Rvn - "tet - 1968

[Mike Haas]

I was in RVN from Aug 66 to Oct 68. 1st Cav out of An Khe for 4 months flying on "Caribou's" - Then went to the 224th Avn Btn (RR) with the 144th Avn Co. (RR) outta Nha Trang doing Aerial RDF work on RU-8D's and RU-6's.

Lottsa long term TDY's to various bases North & West of Nha Trang. I happened to be at "Home Plate" Nha Trang when "TET' occurred. I'll attach three pictures. I took all of them and they are my property. Save them for your own use but no republish without asking me for permission.

Pic #1 - Short final for runway 12 at Nha Trang. Our flight line is in the center of the picture just to the left of the (leftside)paved road and turns left just in the forefront of the Microwave Towers. The 5th Special Forces HQ Camp is located a about 2:30 3 O'clock position in this picture.
Kinda important to orient you to this because of what shown in Pictures #2 and #3.

Pic #2 - This picture taken from the top of a Gunbunker approx. 1/4 mile north of the flight line & the 5th Special Forces Camp at about 0300 Hrs during the intial 'TET" strike at Nha Trang. Bottom left of the picture shows fires (started by mortar fire) and illumination flares (Note the Micro Wave Towers) - The building at bottom right of the picture is the 'Air America' Hanger located on the NW side of Runway 12.
The red streak ete located mid to upper right is from 'Puff the Magic Dragon' C-47 Gunship which was deployed from Nha Trang shortly after the intial attack.

Pic #3 - The picture was taken the morning after the Tet attack and from a slightly different angle (abit to the left) of Pic. #2. You can see a portion of the Air America Hanger at the extrem 3 O'Clock postion in this picture.

Enjoy (I guess) - It wasn't fun then tho..:hello:

[Mike Haas]

Somehow when I attached the pic's I got them ott of order in the display. Per my thread discription Pic #1 is on the extreme right of the thumbnail display. You guys would prbaly fiqure that out anyway. Sorry for the "Gliitch".

[da gimp]

From what all my friends have said, after Tet, the VC was destroyed as an effective force.

After the battles of Tet, my friends to a man, said they only encountered regular NVA & Chinese troops. Yet all of the slanted American news media proclaimed that the VC had scored a massive victory to our terrible loss.

Thank you for your service & welcome back to the world hand.

da gimp

[LTC]

I spent about 3 weeks TDY with the 38th TAS (C-130's) at Nha Trang during February and maybe early March of 1968. I was a FMS engine mechanic on the C-130's. We were in tents with board floors on what I think was the southern side of the base. We were right next to a fence line, beyond which I think was the Marine section of the base. During the day we would watch A1E Skyraiders bomb and or rocket the hillsides and paddies to the south. At night it was Spooky (AC-47's) hitting the same areas.

As I remember we had a mini theater in the room over what we considered the engine shop area next to the flight line. The parking areas had revetments to isolate one parked AC from another. When I left there was a machine gun enplacement being built near the end of our tent line.

LTC

[joem]

I was at a base just down the road from Khe San <sp>. From my bunker we could see the pasting they were taking. Watched incoming rockets heading for the air strip and C130 gun ship attacking the valley. Poopy time that.

[Shooter5]

A couple years ago I got to jump a Caribou. It was purchased from a boneyard by a private company and refurbished. The serial number revealed it had flown in Vietnam.
It was a nice smooth flight and exit.

[Michaelp]

The deal with the VC victory is that Tet came just after LBJ proclaimed we had them against the wall and they were all but finished.
He was reporting on what his advisors had fed him.

The fact that so many VC appeared out of every nook, cranny, manhole, etc and fought so hard completely debunked his speech.
Though they were nearly annihilated, this surge was a political victory. It showed resource and determination that we simply could not explain. Also prompted the "I will not run again" speech.
This was great for the NVA who wanted to push their commie platform over the NLF aims of the VC.
At the victory parade, the few surviving VC were not allowed to march in any related formation or uniform.

Another interesting aspect is that a SOG operation had raided a basecamp a whole year before and captured an entire set of plans for the uprising.
These plans were duly tuned in thru normal channels and promptly disappeared from history.
I am associated with some of the guys invloved and we have discussed this at length on a SF board.

A lot of REMFs and other geared up to help with the fight. A guy from SF HQ was in downtown NhaTrang and rounded a corner running into a fully armed Viet he thought was a CIDG. Bad guy shot him a number of times and ran on.
SF guy lived to laugh about it these days.

[Weasel]

One of the biggest turn around in the war was when Walter Cronkite threw up the white flag by proclaiming, "In the opinion of this reporter the war is unwinnable". Thank you Walter Cronkite.