|
The attack on LZ Betty was to coinside with the anti-war protest back in the states. 122 bases were attack that night
LZ Betty recieved the heaviest and most devastating attack of them all. No one back in the states ever heard of the attack
or attacks. The National Gaurd had attacked and killed a number of students at Kent State University in Ohio.
Of the 7 men who gave their lives that night only 1 carried a
combat mos. Roger Craig 63C, Fred Denkins 64C,
Robert Haney 63C, Thomas Smith 94B, Ken Thomas 11B, Perry A. LeClerc and a 7th man unidentified. Vietnam Memorial Panel 11W
rows 90 to 93.
Four of us from the ammo section resupplied the green line twice during the attack. Sgt Ron Thornton ammo, Billy Sowell
ammo, Harvey Hummel B-Co reasigned to D-Co , Frenchy Bryan Lagimoniere B-Co resigned to D-Co.
May 3rd 1970 Attack on LZ Betty
This is bunker #2 , we lost this bunker
and one`s close to it during the first part of the attack.
The area in the center of the picture is where the 1st of the 50th set up their ammo dump after the move down from Song Moa.
Picture from Larry Morris 864th Engineers.
Pictures by Bryan Lagimoniere
Remains of D-Co orderly room 6am May 3rd,1970
What's left to D-Co Clothing and Supply
Bunker 2 part of the VC escape route, the vc took over this bunker early in the attack
Some of the barb wire used to replace the damaged green line
3/4 ton truck in front of D-Co area by bunker 6
We are linning up to sweep north. What remains of bunker 6, it was hit by the
flame track after it was taken over by Charlie
We complained for months to have the erosion ditch on the west side green line filled in. The VC used
it to there advantage during the attack
The picture is from Larry Morris of the Eng. You can clearly see on the
right side the erosion ditch that ran from bunker 2 all the way to tower 7.
Graves and registration was hit badly, they had to put the boddies outside. Harvey and I helped
load 7 body bags onto a duce and a half later that morning
West side green line area of VC penetration
South end of LZ Betty, 2nd of the 1st Cav AO. Area over run and hit by sappers, May 3rd 1970
|
| Picture from Paul Gluchowski`s collection below |
| May issue/Pacific Stars & Stripes, Gus Allbritton |
|
| News article PS&S providedby Rick Leland |
|
Official declassified report of the attack on LZ Betty. It states that the enemy losses totalled 14
kia and 1 PW. For those of us on that greenline we estimated over 300 kia by our soldiers that night.
Years later Jim Sheppard uncovered documents (Task Force South Intsum #123 dated 3 May
1970 puts it like this. Units involved in our AO that made contact with the VC included:
1/50th, 2/1 cav, C/75 Rangers, 44th ARVN, 53rd ARVN and the RF and PF also joined in the fight.
A total of 895 enemy KIA, 50 PW, and 361 small arms captured. 3 May 1970
The following pictures are from Dennis Knickerbocker , HHC
3/506th 101st Abn Div. His tour was from 69 to 70. Mos 94B.
Pictured below is Spec 4 Dennis Knickerbocker of the 101st.
Picture taken of the damage to the underside of tower 7. The VC fired RPG`s at it to try and bring
it down.
The next 4 pictures are of D-Co area east side. We took the brunt of the attack.
Not very well seen in this picture, but 1/3
of the shit house is blown away as well as part of our outdoor shower. Thats the building with the external fuel tank ( the
tube thing on top) up on top.
The Duce and a half truck in the upper left of this
picture was the truck we used to resupply the west side green line during the attack. It had a 5inch piece of scrapnal that
had gone through the radiator. And we still were able resupply the west side greenline twice during the attack.
We had a clerk in the orderly room that night doing
some late night work. He had put his radio up on one of the rafters. He saw the VC throw in the sachel charge. He hit the
floor, after the explosion that section of the building colasped. The next morning he found the radio still on the beam and
still playing.
This was Graves and Registration in the D-Co Area.
The next 3 pictures are of the vehicles that got ambushed as they came to the aid of the guys on the east side.
The sappers penitrated and attacked the 2nd of the 1st cav area. Destroying many of the units
choppers.
Enter subhead content here
|
