long binh attack 1969

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I immediately detected signs that all was not right. 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. He worked in "The Iron Triangle" included Phu loi, Ton sahn Nut, and Long B. The attack was expected to come on the ground, as opposed to those . In 1998, Air Mobility Command named a C-17 Globemaster, The Spirit of Sgt. 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 enemy was too close for artillery, so gunships were . 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. A 70-strong VC force attacked the 2/1 Marines command post 6km south of Marble Mountain losing 17 dead. In my case it was my unusual ability to count. Partway through the mission he had come forward and was talking to the flight crew when the action unfolded that night. 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. 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. 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. The attacks were repulsed with the VC/PAVN suffering heavy losses, having inflicted . DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press. 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 . Most of us were "Regular Army," almost a year into a 3-year hitch. 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. 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. Location: Long Binh Vietnam. Privacy Policy2023 CriticalPast LLC. We were being attacked by at least a full enemy battalion in a fight raging with remarkable intensity. The flare posed a deadly danger in several ways. 472.6.8 Records of the U.S. Army Central Finance and Accounting Office, Vietnam. .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. Soldiers in a line. My Account | Beyond that was an open area where tanks were patrolling back and forth, apparently looking for VC who had squirreled themselves down into rat holes trying to avoid the tanks. He will look for photos. It was nothing like what I saw in my imagination or what is shown in movie theaters or on television. Carpenter set it down in a full shuddering stall. 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. Then there was a blinding flash and the aircraft was rocked from nose to tail by a violent explosion. [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. (Vietnam War period). nhc nn - Nguyn Quc Hng - cng ty Hng Long Phc. The Tet 1969 offensive was carried out mostly by Viet Cong irregulars. Most estimates put the Viet Cong deaths at over 100. It was Feb. 24, 1969, and the second day of the Tet counteroffensive. 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. The soldiers with old (MPC) currency notes takes the receipt and proceeds towards the next officer. History is not a fixed set of facts. These units made occasional contact, often with PAVN or VC who fought stubbornly from trenches and spider holes. More than 100 individual and crew-served weapons were captured. 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. 11 November SP/4s Jared Kelley and John R. Klemm, tend to their gear during a recon mission in the Tactical Area Of Responsibility. Carpenter rolled the gunship wings level and began his run on the mortar positions. On 9 May 1969, Pentagon correspondent William Beecher stated that US air raids against ammo dumps and base camps in Cambodia . David L. Hamel, director of the institute. War and peace. HistoryNet.com contains daily features, photo galleries and over 25,000 articles originally published in our nine magazines. 24:11. United States Army soldiers participate in military payment certificates (MPC) exchange at their headquarters in Long Binh Vietnam. When it finally ended with the assistance of several Cobra gunbships, 23 enemy dead were discovered. His most recent article, Rolling Thunder, appeared in the March issue. The Hot War (1968-October 1969) The Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army in late 1967 launched several costly attacks. [1], The VC made several attempts to advance on the base, but were halted. . 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. 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 airplane made it over the minefield and onto the overrun, just barely. I was a 2nd Lieutenant, on my second night in Vietnam when the attack on Long Bing Post began at 2 AM. (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? 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. Levitow declined to board the helicopter until he was finally ordered to do so by Carpenter. By Richard E. Killblane - Transportation Branch Historian September 15, 2008. The decision to make the fix to. remembrance of shared experience. Unit flags at the headquarters. Sixteen bulldozers were quickly deployed to spend the rest of the day sealing the entrances. He was 55. 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. The flare was armed and rolling loose in the aircraft. Back in the States, the aircraft had been fitted with a tank inside the fuselage to hold isopropyl alcohol. Ike originally intended these dominos to represent Chinas neighbors such as North and South Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia, but it was not long before some believed that places like Cuba, Angola, Chile, Peru, Michigan and South Carolina would also be on the list. Levitows hometown, Glastonbury, dedicated a memorial to him on the town green May 31, 2004. After the massive casualties it suffered during the vicious battles in 1966 and 1967, and especially due to the division's disastrous . As of 1969 Lieutenant General Do Cao Tri's III CTZ . License Agreement | The paperwork for advancement in skill level (from three to five) in his original specialty had been lost. The squad came under an immediate rain of grenades, automatic weapons fire and rocket propelled grenades from an entrenched enemy platoon hidden in the top of the berm. Jerry Breast/U.S. This is a brief clip of the ammo dump explosion at Long Binh, Vietnam, taken the morning of the Tet offensive, 1968. We heard that the commander of the tanks was Col. George S. Patton Jr. 