I had a real tough time grabbing hold of it with two hands because of the pain in my leg and everything. 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. 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. Lieutenant General Julian J. Ewell shakes hands with both of the brigadier generals. 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. (Lt. Cdr. Full-scale sweeping operations to secure the perimeter began just after noon that day. Binh chng c cng c nhim v tp trung nghin cu, tham mu cho B Quc phng Vit Nam xy dng v pht trin cc lc lng . Opportunity knocks. 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. I then looked back to see a flare that had slid up against the cans of 19,000 rounds of ammunition, Platt said. There was also a Vietnamese liaison officer. 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. He was the center of much attention but also the victim of bureaucracy. "Project CHECO Southeast Asia Report #105 - Special Report: The Fourth Offensive - 23 February-3 April 1969", Cold War International History Project's Cold War Files, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tet_1969&oldid=1142428918, This page was last edited on 2 March 2023, at 09:26. Location of service: Long Binh Post THOSE WHO SERVED To mark the 50th anniversary of the arrival of the first U.S. ground troops in Vietnam, the Quad-City Times is profiling two dozen war veterans. There are some night scenes of the base under attack showing mostly flares, explosions and gunships firing on enemy targets. If I got stopped drinking and driving, its going to say, Medal of Honor Drunk. I realize that. Banned from the Long Binh O'Club: The Club was a . The rifle was accompanied by a single magazine of tracer roundsbullets treated with a chemical that creates a trail of light when fired. Quan Loi August 12/13, 1969 by Bill Rubenstein. Color: Color. The spilled ammunition19,000 rounds of it by Platts estimatewould start cooking off in seconds. This article was written by John E. Gross and originally published in the February 2008 issue of Vietnam Magazine. Smoke rises from surrounding area. Once my eight-man crew of ammo counters had assembled, we set aside our usual duties and made the best preparations we could to survive the night. The rocket and mortar attacks on the bases picked up when darkness fell. June The second of two new outpost's was built on the western end of the Finger Of Land. The Tet 1969 offensive was carried out mostly by Viet Cong irregulars. Privacy Policy2023 CriticalPast LLC. 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.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.The attacks were repulsed with the VC/PAVN suffering heavy losses, having inflicted . Filmmaker Mel Brooks once said he looked upon his Army experience in World War II as a newsreel.. When attacking, Spooky rolled into a level 30-degree bank turn, flying at an airspeed of almost 140 mph. He did not yet have a five-level as a loadmaster, and without a five-level, he could not be promoted, and if not promoted, he could not re-enlist. I am compiling a history of our Regiment's service in the war. Long Binh Post was a sprawling, 3,500 building . Ni bt nht; Gn y; Gi. [2][3], Since early February 1969, the 1st Marine Division had noted an upsurge in PAVN/VC activity around Da Nang. The idea seemed absurd! aring, 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. It concentrated on US military installations, especially in the III Corps area around Saigon. In anticipation of what they would seize, many of Trans comrades packed can openers in addition to the noodle packets and dried rice they all carried. 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 . 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. [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. 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. History is who we are and why we are the way we are.. Apparently, it was impossible for an Iowa corn farmer to get his mind around the idea of hundreds of men actually trying to kill each other. Contact Us | The Medal of Honor was presented to John L. Levitow at the White House by President Nixon on May 14, 1970. I was a ticket office supervisor with several Vietnamese and Chinese-Vietnamese women reservations/ticket agents. 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 On July 1, an article titled "Libya and Syria: When Anti-Imperialism Goes Wrong" was published on the North Star website, signed by "Pham Binh of Occupy Wall Street, Class War Camp." The article argues that imperialist interventions in Libya and Syria are justified because they are demanded by forces the author calls revolutionary. During the Vietnam War, Long Binh Post was the U.S. Army's largest base located in the former South Vietnam. Alsoand central to the story of Spooky 71it carried about 50 magnesium flares to illuminate targets on the ground. It had been flying in Vietnam since 1964, first with the air commandos and after that with the special operations squadrons. ARVN casualties were 10 killed and 100 wounded and one US Army photographer was killed. Back in the States, the aircraft had been fitted with a tank inside the fuselage to hold isopropyl alcohol. Carpenter waved off taxi instructions from the tower and the crew got out fast. 6924th Security Squadron Base Name. The Viet Cong were no longer in the tunnels around Long Binh, most probably having taken the subway back to the main tunnel complex at Cu Chi. 