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. Aerial view of Long Binh Post in Vietnam. Intelligence had indicators of the pending attacks. The view is from the compound of the 20. remembrance of shared experience. Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. About 11:30 p.m., the gunship was diverted from patrol over the village of Lai Kai, north of Long Binh. It took considerable effort to get Spooky 71 back to base. It concentrated on US military installations, especially in the III Corps area around Saigon. Metacafe, nhc nn - Mo One Piece - Thnh Long Jr. 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. Soldiers of the 221st Signal Company Vietnam have military payment certificates (MPC) exchanged at their headquarters in Long Binh Vietnam as part of a country wide general order. After Levitow left the Air Force, he worked in veterans affairs for more than 22 years. Ellis C. Owen, had been working as a team in dropping the flares. Seriously wounded were, SSG Slaven the squad leader, SP/4 Robert Cressman, PFC Larry W. Holton, and CPL Lee Van Muon, their Popular Forces Interpreter. 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. Since my finger was through the safety pin ring the safety pin was pulled.. 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 . Shortly, another mortar battery began firing. Remember: Using others' images on the web without their permission may be bad manners, or worse, copyright infringement. The idea seemed absurd! [4]:99, Before dawn on 23 February, the first day of Tt, the PAVN/VC fired 25 122mm rockets at Da Nang's deep water port hitting an ARVN ammunition dump and a fuel tank farm at Da Nang Air Base and cause minor damage to an A-6A and 6 helicopters at the Air Base. Ike originally intended these dominos to represent Chinas neighbors such as North and South Vietnam. You can imagine how frightful that was to the mind of a 6-year-old. 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 . The battle area had been cleared for at least 500 to 1,000 yards from the perimeterall foliage and any source of cover had been bulldozed flat. Thirty-four years after it happened, the story of John L. Levitow has lost none of its power to excite and inspire. 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. 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. 472.6.8 Records of the U.S. Army Central Finance and Accounting Office, Vietnam. The deployment, which began March 1, is part of an exercise dubbed Agile Reaper 23-1. Scenes of Viet Cong bodies around the perimeter of the base.Please Note! Note the attacking Skyhawk in the lower right and one directly left of the explosions on the bridge. at the 24th Evacuation Hospital in Long Binh, South Vietnam, both patient and unit members, to find each other and join in the. 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. United States 2nd Field Force change of command ceremony at Long Binh, Vietnam. Navy) 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. He spent almost two months recuperating in Japan before returning to Vietnam in April. He had a serious leg wound and was evacuated to the field hospital across the street from my barracks. F-100C Super Sabre 54-1956 120 TFS, 35 TFW, USAF . History is a guide to navigation in perilous times. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. 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. 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 . Photo courtesy of Tom Lefavour and taken around October 1969. The 64-year-old Army veteran died suddenly of a heart attack. 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. The firing grew to a continuous roar, with lines and lines of red tracers emitted by M60 machine guns crisscrossing the battlefield. Mr. Cook served with the 1st Infantry Division, 2-16th Infantry, as a 1st Lieutenant in the Long Binh area of Vietnam. (Vietnam War period). The cavalry troopers also stumbled onto a large tunnel complex not more than a mile from our perimeter. 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. 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. Spooky 71 flew with a crew of eight. Carpenter set it down in a full shuddering stall. (true?/false? But a battle was waiting instead. By 01:00 the next morning, the bodies of 264 PAVN/VC soldiers lay in the village, and 87 had been captured or surrendered. This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Marine Corps. 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. Levitow also gave Enlisted Heritage Hall his fathers uniform and ribbons, the original Medal of Honor citation signed by President Nixon, photos, and other memorabilia. 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 idea was quite unsettling. More than 100 individual and crew-served weapons were captured. 1971 serving with the 95th Military Police Battalion. The enemy fire was situated across Highway 1A, directing a heavy concentration of fire into the 12th Group and II Field Force compounds. The aircraft veered sharply to the right and down.. Dennis E Haines, Recipient of the Images Of Bravery Award, Patient at the 24th Evacuation Hospital, December 1968. I couldnt walk. United States and South Vietnamese forces responded with . Aerial view of Long Binh Post in Vietnam. He was a man that was proud to stand tall. 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. 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. Most estimates put the Viet Cong deaths at over 100. For my personal defense, I relied upon a somewhat rusty M16 kept around the office. Another typist gives MPC currency notes to the soldiers. Soldiers walk around outside the headquarters. Terms & Conditions | 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. 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. I was not in this Regiment, but I believe I may have observed some of the Regiment's activities the day of the attack. Then there was a blinding flash and the aircraft was rocked from nose to tail by a violent explosion. I try to control what I say, although for the most part, Im very quiet. The pilot fired the guns, using a sight at the left side of the cockpit. The attack lifted momentarily, and the gunship began dropping flares to provide illumination requested by a nearby ground unit. . Shortly before midnight the entire perimeter lit up with machine gun fire. 3 Lt xem. [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. License Agreement | (Vietnam War period). Tet Offensive attack on Long Binh and Bien Hoa 31 January 1968.jpg . . 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. Spooky was flying at about 3,500 feet. A soldier with a typewriter creates a receipt. Records relating to the Christmas mail program, 1969-72. 