long binh attack 1969 long binh attack 1969

Partway through the mission he had come forward and was talking to the flight crew when the action unfolded that night. Vehicles drive past on roads between the Long Binh Post area. Troops lined up on a field. As usual, I initially took refuge under my desk, then ordered everyone to rush downstairs on the assumption that any direct hits would likely riddle the upper floor. Others were there, others were wounded, but Levitow being the furthest removed from the flare, recognized the danger, took action when seconds counted, and saved the lives of the entire crew, Carpenter wrote. June The second of two new outpost's was built on the western end of the Finger Of Land. The following is a collection of photographs and letters sent to college friends, dated from 27 November 1969 to 26 May 1970, from John Cook. It was used as a base of operation for the increased ambush and reconnaissance patrols conducted in the uninhabited eastern end of the TAOR. It was thrown out of the aircraft and floated to the ground on a parachute, burning for as long as three minutes with an intensity of two million candlepower and making daylight over a square mile or so. Levitows Medal of Honor is prominently displayed at Enlisted Heritage Hall. To the Air Forces embarrassment, a hero was not eligible to re-enlist. Additional South Vietnamese Regional Force elements moved in and the ARVN troops continued to contain the PAVN/VC forces until 11:00 when assault forces, in the form of the ARVN 36th Ranger Battalion, reinforced the contact. 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. The attack was expected to come on the ground, as opposed to those occasional, more impersonal rocket and mortar shells from the air. 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. Thoughts now turned to what we should do if we came face to face with the enemy. On 23 February 1969, Task Force Privette (A and B Troops, 1st Squadron, 11th Cav and a company of 1st Battalion, 2nd Infantry) reacted to an attack on the Long Binh perimeter, killing 88 NVA. The attack lifted momentarily, and the gunship began dropping flares to provide illumination requested by a nearby ground unit. Privacy Policy2023 CriticalPast LLC. NEW on HistoryNet: Attack on Long Binh, a 1969 Viet Cong attack on a US logistics base in Vietnam #VietnamWar http://trib.al/poYUWdo Jerry Breast/U.S. It weighed 27 pounds. Soldiers give forms to the soldier with type-writer. Viet Cong sappers infiltrated the base and lay in long grass between the runways for several hours before placing their satchel charges. M113 armored personnel carriers and M551 Sheridan armored reconnaissance vehicles supported the forces on the ground while AH-1 Cobra gunships and OH-6 helicopters provided air support. He worked in "The Iron Triangle" included Phu loi, Ton sahn Nut, and Long B. Furthermore, the flare would be burning at a temperature of 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit. I had a real tough time grabbing hold of it with two hands because of the pain in my leg and everything. But a battle was waiting instead. We were young men in the U.S. Army. He was the center of much attention but also the victim of bureaucracy. With no friendly troops visible between me and the battle, into my M16 went the magazine of tracers in preparation for a confrontation with anyone who might break through that wall of gunfire, something at which the Viet Cong were quite adept. ), and that the VC suffered heavy casualties that day, with about only 6 VC left after the shooting stopped, and these were taken prisoner. This place is situated in Bien Hoa Town, Dong Nai, Vietnam, its geographical coordinates are 10 54' 0" North, 106 51' 0" East and its original name (with diacritics) is Long Bnh. When it finally ended with the assistance of several Cobra gunbships, 23 enemy dead were discovered. As a soldier unfastens a skid of 8 shells, from the crane, it falls over sideways. Aviation gas was leaking from the fuel lines on the right side, and that wasnt all. The award-winning exhibit, designed by curator William I. Chivalette, includes a lifelike mannequin of Levitow, paintings, photographs, uniform items, and artifacts. Photo courtesy of Corpman Bill Luppeti HM3 [Rach Soi 1967-1970] United States and South Vietnamese forces responded with . The U.S. created an Afghan air force that was too technologically advanced for its native country to sustain, then pulled the rug out from under it, according to a U.S. government inspector general report. We were officially MOS (Military Operational Specialty) 32F20, which was depot-level repair and maintenance on AUTOSEVOCOM (AUTOmatic SEcure VOice COMmunications) crypto . Surely neither the. In the interest of security - and to ease communications - the army centralized Saigon's American forces in 1967 by stationing them all at an enormous compound built just outside of the city. I think it was a very discriminatory flight.. Nearly 60 years after he was first recommended for the nation's highest military award for his bravery during the Vietnam War, retired Col. Paris Davis, one of the first Black officers to lead a Special Forces team in combat, received the Medal of Honor on Friday. COMBAT AFTER ACTION REPORT, VIETNAM 1969. South Vietnamese forces follow after terrified children, including 9-year-old Kim Phuc, center, as they run down Route 1 near Trang Bang after an aerial napalm attack on suspected Viet Cong hiding . 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. Facebook. . 