Fires started from secondary blasts by bombs and fuel. By 11:00, Marine helicopters evacuated the most seriously wounded and brought in the rest of Company G into blocking positions on the western bank of the Yn. The U.S Marine Corps Fighter Squadron VMF (AW) 232, also based here, lost some of its F-8E Crusader aircraft in this attack. Shortly after midnight on July 15, 1967, Da Nang Air Base in Quang Nam Province, RVN, came under a heavy rocket attack. The 1st MP Battalion completed three sweeps of the Air Base perimeter and the areas just southeast, southwest and just north of the airbase without incident. In addition, the 1st Marine Division alerted one company to participate in the relief of Hi An, if needed. According to intelligence reports, on 15 January, Group 44, the forward headquarters of the PAVN/VC Military Region 5, moved from the hills in western Qung Nam Province, to an advance position on G Ni Island. "[1]:143, Throughout the Da Nang area of operations, the PAVN/VC began to move into attack positions. The South Vietnamese quickly rushed the newly arrived ARVN 5th Ranger Battalion into the area. In the meantime, the VC harassed with sniper fire both CAP Q-4 and the nearby Nam O bridge security detachment from 2/7 Marines. CriticalPast is an archive of historic footage. Two members of a VC engineering company, also in the Da Nang area, later recounted that nearly 80 percent of their unit was from North Vietnam. Mortars and recoilless rifle rounds continued to land inside the headquarters compound from enemy firing positions in Ha Vang. Considering the amount of ordnance that the enemy expended, casualties were relatively small. Cam Ranh Bay AB: US Army 6th Convalescent Hospital damaged by Rocket Attack! At 17:00 on 29 January, Westmoreland cancelled the truce in the entire I Corps sector. The 3/5 Marines together with Companies F and G, 2/3 Marines then began methodically to eliminate pockets of resistance in the general area. To the south of the Air Base, other PAVN/VC main force units attacked the District Town of in Bn and the provincial capital of Qung Nam, Hi An, on Route 4. [1]:154, Throughout the Da Nang TAOR, the intensity of activity increased during the night. Rocket attacks in 1972 Da Nang Vietnam a425couple Aug 29, 2017, 4:51:30 PM to Rocket attack 72 redhorse compound DaNang on: August 24, 2009, 08:06:45 pm Does anyone remember the date of. [1]:1423, From other sources, the Marine command learned of other ominous measures taken by the PAVN/VC forces in the Da Nang sector. The VC had learned that artillery and/or air strikes would be called in on the launch sites. The attacks were repulsed by combined United States Marine Corps (USMC), United States Army, Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) and Republic of Korea Marine Corps (ROKMC) forces with the PAVN/VC suffering heavy losses. Army forces in the Da Nang area including the troops from Task Force Miracle suffered 18 dead and 59 wounded. The PAVN obviously were bringing the local VC main force units up to strength, even if to do so they had to bring in replacements from the north. Open to all Vietnam Veterans that served at DA NANG Air Base of ROCKET CITY from 1971-1972. The most eastern of the battalions, the 2nd, shared its area with the 3rd Amphibian Tractor Battalion, which was responsible for the coastal sand flats south of Marble Mountain. The Snack Bar was halfway between the barracks and Base Comm. A detachment of four LVTP-5s from the 3rd AmTrac Battalion quickly arrived, but the enemy had already departed. [1]:149, About 5,000 meters to the east, in Hi An, however, PAVN/VC forces gained somewhat the upper hand. The 3/5 Marines reported "a definite increase of enemy harassment" and the movement of sizeable enemy units into the Go Noi Island area (.mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}1551N 10812E / 15.85N 108.2E / 15.85; 108.2). Marine commanders and staff officers could only speculate that the enemy was probably infiltrating north in small groups to "predetermined rallying points" for a further assault either on the city or on the Air Base. In both these sectors support troops doubled as infantry, manning fixed defensive positions and conducting patrols. 180 Da Nang Air Base Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images Images Creative Editorial Video Creative Editorial FILTERS CREATIVE EDITORIAL VIDEO 180 Da Nang Air Base Premium High Res Photos Browse 180 da nang air base stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. According to Marine sources, the heavy action on this small island resulted in 102 VC killed, 88 prisoners of war, 13 VC suspects and 70 laborers. According to the prisoner accounts, they were from the PAVN 3rd Battalion, 31st Regiment and confirmed that "Da Nang itself was the ultimate objective. According to Marine pilot reports, the PAVN/VC had approximately 250 men in the area equipped with automatic weapons, including at least one .51-caliber machine gun. Today, several areas on the Da Nang Base including the loading, storage and mixing areas and Sen Lake to the north and the Pacer Ivy area at the south of the base have been confirmed to have . At 09:20, PAVN/VC forces attacked the district towns of in Bn, just above the Ky Lam River and Duy Xuyn below the river. The Marines assaulted the island and the fighting continued throughout the night and into the next morning. He personally believed the plans were impractical and deserted at the first chance he had. At 07:35, VC gunners fired two RPGs at the compound tower and a VC infantry platoon opened up upon the CAP unit. Of the 13-man Recon team, codename Dublin City, one was dead, nine were injured and three escaped unscathed. The crowd scattered only to gather on the fringes of Red Beach Base Area. By dark the Korean had captured the hospital and were in position to relieve the engineer compound. [1]:159, While from 15 February, the PAVN/VC ground assaults on Marine positions appeared to diminish , Marine spotters in the tower on Hill 55 reported the constant movement of small groups of enemy troops in the western portion of