After I got the coordinates of our objective, I yelled, Crank em up! into the radio handset. Shoe of soldier on ground. At the beginning of the Tet Offensive, one rifle company was ordered to to clear the village of Ho Nai, a Bien Hoa suburb. 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. The three companies formed a line almost three kilometers long, facing east, with their backs to the Long Binh wire, based on the mistaken assumption that the VC would attack from the jungle. The Vietnamese general and the III Corps G3 adviser, however, were not very happy when we pulled out. According to the official history of the VC 5th Division, the 3rd Battalion, 5th VC Regiment, supported by the Bien Hoa Sapper Company, had the mission of overrunning the compound, which was defended by about 15 ARVN soldiers and a smattering of MACV advisers. Charlie Company was ordered to a large open field across Highway 15 from the Long Thanh airfield. A spokesman for the South Vietnamese command said that, according to unconfirmed re ports, satchel charges, of the type used by Vietcong sabotage squads were found near the dump. Officers and soldiers examine barbed wire fence where Vietcong broke through to enter Longbinh ammunition dump. This is a digitized version of an article from The Timess print archive, before the start of online publication in 1996. The combat around III Corps headquarters was intense. He replied that I would have to wait. SAIGON, South Vietnam, June 1 (Reuters)Explosions ripped through a huge ammu nition dump near here today, killing one soldier and wound ing 13. 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. officer around. In mid-September, when Ionoff moved to battalion to become the operations officer (S3), I assumed command of Charlie Company. (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]). Around midnight on October 29th, 1966, the Viet Cong mortared or rocketed the Long Binh Ammo Dump. [2]:3523, General Weyand later noted that in their attacks on the Saigon area "Despite the large number of Communist troops committed, insufficient force was applied in any one area to take and hold the objectiveThe assault had been launched piecemeal and it was repulsed piecemeal in a series of relatively small battles. Casper rose from a prone position and yelled for his troops to follow him. Ly's grandfather was a soldier stationed in Quang Binh during the war. [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. We could ride, walk or be airlifted to war, travel great distances in a short amount of time, and arrive with many times the ammunition and equipment that could be lifted in by helicopter. Craven and another photographer, were both wounded in the engagement.) I said again, "Who is there"? As dawn broke, everything was deathly quiet. [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. Since I was in an airborne unit, I was sure I would go to the 173rd Airborne Brigade or the 101st Airborne Division. After much frequency changing, I finally got the commander of the bunker guards on the radio. 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. Dong Ha vietnam 1968 | Dong Ha ammo dump explosion from NVA artillery fire. There was an ammo dump explosion in 1968 also and both 1967 and 1968 are correct and were of course separate incidents. [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. Tower ordered Charlie Company to attack eastward to clear the village of Ho Nai, a suburb of Bien Hoa. THE EXPLOSIONS RATTLED WINDOWS IN SAIGON, ABOUT 13 MILES (20 KILOMETERS) AWAY. . We could shoot about 21 miles into Cambodia. I have . Unconfirmed reports reports said the blasts were . 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. Its predominantly Catholic population was made up of many Vietnamese who fled North Vietnam in 1954 after the Viet Minh victory. Another VC battalion infiltrated near the area of the 3rd Ordnance (Long Binh) ammunition dump [and] in a few moments, the huge dump became a fireball. He wanted to borrow one of our tracks. An accurate body count could never be compiled since so many VC bodies were dragged away or were burned in the many fires that ravaged the towns and villages. NEARER AIR V..SMOKE The armed helicopter teams had a field day shooting guerrillas who tried to escape to the nearby jungles. After the roadblock was cleared and communications restored, Charlie Company continued toward its objective. He started I told the colonel that this was not a police action, that we werent searching houses, we were in combat. At dawn on 2 February the US counted approximately 50 VC/PAVN dead in the area and captured 3 VC. remembered the 1SGT told him the first thing he was to get into Somehow the foam trucks from We found out later from captured VC that many guerrillas had been given only two magazines for their weapons. Not only would I not finish my command tour, but I was also being assigned to a leg division. Charlie Company slammed into the VC before they could get their attack organized. (Vietnam War period). Bravo Company was sent to protect the Long Binh ammunition dump, and Charlie Company was ordered into downtown Bien Hoa, where the ARVN III Corps headquarters was in danger of being overrun. In command for five months, I had been assured that I would be leading the company for one year, which suited me fine. convoy about two days before and were repairing anything that had failed As we made the turn eastward on Highway 1, the lead platoon was ambushed. while we were gone. 118th during the Tet of 1968, also called the Defense of Bien The only trouble was that Charlie Company tracks were sitting in the road right in front of their bunkers. Lieutenant Barnes and one of his soldiers would be awarded Distinguished Service Crosses for their heroism that day. 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. 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 (Mechanized), 47th Infantry. APCs advance, firing 50 caliber machine guns. 0.28 I explained to the colonel that this was not a police action, and that we werent searching houses, we were in combat. 