded onto a truck by a crane, in groups of 16 at a time, on wooden skids holding 8 apiece.The soldiers are stripped to the waist. Most of us were "Regular Army," almost a year into a 3-year hitch. Surely neither the. Location: Long Binh Vietnam. It's not widely known that during the course of the Vietnam Conflict, about 2 million (2,000,000) VC and NVA were killed -- which was about 15 percent of North Vietnam's 13 million population. Over the years, there were numerous other recognitions. The miniguns fired four rounds of invisible ball bullets followed by one tracer round, but the bullets came so fast they looked like a continuous red stream. He reported to the 3rd Special Operations Squadron at Nha Trang in July 1968 and was assigned to the squadrons forward operating location at Bien Hoa. I am the historian for the 11th Armored Cavalry Veterans of Vietnam and Cambodia (11th ACVVC). When attacking, Spooky rolled into a level 30-degree bank turn, flying at an airspeed of almost 140 mph. The villagers met elements of the South Vietnamese 5th Marine Battalion, the 3rd Battalion, 48th Infantry Regiment, 18th Division and the 3rd Squadron, 5th Armored Cavalry moving on the road less than a half mile from Thai Hiep in response to the contact at the air base. So proficient had I become at this task that I had acquired the nickname Lieutenant Bullets. Officially, however, I was an ammunition stock control officer in the Army Ordnance Corps. The Viet Cong had constructed some sort of headquarters compound, or staging area, or supply depot or maybe even an officers club. Supported videos include: Carpenter waved off taxi instructions from the tower and the crew got out fast. . 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. Records relating to the Christmas mail program, 1969-72. During the Vietnam War, Long Binh Post was the U.S. Army's largest base located in the former South Vietnam. A soldier with a typewriter creates a receipt. Furthermore, the flare would be burning at a temperature of 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit. 99-08 286 ) DATE ) ) On appeal from the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in St. Louis, The rifle was accompanied by a single magazine of tracer roundsbullets treated with a chemical that creates a trail of light when fired. His most recent article, Rolling Thunder, appeared in the March issue. Two stints one for 6 months and another for 7. Carpenter set it down in a full shuddering stall. at the 24th Evacuation Hospital in Long Binh, South Vietnam, both patient and unit members, to find each other and join in the. It was Feb. 24, 1969, and the second day of the Tet counteroffensive. License Agreement | On 7 February Company D, 1st Battalion, 26th Marines found a PAVN/VC base area near the Nam O bridge northwest of the Red Beach Base Area, leaving the base untouched, they returned at night setting up a series of ambushes that killed 18 PAVN and captured 2. United States and South Vietnamese forces responded with . I was not in this Regiment, but I believe I may have observed some of the Regiment's activities the day of the attack. 1st Signal Brigade 1966-1972, Saigon, Long Binh VISIT HOME PAGE 101st Airborne Division 1965-1971, Bien Hoa, Phan Rang, Phu Bai VISIT HOME PAGE 9th Infantry Division 1966-1969, Bear Cat, Dong Tam Aerial view of Long Binh Post in Vietnam. The miniguns fired four rounds of invisible ball bullets followed by one tracer round, but the bullets came so fast they looked like a continuous red stream. Very seldom did we ever fire fast rounds at 18,000 rounds a minute because it had a tendency to turn the airplane. Jerry Breast/U.S. The Tet 1969 offensive was carried out mostly by Viet Cong irregulars. Inside the aircraft is a mannequin of Levitow, struggling to get the flare to the door. .Anyway, the U.S. effort in Vietnam was (believe it or not) ultimately successful, for at the end, it was politically untenable for the Soviet Union to establish at Cam Ranh Bay its coveted "warm water" nuclear submarine base --- which, to my thinking, was what Vietnam was all about. Day scenes show soldiers defending positions and firing at the enemy. . Vehicles drive past on roads between the Long Binh Post area. The Long Binh/Bien Hoa complex was huge, with thousands of soldiers and airmen assigned to the combined logistics complex and air base. The Space Development Agency has added another batch of missile-tracking satellites to its expansive constellation, awarding Raytheon a $250 million contract March 2 to build seven spacecraft. The Long Binh Army post, adjacent to Spookys home base at Bien Hoa, was under mortar attack. About Us | 128 KB. NEW on HistoryNet: Attack on Long Binh, a 1969 Viet Cong attack on a US logistics base in Vietnam #VietnamWar http://trib.al/poYUWdo Trang ch> attack on Titan final season 3 part 1 > Bnh lun 6. Many features may not work properly without it. Jim Van Eldik is a retired Army lieutenant colonel. 