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. 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. Thirty-four years after it happened, the story of John L. Levitow has lost none of its power to excite and inspire. 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. But a battle was waiting instead. Ambush at Ap Nhi. . 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. Few areas of the world have been as hotly contested as the India-Pakistan border. Carpenter rolled the gunship wings level and began his run on the mortar positions. These Vietnam War photos taken by U.S. Army photographers reveal a side of the conflict that few people have ever seen. With the progression of the battle came a feeling of incredulity. I had the lanyard on the flare hooked up and my finger through the safety pin ring. While I was in training, my motivation was to get these wings and I wear them today proudly, the airman recalled in 2015. 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 soldiers with old (MPC) currency notes takes the receipt and proceeds towards the next officer. Mr. Cook served with the 1st Infantry Division, 2-16th Infantry, as a 1st Lieutenant in the Long Binh area of Vietnam. One of the larger battles of the Vietnam War had been fought right in front of me, and I never saw the enemy. Then there was a blinding flash and the aircraft was rocked from nose to tail by a violent explosion. Also in mid-February Company D, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines engaged an entrenched PAVN platoon 22km southwest of Da Nang killing 30 and the ARVN 2nd Battalion, 51st Regiment operating 4km west of the Marines killed 49 PAVN moving north of Go Noi Island. Sixteen bulldozers were quickly deployed to spend the rest of the day sealing the entrances. GitHub export from English Wikipedia. Soldiers in a line. It weighed 27 pounds. [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. Subscribe to receive our weekly newsletter with top stories from master historians. Levitow declined to board the helicopter until he was finally ordered to do so by Carpenter. It took considerable effort to get Spooky 71 back to base. His most recent article, Rolling Thunder, appeared in the March issue. So they were given guns and were told to attack Long Binh Post (population 30,000 armed U.S. soldiers). 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. At first, he was a power line specialist with the civil engineering squadron at McGuire AFB, N.J. Alsoand central to the story of Spooky 71it carried about 50 magnesium flares to illuminate targets on the ground. A 70-strong VC force attacked the 2/1 Marines command post 6km south of Marble Mountain losing 17 dead. 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. HistoryNet.com is brought to you by HistoryNet LLC, the worlds largest publisher of history magazines. My Account | The Mk 24 flare was a metal tube, just over three feet long and about five inches in diameter. It was Feb. 24, 1969, and the second day of the Tet counteroffensive. Small-arms fire opened up in his path. But now the tough Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army itself were coming. Except for the eruptions from our perimeter bunkers, the entire battlefield seemed devoid of peopleat least people who could be seen. hightForP2 = 330 Stephen Hugh Lane SP5 Lead Clerk Jan 1969 to Sep 1970, MOS 67N20 has checked in and joined the 3/4 Cav Chapter. 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. Between 1970 and 72 my father wound up in Vietnam as a civilian aircraft mechanic, working on helicopters. When we were hit, all of us [Owen, Levitow, Sgt. Necessarily, more is lost to time than is remembered. This attack was going to be a big one.. 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. 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 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. It was presented in ceremonies in February 2002 by his son to CMSgt. Result: United States and South Vietnam victory: Belligerents Contribute to chinapedia/wikipedia.en development by creating an account on GitHub. Back home in Connecticut, he learned that his Medal of Honor had been approved. It was modified from the C-47 transport aircraft, plenty of which were available. 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. And yet there was nobody, absolutely nobody, visible out there. [2][3], Since early February 1969, the 1st Marine Division had noted an upsurge in PAVN/VC activity around Da Nang. In 1968, a group of black inmates were fed up with their treatment and the war. It would light up, oh, about half a mile, a good area, quite brightly, Levitow said. The battle area was quickly illuminated by large spotlights supplemented with dozens of flares fired by our artillery. Long Binh Post was a sprawling logistics facility and the largest U.S. Army base in Vietnam, with a peak of 60,000 personnel in 1969. Privacy Policy2023 CriticalPast LLC. More than 500 airmen attended the funeral, and most of them followed the caisson to the grave site. 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. Carpenter waved off taxi instructions from the tower and the crew got out fast. CRITICALPAST.COM: It was another hot February day in 1969 at the sprawling Long Binh logistics base about 20 miles northeast of Saigon. The attacks were repulsed with the VC/PAVN suffering heavy losses, having inflicted . 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. Instructions to promote Levitow to sergeant without regard to skill level had not been followed. 30. By mid-1967, United States Army, Vietnam (USARV), 1st Logistical Command and many other Army units dispersed in Saigon were moved to Long Binh Post to resolve centralization, security, and troop billeting issues. Dennis Yenser checks in about Sapper Attack story. 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. SSG Richard E, Slaven died from his wounds the next day. Hamby advises McIntosh to . Since my finger was through the safety pin ring the safety pin was pulled.. All of the enlisted got wounded and the officers did not. In the attack on Bien Hoa Air Base the PAVN lost 264 killed and 87 captured while ARVN losses were 10 killed and US. (On earlier AC-47s, one of the guns had been mounted in the door.) Ni bt nht; Gn y; Gi. 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 firing grew to a continuous roar, with lines and lines of red tracers emitted by M60 machine guns crisscrossing the battlefield. 3 Lt xem. They tell me that I had 40 pieces of shrapnel in me at the time, Levitow said. Sorry, Dad, I couldnt make that happen.. The 64-year-old Army veteran died suddenly of a heart attack. 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. 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. more 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. This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Marine Corps. 