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. 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. It was another hot February day in 1969 at the sprawling Long Binh logistics base about 20 miles northeast of Saigon. John T. Correll was editor in chief of Air Force Magazine for 18 years and is now a contributing editor. The post and the 720th MP Battalion were informed of the planned attack late in the afternoon of the 22nd. 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 . DARLENE SUPERVILLE Associated Press. 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. The spilled ammunition19,000 rounds of it by Platts estimatewould start cooking off in seconds. 105837N 1064955E / . 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. I think it was a very discriminatory flight.. 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. 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. One of the larger battles of the Vietnam War had been fought right in front of me, and I never saw the enemy. 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. After the massive casualties it suffered during the vicious battles in 1966 and 1967, and especially due to the division's disastrous . Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. This site uses cookies to improve your experience and to help show content that is more relevant to your interests. That year, traumatic as it was . This attack was going to be a big one.. [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. Visitors can also watch a videotape of Carpenter and John Levitow Jr. talking about the Medal of Honor mission. They fought to the last because (1) they were told that they would be tortured mercilessly by US soldiers should they be captured, and (2) being Buddhists, they did not want to die on foreign soil, but hoped to escape so they could go home to North Vietnam to die. Capt. 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. 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 video has no narration. 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. In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. I am interested in corresponding with any Black Scarf soldiers who . Trang ch> attack on Titan final season 3 part 1 > Bnh lun 6. The deployment, which began March 1, is part of an exercise dubbed Agile Reaper 23-1. 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. Shortly before midnight the entire perimeter lit up with machine gun fire. His grieving son had no option but to file away those unanswered questions forever. 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. The flare was armed and rolling loose in the aircraft. It concentrated on US military installations, especially in the III Corps area around Saigon. Each one of the guns could fire two speeds, Levitow said. A three-second burst would saturate an area the size of a football field. It was nothing like what I saw in my imagination or what is shown in movie theaters or on television. I try to control what I say, although for the most part, Im very quiet. License Agreement | I spent nine years working for Congressional Liaison between the Veterans Administration and members of the Congress, he said. 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. Night was approaching as Spooky 71, an AC-47 gunship, took off from Bien Hoa Air Base, a few miles northwest of Saigon. Shrapnel and jagged shards of metal ricocheted through the cargo bay, and a shock wave from the explosion swept the interior of the airplane. About 85 per cent of the force was estimated to be PAVN soldiers. The airplane made it over the minefield and onto the overrun, just barely. .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. 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. [4]:101. 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. more Im not going to bring shame on either the medal or myself, so I do watch it very carefully.. It would light up, oh, about half a mile, a good area, quite brightly, Levitow said. "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. Jerry Breast/U.S. The base was host to US Army Headquarters. Dedicated to those who were there. Grabbing my helmet and flak jacket (and finding that, after sitting on the shelf for several months, neither would fit properly), I departed with my Jeep driver for the Logistics Commands large yellow headquarters building. 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. But a battle was waiting instead. The award-winning exhibit, designed by curator William I. Chivalette, includes a lifelike mannequin of Levitow, paintings, photographs, uniform items, and artifacts. 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. He worked in "The Iron Triangle" included Phu loi, Ton sahn Nut, and Long B. 2023 CriticalPast LLC. These attacks were repulsed for Marines losses of 18 killed and more than 75 PAVN killed. It was an unlucky hit. It was another hot February day in 1969 at the sprawling Long Binh logistics base about 20 miles northeast of Saigon. Tran Van Thiet, 19, had been left behind. . 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. remembrance of shared experience. 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. We were officially MOS (Military Operational Specialty) 32F20, which was depot-level repair and maintenance on AUTOSEVOCOM (AUTOmatic SEcure VOice COMmunications) crypto . I must add, though, that from a different perspective the battle I witnessed in Vietnam was exactly the same as those I had seen in movies: One was just as unreal as the other. Viet Cong sappers infiltrated the base and lay in long grass between the runways for several hours before placing their satchel charges. ATTACK ON LONG BINH POST. Din vin Ninh Dng Lan Ngc Ninh Dng Lan Ngc Vit Trinh. The attack was expected to come on the ground, as opposed to those . Dad wanted to be buried standing up. The enemy was too close for artillery, so gunships were . 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. Facebook. See Long Binh photos and images from satellite below, explore the aerial photographs of Long Binh in Vietnam. Convoy of M-113 ARCs and M-551 assault vehicles move out of camp and drive along road. . Nhng Chin Binh Ph Thu Xinh p tp 29. st_Luna-kun. Stephen Hugh Lane SP5 Lead Clerk Jan 1969 to Sep 1970, MOS 67N20 has checked in and joined the 3/4 Cav Chapter. Troops lined up on a field. c chuyn cho qun i Ukraine 1.000 v kh chng xe tng v 500 ha tin di t - trn khng Typ/kiu Stinger (bo vc dch l : tn la t i khng).c cng ng thun cho Holland chuyn cho qun Ukraine 400 Panzerfaeuste/ v kh chng xe tng v cc v kh khc do c ch . From there, I had a good view of the perimeter and the rapidlyunfolding battle. I was a ticket office supervisor with several Vietnamese and Chinese-Vietnamese women reservations/ticket agents. Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. After Levitow left the Air Force, he worked in veterans affairs for more than 22 years. On top of that came the domino theory of 1954, invented by then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The cavalry troopers also stumbled onto a large tunnel complex not more than a mile from our perimeter. SSG Richard E, Slaven died from his wounds the next day. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. Brigadier General Francis J. Roberts addresses troops. 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. The Long Binh/Bien Hoa complex was huge, with thousands of soldiers and airmen assigned to the combined logistics complex and air base. Duration: 2 min 9 sec. Textual Records: Correspondence and daily journal, 1972-73. . He was a man that was proud to stand tall. One of the MP ambush squads held a position within a kilometer of the VC stronghold. If you like this movie trailer, go to https://militaryvideo.com/ to purchase the entire 60 minute video. Spooky 71 had gone as far as it was going. Many of the tracers bounced off the ground like rubber balls. CRITICALPAST.COM: Note the attacking Skyhawk in the lower right and one directly left of the explosions on the bridge. Levitow declined to board the helicopter until he was finally ordered to do so by Carpenter. Very seldom did we ever fire fast rounds at 18,000 rounds a minute because it had a tendency to turn the airplane. I consider the fact that the aircraft was able to fly at all a miracle, Carpenter said. United States Army soldiers participate in military payment certificates (MPC) exchange at their headquarters in Long Binh Vietnam. Nothing was more effective than a gunship in breaking up such attacks. Danil_1969 4 ting trc. 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.