the ROKMC area of operations. The Marine company called in mortar and artillery fire. It was decided that two battalions from the Americal Division code-named Task Force Miracle would be moved into the northern sector of the 3/5 Marines near Route 1 south of the Cau Do. "[1]:163, Another possible explanation was that the Da Nang attack may have been a secondary assault, to cause as much damage as possible and divert Allied forces from the almost successful effort of the PAVN/VC forces to capture Hu. Milantoni replied, "General Lm just gave it. Da Nang Air Base was one of the major air bases used for offensive air operations within South Vietnam and for the support of USMC and ARVN forces. Although the PAVN troops fled, the Marines found five unexpended 122mm rockets on the site. Pictures of Danang 10. Firing 290 105mm shells, the tractor artillery reportedly killed about 80 of the PAVN attackers caught in the open. In Da Nang City itself, about 10:50 in the morning, approximately 500 people gathered at a Buddhist pagoda and attempted to hold a march. About 09:00, Lieutenant Colonel Rockey, the 3/5 Marines commander, ordered a small command group and two companies, Company M of his battalion and Company F, 2/3 Marines attached to his command, to the relief of the ARVN camp. NMCB-7 sends a Disaster. Menu. On 29 January, Marine intelligence officers received a reliable report that the PAVN 2nd Division also had established its command post in western G Ni. [1]:154, At about 19:00 another reconnaissance patrol, Recon Team Rummage, about 30 kilometers south of Da Nang in the Qu Sn Mountains below An Ha, spotted a column of about 40 PAVN at the head of even a larger column moving east along a trail. Doc, as his friends called him, was one of 58,200 Americans that died during the Vietnam War. An American advisor within the MACV compound reported at 11:45 that the VC were digging in the engineer compound. Next Photo. During the day, the division had positioned 11 reconnaissance Stingray patrols along likely enemy avenues of approach. In the Hi Vn Pass area in the north, PAVN troops attempted to cut Highway 1. These included Hills 65 and 52 manned by companies of the 3/7 Marines in the southwestern part of the TAOR and Hill 41 defended by Company D, 1/7 Marines in the central western sector. [1]:147, After a lull of about an hour to an hour and a half, the enemy gunners renewed their assault on the Air Base and Marble Mountain Air Facility. Hill received a telephone call at 03:45 on the 30th from Colonel Thomas Randall, the III MAF G-3, who asked him "to send three platoons to blocking positions south of I Corps headquarters." [1]:159, While the Marines successfully thwarted this attempt, between 01:00 and 05:00 on the morning of the 6th, PAVN/VC gunners mortared or rocketed all of the command posts, fire bases and company combat bases in the 7th Marines sector. This would be followed by a rocket barrage and an assault by the main force units on Allied military units and installations. The Marine staff speculated that the enemy launched the mortar attacks largely as a cover for the rocket attacks against Marble Mountain. 1969. 15 July 1967Unknown number of VC attacks Da Nang air base in Quang Nam Province with an estimated 50 rounds of suspected 122mm rockets. Still PAVN/VC gunners just before 01:00 launched 12 122mm rockets aimed at the Da Nang base and blew up two ammunition dumps, one for napalm and the other for flares. By the afternoon of the 31st, the Marines and Rangers had completed their sweep. At 08:30 a CAP saw a number of VC attempting to swim across the Cu to the island. According to Marine intelligence sources, Rummage may well "have rendered a reinforced battalion combat ineffective, forcing the enemy to modify his plans at a critical time." [1]:157, About 5,000 meters to the northwest, later that night, a squad from Company C, 1/7 Marines encountered an enemy force possibly from the same PAVN regiment. [1]:1456, At 03:00 the PAVN/VC hit even closer to the Marine command nerve center at Da Nang. Of the prisoners, the South Vietnamese identified six as military, 109 as workers, and the remaining 80 as VC cadre. The following day, the same sources indicated that both the VC 1st and the PAVN 3rd Regiments had also withdrawn to the Go Noi. Simultaneously, the division ordered the helilift of a company from the 3/5 Marines to reinforce the ARVN and the CAP Marines. Two of the mortar attacks hit the 1st Cavalry Division helipad near the Force Logistic Command area in the Red Beach Base Area destroying two helicopters and damaging eight others and killing one U.S . Because of an air observer on station, the Marine gunners checked their fire. The PAVN soldiers wore flak jackets and helmets and carried a machine gun, and a small rocket detachment with six 122mm rockets. Despite the thinness of the Marine lines and the ability of the PAVN/VC to infiltrate, they never capitalized on these advantages. He moved Company M, 3/7 Marines from its fairly remote position on Hill 52 in the far western reaches of the Vu Gia River Valley above the An Hoa Basin to the more centrally located Hill 65. Liked the Oriental rock bands came to the Club: The PAVN/VC attacked a Marine bunker and ran through the Communications Support Company area throwing grenades and Satchel charges in the living quarters. The C-123's ability to land on short, unimproved fields proved invaluable and the four units served in Vietnam until the end of the war. Proud to have had . A high number of casualties were Vietnamese civilians living in a village just east of Da Nang Air Base. [1]:156, The Da Nang Northern Sector Defense Command dispatched a provisional company to assist the CAP Marines as well as the security detachment. Despite limited attacks later in the month, these were largely, as a report stated, "an attempt to maintain the facade of an offensive. The USAF 620th Tactical Control Squadron established a control and reporting post (CRP) code-named Panama on the mountain in 1964 to support operations from Danang Air Base. 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