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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. 472.6.9 Records of the U.S. Army Garrison, Long Binh Post, Vietnam (Provisional) On searching the site at dawn it was found that 2 PAVN 81mm mortar teams had been destroyed in the barrage. 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. I couldnt walk. F-100C Super Sabre 54-1956 120 TFS, 35 TFW, USAF . These units made occasional contact, often with PAVN or VC who fought stubbornly from trenches and spider holes. . Vimeo, The attack was expected to come on the ground, as opposed to those occasional, more impersonal rocket and mortar shells from the air. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. Ellis C. Owen, had been working as a team in dropping the flares. The attacks were repulsed with the VC/PAVN suffering heavy losses, having inflicted . 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. Spooky was flying at about 3,500 feet. Contact Us | The MP squad suffered three wounded. On top of that came the domino theory of 1954, invented by then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower. more 11 November SP/4s Jared Kelley and John R. Klemm, tend to their gear during a recon mission in the Tactical Area Of Responsibility. The enemy was too close for artillery, so gunships were . 44th Medical Brigade Headquarters Long Binh 1969.jpeg 2,079 1,716; 209 KB. 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. The spilled ammunition19,000 rounds of it by Platts estimatewould start cooking off in seconds. ElyRatner, assistant secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, discussed how China continues to prod the U.S. and challenge stability in region, even as, The entire F-35 fleet is slated to get the retrofit engine maker Pratt & Whitney has identified to mitigate the problem that led to suspended deliveries and flight restrictions for some aircraft for nearly two monthsa move that will affect hundreds of fighters globally. Tran Van Thiet, 19, had been left behind. This was a bit disconcerting. . 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. Published in the October 2017 issue ofVietnammagazine. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. It was his 180th combat mission, but he had never flown with this crew before. Hc_Thn. (true?/false? There was another motivation for Tran as he attacked the American base. That year, traumatic as it was . hightForP2 = 330 (On earlier AC-47s, one of the guns had been mounted in the door.) Note the attacking Skyhawk in the lower right and one directly left of the explosions on the bridge. 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. We were officially MOS (Military Operational Specialty) 32F20, which was depot-level repair and maintenance on AUTOSEVOCOM (AUTOmatic SEcure VOice COMmunications) crypto . More than 500 airmen attended the funeral, and most of them followed the caisson to the grave site. At that instant the flare separated and ignited in the air, but clear of the aircraft.. See Long Binh photos and images from satellite below, explore the aerial photographs of Long Binh in Vietnam. 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. [2][3], Since early February 1969, the 1st Marine Division had noted an upsurge in PAVN/VC activity around Da Nang. 105837N 1064955E / . (Vietnam War period). 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. 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. 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. A three-second burst would saturate an area the size of a football field. At the end of his tour in Vietnam, Levitow was assigned to Norton AFB, Calif., as a loadmaster on C-141s. 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.. Week of December 12-18, 2021: Heroism Amidst an Ambush, December 17, 1968. Aerial view of (USARV) United States Army Republic of Vietnam Headquarters Complex at Long Binh, Vietnam. 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. Sound: No. Then there was a blinding flash and the aircraft was rocked from nose to tail by a violent explosion. The attack lifted momentarily, and the gunship began dropping flares to provide illumination requested by a nearby ground unit. Includes captions and a music soundtrack. Smoke rises from surrounding area. Thomas Baer, the other gunner, and SSgt. Landing short would have been a disaster. Southeast Asia is a very strange part of the world, where for centuries its leaders have had little or noregard for the lives of their own people. 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. 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. 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. Metacafe, The retired Green Beret, who was a trailblazer as one of the first Black officers to join the Special Forces, told Military.com on Thursday that he . Spooky 71 had gone as far as it was going. Each one of the guns could fire two speeds, Levitow said. It was an unlucky hit. Some of our troops had recaptured it from the VC a few months before. 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. "Text of Camp Lejeune Committee's Report to Commanding General." He flew as a crewman on C-130s for a short tour, then went to Vietnam to fly on AC-47s. Carpenter rolled the gunship wings level and began his run on the mortar positions. Stacks of 155mm artillery shells are loaded onto a truck by a crane, in groups of 16 at a time, on wooden skids holding 8 apiece.The soldiers are stripped to the waist. OVER 30 POUNDS IN WEIGHT MUST BE LOWERED BY ROPE. With no clear idea of what to do in combat, I would have to improvise. Even in the navigation compartment the flash lit up the inside of the aircraft like daylight. A South . Nothing was more effective than a gunship in breaking up such attacks. Featured Collections | The Tet 1969 offensive was carried out mostly by Viet Cong irregulars. 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. 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. Shortly, another mortar battery began firing. 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. A three-second burst would saturate an area the size of a football field. [1], The VC made several attempts to advance on the base, but were halted. Terms & Conditions | His most recent article, Rolling Thunder, appeared in the March issue. 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. He was the center of much attention but also the victim of bureaucracy. 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. It would be relieved by another gunship for the midnight-to-dawn shift. This is a brief clip of the ammo dump explosion at Long Binh, Vietnam, taken the morning of the Tet offensive, 1968. Citation Nr: 0307323 Decision Date: 04/16/03 Archive Date: 04/24/03 DOCKET NO. Intelligence had indicators of the pending attacks. Shortly before midnight the entire perimeter lit up with machine gun fire. Another typist gives MPC currency notes to the soldiers. Night was approaching as Spooky 71, an AC-47 gunship, took off from Bien Hoa Air Base, a few miles northwest of Saigon. Ambush at Ap Nhi. Levitow had joined the Air Force in June 1966, some 20 days ahead of being drafted into the Army. . Mini-Tet 1969 Begins February 23, 1969. The Air Force Scientific Advisory Boarda group of experts and researchers the department taps for independent advice on key science and technology effortsis undertaking four studies in 2023, including two that will likely inform the services approach to Secretary Frank Kendalls operational imperatives. 