Week of November 15

Week of November 15

Before dawn on November 17, 1970, Viet Cong forces launched approximately a dozen 122-millimeter mortars at a barracks facility at Bien Hoa Air Base, one of the major U.S. air facilities in South Vietnam. Though the attack was launched from outside the base’s perimeter and intended as just a harassing strike, the large caliber mortar explosions killed five people, including three U.S. servicemen, and wounded 34 others.

As American warfare evolved over the twentieth century, advances in technology and strategy meant that the United States needed more and more service people to serve “behind the lines.” The military’s so-called “tooth-to-tail” ratio grew larger in the 1960s and 1970, and most of those who served in supply and support missions did not see combat. However, in Vietnam, where there were no true “front lines,” the risk of becoming a casualty in a Communist attack was ever present. Whether they served in a hospital, at a base facility, as a logistics specialist, or in any number of other roles, U.S. men and women were potentially vulnerable to attacks.

Located about 20 miles outside Saigon and a primary port of entry for American troops and supplies arriving by air, Bien Hoa Air Base was as heavily defended as any U.S. facility in Southeast Asia. Nonetheless, Viet Cong insurgents frequently found ways to threaten such places. Though Communist forces did not overrun Bien Hoa until after the United States had departed South Vietnam, they tried to do so multiple times, notably during the Tet Offensive of early 1968.

The vast majority of attacks on air bases, however, were smaller in scale, designed to harass and bleed allied forces based there. Small units of insurgents were better able to infiltrate base perimeters, and while they could not overrun such large facilities, they could create a large amount of havoc in a short time when they were able to get close. In the pre-dawn hours of November 17, 1970, Viet Cong guerrillas executed such an attack, using the dark of the early morning to evade the notice of perimeter guards. They launched approximately 12 large-caliber mortar shells at a barracks building before quickly melting away.

The Military Assistance Command later described this attack as minor and casualties as light. But it did kill five people, including three Americans who served at Bien Hoa. Air Force Sergeant Joseph Carter, Jr. was in his bunk when the shells hit. Carter, a 21-year-old from Miami, Florida, was killed instantly. Another man in his unit in an adjacent room, 21-year-old Air Force Sergeant Kenneth Dale Adkins from Huntington, West Virginia, was also killed. He and Carter served together in the 22nd Tactical Air Support Squadron, 504th Tactical Air Support Group, 7th Air Force. The third American killed was Army Specialist 4 Dennis Eugene Stecker, a 21-year-old with the 118th Aviation Company, 145th Aviation Battalion. He hailed from Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

In all, there were 475 attacks on American airbases in Vietnam between 1961 and 1973, resulting in 155 killed and 1,702 wounded U.S. service people. Also killed in these base attacks were 154 South Vietnamese soldiers and civilians, along with another 504 wounded. No matter where one served during the Vietnam War, whether in a combat unit or in supply and support, they had to be willing to sacrifice their lives in service to their country. Sergeants Carter and Adkins and Specialist 4 Stecker are commemorated by name on Panel 6W Lines 65–66 of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C.1

Photo of Bien Hoa Air Base after a 1964 Viet Cong Attack.  Photo taken at Bien Hoa Air Base after a 1964 Viet Cong attack.
Two photos taken at Bien Hoa Air Base after a 1964 Viet Cong attack.
Guerilla attacks on U.S. air bases were a common occurrence throughout the war.
(U.S. Air Force photos)


1"Rockets Strike Bienhoa Air Base, Northeast of Saigon,” New York Times, November 17, 1970, (accessed 11/14/18); Roger P. Fox, Air Base Defense in the Republic of Vietnam, 1961–1973 (Washington, D.C., Office of Air Force History, 1979); John W. Dennison and Melvin F. Porter, “Local Base Defense in RVN Jan 69–Jun 71,” Project Contemporary Historical Examination of Current Operations Report, Declassified Air Force Report, September 17, 1971 (declassified August 15, 2006),(accessed 11/14/18); Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, “Wall of Faces,” (accessed 11/14/18)


 


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Sergeant Joseph Carter, Jr., U.S. Air Force
Sergeant Joseph Carter, Jr.,
U.S. Air Force

Sergeant Kenneth Dale Adkins, U.S. Air Force
Sergeant Kenneth Dale Adkins,
U.S. Air Force

Specialist 4 Dennis Eugene Stecker, U.S. Army
Specialist 4 Dennis Eugene Stecker,
U.S. Army