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. Aviation gas was leaking from the fuel lines on the right side, and that wasnt all. When we were hit, all of us [Owen, Levitow, Sgt. Since my finger was through the safety pin ring the safety pin was pulled.. The aircraft veered sharply to the right and down.. (On earlier AC-47s, one of the guns had been mounted in the door.) In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. independent documentary Letters from Long Binh. 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. From there, I had a good view of the perimeter and the rapidlyunfolding battle. With the progression of the battle came a feeling of incredulity. Im not going to bring shame on either the medal or myself, so I do watch it very carefully.. Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. [Three] thousand rounds a minute was more than sufficient.. 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. [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. It isnt every day one peaceably sets off for work knowing someone is intent on ones personal demise. The pilot fired the guns, using a sight at the left side of the cockpit. 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 . Easily create a Forum Website with Website Toolbox. Week of December 12-18, 2021: Heroism Amidst an Ambush, December 17, 1968. My driver arrived at the usual time, a little before sundown, on Feb. 22, for my 12-hour graveyard shift at the 1st Logistics Command headquarters. 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. Investigation reports of the Postal Inspector Division, 1971-73. If it ignited, it would quickly fill the aircraft with toxic smoke, incapacitating the entire crew. 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. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. On 22 February, elements of the VC 274th Regiment, 5th Division assembled at three hills along Highway 15, approximately three kilometers south of Long Binh. Sorry, Dad, I couldnt make that happen.. 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. With usual soldier directness the driver divulged the ominous news: Sir, were gonna get hit tonight, so youre gonna need your helmet, flak jacket and rifle., A Viet Cong deserter had warned South Vietnamese officials on Feb.19 that an attack would occur on Feb. 22, but Long Binh didnt get the word until the day of the planned assault. Once the sun came up, a troop of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment found 139 dead enemy soldiers, Stars & Stripes reported. It led the way for the more powerful AC-119 and AC-130 gunships that came later. Airman Levitow was setting [the ejection and ignition dials] and handing me the flares, Owen said. The post and the 720th MP Battalion were informed of the planned attack late in the afternoon of the 22nd. That year, traumatic as it was . But now the tough Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army itself were coming. 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. 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. Battle At The Rifle Range. The view is from the compound of the 20. Levitows progress was clearly marked with his own blood on the floor of the aircraft.. After the battle came another shock. We had no bunkers. He flew as a crewman on C-130s for a short tour, then went to Vietnam to fly on AC-47s. 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. Some speculate that the attacks . [4]:98, At dawn PAVN sappers attacked the 1st Marine Division headquarters on Hill 327 and the 2/7 Marines command post to the northwest. Aerial view of (USARV) United States Army Republic of Vietnam Headquarters Complex at Long Binh, Vietnam. Other members of the squad have yet to be identified. The three guns were mounted in window ports, just forward of the open cargo door. I am interested in corresponding with any Black Scarf soldiers who . Once the sun came up, a troop of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment found 139 dead enemy soldiers, Tran, who was from the Haiphong area of North Vietnam, had high expectations for a victory in the attack, according to an interview in, On the other hand, one is left to ponder what affect seeding the battlefield or, even better, seeding the, https://www.historynet.com/long-binh-battle/, 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. In early 1969, the 277th was re-assigned from Long Binh to Tay Ninh West Base Camp, where it became the superior command of the 228th. 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. Opportunity knocks. c bit n nh mt phi n ngh s nhiu ti ni ting . Hide. 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. I then looked back to see a flare that had slid up against the cans of 19,000 rounds of ammunition, Platt said. A soldier counts his notes at the typist's desk. . Soldiers counting the notes. The Medal of Honor was presented to John L. Levitow at the White House by President Nixon on May 14, 1970. Background. Din vin Ninh Dng Lan Ngc Ninh Dng Lan Ngc Vit Trinh. An ammunition dump at Long Binh, Vietnam. We're weird, he said. 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. 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 . Furthermore, the flare would be burning at a temperature of 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit. The resultant damage was a hole two feet in diameter through the wing and over 3,500 shrapnel holes riddling the fuselage, said Lt. Col. Robert A. Davidson, commander of the AC-47 forward operating location at Bien Hoa. 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. 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. Spooky was flying at about 3,500 feet. ATTACK ON LONG BINH POST. It was another hot February day in 1969 at the sprawling Long Binh logistics base about 20 miles northeast of Saigon. 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. It had been flying in Vietnam since 1964, first with the air commandos and after that with the special operations squadrons. Intelligence had indicators of the pending attacks. Over time, the Department of Defense plans to turn. The Spooky 71 crew could see mortar tube flashes about one mile south of the area of the earlier attack. Ni bt nht; Gn y; Gi. After Levitow left the Air Force, he worked in veterans affairs for more than 22 years. (Vietnam War period). As far as political considerations go, he hardly seemed interested in building a communist utopia at all. It was originally called the FC-47D (for fighter cargo) but subsequently changed to AC-47 (attack cargo) in response to objections from fighter pilots. The loadmaster on Spooky 71 was A1C John L. Levitow, 23, from Glastonbury, Conn. 