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 . Troops lined up on a field. 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. Capt. Answer (1 of 6): Now I can answer that from a very odd perspective. Trans primary motivations seem quite similar to our own: eating and getting home. Later I learned that we were attacked by the 274th Regiment, 5th Viet Cong Division, which was repulsed by the firepower of the 720th Military Police Battalion, the 18th Military Police Brigade and helicopter gunships from the 145th Aviation Battalion, 1st Aviation Brigade. 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 was another hot February day in 1969 at the sprawling Long Binh logistics base about 20 miles northeast of Saigon. 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.. 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. 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. Inside the aircraft is a mannequin of Levitow, struggling to get the flare to the door. Easily create a Forum Website with Website Toolbox. I heard that five American soldiers were killed and some 30 wounded. 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. Includes scenes shot in and around the base showing soldiers preparing for the attack. The post and the 720th MP Battalion were informed of the planned attack late in the afternoon of the 22nd. Combat training for ordnance officers at best is rudimentary. Long Binh/Bien Hoa; Da Nang; References; External links; Most attacks centered on military targets near Saigon and Da Nang and were quickly beaten off. They could'nt tell how big the post was, for the post's perimeter lighting had not yet been installed. Seventh Air Force, among others, expressed concern that transmissions might be intercepted and give warning of the gunships approach to the enemy. Unit flags at the headquarters. Viet Cong attack on Tan Son Nhut Air Base (1966) Part of the Vietnam War: Date: 4-5 December 1966: Location: Tan Son Nhut Air Base, South Vietnam. On top of that came the domino theory of 1954, invented by then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower. I was experiencing what soldiers for more than half a century referred to as the empty battlefield. Modern battlefield weapons had become so lethal that to expose oneself, even for an instant, to their fire was tantamount to suicide. When we were hit, all of us [Owen, Levitow, Sgt. Over time, the Department of Defense plans to turn. Unlike our headquarters, theirs was built under a hill rather than on top of one. In my case it was my unusual ability to count. Carpenter set it down in a full shuddering stall. They briefly seize control of Binh Gia, a village only 40 miles from Saigon. "Riot at Long Binh Stockade Attributed to Racial Acts." New York Times, September 4, 1968, p. 38. 24:11. Other members of the squad have yet to be identified. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Nov. 17, 2000. Binh chng c cng l binh chng chin u c bit tinh nhu ca Qun i nhn dn Vit Nam, do B Tng tham mu Qun i nhn dn Vit Nam trc tip qun l v ch o. Let us know if you remember Steve as we seek more information and photos to make a MyPage for him. Despite his wounds, Levitow helped secure the airplane on the way back. 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. He worked in "The Iron Triangle" included Phu loi, Ton sahn Nut, and Long B. Dad wanted to be buried standing up. The battle area was quickly illuminated by large spotlights supplemented with dozens of flares fired by our artillery. 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. 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. The nomination package included statements from Carpenter and most of the crew. DaNang Ammo Dump April 27 1969. I dont think I was alone in this. Investigation reports of the Postal Inspector Division, 1971-73. We were young men in the U.S. Army. Behind the driver, strewn about the passenger seat and floor, was his personal combat gear, including his M14 rifle and several magazines filled with ammunition. Convoy of M-113 ARCs and M-551 assault vehicles move out of camp and drive along road. 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. 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. Nhng Chin Binh Ph Thu Xinh p tp 29. st_Luna-kun. Tet offensive attack on Long Binh and Bien Hoa, 31 January 1968: Date: 31 January-2 February 1968: Location: Bien Hoa, Bien Hoa Air Base and Long Binh Post, South Vietnam. New York Times, January 8, 1969, p. 12. The basic course at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland allocated one week in the field for brushing up on combat skills. 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 . Mr. Cook served with the 1st Infantry Division, 2-16th Infantry, as a 1st Lieutenant in the Long Binh area of Vietnam. 1 minigun and a jumble of spilled ammunition. Among the family members present were his son and grandson, John L. Levitow III. It led the way for the more powerful AC-119 and AC-130 gunships that came later. 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] At 02:00 on 23 February, the 274th VC Regiment initiated their attack with an estimated 78 rounds of rocket and mortar fire from their positions. 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. The other skid remains upright, as it is unfastened from the crane. It concentrated on US military installations, especially in the III Corps area around Saigon. Stephen Hugh Lane SP5 Lead Clerk Jan 1969 to Sep 1970, MOS 67N20 has checked in and joined the 3/4 Cav Chapter. Necessarily, more is lost to time than is remembered. Two of the pockets were destroyed by the next morning resulting in the capture of the acting commander of the 141st Regiment. Nowhere, however, is Levitows memory recalled more vividly than at the Enlisted Heritage Research Institute at the Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy at Maxwell AFB, Gunter Annex, Ala. Levitow willed his Medal of Honor to the Enlisted Heritage Hall there. [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. "6 To Face Murder Charges for G.I.'s Riot in Prison." New York Times, October 1, 1968, p. 3. In 1968, a group of black inmates were fed up with their treatment and the war. at the 24th Evacuation Hospital in Long Binh, South Vietnam, both patient and unit members, to find each other and join in the. There are some night scenes of the base under attack showing mostly flares, explosions and gunships firing on enemy targets.
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