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. Long Binh Post was situated East of Bien Hoa and approximately 20 miles northeast of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City.) The Viet Cong had constructed some sort of headquarters compound, or staging area, or supply depot or maybe even an officers club. The rocket and mortar attacks on the bases picked up when darkness fell. independent documentary Letters from Long Binh. Levitow declined to board the helicopter until he was finally ordered to do so by Carpenter. About 11:30 p.m., the gunship was diverted from patrol over the village of Lai Kai, north of Long Binh. 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. Includes scenes shot in and around the base showing soldiers preparing for the attack. Two stints one for 6 months and another for 7. History is not a fixed set of facts. hightForP2 = 330 [Three] thousand rounds a minute was more than sufficient.. The 228th per DA consolidated orders of 1970 was "confirmed" as being awarded an MUC for time period 15 February 1969 - 15 August 1969, as was the 277th and other units/sections under its command { HHC . It had been flying in Vietnam since 1964, first with the air commandos and after that with the special operations squadrons. 44th Medical Brigade Headquarters Long Binh 1969.jpeg 2,079 1,716; 209 KB. At approximately 3:30 a.m. on Feb. 23, the battle gradually died out. Bucks County Pennsylvania United States USA, Del Rio Texas Laughlin Air Force Base USA, Roxborough Pennsylvania United States USA, U-Tapao Royal Thai Air Force Base Thailand. United States Army soldiers exchanging MPC currency at their headquarters in Long Binh Vietnam. We're weird, he said. On the morning of 26 February following Napalm and Snake Eye air strikes, Company L, reinforced by Company M assaulted the PAVN position making slow progress against determined PAVN resistance. Soldiers lined inside the building waiting for their number. Each one of the guns could fire two speeds, Levitow said. Passing of colors to the new commander. [4]:99, Meanwhile to the west 3/7 Marines continued to engage PAVN forces, forcing them into 3 pockets along the Song Tuy Loan river. On the other hand, one is left to ponder what affect seeding the battlefield or, even better, seeding the Ho Chi Minh Trail itself with C-ration packets of the despicable Ham and Lima Beans might have had. Textual Records: Correspondence and daily journal, 1972-73. Photos (51) by Lou Mengoli, 1967. Carpenter set it down in a full shuddering stall. Convoy of M-113 ARCs and M-551 assault vehicles move out of camp and drive along road. These ingredientswhen mixed with the C-ration Beef, Spiced with Sauce or the Beans w/ Frankfurter Chunks in Tomato Saucewould have provided the Viet Cong a feast for the ages. Mr. Cook served with the 1st Infantry Division, 2-16th Infantry, as a 1st Lieutenant in the Long Binh area of Vietnam. F-100C Super Sabre 54-1956 120 TFS, 35 TFW, USAF . My hope was that no more than one or two VC would reach my position. On top of that came the domino theory of 1954, invented by then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Some speculate that the attacks . Dennis Yenser checks in about Sapper Attack story. . maxhightForP2 = 14168; The basic course at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland allocated one week in the field for brushing up on combat skills. Pan Am had a ticket office on base. Note: Your browser does not have JavaScript enabled. Many features may not work properly without it. SSG Richard E, Slaven died from his wounds the next day. A three-second burst would saturate an area the size of a football field. Dad wanted to be buried standing up. My class had graduated the month before from our 35-week "Fixed Ciphony Repair" course at Ft. Monmouth, NJ. 1 minigun and a jumble of spilled ammunition. For months I observed various combat actions outside the perimeter and every now and then even sought cover beneath a nearby steel desk as a stray mortar or artillery round came flying in our direction, which, whenever it occurred, was astonishing enough. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. 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. "Riot at Long Binh Stockade Attributed to Racial Acts." New York Times, September 4, 1968, p. 38. 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. He had a serious leg wound and was evacuated to the field hospital across the street from my barracks. Nov. Dec. [4]:100, After dawn on 23 February a VC unit was detected near the Ha Vang District and the Marine security force killed 6 and captured 2 and forced the rest of the unit to retreat into a cemetery where they were attacked by the ARVN 21st Ranger Battalion the next day losing a further 57 killed. c, Holland h tr v kh cho Ukraine. These attacks were repulsed for Marines losses of 18 killed and more than 75 PAVN killed. The flare was armed just before it was thrown out the door, with timers set to give it some distance from the airplane before the parachute deployed and the flare was triggered. . During the Vietnam War, Long Binh Post was the U.S. Army's largest base located in the former South Vietnam. Back home in Connecticut, he learned that his Medal of Honor had been approved. He was 55. My Account | And yet there was nobody, absolutely nobody, visible out there. Long Binh Post was a sprawling logistics facility and the largest U.S. Army base in Vietnam, with a peak of 60,000 personnel in 1969. 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. [4]:99, The PAVN/VC attacks on Da Nang were a failure resulting in more than 500 dead. The gunship, situated on the lawn of the museum, was dedicated in October 2004. 