3 Lt xem. Most estimates put the Viet Cong deaths at over 100. Instructions to promote Levitow to sergeant without regard to skill level had not been followed. There was another motivation for Tran as he attacked the American base. Some of our troops had recaptured it from the VC a few months before. He will look for photos. [4]:97, After midnight on 23 February Company K, 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines and Company D, 1st Military Police Battalion detected VC approaching the Song Cau Do river bridges and attacked them killing 47 and capturing 11. Surely neither the Viet Cong nor North Vietnamese Army would attempt such a suicidal mission. Johanalvheey 1 ting trc. The Hot War (1968-October 1969) The Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army in late 1967 launched several costly attacks. The pilot was Maj. Kenneth B. Carpenter, flying his first combat mission as aircraft commander. (Vietnam War period). The base was host to US Army Headquarters. Hamby advises McIntosh to . 23 February, Attack on Long Binh Post The rumors of an impending attack became fact when at 0200 hours [2:00 AM] the first enemy rockets soared across the eastern end of the TAOR and landed on Long Binh Post. At about 03:00, as reconnaissance elements of the unit were observed and engaged by US Air Force security forces at the perimeter of Bien Hoa Air Base, the villagers began to flee their homes, running down streets and creek beds. On 18 February a Company F, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines called in artillery fire on a group of PAVN/VC 5km south of Marble Mountain resulting in 21 secondary explosions believed to be from detonating rockets. 24:11. Slow fire was 3,000 rounds a minute each, or fast fire which was 6,000 rounds a minute each. SUMMARY: On December 17, 1968, a 39-vehicle convoy from the 48th Transportation Group was moving ammunition and food between Long Binh and Dau Tieng, South Vietnam when the lead vehicles were suddenly hit by mortar fire. Privacy Policy2023 CriticalPast LLC. We heard that the commander of the tanks was Col. George S. Patton Jr. Levitows Medal of Honor is prominently displayed at Enlisted Heritage Hall. Aerial view of Long Binh Post in Vietnam. As far as political considerations go, he hardly seemed interested in building a communist utopia at all. The rounds landed on post with some igniting the POL fuel site east of the highway. Unlike our headquarters, theirs was built under a hill rather than on top of one. On 9 May 1969, Pentagon correspondent William Beecher stated that US air raids against ammo dumps and base camps in Cambodia . The award-winning exhibit, designed by curator William I. Chivalette, includes a lifelike mannequin of Levitow, paintings, photographs, uniform items, and artifacts. I had the lanyard on the flare hooked up and my finger through the safety pin ring. Featured Collections | Full-scale sweeping operations to secure the perimeter began just after noon that day. A battalion of the 274th Viet Cong Main Force (VCMF) Regiment of the 5 North Vietnamese Army (NVA) Division, attacked the southern perimeter of Long Binh Post. Seriously wounded were, SSG Slaven the squad leader, SP/4 Robert Cressman, PFC Larry W. Holton, and CPL Lee Van Muon, their Popular Forces Interpreter. He showed up for his typical night shift at the office. At the ceremonies, his son, John L. Levitow Jr., said: I have only one apology to make. He had been nominated for the Medal of Honorat Carpenters urging, Gen. George S. Brown, the 7th Air Force commander, had marked the recommendation up from an Air Force Crossand he was no longer allowed to fly in combat. The Spooky 71 crew could see mortar tube flashes about one mile south of the area of the earlier attack. Din vin Ninh Dng Lan Ngc Ninh Dng Lan Ngc Vit Trinh. Unit flags at the headquarters. The attack continued into 27 February when the Marines overran the PAVN resulting in a total of more than 200 killed. 