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. History is not a fixed set of facts. 1971 serving with the 95th Military Police Battalion. As Levitow dragged one of the other airmen toward the center of the cabin, he saw the flare between No. This site uses cookies to improve your experience and to help show content that is more relevant to your interests. 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. I dont think I was alone in this. remembrance of shared experience. The attack was expected to come on the ground, as opposed to those occasional, more impersonal rocket and mortar shells from the air. The decision to make the fix to. He went back on active duty in 1983 and retired in 1995. 28 March Ambush and Recon Team #75, and #76 were on a joint night operation on Hill-15 in the southeastern sector of the TAOR. Those satellites will join the already-planned 28 satellites in the Tranche 1 Tracking Layer of SDAs Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. He flew two more AC-47 combat missions and showed up at the flight line for a third when the squadron commander told him he was grounded. Media Battle of Long Binh 1969 Parts 1 & 2 11thACRCombat Operations After Action Report of Attacks in Northern Binh Long Province 10-13aug69 (All content and photos on this site are the property of their named owners and may not be copied or used for any other purposes without permission. Among those present was Carpenter, the commander of Spooky 71, now retired and living in Marshall, Tex. Bruce Stern at his desk in Long Binh, circa 1968-69. . Partway through the mission he had come forward and was talking to the flight crew when the action unfolded that night. 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. Nov. Dec. In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. 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. That evening, several ambush squads from the 720th Military Police Battalion, 18th MP Brigade kept watch along potential avenues of approach to Long Binh Post. For the next six hours, Spooky 71 would fly a combat air patrol circuit over the Saigon/Tan Son Nhut area, ready to respond wherever its fire support was needed. The clouds hung low, making flying helicopters . For my personal defense, I relied upon a somewhat rusty M16 kept around the office. Aerial view of Long Binh Post in Vietnam. NEW on HistoryNet: Attack on Long Binh, a 1969 Viet Cong attack on a US logistics base in Vietnam #VietnamWar http://trib.al/poYUWdo This is a brief clip of the ammo dump explosion at Long Binh, Vietnam, taken the morning of the Tet offensive, 1968. Vit Trinh thng hiu tht l trn Vit Trinh, sinh ngy 27 mon 11 nm 1972, l con gi din vin nng lng in nh, tn dn chng trnh, o din vi gim kho ngi vit Nam. 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. It includes footage shot between 17 Feb and 24 Feb 1. The medics cut away the dead and contaminated flesh to prevent infection, and Levitow was flown to the big Air Force hospital at Tachikawa, Japan, where 40 pieces of shrapnel were removed between his knee and his hip. It would light up, oh, about half a mile, a good area, quite brightly, Levitow said. Nothing was more effective than a gunship in breaking up such attacks. Vehicles drive past on roads between the Long Binh Post area. It was presented in ceremonies in February 2002 by his son to CMSgt. In the attack on Bien Hoa Air Base the PAVN lost 264 killed and 87 captured while ARVN losses were 10 killed and US. 21 July 1969 - Rheault, Marasco, and others transferred to Long Binh Jail (LBJ). And that they would already have been shot three or four times before they got there. [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. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. Supported videos include: Copyright 2023. Spooky was flying at about 3,500 feet. Upon arrival, we observed a large battle going on in the south and east perimeters of the base, Carpenter said. It would be relieved by another gunship for the midnight-to-dawn shift. 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. The Long Binh/Bien Hoa complex was huge, with thousands of soldiers and airmen assigned to the combined logistics complex and air base. Navy) 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 . They could'nt tell how big the post was, for the post's perimeter lighting had not yet been installed. I worked for Pan American Airways and lived with the 99th Replacement Battallion across from USARV Headquarters in Long Binh from October 1969 through December 1969. 