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. . Color: Color. Numerous bases were attacked, these attacks were all beaten back but did inflict casualties and reinforced the fact that PAVN/VC forces were able to mount attacks at will. N Vietnamese forces overrun and capture Phuoc Binh City, Phuoc Long Prov capital, after wklong siege, striking significant psychological blow to S Vietnamese Govt; loss of town, with population . Capt. Dense blue smoke was pouring out of the burning flare fuze.. Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. He spent almost two months recuperating in Japan before returning to Vietnam in April. Ambush at Ap Nhi. Shot up and near stalling, Spooky approached Bien Hoa in the dark. Many of the tracers bounced off the ground like rubber balls. Stephen Hugh Lane SP5 Lead Clerk Jan 1969 to Sep 1970, MOS 67N20 has checked in and joined the 3/4 Cav Chapter. It was another hot February day in 1969 at the sprawling Long Binh logistics base about 20 miles northeast of Saigon. A sign reads 'Headquarters II Field Force Vietnam Artillery'. It concentrated on US military installations, especially in the III Corps area around Saigon. Filmmaker Mel Brooks once said he looked upon his Army experience in World War II as a newsreel.. Spooky 71 flew with a crew of eight. It was also called Dragonship and Puff the Magic Dragon (after a song, then popular, by Peter, Paul, and Mary) but went mostly by Spooky, the call sign with which it flew its missions. The research for this After Action Report included OPERATIONAL REPORTS, DAILY STAFF JOURNALS and DUTY OFFICER S LOGS at the Battalion, Brigade and Division levels located in the National Archives and Records Administration, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001. 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. I had the lanyard on the flare hooked up and my finger through the safety pin ring. Lieutenant General Julian J. Ewell shakes hands with both of the brigadier generals. 105837N 1064955E / . A change of command at 2nd Field Force Artillery Headquarters at Long Binh, Vietnam. c bit n nh mt phi n ngh s nhiu ti ni ting . (Jim Van Eldik), It was another hot February day in 1969 at the sprawling, Behind the driver, strewn about the passenger seat and floor, was his personal combat gear, including his, The enemy would occasionally probe us, rocket us, mortar us and more than likely sometimes even shop at our PXs, but a ground attack? Very seldom did we ever fire fast rounds at 18,000 rounds a minute because it had a tendency to turn the airplane. I immediately detected signs that all was not right. "On the second firing pass, the mortars firing on Long Binh were silenced." The attack lifted momentarily, and the gunship began dropping flares to provide illumination . 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. The brigade was activated on 1 June 1966 at Fort Benning, Georgia, as the 199th Infantry Brigade (Light), with emphasis on counterinsurgency operations and mobility. Following the employment of the supporting fires, the 36th Ranger Battalion moved back into the village. The typist soldier types on the form with a type-writer. I try to control what I say, although for the most part, Im very quiet. TAOR With the enemy still in force south of the Buong River there remained the continuing threat of additional ground, rocket and heavy mortar attacks against Long Binh Post.. Battalion TOC still considered the eastern sector as the weak spot of the TAOR, so they called for a strong-point (outpost) to be constructed on the Finger of Land just to the west of the abandoned tank on the crest of . It isnt every day one peaceably sets off for work knowing someone is intent on ones personal demise. 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. On the second firing pass, the mortars firing on Long Binh were silenced.. Sixteen bulldozers were quickly deployed to spend the rest of the day sealing the entrances. Duration: 2 min 9 sec. 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. Vietnam Da Nang 2 Vietnam Dong Tranh River 2 Vietnam French Indo China 7 Vietnam Khe Sanh 13 Vietnam Long Binh 3 Vietnam Phan Rang Air Base 18. [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. The Geography and Map Division holds a map from the war that was printed and created by the 66 th Engineer Company (known as the "Topo Corps"). Well, not everybody had departed. (Lt. Cdr. When daylight came, I reported to my new duty station in the Engineer Section of USARV HQ, where, from the second floor of the air-conditioned building, we could observe the Post's perimeter wire about 1/4 mile away. At that instant the flare separated and ignited in the air, but clear of the aircraft.. Banned from the Long Binh O'Club: The Club was a . Featured Collections | United States 2nd Field Force change of command ceremony at Long Binh, Vietnam. A VC mortar attack on the airfield at Binh Thuy on the banks of the Mekong resulted in the destruction of a Bird Dog FAC aircraft. As darkness approached some comfort was provided by the constant sweeps outside the perimeter made at treetop level by the guys in their little OH-6 Loach light observation helicopters. Upon arrival, we observed a large battle going on in the south and east perimeters of the base, Carpenter said. Visitors can also watch a videotape of Carpenter and John Levitow Jr. talking about the Medal of Honor mission. On 8 February patrols from 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines found 7 122mm rockets 14km southwest of Da Nang and another 13 140mm rockets 2km further south. I dont think I was alone in this. I heard that five American soldiers were killed and some 30 wounded. The enemy was too close for artillery, so gunships were . 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. 20 July 1969 circa - Mortar attack on base camp A-414 Thanh Tri. 21 July 1969 - Rheault, Marasco, and others transferred to Long Binh Jail (LBJ).