1965 January 1 - February 7, 1965: Vietcong forces mount a series of attacks across South Vietnam. c chuyn cho qun i Ukraine 1.000 v kh chng xe tng v 500 ha tin di t - trn khng Typ/kiu Stinger (bo vc dch l : tn la t i khng).c cng ng thun cho Holland chuyn cho qun Ukraine 400 Panzerfaeuste/ v kh chng xe tng v cc v kh khc do c ch . I think it was a very discriminatory flight.. The cavalry troopers also stumbled onto a large tunnel complex not more than a mile from our perimeter. Just after 16:00 US Air Force F-100s and F-4s along with Republic of Vietnam Air Force A-1 Skyraiders were directed against the PAVN/VC positions in the village. Bruce Stern at his desk in Long Binh, circa 1968-69. . The last major battle occurred along the berm of the rifle range on Highway 317 in the early morning just after daylight. Long Binh Jail was a prison for American soldiers on the outskirts of Saigon with notoriously harsh conditions. Photo courtesy of Corpman Bill Luppeti HM3 [Rach Soi 1967-1970] We were young men in the U.S. Army. The soldiers with old (MPC) currency notes takes the receipt and proceeds towards the next officer. The first explosion, seemingly an earth-shattering blast, occurred perhaps 30 or 40 yards outside our office, spraying the building with gravel and steel fragments, perforating our walls and windows. Tran, who was from the Haiphong area of North Vietnam, had high expectations for a victory in the attack, according to an interview in Stars and Stripes. Behind the driver, strewn about the passenger seat and floor, was his personal combat gear, including his M14 rifle and several magazines filled with ammunition. In the attack on Bien Hoa Air Base the PAVN lost 264 killed and 87 captured while ARVN losses were 10 killed and US. Sound: No. Part 2 nya min . So here I was, wounds and all, finally managed to stand up and Im lifting 140-pound ammo cans and stuffing them between the guns [so they would not] go flying all around and really hurt somebody, Levitow said. A 70-strong VC force attacked the 2/1 Marines command post 6km south of Marble Mountain losing 17 dead. There are some night scenes of the base under attack showing mostly flares, explosions and gunships firing on enemy targets. Members of the reaction team were, SSG Larry J. Mentink, SGT Dennis E. Wiehle, SP/4 Clinton Brown (WIA), SP/4 Fred H. Pazmino (WIA), SP/4 Clay F. Creamer (WIA), SP/4 Michael A. Coto, PFC Robert S. Johnson, PFC Clinton M. Lloyd (WIA), PFC Simpson and others yet identified. Perhaps a word of explanation is in order on how I and all the others in our mix of volunteers and draftees ended up in this hot, smelly, unsafe corner of the world. (Vietnam War period). Seventh Air Force, among others, expressed concern that transmissions might be intercepted and give warning of the gunships approach to the enemy. The attacks were repulsed with the VC/PAVN suffering heavy losses, having inflicted . DaNang Ammo Dump April 27 1969. Interestingly, the only thing that came readily to mind was a small sign I discovered at one of the outdoor latrines set back in the woods: ALL TERDS [sic.] Levitow had joined the Air Force in June 1966, some 20 days ahead of being drafted into the Army. [4]:99, To the west of Da Nang, shortly after midnight on the 23rd Company M, 3/7 Marines ambushed a PAVN force killing 10 and later that night a larger force was spotted and artillery fire was called in. 11 November SP/4s Jared Kelley and John R. Klemm, tend to their gear during a recon mission in the Tactical Area Of Responsibility. 1971 serving with the 95th Military Police Battalion. I had the aircraft in a 30-degree bank and how Levitow ever managed to get to the flare and throw it out, Ill never know, Carpenter said. The point man for Team #75, SP/4 Cressman, tripped a Viet Cong antipersonnel mine on the trail that runs down from the south side of the hill to the Buong River. Photos (51) by Lou Mengoli, 1967. (Vietnam War period). . I stay away from publicity and things like that. For the first time the U.S. territory of Tinian, a small island around 100 miles north of the American military hub of Guam, hosted F-22 Raptors. I heard that five American soldiers were killed and some 30 wounded. It had been flying in Vietnam since 1964, first with the air commandos and after that with the special operations squadrons. Many of the tracers bounced off the ground like rubber balls. Despite his wounds, Levitow helped secure the airplane on the way back. Background. When it finally ended with the assistance of several Cobra gunbships, 23 enemy dead were discovered. 