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Tet 1969 at Cu ChiVietnam | Single Page | 10 comments | Print This Post | Email This Post The American command in Vietnam had predicted the attacks for months — believing at first that they would start at the end of the summer of 1968, then around the time of the presidential election in November, and finally about the time of Richard Nixon's inauguration — but the NVA and the VC remained relatively quiet throughout that period. In spite of a conditional Tet truce unilaterally declared by the Communists, many in the U.S. and ARVN commands thought there would be a reprise of the attacks that had occurred all over South Vietnam in 1968, but the 1969 Tet passed with little additional activity. It was during the week after Tet that the Communists struck, launching attacks against 115 cities and military bases. Subscribe Today
On March 10, 1969, Newsweek reported: 'At Cu Chi, the headquarters of the U.S. 25th Infantry Division (Mechanized) some 20 miles northwest of Saigon, enemy sapper squads slipped undetected through the barbed-wire perimeter in the middle of the night and ranged up and down the airstrip planting their explosives. Before they were driven off, they totally destroyed nine giant Chinook helicopters and badly damaged four others. And despite the heavy damage inflicted, some U.S. officers believed that the Cu Chi attack was nothing more than a diversion — a maneuver designed to keep the 25th Division occupied while large enemy forces slipped past the base and moved toward Saigon.'
That was the whole analysis — a one-paragraph report, stuck in the middle of a two-page story that was buried in a 100-page magazine. It was so inconspicuous that it would have been easy to miss. The reporting in Time was even thinner, mentioning the rocket and mortar attacks and comparing the situation to Tet 1968. On March 14, 1969, Time reported, 'The attacks in South Vietnam left 453 Americans dead in the first week, a higher toll than for any one week since last May — higher even than in the first full week of the Tet offensive a year ago.'
A week later, Time devoted a column and a half to 'Assessing the Attack.' The report focused on the attempts to overrun Landing Zone Grant, a'super' fire support base northeast of Saigon. American defenders had reportedly thrown back a battalion of Communist troops, killing 285 of them in the process. American losses were 17 killed, including the commanding officer, Lt. Col. Peter Gorvad.
Tet 1969 was practically missed by the media. Histories of Vietnam make almost no mention of it. Yet the Tet 1969 attack at Cu Chi, where I was stationed at the time, was a memorable engagement. It began with a rocket and mortar attack. The area of the 116th Assault Helicopter Company (the 'Hornets') was near the center of the large Cu Chi base camp. Although the center was where the NVA or VC aimed, a few of the rounds fell near us, waking us and sending us scrambling for the bunkers. These were little more than trenches dug about four feet into the ground and covered with a plywood roof that held several layers of sandbags, a series of 55-gallon drums covered with pierced steel plate (PSP) and more sandbags. The theory was that anything hitting the sandbags would detonate in the top layer, with the lower layers, PSP and the bottom layers absorbing the shrapnel.
There was a wood bench in the bottom of the trench, and there were areas about shoulder height that could be thought of as shelves, though they were really just places where the dirt had been dug out. Minimal equipment, such as aircraft first-aid kits, was stored there.
There were also bare light bulbs on a long wire — looking like oversized, clear Christmas lights — strung from one end of the bunker to the other. As long as the generator was working, there would be light in the bunker. The psychological importance of that little thing — lights — might explain why the engineers on Titanic worked so hard, sacrificing themselves, to keep the lights burning until just minutes before the ship sank. Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to
            Tags: 20th - 21st Century, Historical Conflicts, Vietnam War
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10 Comments to “Tet 1969 at Cu Chi”
I was there also…in a ditch across the runway from the 1/5th. I have pictures of the burned Chinooks and the ammo dump that cooked off.
By Don Eriksson on Jun 26, 2008 at 11:20 pm
I was with the 125th Sig. Bn. and on Battalion Guard that night. Shortly after the sirens went off we headed out to our sector as a reaction force. Going through the Wolfhound area, we were ambushed. It was a night to remember.