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. Im very careful what I do, he said in an oral history interview in 1986. Soldiers give forms to the soldier with type-writer. He flew as a crewman on C-130s for a short tour, then went to Vietnam to fly on AC-47s. Mini-Tet 1969 Begins February 23, 1969. COMBAT AFTER ACTION REPORT, VIETNAM 1969. When it finally ended with the assistance of several Cobra gunbships, 23 enemy dead were discovered. Inbound, Carpenter had called for an ambulance and a medevac helicopter to meet them on the ramp. Viet Cong sappers infiltrated the base and lay in long grass between the runways for several hours before placing their satchel charges. The threat of communism was pounded into our heads all through elementary and high school at Rock Valley, Iowa. Long Binh Post was situated East of Bien Hoa and approximately 20 miles northeast of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City.) Whether they produced battlefield images of the dead or daguerreotype portraits of common soldiers, []. 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. . The video has no narration. Levitow declined to board the helicopter until he was finally ordered to do so by Carpenter. 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. Opportunity knocks. To the Air Forces embarrassment, a hero was not eligible to re-enlist. 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.. (On earlier AC-47s, one of the guns had been mounted in the door.) In another scene, a large crane is used to stack shells in the ammunition dump. At approximately 3:30 a.m. on Feb. 23, the battle gradually died out. Textual Records: Correspondence and daily journal, 1972-73. After the massive casualties it suffered during the vicious battles in 1966 and 1967, and especially due to the division's disastrous . After years of Army training one cannot help but itch for a shot at the enemy, especially when all the advantages are on ones own side. Dailymotion, 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. There was another motivation for Tran as he attacked the American base. The Tet 1969 offensive was carried out mostly by Viet Cong irregulars. Surely neither the Viet Cong nor North Vietnamese Army would attempt such a suicidal mission. 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. Hugging the deadly device to his body, he dragged himself back to the rear of the aircraft and hurled the flare through the open cargo door. On searching the site at dawn it was found that 2 PAVN 81mm mortar teams had been destroyed in the barrage. 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. 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. Spooky 71 had gone as far as it was going. c bit n nh mt phi n ngh s nhiu ti ni ting . The gunners kept the guns loaded and working during the flight. Levitow and one of the gunners, Sgt. 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. Night was approaching as Spooky 71, an AC-47 gunship, took off from Bien Hoa Air Base, a few miles northwest of Saigon. Airman Levitow was setting [the ejection and ignition dials] and handing me the flares, Owen said. The idea seemed absurd! United States Army soldiers exchanging MPC currency at their headquarters in Long Binh Vietnam. 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. Interestingly, the only thing that came readily to mind was a small sign I discovered at one of the outdoor latrines set back in the woods: ALL TERDS [sic.] 1965 January 1 - February 7, 1965: Vietcong forces mount a series of attacks across South Vietnam. The panorama took on an aspect of high noon, the entire battlefield bathed with an eerie golden glow. 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. 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 . Two stints one for 6 months and another for 7. The nomination package included statements from Carpenter and most of the crew. One of the larger battles of the Vietnam War had been fought right in front of me, and I never saw the enemy. And that they would already have been shot three or four times before they got there. Small-arms fire opened up in his path. Sixteen bulldozers were quickly deployed to spend the rest of the day sealing the entrances. At that instant the flare separated and ignited in the air, but clear of the aircraft.. The attack continued into 27 February when the Marines overran the PAVN resulting in a total of more than 200 killed. from 1969 to 1970. Poor guys; they didn't stand a chance. maxhightForP2 = 14168; If it ignited, it would quickly fill the aircraft with toxic smoke, incapacitating the entire crew. This was teh first time the M551 Sheridan was in action in the Blackhorse Regiment. Full-scale sweeping operations to secure the perimeter began just after noon that day. As Ole-Luk-Oie, the pen name for British officer Ernest Swinton, wrote in the 1915 book The Great Tab Dope: Who can blame a desire for the real thing, or professional zeal, whether it be that of a burglar, a Harley Street appendix hunter, or a trainer of blind monkeys?. Note: Your browser does not have JavaScript enabled. 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. 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. This was a bit disconcerting. Photo courtesy of Corpman Bill Luppeti HM3 [Rach Soi 1967-1970] I am the historian for the 11th Armored Cavalry Veterans of Vietnam and Cambodia (11th ACVVC). 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. 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. Some of my first recollections as a youngster from the cornfields of Iowa were the television and radio presentations of an ominous phenomena known as the yellow peril, although on our black-and-white TV sets this threat appeared more as black swaths oozing first from Russia across China, then over North Korea and finally covering the countries of Southeast Asia on their way across the ocean to the United States. John L. Levitow. Carpenter waved off taxi instructions from the tower and the crew got out fast. The attack was expected to come on the ground, as opposed to those . The 199th later became known as the "Redcatchers" for its mission objectiveto seek out and destroy Communist cadres in Vietnam. Things quieted down for a while. Tran Van Thiet, 19, had been left behind. The attacks were repulsed with the VC/PAVN suffering heavy losses, having inflicted . 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. As Ole-Luk-Oie, the pen name for British officer Ernest Swinton, wrote in the 1915 book. A soldier counts his notes at the typist's desk. It would be relieved by another gunship for the midnight-to-dawn shift. It was situated between Bien Hoa, the location of a large American airbase, and Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam. New York Times, January 8, 1969, p. 12. License Agreement | There are some night scenes of the base under attack showing mostly flares, explosions and gunships firing on enemy targets. 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. I then looked back to see a flare that had slid up against the cans of 19,000 rounds of ammunition, Platt said.