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. Although initially surprised, U.S. forces had reacted quickly. Zabecki remembers taking his place on the wall with his M-79 grenade launcher. When we arrived, we filed off the busses . As 1st Lt. Brice Barnes led his scout platoon into the edge of Ho Nai, he ran full speed into a hornets nest. At that time, I received a call on my company frequency from the battalion commander, Colonel Tower, asking how things were going. Script is copyright Reuters Limited. Contact Us | Men at Long Binh ammunition dump. The VC had run out of ammunition and were trying to escape. As dawn broke on February 1, it was deathly quiet. He waved me off. In addition, we were tremendously flexible. (National Archives), https://www.historynet.com/lt-col-john-e-gross-recalls-the-tet-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. [6]:12, Several dozen of the PAVN rockets exploded near the II Field Force and 199th LIB headquarters in the Plantation Compound (105728N 1065241E / 10.9577N 106.878E / 10.9577; 106.878) causing minimal damage. As the sun sank low, 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. 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. Bravo Company (one member of which was Spc. Bravo Company was sent to protect the Long Binh ammunition dump and Charlie Company was ordered into downtown Bien Hoa, where the ARVN III Corps headquarters was in danger of being overrun. I walked back to my track, thinking this was going to be a real nightmare. It involved transfer of powder projectiles and fuses enough to keep 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 reacted quickly to reinforce Alpha, and a daylong fight ensued. 1.19 Incredibly, nobody in my company had been killed the day before. Fred Casper, one of the bravest of the brave, was killed during the May offensive at the Y Bridge in Saigon, leading from the front as was his custom. As my airborne mentality faded, I learned to love the M-113or track, as we called it. the bunker. 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. I had been in Vietnam about nine months. Relevant to these events; post recollections and descriptions, questions,. The North Vietnamese Army had circled 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. carried on into that night with tracers flying everywhere. Realizing I had not eaten for 24 hours, I looked for some breakfast, but all I could find was a bag of pistachio nuts. [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. Featured Collections | and the perimeter was still intact. As my airborne mentality faded, I learned to love the M-113or track. We could haul more personal gear, live more comfortably and walk less than straight-leg troops. His battalion was in heavy contact and he had several wounded rangers he needed to evacuate. He said I would have to wait. He said the first thing he could remember was the bore in my M14 barrel had begun to flake off and the wooden stock was 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. (Vietnam War period). As the sun sank over the Long Binh base, they tossed a football and ate cold C rations. When the G3 adviser told me to lend the rangers a track, I told the sergeant that the M-113 was not a tank and to be careful with it. United States officers and soldiers examine barbed wire fence where Vietcong broke through to enter Long Binh. SAIGON, South Vietnam, June 1 (Reuters)Explosions ripped through a huge ammu nition dump near here today, killing one soldier and wound ing 13. When Lieutenant Casper jumped up, our legs became entangled and I tripped him, Ax remembers. Charlie Company would get the mission. During the last week of January, the battalion patrolled the jungles east of Highway 15, near the Binh Son rubber plantation. 12. 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. This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army Center of Military History. We carried concertina wire, sand bags and hundreds of Claymores and trip flares to make our defensive positions practically impenetrable. Come back up on the battalion freq. I had never been so happy in my life. As darkness settled in, Charlie Company was ordered to move back the way it had come, to the junction of Highways 1 and 316, where we would form a screen in front of the 199th LIB base camp. Our arrival had canceled fears that III Corps headquarters might be overrun. charred. The first explosion was While much has been written about Tet and the political firestorm that resulted, in the hundreds of surprise battles and skirmishes that unfolded, individual units found themselves thrust into intense danger, turmoil, chaos, confusion, contradictions and outright lunacy as they responded to Viet Cong (VC) attacks. 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. Copyright Screenocean 2022 | Powered byImagen. wire on the top of LBJ (Long Binh Jail). All day civilians had been darting from their homes and running from the fighting. He assigned one to the airborne battalion and the other to Charlie Company. Unfortunately for the VC, they had no weapons other than the RPG launcher. Long Binh ammo dump was one of the biggest ordnance storage areas in the country. This is the story of one rifle company, and what it faced on that decisive day. Now Our area from the 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. A soldier, who has been hit, lying prone between two other soldiers, tries to get up. 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. 