By James E. Murphy on Sep 20, 2008 at 11:51 am
My brother , Mike, was there at this time, just having arrived "in
country". It is funny, when I think of Vietnam and those who
served, you are all 19 years old in my mind…I forget that time
has marched on. God bless you for your sacrifices, and God bless
those gave the ultimate sacrifice. You will ALWAYS be heroes.
By Ginny Petersen on Nov 1, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Dear colleagues of Lorenzo (Jerry) Royster,
Lorenzo was a member of the 242 Helicopter, 1st aviation
company and he was in at Cuchi. I am writing for him as I am his
Speech therapist. He was very moved reading this story and he is
proudly wearing his CUCHI hat on his birthday. He was there
in 1968-69 and has since become very disabled with his speech.
He sends his best wishes to you and thinks deeply about the
secrifices taht wer emade during this time. He asked me to write
to you and he can be reached at my email address,
Melissa.zilberstein@va.gov. Please send a good hello. He is in
tears reading this and really needs your good wishes. He asked me
to send this to you. God bless you and thank you for your service
to our country from Lorenzo and Melissa.
By Lorenzo Royster on Nov 14, 2008 at 12:02 pm
I was there when Cu Chi got hit. I spent the night in a ditch not far behind the front lines on the bunker. All night fire fights broke out and we thought that if the bunker line was overrun we were the backups to plug the hole. But we were never called up to the bunker line, although we did receive rocket and mortar fire all night, I think from overshots on the bunker line. I was in the supply battalion, working for a Lt. Col. Rogers and Master Sgt. Remington. My company was called out in full battle gear, boarded 2.5 ton trucks and taken to our designated area. C-130 gunships were scanning the bunker lines with large spotlights and red tracers were streaming down from the gunships. It looked like they were pouring large buckets of red paint out of the ships, and with the smoke and fog, it looked like the film the War of the Worlds. Of course, we knew nothing about what was going on, the size of the NVA group that hit us or what was to transpire. I said to myself as I boarded the truck, "Well, I guess this is where I get it. I never thought my short little life would come to an end in this miserable little hell hole. I thought of my wife and one year old son, about what they were doing, and wondered if I would ever see them again. Of course, it was not nearly as bad as the guys had it on the bunker line (I think they were seasoned frontline fighters) but it was real scary, not knowing what was transpiring. And of course you never knew whether a rocket or mortar would land in the ditch and blow you up. The next morning we were used to make a sweep through our area and along the bunker line to check to see if some NVA was still lingering in the area. That was scary too since you knew they were just using you to draw fire in order to see if they could find some stranglers. There was a number of dead NVA lying near the wire and the gunships were stilling pounding some dug in near the bunkerline. I visited the airfield and there were a number of Chinooks and other types of aircraft burned to a crisp. It looked like where a huge plastic toy had been burned. It was my only taste of combat and I always tell people, I got close enough to combat to get the shit scared out of me, but not close enough to get hurt. I know now what it means when the Army says everyone in the Army is first and foremost an infantry soldier because if they need you they will throw you into combat, although you are not prepared and well-trained for it. They need warm bodies in emergencies and will not hesitate to convert an inexperienced behind the lines unit into a front line unit if they need it. I am not sure of casualties in our area, but I heard a rumor that 20 NVA and two Americans were killed along our bunker line sector. Again, that is unconfirmed. I saw at least three dead NVA who had not yet been removed from where they died. All they had on were rubber sneakers, a small wrap around their privates and wate, bandeliers of ammo strapped around their shoulders and a bandano on their heads. None had weapons on them; they were evidently stripped from them by GIs before the bodies were disposed of. After the battle we went back to work in the supply area doing our jobs just like nothing had ever happened. The next day replacement helicopters were flown in to replace the destroyed ones. I always thought from the NVA side that it was just a useless loss of human life since they gained nothing from the attack. It was just because some higher up officer in the NVA wanted to harass us and hit us just because it was Tete. How senseless war is. But I will never forget the sacrifices that was made on young American boys called on by their country to serve. I did not agree with the war but I went when called because I knew others had died for me and my family so that we might have freedom. I still hold in utter contempt the politicians who sold out our boys and cut and ran rather than stay and salvage something from the deaths of 58,000 of my fellow Americans. What a tragedy. We cannot ever repeat it again.