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 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. 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. Media in category "Long Binh Post" The following 36 files are in this category, out of 36 total. Contents. Despite his wounds, Levitow helped secure the airplane on the way back. 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 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. This was teh first time the M551 Sheridan was in action in the Blackhorse Regiment. from 1969 to 1970. 472.6.9 Records of the U.S. Army Garrison, Long Binh Post, Vietnam (Provisional) History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. Featured Collections | The Army always tries to capitalize on a soldiers individual strengths. 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. Militarily, it was a failure for the North Vietnamese, but it undercut the confidence of the American public and it was a turning point in the war. Visitors can also watch a videotape of Carpenter and John Levitow Jr. talking about the Medal of Honor mission. Photo courtesy of Tom Lefavour and taken around October 1969. Things quieted down for a while. Mini-Tet 1969 Begins February 23, 1969. Soldiers walk around outside the headquarters. 5 Lt xem. Nov. Dec. See Long Binh photos and images from satellite below, explore the aerial photographs of Long Binh in Vietnam. Thirty-four years after it happened, the story of John L. Levitow has lost none of its power to excite and inspire. Privacy Policy | Links At that time, the air base security forces reported that they had lost contact with the enemy reconnaissance element which withdrew east toward Thai Hiep. [4]:101. For my personal defense, I relied upon a somewhat rusty M16 kept around the office. 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. The base was host to US Army Headquarters. It took considerable effort to get Spooky 71 back to base. About 11:30 p.m., the gunship was diverted from patrol over the village of Lai Kai, north of Long Binh. Jim Van Eldik is a retired Army lieutenant colonel. Two of the pockets were destroyed by the next morning resulting in the capture of the acting commander of the 141st Regiment. Note: Your browser does not have JavaScript enabled. 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. 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. I visited my friends down the hall in the almost deserted headquarters building, but mostly kept up my vigil of the activity outside the perimeter, which, as darkness descended, now included an occasional flare. Duration: 2 min 9 sec. 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. I felt as if someone had taken a two-by-four and squarely hit me against the whole right-hand side of my body, Levitow said later. [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. ATTENTION If you participated in any of the incidents listed on this page or know of some that are not, please contact the History Project Manager via the Email Link at the top of this page. Unlike our headquarters, theirs was built under a hill rather than on top of one. The enemy would occasionally probe us, rocket us, mortar us and more than likely sometimes even shop at our PXs, but a ground attack? It was his 180th combat mission, but he had never flown with this crew before. The 64-year-old Army veteran died suddenly of a heart attack. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. Soldiers lined inside the building waiting for their number. As noted, the 277th S&S BN (DS) stationed in Long Binh became the superior command 30 August 1968, physically arrived in Tay Ninh by early January 1969 and remained in Tay Ninh until mid July 1970 {approximate} when it was re-assigned to Di An {near Saigon} - (see 1970 History, where the 228th was for all intent and purposes reduced to a . Copyright 2023. I realize that what I say will be represented not only as a Vietnam veteran but as a Medal of Honor recipient, and the media will have a field day. This site uses cookies to improve your experience and to help show content that is more relevant to your interests. 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. Lieutenant General Julian J. Ewell shakes hands with both of the brigadier generals. It was presented in ceremonies in February 2002 by his son to CMSgt. The basic course at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland allocated one week in the field for brushing up on combat skills. At the end of his tour in Vietnam, Levitow was assigned to Norton AFB, Calif., as a loadmaster on C-141s. The Viet Cong had constructed some sort of headquarters compound, or staging area, or supply depot or maybe even an officers club. Photos (51) by Lou Mengoli, 1967. A sign reads 'Headquarters II Field Force Vietnam Artillery'. maxhightForP2 = 14168; Everybody has their job to do and they do it., Chinas growing capabilities and recent boldness in the air domain represent dangerous and destabilizing behavior patterns, the Pentagons top official on the Indo-Pacific said March 2. 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. Facebook. Those satellites will join the already-planned 28 satellites in the Tranche 1 Tracking Layer of SDAs Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture. 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. He was the center of much attention but also the victim of bureaucracy. They tell me that I had 40 pieces of shrapnel in me at the time, 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. 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 25/26 January 1969. 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. Quan Loi August 12/13, 1969 by Bill Rubenstein. The enemy fire was situated across Highway 1A, directing a heavy concentration of fire into the 12th Group and II Field Force compounds. Thought to be in retaliation for Chuyen's disappearance. Shot up and near stalling, Spooky approached Bien Hoa in the dark.

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long binh attack 1969