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. Intelligence had indicators of the pending attacks. 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. "Riot at Long Binh Stockade Attributed to Racial Acts." New York Times, September 4, 1968, p. 38. The airplane made it over the minefield and onto the overrun, just barely. United States 2nd Field Force change of command ceremony at Long Binh, Vietnam. 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. The villagers met elements of the South Vietnamese 5th Marine Battalion, the 3rd Battalion, 48th Infantry Regiment, 18th Division and the 3rd Squadron, 5th Armored Cavalry moving on the road less than a half mile from Thai Hiep in response to the contact at the air base. United States and South Vietnamese forces responded with . (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? Once the sun came up, a troop of the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment found 139 dead enemy soldiers, Stars & Stripes reported. During the Vietnam War, Long Binh Post was the U.S. Army's largest base located in the former South Vietnam. Thomas Baer, the other gunner, and SSgt. In another scene, a large crane is used to stack shells in the ammunition dump. The 199th later became known as the "Redcatchers" for its mission objectiveto seek out and destroy Communist cadres in Vietnam. 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. Over time, the Department of Defense plans to turn. He was discharged from active duty after his Vietnam tour and shortly afterward was assigned to an Army Reserve unit. With no friendly troops visible between me and the battle, into my M16 went the magazine of tracers in preparation for a confrontation with anyone who might break through that wall of gunfire, something at which the Viet Cong were quite adept. Poor guys; they didn't stand a chance. 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 Spooky 71 crew could see mortar tube flashes about one mile south of the area of the earlier attack. A sign reads 'Headquarters II Field Force Vietnam Artillery'. Airman Levitow was setting [the ejection and ignition dials] and handing me the flares, Owen said. 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. He flew as a crewman on C-130s for a short tour, then went to Vietnam to fly on AC-47s. There are some night scenes of the base under attack showing mostly flares, explosions and gunships firing on enemy targets. Date: 1969, August 11. Scenes of Viet Cong bodies around the perimeter of the base.Please Note! 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. I think it was a very discriminatory flight.. Photo courtesy of Tom Lefavour and taken around October 1969. 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 . 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. Among those present was Carpenter, the commander of Spooky 71, now retired and living in Marshall, Tex. Sound: No. 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. The research for this After Action Report included OPERATIONAL REPORTS, DAILY STAFF JOURNALS and DUTY OFFICER S LOGS at the Battalion, Brigade and Division levels located in the National Archives and Records Administration, 8601 Adelphi Road, College Park, MD 20740-6001. To the Air Forces embarrassment, a hero was not eligible to re-enlist. . 5 Lt xem. 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.. We're weird, he said. "On the second firing pass, the mortars firing on Long Binh were silenced." The attack lifted momentarily, and the gunship began dropping flares to provide illumination . Shrapnel and jagged shards of metal ricocheted through the cargo bay, and a shock wave from the explosion swept the interior of the airplane. Upon arrival, we observed a large battle going on in the south and east perimeters of the base, Carpenter said. Hide. The MP squad suffered three wounded. I heard that five American soldiers were killed and some 30 wounded. Din vin Ninh Dng Lan Ngc Ninh Dng Lan Ngc Vit Trinh. If you like this movie trailer, go to https://militaryvideo.com/ to purchase the entire 60 minute video. 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.. 1971 serving with the 95th Military Police Battalion. A U.S. 2nd Field Force soldier poses. 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. That year, traumatic as it was . 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. 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. 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. 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. . 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. The rifle was accompanied by a single magazine of tracer roundsbullets treated with a chemical that creates a trail of light when fired. Brigadier General Francis J. Roberts addresses troops. 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. Ellis C. Owen, had been working as a team in dropping the flares. Shortly before midnight the entire perimeter lit up with machine gun fire. Levitows Medal of Honor is prominently displayed at Enlisted Heritage Hall. Despite his wounds, Levitow helped secure the airplane on the way back. He spent almost two months recuperating in Japan before returning to Vietnam in April. [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. The gunship, situated on the lawn of the museum, was dedicated in October 2004. Spooky 71 had gone as far as it was going. It includes footage shot between 17 Feb and 24 Feb 1969. It had been flying in Vietnam since 1964, first with the air commandos and after that with the special operations squadrons. It concentrated on US military installations, especially in the III Corps area around Saigon. Im very careful what I do, he said in an oral history interview in 1986. "6 To Face Murder Charges for G.I.'s Riot in Prison." New York Times, October 1, 1968, p. 3. . It was also called Dragonship and Puff the Magic Dragon (after a song, then popular, by Peter, Paul, and Mary) but went mostly by Spooky, the call sign with which it flew its missions. [4]:101. Records relating to the Christmas mail program, 1969-72. The Long Binh Army post, adjacent to Spookys home base at Bien Hoa, was under mortar attack. This was teh first time the M551 Sheridan was in action in the Blackhorse Regiment. [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. About Us | In 1964 an Ohio woman took up the challenge that had led to Amelia Earharts disappearance. On the morning of 26 February following Napalm and Snake Eye air strikes, Company L, reinforced by Company M assaulted the PAVN position making slow progress against determined PAVN resistance. By 15:00 the 36th Ranger Battalion moved into the village attacking the PAVN/VC force. 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 . We were officially MOS (Military Operational Specialty) 32F20, which was depot-level repair and maintenance on AUTOSEVOCOM (AUTOmatic SEcure VOice COMmunications) crypto .
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