472.6.8 Records of the U.S. Army Central Finance and Accounting Office, Vietnam. Military aviation and technology are ever-changing, from the prevalence of drones to a shift to jets for special mission surveillance, once the province of propeller aircraft. The basic course at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland allocated one week in the field for brushing up on combat skills. Well, not everybody had departed. He was 55. Hc_Thn. The training group headquarters building at Lackland AFB, Tex., is named for him. 1 minigun and a jumble of spilled ammunition. A soldier counts his notes at the typist's desk. The battle area was quickly illuminated by large spotlights supplemented with dozens of flares fired by our artillery. Aerial view of (USARV) United States Army Republic of Vietnam Headquarters Complex at Long Binh, Vietnam. 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. Aviation gas was leaking from the fuel lines on the right side, and that wasnt all. The gunners kept the guns loaded and working during the flight. 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. A soldier with a typewriter creates a receipt. We're weird, he said. 24:11. Tran Van Thiet, 19, had been left behind. In my case it was my unusual ability to count. On the second firing pass, the mortars firing on Long Binh were silenced.. The enemy was too close for artillery, so gunships were . He was discharged from active duty after his Vietnam tour and shortly afterward was assigned to an Army Reserve unit. The next day, I was promoted to E-4, retroactive nine months with pay, Levitow said, but by then, he had decided to take an early out. I hated it. More to his liking, he went home to Connecticut and became a medical administration officer in the VA hospital system and special assistant to the chief of Medical Administration Service in New England. The airplane made it over the minefield and onto the overrun, just barely. 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. United States and South Vietnamese forces responded with . They tell me that I had 40 pieces of shrapnel in me at the time, Levitow said. These units made occasional contact, often with PAVN or VC who fought stubbornly from trenches and spider holes. Levitow was struggling toward the flare despite the violent maneuvering of the aircraft. Photo courtesy of Tom Lefavour and taken around October 1969. Some speculate that the attacks . 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. 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. Retired Army Col. Paris Davis, 83, stood in the East Room of the White House on Friday as President Joe Biden draped the Medal of Honor around his neck, nearly six decades after he saved the lives of three fellow troops during the Vietnam War.. Ambush at Ap Nhi. 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. [4]:97 Later that day rockets hit the An Hoa Combat Base destroying 15,000 rounds of artillery ammunition and igniting 40,000 gallons of aviation fuel and 50 rockets were fired at Naval Support Activity Da Nang with more than half going into the sea and the remainder causing minor damage. It concentrated on US military installations, especially in the III Corps area around Saigon. Troops lined up on a field. A change of command at 2nd Field Force Artillery Headquarters at Long Binh, Vietnam. Danil_1969 4 ting trc. The view is from the compound of the 20. Except for the eruptions from our perimeter bunkers, the entire battlefield seemed devoid of peopleat least people who could be seen. Soldiers walk around outside the headquarters. The award-winning exhibit, designed by curator William I. Chivalette, includes a lifelike mannequin of Levitow, paintings, photographs, uniform items, and artifacts. United States Army soldiers exchanging MPC currency at their headquarters in Long Binh Vietnam. Dennis E Haines, Recipient of the Images Of Bravery Award, Patient at the 24th Evacuation Hospital, December 1968. The pilot, copilot, and navigator were in the forward cabin, and the flight engineer, two gunners, and the loadmaster were in the cargo bay in back. An ambush platoon reaction team that was held in ready reserve was assigned to conduct a sweep of the tree line where the post perimeter had received heavy enemy fire from during the early morning attack. Johanalvheey 1 ting trc. The idea was quite unsettling. It was situated between Bien Hoa, the location of a large American airbase, and Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam. It was nothing like what I saw in my imagination or what is shown in movie theaters or on television. . Soldiers lined inside the building waiting for their number. Im very careful what I do, he said in an oral history interview in 1986. . 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. 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. We were being attacked by at least a full enemy battalion in a fight raging with remarkable intensity. You can imagine how frightful that was to the mind of a 6-year-old. I was not in this Regiment, but I believe I may have observed some of the Regiment's activities the day of the attack. Thomas Baer, the other gunner, and SSgt. Mini-Tet 1969 Begins February 23, 1969. Passing of colors to the new commander. My class had graduated the month before from our 35-week "Fixed Ciphony Repair" course at Ft. Monmouth, NJ. So they were given guns and were told to attack Long Binh Post (population 30,000 armed U.S. soldiers). The troops sent to Saigon originally lived in army units dispersed throughout the city. The AC-47 was the first of the Air Forces side-firing gunships. Over the years, there were numerous other recognitions. 