7. "I was the 1SGT of the While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. After telling them to stop shooting I went through the quarters making sure everyone Lieutenant Barnes and one of his soldiers would be awarded Distinguished Service Crosses for their heroism that day. It had been over two days and many of us had no sleep. [3]:2305 By dawn the VC/PAVN were retreating northwards pursued by helicopter gunships and at 06:15 Company C, 4/12th Infantry began moving north in pursuit, intending to pin the VC/PAVN against a force from Company B, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment which was moving south. On that fateful night, explosions began at the bomb dump, I immediately responded to CSC as the SP's . At 0400 Jones ordered us to pull in our ambushes and be prepared to move. The 2nd Platoon, under Lieutenant Fred Casper, led the way, followed by my track, then Lieutenant Howard Jones 1st Platoon and, finally, the weapons platoon under Lieutenant Don Muir. The progress was slow and ammunition was becoming a scarce, particularly grenades, which city fighting consumes at an enormous rate. Unconfirmed reports reports said the blasts were the work of Vietcong sabotage teams. During the meeting, a master sergeant adviser to a Vietnamese ranger battalion ran into the compound. We fired all we had into the buildings lining the roadway and took several wounded while getting to the church. The churches were cleared in short order. Attacking Long 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. Several soldiers gathered in front of the track to help the wounded, and Love climbed up to man the .50-caliber. By July 1969 we were finally off the boats and in Dong Tam processing to head home. Their 81mm mortars were useless, since we were told we could not put any indirect fire into the town. Ive just been told you work for me again. 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. 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. The progress was slow and ammo was becoming scarce, particularly grenades, which get consumed at an enormous rate in city fighting. 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 bus ride to 90th Replacement was relatively short and everyone seemed exhausted from the long flight. This article incorporates public domain material from the .mw-parser-output cite.citation{font-style:inherit;word-wrap:break-word}.mw-parser-output .citation q{quotes:"\"""\"""'""'"}.mw-parser-output .citation:target{background-color:rgba(0,127,255,0.133)}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-free a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-free a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Lock-green.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .id-lock-registration a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-limited a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-registration a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d6/Lock-gray-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .id-lock-subscription a,.mw-parser-output .citation .cs1-lock-subscription a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Lock-red-alt-2.svg")right 0.1em center/9px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-ws-icon a{background:url("//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/Wikisource-logo.svg")right 0.1em center/12px no-repeat}.mw-parser-output .cs1-code{color:inherit;background:inherit;border:none;padding:inherit}.mw-parser-output .cs1-hidden-error{display:none;color:#d33}.mw-parser-output .cs1-visible-error{color:#d33}.mw-parser-output .cs1-maint{display:none;color:#3a3;margin-left:0.3em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-format{font-size:95%}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-left{padding-left:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .cs1-kern-right{padding-right:0.2em}.mw-parser-output .citation .mw-selflink{font-weight:inherit}Air Force Historical Research Agency. As the 2nd Platoon began to run short, Spc. As the scouts escaped, the volume of enemy fire began to slacken, then died altogether. Painting outside. During this fighting, the two platoon leaders were wounded, Lieutenant Casper in the leg and Lieutenant Jones in the foot. The battalion made only sporadic contact and suffered few casualties. 14. The action occurs January 31st, 1968 (on "Tet", the Vietnamese Lunar New Year holiday). 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. 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. 102 comments 105 shares. October continued with construction efforts. As 1st Lt. Brice Barnes led his scouts into Ho Nai, he ran full speed into a hornets nest. rockets at Bien Hoa AB and Long Binh Post. Through sporadic fire, we continued northwest on Highway 15 to where it intersected Highway 1 on the western edge of Bien Hoa. only be entered from off the Bien Hoa Air base and thru the gate HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. LV EXPLOSION, SIGN ON BOARD "DISNEY LAND FAR EAST" View of surrounding areas. Aerial view of (USARV) United States Army Republic of Vietnam Headquarters Complex at Long Binh, Vietnam. Fires were burning late into the afternoon. 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. SV AMERICAN SOLDIERS AND EXPLOSION When Lieutenant Casper jumped up, our legs became entangled and I tripped him, Ax remembers. U.S. troops firing small arms as they proceed across tall grass into the hamlet. Several tracks were hit by RPGs and surrounded by the enemy. 0.35 unless they could see someone, I went to our Operations shack We carried concertina wire, sand bags and hundreds of Claymore mines and trip flares to make our defensive positions practically impenetrable. ton wrecker weighing in at 22 thousand pounds. 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. [3]:242, The VC/PAVN attacks were a failure. Although initially surprised, U.S. forces had reacted quickly and, despite what was reported in the press, American and ARVN forces handed the VC a devastating defeat during Tet. the airbase made it too us in the daylight and foamed the ditch for 939939. 3. His two daughters, Ly's mother and her sister, are disabled. Something was definitely about to happen. At the time of the HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. 