105837N 1064955E / . Im not going to bring shame on either the medal or myself, so I do watch it very carefully.. A blistering, 148-page document by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) found that Afghan, SDA Taps Raytheon for Seven More Missile-Tracking Satellites, Photos: F-22s Deploy to Tinian for First Time as Part of ACE Exercise, In Message to Force, Austin Touts Once-in-a-Generation Investments, Heres What USAFs Science Board Is Studying Now, Were Weird: New Commander Details Life Inside Task Force 99, Top Pentagon Official: Chinas Air Actions Are Dangerous and Destabilizing, Entire F-35 Fleet to Get Fix for Engine Vibration Issue, Service Will Remain at Heart of King Aerospace No Matter How Aviation and Technology Change, US Set Up Afghans for Failure, With a Force Too Complex to Maintain, IG Says. SSG Richard E, Slaven died from his wounds the next day. Soldiers lined inside the building waiting for their number. Advanced Search | more I am compiling a history of our Regiment's service in the war. The clouds hung low, making flying helicopters . For reasons unknown, it had not been emptied when the AC-47 went to Vietnam. 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. Airman Levitow was setting [the ejection and ignition dials] and handing me the flares, Owen said. Landing short would have been a disaster. At 02:00 on 23 February, the 274th VC Regiment initiated their attack with an estimated 78 rounds of rocket and mortar fire from their positions. Among those present was Carpenter, the commander of Spooky 71, now retired and living in Marshall, Tex. 23 July 1969 - SFC Eddie Hamby escorts Sgt McIntosh to Moc Hoa by boat on first leg of stops heading stateside. We had a perfect view of the VC hill, and it slowly began to dawn on me that for the past seven months, as each evenings shift began with my casually scanning the quiet hills to the south and southeast of Long Binh, there was a fair probability I was being scanned right backlikely by some VC ammo counter busily inventorying his AK-47 bullets, 122 mm rockets, 82 mm mortars and B-40 rocket-propelled grenade rounds, while I counted M16 bullets, Claymore mines and howitzer shells. He decided to try a different specialty after an experience in which the power was not turned off when I thought it was turned off, so he cross trained as a loadmaster. It was an unlucky hit. Shortly before midnight the entire perimeter lit up with machine gun fire. It could lay down an awesome field of fire, with each of its three 7.62 mm Gatling miniguns shooting up to 6,000 rounds per minute. It concentrated on US military installations, especially in the III Corps area around Saigon. --- and so it went for lots of the fighting in Vietnam. Dennis Yenser checks in about Sapper Attack story. Carpenter rolled the gunship wings level and began his run on the mortar positions. If I got stopped drinking and driving, its going to say, Medal of Honor Drunk. I realize that. Mr. Cook served with the 1st Infantry Division, 2-16th Infantry, as a 1st Lieutenant in the Long Binh area of Vietnam. The basic course at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland allocated one week in the field for brushing up on combat skills. Apparently, not much was out there, as there was no firing to speak of. Members of the 1st Squadron 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, surround their M551, Air Droppable Assault Vehicle as they wait for the word to move out, 23 February 1969 Overview; The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong launch artillery attacks on over 100 population centers and military . [4]:99100, PAVN/VC retreating to the south from Da Nang were intercepted by elements of the 1st Marine Regiment and ARVN 1st Battalion, 51st Regiment 11km south of Da Nang losing 139 dead in 3 days of fighting. It was situated between Bien Hoa, the location of a large American airbase, and Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam. I immediately detected signs that all was not right. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. Tet Offensive attack on Long Binh and Bien Hoa 31 January 1968.jpg .