1965 January 1 - February 7, 1965: Vietcong forces mount a series of attacks across South Vietnam. --- and so it went for lots of the fighting in Vietnam. 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. In early August 1969, the 1st Infantry Division determined that its old nemesis, the 9th PLAF Division, was preparing for a new offensive in Binh Duong province.By this time, the 9th Division had been reorganized and redesignated as a PAVN (NVA) division. 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. Facebook. 5 Lt xem. A U.S. 2nd Field Force soldier poses. All of the enlisted got wounded and the officers did not. His grieving son had no option but to file away those unanswered questions forever. He showed up for his typical night shift at the office. August 25, 1968, was a typical monsoon season day. Excerpt from 1st Aviation Brigade Newsletter: The VC attack at Long Binh was directed at the 12th Combat Aviation Group and II Field Force Vietnam. 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. Viet Cong attack on Tan Son Nhut Air Base (1966) From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia. Back home in Connecticut, he learned that his Medal of Honor had been approved. It was his 180th combat mission, but he had never flown with this crew before. CRITICALPAST.COM: Sound: No. I crawled to the location of the flare. Edward Fuzie, the flight engineer] were knocked to the floor and the flare was knocked out of my hands. 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 . Hamby advises McIntosh to . 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. (Vietnam War period). Many features may not work properly without it. The ARVN units swiftly moved into blocking positions, and by daybreak, the PAVN/VC were surrounded. COMBAT AFTER ACTION REPORT, VIETNAM 1969. The enemy would occasionally probe us, rocket us, mortar us and more than likely sometimes even shop at our PXs, but a ground attack? Then there was a blinding flash and the aircraft was rocked from nose to tail by a violent explosion. 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. Featured Collections | Seventh Air Force, among others, expressed concern that transmissions might be intercepted and give warning of the gunships approach to the enemy. 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. . The last major battle occurred along the berm of the rifle range on Highway 317 in the early morning just after daylight. They briefly seize control of Binh Gia, a village only 40 miles from Saigon. See Long Binh photos and images from satellite below, explore the aerial photographs of Long Binh in Vietnam. About Us | Since the headquarters building stood out on the hill like a large bulls eye, I proceeded outside and took up a defensive position behind a corner of our building, on the safe side. After sundown on the 22nd, elements of the VC 274th Regiment, 5th Division made their final preparations while occupying three hills along Highway 15 approximately three kilometers south of the base. 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. One of the MP ambush squads held a position within a kilometer of the VC stronghold. 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.. 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. I consider the fact that the aircraft was able to fly at all a miracle, Carpenter said. The attack continued into 27 February when the Marines overran the PAVN resulting in a total of more than 200 killed. Aerial view of Long Binh Post in Vietnam. nhc nn - Nguyn Quc Hng - cng ty Hng Long Phc. Unit flags at the headquarters. Although at first overwhelmed by the intensity of the enemy fire the MPs stood their ground, suppressed the enemy fire, eliminated an enemy machine gun emplacement and were able to evacuate their seriously wounded point man, SP/4 Brown. On top of that came the domino theory of 1954, invented by then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The right tire was flat, having been cut by shrapnel, and it was all Carpenter could do, standing on the left brake, to keep control until he brought the airplane to a stop. (Vietnam War period). Levitow declined to board the helicopter until he was finally ordered to do so by Carpenter. 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. I heard that five American soldiers were killed and some 30 wounded. This was a bit disconcerting. Answer (1 of 6): Now I can answer that from a very odd perspective. Capt. My Lightboxes | Levitows Medal of Honor is prominently displayed at Enlisted Heritage Hall. Dennis Yenser checks in about Sapper Attack story. 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. I am the historian for the 11th Armored Cavalry Veterans of Vietnam and Cambodia (11th ACVVC).
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