I was assigned to Bravo Troop, NCOIC of the ground surveillance unit (radar,) which consisted of two armored personnel carrier's:  Saber Bravo-40 and Saber Bravo-41, 3rd Squadron, 4th Cavalry, 25th Infantry Division, on the morning of January 31, 1968.  Known as the first day of the Tet Offensive.

Our assignment was to be on alert for any infractions by the enemy.  It was to be aware of any infractions, of the cease fire, agreed to by the Communist and South Vietnamese Forces Forces.

We were pulling perimeter guard duties, adjacent to Highway-1, near Trang Bang village, approximately 15 kilometers from the 25th Infantry Division base camp, located at Cu Chi.

The night of January 30, 1968 was uneventful, the start of the following day, was a beautiful morning.  The commanding officer, ordered me into the town of Cu Chi, to take back some items.  While I was preparing to leave, a Lieutenant came walking across the rice paddy and asked me If I would pick up some wire and a Playboy magazine for him.

Of course, I said yes.  As my driver and I pulled out onto Highway-1, we proceeded South and immediately I noticed there were NO Vietnamese to be seen anywherel.  On every other morning, they were to be seen everywhere.

I had no idea that at that very time, Charlie Troop was already in contact with the enemy, at Tan Son Nhut.  I told the driver to push the pedal and not to let up until we got to Cu Chi base camp.   We approached the town of Cu Chi and still no Vietnamese, were to be seen anywhere.

Off to our right was an ARVN (Army of the Republic of Vietnam) compound.  The soldiers inside it were motioning to us, that they were about to be attacked.  We had to take a sharp left into the town of Cu Chi, going approximately 40 MPH, which was as fast as it was designed to go.  I was scared that our APC (armored personnel carrier) would throw a track.   Fortunately, it didn’t.

We didn’t see any Vietnamese, except for the ARVN soldiers, all the way back to base camp and I’m forever grateful that our one little track wasn’t ambushed.

When we arrived back at base camp, the XO (2nd in charge) was gathering all remaining forces to react, to Tan Son Nhut.

By this time, Bravo Troop had already arrived on scene.  We hadn’t even turned off our engine, when we and four other APC’s were headed south, to reinforce Charlie Troop.

Approaching the battle in progress, we pulled off to the right in an open rice paddy, just south of the Vinatexco Textile Mill and immediately engaged the enemy, from that textile mill and a wood line near the highway.

I think it was by accident that we became a blocking force, preventing the enemy sucess in trying to retreat.  They were coming out of the mill, in intervals of five.  I tried to reach them with my M-79 grenade launcher but it didn’t have the range.  Then I started using the 50 caliber machine gun.

My attention was centered on the wood line and the mill, as well as the battle going on around me.

At that moment, four prop planes appeared in the sky, which belonged to the South Vietnamese Air Force, which looked to be A-1 Skyraiders.  They were one of the most incompetent aircrafts I witnessed during my military service.  They were supposed to bomb the textile mill but totally missed it and bombed a rice paddy instead, causing absolutely no damage.

The battle went on for a several hours.  I had no idea what was going on with Charlie Troop or Bravo Troop.  Along with everyone else, I thought the battle had subsided.

I dismounted my tracked vehicle, to retrieve some ammunition, I had dropped during the battle, about 40 meters away, near a wood line.

As I was picking the ammo up, I heard a noise behind me.  It was three enemy soldiers looking at me, face to face and I had nothing to defend myself with.  I let out a blood curdling scream, which in turn scared them and we ran in different directions.

They headed for a rice paddy dike and I ram toward my track.

The Captain came on the radio and asked me what the situation was and asked if I needed help.  I said “affirmative”.  He sent an M-48 tank, to take out the three enemy soldiers, which it did, leaving nothing but a crater with no sign of the enemy.

To this day, I’m still friends with the commander of that M-48 tank.

It was now approaching nightfall and we were still receiving sniper fire from the textile mill but proceeded into the wire on the Tan Son Nhut perimeter, to pull security.

We were set up beside the 1st Squadron, 4th Cavalry (1st Infantry Division).

Around 0900 hours, two F-100’s showed up to attack the Vinatexco Textile Millm to do the job that the South Vietnamese Air Force was incapable of.  After their bombing run (which seemed to be 500lb high explosive rounds), they had pretty well destroyed the mill.

Later, I read that American taxpayer funds were used to totally rebuild the mill.

The following morning, Air Force personnel visited us on the perimeter and told us where we could get some hot chow and a shower but we didn’t have time.  We were tired and dirty and already received orders to proceed to Hoc Mon.  That is where the enemy was very well entrenched, for staging attacks around the Saigon area.

It turned out to be the longest and worst battle of my experience in Vietnam.  I call it “The battle that would never end” (all part of Tet).

I would like to commend everyone who took part in the, "Battle of Tan Son Nhut."

Being associated with such military personnel is an honor.

In the beginning, I mentioned a Lieutenant who asked me to pick up some wire and a Playboy as a favor.  I was never able to fulfill that request.  He was shot in the spine during the battle, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down.

Later, in the 1990’s, he went in for an operation that was intended to give him his feeling back but it made his condition worse and he committed suicide shortly after that.

The reason I bring him up, for 45 years, I’ve had a strange guilt, I was never able to carry out that favor.  He was one of the nicest officers I ever interacted with in the Army.

The Air Force presented us with a small bible.  I still have it and it still bears my writings in it, where I expressed how I felt that day and you can bet, "God" was the main subject.

Jim Ross
Dublin, GA
May 27, 2013  (Memorial Day)