By David A. Farrell on Dec 13, 2008 at 10:25 pm
i was stationed there in cu chi 1968-1969 20th trans co. the red hat wearing guys , we were located at the end of the runway going away from the hanger. we housed ,supplyed and protected the officers ,warrant officers and enlisted men,all the gunships, big riggs, and other vehicles in that era . my homeboy ,bro J william serving out of the 25th battalion med.,graduated with me ,and ended up running into each other at cu chi. a couple of my buddies ihung with were sp/Edwin klapp from Des moines,IA ,and sp/ gerald Morgan, D,C., bro-D onald Brantley from L.A. just to name afew. im new at this but do want to connect. hit at me my bro- because over there we were BRO,S!!!!
By william f jackson on Jun 25, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Sept68-Sept69 Combat Medic 2/34th Armour what a year of total darkness in my life. Just like the rest of us not knowing. But thank theGood Lord my hat goes out to all of those that served then and now are reminicing as i always do since it's and unforgettable time of my life.
By Luis A. Padilla on Jul 23, 2009 at 8:48 pm
All of us at 2nd Brigade Aviation Company were dressed when we experienced the RPG round at a Division Arty's Loach. Captain Cavanaugh, Bill Austin, Jack Cosby and myself and a couple of other pilots were waiting for orders. About 4:30 am or so we were told that we would fly our four LOAHes out for safety. I said: "How is that going to help, we will still be in Vietnam when we land." In spite of my acute observation, we flew our four Oh6a's (which all happened to be in mission ready condition for once) to Duc Hoa. We got a lot of stares when this heavily armed, pistols and M-16's and unshaved group strolled into the dining hall for breakfast. They started to ask us why we deserved to eat there, but after looking at our hardware, they waived the question and served us. We had all taken our crew chiefs who normally did not get to fly on our C&C missions as well as a box of C-rations per helicopter. On returning to Cu Chi in the morning, Bill and I spent the rest of the day looking for NVA stragglers. I know I flew seventeen hours out of 24 that day although I only got credit for about nine. As I recall the action started with a 240 mm rocket landing in our hooch area or it could have been just an RPG round. It didn't take us pilots more than six minutes to get to the maintainenance hangar for our orders. I remember our sargeant telling me to get my head down "sir" if I wanted to keep it as an RPG flew over. I said something about "this must be how the boys at the Alamo felt." By the time we evacuated the base camp, we already knew that ten chinooks had been destroyed. For those who want to know about casualties and the enemy who got away, see the After Action Reports for the 25th Infantry division for that day in 1969. I didn't know that we had lost a full bunker of men while waiting for orders to allow them to fire until I read these reports a few years ago. I was told that some of the sappers got away by marching in formation right out the front gate during the confusion of the morning. If that was indeed a true story, the whole mess showed how inept alot of our commanders and SOP's were in Vietnam.
By wmestep on Nov 17, 2009 at 5:51 pm
All you former Muleskiners please get in touch with the group on Yahoo groups
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/muleskinnersgroup
By Lem Dickerson on Jan 24, 2010 at 11:02 am
My husband was at Cu Chi at a time when there was an attack. He was on duty in the Motor Pool. A sapper ran into the motor pool and he had to go in and try to find him. He had to search each vehicle and thought he was going to die every time he opened one of the doors. The sapper ended up disappearing into a tunnel. I'm pretty sure it wasn't on Feb. 26, 1969 but during that year. Does anyone have any information about another attack. His nick name was Flip. His hame was Wilbur G. Dickson. He is from Hawaii. He was on night duty with the 725th Maintenance Battalion, Company D Motor Pool attached to the 3/4 Cavalry. He was working in the aircraft maintenance building adjacent to the Motor Pool.
Does anyone remember such an attack?
By Edith Kawai on Mar 8, 2010 at 6:09 pm