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. Alpha Company, still licking its wounds from the January 23 fight, was left intact. 4 Joseph Dames was tasked to return to the tracks for more grenades. 13. I had inherited the job remember being giddy and my brain was asking What is wrong with me?. Destroyed and burned out ammunition pad shows burned out 105mm howitzer shells. Company B, 4th Battalion, 39th Infantry, which was placed under the operational control of the 2-47, made a combat air assault under fire into the middle of the Widows Village battle and fought bravely beside the Panthers all day long. (Long Binh) ammunition dump. I yelled at Lieutenant Casper and everybody looked around as the VC tore out running the last few yards to safety. As we made the turn eastward on Highway 1, the lead platoon was ambushed. We threw grenades over the wall behind them, but hit nothing.. Tom Allaback. Simultaneously, platoon leaders reported finding discarded AK-47s. The three companies formed a line almost three kilometers long, facing to the east, with their backs to the Long Binh wire. Each APC could carry almost as much ammunition as a dismounted rifle company. Tower ordered Charlie Company to attack eastward to clear the village of Ho Nai, a Bien Hoa suburb. GV DUMP flight line and I was checking the bunker for anyone, I heard [2]:347 Weyand also requested the 1st Australian Task Force (1 ATF) to defend the eastern approaches to Long Binh/Bien Hoa and 1 ATF had commenced Operation Coburg on 24 January. That night, frightened bunker guards in the 199th compound shot into the darkness to their front. Get under! 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. One of the children in the Hope System of Care is Nguyen Thi Ly, born in 2001 with a deformed face, head and chest. Most of we RAD 152 crew members arrived in-country on July 22, 1968. That was 90th Replacement Battalion, situated on the road to Saigon between the village of Bien Hoa and the huge base at Long Binh. who was tossed into a sewage ditch by the explosion, remembers 'killing the jeep' with his M-16. This was no surprise to us, since we could plainly hear the enemy rounds slamming into Long Binh. Binh Hoa Airbase was lucky they were not the Long Binh ammo dump was one of the 0.42 Tower sent Major Jones to take command, and once Alpha got moving, it did a magnificent job. We all knew these moves were more than precautionary. The battle proved significant, as Alphas leadership was seriously depleted immediately prior to Tet. 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. We left the clearing of Bien Hoa City in the capable hands of the 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry. 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. There, Charlie Company soldiers joined ARVN and U.S. MACV soldiers manning the walls. About a month earlier I had been loaned out to weld the razor It dawned on us that the VC were throwing down their weapons, changing clothes and slipping away. After all had left for the Later, captured VC said many guerrillas only had two magazines for their weapons in expectation that the population would rise up against the Americans and have plenty of captured weapons to fight with. and the gunner replied "VC Perpetual Siege region. At 03:45 the unit engaged the VC/PAVN with 2 ACAVs being quickly knocked out by RPG fire. 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. History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. Activity in the area had picked up in November and 4 "Late in the war" 1 comment. Even though it was about 6-8 miles away to the NE of Bien Hoa, it was plainly visible . to contact the Commanding Officer(MAJ Guidroz). [3]:2204, On 1 February Company B, 2/3rd Infantry, Company C, 4/12th Infantry and elements of 2/47th Infantry swept Ho Nai finding only dead VC/PAVN and civilians who had been murdered by the VC or killed in the fighting in the town. mortar rounds and 90 122-mm. To preserve these articles as they originally appeared, The Times does not alter, edit or update them. As I remember the Tet Offensive began in the early morning of Tower sent the battalion S3, Major Jones, to take command, and once Alpha got moving, it did a magnificent job. With a push-to-talk button stuck in the transmit position, no one could use the radio. I operated a heavy five [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. I assigned areas of operation to my two rifle platoons and positioned the weapons platoon inside the compound as a reserve and security force. Widows Village made a perfect attack position, since it lay directly across Highway 316 from II Field Force headquarters. 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. . January 12, 1972. by: Arnold John Houchin Bin Ha, USAF 3rd Security Police Squadron 1970-1972 Phu Cat, 37th SPS; Thu Hoa, 31st SPS; . [7], The Tet offensive attacks and previous losses due to mortar and rocket attacks on air bases across South Vietnam led the Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Nitze on 6 March 1968 to approve the construction of 165 "Wonderarch" roofed aircraft shelters at the major air bases. [American sources in Vien tiane said, as quoted by The Associated Press, that the captured American was prob ably the pilot of a Continent al Air Service plane that was forced to land behind Pathet Lao lines after running out of fuel. Meanwhile, Charlie Company was ordered back to III Corps. the barracks hall just as he stepped out of his room going to 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. With small-arms fire cracking overhead, young girls carrying bottles of Coca-Cola were trying to sell them to the troops. U.S. military officials vVould not give the exact number of casualties for security reasons. But no one would be leaving the country that day. Waking Dead. 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. Soon we could hear leaders moving up and down the bunker line yelling for the guards to stop firing. I walked back to my track, thinking this was going to be a nightmare.